We’re all familiar with the epic The Lord of the Rings film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved trilogy from director Peter Jackson. But have you ever seen the 1978 animated feature film version from director Ralph Bakshi? Well, get ready to set your DVRs because Turner Classic Movies will be screening the film on September 2nd at 3:15 a.m. ET (check your TCM feed for the time in your area).
Jon Hueber and Stanford Clark join Marc to interview Jason Schleifer, the head of character animation at DreamWorks Animation about his career as well as Mr. Peabody and Sherman.
We talk about his work at Weta Digital on The Lord of the Rings trilogy, moving up the ranks at DreamWorks, and receiving philosophical wisdom from a random guy on a sand dune.
Also Discussed: trailers for The BoxTrolls and Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return, the DreamWorks short Almost Home, Frozen on Blu-ray, breaking news about Cartoon Network, and so much more…
(Recorded on 03/10/14)
While it’s not necessarily considered an animated feature, New Line Cinema and MGM’s The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug probably has more animation in it than most films do. The monster hit film and second in Peter Jackson’s ambitious (and very long) The Hobbit trilogy is coming to Blu-ray on April 8th and is going to be available in lots of different packaging.
For the weekend of December 13-15, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug was the big winner at the U.S. box office, pulling in an estimated $73.7 million. While the weekend take was impressive for Smaug, Box Office Mojo reports that the films earnings were still 13 percent lower than the first film in Peter Jackson’s latest Middle Earth trilogy, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
Animation Fascination 