Watchmen debuted in first place over the March 6 weekend, taking in an estimated $55.7 million on approximately 7,500 screens at 3,611 theaters, BoxOfficeMojo reported.
Watchmen's opening was the biggest opening of 2009 so far, but fell a bit short of expectations and paled in comparison to Snyder's last film, 300, which set the March opening record, with $70.9 million on around 4,800 screens at 3,103 sites (which included $3.6 million at 62 IMAX venues).
But the $150 million adaptation of Alan Moore's graphic novel notched the 12th highest-grossing opening weekend for a comic-book movie, behind Fantastic Four (though drops to 20th when ticket-price inflation is factored).
Opening in the most number of theaters ever of any R-rated movie, Watchmen also had the sixth-highest debut for an R-rated movie, behind The Matrix Reloaded, The Passion of the Christ, 300, Hannibal and Sex and the City.
Watchmen was the sole new nationwide release of the weekend, so grosses were mostly business as usual beneath it. The bottom fell out for Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, which dropped 71 percent to an estimated $1.4 million, for a total after 10 days of just $7.1 million.
Saturday Morning WATCHMEN!?!?!
The following, I don't believe is part of the Viral campaign - though it may be. Whatever it is - it is the most nightmarishly hilarious critique of bad Saturday Morning adaptations of comic properties that I've seen. What do you guys think? Would you Watch These Watchmen?
New STAR TREK Trailer
Here's the Glorious HD QUICKTIME version of the trailer!!! BEAM IT UP TO YOUR EYES!!!!
or see it here -
Laika, Inc. chairman Knight names son as president
Travis Knight has been named president and CEO of Portland, Oregon-based animation studio Laika, Inc., his father, studio owner and chairman of the board Phil Knight, announced Thursday.
He succeeds Dale Wahl, who has held the position since 2005. His father is also chairman of the board and co-founder of Nike, Inc.
The new president, who sits on the Laika board and has been head of animation since 2007, was one of the lead animators on Coraline, the studio's first feature film.
Laika also appointed Coraline producer Claire Jennings, an award-winning independent animation executive and producer of Oscar-winning shorts and feature films, including Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit, to the newly created position of president for entertainment.
"Travis' passion has always been the arts in general and filmmaking in particular," said Phil Knight. "He was Coraline's earliest champion, playing a key role in our decision to greenlight the project and his creative contribution as lead animator on the film was immense.
"His ambitious business vision for Laika grows out of a first-hand understanding of, and reverence for, the creative process. Enhanced by Claire Jennings' extraordinary depth of career experience as an award-winning producer and as a development and production executive of the highest order, I'm confident that our new leadership team will continue to move Laika to the forefront of the animation industry.
"Dale Wahl steps down as CEO at his request," Knight continued. "After four years and at age 65, he felt, in his words, it was time to smell one rose. Dale moves into the position of vice-chairman to help Travis and Claire transition into their new positions until his retirement from Laika at the end of this October.
"In addition, he will temporarily fill the role of executive vice-president of business operations and CFO until we complete our search to fill that position. With his steady leadership and business acumen, Dale has presided over our nascent feature film operation as well as our thriving commercial division, led by Laika/house president Lourri Hammack. The success of both areas of the company under his leadership has gotten us off to a great start."
"At our core, Laika is an audacious, scrappy, and inventive community of filmmakers, driven by our love of animation, a belief in its endless possibilities, and confidence in its promise to touch the world," Travis Knight said. "Laika's potential is limitless. In both the entertainment and commercial arenas, we will continue to develop our visual and storytelling expertise across all animation formats. Simply put, we hope to grow into the boldest, most innovative animation studio in the world."
Travis Knight has been involved in all business and creative decision-making at Laika since the company's inception in 2003, when his father took over the failing Vinton Studios, Portland's renowned animation studio with a distinguished 30-year history, and rechristened it Laika. Travis Knight joined Vinton Studios in 1998 as a stop-motion animator, working on the Emmy-winning TV series The PJs, produced with Eddie Murphy Productions and Imagine Entertainment, as well as the animated series Gary & Mike on UPN.
He earned his CG animation stripes by animating numerous TV commercials (McDonald's, Hostess, M&Ms) and promo spots, including the "NFL on Fox" campaign. In June 2007, he was honored by Animation Magazine as one of the "Rising Stars of Animation." He has served on Laika's board of directors since 2003.
