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Digital Media FX News Archives

Tuesday - August 21, 2001
- Cartoon Museum to Exit Florida
- Shrek to Settle for Second Place
- Final Weekend Box Office Numbers
- News Link of the Day - Microsoft Denies Xbox Delay

Cartoon Museum to Exit Florida
(by digitalmediafx.com) Continued debts and large mortgage payments are forcing The International Museum of Cartoon Art to leave Florida and seek a cheaper location in another state. The International Museum of Cartoon Art has been in the news for several months as it tried to auction off some of its best exhibits in order to raise money to keep the museum in Florida.

This will be the third time since 1974 that the museum has picked up and moved to a different state. In Florida, the museum consistently failed to draw predicted numbers and quickly fell millions of dollars into debt. Less than a third of estimated visitors toured the museum. The controversial auctions failed to produce the needed revenue to cover the debts. Many pieces didn't sell or sold well below the estimated value.

The fancy building that currently houses The International Museum of Cartoon Art will be sold to help cover over $2 million in debts that the auctions didn't cover.

Mort Walker, who founded the museum, said in a statement, "It breaks my heart to sell this beautiful building. However, in the real world, cold financial facts take precedence over a cartoonist's cherished dream.''

There are over 200,000 exhibits at The International Museum of Cartoon Art.

For more information, see these past Digital Media FX stories on the museum's auctions:

Cartoon Museum to Auction Mickey Mouse Drawings
Mickey Mouse Drawings Don't Save Cartoon Museum!
Mickey Mouse Storyboard Up For Auction Again

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Shrek to Settle for Second Place
(by digitalmediafx.com) At one time, DreamWorks was considering a Fall rerelease of Shrek into theaters with new footage that likely would have catapulted the film past The Lion King as the highest grossing animated movie ever (not adjusting for inflation).

Instead, DreamWorks has decided to launch a blatant attack against Pixar by releasing a special Shrek 2-disc DVD, with new footage, on the exact same day that Pixar's Monsters, Inc. hits theaters - November 2, 2001. That's a Friday, a day that studios never release DVDs or videos (video and DVD releases are always launched on Tuesdays).

The move creates a danger for DreamWorks as some people's perceptions of the studio could change to that of a "bully" as it applies strong-arm tactics that use to be a virtual "trademark" of Disney. A September editorial by Digital Media FX will examine this issue more closely.

Click here to visit the Digital Media FX Shrek Movie Site.

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Final Weekend Box Office Numbers
(by digitalmediafx.com) Final weekend box office numbers are in and here are the results for the top animated and visual effects movies:

The gain/loss represents the movie's performance when compared to last weekend.

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News Link of the Day - Microsoft Denies Xbox Delay

According to CNN:

"Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox game console may face a production delay, but will still probably arrive in stores in November, according to a report released by analysts at Thomas Weisel Partners.

The analysts, citing unnamed sources, said a flaw in Intel Corp.'s design of the motherboard, or main computer component of the Xbox, may set production of the much-hyped new game player back by three to four weeks..."

Click here for the full story.

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These news articles and all digitalmediafx.com content are ©copyright 2001 by Joe Tracy and may not be reused for any purpose without expressed written consent of the author and Digital Media FX. All rights reserved.