PIXAR and PDI go head to head in November!

[gruvsyco]

It's called Karma.

PDI beat Pixar to the box office with a story about ants by a couple of weeks. Now, if in fact they do release on the same day, we'll all see exactly how much ass Pixar kicks at CG animation. Shrek was a really good effort but still pales in comparison to anything I have seen from Pixar.

[roger]

This is dumb to try and open 2 CG Animated films on the same day.:thumbsdow
I bet you won't have another $70 mil weekend for either film like "Nemo" had.

[hypercube]

I'm betting one of them slips release before then, it's just a question of who'll flinch first. Shrek did so well because it was essentially unopposed for like a month after its release for comedy/animation/etc..(well and it was really f'ing funny, but I'm one of those who agree it had a LOT of other problems)..not so sure how they'd shape up taking on their old man directly.

I'm just waiting for the next Dreamworks flick to not be quasi-related to the movie Pixar has just released or is going to release. ants, monsters and fairy tales, ocean life.. :p :rolleyes:

My interest is severely more piqued by Incredibles than by Sharkslayer..or Blue Sky's robots movie..that is going to kick serious ass.

[RobertoOrtiz]

The problem for PDI is that their movie WILL be compared to Finding Nemo.

Finding Nemo raised the bar SOOO high that it will be hard for them to reach it.

I wish them both luck, but this stunt scheduling is BADDD for the industry.

-R

[xynaria]

Ah .. they are just tryimg to prove their are no winners in a war.. LOL.. but there again they could just be settling for being inane :D

[FloydBishop]

Other than the fact that the SharkSlayer film is underwater, it has NOTHING to do with Nemo. It's much more grown up in it's focus.

Sharkslayer looks to be about an underwater underworld spoof of mobsters, and the fish are more like people than fish.

http://www.animated-movies.net/SharkslayerPromotionalPoster2.jpg

I think it's going to be a very different film.

[jeremybirn]

That's the funny thing: often the whole focus of a review is comparing two movies just to say they shouldn't be compared. I predict many of the reviewers who wrote "Small Soldiers is nothing like Toy Story, they kill people..." will crank out a similar review about SharkSlayer not being Nemo. Many differences in the story, characters, animation, rendering, and target audience might be listed, but still that comparison to recent underwater CG animated features will be the context of the review.

Who can say which movies will be helped or hurt by the comparisons -- hopefully people will want to watch both (or all three counting yours, Floyd!) to compare for themselves.

-jeremy

[monkeyman_3d]

Know your audience, and they will love you.

I bet Brad Bird knows his audience, let's see who gets the love on Nov. 5th, 2004! :)

[FloydBishop]

Originally posted by jeremybirn

Who can say which movies will be helped or hurt by the comparisons -- hopefully people will want to watch both (or all three counting yours, Floyd!) to compare for themselves.

-jeremy

I was actually almost afraid to watch Nemo because of my own involvement with "Bass Hole". Our short is different than both "Sharkslayer" and "Finding Nemo" due mostly to story and subject matter. Ours takes place in a freshwater lake as well.

The one thing that these similarities do is to force you to do your absolute best when making the film (which you should want to do anyway).

If an audience has only one view of a world, whatever you come up with will probably be good enough. When you have several different versions of an environment to look at, you can judge which ones worked and which ones didn't.


"Bass Hole" is coming along slowly, but it's working. Look for another "Bass Hole" teaser this month, once some of the Nemo madness has subsided. :)
http://www.icepond.com/promo/catfish_compare.jpg

[gruvsyco]

That clip looks pretty good Floyd...

I sure hope you keep us updated on that film.

[flipnap]

sorry to say, but nemo and sharkslayer are the same in the eyes of people. Sure the story is different and whatever, but when it comes down to it.. underwater.. main characters are fish and sharks.. i mean really.. it doesnt take a rocket scientist to see it. especially after the whole ants, bugs life thing. Of course the story is going to be different- nobody wants to get sued; thats a given. but jeesh, you think with all the different setting available they couldve at least made an attempt to do something different.. i dunno lets see... a jungle, the forest, a suburban dwelling, a hole in the wall, the city, why not steal from ice age and do some arctic thing, corn fields, a river... etc etc etc.. in my eyes theres only one thing that is clear. Sharkslayer is a copy of Nemo.

out

[Emmanuel]

For Pixar and PDI I think its more of a freindly competition...officially.
But I fear that if Sharkslayer is not as much appreciated by the audience as Nemo, then some suits might "reconsider the whole idea of making animated features".
Remember Treasure Planet ? It wasn't exactly a blockbuster, but does that make 2d animated features worthless ? Nope.
Its the story and the characters that count, and if Nemo is funnier, more interesting, then be it.
I personally wasn't overwhelmed by Ice Age.I preferred the story and look of Monsters, Inc..

