All Things:Animated

‘Beauty And The Beast,’ ‘Finding Nemo,’ ‘Monsters Inc. & ‘The Little Mermaid’ Getting 3D Re-Releases > The Playlist

Disney/Pixar have announced that they’re going into the vault and dusting off “Beauty And The Beast,” “Finding Nemo,” “Monsters Inc.” and “The Little Mermaid” all for 3D releases over the next few years. You get what you ask for people.

First up will be “Beauty And The Beast” arriving on January 13, 2012. Unlike, “The Lion King” this was just reissued in a brand new spiffy edition last year, but it’s all about release dates. January is completely dry of any other new family films, so Disney will likely still make a mint on this one from parents who need to park their kids somewhere out of the house for a couple of hours. Smart play. Replicating “The Lion King” date almost exactly, “Finding Nemo” will swim into theaters on September 14, 2012 and again (at least so far), it’s the lone family movie in sight and again, even though it’s on DVD, it’s something to give the kids to do.

Continuing the January/September format, “Monsters Inc.” will hit no January 18, 2013 and will serve as a good refresher before the prequel “Monsters University” lands on June 21, 2013. Finally, “The Little Mermaid” will come ashore on September 13, 2013.
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Fox May Shut Down THE SIMPSONS If Harry Shearer Doesn’t Take Less Than $400,000 Per Episode!!
Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news.

Fox appears willing to shut down “The Simpsons” after more than two decades if its six core cast members don’t take a reduction of their $400,000-per-episode salary.

Here’s the thing. While “Simpsons” still does well for Fox, Fox has other shows that do well also. Plus Fox can always ask Seth McFarlane to make another one of his ****ty shows to replace "The Simpsons." How “The Simpsons” ranks against other Fox fare:

FOX SHOWS 18-49
4.5 (4.8) (---) (---) New Girl
4.1 (4.4) (---) (---) The X Factor (We)
3.9 (---) (---) (---) House
3.9 (4.3) (---) (---) The X Factor (Th)
3.7 (4.0) (1.0) (---) Glee
3.5 (4.1) (---) (1.9) Family Guy
3.1 (3.1) (---) (---) Terra Nova
3.0 (3.9) (---) (2.4) The Simpsons
2.9 (3.1) (0.8) (---) Raising Hope
2.7 (3.0) (---) (---) American Dad
2.6 (3.1) (---) (---) Cleveland Show
1.7 (1.6) (1.0) (0.9) Kitchen Nightmares
1.2 (1.5) (0.6) (0.6) Fringe
--- (1.0) (1.1) (1.0) Cops

Fox can also potentially just hire a bunch of impressionists to play Bart, Apu and Mr. Burns. This could keep up the demand for “Simpsons” lunch boxes, video games and so on.

It would probably be easy enough for the voice actors to walk away. Roughly 66 “Simpsons” episodes were produced over the series’ last three full seasons; $400,000 x 66 = $26.4 million per voice actor. That’s just the last three years; the 23rd season is airing now.
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Will not happen. A second movie hangs in the balance and there is just too much money to be made here.
 
'Simpsons' actor breaks silence, says Fox should share profits | Inside TV | EW.com

The cast and producers of The Simpsons have been silent since news of their latest contract war with studio 20th Century Fox TV broke out. Until now. Cast member Harry Shearer — who provides the voice for Mr. Burns, Smithers, Ned Flanders, Kent Brockman, and other characters — issued a lengthy statement explaining his position on why the actors are holding out for a better deal to keep the show on the air (it’s a bit awkward when you’re publicly demanding a large salary in the middle of a recession, a fact Shearer seems very aware of here). See what you think, below. Does Shearer come across like humble Ned Flanders? Or Mr. Burns?

For many years now, the cast of “The Simpsons” has been trying to get Fox to agree that, like so many other people who’ve contributed significantly to the show’s success, we be allowed a tiny share of the billions of dollars in profits the show has earned. Fox has consistently refused to even consider the matter. Instead, it’s paid us salaries that, while ridiculous by any normal standard, pale in comparison to what the show’s profit participants have been taking home.

Now, as the show enters its twenty-third season, we are engaged in what will probably be our last contract negotiation with Fox. As you may have heard, the network has taken the position that “The Simpsons” no longer makes enough money and that unless we in the cast accept a 45% pay cut, they are not going to bring the show back for a twenty-fourth season.

