Although he wrote them in 1859, Charles Dickens might have been thinking of animation in 2021 when he penned the celebrated lines, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us…”
During the ongoing COVID pandemic, the animation industry again proved remarkably resilient: Many artists were already used to working remotely from home. But releasing strategies and box office earnings remained chaotic: With theaters beginning to reopen in some parts of the US, Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon opened on March 5th to $8.6 million on 2,045 screens. Variety noted, “it’s a sign of just how skewed the world of theatrical distribution has become that a major Disney release would fail to crack $10 million at the box office in its opening weekend.”
Looking over a year that see-sawed between Light and Darkness, I’m presenting the 9th annual awards for the year’s best and worst, named for the ultimate animation APM, Mikiko “Kuromi” Oguro.
SEASON OF LIGHT
Wabbit Season!/ Duck Season!/ Awards Season!
Soul won not only the Oscar for Best Animated Film and Best original Score, but the BAFTAs and Golden Globes in the same categories. Soul also set a new record for Nielsen’s weekly U.S. streaming rankings: It was No. 1 for the week of Dec. 21-27 with 1.669 billion minutes streamed — beating The Office in its final week on Netflix (1.435B min.).
Soul and WolfWalkers dominated the Annies: Soul won seven: Best Feature, Character Animation, Music, Storyboarding, Writing, Best FX and Editorial; WolfWalkers took home five: Best Independent Feature, Character Design, Direction, Production Design and Voice Acting.
The Cyber version of the Annies proved a great success, clocking in at just two hours.
Right before Thanksgiving, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced it would introduce a Children’s & Family Emmy Awards as a stand-alone competition and ceremony in 2022.
All the Way to the Bank
Artwork from the iconic films of Hayao Miyazaki and Katsuhiro Otomo set records at Heritage Auctions’ sale in June. A cel and background of Mei and Sasuke standing in the rain from My Neighbor Totoro topped the sale at $84,000. Two cel-and background set-ups from Akira bought $78,000 each. In a second anime auction by Heritage in December, a publicity cel of Goku and Shenron from Dragon Ball brought $20,400. A signed original drawing by Miyazaki for Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind went for $31,200.
Heritage set a record in August with a three-day animation art sale that brought in $4.5 million. Two paintings by Mary Blair, one for Peter Pan, one for the It’s Small World ride brought $72,000 apiece. A cel of from Chuck Jones’ Hair-Raising Hare (1946) of Bugs and the shaggy red IN-terestin’ monster Rudolph (later dubbed ”Gossamer”) fetched $52,800, while a cel from Jones’ 1952 Hasty Hare of Marvin Martian came in at $48,000.
Warner Bros.’ Space Jam: A New Legacy opened in mid-July with a dismal 31% fresh rating on Rotten ‘Tomatoes—but still took the weekend at $31.7 million.
In April, the Japan Times reported that the eagerly-anticipated Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba The Movie: Mugen Train earned $21 million its opening weekend in North America—the #1 foreign language film debut in U.S. box office history.
Buy Tickets Now!
Sony Pictures Animation’s teaser for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part One) looked like they were building on the innovative visuals and storytelling to make a worthy sequel Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
Across the Pacific
Hideaki Anno’s long-awaited and often-delayed Evangelion: 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon A Time took in ¥3.34 billion (about $30.6 million) in its first week, outperforming the previous installments. Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet, the 24th feature in the long-running “Case Closed” franchise, opened at number one in the global box office in April at $37 million.
In the fall, One Piece, Eiichiro Oda’s beloved comedy adventure series, broadcast its 1000th episode.
In February, Taiki Sakurai, Chief Producer, Anime for Netflix, announced they would consult on the curriculum and provide tuition and living expenses for 10 applicants for the WIT Animator Academy, a six-month training program from WIT Studio (Attack on Titan) and animation school Sasayuri. The program is designed to send graduates to WIT to work on projects, some for Netflix.
Sony Pictures Entertainment completed its acquisition of anime distributor Crunchyroll from AT&T in August for $1.17 billion. Deku and his classmates in My Hero Academia may have to work overtime to pay that off.
Silver Lining Department
Netflix’s misbegotten live action Cowboy Bebop debuted on November 19; on December 9th, the Hollywood Reporter announced its cancellation.
Such a Deal!
In August, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone signed with MTV Entertainment Studios to produce five more seasons of the show and 14 movies for Paramount+–a deal that will reportedly bring them more than $900 million.
