Pete Paquette

I guess I cannot put my latest reel on youTube.  Sorry.

Posted on Cartoon Brew yesterday:

A fact that took me by surprise: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is now the fifth-highest grossing animated feature of all-time at the worldwide box office. Here’s the list:

1. Shrek 2 – $919.8 million
2. Finding Nemo – $864.6 million
3. Shrek the Third – $799 million
4. The Lion King – $783.8 million
5. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs – $673.5 million

The film has performed phenomenally overseas, pulling in excess of $500 million from foreign markets. This Variety article mentions that the film is on its way to becoming the top-grossing animated feature at the foreign box office, surpassing the current title holder, Pixar’s Finding Nemo ($524 million).

I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that the reason for the film’s box office success isn’t because the entire world loves Ray Romano, but rather that the world loves Scrat, a refreshing cartoon creation whose appeal stems from his personality and mannerisms instead of his dialogue (a virtually unheard of innovation in contemporary animation).

The episode of Simon’s Cat I posted yesterday couldn’t be more different in style and tone than Ice Age, but at its core, I think the success of both of these cartoons revolves around an understanding that audiences still enjoy watching funny and appealing visually-driven cartoon characters.

Click image to read review!!

When I was a young kid I used to listen to these Star Wars “read-along” books.  They were picture books bundled with a 45 LP.   The narrators were melodramatic and they tried thier hardest to sound like the characters from the movie.  As a kid, I totally bought it.  As an adult, it’s laughable.  I remember finding the LP in one of my art books not too long ago and wondered how it would hold up against time.  I did a search the other day on YouTube, not expecting much.  To my suprise, not only is the audio up there, but a montage of the book as well.  I haven’t heard these in probably 26 + years.

A lot of you have asked what I’ve been working on since I’ve finished up work on Ice Age 3.  Fox has finally announced our next film, “Rio”, earlier today.  Hopefully this article can help answer some of your questions.

I’ve always been a fan of Foreigner.  In fact I used to play drums to their album “Records” back in the day.  When I found out that they were touring again, I bought tickets to their next closest show which was in Stamford, CT.  It was a smaller venue that kinda reminded me of the Muppet Theater.  The show rocked!!

After a lengthy crunch, our work is finally done.  Here is the frame counter I sent out periodically  to the department to show the team’s overall progress on the film.  The counter follows Animation Production Supervisor, Anthony Nisi, as he is overcoming obstacles (acorns) while trying to reach the antagonist Scrat.  If you don’t get the reference, you’ve probably been asleep for the past 30 years.  Click on the image to see it in action.

If you feel as though the ending seems very familiar but you just can’t place it, here’s a clue to help you sleep at night.  Congrats again to all the animators on the film!!