Jennings was named "Producer of the Year for Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures," along with Nick Park, by the Producers Guild of America for the Oscar and BAFTA Award-winning feature film Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005). The award joined a long list of honors garnered throughout a career as an independent and studio producer, development and production executive, and project originator. In addition to Wallace and Gromit, which earned more than $250 million worldwide, she has produced multiple award-winning animated shorts and TV series, including the Oscar and BAFTA Award-winning animated short Father and Daughter, the Oscar-nominated and BAFTA Award-winning animated short The Canterbury Tales, and the Oscar and BAFTA-nominated short film Jolly Roger.
She also developed and produced the BBC animated television series The Big Knights alongside its two directors, produced the BBC series Stressed Eric for Absolutely Productions, and was executive producer of HIT Entertainment's British children's TV series Pingu. As an event management and concert promotion executive, she was involved in such projects and talent as Comic Relief, Tina Turner, Talking Heads and Bob Geldof.
"I'm very happy to bring my combined experience in development and production to Laika as it embarks upon a new and exciting chapter in its history," said Jennings.
"As Coraline demonstrates, Laika is a company committed to taking bold new steps within the animation arena. I believe my strong entrepreneurial skills are a great fit for a company which truly values the creative vision behind any filmmaking process. I have a great deal of respect for this attitude and am looking forward to working alongside Travis to build a studio where many more imaginative films can be produced throughout the coming years."
All company divisions will report to Travis Knight. Film acquisition, development, production and marketing will fall under Jennings' purview. Laika/house, the advertising and commercial side of the company, will continue to be led by Hammack. Wahl will oversee technology, business affairs, finance and administration.
Because of the importance of getting another project into production, Knight and Jennings will head up Laika's film development efforts jointly. Currently, Laika's active development slate includes nine film projects, including the already announced Here Be Monsters, based on the best-selling book by Alan Snow; The Wall and the Wing, based on the bestseller by Laura Ruby, and Paranorman, based on an original idea by Coraline head of story Chris Butler.
EXCLUSIVE: Fourth ‘Mad Max’ In Development…As 3-D Anime Feature
Good ol’ Mad Max: post-apocalyptic gun-slinger with a need for blood-thirsty revenge! MTV News’ #4 Movie Badass of All Time! And…star of a 3-D anime feature film?!Unlikely as that last one sounds, some big screen animated “Max” action is shaping up to become a reality, according to George Miller, the writer/director of the previous three films. The catch? He doesn’t want Max himself, Mel Gibson, anywhere near the project.
“We’ll probably go a different route,” Miller told MTV News about the potential talent voicing the lead role. The plot would be partly lifted from the script of the fourth “Max” film, which was set to shoot in 2003 until financing collapsed in the wake of the Iraq War.
Now Miller is resurrecting the idea as an R-rated, stereoscopic anime flick for theatrical release. It’s a curious undertaking, to be sure, but one made all the more certain to happen after the runaway success in 2006 of his computer-animated “Happy Feet”—not that the newest, ever-violent “Max” film will have much in common with that kid-friendly penguin party.
“I see myself as someone who is very curious about storytelling and all its various media,” Miller said. “I’ve always loved anime, in particular the Japanese sensibility. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”
The project is one phase of a “Mad Max” renaissance of sorts. Along with “God of War II” designer Corey Barlog, Miller is developing an action-adventure videogame based on the fourth film. Gibson won’t be participating in that endeavor, either.
For the anime release, Miller isn’t looking simply to mimic Japanese-style animation but rather to adapt it for Western audiences. “The anime is an opportunity for me to shift a little bit about what anime is doing because anime is ripe for an adjustment or sea change,” he explained. “It’s coming in games and I believe it’s the same in anime. There’s going to be a hybrid anime where it shifts more towards Western sensibilities. [Japanese filmmaker Akira] Kurosawa was able to bridge that gap between the Japanese sensibilities and the West and make those definitive films.”
It’s been 23 years since we last tasted some fresh “Mad Max” goodness, but neither the anime nor the game will be arriving soon enough to satisfy our hunger for the rage-filled Australian vigilante. “I’ve got a couple of years left,” said Miller. “We’re in the early stages writing and designing. A really good game you need two and half years. And for good anime you need two years."