I guess starting the same week along with Incredibles might become a problem, but not for us viewers, I would love to see two excellent CG-made films in one week :)
Incredibles is gonna be interesting since there are no toys or animals in it, its the second time You see CG-cartoon-characters since Shrek.
Lets wait and see, and hope that any film is a success, cause its a small indsutry, and the Disney and Blue Sky layoffs still make my stomach hurt :/

[Dominique]

Stupid it would be to launch the films at the same time,
this is a kinda war where there are no winners, both will loose if they do that, ..., and I hope the Animators, TDs and all other artists at both companies think the same, ...,

The image of Sharkslayer makes me think of Ants, and Ants didn't do as well as A Bugs Life, to stylish maybe, ..., Pixar has this kind of purity and simplicity of design and great expressive facial animation, not just muscles moving.

I loved Shrek, ..., it was fresh
Ice Age was terrible as well,

Dom

[jeremybirn]

So, Floyd, you mention you're working on a "short" -- if you don't mind my asking, are you guys working for free, or what is the business model there?

-jeremy

[leuey]

Originally posted by flipnap
... etc etc etc.. in my eyes theres only one thing that is clear. Sharkslayer is a copy of Nemo.

out

The frickin' movie isn't even out yet. How can you say it's a copy? Geez man, 'In my eyes there's only one thing that is clear - they are both a copy of the Little Mermaid'

-G

[Scuba]

errrr, ok honestly i got to say that yall being CG experts are too caught up in your own world. Shrek did so well because it was a romantic comedy that used 3D graphics... it was funny with adult humour. I assume that Sharkslayer will be similar while the new pixar joint will be just like the recent disney movies both regular animation and 3D. Of course one or the other will push back the date with good reason, and of course disney is doing this to get back after the whole ant/bug fiasco.... but to boil it down to this movie is biting nemo is a vast oversimplification. ... anywayz all the older fans of animation would see the character designs are a total bite off of a traditional animation staring don knots from the early 70s will see if i can find a pic online.

[janhath]

I am just happy they are both coming.I wish a third was announced actually.But then Shrek 2 is coming in the Summer of 2004. Sharkslayer looks great actually.But the incredibles look's off the chart great. Bottomline,you know your going to watch both and love them both.:thumbsup: :beer:

[jeremybirn]

Originally posted by janhath
I am just happy they are both coming.I wish a third was announced actually.But then Shrek 2 is coming in the Summer of 2004. Sharkslayer looks great actually.But the incredibles look's off the chart great. Bottomline,you know your going to watch both and love them both.

I'm certainly going to see them both! But according to this article Dreamworks is probably going to cave and find a new date:
Artcle Link (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=795&ncid=799&e=2&u=/eo/20030605/en_music_eo/11929)

Article also mentions "the weekend was already tapped by 20th Century Fox for their release Fantastic Four, about a family of superheroes" :hmm:

-jeremy

[Peter Reynolds]

I guess what some people might be trying to get at, is the propensity of studio execs to copy each other.

One studio has a disaster film, so another has to release one.
One studio has a meteor film...
One studio has a volcano film... etc

Hollywood thought sci fi was dead, then ID4 comes out and sci fi scripts start going into production everywhere.

Comics anyone? Xmen, Spiderman, Daredevil, Hulk...

Watch as we are bombarded beyond market saturation.

Marketing execs always think they've hit apon a trend. And then they beat an audience to death with it. They don't seem to understand the concept of "variety", which is kinda funny when you consider "Variety" is the main rag entertainment execs read.

This type of thinking is why Disney thinks that Monsters Inc did well because its 3d and "3d is in" and so it drops 2d. It then lets some guy with a business degree decide its future direction for animation.

