It's Tinseltoon
ANIMATION IS THRIVING AS HOLLYWOOD IS SHUT
HOLLYWOOD has ground to a halt. The sound stages are silent. The Klieg lights are off. The cameras are gathering dust.
You can almost see the tumbleweeds blowing across the studio backlots.
And with cinemas across the globe shut for the last three months, £16billion in revenue has been lost and 250,000 jobs have been axed or put on hold.
But studio bosses are not ready to run the closing credits on their industry just yet. Because as Covid-19 devastates live-action filming, animation is quietly stealing the limelight.
Don Hahn, who produced the animated originals of Disney’s The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast in the 1990s, reveals: “Yes, there’s a tragic pandemic going on. But for animators these are boom times.
“Animation is perfectly suited for a pandemic. Who knew?
“With advances in technology, connectivity and bandwidth, it’s made working from anywhere easier than ever. It’s been revolutionary.”
A string of expensive live-action movies that were already in filming in March are currently gathering dust on the shelf, half-finished.
They include The Batman, which was filming in the UK, Jurassic World: Dominion shooting in Hawaii, and The Matrix 4 which was under way in Berlin.
Those are joined by a host of highly anticipated films that had been lined up to start filming but are now on hold.
AUDIENCES
Among them are Fantastic Beasts 3, Sylvester Stallone’s Samaritan, Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel, and The Little Mermaid, which had been poised to film in London in March.
Animated films, meanwhile, are racing ahead to draw in audiences desperate for fresh entertainment.
With animators and voice actors all able to work from home, they have suffered little disruption.
In the UK, Locksmith Animation is working on 20th Century Fox animated feature film Ron’s Gone Wrong.
Co-founder Sarah Smith promises: “We’re going full steam ahead.”
The Boss Baby 2, PAW Patrol: The Movie, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run and Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon are also among those still expected to meet their release dates.
For the actors lucky enough to land the roles, it means there is still a payday to look forward to.
Cameron Diaz earned £7.5million a time for Shrek 3 and 4, while Tim Allen picked up £16million for Toy Story 3 and again for Tory Story 4.
So it is no surprise that big-name stars are lining up to voice animated features when all other work has disappeared.
Despicable Me spin-off Minions: The Rise of Gru, due out next year, has kept the money coming in for British voice stars Russell Brand and Julie Andrews.
And another Brit, Rocketman star Taron Egerton, joins Scarlett Johansson and Matthew McConaughey in voicing animated musical comedy Sing 2.
Studios also favour animation as technology improves constantly while production costs fall. “With each film the technology advances amazingly,” says producer Don. “When Toy Story was made 25 years ago there was a huge effort to advance the software.
“Now you can download that same code online free.
“You probably have more power in your phone than we had making Beauty and the Beast or The Lion King.”
Tom Sito, professor of animation at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, worked as an animation artist on 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit and The Little Mermaid a year later.
He says: “With so many production packages and all the open-source soft
You don’t even need two actors in a room together, it’s ideal
DON HAHN PRODUCER ON DISNEY’S THE LION KING
ware, you can make a movie at your desk at home. Animation is thriving. Netflix alone currently has 70 shows in production.
“Studios that have never done animation are suddenly interested, including Lionsgate and Peter Jackson’s Weta studio in New Zealand. There’s a hunger for opportunities.”
With the impact of the pandemic, it makes animation a win-win.
Don explains: “In animation you don’t even need two actors in a room together. You record one at a time. I’ll send someone to their house and record in their basement.
“If you’re an animator, you’re used to long hours in isolation at a desk. It’s been ideal training for pandemic social distancing.”
It is not just actors cashing in. British singer Natasha Bedingfield’s new single, Together In This, was recorded for animated feature Jungle Beat: The Movie, which debuted online last week.
With UK families watching more than five extra hours a week of traditional TV, animation is flourishing on the small screen too.
The Simpsons, Family Guy and Bob’s Burgers continue to churn out new shows. “Production hasn’t skipped a day or lost a beat,” says Simpsons showrunner Al Jean.
US TV drama series The Blacklist, starring James Spader, was shut down by coronavirus while making its season finale.
VIABLE
So producers completed the episode with animation created in London. “It’s a viable alternative,” says showrunner John Eisendrath. “People will enjoy it.”
Animation is even bringing big names to mobile phones.
Johnny Depp has signed a £2.5million deal to voice Johnny
Puff in Puffins, a series of 250 fiveminute cartoons about the adventures of a group of birds. Digital technology has also come to the rescue in another way.
Streaming services have seen a 20 per cent boost in global viewing, and many studios are turning to services such as Netflix and Amazon to release their movies.
Animated feature Trolls World Tour, which had opened only in US cinemas, got its global release on streaming services.
It earned £81million for Universal Studios in its first three weeks – more than its physical release made in five months in the US. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run has also abandoned a cinema release and will launch on streaming services next year.
Cinemas in England started reopening yesterday – with downsized audiences practising social distancing and being encouraged to wear masks. But in Hollywood,
film and TV studios are still struggling to agree a safe way to start up.
Filmmakers were bewildered by new rules in Los Angeles this month that insist actors must wear face masks and “be as silent as possible to avoid spreading droplets through talking”.
Fight sequences and “intimate scenes” are discouraged. One TV showrunner responded by asking: “No sex, no fights, no shouting – what’s left to film?”
It could take up to two years for film and TV production to get back up to speed, experts estimate – enough time for animation to win over new audiences.
“Nobody knows when Covid-19 will end,” says Professor Sito. “Until then, animation is looking very attractive and will continue to thrive.”
So, stay tooned. To misquote Looney Tunes: “That’s not all, folks!”