Animation Magazine

The Shape of Things to Come

- Ramin Zahed Editor in Chief ramin@animationm­agazine.net

Like many of you, dear readers, we have been keeping a close eye on the in-person animation and VFX events that have cautiously been opening their doors to attendees in the past couple of months. It was great to see that the Annecy and Cannes festivals were able to continue with their non-virtual components, despite the rise of new COVID variants and restrictio­ns around the world.

It was especially promising to see last month’s Cannes festival be such a great launching pad for several hot new animated movies. If the glowing reviews for Mamoru Hosoda’s latest effort Belle, Ari Folman’s powerful Where Is Anne Frank, Patrick Imbert’s The Summit of the Gods and Pascal-Alex Vincent’s documentar­y Satoshi Kon: The Illusionis­t are any indication, we have some great treats in store for the rest of the year! We already know that GKIDS, that great champion of indie and internatio­nal animated films, has picked up Belle for a fourth-quarter 2021 release, and we have a feeling distributo­rs are going to take care of the other three titles as well.

Things are also hopping on the U.S. studio side. We just got word that Sony’s The Mitchells vs the. Machines was Netflix’s most-watched animated movie to date. The studio’s new movie, Vivo, is another explosion of cool sights and sounds, with a terrific soundtrack courtesy of award-winning songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda and composer Alex Lacamoire. You can read all about the making of the studio’s first musical in this month’s cover story. We also have a terrific interview with the creative team behind Warner Bros.’ blockbuste­r movie Space Jam: A New Legacy, penned by regular Animag contributo­r Michael Mallory. The critics may not have been happy with the movie, but audiences were definitely hungry for the return of the Looney Tunes to the big screen.

This month’s virtual SIGGRAPH event also provided us with the opportunit­y to explore some of the confab’s famous Electronic Theater’s highlights, chat with the winning film creators and also spotlight a few of 2021’s hottest VR projects. We hope you enjoy this sneak peek of what the big computer graphics and new technology event has in store for us — though we’ll miss the buzz of the live event, and hope to experience it again in 2022.

We are also moving forward with plans for this year’s World Animation

& VFX Summit. We have the great pleasure of featuring a beautiful artwork created by the hugely talented industry veteran Alan Bodner (see image).

Alan has had a rich career in the industry, best known for being the art director on beloved movies such as The Iron Giant, Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas and a long list of TV shows such as Kim Possible, Phineas and Ferb, The

Looney Tunes Show and Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure. The Emmy and Annie

Award-winning artist is currently the art director on Disney’s Mickey Mouse

Funhouse. I hope you love our 2021 Summit poster as much as we do. And stay tuned (via our website and daily newsletter — you are all signed up, right?) as we announce this year’s honorees, panels and other details in the weeks ahead.

I hope you enjoy this issue and the rest of this unpredicta­ble summer!

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