How can we bring back Adult Animation to the cinemas?

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How can we bring back Adult Animation to the cinemas?

Post by Darkblade » November 19th, 2009, 7:53 pm

A few of my friends were discussing about Adult animation, like the works of Bakshi to outside animation like Anime. And my friends were pretty angry, and the fact that they are sick and tired of looking at children's cartoons being shown all over the cinemas. So... I personally think Adult animation deserves a comeback...So how can we bring back Adult animation into the cinemas?

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Post by Ben » November 19th, 2009, 8:08 pm

Go out, secure the funding, make a movie, find a distributor, get it into the cinema. Presto! ;)

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Post by droosan » November 19th, 2009, 8:29 pm

Coraline, Up, and 9 weren't 'adult' enough for you..? (these certainly weren't aimed at little kids)

The Haunted World of El Superbeasto did have (one-night-only) theatrical screenings in several U.S. cities .. which, by all accounts I've read, were pretty lightly-attended.

BTW, being 'angry' isn't going to change anything .. :idea:

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Post by EricJ » November 20th, 2009, 2:10 am

droosan wrote:Coraline, Up, and 9 weren't 'adult' enough for you..? (these certainly weren't aimed at little kids)
As most of what came out of Dreamworks and Sony certainly wasn't brimming with as much maturity as they thought it had.
(Despite Shrek-era critics, wielding the same for-kids stereotype, convincing a populace that fart jokes, pop references and sitcom-star voices were "Humor that adults can enjoy along with their kids<TM>".)

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Post by Ben » November 20th, 2009, 6:15 am

droosan wrote:Coraline, Up, and 9 weren't 'adult' enough for you..? (these certainly weren't aimed at little kids)

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Post by Dacey » November 23rd, 2009, 12:06 am

Er...probably not going to happen in America anytime soon. At least not on the level that you seem to be talking about. It just doesn't seem to be something that sells here.

(btw, "Coraline" may not have been made for little kids, but it certainly seems to be enjoyed by them. I saw it four times in theaters, and there were probably children under eight there everytime I went. I was always somewhat surprised by how well they seemed to handle it.)
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Post by Darkblade » November 25th, 2009, 7:19 am

I saw Coraline, probably the best film I saw. But i wouldnt consider Coraline as an "adult" film mainly because it was PG. {go figure}. Now that somebody mentioned El Superbeasto...Was that planned as a threatical release?

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Post by American_dog_2008 » November 25th, 2009, 2:29 pm

I want a Father of the Pride movie! :D

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Post by eddievalient » November 26th, 2009, 1:10 am

The folks behind Heavy Metal (the magazine) are working on another animated film, a sequel to the original War of the Worlds that looks very interesting. Unfortunately, it's going straight to dvd, so it probably won't be widely seen. Too bad.
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Re: How can we bring back Adult Animation to the cinemas?

Post by EricJ » November 28th, 2009, 4:57 am

Okay, so let me try and guess what the heck the poster was talking about:

Either:
A) he got early-80's sentimental (either children-of-80's, or weren't-there stoner-80's) for Bakshi films and/or "Heavy Metal",
Darkblade wrote:A few of my friends were discussing about Adult animation, like the works of Bakshi to outside animation like Anime.
B) Either way, got stuck on "All Disney films look alike!" Katzenberg cliche's that pretty much went out with the 90's,
And my friends were pretty angry, and the fact that they are sick and tired of looking at children's cartoons being shown all over the cinemas.
C) And then started mooning about when MTV is going to bring "Daria" back again, someday.
So... I personally think Adult animation deserves a comeback...So how can we bring back Adult animation into the cinemas?
Y'know, I think I've figured out the answer:
Was watching "Heavy Metal" on a download over the weekend just for nostalgia, when I suddenly realized I WAS watching it for iconic genre nostalgia--
The appeal of the movie is as a product of its time: Metal, Rock & Rule, American Pop, Wizards, the Bakshi LOTR and Fire & Ice, Thief & the Cobbler, all could not have been made before 1974, but more importantly could NOT have been made after 1983.
The game changed, and no one wanted weird or cynical animated movies that flew by the seat of their pants anymore.
(And we may corporately get another DTV Heavy Metal, but the Gerald Potterton/Ivan Reitman spirit won't be in it. :( )

In the 70's, almost all feature animation consisted of Disney--which had become a dated, comatose lame-duck after seven years of stagnation--and showoff indie "art" animators saying "Oo, we're NOT Disney!", as if proving that they weren't was now the new be-all of the industry.
As the 80's took hold, movies became organized and now opening at the same time, there were fewer "journeyman" movies trying to break in, and even Disney was climbing slowly into the 20th century. Kids now bought their own tickets, studios had money and could smell demographics, and produced their own animated movies.
Animation became gentrified and there was no room for the "fringe" to get their toe in the door anymore--Like Steve Lisberger who went from radio ads and "Animalympics" to directing Tron for Disney, you had to either be absorbed into the Big Leagues, or perish...And if you want the Nelvana that gave us Rock & Rule, they're currently doing the Arthur show for PBS.

To make a long history short: If you want the past, Rip, it's history. If you want to take what we've got now, there's a lot to choose from. (As most of the thread has already taken care of discussing.)
If your imaginary concept of "Adult animation" = "It's more intelligent than cute, and Thumper isn't in it!", well, we've got that, it's called Pixar. If it's supposed to mean "Oo, like it's all dark and visual and complex, and tells detailed stories!", as noted we've got that too...It's called anime. (And most of it produced by a culture that was innately used to it, and not showing off gratuitously.) If you just want the boobs, well, anime's got that too, we just don't like to talk about it that often, and if you just want the drugs, we now have a cable channel devoted entirely to that. :)

And the two of them together, from both ends, singlehandedly crushed all competition in their path. The End.
There are no more Richard Williams, and no more Ralph Bakshis. (In fact, had to check IMDb to make sure he was still alive...Apparently, he was last seen working for CN, which is tantamount to being dead.)
What we've got now, when we can get it, we get in nice big-budget corporate form produced by more experienced heads, and is called Animation That Can Appeal to Kids AND Grownups, which is generally what results when you tell a nice, structured story.
If you want the kind that Just Appeals to Grownups, hey...grow up. 8)

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Post by Ben » November 28th, 2009, 7:10 am

Best. Eric. Post. Ever.

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