We’ve Got The Final ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ Trailer In Hi-Def!
The final trailer for “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” has finally arrived, so now you can get another look at Deadpool, Logan, Gambit, Sabretooth and… Waitaminute, who is that guy? Check out the full trailer below (and watch it here in Hi-Def) for your first peek at the mysterious new mutant that’s going to have everyone buzzing.
Fox Howling For Marmaduke
Comic-strip classic Marmaduke is headed to the big screen, says The Hollywood Reporter.Fox has signed director Tom Dey ("Failure to Launch") to develop a big-screen adaptation of the decades-running newspaper comic strip, about a mischievous Great Dane who lives with the Winslow family, in 1954 (The big dog then appeared in several animated episodes of "Heathcliff" and "Garfield and Friends.")
It hasn't been decided whether "Marmaduke" will be live-action, animated or a mutt but considering the big numbers "Alvin & The Chipmunks" generated for the studio one would assume he'll be CGI, right? (On the other hand, the studio did well with "Marley & Me", which featured a living, breathing pooch, so ya never know).
The Sonoran Disneys
This p.m. I was pleased to stumble around the two animation studios the Big Mouse owns in sunny Glendale. Both are housed in a large, rectangular building on Sonora Avenue, within spitting distance of the defunct Grand Central Airport, most of which Disney now owns.
Disney Television Animation, in the bottom half of the building, has staff working on the tail end of Mickey's Clubhouse, and that's pretty much it. Other shows are happening at the main Burbank lot, but Sonora is ... autumnal. One of the artists related:
"We're just finishing up on the show, and almost all of us will be out of here in the next few weeks. Word's gone around that a new show starts in June, so most everyone is going to hang on for the next couple of months and get onto it ..."
Upstairs at Toon Disney, work progresses on newer, feature-length Tinkerbells.
"Tinks three and four in tandem, since John Lasseter had the storyline for three reworked and we went back to square one. But I think it's better now, more focused." ... "The first feature's done better than the company expected. They're blocking out Tink 5, and Tinkerbell 6 is going to happen, although right now it's just a gleam in somebody's eye" ... "It's nice to know you have long-term employment" ...
There are more people working at Disney Toons just now, which happens when you have a franchise that's making the Big Mouse big money.
As the DVD market plateaus and ever more releases vie for space on store shelves, the direct-to-video kidvid sector is proving resilient in tough economic times.
Take Disney's "Tinker Bell," the runaway sales success of 2008. According to Meredith Roberts, senior VP and g.m. of DisneyToon Studios, the CG-animated property has far exceeded its revenue target and proves the resiliency of kidvid in times when families are cutting back on a night at the movies ...
Successful video features mean Disney hires more artists to turn out more installments of the hot franchise, which is a good thing.
(Thanks Animation Guild Blog)
Digital Distribution News
The 1978 tokusatsu, live action Spider-Man series is now streaming on Marvel.com
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The buzz out of Wondercon is that following Cartoon Network's discontinuing of the Toonami JetStream site, Viz is looking at options for streaming anime including Naruto, MAR and Megaman Nt Warrior/ Starforce themselves
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I don't know if I mentioned this, but "Johnny Sokko And His Flying Robot" is on Hulu
The Business
The Japan Times Online talks about anime's doubtful future
Besides the gloomy economy, the overwhelmingly adult content of recent television animation — many featuring violent or highly sexual material and broadcast during late-night hours — has played a part in limiting the audience and making both marketing and merchandising of anime-related products difficult.
Yoshihiko Noda, director of the media content division for ad agency Asatsu-DK, buys TV time slots for popular family programs such as "Doraemon" and "Crayon Shin-chan." He said these trends were a relatively recent phenomenon.
"The demographics of anime fans began shifting seven to eight years ago. Those who grew up watching cartoons became older, and began craving more 'otaku' (geek) and adult content," Noda said, noting such animation is mainly produced for DVD sales, with the late-night shows — usually consisting of only 13 episodes — used as bait to draw viewers into buying the full DVD set that comes with increased content and special features.
Matt Alt reacts
Saying that one is a fan of anime is like saying one is a fan of TV. It's a medium rather than a genre and needs to be judged by the content. And while there are undeniable bright spots like the occasional Miyazaki film, crossover hits like The Animatrix or Afro Samurai, and arthouse fare like Tekkon Kinkreet, it is growing harder and harder to deny that the quality of the content is really going downhill as a whole.