Obviously, there are a lot more important things going on in the world right now, in the streets of New York and elsewhere. But given how many people seem to care about what happens to our show – and how much misinformation has been flying around – I thought it might make sense for at least one member of the cast to speak out directly. I should note that I am speaking only for myself, and not for any of the other actors on the show.

Fox wants to cut our salaries in half because it says it can’t afford to continue making the show under what it calls the existing business model. Fox hasn’t explained what kind of new business model it has formulated to keep the show on the air, but clearly the less money they have to pay us in salary, the more they’re able to afford to continue broadcasting the show. And to this I say, fine – if pay cuts are what it will take to keep the show on the air, then cut my pay. In fact, to make it as easy as possible for Fox to keep new episodes of “The Simpsons” coming, I’m willing to let them cut my salary not just 45% but more than 70% – down to half of what they said they would be willing to pay us. All I would ask in return is that I be allowed a small share of the eventual profits.

My representatives broached this idea to Fox yesterday, asking the network how low a salary number I would have to accept to make a profit participation feasible. My representatives were told there was no such number. There were, the Fox people said, simply no circumstances under which the network would consider allowing me or any of the actors to share in the show’s success.

As a member of the “Simpsons” cast for 23 years, I think it’s fair to say that we’ve had a great run and no one should feel sorry for any of us. But given how much joy the show has given so many people over the years – and given how many billions of dollars in profits News Corp. has earned and will earn from it – I find it hard to believe that this is Fox’s final word on the subject. At least I certainly hope it isn’t, because the alternative is to cancel the show or fire me for having the gall to try to save the show by helping Fox with its new business model. Neither would be a fair result – either to those of us who have committed so many years to the show or to its loyal fans who make our effort worthwhile.
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Almost inevitable considering Shearer is a known 'troublemaker'. He's absolutely right though, consider the merchandising on the Simpsons alone. This show makes waaaaay too much money for the powers that be to cry poverty. Shame on you Fox. Just come out and say you want to keep more of the money, at least that would be honest.
 
MTV Opens Online Archive of ‘Liquid Television’ Shorts | /Film

This is TERRIFIC news. Most of you don't remember, but at one point Mtv was a vital, edgy thing.

I’m not sure how long this has been online, but judging by the reaction I see it getting on Twitter today, either it hasn’t been long or no one realized what MTV had done. But for those who spent late nights with MTV in the early ’90s, when the channel celebrated the unusual corners of pop culture as well as the fat, chewy center, this is going to be one hell of a trip. And for younger animation fans that haven’t had a chance to experience some of these shorts, it’s a goldmine.

Liquid Television was a ground-breaking animation anthology that featured some very early computer animation and very strange and funny shorts by noted animators and designers such as Charles Burns, Richard Sala, David Daniels, and Bill Plympton. It ran from 1991 to 1994; some of the included shorts were new, and others, like Mike Judge‘s Frog Baseball (the introduction of Beavis and Butthead) were sourced from traveling animation festivals like Spike and Mike’s Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation. Liquid Television was also the home for the original Aeon Flux series.

The series has been collected in a couple of VHS and DVD releases over the years, but those are all long out of print. Now a great deal of the show is archived online, and presented in great quality. Check out a few clips below.

MTV has a big Liquid Television portal up, and I encourage everyone to check out the oddities within. Not all of it is gold, but there are some really wonderful things to be found.
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They used to show The Maxx cartoon on MTV too, right? Or was that somewhere else?

I can't remember, I can't recall.

Revisited_-_peter_gabriel.jpg
 
The Maxx - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The comic book series was adapted into an animated series as part of the MTV program Oddities. It covered Darker Image #1, The Maxx #1/2, and issues #1-11 of the regular series, depicting the introduction of Julie, the original Maxx, Mr. Gone, and later, Sarah. The series included few of the revelations of the characters' origins, however, and did not describe the interconnections between them.

The animation frequently changes styles. In one scene, characters may be rendered in detail but in the next, they may be simplified and cartoonish. Often this is done to show a change in perspective. CGI and even live-action are sometimes integrated in with the hand-drawn animation. Critics such as Richard Matthes have noted how much of the animation is based directly on panels from the comic.[2]

The show was released once on VHS, though strangely missing an episode,[citation needed] then later in 2009 it became available to stream on MTV.com[3] though only to American audiences. On December 17th, 2009, The Maxx became available on DVD exclusively through Amazon.com's CreateSpace "Manufacture-on-Demand" program[4] which contains every episode of the television show and also includes audio commentary on each episode plus interviews with Creator Sam Kieth & Director Gregg Vanzo.[5]
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