Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 4, 1990 TAG: 9005040113
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARIA EFTIMIADES NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Whether it was Mickey on skates or the antics of a jealous Donald Duck, those six-minute teasers were as much a part of the movies as long lines and popcorn.
The unceremonious demise of the animated shorts in the late 1950s reflected a simple fact of movie making - adding a pre-feature attraction didn't add to profits.
But these days, cartoons before the movie are making a comeback.
Leading the way is Walt Disney Studios, which last year produced the first cartoon in almost 25 years to run with a live action film.
The short, "Tummy Trouble" starring Roger Rabbit, accompanied "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids."
And that's just the beginning. Within the next two years, Disney expects to run two more 6 1/2- to 7-minute shorts featuring the accident-prone rabbit and three featurettes - 22-minute animated films - that will star Mickey, Donald and friends.
Indeed, Disney's goal is eventually to pair cartoons with almost all of its live action films.
Bringing back shorts and featurettes is Disney's attempt to bolster young viewers' recognition of its classic cartoon characters as well as to keep newly developed characters popular.
"Kids today know Mickey from T-shirts and sweatshirts and as a walk-around-the-park character," says Peter Schneider, senior vice president of feature animation for Disney Studios.
"We need to bring back Mickey Mouse as a theatrical screen personality. At the same time we need to keep a new character like Roger Rabbit alive."
All at a hefty price. Although Disney executives refused to discuss specific figures, they say plans to introduce new shorts and featurettes will cost the company several million dollars.
Some 70 staffers work on each short, which take about 9 months each to complete.
A feature film takes about four years to complete. About 400 staffers contribute to it.
It was the success of the floppy-earred toon star Roger Rabbit from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" that sparked the real interest in pairing animated shorts with live action movies, Disney executives say.
Since its 1988 release, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," produced in conjunction with Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, grossed about $325 million worldwide, won four Academy Awards and catapulted that lanky, slightly cross-eyed rabbit into the hearts of millions of children and adults.
But interest in a cartoon character can be fleeting, say animation experts, especially when it is several years before the character is again seen on screen.
In the case of Roger Rabbit, plans for a sequel were under way almost immediately after the movie's release.
But the mechanics of creating an animated film (each second of film requires 24 hand-painted cels) is slow-moving.
As a result, a sequel isn't expected to open in theaters until the summer of 1992 or 1993.
Keeping Roger alive in the meantime, say Disney executives, proved a considerable challenge.
"Roger is the first time in many years that a cartoon character has come off the movie and become a character," said Schneider.
"Once we saw that he really did transcend the movie, the question was how do we keep him alive."
The methods varied. Roger, clad in his trademark red shorts and a spotted bow tie, began appearing as a regular cast member at Disney's theme parks in July 1988, just one month after the release of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit."
Merchandising was stepped up immediately, and within weeks Roger Rabbit began appearing nationwide on T-shirts, mugs and posters.
The key to his longevity was still on the screen, the place Roger Rabbit really came alive. Enter the shorts.
Last year's "Tummy Trouble" paired the high-strung rabbit with Baby Herman in a fast-moving tale of mishaps and mischevious adventures.
"Tummy Trouble" marked the first short produced by Disney since "Goofy's Freeway Trouble" in 1965.
In 1986, Disney animation executives had decided to bring the company's most widely known characters back to theaters by producing featurettes.
In 1983, Disney had successfully launched "Mickey's Christmas Carol," the first Mickey cartoon to run in theaters since a 1953 short; and it seemed time to rely on those familiar faces again.
The first of three new Mickey Mouse featurettes, "The Prince and the Pauper," is expected to run with "The Rescuers Down Under," due in November.
Walt Disney Studios, divided into units that create film and television animation, has grown sharply since the fall of 1984, when Michael Eisner, Frank Wells and Jeffrey Katzenberg took over the management.
The feature animation staff has increased to 570, from 190, and starting last year three artists and writers have been working full time developing new story lines and characters for shorts alone.
Last May, the company opened its $500 million 135-acre Disney-MGM Studios park near Orlando, Fla., where about 70 animators work on shorts and feature films beneath a Plexiglas window, enabling vistors to watch the various stages of progrss.
Disney cartoons have appeared on television in large numbers recently. Last year, the studio produced 44 hours of new cartoons, and this year an estimated 62 hours are in the works.
Indeed, in the last five years the studio has produced as much animation annually as was done from 1920 to 1950.
Short films, however, have changed considerably.
In the 1940s, shorts were used primarily as training for young animators.
But with the standards set for "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," Disney executives say, shorts these days are almost as complicated to make as feature films.
"We look at it both ways; they are as complex as a feature but at the same time six minutes is definitively easier to do than 70 minutes, so of course it's easier to manage," said Schneider.
"It's also a great way to try out new people."
The decision to run more shorts has also proved a big morale booster for the animators, adds Rob Minkoff, who directed "Tummy Trouble" and is completing "Roller Coaster Rabbit."
No longer must they wait up to four years, as was true in the case of "The Little Mermaid," until their work is on the screen.
"All of the animators have wanted to do shorts for a long time, and they are all very excited and enthusiastic that suddenly it's really happening," Minkoff said.
Once a short is completed, it is carefully matched to a film.
"We look for a film the short will complement," said Max Howard, head of animation at Disney's Florida studios.
" `Dick Tracy' is a real adventure film, so we expect a crazy, zany cartoon up front like our `Roller Coaster Rabbit' will work well. It would never have been matched with, say, a `Dead Poets Society.' "
Will the long-term value of promoting old and new characters outweigh short-term financial losses? Disney executives are confident it will.
"We know because of history that our films are around for many years," said Howard.
"Animation doesn't age. Our audience loves the idea of seeing two things - it's icing on the cake. For the older people it's a trip down memory lane - it's back to the days when you'd get four shorts, two features and a newsreel.
"For the younger audience, it's seeing Roger again in another crazy, zany situation."
by CNB