Annecy 2022: ‘Pinocchio’, ‘Spider-Verse’, ‘Netflix,’ ‘Gremlins’

After a virtual release in 2020 and a hybrid outing last year, this week’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival appears to be back with a bang, in full and only on location.

It also says a lot about the strong fundamentals of the animation industry. He shares this with nine others at this week’s mega French animation meet, which runs from June 13-18:

Forget the biggest festival ever

It looks like France’s Annecy Festival, the biggest animation event, is gearing up for its biggest release ever. Technical director Marcel Jean said that the accreditation numbers are heading towards 13,000 finalists diverse midweek. That compares with the 2019 record of 12,500. As delegate registrations continue, attendance at Annecy’s MIFA Market was already at 4,200 added Mickael Marin on Sunday. This is quite an achievement given that China and Russia have not fared well this year.

Star squad 2022

Annecy has rarely mobilized so many top American hitters. Netflix’s “Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio,” “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” from DreamWorks Animation, and Walt Disney’s Strange World will all be capturing new footage. Premiere of NBCU-Illumination’s “Minions: The Rise of Gru”, “The Sea Beast” for Netflix, first episode of HBO Max’s Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, and premiere of Nickelodeon’s short “Rock, Paper Scissors” at the festival; Walt Disney’s “Lightyear” arcs Annecy Day and History With the United States, Netflix will host the first unified animated show, Disney Television Animation, Disney Junior and Disney EMEA Original Productions at a joint press conference. Animations from Warner Bros. and Cartoon Network Studios and Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe focus on the studio. These are just some of the details from the largest US companies. Annecy’s schedule was never full.

strange world
Credit: Disney

So happy to be back

Why register attendance and squad? One explanation is circumstantial. I missed Anne so badly. “Everyone I’ve talked to who usually goes to Annecy goes and often turns up like a group of people,” says Chris Brinosky, founder of Titmouse, president of the Titmouse Foundation.

“It’s the best international animation festival and in such a great location. Most of the people I know from the US haven’t attended since 2019, so everyone wants to go to Annecy.”

“Kidscreen has been pushed back to July, and not everyone is going to MipTV. A lot of buyers and sellers are basically backing away from Annecy,” says David Michel, president of Cottonwood Media, part of Federation Entertainment.

He adds, “On the creative side, many, many talents, especially young talents, have not been able to screen and showcase what they have been doing for two or three years. So everyone is really excited to be back in Annecy.”

epidemic bump

Then there is the epidemic bump. “During the pandemic, we have clearly seen a huge, huge boom in animation production, in general, because they have the ability to work and create content remotely,” says David Jestaedt, President of Gkids. During the pandemic, Paramount and Nickelodeon Animation have lit up more than 10 new projects across series and movies, brought together Paramount and Nickelodeon Animation and expanded their strategy in plays, hiring nearly 1,000 artists to work to support all of their shows, Naito said.

Head of Paramount and Nickelodeon Animation, she will be the world premiere of “Rock, Paper, Scissors,” the first green-lit short show from Nickelodeon’s inaugural intergalactic 2019 show.

Now, distributors want to spark excitement at their major shows, including big plays. Naito, who will be attending her presentation in Annecy, said a new clip from “Paws of Fury: The Legend Hank.”

“In recent conversations, when we asked sales agents or producers what was important to the success of their movie, everyone said movie theaters, too,” says Rodney Oller. Gkids Director of Special Projects. Few platforms are better for promoting than Annecy.

Industry Basics

However, Annecy’s two-decade growth has been extraordinary: Jane indicated there were about 4,000 badge holders at the turn of the century, and 7,000 when Jan became artistic director in 2013, which has now nearly doubled. Both cases have either played a steady role in Annecy’s favour, or are fueling strong industry fundamentals. One, more obvious, is that there are more buyers playing especially in the OTT space.

“Every broadcast device that isn’t already in an animated game pretty much wants to be in it. We’re just producing more than we ever have,” Brynosky said.

Family entertainment remains a stronghold of theatrical box office.

“Family films with a wide audience – adventure, animation and comedy films for children and families – are doing really well at the box office in France. But distributors are not getting enough promotions for commercial animated films.” Produced by Studiocanal, Cottonwood Media’s “Around The World In 80 Days” was said to be the biggest box office hit in France in 2021. The OTT and sometimes massive BO pull is a pretty strong double whammy.