Soyuzmultfilm, the venerable state-owned Moscow studio, became a joint-stock company, with the Russian government holding 25% of the shares and 75% to be offered for sale. The government will keep the rights to work made between 1950 and 2003, which includes many of the classic features by Lev Atamanov and Ivan Ivanov-Vano.
In November, Real Estate Alerts reported that the 450,000 square foot DreamWorks campus in Glendale would be sold to Brookfield Properties in New York for $327 million—almost twice the $185 million DreamWorks sold it for in 2015. The property is leased to DreamWorks until 2035.
At the House of Mouse
In January, Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do announced that Disneyland—which had has been closed since mid-March of 2020–would become a massive Covid-19 vaccination site. It’s a Small Jab After All.
In December, the board of the Walt Disney Company elected Susan E. Arnold as chairman of the board, succeeding Bob Iger. She’s the first woman to hold the position.
By Any Other Name
Tom Ascheim, President, Warner Bros. Global Kids, Young Adults and Classics announced in April that Warner Media would establish Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe in London.
More than Animation
In February, Portland-based LAIKA studio announced it was partnering with Maryland’s Bowie State University to build the nation’s first stop-motion animation studio at a historically Black university.
Also in February, Aardman Animation teamed with researchers and mental health charities to make ‘What’s Up With Everyone?’ a campaign of short films encouraging people aged 17-24 to become more aware of factors that could negatively affect their mental well being: loneliness, perfectionism, competitiveness, independence and social media.
In September, Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane released a three-minute psa urging people get COVID vaccinations. Stewie and Bri shrink to microscopic size, enter Peter’s body and explain how the vaccine combats the virus. MacFarlane told Jimmy Kimmel, “I looked around and saw everyone else at Fox Corp. doing their part to get good science out there and be responsible. Looking down the barrel at that kind of peer pressure, I said ‘Well, gosh, we gotta do something too.'”
SEASON OF DARKNESS
All the Way to the Bank—in Tears
As the country was emerging from lockdown in June, DreamWorks’ Spirit Untamed opened in 3,211 theaters at just $6.2 million. It was the lowest opening of any DreamWorks’ feature—even below Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, which opened in 2003 at $6.2 million—when tickets were about one-third cheaper.
Despite the record-breaking success of Demon Slayer— Kimetsu no Yaiba — The Movie: Mugen Train and other features, sales in the Japanese animation industry fell 1.8% in 2020–the first drop in a decade. Industry sales totaled ¥251.1 billion ($2.3 billion), down from a record ¥255.7 billion in 2019, Teikoku Databank reported in August.
Ufotable, the animation studio that produced the record-breaking Demon Slayer was indicted by the Japanese government for tax evasion in July: Prosecutors are seeking ¥137 million (about $1.24 million) in unpaid taxes.
By Any Other Misnomer
The Critics Choice Awards announced their “Super Award” ceremony slated for January celebrates “the most popular, fan-obsessed genres across both television and movies, including superhero, science fiction/fantasy, horror, action, and animation.” Of course animation isn’t a genre, but its inclusion would be more troubling if the Critics Choice Awards actually mattered to anyone.
Still Too Soon
Pioneering animation artist Ruthie Tompson, whose career stretched from Snow White to The Rescuers, died peacefully in her sleep at the age of 111 on October 10, at the Motion Picture and Television Fund Home.
Let Us Miss You
The Daily Beast reported in December that Bob’s Burgers had dropped actor Jay Johnson, the voice of Jimmy Pesto, Sr., from the series for his participation in the Jan 6th riot. The FBI had posted a photograph of suspect #247; a comedian who had worked with Johnson identified him as the man in the picture. He has yet to be charged.
What’s In a Name?
In August, ViacomCBS filed suit against a Houston-based restaurant, “The Rusty Krab”. The eatery is decorated to look like the cartoon settings in Nickelodeon’s Spongebob Squarepants and features drinks named Bikini Bottom Blast and Pineapple under the Sea. ViacomCBS says the apparent references to Spongebob violate its licensing policy for a kids’ series.
New York-based Conan’s Candles announced a scent they call “Walt’s Office:” “Imagine the hours Walt spent at his desk thinking up the fun ways to do the impossible. We tried to capture the essence of that feeling in a warm, sweet, heavenly scent. A hint of very fragrant pipe tobacco blending with a dash of vanilla warms out this masculine yet delicate aroma.” Assuming they mean Walt Disney, his office would have not have carried a ”hint” of pipe tobacco: he chain smoked unfiltered cigarettes—and died of lung cancer.
