Computer-generated movies red hot

By Scott Bowles
USA Today

The opening-weekend triumph of Disney's "Monsters, Inc." suggests we'll be seeing a lot more big-screen animated features. Disney

The colorful stars of "Monsters, Inc." propelled the Disney/Pixar film to the best opening ever for an animated film and easily outdistanced the debut of rival DreamWorks' "Shrek," which brought in $42.3 million on its opening weekend in May.

More important, the recent success of several computer-generated films — coupled with the new Oscar category for cartoons — may spell an animation invasion in theaters.

"These movies are doing well with all age groups," says Tom Borys, an analyst with box-office tracking firm ACNielsen EDI. He says that even "studios who haven't fared well with animation in the past may be trying it again soon, given how well 'Monsters' did."

Disney wasn't prepared for this kind of triumph. "Monsters" is the type of movie Disney typically releases around the holidays, but the studio pushed up its release so it wouldn't compete directly with the "Harry Potter" juggernaut. That movie opens next Friday.

Still, the timing didn't faze "Monsters," which enjoyed the sixth-largest box office opening ever.

"We knew we would have a solid opening," says Richard Cook, Disney's motion pictures group chairman. "But this was something so far out in the stratosphere we couldn't have expected it."

Animation has been king of the box office lately. "Shrek" remains the biggest hit of the year with $267 million, and, coupled with the success of "Monsters," reinforces the trend toward computer-generated animation.

Of the top 10 openings for animated films, six were computer-generated. Another, "Tarzan," was computer-enhanced. Disney released eight of the top 10 films.

Computer-generated films are giving technologically savvy audiences "a realism you just can't get with traditional animation," Borys says. "They also depart from traditional story lines of animated films."

Still, computer and animation software isn't necessarily a recipe for success. The $100 million-budgeted "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within," Sony's much-hyped computer simulation of human actors based on a futuristic video game, grossed only $32 million.

"These aren't cheap movies to make," Borys says. "And you still must have a clever story line if you want to hit a home run. But particularly now, this seems to be the kind of escapism people are looking for."