From major studios (The LEGO Movie) to mini-majors (The Boxtrolls) to independent distributors (The Tale of Princess Kaguya and Song of the Sea), it’s been another great year in the field of animation. Today brings a fantastic discussion between the top filmmakers in the field, including Bonnie Arnold (How To Train Your Dragon 2), Jorge Gutierrez (The Book of Life), Travis Knight (The Boxtrolls), Tomm Moore (Song of the Sea), Dan Lin (The Lego Movie) and Don Hall (Big Hero 6). They discuss everything from voice casting to test screenings to the lengthy production process, and more, but the best bit comes below from Knight:
I just think that as a whole, sequels are killing our industry. When you go back to when I was a kid, the kind of films that I grew up watching were original ideas, bold voices, really challenging material. We don’t see a lot of that anymore. We live in an era of reboots and remakes and sequels and prequels; where old presents are rewrapped and offered up as new gifts. … It’s not to say that you can’t tell a compelling story in a sequel; you certainly can. We have Godfather and Empire Strikes Back and How to Train Your Dragon 2. But if you think about storytelling generally, your film should be the most significant, most poignant moment of your hero’s life. And so the sequel automatically is a diminishment of that. As artists, we have to look at it and say, “Is this good for us in the long run as an industry to continue to churn out these same things?” We get to an end of a trilogy, and then we restart that; we reboot it in another way. And at some point, we just become an echo chamber. Some stories are big and require a big canvas. And I think some stories should never have a sequel. And that’s why we will never do a sequel.
Check out the full conversation below (via THR), along with the nominations for the Best Animated Feature at the Annie Awards (and see the full list here).
Big Hero 6 –
Walt Disney Animation Studios
Cheatin’ – Plymptoons Studio
How to Train Your Dragon 2 – DreamWorks Animation SKG
Song of the Sea – GKIDS/Cartoon Saloon
The Book of Life – Reel FX Animation Studios/Twentieth Century Fox
The Boxtrolls – Focus Features/Laika
The LEGO Movie -Warner Bros. Pictures
The Tale of The Princess Kaguya – GKIDS/Studio Ghibli
What’s your favorite animation this year?