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Digital
Media FX News Archives
Sunday
- May 20, 2001
- Maurice Noble Passes Away
at 91 Years of Age
- Shrek Makes and
Estimated $42.1 Million in Opening Weekend
- Mickey Mouse Drawings Don't
Save Cartoon Museum!
- News Link of the Day
- Arts Extra: The Lessons of Hollywood’s Creative
Crisis
Maurice
Noble Passes Away at 91 Years of Age
 (by
digitalmediafx.com) Animation layout and design legend Maurice
Noble passed away on Friday at the age of 91. Noble's distinct
and innovative use of color and design can be seen in classic
Disney films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio,
and Fantasia.
Noble worked
on more than 60 Warner Bros. cartoons featuring characters such
as Bugs Bunny, Marvin the Martian, Daffy Duck, Pepe Le Pew, Elmer
Fudd, Porky Pig, Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner. A lot of his
influence could be seen in 1995's "That's Warner Bros."
production which took a look at classic Warner Bros. animated
shorts.
Noble's history
in animation layout and art is almost unrivaled.
"He enhanced
every film, and provided inspiration and creativity to the team,"
says another well-known name in the industry - Chuck Jones. "He
never showed off, but he did show up every layout man or art director
I have ever known by his honesty, his devotion to his craft, and
above all, his commitment to the film at hand. Without him, a
great many of my films could not have been made."
Noble's fame
and style stuck with him until his death. Several years ago he
was asked to begin training a new generation of artists in his
style and technique. He accepted the challenge and the group he
was training quickly became known as the "Noble Boys."
 After
World War II (in which Noble created animated films for the Armed
Forces), Noble entered into a creative partnership with Jones
that would continue, off and on, for nearly 50 years. Some of
the more famous animated short subjects he designed include "Duck
Dodgers in the 24th Century," "Bully For Bugs,"
"Duck Amuck" and "What's Opera, Doc?"
"What's
Opera, Doc?" was inducted into the National Film Registry
in December 1992 for "being among the most culturally, historically
or aesthetically significant films of our time."
In the 1960s,
Noble's collaboration with Jones continued as both produced many
Dr. Suess classics including "The Cat In The Hat," "Horton
Hears a Who," and the original animated adaptation of "How
The Grinch Stole Christmas."
At the time
of his death, Noble was working on a design and layout book. There's
no word yet on how far along he was and if the work completed
will be published.
Noble is survived
by his wife Marjorie, two children and a grandson. His life will
be celebrated in a memorial service in June.
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Shrek Makes
an Estimated $42.1 Million in Opening Weekend!
(by digitalmediafx.com) Weekend estimates are in and Shrek
was crowned king of the Box Office with a $42.1 million take,
topping last year's Dinosaur animated movie by Disney released
the same weekend a year ago. That's also more than double DreamWorks
Chicken Run release last year, which brought in $17.6 million
in its opening weekend.
While the
opening of Shrek isn't the biggest in animation history,
it is among the top and gives the movie a chance at breaking into
the Top
10 Animated Movies of all time list. Shrek's
estimated $42.1 million take even beats Disney's The Lion King,
which made $40.8 million in its opening weekend in 1994 on its
way to becoming the number one highest grossing animated movie
of all time.
Final numbers
will be released Monday evening. Click
here to visit the dFX Shrek Movie Site.
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Mickey
Mouse Drawings Don't Save Cartoon Museum!
(by digitalmediafx.com) The International Museum of Cartoon
Art's quest to sell
rare Mickey Mouse drawings - including a storyboard
for "Plane Crazy" - didn't go as planned on Saturday,
leaving the museum still in debt.
The "Plane
Crazy" storyboard, valued at $3.2 million, only sold for
$800,000. Dozens of other Mickey Mouse drawings sold far under
their value or didn't sell at all. This leaves the museum still
in debt to a bank that holds its mortgage. The museum says it
will now work on fund raisers or possibly sell its building in
order to get out of debt.
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News Link
of the Day - Arts Extra: The Lessons of Hollywood’s Creative
Crisis
According to MSNBC:
"Every
year I keep a running list of the films I’ll want to remember
in December when it comes time to compile my 10 Best list. The
year 2001 was a third over at the end of April, and a stunning
fact stared me in the face. The major Hollywood studios had not
produced one film that had a prayer of ending up on my list. In
fact, the studios had not—until the arrival of Shrek
in mid-May—released even one good movie, by any standards.…"
Click
here for the full story.
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