The news that DD Pictures and Weta Digital are working together on an animated film is no secret.

Because it would be difficult for Weta to keep this news a secret.

Animation and film and television special effects are two very similar jobs, but they are definitely not the same job, the reason why Industrial Light & Magic can do "Ghost Horse Elf" is, of course, due to the similarity of these two jobs, but don't think that a special effects post-production company can smoothly produce an animated feature film.

It's not that easy.

Post-production special effects are more of a technical thing, such as Weta Digital's excellent motion capture technology, which is of great significance for shooting special effects blockbusters. But this technology is basically useless in animation. This is a stark difference between the two types of film careers that use computers and software.

Animation is a complete movie, script, story, director, actors - in the real world, the actor corresponding to the animated character is the animation designer, which is a very demanding position, not just a simple IT personnel, of course, at this point, the film and television special effects staff is the same, must have a certain aesthetic and creative ability.

Therefore, when Weta wants to get involved in cartoons, he must recruit again, because Weta itself does not have many staff, which is also required by the characteristics of the industry.

Poaching from DreamWorks Animation, Disney Animation and Pixar is definitely the best choice, basically the top talent in the industry is in their pockets, and the technicians who do the work, Weta may also be able to solve the problem by annexing and acquiring some small animation studios, but leaders, experienced animation directors and producers are rare.

In fact, when Vita's action was acquired by a visual effects company called Sydney Animal Logic, it was noticed by industry insiders that Animal Logic was small but had been funded to make an animated film, mainly funded by the director of the work, George Logic. Supporters of Miller. George is one of Australia's best-known directors of the last century, and Mad Max has earned him worldwide accolades.

However, making cartoons has always been a very waste of money.

Animal Logic has been working on this movie for more than 2 years and has cost more than 70 million. And it is expected that more than 30 million will be needed. Investors are a little overwhelmed by this, and in fact, if Weta Digital doesn't make a move, Warner will reach out to fund the film. And what Weta is doing now is just going further. It pocketed the entire Animal Logic Company, and the film they were working on was also accepted by Weta for 64 million, and after the original investors shared the loss, they felt that the loss was within a bearable range. Animal Logic, Inc., on the other hand, is a desperate battle, and of course it is very willing to extend an olive branch from Weta, and when it comes to life and death, no one will have to consider whether they can dominate the company.

The acquisition of Animal Logic gave the industry an idea of Weta's intentions, but if it was surprising, of course, it was in early 2004, around the time when Daniel won his second Oscar, and the media was swarming to report on Daniel's succession of actors, and only those who care about the field of animation will find that something quite influential happened.

Andrew. Stanton has been poached by Weta Digital!

Andrew. Who is Stanton? Pixar Animation's day-to-day management is second only to John Brown. Lasseter's number two, a member of Pixar's start-up eight. He has participated in almost all Pixar projects and is a well-known figure in the field of Hollywood animation production. If that's not enough, then "Finding Nemo" is sure to surprise you, the $880 million animated film that earned him worldwide, second only to DreamWorks' second installment in the Shrek series, which was highlighted last year, and ranked second in the global box office charts. And "Finding Nemo" was written, produced, and directed by Andrew.

Therefore, his job hopping is extremely surprising, no one expected him to leave Pixar and enter the animation production department and the poor Weta Digital, what conditions did Weta give. There is a lot of speculation from the outside world, half of the shares? A contract worth 100 million? Committed to running an animation department independently? These unbelievable conditions were all reported as reasonable speculation.

In fact, even so. It's still unacceptable for Andrew to leave Pixar, especially after he has just finished a masterpiece like "Finding Nemo."

But today, in mid-2005, you can already have some reliable guesses.

Jobs and Disney are full of contradictions, and Pixar, which is sandwiched between them, is not a comfortable working environment, despite its continuous success. Again, Jobs's main focus was entirely on Apple Computer. This allows Andrew to want to be able to focus on his animation work. Stanton was very upset. Of course, this didn't really make him decide to leave Pixar and start a new business.

The conditions that Weta Digital had prepared for him ultimately drove him to make this decision.

Of course, the conditions are not as outrageous as the outside world speculates.

In fact, the whole thing is different from what the outside world understands.

