Sito Recalls
At the Network of Cartoons
Cartoon Network had a bunch of announcements about series old and new today . They were as follows ... We Bare Bears -- Each episode follo...
Falling Wages, Falling Marriage Rates
And now, because this is (occasionally) a labor blog: The Death of American Unions Is Killing American Marriage For all the mawkish, maudli...
So What About the Anthem Security Breach?
Mr. Kaplan and I have continued our tour of studios this week. A question keeps coming up: "What about Anthem?! What about the securi...
Niceness ... and Not
Sayeth Ms. Pascal: "We all live in this weird thing called Hollywood. If we all actually were nice, it wouldn't work." I don...
From Live Action to Animation
... Instead of the other way around . But some oversensitive types refuse to see the value in it. ... In June we reported that the BBC was ...
Hero Follow-Up
Penn Zero, PTH , which premiered over the weekend, enjoyed solid results for its initial outing. Premiering with a Disney Channel and Disn...
Evening Factoid
Third highest grossing : ... Big Hero 6 has now grossed $219.3M at the domestic box office, which pushed it past Beauty and the Beast . Tha...
Lawsuit City
Not against the Big Boys this time, but a well-loved VFX and animation studio that went bankrupt just as it won an Academy Award. ... On Fr...
At Disney TVA
Your World-Wide B.O.
Time once again for a look at animation and VFX foreign box office . Weekend Foreign Box Office -- (World Totals) Spongebob Squarepants -- ...
WGA Animation Awards
The WGA passed out awards tonight. This was the animated show that received one. Best Animated TV Show (WINNER) “Brick Like Me” (The Simps...
Biz Rep Questionnaire
TAG organizer/Peg-Board editor/utility infielder Steve Kaplan has been running profiles of Animation Guild Executive Board members in the m...
American Box Office
Gary Owens, RIP
From the AP : Gary Owens, the droll, mellifluous-voiced announcer on “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” and a familiar part of radio, TV and mo...
Tom Sito's February History
Once again, it's time for Professor/ President Emeritus Sito's movie factoids. Feb 1, 1893- In New Jersey, Thomas Edison and his en...
Health Factoid
What the hell ? Wired found shockingly low vaccination rates at a number of corporate-sponsored daycare facilities in Silicon Valley. And ki...
Disney Hand Off
The Times says it's going swimmingly . ...At companies in less ego-driven industries than media and entertainment, the orderly naming of...
British Tech Centers
The fastest growing areas are not (surprisingly?) in London . ... Tech Nation, the most comprehensive analysis of the UK’s digital industrie...
Lawsuit Pushback
You remember the recent lawsuit by David Wentworth, Robert Nitsch Jr. and Georgia Cano? The one where Wentworth, Nitsch, and Cano claim a c...
Congratulation Professor Sito
So a past President (three terms) of the Animation Guild is now a tenured professor at USC. This, after a five decade career in animation a...
The Gender Thing. Again.
Kind of a recurring theme . ... The lack of gender parity seen in both film and tech fields overall is also evident in VFX (VFX: visual effe...
Job Gains
As DreamWorks Animation lays off staff (and it's been going on for some time), other entertainment-related jobs in Los Angeles/Californi...
The Animation Guild's Redesigned Website
For those who haven't visited the Guild's website in a while, we think you're in for a treat. The freshly redesigned website wa...
Amy Goes to Marveland
Now we know where Ms. Pascal is going . Sony Pictures Entertainment and Marvel Studios are joining forces on the next iteration of Spider-Ma...
Spongebob Stats
The profile of an over-achiever . ... The big showing by the PG-rated “SpongeBob” was way over projections of analysts and the studio, who h...
Afternoon of Remembrance
Now with Add On! Truth be told, it was actually a weekend of remembrance. Per President Emeritus Tom Sito: This year's Afternoon of ...
Rules of Investing
As described in the Wall Street Journal. Fourteen Simple Rules Ignore economic and financial forecasts. Their purpose is to keep forecaste...
Your Foreign Box Office
... with visual effects extravaganzas and animated features sprinkled throughout . Weekend Foreign Box Office -- (World Totals) Spongebob Sq...
What Mark Said ...
Mr Kennedy on character and story . Getting In The Character's Head ... Characters are not lifeless mannequins that move through stories...
Your Spongebob Box Office
... where a cartoon sits atop the heap : ... After a super $14.3M in Friday industry estimates, SpongeBob is now expected to post a $53.1M ...
The Anthem FusterCluck
You have no doubt heard by now that a large swath of the population got singed by the reported hack of Anthem Insurance. Almost every enter...
Mojo's Forecast
From yesterday ... Forecast (February 6-8) 1. SpongeBob - $41 million 2. Jupiter Ascending - $22 million 3. American Sniper - $20.8 million...
Fighting For Credit
Most artists and creators will fight tenaciously for credit they believe they've earned and deserve. Screen credit on features and tele...
The Singing
Speaking of Transitions
It isn't just Robert Iger who'll be ambling on ... ... Sony has just confirmed that Amy Pascal is stepping down from her position ...
The Fight For the Throne
... is over . Succession at the Walt Disney Company became clearer on Thursday as Thomas O. Staggs, chairman of Disney’s theme park operati...
More Cyber Fun
This is a heads up for participants in the Motion Picture Industry Health Plan. To wit : Health insurer Anthem Inc, which has nearly 40 mil...
Cleaning Up
The fact that Nickelodeon's long-time meal ticket has most of the family trade to itself could bode well . BOX OFFICE: SPONGEBOB MOPS F...
Record Setting?
That's what StudioCanal would have us believe . ... Paddington is the highest grossing non-Hollywood family film ever, in fact. Having ...
Happy Days
DreamWorks Animation is having its problems, but not its crosstown rival . ... Shares in the Walt Disney Co. shot up more than 4.5% in after...
The TAG 401(k) Plan
The Animation Guild's quarterly trustee meeting took place on Monday; herewith useful factoids for participants: Total Plan Assets 1st Q...
Tweaking and Re-Tweaking
Monty Oum, RIP
From an entertainment journal : Monty Oum, who was director of animation for online-video pioneer Rooster Teeth, died Sunday at the age of j...