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It is not a secret that DD Films and Weta Digital will jointly create animation films. Baidu Search Geili Literature Network

Because Weta had a hard time keeping the news a secret.

Animation and film and television special effects are two very similar jobs, but they are definitely not the same job. The reason why Industrial Light and Magic can do Ghost Horse Elf is of course due to the similarity of these two jobs, but don't think that a special effects company In the later stage, the company can smoothly produce a feature-length animation film.

It's not that easy.

Post-production special effects are more technical matters. For example, Weta Digital's excellent motion capture technology is of great significance for shooting blockbuster special effects. But this technology is basically useless in cartoons. This shows the stark difference between the two businesses that use computers and software to make movies.

A cartoon is a complete movie, with scripts, stories, directors, and actors—in the real world, the actors corresponding to the animated characters are animation designers. This is a highly demanding position, not just for IT personnel , Of course, at this point, the film and television special effects staff are the same, they must have a certain aesthetic and creative ability.

Therefore, when Weta wants to get involved in cartoons, it must recruit new troops, because Weta itself does not have many staff members, which is also required by the characteristics of the industry.

Poaching people from Dreamworks Animation, Disney Animation, and Pixar is definitely the best choice. Basically, the top talents in the industry are in their pockets. For technical personnel, Weta may also be able to annex and acquire some small animation jobs. However, leaders and experienced animation directors and producers are rare.

In fact, when Weta acquired a visual effects company called Sydney Animal Logic Visual Effects, people in the industry noticed that Animal Logic was very small. But it has been funded to make an animated film, and the funders are mainly supporters of the director of this work, George Miller. George was one of the most famous directors in Australia in the last century, and Mad Max won him worldwide honor.

But making cartoons has always been a waste of money.

Animal Logic has been working on this film for more than 2 years. The cost exceeded 70 million, and it is estimated that more than 30 million will be needed. Investors are feeling a bit overwhelmed by this. In fact, if Weta Digital hadn't made a move, Warner would have reached out to finance the film. And what Weta is doing now is just going one step further. It has acquired the entire Animal Logic Company, and the movie they are making is also accepted by Weta for 64 million. After the original investors share the losses, feel that the loss is within the tolerable range. And Animal Logic Company can be said to fight to the death, of course, it is very willing to the olive branch extended by Weta,

When it comes to life and death, no one will have to consider whether they can dominate the company.

The acquisition of Animal Logic has given the industry some insight into Weta's intentions, but if it is surprising, of course it was at the beginning of 2004, around the time Daniel won his second Oscar, and the media swarmed to report on Daniel With regard to the matter of the film king, only those who care about the field of cartoons will find that a very influential thing has happened.

Andrew Stanton was poached by Weta Digital!

Who is Andrew Stanton? Second only to John Lasseter in the day-to-day management of Pixar Animation, a member of Pixar's founding eight. He has participated in almost all of Pixar's projects and is a well-known figure in the field of Hollywood animation production. If these are not enough, then the film Finding Nemo must be enough to surprise you. This cartoon, which earned 880 million US dollars worldwide, is second only to the second part of the Shrek series that DreamWorks highlighted last year, and ranks second on the global box office list of cartoons. And Finding Nemo was written, produced and directed by Andrew.

Therefore, his job-hopping was extremely surprising. No one expected that he would leave Pixar and enter Weta Digital, which was still poor in the animation production department. There were many outside speculations about what conditions Weta gave. shares? A contract worth 100 million? Committed to running the animation department independently? These conditions sound unbelievable. All were reported as reasonable guesses.

In fact, even so. Everyone still can't accept Andrew's departure from Pixar, especially after he has just completed such a masterpiece as Finding Nemo.

But to this day. In the middle of 2005, everyone was able to have some reliable guesses.

Jobs and Disney were full of conflicts, and Pixar, which was sandwiched between them, continued to have excellent works, but the working environment was not comfortable. Jobs' main energy was completely put on Apple Computer, which made Andrew Stanton, who hoped to focus on animation work, very dissatisfied. Of course, this didn't actually make him decide to leave Pixar and start anew.

The conditions prepared for him by Weta Digital finally pushed him to make this decision.

Of course, the conditions are not as outrageous as the outside world guessed.