Weta Digital is indeed preparing to build its own animation division, but the animation division is not an ordinary division of Weta Digital, and its shareholding structure and investment ratio are very different from those of the parent company. DD Pictures invested 64 million yuan to acquire Animal Logic Company, and at the same time invested 100 million yuan into the company's account for Animal Logic Company's production works, as well as company operations and new projects. The parent company of Weta Digital only contributed 20 million, occupying 20% of the shares, hoping that other departments of Weta will provide services for the animation department, so the price is 12 million, of course, this money is definitely not enough to make cartoons, cartoons are generally more than 100 million budgets, so the later investment is allocated according to the proportion of equity.

The reason why the operation is so complicated is entirely because of Daniel and Richard. Taylor has mixed opinions.

Daniel felt that Weta should develop his animation department vigorously, while Richard felt that Weta had no competitive advantage over Pixar, DreamWorks, Disney, or even Blue Sky Studios, which recently rose to prominence with "Ice Age." If you invest a lot of money in the animation department, it's too risky for Vita. To be honest, Richard may not have Daniel's purpose in mind to get more shares of Weta - if Weta loses money in the field of animation, so that it hinders the normal operation of the company, then it is bound to need further financing, DD Pictures was inexplicably rich at that time, and Plutos was still hidden behind the scenes, but DD Pictures, which took out one or two hundred million and didn't blink his eyes, was obviously enough to make Richard vigilant.

But cartoons are really a big piece of meat, and Daniel has some other ideas about it, so he won't give up until he has to.

In the end, after quite hard negotiations, the current cooperation model is not particularly complicated, and the animation department under Weta Digital has not been officially listed as Weta Animation, which is also the reason, because although it has not been agreed, sooner or later, DD Pictures will still merge this animation department in Hollywood into its own system.

After the cooperation between Weta and DD was reached, in addition to the original management and talent of Animal Logic, George . Miller was also invited to work on their cartoon. But in addition to the fact that their original CEO, Sebastian, could be the head of the animation department, there was definitely a need for a leader in content, creative, and production - the soul of the animation department.

Daniel is too busy, mostly Kusa. Damon and Sebastian scanned the talent of all over Hollywood.

Andrew. Stanton was shortlisted as the No. 1 candidate - which also meant the least likely candidate.

Sebastian's target is actually Kelly of DreamWorks. Asbury, a veteran animated feature film producer and director, follows Jeffrey Brown. From Disney to DreamWorks Animation, Katzenberg has worked on well-known animated films such as Toy Story and Chicken Run, as well as directing My Little Pony, and has the credentials and abilities to take on the new animation department.

But the negotiation process was unexpected, and Kelly was very central to Katzenberg, although Sebastian was prepared for this - after all, he had followed Katzenberg for more than 15 years after leaving the booming Disney. But the 5 million annual salary he proposed, directing or serving as a producer and screenwriter, and the conditions for additional remuneration are much higher than Kelly's treatment in DreamWorks, and Kelly's resoluteness makes him a little at a loss.

DreamWorks Animation went public on the NASDAQ in 2004, and the huge success of Shrek 2 has kept its stock price at a high point - Kelly has one of the few options on DreamWorks, and if he leaves, that part of the interest will have to be discarded, and Kelly may not be able to make that decision.

Unlike Sebastian, who was blocked, Kusa. Damon, however, unexpectedly saw an opportunity to poach Andrew.

With an annual salary of 10 million yuan and an annual dividend of 3%, DD Pictures, the leader of the animation division and the largest shareholder, has pledged to invest $600 million in film production over the next five years.

In other words, what Kusa and Andrew are saying is, I give you higher wages, more dividends, more autonomy, and a big sky to play.

Andrew was impressed.

So, in the field of animation appeared after DreamWorks founder Jeffrey . The most high-profile change at the top since Katzenberg left Disney.

This also made Weta Digital's huge ambitions in the field of animation known to passers-by.

But no one expected that Andrew had joined the new team a year ago, and now Cusa could stand in front of Daniel and tell him that a new animated film was more than 90% complete, and that it would be released in December this year. Giving up the summer file is a huge challenge for children's cartoons. (To be continued.) )

PS: Second update