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The Record February 27, 1998 MOVIES 41 I Ti TT i ii lis fill A misguided 'Quest'? High rolling in Toontown E3KENOAU. PARK CD LOEWS WAYNE BKOOK THEATRE BOUND BROOK GO ROC KA WAV TWELVE ROCKAWAV TWP. 50NY THEATRES B3 FREEHOLD METROPLEX CINEMAS 7 WAYNE SOUTH BRUNSWICK 90-0505 422-2444 CLEAR VIEW CINEMAS FHttHOLO CLCAITVTEVV CINEMAS EE CINEMA 12 294-OfS CLEARVIEW CINEMAS CLEARV7EW CINEMAS EiEMACHSOfV CLEARVtEW CINEMAS d) KIN-MALL CINEMA 4 CBOALLERfA CJNEMAS CINEMAS MADISON 377 335-4141 OCEAN RiwwtLUy-w HI MARLBORO LXl WASHINGTON TRIPLE CINEMA WASHINGTON TWP. A66-8020 CS WELL MONT TRIPLEX 493-JBOO tTl LOEWS CINEMA REGAL CINEMAS NEW BRUNSWICK CIBHA0LEY CINEMA 11 NEW BRUNSWICK MORGANVILLE 972-4 111 CLEAR VIEW CINEMAS (ZIMIUSURN TWIN SOUTH PLAINFILD MONTCLAIR 7IJ-9SOO MB-4449 (E LOEWS PLAZA CLEAR VIEW CINEMAS CINEMA 23 CEOAff GROVE 57-0f77 SOW THEATRES CINEMA CENTRE BR'CK TOWNSHIP 262-0200 SONY THEATRES CCEAST HANOVER EAST HANOVER 515-1200 THEATRE MLLBURN E23 SOUND EjE HAWTHORNE HAWTHORNE 427-2B2B EBHVWAV 5 AIRLAWN 79-I7i7 SECAUCU5 902-9200 777-flLM 591 ED LOEWS SONY THEATRES RIDGEFIELD PARK COMONMOUTH RDGEcELO PARK EATONTOWN 44Q-M41 MS-tOOO "They all want to make The Lion King' every time out," he says. "But the crest of the wave that The Lion King' caught had been building for years.

There was 'An American then Who Framed Roger and then The Little Mermaid' broke it open. The whole thing paid off with The Lion you have to build to those things. Everybody's too hungry these days. Studios should be finding their own niches." The word on how "Quest" plays isn't too good. An Internet snoop who claims to have seen a trailer at a comic-book convention in San Diego last summer says, "It got such a negative apathetic response from the crowd that the producers seemed embarrassed." To make matters worse, Disney is releasing "Mulan," a similar sort of fantasy-musical, June 19.

except to say that creative dissension on at least two other animated features, "The Lion King" and "Beauty and the Beast," also occurred without any negative impact on the final product. A senior "Quest" associate who asked for anonymity says that the old bugaboo of too many cooks was the problem. There were fiefdoms at play here," he says. "The simplest thing I could say is that there were 20 people who had 20 different movies in their heads. From the top down no one had the clarity of mind to say what this movie is.

No one said anything." His basic regret is that animation divisions, pressured by high budgets, are all shooting for the same kind of homogenous home run. UNITED ARTISTS (ED SPRING VALLEY SPRING VALLEY www.newregency.comlaconfidential 9 Academy Award i im at i BEST PICTURE BEST ACTOR Matt Damon BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Robin Williams BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Minnie Driver BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Ben Affleck Matt Damon BEST DIRECTOR Cus Van Sant I 4 Robin Willrus By JEFFREY WELLS Entertainment News Service Animated features are booming, and not just for Disney. Warner Universal, DreamWorks, and 20th Century Fox all have jumped into the game, with profits ranging from comfortable to wild. The super-successful "The Lion King," a veritable industry (movie, merchandising, Broadway musical, video, upcoming sequel, etc.) that's taken in about Si billion, is the biggest bonanza so far. But increased competition isn't the only offshoot.