Spring Has Sprung
In February, Disney announced it would close the Blue Sky studio, which it had acquired when it bought 20th Century Fox.
Also in February, Cinefex, the magazine devoted to VFX, revealed it was ceasing publication after 40 years and 172 issues due to COVID-19.
In March, New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow asserted that Pepe Le Pew “added to rape culture,” provoking a firestorm on Twitter. Deadline reported that a scene with Pepe had been cut from Space Jam: A New Legacy. At the same time, an on-line controversy erupted over the “less sexualized” redesign of Lola Bunny in the film. Other commentators decried or celebrated the inclusion of Speedy Gonzalez.
The Truth and Anything But
In September, PBS’ “Public Editor” admitted they falsely claimed that Betty Boop was based on a Black child performer named Esther Jones. Although they didn’t manufacture the false story of Betty’s creation, they republished it, apparently without fact-checking it. A letter from Max Fleischer’s grandson Mark finally goaded PBS to issue a correction. Sadly, the myth has spread through the Internet.
Enough!
Three features—The Addams Family 2, Boss Baby: Family Business and The Mitchells vs. the Machines–included sort of caricatures of Apple and the late Steve Jobs. It’s time to find a new meme.
Kids, Don’t Try This At Home!
DR, Denmark’s public broadcaster, introduced John Dillermand, a stop-motion series aimed at children 4-8 about a man with the world’s longest penis. His member is also prehensile, and he uses it to perform chores and work mischief.
There Are Bad Times Just Around the Corner
In April, Christine and Mark Holder of Wonder Street acquired film and TV rights to Peeps candies. A planned feature is described as “in the spirit of Trolls-meets-Smurfs:” A ragtag group of Peeps sets out on a cross-country journey to attend a Peepsfest in Bethlehem, PA, where the candy is made. What’s next? Pez: The Search for Stale?
The Inbetweener in the Story Room with the Peg Bar.
Fox Entertainment, Hasbro’s content studio, Entertainment One and Bento Box Entertainment announced they were developing an animated series based on the board game Clue in February.
Cynicism or Honesty?
When one of dogs in the Paw Patrol feature asks Ryder how they can afford their snazzy new vehicles, he whips out a T-shirt and says “Paw Patrol” character merchandise “sells like hotcakes.”
Oh Canada
Toronto and Winnipeg-based Tangent Animation shut down unexpectedly in August. The same week, Disney announced they were opening a television production studio in Vancouver.
In an effort to quash “misinformation” about the fossil fuel industry, the Canadian Energy Centre (CEC) launched a petition complaining about the plot of the Belgian-French CG feature Bigfoot Family. Alberta premier and United Conservative Party leader Jason Kenney, who established the CEC to promote the country’s energy production, said the film was designed to “defame in the most vicious way possible, in the impressionable minds of kids, the largest industry in the province”.
There’ll Always Be an England (?)
In November, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson delivered a speech at a conference for business leaders that lauded the financial success of the preschool show Pepa Pig, saying it was worth “least £6 billion [$8 billion] to this country and counting. I think that is pure genius, don’t you? No government in the world, no Whitehall civil servant, would have conceivably come up with Peppa.”
Johnson later defended the speech saying it “went over well”.
The Bigotry Agenda
In May, the Russian government warned the Walt Disney Company not to distribute the Pixar short Out there as it violates Russian law. Directed by Steven Clay Hunter for Pixar’s Spark shorts series, Out centers on a gay man. The Russian letter to Disney said the film was harmful to the country’s children because it “denies family values and promotes non-traditional sexual relationships.”
“Out”
Chinese censors removed the Japanese TV series Ultraman Tiga from streaming services there in September. At the same time, China’s National Radio and Television Administration issued a statement condemning TV productions that contain violence, vulgarity, pornography, etc. and saying they wanted “excellent cartoons with healthy content that promote truth, goodness, and beauty.”
In November, Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.) shared an altered video of the opening credits for Attack on Titan. The congressman is depicted fighting the Titans, with Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez’s face edited over one of them. Gosar slashes the Titan in the back of the neck, killing it. Gosar also swings two swords at a foe whose face has been replaced with President Joe Biden’s. Later that month, the House of Representatives voted to censure Gosar and remove him from committee assignments.
And…
Finally, to this writer for being curmudgeonly above and beyond the call of duty at times.
Internationally known animation historian and critic, Charles Solomon has written over 15 books books including Enchanted Drawings: The History Of Animation, The Art of Disney's Frozen,The Making of Peanuts Animation, and Tale as Old as Time: The Art and Making of Disney Beauty and the Beast .