Upcoming in Japan
Previews
Guin Saga (the first five novels have been released in North America by Vertical)
Dragon Ball Kai
Toei confirmed that the remastered Dragon Ball Z will be edited to quicken the pace of the popular super hero action anime.
Kotaku has posted the trailer for the next Pokemon movie
anime
Via Anime News Network
The staff off the upcoming Shin Mazinger have commented that the upcoming incarnation of the first pilot mecha is not a "Mazinger Z remake" or a "new Mazinger Z." As part of a request to Japanese anime magazine Animedia, the staff asked that the magazine avoid mentioning the old television series to introduce the new series and avoid using the phrase "Mazinger Z" in big letters in article captions and such.
Coverage of a Mazinger promotional event can be seen here
Avex label, will ship an 18-minute Astro Boy (Tetsuwan Atom/Mighty Atom) anime short with its debut album, trax, at the end of April. The what if story follows the end of Tezuka's manga series. The shorts will feature redesigns of other Tezuka characters such as Black Jack and Princess Knight, packaged with music from artists such as BoA, Maki Goto, Anna Tsuchiya, Tohoshinki, and TRF. The album marks Avex's 20th anniversary and what would have been Tezuka's 80th birthday. A promo can be seen here.
An unaired episode that bridges the first season of sci-fi action anime Birdy the Mighty Decode to the second will be released on DVD in Japan on July 22
The second season of Hayate the Combat Butler, "Hayate the Combat Butler!!" will premiere on Japanese TV on Friday, April 3 at April 3 at 25:23 (effectively, Saturday, April 4 at 1:23 a.m.)
Kotaku reports that the upcoming Blu-ray rekease of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete will be released with an original anime features called Final Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile - Episode: Denzel - from animation studios A-1 Pictures and BeStack.
Worth Checking Out...
Insight
AniPages Daily remembers Departed animators
Ghibli World spoke to Studio Ghibli's Kosaka Kitaro
Q: In fact, it is evident how Miyazaki's films, notwithstanding their highly imaginative stories, tend to present characters which are deeply human in their behavior and sensibility...
A: I believe that the fantasy elements, which are so evident in the latest Ghibli productions, have a meaning which is deeper than what may superficially appear. That is to say, I do not think that Miyazaki's stories have to be considered as simple flights from the real world of everyday problems. On the contrary, I think that Ghibli fantasies are a form of criticism of the human intellect. A criticism that works in the way of a negation. The contemporary society is something familiar to us, and we are used to its positive or frightening aspects. Ghibli films allow a critical separation from this context, because they show the world we passively live in from a whole new perspective. For example, we may have lost interest in blades of grass: however, I hope that someone, after having seen blades of grass in a Ghibli film, moving and transfigured by the detailed stylization of the drawings, will find a new pleasure in looking carefully when passing by a real meadow.
The site also spoke to Nick Mamatas about the English edition of Hayao Miyazaki's Shuppatsu Ten 1979-1996 (Starting Point: 1979-1996).
abdm the site looks at Miyazaki's new manga, KAZE TACHINU
AOKIstudio Animation blog spoke to Jakob Jensen, animation director of the Imagi Astro Boy
China’s real response to Kung Fu Panda
Apparently China had a response to Dreamworks’ Kung Fu Panda that’s more pointed than the film mentioned in this previous Brew post. According to the KFP entry on Answers.com: “In August 2008, a direct-to-video Chinese animation feature entitled Kung fu Master aka Wong Fei Hong vs Kung Fu Panda was released on DVD in East Asia by Vscape Enterprises. The film is an unofficial sequel; it reportedly combines Kung Fu Panda and Chinese martial arts folk hero Wong Fei Hung. In the film, the panda is assigned by the Buddha to protect an ancient treasure that could give the bearer the power to conquer the world. Upon losing it, the pair sets off on an adventure to retrieve it.”
Apparently you can buy it here or here.
