High-tech animation in indies' grasp

By The Hollywood Reporter

Published: December 9, 2005, 6:28 AM PST

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Powerhouse computer-generated imagery houses like Pixar Animation Studios dominate the animated genre, but less-expensive technology and outsourcing to low-cost foreign animators is opening the door for indies to acquire, produce and place such films in theaters themselves.

Lions Gate, for example, will release Threshold Entertainment's $50 million to $60 million computer-generated imagery, or CGI, adventure "Foodfight!" in fall 2006, and it recently announced a three-film co-production pact with RichCrest Animation that includes the CGI fantasy "Sylvester and the Magic Pebble." And IDT Entertainment has a pact with 20th Century Fox for four CGI films in the $30 million to $40 million range over the next two years.

"Hoodwinked" stands out among the new wave of CGI-animated indies. Weinstein, the new firm set up by former Miramax chiefs Bob and Harvey Weinstein, has scheduled a Jan. 13 wide release of Cory Edwards' irreverent, witty and musical take on the Little Red Riding Hood story, retold as a comic police investigation. The movie also is eligible for this year's best animated-film Academy Award.

Just how this fairy tale arrived in theaters illustrates the changing animation scene. Edwards, who has made animated shorts, as well as the 45-minute Christmas-theme DVD "Wobots," met Skyy Vodka founder and wealthy inventor Maurice Kanbar in 1999 at the Sundance Festival, where the director's brother Todd Edwards was showing his live-action comedy "Chillicothe."

A year later, the two Edwards brothers (founding partners in Blue Yonder Films with "Hoodwinked" producer Preston Stutzman) pitched Kanbar on several projects the financier felt were too risky. Instead, Kanbar asked them to bring him a fairy tale with broad appeal, saying, "I know they've got legs."

Although Kanbar first envisioned either a DVD or a limited 150-screen theatrical release, the project grew--along with his initial $5 million investment--after he read the script, a "Rashomon"-style mystery take on the fairy tale that includes nine musical numbers written by Todd Edwards, who co-directed and co-wrote the script with Tony Leech.

Kanbar, who has since established Kanbar Productions with Walt Disney Feature Animation veteran Sue Montgomery ("Lilo & Stitch"), says he invested $35 million (including prints and advertising) in the film, budgeted in the $15 million to $20 million range. The secret to keeping costs low, Edwards says, was bringing in producer David Lundgren, who had ties to animators in the Philippines.

"The cost of living and salaries is about a third what it is here," says Edwards, who made 15 long trips to the country during the film's 2-1/2-year production. The final animation phase moved to India in order to polish the work-in-progress for the Cannes Film Festival last May.

After several studios passed, unsure how to market the movie's adult humor, the still-developing Weinstein company took notice and in May acquired theatrical and video rights to North America, the United Kingdom, Germany and other international markets.

Weinstein brought Anne Hathaway and Glenn Close on board to voice Red and Granny, respectively, joining original cast voices Patrick Warburton, David Odgen Stiers and Andy Dick. A sequel already is in the planning stages, with Weinstein and Kanbar co-financing.

Indie animation is nothing new, of course; Ralph Bakshi's landmark X-rated "Fritz the Cat" was a huge hit in 1972. And Edwards is fully aware that his film is, like Bakshi's early efforts, a bit rough around the edges. But with technology advancing and costs reducing, "Hoodwinked" could be a bellwether of homemade CGI-animated films to come.

Story Copyright © 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

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