Latest posts by Charles Solomon
(see all)
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
Charles Solomon’s Animation Year End Review 2021
Although he wrote them in 1859, Charles Dickens might have been thinking of animation in 2021 when he penned the celebrated lines, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us…”
During the ongoing COVID pandemic, the animation industry again proved remarkably resilient: Many artists were already used to working remotely from home. But releasing strategies and box office earnings remained chaotic: With theaters beginning to reopen in some parts of the US, Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon opened on March 5th to $8.6 million on 2,045 screens. Variety noted, “it’s a sign of just how skewed the world of theatrical distribution has become that a major Disney release would fail to crack $10 million at the box office in its opening weekend.”
Looking over a year that see-sawed between Light and Darkness, I’m presenting the 9th annual awards for the year’s best and worst, named for the ultimate animation APM, Mikiko “Kuromi” Oguro.
SEASON OF LIGHT
Wabbit Season!/ Duck Season!/ Awards Season!
Soul won not only the Oscar for Best Animated Film and Best original Score, but the BAFTAs and Golden Globes in the same categories. Soul also set a new record for Nielsen’s weekly U.S. streaming rankings: It was No. 1 for the week of Dec. 21-27 with 1.669 billion minutes streamed — beating The Office in its final week on Netflix (1.435B min.).
Soul and WolfWalkers dominated the Annies: Soul won seven: Best Feature, Character Animation, Music, Storyboarding, Writing, Best FX and Editorial; WolfWalkers took home five: Best Independent Feature, Character Design, Direction, Production Design and Voice Acting.
The Cyber version of the Annies proved a great success, clocking in at just two hours.
Right before Thanksgiving, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced it would introduce a Children’s & Family Emmy Awards as a stand-alone competition and ceremony in 2022.
All the Way to the Bank
Artwork from the iconic films of Hayao Miyazaki and Katsuhiro Otomo set records at Heritage Auctions’ sale in June. A cel and background of Mei and Sasuke standing in the rain from My Neighbor Totoro topped the sale at $84,000. Two cel-and background set-ups from Akira bought $78,000 each. In a second anime auction by Heritage in December, a publicity cel of Goku and Shenron from Dragon Ball brought $20,400. A signed original drawing by Miyazaki for Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind went for $31,200.
Heritage set a record in August with a three-day animation art sale that brought in $4.5 million. Two paintings by Mary Blair, one for Peter Pan, one for the It’s Small World ride brought $72,000 apiece. A cel of from Chuck Jones’ Hair-Raising Hare (1946) of Bugs and the shaggy red IN-terestin’ monster Rudolph (later dubbed ”Gossamer”) fetched $52,800, while a cel from Jones’ 1952 Hasty Hare of Marvin Martian came in at $48,000.
Warner Bros.’ Space Jam: A New Legacy opened in mid-July with a dismal 31% fresh rating on Rotten ‘Tomatoes—but still took the weekend at $31.7 million.
In April, the Japan Times reported that the eagerly-anticipated Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba The Movie: Mugen Train earned $21 million its opening weekend in North America—the #1 foreign language film debut in U.S. box office history.
Buy Tickets Now!
Sony Pictures Animation’s teaser for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part One) looked like they were building on the innovative visuals and storytelling to make a worthy sequel Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
Across the Pacific
Hideaki Anno’s long-awaited and often-delayed Evangelion: 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon A Time took in ¥3.34 billion (about $30.6 million) in its first week, outperforming the previous installments. Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet, the 24th feature in the long-running “Case Closed” franchise, opened at number one in the global box office in April at $37 million.
In the fall, One Piece, Eiichiro Oda’s beloved comedy adventure series, broadcast its 1000th episode.
In February, Taiki Sakurai, Chief Producer, Anime for Netflix, announced they would consult on the curriculum and provide tuition and living expenses for 10 applicants for the WIT Animator Academy, a six-month training program from WIT Studio (Attack on Titan) and animation school Sasayuri. The program is designed to send graduates to WIT to work on projects, some for Netflix.
Sony Pictures Entertainment completed its acquisition of anime distributor Crunchyroll from AT&T in August for $1.17 billion. Deku and his classmates in My Hero Academia may have to work overtime to pay that off.
Silver Lining Department
Netflix’s misbegotten live action Cowboy Bebop debuted on November 19; on December 9th, the Hollywood Reporter announced its cancellation.
Such a Deal!
