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3D Animated Feature News, Spring 2004

© Nicholas Moreau

DreamWorks makes a mobster Jewish, to avoid controversy
DreamWorks' upcoming animated "mob comedy" Shark Tale is trying desperately not to be controversial. Reports were floating around the Internet, saying that the movie contains "harmful, manipulative Italian stereotypes." Possibly to combat this risky position of reduxing the aftershock of The Passion of the Christ, the film's official site has changed ever so slightly. Peter Falk's shark character, Don Brizzi, has been renamed Don Feinberg.

While this makes this mob multi-cultural, I don't see how it helps the matters; it might even spark anti-Semitism. Frankly, if they wrote a good enough script in the first place, they could make it entertaining and have it liked by the mafia itself, take The Sopranos for instance. Some cast members have commented on being stopped in the middle of the streets of New York by intimidating Italian-Americans, who complement them on how real and honest the series actually is.

Furthermore, this picture raises the question: When will DreamWorks stop copying Pixar? DreamWorks' first feature Antx, was weeks before A Bugs' Life, and the ogre named Shrek was a month or two before the professional scarers of Monsters Inc. Now, the studio releases a film that takes place under the sea, just a year after Finding Nemo swept the box offices, becoming the number one animated film of all-time. Even in they're classical animation division, DreamWorks released Sinbad, only a year after Disney's Treasure Planet. Has DreamWorks started on a feature about a family of superheroes yet, or one taking place along Route 66?

Pixar CFO retires
Pixar's Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, Ann Mather, is retiring in May to spend more time with her family. It was announced on March 23rd that Simon Bax would be taking over these roles.

"I am delighted to be joining a company that I have long admired," said Pixar's soon-to-be CFO Simon Bax.  "The passion and focus that exudes from Pixar is exhilarating and I look forward to contributing to the studio's continued success."

Between 1994 and 2001, Bax raised revenues at Fox Filmed Entertainment from $1.5 billion to $4.5 billion.

Pixar Animation Studios (Nasdaq: PIXR, www.pixar.com)

Introducing Project Firefly Animation Studios
You may have heard of Walt Disney Studio's recent closure of their Florida animation studio, actually located in the Disney-MGM Studios theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort. From this closure, the animators have banded together to create their own feature animation studios.

First announced were Legacy Animation and Funnypages Productions; both were founded to keep traditional animation alive and kicking, and both will start off producing series work, to eventually gain the experience need to also create features.

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