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Animation / FX Cheers and Sneers - April 2001
(by digitalmediafx.com) Here is the list of Digital Media FX's April 2001 Cheers and Sneers for the animation and visual effects industries:

Cheers: Michael Dudok de Wit (winner of this year's Best Animated Short Oscar) receives an HDTV set from the Academy for giving the shortest speech at the Academy Awards. He promptly donates the TV set to charity.

Sneers: A movie trailer for Osmosis Jones (at the time, rated PG-13) is tagged onto Pokemon 3, but hardly no one sees it because Pokemon 3 performs so poorly at the Box Office (despite free trading cards being given away). WB announces plans for Pokemon 4.

Cheers: Michael Eisner, chairman of Disney, makes a comment at the Washington News Bureau that Disney animators deserve the greatest protection within Disney because they "represent the heart and soul of Disney."

Sneers: Just one week after Eisner says animators "represent the heart and soul of Disney," it is reported that Disney Animation will be hardest hit in planned Disney layoffs and that those animators that remain will have their salaries slashed by up to 50%.

Cheers: Steven Spielberg announces that he is bringing E.T. back to the big screen with new footage. Spielberg passes on the idea of test marketing the rerelease first (like WB always does with mixed results) in order to give everyone the opportunity to see it again in its original format and fully remastered.

Sneers: Mighty Mouse endorses cheese in a TV commercial where the super mouse doesn't save the day because he would rather be eating cheese. Another classic cartoon icon reappears only as a 100% commercialization character.

Cheers: A groundbreaking ceremony is held in Kansas City to restore Walt Disney's original Laugh-O-Gram Studios. It is called the "birthplace of the world's biggest entertainment empire [Disney]."

Sneers: DreamWorks announces a pop soundtrack for Shrek but doesn't elude to any plans for a Shrek background score. Instead DreamWorks announces that there will be a medley consisting of short clips from the background score on the soundtrack. This is a major surprise from a company that took such pride in past score releases.

Cheers: DreamWorks extends its movie distribution deal with Universal Studios, which had been a long running winning combination. DreamWorks had been considering switching over to AOL Time Warner.

Cheers: Shrek wins a showing at Cannes, the first animated film accepted into the elite competition since the 1950's.

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