80’s and 90’s babies and film buffs alike can rejoice! Famed children's filmmaker and longtime Disney competitor Don Bluth has a new project in the works. For those of you trying to figure out my extreme excitement, I will list off Don Bluth's’ credentials:
- The Secret of NIMH (1982)
- An American Tail (1986)
- The Land Before Time (1988)
- All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989)
- Rock-a-Doodle (1991)
- Thumbelina (1994)
- A Troll in Central Park (1994)
- The Pebble and the Penguin (1995)
- Anastasia (1997)
- Titan A.E. (2000)
Yes, THAT is Don Bluth! If your heart didn’t melt a bit when you read that list, it’s probably because you don’t have a heart. For twenty years, Don Bluth, a former Disney animator, was Disney’s biggest competitor when it came to animated children’s films. After severe financial failure of the film Titan A.E. which recouped less than half its cost at the box office, Fox shut down the animation studio where Bluth worked, preventing Bluth from making another film.
Now, after a 16 year hiatus from animation, Bluth is attempting a comeback, in a method that is becoming increasingly popular with filmmakers: crowdfunding. Bluth is relying on contributions from his fans in order to produce his upcoming project, Dragon’s Lair, based on the classic game which featured original animation from Bluth. The campaign began on Kickstarter, but switched to Indiegogo, and has, as of June of this year, raised $605,000.
With the shift from hand animation to CGI, which, uncoincidentally, has occurred in the past twenty years, it is becoming more and more difficult for traditional animators like Bluth to gain investor interest in traditional hand drawn animation projects as many believe that hand drawn animation is a step backwards and can’t make the money that CGI can.
This is where crowdfunding comes in; crowdfunding is not intended to fully finance the film. It is intended to finance what Bluth and longtime business partner Gary Goldman have dubbed a “sizzle reel," a short preview of the film to attract major investors, as well as to show potential investors that there is a real interest and audience out there for hand-drawn animation.
Bluth and Goldman are as determined as their fans to make this project a reality and are incentivising the process by including opportunities for mentoring via Facetime with Bluth for contributors as well as including memorabilia from the original game.
Bluth already has a crew of traditional animators who are chomping at the bit to be able to create a hand drawn animation film which is becoming a lost art. These animators all come from different studios and most didn’t make the transition to CGI and so have sat, waiting for an opportunity to do what they love. For many, this project is greater than one film; it’s a chance to resurrect an art form, and a filmmaking process that is all but lost.If you wish to contribute to Dragon's Lair you can donate to the Indiegogo account at www.indiegogo.com.