Buzz addresses

In the highlights, Annecy should wow 2022. One big question is whether any new footage of Pinnochio will only make a fuss that this is the lead for the 2023 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. There’s a good word in Kidd’s “Entergalactic” Cody, and the sci-fi thriller “Nemona” which has also been shown on Netflix’s Annecy Showcase. “Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai” and Brazilian “Perlimps”, which just dropped a fantastic trailer, are causing great anticipation. In Annecy’s contest, Alberto Vázquez’s “Unicorn Wars,” a brutal anti-war tale, and “Noyola” by Angola, look like the very first early adopters. Michel Hazanavicius “The Most Valuable Merchandise,” Chiara Malta and Sebastian Ludenbach “Linda’s Chicken!” and “Shoot the Pianist,” by Fernando Tropa and Javier Mariscal, is among Ansi’s most anticipated running works.

Netflix schedules back

In May, Netflix announced that it was canceling a slew of animated projects and titles in production, including “Wings of Fire” from executive producer Ava DuVernay. With strategic timing, just before Annecy, the American broadcast giant also announced a European slate of eight animated titles, including “Ember,” Sergio Pablos’ follow-up to the Oscar-nominated “Klaus,” and Folivari producer Didier Brunner’s “Seven Bears.” , whose films received four Oscar nominations. Netflix may reduce the size of its animations. She certainly isn’t pulling out, though, as Annecy’s potential dazzling show can be interpreted as confirmation.

… and more industrial tremors

However, the industry still moved from one shock to the next. China, once a major force in the Annecy MIFA market, will largely be absent this year. There is a war in Europe that eliminates the Russian presence. As part of the massive budget cuts, the BBC announced in late May that CBBC would switch from a broadcast to an online channel. “Everyone travels to Annecy with thousands of projects and the truth is that the distribution path is going to get tighter,” said one of the producers. “A lot of the foundational parts of the business, how we sell and distribute animations, have changed recently,” says Jesteadt of GKids. “Our main focus at Annecy will be on understanding their new realities from all of our partners or potential partners and content creators.”

The era of intellectual property

“The streaming services seem to be going through a very natural ‘reset’ phase realizing that to get strong traction they need a very strong IP, refocusing on the classic family IP, as seen in the recently announced European listings,” says Eleanor Coleman, Head of Pre-Sales for Blue Spirit Productions It’s very similar to what major broadcasters are looking for.

“The only thing that’s very exciting is the explosion of premium family content on the series,” she says.

Animation for adults

She also adds that there’s been another explosion of adult animation globally, and she argues in particular, is in limited series, such as Italy’s “Tear Along the Dotted Line.”

“It’s as if the market is finally starting to shift away from the children’s model of mainstream titles, as we saw to some extent in ‘Spider Verse,’ and even more so is the success of ‘Arcane’ and the huge audiences of the final season of ‘Attack on’,” says Eric Beckmann. Gkids CEO, “Titan and Another Adult Oriented Anime”.

The United States continues to lead the construction of adult animation. “It’s really a strong creative space for Netflix and other platforms, but it now extends to the studios’ ambitious service business that offers different ways available to co-create adult content,” Coleman says.

Playing in the hybrid 2D/3D sandpit

“We’ve found that the technology we’ve developed — a 2D/3D hybrid — really relates to the market,” says Coleman, whose studios Blue Spirit just provided animation services on HBO Max’s CGI “Gremlins.”

Directors these days can really mix things up, creating with CGI the two-dimensional pictorial quality, as with “Gremlins”. “In the independent world, there’s always been a whole lot of things people call animation from stop-motion to 2D to drawing and sand animation to rotoscoping to 3D used in different ways, and of course a lot of adult fare.” Beckman says. “What is different is that these effects are becoming so much more prevalent that the old paradigm is starting to look outdated. People are calling for more exciting types of animation.”

Live Action Animation Diaspora

The excitement comes about the artistic potential of animation, and the sense of its potential as a full-fledged cinematic medium, as the diaspora continues from live action to animation. “More and more directors are interested in entering the world of animation,” Marin notes. In Annecy, “The Most Valuable Merchandise” is the first animated film from Academy Award winner Hazanavicius (“The Artist”). Producers are also making the move, notes MIFA director Veronique Encrenaz, who notes Claude Barras’ “You’re Not the Person I Expected” film, produced by Paris-based Sombrero Films, comes from direct work.

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Berlimps



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