Posted on 12/06/2002 7:51:38 AM PST by Liz
LOS ANGELES, Dec 5 (Reuters) - The Walt Disney Co. (DIS) has taken a $140 million gamble on an epic cartoon and lost -- raising questions over whether the studio that once was "The Lion King" among animators has strength left to roar.
The box office failure of "Treasure Planet" has raised questions about the future direction of Disney's fabled animation unit amid reports that its chief, Thomas Schumacher, was already considering leaving the division.
The failure of "Treasure Planet" also puts extra pressure on Disney to continue its profitable ties with computer specialist Pixar Animation Studios Inc.(PIXR), creator of "Monsters, Inc.," analysts said. According to reports, Pixar wants to end its 50-50 split with Disney and pay the studio only a distribution fee.
Disney's animation unit helped launch the company. Hit "Snow White," the first full length animated feature, earned the money to buy the land for the studio lot, and the animation unit helped revitalize Disney in the 1980s and 1990s, thanks to "The Lion King" among other films.
"Treasure Planet", an interplanetary version of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island," cost a reported $140 million to make but brought in only a paltry $16.5 million in the United States and Canada over the long Thanksgiving weekend, causing Disney to restate and lower its fiscal fourth quarter profits by $74 million before taxes.
Industry experts blamed tough competition and the blatant pitch for the fickle teenage boy market for the film's failure. Kaufman Bros. financial analyst Paul Kim wrote in a research note that the restatement meant that Disney's total fiscal fourth quarter operating profit was down 14 percent from a year earlier compared with a 2.2 percent drop before the restatement.
"It puts a lot of pressure on them. They rolled the dice on a $140 million picture," said lawyer Nancy Newhouse Porter, a partner at Newhouse Porter Hubbard which represents several animated film directors.
BOTTOM LINE
Disney had already said that "Treasure Planet" was the last of the series of big-budget animated blockbusters.
Studio Chairman Richard Cook, who declined to be interviewed for this article, told analysts recently that the company was now more than ever making creative decisions with a look at the bottom line.
He pointed to animated feature "Lilo and Stitch", made for a reported $80 million, as a template. The protagonist of that movie, Lilo, wore a dress that in early drafts had a rich -- and expensive -- pattern. Cook said Disney reaped substantial savings by giving the dress a simple print.
Many analysts say Disney has learned it has to control its wallet. "In today's economy, these films can't cost $140 million," said Heather Kenyon, editor in chief at Animation World Network, www.awn.com, a Web publisher and information clearinghouse. "I think Disney understands that."
She said Disney was a victim of its own phenomenal success with "The Lion King" at a time when there was not much competition for animated features.
Disney animation has about 1,200 employees, about half its peak of a few years ago and it is not clear if animation chief Schumacher will stay. "I think that will be the final piece of the puzzle for Disney animation's future," Kenyon said.
Aside from Disney's own animators the company has begun to work with partners like Pixar, the creator of hit "Monsters, Inc.", DVD sales of which contributed strongly to Disney's recent quarter.
Pixar is about to approve production of its first film beyond its current deal with Disney, and there is pressure on the studio to cut a new deal. "Pixar is a huge profit center for them," said animation lawyer Newhouse Porter. "You always want to hang onto one that is four for four."
Kaufman Bros's Kim said that the results of "Treasure Planet" spelled continued challenges for Disney. "This adjustment suggests that the company's core animation franchise could face some rough waters ahead," he said. REUTERS
© 2002 Reuters
So the pro-abortion liberals at Disney are creamed by the consequences of their philosophy. It's like the story in the 1990s about the University administrations who couldn't figure why enrollment kept falling, as the young people who would've been born in the 1970s weren't around to pay tuition. Same is true for the pro-abort retirees to come who depend on an ever shrinking pool of workers. Unfortunately, though I'm a staunch pro-lifer, I'll feel the consequences too.
A previous poster mentioned how the film would have fared better had they stuck with the original book. A great movie comes from a great story to tell, and people young and old recognize that. Obvious pandering with "solar surfboards" and other gimicky/trendy additions are a turn-off.
Disney needs to follow Pixar's model and produce one, very good movie every other year and not rush to the market with whatever shlock they have thrown together. With more and more competition for their entertainment dollars, consumers are increasingly picky over what to spend it on.
Yes. It's a beautiful thing, and it is having at least some effect.
Actually.... with enough of the serial numbers rubbed off, this sounds kinda good. =)
Yeah, the songs are awesome. Ironically, one of their best recent releases (The Emporer's New Groove) has only one song in it because of a last minute rewrite.
Possibly boring explanation below... you've been warned.
Sting was hired to write the soundtrack (which he did), but during the animation, the main character is silent (well, he had been turned into a llama, after all). The actor, however, was cracking up everyone on the set with ad-libbed lines and general hijinks. The director realized that this off-the-cuff stuff was funnier than what they had written and had his people completely rewrite the movie.
Of course, this meant that all but one of the songs on the soundtrack could be used. Still, the movie was quite funny and they did a great job on it. It was actually kind of refreshing to have a disney flick with no huge love story, almost no musical numbers and some off-the-wall humor.
If there's a magic bullet to fix Disney, it's pretty simple: hire really good writers and produce stuff that adults can watch as well as kids.
It is a shame such a once-great company became such a sleazy and unreliable studio. My family used to LOVE to go to Disney parks---but not any more.
BTW, if you haven't read it, look at a book called "The Mouse Betrayed," which reveals a ton of sick stuff down there.
Frankly, the movie wasn't that bad. They were obviously pandering to the young boy market as illustrated by the skateboarding theme and inclusion of a "fart monster," a creature which communicates only through flatulence.
I think the problem is that Disney's animated movies have gotten routine. There are too many of them and they are too similar. I also think that Disney is turning a lot of people off with its manipulation of us and our children.
I think they didn't budget enough money for promotional ads. The only reason I knew it would be released were the McDonald's ads promoting the toys in Happy Meals.
Much the worse because it was Disney that produced, about 50 years ago, the best film version of Treasure Island (with Bobby Driscoll and Robert Newton - who then reprised his role of Long John in an Australian sequel movie and a TV series).
One of the basic elements of the original Treasure Island was the total absence of women (except for the very brief appearance, at the beginning, of Jim's mother) but Treasure Planet has several female characters, including a ship's captain; maybe PC but not quite as appealling to little boys.
Treasure Island has now been done to death. As a silent movie, as a near silent (with Wallace Beery), as a classic (Disney with Robert Newton), as a TV-movie (with Charlton Heston), as a film about non-nautical bandits (Scalawag, with Kirk Douglas), as a Muppet film (with Tim Curry), and a few other twists. Trying to push it into outer space was the coup de grace.
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