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Quoted from the Chicago Tribune (because they're a subscription site):
Disney Unit to Start Making 3D Films
By GARY GENTILE AP Business Writer Published September 30, 2004, 6:20 PM CDT
LOS ANGELES -- Miramax Films will co-finance and distribute computer-animated family films starting with "Opus," adapted from the popular "Bloom County" comic strip, the company said Thursday.
Miramax will release some of the films under its Dimension banner and produce them in conjunction with Wild Brain Inc., a San Francisco-based animated film company perhaps best known for creating the nasty toe fungus in commercials for the prescription drug Lamisil.
The multiyear deal also gives Miramax and Dimension the opportunity to distribute direct-to-video productions fully financed by Wild Brain, the companies said.
The deal envisions lower budget feature films consistent with Miramax's independent studio status. Films will cost about half of the bigger budget movies produced by Pixar Animation Studios or DreamWorks SKG.
"What you spend doesn't necessarily reflect on how good the movie is," said Jim Miller, Wild Brain chairman.
The announcement comes as The Walt Disney Co., which owns Miramax, is gearing up its own computer-animated film production to replace Pixar's films. Disney's deal with Pixar expires after the delivery of next year's film "Cars."
Disney will release its first computer-animated film "Chicken Little" next year.
The Miramax-Wild Brain collaboration will probably produce one film every 18 months or even longer, with the first effort targeted for late 2006 or early 2007.
The choice of subject for the first film reflects Miramax's eclectic tastes and could prove to be a hard sell, especially to younger audiences.
The character of Opus is a rotund penguin with a cynical world view -- far from the heartwarming characters at the center of such films as "Finding Nemo."
"We agree that it's a challenge," Miller said. "How do you take the essence of those characters, who are a little cynical, and move them into a story that can reach adults at the 'Bloom County' level and children at their level? We think we have a terrific story."
The challenge has been given to screenwriter Craig Mazin, whose credits include "Scary Movie 3." "Bloom County" is written by Berkeley Breathed.
Dimension has been working on the "Opus" project for a year. Wild Brain's participation in the deal is being financed by European private equity firm Syntek Capital AG.
Wild Brain also produces the preschool television series "Higglytown Heroes" on the Disney Channel, as well as commercials for Coca-Cola and Nike.
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posted
That article has it wrong. Opus doesn't have a cynical world view. In fact, he's about the only character in those strips that doesn't. He is quite naive and exuberantly optimistic. A real likeable little guy, in fact.
Posts: 1652 | Registered: Aug 2003
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Yeah, it sounds like they're changing Opus's character quite a bit.
Chad, you could be thinking of Bloom County, but that description would apply equally well to This Modern World.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Back in the eighties I wasn't even old enough to understand the politics of the day, and I still thought Bloom County was the greatest comic strip ever.
I don't know whether my favorite character was Oliver Wendell Jones (owner of the Banana PC, Jr.), or Milo Bloom (the only true adult in the whole strip, even if was physically a kid), or Binkley (he of the Anxiety Closet), or even ol' Opus himself.
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I don't think that Bloom County has aged all that well--it was too topical to be as timeless as something like Calvin and Hobbes or The Far Side, but in it's day it was one of the best strips running. It had quirky, authentically interesting characters, relevant social and political commentary, and was often damned funny (well, to me, anyway).
I don't rank Bloom County as being on the same tier as truly great strips like Krazy Kat, Pogo, and Calvin and Hobbes (the three best comic strips so far, in my opinion), but it's up there. I'd probably rank it in the same tier as early Peanuts, personally.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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any of you remember "A Wish For Wings That Work"? It was a 30-minute bloom county Christmas special that came out in the late 80s or early 90s. I think I have it on VHS somewhere in some box.
I'm excited to see what happens... but I was disappointed at the last cartoon effort. The voice sounded a little too Winnie-the-pooh-ish for my liking.
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Reading old Bloom County is like reading old Doonesbury. It is pegged to a particular time and a particular set of political and pop-culture circumstances. If you weren't there, or don't remember, a lot of it might go over your head.
Even still, I love to go back and read them both.
Of the most popular comic strips of the eighties/early nineties, I would rank my favorites as follows:
1. Bloom County 2. The Far Side 3. Calvin and Hobbes
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No, but it was funny before that. I've read some of the old (really old) stuff, and it was pretty good.
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I read some Bloom County books recently. The first 3 collections still hold up pretty well, but after that, it went downhill when the humor became mostly about the shallowness of celebrity culture...
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We'll have to agree to disagree again, Dave. While I was a huge "Bloom County" fan back when it was good, it went bad almost a year before "Outland" and never really recovered -- and "Opus" just plain sucks.
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Porter, Peanuts has definitely sucked for at least the past 30 years. If you can dig up some collections of its early years, though, you'll find that it was actually a very smart, very funny strip at one time.
Tom, I agree that Bloom County started to go downhill toward the end of its run, although I don't feel like it plunged down as far as you do. I completely agree with you on Outland though. Personally, I doubt that it's possible for a weekly strip to build up sufficent steam to really develop the kind of flow that is usually necessary for a comic to really succeed.
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Oh, sure Kwea, even today it has lots of fans. I can't really fathom why that is, but I know that it's the case. I'd love to hear what it is that you like about it.
In any case, I don't make the mistake of thinking that my opinion = unquestionable truth. Sorry if I stated that one too emphatically. You're welcome to love modern Peanuts, Marmaduke, The Family Circus, modern Dennis the Menace, The Better Half, Andy Capp, Beetle Baily, Hi and Lois, Hagar the Horrible, Mary Worth, Brenda Star, Apartment 3-G, or any other comic that I don't appreciate. I'll probably scratch my head and look at you funny, but don't let that stop you!
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While I was a huge "Bloom County" fan back when it was good, it went bad almost a year before "Outland" and never really recovered -- and "Opus" just plain sucks.
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