In August, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone signed with MTV Entertainment Studios to produce five more seasons of the show and 14 movies for Paramount+–a deal that will reportedly bring them more than $900 million.
Soyuzmultfilm, the venerable state-owned Moscow studio, became a joint-stock company, with the Russian government holding 25% of the shares and 75% to be offered for sale. The government will keep the rights to work made between 1950 and 2003, which includes many of the classic features by Lev Atamanov and Ivan Ivanov-Vano.
In November, Real Estate Alerts reported that the 450,000 square foot DreamWorks campus in Glendale would be sold to Brookfield Properties in New York for $327 million—almost twice the $185 million DreamWorks sold it for in 2015. The property is leased to DreamWorks until 2035.
At the House of Mouse
In January, Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do announced that Disneyland—which had has been closed since mid-March of 2020–would become a massive Covid-19 vaccination site. It’s a Small Jab After All.
In December, the board of the Walt Disney Company elected Susan E. Arnold as chairman of the board, succeeding Bob Iger. She’s the first woman to hold the position.
By Any Other Name
Tom Ascheim, President, Warner Bros. Global Kids, Young Adults and Classics announced in April that Warner Media would establish Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe in London.
More than Animation
In February, Portland-based LAIKA studio announced it was partnering with Maryland’s Bowie State University to build the nation’s first stop-motion animation studio at a historically Black university.
Also in February, Aardman Animation teamed with researchers and mental health charities to make ‘What’s Up With Everyone?’ a campaign of short films encouraging people aged 17-24 to become more aware of factors that could negatively affect their mental well being: loneliness, perfectionism, competitiveness, independence and social media.
In September, Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane released a three-minute psa urging people get COVID vaccinations. Stewie and Bri shrink to microscopic size, enter Peter’s body and explain how the vaccine combats the virus. MacFarlane told Jimmy Kimmel, “I looked around and saw everyone else at Fox Corp. doing their part to get good science out there and be responsible. Looking down the barrel at that kind of peer pressure, I said ‘Well, gosh, we gotta do something too.'”
SEASON OF DARKNESS
All the Way to the Bank—in Tears
As the country was emerging from lockdown in June, DreamWorks’ Spirit Untamed opened in 3,211 theaters at just $6.2 million. It was the lowest opening of any DreamWorks’ feature—even below Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, which opened in 2003 at $6.2 million—when tickets were about one-third cheaper.
Despite the record-breaking success of Demon Slayer— Kimetsu no Yaiba — The Movie: Mugen Train and other features, sales in the Japanese animation industry fell 1.8% in 2020–the first drop in a decade. Industry sales totaled ¥251.1 billion ($2.3 billion), down from a record ¥255.7 billion in 2019, Teikoku Databank reported in August.
Ufotable, the animation studio that produced the record-breaking Demon Slayer was indicted by the Japanese government for tax evasion in July: Prosecutors are seeking ¥137 million (about $1.24 million) in unpaid taxes.
By Any Other Misnomer
The Critics Choice Awards announced their “Super Award” ceremony slated for January celebrates “the most popular, fan-obsessed genres across both television and movies, including superhero, science fiction/fantasy, horror, action, and animation.” Of course animation isn’t a genre, but its inclusion would be more troubling if the Critics Choice Awards actually mattered to anyone.
Still Too Soon
Pioneering animation artist Ruthie Tompson, whose career stretched from Snow White to The Rescuers, died peacefully in her sleep at the age of 111 on October 10, at the Motion Picture and Television Fund Home.
Let Us Miss You
The Daily Beast reported in December that Bob’s Burgers had dropped actor Jay Johnson, the voice of Jimmy Pesto, Sr., from the series for his participation in the Jan 6th riot. The FBI had posted a photograph of suspect #247; a comedian who had worked with Johnson identified him as the man in the picture. He has yet to be charged.
What’s In a Name?
In August, ViacomCBS filed suit against a Houston-based restaurant, “The Rusty Krab”. The eatery is decorated to look like the cartoon settings in Nickelodeon’s Spongebob Squarepants and features drinks named Bikini Bottom Blast and Pineapple under the Sea. ViacomCBS says the apparent references to Spongebob violate its licensing policy for a kids’ series.
New York-based Conan’s Candles announced a scent they call “Walt’s Office:” “Imagine the hours Walt spent at his desk thinking up the fun ways to do the impossible. We tried to capture the essence of that feeling in a warm, sweet, heavenly scent. A hint of very fragrant pipe tobacco blending with a dash of vanilla warms out this masculine yet delicate aroma.” Assuming they mean Walt Disney, his office would have not have carried a ”hint” of pipe tobacco: he chain smoked unfiltered cigarettes—and died of lung cancer.
