Word: shrek
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Coming to every theater near you on May 4: Spider-Man 3. (The first two films about the Marvel Comics kid with the gooey arms took in $1.6 billion worldwide.) Then on May 18, Shrek the Third. (Total gross of the first two chapters: $1.4 billion.) And a week later, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. (The first two earned more than $1.7 billion.) That's close to $5 billion for the six movies, not including the really easy money in DVD revenue. How big the bucks for Take 3 in each of the gigan-chises...
That--rather than the itch of some gifted writer or director to make an original statement--is the reason these movies get made. Audiences don't demand art here, just terrific entertainment. The first Shrek served that up in style; so did the first Pirates. But the second and third time around, the studio's need for a sure thing is matched by the moviegoer's desire for a familiar one. For all the skills on display, sequels are made primarily to satisfy the consumer's addiction for the same old, some new. Isn't that called...
...international appeal. Three of the top five grossing films in Japanese history were produced by Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli. Of those, Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle were honored by the Oscar committee. No longer ghettoized in Saturday-morning cartoons or serial blockbusters like Ice Age and Shrek, animation now encompasses the content for mighty subindustries, including games, cartoons for television and cable, live-action special-effects films, commercials and - the latest frontier - mobile phones. Asian countries have distinct advantages in the business, in addition to relatively cheap labor. Many governments offer special tax provisions and investment incentives...
...other way!”). At night, while my classmates were in Chile discovering extrasolar planets, I was in my pajamas discovering the identity of the Half-Blood Prince. While some students were interning at hospitals learning how to save lives, I was giving Little Johnny a Shrek band-aid to cover his knee scrape. The whole idea of even finding a “worthwhile” job was foreign to me: I was shocked to discover that the word “resume” was more than a button on my TiVo remote...
...smash The Incredibles, "you must express!" As Pixar melds with Disney, the big challenge will be to keep expressing originality in an increasingly cluttered field. There's a toon army on the march: this year a record number of animated features will be released, and coming up are the Shrek and Ice Age crews. Here's a sneak peek at what's on the horizon from animation's new power couple...