The stakes are rising also. So much money is pouring in that feature-animation budgets are getting as bloated as those for their live-action cousins. Disney's "Hercules" is believed to have cost in the range, ditto DreamWorks' upcoming "Prince of Egypt." Now comes Warner "The Quest for Camelot," a musical-fantasy loosely based on the King Arthur legend that's due out May 15. It's picked up a reputation in Hollywood circles as the first all-animated, out-of-control, budget-buster, with a cost north of $100 million a first for animation and all kinds of stories about firings, backbiting, and corporate mismanagement trailing in its wake. The naysayers won't speak on the record, but there are plenty of them, passing along more or less the same dirt.

"It's an animated mega-bomb," says a screenwriter with ties to animation. "Quest" features a voice-actor cast that includes Cary Elwes, Pierce Brosnan, Jane Seymour, Gabriel Byrne, Gary Oldman, John Gielgud, Bronson Pinchot, Don Rickles, and newcomer Jessalyn Gilsig. The story revolves around the disappearance of Excalibur and the attempts by a pair of young, would-be knights to get it back. There's a nasty villain, of course, as well as a two-headed dragon. "Quest" has had a troubled rep from the beginning of production in mid-1996, when the original director and producer, Bill and Sue Kroyer, were fired by animation chief Max Howard.

The Kroyers' dismissal (which some claim wasn't a dismissal but a resignation over creative differences) happened soon after work on 'Quest began. This resulted in the resignations of lead animators who were brought in by the Kroyers. "Quest" co-producer Frank Gladstone was then cut loose in February 1997, after producer Dalisa Cohen Cooper took over. The hiring of replacement director Frederic DuChau was a bone of contention, some have said, apparently over concerns that he lacked the right pedigree A Warner Bros, animation spokesman declined to respond, GOOD Will HUNTING Bem Affleck Minnie Driver Stellan SkarscArd Tii-T97AwiCSiicp( -mmytzpx msf -i sfw "MTOOTSN UVCHAfaKU HWfISPI3 tfRittl ItnaWB -TTivt THENFW FTLM 8T CIS VAN ANT 1 if'- vJ? 1 -vm MARLBORO CINEMA I FRANKLIN TRIPLEX Hjrtf'7 BRIOGEWATER COMMONS 7 CitWVFA CltEWAS CINEMA 12 C17H0V1FWCTFMAS CINEMA 23 GiWVl n477 CUIRIOGE CINEMAS GF'JFI r'XCVAS ESSEX GREEN JJUAGt Hi 775S HEADQUARTERS 10 GALAXY TRIPLEX W1LUAMS CENTER CINEMAS idENLO PARK MAU CINEMAS mm NEWPORT CENTRE CINEMAS EAST HANOVER FREEHOLO CINEMA ATLANTK TRIPLEX CINEMAS MAX BEACH CINEMA AtAji 77 WW CINEMA PLAZA RVEPLEX FL 'JN 7B-Z777 STRATHMORE TWIN HAZIET MULTIPLEX CINEMAS RAMSEY CINEMA vtr- EMERSON QUAD EMfsr- KIN-MAIL CINEMAS I MONMOUTH MALL MIOOIFBROOK CAUiRIA SEACOUftT PAVILION TfNPLU kendall park cinemas; in LOEWS BRICK PLAZA THEATRE CKJ9E LOEWS NEW BRUNSWICK LOEWS PIAZAI THEATRE 10EWS RIOGERELD PARK THEATRE ROUTE 4 TENPUX AUWOOO SiXPLtX IEACONMU. SJWM-77 8ENAR0SVH1E CINEMA SHOWBOAT OUAO MOVIE CTTV WAVNE POEAKNESS CINEMAS 'IWIIl CRANEORO TWW T-V MONTGOMERY CENTER TWIN STARTS TODAY HAOLEY CINEMA 11 MARKET FA) LOEWS WAYNE THEATRE BOOCAWATT3 KXWAAf rwr.

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