Spring Has Sprung
In February, Disney announced it would close the Blue Sky studio, which it had acquired when it bought 20th Century Fox.
Also in February, Cinefex, the magazine devoted to VFX, revealed it was ceasing publication after 40 years and 172 issues due to COVID-19.
In March, New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow asserted that Pepe Le Pew “added to rape culture,” provoking a firestorm on Twitter. Deadline reported that a scene with Pepe had been cut from Space Jam: A New Legacy. At the same time, an on-line controversy erupted over the “less sexualized” redesign of Lola Bunny in the film. Other commentators decried or celebrated the inclusion of Speedy Gonzalez.
The Truth and Anything But
In September, PBS’ “Public Editor” admitted they falsely claimed that Betty Boop was based on a Black child performer named Esther Jones. Although they didn’t manufacture the false story of Betty’s creation, they republished it, apparently without fact-checking it. A letter from Max Fleischer’s grandson Mark finally goaded PBS to issue a correction. Sadly, the myth has spread through the Internet.
Enough!
Three features—The Addams Family 2, Boss Baby: Family Business and The Mitchells vs. the Machines–included sort of caricatures of Apple and the late Steve Jobs. It’s time to find a new meme.
Kids, Don’t Try This At Home!
DR, Denmark’s public broadcaster, introduced John Dillermand, a stop-motion series aimed at children 4-8 about a man with the world’s longest penis. His member is also prehensile, and he uses it to perform chores and work mischief.
There Are Bad Times Just Around the Corner
In April, Christine and Mark Holder of Wonder Street acquired film and TV rights to Peeps candies. A planned feature is described as “in the spirit of Trolls-meets-Smurfs:” A ragtag group of Peeps sets out on a cross-country journey to attend a Peepsfest in Bethlehem, PA, where the candy is made. What’s next? Pez: The Search for Stale?
The Inbetweener in the Story Room with the Peg Bar.
Fox Entertainment, Hasbro’s content studio, Entertainment One and Bento Box Entertainment announced they were developing an animated series based on the board game Clue in February.
Cynicism or Honesty?
When one of dogs in the Paw Patrol feature asks Ryder how they can afford their snazzy new vehicles, he whips out a T-shirt and says “Paw Patrol” character merchandise “sells like hotcakes.”
Oh Canada
Toronto and Winnipeg-based Tangent Animation shut down unexpectedly in August. The same week, Disney announced they were opening a television production studio in Vancouver.
In an effort to quash “misinformation” about the fossil fuel industry, the Canadian Energy Centre (CEC) launched a petition complaining about the plot of the Belgian-French CG feature Bigfoot Family. Alberta premier and United Conservative Party leader Jason Kenney, who established the CEC to promote the country’s energy production, said the film was designed to “defame in the most vicious way possible, in the impressionable minds of kids, the largest industry in the province”.
There’ll Always Be an England (?)
In November, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson delivered a speech at a conference for business leaders that lauded the financial success of the preschool show Pepa Pig, saying it was worth “least £6 billion [$8 billion] to this country and counting. I think that is pure genius, don’t you? No government in the world, no Whitehall civil servant, would have conceivably come up with Peppa.”
Johnson later defended the speech saying it “went over well”.
The Bigotry Agenda
In May, the Russian government warned the Walt Disney Company not to distribute the Pixar short Out there as it violates Russian law. Directed by Steven Clay Hunter for Pixar’s Spark shorts series, Out centers on a gay man. The Russian letter to Disney said the film was harmful to the country’s children because it “denies family values and promotes non-traditional sexual relationships.”
“Out”
Chinese censors removed the Japanese TV series Ultraman Tiga from streaming services there in September. At the same time, China’s National Radio and Television Administration issued a statement condemning TV productions that contain violence, vulgarity, pornography, etc. and saying they wanted “excellent cartoons with healthy content that promote truth, goodness, and beauty.”
In November, Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.) shared an altered video of the opening credits for Attack on Titan. The congressman is depicted fighting the Titans, with Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez’s face edited over one of them. Gosar slashes the Titan in the back of the neck, killing it. Gosar also swings two swords at a foe whose face has been replaced with President Joe Biden’s. Later that month, the House of Representatives voted to censure Gosar and remove him from committee assignments.
And…
Finally, to this writer for being curmudgeonly above and beyond the call of duty at times.