The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 112

24-TGIF Tht Post and Th Evening Times, Friday, May 2, 1986 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCO a i ft 3C IMICHELOB West Palm Beach's Festival of Music, Art Water Events May 2, 3, 4, 1986 .1 NICHOLAS: Hatches sinister plot in 'Care Bears Animation GDiPfflG ffii Continued from page 21 points out, 4-year-olds can't drive themselves to the movies. The distributor has to win the parents over. "Goldwyn is imitating what they're hearing from the toy companies," Rosenblatt says. "The toy-makers depend on what they call a 'nag factor' that makes the parent go out and buy the toy. The difference is that a kid can nag about a toy for six weeks, and it's still in the stores.

Our advertising only starts five to seven days before we open and we have to do business opening weekend. After six weeks of 'Mommy, get me a He-Man doll a parent will break, down and buy the toy to shut the kid up. But one day of nagging won't change anything." Whoever is picking the films, a lot of people are going to them. In the three years since the new wave of animated features started with the surprise success of Atlantic's "The Smurfs and the Magic Flute," it has become clear that there's a bigger audience for children's films than anyone had guessed. The trick was to find it.

The limitations of the children's market lower ticket prices and matinee-only showing have tempt down the film because the producers were demanding more than it was worth. "Somebody else has to go in and prove something works, then a studio will charge in." Whether or not the studios can make a success of animated films, those who are now making money from them plan to keep on producing films for children as long as kids keep giving them their pennies. Atlantic is releasing five animated films this winter under its Clubhouse imprint, and plans to release another five starting in October. The new Disney administration has asked its animators for one film every 18 months. And Don Bluth will be directing a second animated film for Spielberg.

Animation will clearly be around for a few more years. The fate of Disney-style full animation is still up in the air. "Everyone worries about the quality of animation, but it's the characters that sell the film," says Goldwyn. "The fact that some people perceive 'The Care Bears Movie' to be crude by the standard of Disney or Bluth, I can't comment on. Kids liked the characters of the Care Bears, and that's why the film was successful." Not surprisingly, the people who make the quality animated films tend to have more faith in their audience's a a a a a a a a ed many filmmakers to appeal to both children and older people.

Why -Z TZS not combine the success oPThe Care P0. flZ do Mn;" tu 1 guess i ve dlWdV Bears Movie" with that of "Conan guess I ve always thought mas Stop by The Palm Beach Post and The Evening Times booth and register to win a Sony portable compact disc player and a $100 gift certificate from Peaches Records and Tapes. We're easy to find just look for the celebrations beneath the 25-foot balloon near the Phillips Point main entrance gate. The Palm Beach Post care about the quality of animation, Mattinson says. "They can't judge quality until they've actually seen quality, but once they have, they're just as discerning as adults." That may be, but even the most discerning children still only pay half-price at the box office.

"You're not going to make money on a film that costs as much as a Disney film," says Rosenblatt. "Eighty percent of the audience for animated films is under 6. You can't even get the 8- and 10-year-olds who watch animation on TV to go to see animated movies. They want to see 'Teen Wolf or a PG-rated Spielberg film." There is no question about how Disney movies do over the long run. Although "The Care Bears Movie" was the top-grossing new animated film last year, it was outgrossed by the umpteenth re-issue of Disney's 25-year-old "101 Dalmatians," which grossed approximately $30 million.

The studio is planning to re-release five more of its animated features this year. the Barbarian" and make a blockbuster? It was that kind of thinking that led to the very expensive failure of Disney's "The Black Cauldron." "We were trying for the older audience with 'The Black and that didn't work too well," says Disney's Burny Mattinson, who is now producing the company's $12 million "Basil of Baker Street," which is aimed straight at the younger crowd. "The little kids didn't like the darkness of the story. And when teenagers go to a show, they're not going to impress their girlfriends by taking her to an animated film. They want to see a film that's Now that independent distributors have defined the animation market, the major studios are beginning to get interested.

Universal is distributing "An American Tail" while Columbia snatched the current "Care Bears II: A New Generation" away from Goldwyn. The situation doesn't overjoy the independents but it isn't costing them any sleep, either. "The fact that Columbia is distributing the 'Care Bears' sequel is typical of the greed pf the big studios," sys Gojdwyn, who says, he turned. Employees of Palm Beach Newspapers, Inc. and SunFesI ol Palm Beach Inc.

and their immediate families are ineligible. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. You need not be present to win. ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo I I 'Olllrlbuted by Lo icJ Wliliam RabklnI Ribkln 1 i 1 i i i i i i ii I 1 t.v 'i i i I i imp umr ir -i h-tr r-y 9 "j-rrr ii tiiiit i ti tut i ti iitt ii i ii 11.