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Digital
Media FX News Archives
Thursday
- May 10, 2001
- Shrek Shown to Lawyers to
Avoid Disney Legal Battle
- Trumpet of the
Swan Receives Negative AP Review
- Interplay Announces Final
Star Trek Game
- News Link of the Day
- Summer Tie-Ins Smaller
Shrek
Shown to Lawyers to Avoid Disney Legal Battle
 (by
digitalmediafx.com) DreamWorks admits that the company's team
of lawyers were shown work in progress scenes of Shrek
in order to avoid a potential legal fight with Disney, which is
the target of many jabs in DreamWorks animated movie.
"We showed
each and every scene to lawyers as we went along," co-director
Andrew Adamson told The New York Post. "We certainly did
not want to be sued by Disney."
Shrek
has some legal leeway because the film is considered a "parody".
Parody is defined as "A literary composition imitating the
characteristic style of some other work or writer, but treating
a serious subject in a nonsensical manner in an attempt at humor
or ridicule."
According
to Adamson, DreamWorks' lawyers approved every scene in the movie
- including a spoof of Disneyland and "It's a Small World"
song - without any changes.
For more information
on Shrek, visit the dFX Shrek Movie Site by clicking
here.
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Trumpet
of the Swan Receives Negative AP Review
 (by
digitalmediafx.com) On Friday, TriStar Pictures is releasing the
animated Trumpet of the Swan movie into theaters in Los
Angeles and New York. Advanced reviews, however, are leaning toward
the negative side for this newest animated fare.
According
to a review by the Associated Press, "The Trumpet of the
Swan, an animated movie based on the E.B. White classic, isn't
much to trumpet about. There's very little to like here. The animation
is unimaginative and uninspiring. Songs are just dropped into
the movie like ads for a soundtrack CD, and only one of them -
performed by Little Richard - is catchy. The movie probably will
amuse toddlers or young children, anybody not bothered by incongruities
such as a road sign in Montana that simply points the way to Boston.
But adults who remember the book fondly will only shake their
heads sadly at what happens on screen…"
The Trumpet
of the Swan is directed by Richard Rich, who also directed
The Swan Princess and Warner Bros. animated The King
and I. The movie stars the voices of Jason Alexander, Mary
Steenburgen, Reese Witherspoon, Joe Mantegna, and Seth Green.
The Trumpet of the Swan is the story of Louis, a voiceless
trumpeter swan and his adventure in learning new ways to communicate.
Click
here for an earlier news story on The Trumpet of
the Swan.
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Interplay
Announces Final Star Trek Game
(by digitalmediafx.com) Interplay Entertainment Corp. has announced
that its final Star Trek game, Star Trek: Shattered Universe,
is currently in development for the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment
system. Star Trek: Shattered Universe is a space-based action-shooter
that takes place in the dark alternative universe to the classic
Star Trek setting.
The events
in Shattered Universe take place in a setting after the events
in the movie Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
According
to Interplay: "Star Trek: Shattered Universe will allow gamers
to embark on a different kind of Star Trek adventure, a dark voyage
across hostile territories encountering an array of alien races
(Klingons, Romulans, Vulcans, Tholians, and Gorn) and artifacts
including the 'Guardian of Forever' (an ancient time portal) and
'The Doomsday Machine' (a giant robot ship that consumes planets
for fuel). Piloting a series of agile single pilot ships, players
will engage swarms of enemy fighters, and fleets of capital ships
in a variety of space environments. Stranded in this hostile universe,
the player must aide the Excelsior and seek out vital resources
in order to survive and return to the normal universe. Players
can gain additional fighters and technologies through alliances
or through defeating attacking ships. The newly acquired technology
can then be used to upgrade their fighter with more powerful weapons
and shields including some exotic alien devices like the Romulan
cloaking device."
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News Link
of the Day - Summer Tie-Ins Smaller
According to the Chicago Sun-Times:
"Gadgets,
gross-outs and adventure are some of the summer movie themes on
which brand marketers are piggybacking hopes for blockbuster promotions.
But their marketing scripts for the tie-ins all have the same
story line: scaled back.
McDonald's
is on board for only one Disney movie--and without one of its
signature sweepstakes…"
Click
here for the full story.
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