(Thanks cartoonbrew)
COMMENTARY: Animated Feature Oscar is Still A Bad Idea
Earlier this decade, when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences began handing out Oscars for best animated feature, I viewed it as a misguided decision. Increasingly, over the past eight years, I’ve come to see it not only as misguided, but as downright awful, an idea that is at best backwards and out of touch with contemporary times, and at worst, a reactionary measure designed to protect their live-action base of filmmakers from the threat of an emergent art form. Furthermore, the immature manner in which the Academy presents the animation award during their ceremony is completely at odds with what is actually happening within the art form. If I didn’t know better, I’d think their intentions were to pigeonhole animation into its own specialized niche instead of promoting the art form as a valid equivalent to the live-action process.
The Academy’s animated feature award looks increasingly antiquated as more progressive film awards and festivals begin to recognize animation on its merits as film and not as some weird subset removed from the rest of film art. Yesterday, the 29th edition of Fantasporto, a major film festival in Portugal, awarded its top prize for Best Film and Best Screenplay to Bill Plympton’s feature Idiots and Angels. Plympton beat out of dozens of live-action films for both awards. The screenplay award is notable because Idiots and Angels is dialogue-less and Plympton relied purely on visual storytelling to make his film.
Also, this week at the Fargo Film Festival, Don Hertzfeldt’s latest short, I Am So Proud of You won not only Best Animation, but also Best Picture and Best Screenplay. The 22-minute short won the Best Picture award over dozens of live-action features, animated films and documentaries. Festival co-chairman Matt Olien told Fargo’s local paper Inforum that their selection of Hertzfeldt’s film falls in line with animation’s emergence “as a major player in movies” and that he felt WALL-E should have received a best picture nomination at the Oscars.
Animation filmmakers are continuing to push creative boundaries as never before and they are being recognized for their progress throughout the film community. It’s unfortunate that at the exact moment animation began coming into its own and regularly equaling live-action in terms of writing and filmmaking quality, the Academy took action to make it more difficult for animation to compete in its major categories. As animation continues its evolution so should the Academy. It should embrace animation as a film art worthy of its major awards and abolish its separate but equal treatment of animated films.
(Thanks cartoonbrew)
New Up Trailer - in HD
At Crest Animation
Stole a chunk of the afternoon and popped over to Crest Animation, located in Burbank, and run by a former Disney feature director.
I was over there today because members who work there complained that I wasn't going over to visit very much. So, by way of mea culpa, mea culpa, I drove over there two hours after I got the complaints ...
Crest was formed in the late 1980s, and has been an island of stability ever since, residing at the same Glenoaks Boulevard address for years and years. Currently they are working on Alpha and Omega, a feature that's a joint production with Lionsgate. Most of the pre-production is complete. Most of the production is being done overseas in Mumbai.
The company has now started a new project, yet to be announced, that will be ramping up at A and O goes into full production.
(Thanks Animation Guild Blog)
Two Rivals, Rivaling Again
Pinocchio and arch-rival Gulliver's Travels, get simultaneous launches on Blu-Ray this next week. Pretty much like they got (almost) simultaneous launches in theatres 69 years ago ...
The two studios struggled for supremacy through much of the 1930s, until Disney played his trump card: “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (1937), a feature-length animation in glowing Technicolor. A phenomenal success, “Snow White” changed the game, forcing the Fleischers to abandon their urban turf and play on Disney’s field. Rushed into production in a new studio built in Miami, the Fleischers’ “Gulliver’s Travels” (1939) made money at the box office but not enough to put the brothers on sound financial footing ...
So the Fleischers are long gone, but the Mouse marches on. Yet I see billboards around town, touting the "70th" anniversary of Pinoke.
Can't the people at Disney marketing count? We're 70 minus a year from original launch. Or do they just have an aversion to the number "69"?
(Thanks Animation Guild Blog)
Guillermo is Wolberine!
Jimmy Kimmel Live aired this funny segment that has the show's parking lot security guard Guillermo playing "Wolberine." Check it out below!
New Enterprise models go on display in Hollywood
The FX Company/Quantum Mechanix ship
Paramount has released photos of three replicas of the U.S.S. Enterprise, which are currently on display at the Arclight Theater in Hollywood, from J.J. Abrams' upcoming Star Trek film.
The three Enterprise models are the first of many upcoming interpretations by respected artists from all over the world.
Mr. Brainwash
These 34-inch-long replicas were cast from the actual 3-D digital models created for the film by Industrial Light & Magic.
The FX Company/Quantum Mechanix model (above) features lights, decals and "aztec" painting patterns designed to mirror the actual ship seen in the film. The FX Company is a professional model-effects shop working with modelers Quantum Mechanix on the production and design of this ship.
