Walt Disney Co.’s Miramax Films unit forged a deal to co-produce animated movies with Wild Brain Inc., adding another Hollywood player to the increasingly competitive world of computer-generated animated feature films. The deal comes amid uncertainty over the future of Miramax and its co-chairmen, Harvey and Bob Weinstein, after repeated clashes with their corporate parent. Disney, Burbank, Calif., has its own partnership with a CGI-animation house, Pixar Animation Studios, but that deal is set to expire in 2005. Disney also plans to make its own computer-animated movies. Miramax and animation company Wild Brain, San Francisco, will kick off their new venture with “Opus,” based on the penguin character from the “Bloom County” comic strip. Miramax, together with Bob Weinstein’s production outfit Dimension Films, will distribute the films and share financing of the movies with Wild Brain, which will animate them. This is Wild Brain’s first move into feature-length movies.
An Opus movie. Now, I’m trying not to get too excited. It could suck. Like The Flintstones or something. But then again, it could be great.
This leads to all sorts of interesting questions, the most important of which is who would voice Opus the Penguin?