Shrek
News Archives - April 2001
Shrek
Characters in Reading Ads
(April 30 - by digitalmediafx.com) When Disney's critically
acclaimed Beauty and the Beast animated feature
hit theaters in 1991, Belle started popping up in Public
Service Ads encouraging kids to read. Now, a decade later,
Shrek characters are set to begin popping up in
ads - newspaper ads to be specific - also encouraging
kids to read.
Shrek,
the Ogre from DreamWorks upcoming Shrek animated
movie, and his best friend, Donkey, are the latest characters
to be featured in ads from the Newspaper Association of
America encouraging young people to read. The ads are
timed to run in conjunction with the movie's release on
May 18.
"It's
great fun to tie in the ad campaign with such a unique
film," noted NAA Senior Vice President and Chief
Marketing Officer John E. Kimball. "Young people
love these movie characters, and showing them with a newspaper
is a great way to communicate a positive message about
reading. We've gotten great feedback from members about
the terrific response they get from running the ads in
their markets."
Click
here to see a large version of Ad #1
Click
here to see a large version of Ad #2
Media
- Shrek to Score Big
(April 28, 2001 - by digitalmediafx.com) Shrek,
the new animated film by DreamWorks and PDI, is receiving
a lot of positive advance buzz from major news media throughout
the U.S. Most predict that Shrek will be one of the biggest
box office movies of the summer.
"It
could become the must-see family film of the summer, and
not just because of its celebrity voice cast," says
USA Today. "The quest of an ogre with a Scottish
accent arrives with terrific advance word of mouth, eye-poppingly
believable computer animation and loads of sight gags
that take aim at fairy-tale characters."
USA
Today sees Shrek as one of the five most unique
films of the summer. MSNBC, meanwhile, calls Shrek
one of the biggest films of the summer.
In
addition, Shrek has received a ton of publicity
for being only one of five American films to be accepted
into the prestigious Cannes competition, which only shows
films that "contribute to the progress of the motion
picture arts and to encourage the development of the film
industry throughout the world"
The
New York Times says that "Shrek has been made
with computer technology that is being hailed within the
industry as the most advanced yet."
The
mass of publicity surrounding Shrek will only help
bring more people out to see it on May 18 when it is released,
with virtually no competition, in theaters nationwide.
DreamWorks
Bypasses Release of Shrek Background Score
(April 27, 2001 - by digitalmediafx.com) DreamWorks, which
has in the past paid delicate attention to its animated
film soundtracks, is giving the listener "less"
with Shrek. DreamWorks announced that its soundtrack
for Shrek will contain several songs from groups
like The Baha Men and Smash Mouth, but it will only contain
one "medley of score excerpts" for fans of background
scores. DreamWorks has given no public indications that
it plans to release a full background score for Shrek.
The
official title of the soundtrack is "Shrek - Music
From The Original Motion Picture." It was overseen
by DreamWorks Records executives Michael Ostin, Robbie
Robertson and Lenny Waronker and DreamWorks Pictures music
supervisor Marylata E. Jacob, all of whom served as executive
album producers.
The
Shrek soundtrack, minus the background scores,
will come out on May 15.
Shrek
Video Game to Launch with X-Box
(April 24, 2001 - by digitalmediafx.com) When the Microsoft
X-Box is released this fall, one of the first titles to
be released with it will be based on DreamWorks/PDI animated
Shrek. The game is part of a five year licensing
deal reached between DreamWorks and video game developer
TDK Mediactive. DreamWorks will assist in creating a storyline
for the game in allowing TDK Mediactive to use models
that were used to create the movie. The goal will be to
recreate the quality of the movie characters for the video
game characters.
"TDK
Mediactive is excited to be part of the first wave of
the Xbox experience, especially with such a high-profile
license. Shrek is a great video game character,"
said Vincent Bitetti, CEO of TDK Mediactive. "This
is our first future-generation console title announcement,
and we couldn't be more pleased with the support we have
received from DreamWorks and Microsoft in this endeavor."
Shrek
Wins Showing at Cannes!
(April 20, 2001 - by digitalmediafx.com) In what is considered
a major boost for DreamWorks, its newest animated film,
Shrek has been accepted to be shown at the prestigious
International Cannes event. Digital
Media FX reported earlier this week that Shrek
was being seriously considered by Cannes as a film that
contributes "to the progress of the motion picture
arts and to encourage the development of the film industry
throughout the world" - a requirement to be shown
at Cannes.
What
makes the showing more impressive is that Shrek
is the first animated film since Walt Disneys 1953
Peter Pan to receive a prestigious showing at Cannes.
According
to the New York Times, "Shrek has been made
with computer technology that is being hailed within the
industry as the most advanced yet. Thousands of characters
have been created with heightened realism. The film has
taken more than 275 artists, computer animators, software
developers and engineers almost three years to make."
While
DreamWorks is credited for Shrek, it was actually
DreamWorks subsidiary, PDI, which did the animating for
the movie.
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