The second is a model by Mr. Brainwash, or MBW, the pseudonym of a well-known eccentric Los Angeles-based pop street artist.
The third is by Duncan Lemon, a respected Santa Monica, Calif., street artist who is inspired by chameleons and subway graffiti.
Duncan Lemon
Extras Needed for Live-Action 'Ben 10' Movie Shoot
Extras Casting Atlanta is looking for people interested in being background extras on the upcoming live-action Ben 10: Alien Force TV movie. They are also in need of a licensed forklift operator for this shoot, although it is not specified whether this is a crew position or background extra.The FX Company/Quantum Mechanix model (above) features lights, decals and "aztec" painting patterns designed to mirror the actual ship seen in the film. The FX Company is a professional model-effects shop working with modelers Quantum Mechanix on the production and design of this ship.
The second is a model by Mr. Brainwash, or MBW, the pseudonym of a well-known eccentric Los Angeles-based pop street artist.
The third is by Duncan Lemon, a respected Santa Monica, Calif., street artist who is inspired by chameleons and subway graffiti.
Duncan Lemon
Extras Needed for Live-Action 'Ben 10' Movie Shoot
Following are details from ECA's e-mail blast:
Quote:
'Ben 10: Alien Force' for Turner is Seeking PAID Extras March 12, 13, 16, and 17.
If you can work all those day that would be great. If not we need people to work Two days at a time if you can't work all four days.
The 12 and 13th are the same scene and the 16 and 17 are the same scene.
This is filming in Doraville, [GA].
If you know of or are a LICENSED FORKLIFT OPERATOR, we are need of one of those.
please submit to: extrascastingatl@gmail.com
If you live in the Atlanta, GA and surrounding areas and are interested in submitting, please be sure to include a headshot or recent photo with your e-mail. Also bear in mind that each day of shooting may last up to 12 hours with pay generally being $100 for the entire day, and unless otherwise stated extras must be 18+ years of age.
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson mooves to "Holy Cow!"
White Buffalo Media is joining with Prana Animation Studios to produce CG-animated feature Holy Cow!, in which Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson voices a Texas bull who's trying not to be eaten.Based on an original idea by Peter Kalmbach and Teddy Grennan, the film is about a bull who makes plans to vamoose to India, where cattle are revered, not served for dinner or lunch.
Johnson is a principal of White Buffalo, as are Dany Garcia, Aja Warren and Jack Turner. Both studios are seeking writers and directors.
Garcia and Johnson will be executive producers, while Turner and Kalmbach will join Prana's Kristin Dornig and Arish Fyzee in producing Holy Cow!
Johnson's next projects are starring roles in Race to Witch Mountain for Disney and The Tooth Fairy for Fox.
Based in Los Angeles and Mumbai, Prana has a multipicture deal with Disney. Among its recent works are Disney's Tinkerbell, the Weinstein Co.'s Hoodwinked, and Jason and the Argonauts for MRC and NBC Studios.
White Buffalo is the executive producer on the films Lovely, Still, starring Martin Landau, Ellen Burstyn and Elizabeth Banks, and Theater of War, starring Meryl Streep. Its next project is the documentary Racing Dreams.
In The Nicotine (1961)
SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Paramount Cartoons can be Hazardous to Your (Mental) Health.
We’re ending our series of “dark, domestic” 1960s Paramount cartoons today with the most politically incorrect of them all: In The Nicotine (released theatrically in 1961). Again (like the previously posted The Plot Sickens and Harry Happy), this one was never shown on TV - and never will be. In this one, a shrewish wife commits her smoking obsessed husband to an institution. Hilarity ensues. Though most of the cartoon is taken up with lame gags of “Charlie Butts” (get it?) trying to sneak a cigarette while trying to quit, the resolution (a gag about cigarette gift coupons) is purely pro-smoking! The plot itself is a twist on Gene Deitch’s 1957 Terrytoon Topsy TV — which was ripped off and remade by Paramount in 1959 as TV Fuddlehead — switching to cigarettes from former’s TV addiction. This cartoon was written by the veteran team of Carl Meyer and Jack Mercer, though Mercer doesn’t perform any voices in it (Eddie Lawrence is doing all the male roles). For what it is… Enjoy!
(Thanks cartoonbrew)
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