Hollywood is Ailing, Animation to The Rescue

By Alex Russel
alex.russel@computeranimationschoolreview.com
Computer Animation School Review Columnist

People with animation jobs can rest easy. According to the Los Angeles Times, film executives see family films, and animation in particular, as the ticket out of depressing box-office results.

"Ice Age: The Meltdown" has brought renewed hope to the film business. In just two weeks, the film grossed over $100 million, breaking records for film releases at that time of year. With all the upheaval in media lately, animation careers across Hollywood could breathe easily.

Animation Careers to the Rescue

Box-office results have been in steady decline for the last few years, but family oriented animation has stood up well. Based on those results, movie studios have put more broad-based family films on their release schedules.

The family film campaign begins this summer with the release of a "Pirates of the Caribbean" sequel, starring Johnny Depp. On the surface, the film is live action, but so many of the action sequences are animated that the production provided enough animation jobs to make a full-length cartoon.

Pixar Animation Jobs Will Thrive

The other big summer release, strictly animation this time, is Pixar and Disney's hotly anticipated "Cars," directed by Pixar guru John Lasseter. "Cars" is expected to be a huge hit and another trophy in Lasseter's already legendary animation career.

The great news beyond all this is that film studios that have historically struggled with animation are getting back in the business. "Ice Age: The Meltdown" was released by Fox, and both Sony and Warner Brothers have animation projects coming out soon as well. Sony's first foray into computer animation, "Open Season," comes out in July.

Animation Careers Celebrate

While most animation careers are now found designing video games or in Web development, it's also true that Hollywood animation still serves as the profession's public face. This born-again faith that animation can save Hollywood only encourages other sectors of the industry to keep creating animation jobs and supporting animation careers. And that's good news indeed.

Sources
Los Angeles Times

About the Author
Alex Russel is a freelance media writer living in Brooklyn.

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