In fact, the whole thing is different from what the outside world understands.

Weta Digital is indeed preparing to build its own animation department, but the animation department is not an ordinary department of Weta Digital, and its equity structure and investment ratio are completely different from those of the parent company. dd Films invested 64 million to acquire Animal Logic, and at the same time invested 100 million into the company account for the production of Animal Logic, as well as company operations and new projects. The parent company of Weta Digital only invested 20 million yuan, occupying 20% ​​of the shares. It is hoped that other departments of Weta will provide services for the animation department, so the price is 12 million yuan. Of course, this amount of money is definitely not enough to make cartoons. Cartoons generally have a budget of more than 100 million yuan, so the investment in the later stage is allocated according to the proportion of equity.

The reason why the operation is so complicated is entirely because Daniel and Richard Taylor have different opinions.

Daniel thinks that Weta should vigorously develop its own animation department, while Richard thinks that Weta has nothing to do with Pixar, DreamWorks, Disney, or even Blue Sky Studios, which has recently risen with Ice Age in animated feature films. any competitive advantage. If a large sum of money is invested in the animation department, it will be too risky for Weta. To be honest, Richard may not have Daniel’s intention of obtaining more shares in Weta through this. If Weta loses money in the animation field to the extent that it hinders the normal operation of the company, then further financing is bound to be required, and that of dd Films At that time, he was inexplicably rich and powerful, and Plutos was still hidden behind the scenes, but dd Films, which took out 100 to 200 million without blinking eyes, was obviously enough to make Richard feel vigilant.

But cartoons are indeed a big piece of meat, and Daniel has other ideas about it, so he won't give up unless he has to.

In the end, after quite hard negotiations, the current cooperation model, which is not particularly complicated, was finalized. The animation department under Weta Digital has never been officially listed on Weta Animation. Sooner or later, DD Pictures will still incorporate this animation department in Hollywood into its own system.

After the cooperation between Weta and dd was reached, in addition to the original managers and talents of Animal Logic, George Miller was also invited to continue to produce their cartoon. But in addition to their original company, Sebastian, who can be the management leader of the animation department, there must still be a leader in content, creativity and production-the soul of the animation department.

Daniel was too busy, mainly Cusa Damon and Sebastian scanned all Hollywood talents.

Andrew Stanton was the No. 1 pick -- and that meant the least likely candidate.

Sebastian's goal is actually Kelly Asbury of DreamWorks, a senior animation feature film producer and director, who followed Jeffrey Katzenberg from Disney to DreamWorks Animation and participated in the production of Well-known cartoons such as Toy Story and Chicken Run, and also directed Little Pony King, this qualification and ability are sufficient for the new animation department.

But the negotiation process was unexpected, and Kelly was very focused on Katzenberg, although Sebastian was prepared for this - after all, he had followed Katzenberg to leave the prosperous Disney and followed him for more than 15 years. But the 5 million annual salary he proposed, directing or acting as a producer, screenwriter, and other remuneration conditions, compared with Kelly's treatment at DreamWorks, was already much higher, and Kelly's determination made him a little at a loss.

DreamWorks Animation was listed on NASDAQ in 2004. The great success of Shrek 2 made its stock price at a high point-Kelly had some options in DreamWorks, and if he left, this part of the interest had to be acquired If not, Kelly may not be able to make this decision.

Unlike Sebastian's encounter with obstacles, Cusa Damon unexpectedly saw an opportunity to poach Andrew.

With an annual salary of 10 million and a 3% annual dividend, the leader of the animation department and the largest shareholder, dd Pictures, promised to invest 600 million US dollars in film production in the next five years.

In other words, what Cusa and Andrew are saying is, I will give you a higher salary, more dividends, greater autonomy, and a wider sky for you to play.

Andrew was moved.

Therefore, there has been the most high-profile change in the animation industry since Jeffrey Katzenberg, the founder of DreamWorks, left Disney.

This also made Weta Digital's huge ambitions in the animation field known to everyone.

But it must have been expected by no one. Andrew joined the new team a year ago. Now, Kusa can stand in front of Daniel and tell him that more than 90% of a new animation has been completed. The Christmas schedule will be released in December this year. Abandoning the summer file is a huge challenge for cartoons for children. (to be continued)

ps: the second update

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