Digital
Media FX News Archives
Tuesday
- May 8, 2001
- The Mummy Returns with a
Weekend Take of $68 Million
- Animation/FX Cheers
and Sneers for April 2001
- Square Announces Electronic
Entertainment Expo Lineup
- News Link of the Day
- Hollywood Goes Digital
The Mummy
Returns with a Weekend Take of $68 Million
(by digitalmediafx.com) Many Box Office records fell when The
Mummy Returns stormed the nation this past weekend with a
final take of over $68 million in three days. It makes The
Mummy Returns the biggest opening non-Holiday Box Office movie
ever. The FX film made $25 million more in its opening weekend
than the original Mummy movie two years ago.
In addition,
The Mummy Returns topped Toy Story 2 as the biggest
Friday opening ever. It also broke The Lost World's record
for the biggest Saturday opening ever. The Mummy Returns
made more money than the 60 films under it combined!
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Animation/FX
Cheers and Sneers for April 2001
(by digitalmediafx.com) Here is the list of Digital Media
FX's April 2001 Cheers and Sneers for the animation and visual
effects industries:
Cheers:
Michael Dudok de Wit (winner of this year's Best Animated Short
Oscar) receives an HDTV set from the Academy for giving the shortest
speech at the Academy Awards. He promptly donates the TV set to
charity.
Sneers:
A movie trailer for Osmosis Jones (at the time, rated
PG-13) is tagged onto Pokemon 3, but hardly no one sees
it because Pokemon 3 performs so poorly at the Box Office
(despite free trading cards being given away). WB announces plans
for Pokemon 4.
Cheers:
Michael Eisner, chairman of Disney, makes a comment at the Washington
News Bureau that Disney animators deserve the greatest protection
within Disney because they "represent the heart and soul
of Disney."
Sneers:
Just one week after Eisner says animators "represent
the heart and soul of Disney," it is reported that Disney
Animation will be hardest hit in planned Disney layoffs and that
those animators that remain will have their salaries slashed by
up to 50%.
Cheers:
Steven Spielberg announces that he is bringing E.T. back
to the big screen with new footage. Spielberg passes on the idea
of test marketing the rerelease first (like WB always does with
mixed results) in order to give everyone the opportunity to see
it again in its original format and fully remastered.
Sneers:
Mighty Mouse endorses cheese in a TV commercial where the
super mouse doesn't save the day because he would rather be eating
cheese. Another classic cartoon icon reappears only as a 100%
commercialization character.
Cheers:
A groundbreaking ceremony is held in Kansas City to restore Walt
Disney's original Laugh-O-Gram Studios. It is called the "birthplace
of the world's biggest entertainment empire [Disney]."
Sneers:
DreamWorks announces a pop soundtrack for Shrek but doesn't
elude to any plans for a Shrek background score. Instead DreamWorks
announces that there will be a medley consisting of short clips
from the background score on the soundtrack. This is a major surprise
from a company that took such pride in past score releases.
Cheers:
DreamWorks extends its movie distribution deal with Universal
Studios, which had been a long running winning combination. DreamWorks
had been considering switching over to AOL Time Warner.
Cheers:
Shrek wins a showing at Cannes, the first animated film accepted
into the elite competition since the 1950's.
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Square
Announces Electronic Entertainment Expo Lineup
(by digitalmediafx.com) Square has announced its lineup for the
2001 Electronic Entertainment Expo taking place May 17-19 in Los
Angeles. For the Playstation, Square will show off its Final Fantasy
Chronicles: Final Fantasy IV & Chrono Trigger (read earlier
dFX article on this here).
For
the Playstation 2, Square will be displaying Final Fantasy X (read
earlier dFX article on this here).
This is the first title in the popular franchise to be released
for the PlayStation 2.
The main character,
Tidus, is a star player of blitzball, a popular full-contact sport.
After miraculously surviving the destruction of his homeland,
he awakens among ruins. He befriends a young woman named Yuna
on her journey through the world of Spira. As a summoner, Yuna
must travel to distant temples and learn the secret arts of summoning
aeons -- powerful spirits of yore, in order to defeat Sin. Tidus
learns that a thousand years in the past, mankind lived in spectacular
cities and relied on machines for everything, until Sin suddenly
appeared and destroyed all civilization. Now, people shun technology,
and no one knows when Sin will strike next. This installment of
Final Fantasy features a distinct Asian influence, bringing a
different feel to the characters, music, settings and story. Final
Fantasy X is scheduled to be released early 2002 in North America.
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News Link
of the Day - Hollywood Goes Digital
According to The Irish Times:
"
This
other Hollywood, is the digital one. It's the one that sank the
Titanic and created Toy Story. But while the Old Hollywood is
actually in Hollywood, or at least Los Angeles, the New Hollywood
is really located somewhere else. In fact, it's located 300 miles
from here in the San Francisco Bay Area.
"
Click
here for the full story.
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