Aardman and Pixar on the other hand seem to let animators have a lot of control, which is what made WB so hot in the days of Chuck Jones, etc.

An exec can't tell what is a hot script, what is funny, what is a good story, what is a good performance. So instead they try and put things interms of concepts or trends they think they understand.

If Disneys (post Pixar) efforts in 3d fail, and meantime, Pixar keep going from strength to strength, then execs might finally get the message, that the talent and the creatives are the key to success. Not some tosser from a business school that thinks its "cool" to be in the entertainment industry.

[FloydBishop]

Originally posted by jeremybirn
So, Floyd, you mention you're working on a "short" -- if you don't mind my asking, are you guys working for free, or what is the business model there?

-jeremy

The short is our own project, so we work on that when we have time. We're going to put it in the festival circuit when we finish it up. We keep getting distracted by other projects though, so the short has been slow going lately.

"Bass Hole" in it's current edit runs around four minutes.

[G Nilsson]

are you sure that all people are as cg-centric as the cgtalk users?
i mean does "those other" people really care if a movie is cg or 2d or whatever? i can understand if someone said "oh now ive seen a fish film, but i dont want to see another" but i doubt people would say "oh i saw a cg flick last week, no way ill see another one"... most average joes doesnt even know the difference between 2d and 3d!

/G

[mental]

Originally posted by Floyd Bishop
Sharkslayer looks to be about an underwater underworld spoof of mobsters, and the fish are more like people than fish.

http://www.animated-movies.net/SharkslayerPromotionalPoster2.jpg
the premise of Sharkslayer sounds very similar to 'Fish Police' the canceled primetime cartoon ran on CBS for one season in 1991. it was about a detective fish named Gil in a seedy gangster era town and even had a gangster shark played by Tim Curry (yes that Tim Curry).

-mental :surprised

[Emmanuel]

Sligthly OT, but amusing subject "clone movies":
the first similiar case I remember after the "let's make another cool monster movie like Jack Arnold did, but instead of ants we use...grasshoppers!" was "Robin Hood".
We had the very successful movie with Kevin Costner , then we had
at the same release period the one with Patrick Bergin.
I think thats where it all started (again).
Sometimes I wonder if its just coincidence, bad luck or politics.
The result will be that people get tired of it all ( like with the StarTrek movies).
They should put in cartoon movies when the others sho action flicks or horror stories, the audience likes to have a choice I guess, not between two similiar films, but different subjects and styles.
I am just happy that Sharkslayer didnt start when Nemo started.
"Do You prefer marlin or thuna, sir ?"-"Neither, gimme a T-bone..."

[FloydBishop]

Originally posted by mental
the premise of Sharkslayer sounds very similar to 'Fish Police' the canceled primetime cartoon ran on CBS for one season in 1991. it was about a detective fish named Gil in a seedy gangster era town and even had a gangster shark played by Tim Curry (yes that Tim Curry).

-mental :surprised

Fish Police premiered on CBS on February 28, 1992. The show, about the underwater police department of Fish City, was based upon the popular Steve Moncuse comic book of the same name. The show was a Hanna-Barbera production.


Voice Cast:
Inspector Gil ....................................... John Ritter
Chief Abalone ....................................... Edward Asner
Angel ............................................... JoBeth Williams
Crabby .............................................. Buddy Hackett
Mayor Cod ........................................... Jonathan Winters
Detective Catfish ................................... Robert Guillaume
Calamari ............................................ Hector Elizondo
Sharkster ........................................... Tim Curry
Goldie .............................................. Georgia Brown
Pearl ............................................... Megan Mullally
Tadpole ............................................. Charlie Schlatter
Mussels Marinara/Doc Croaker ........................ Frank Welker

Episodes
Season 1 (1991-1992)
(6 Episodes In Season 1)

* The Shell Game (Originally Aired 2/28/1992)
* A Fish Out Of Water (Originally Aired 3/6/1992)
* Beauty's Only Fin Deep (Originally Aired 3/13/1992)
* The Godfather (Originally Unaired)
* The Two Gils (Originally Unaired)
* No Way To Treat A Fillet-dy (Originally Unaired)


This came from:

http://www.pazsaz.com/fishplce.html


Which I found on a quick Google search.

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