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To appreciate the Walt Disney Co.'s animation monopoly, you have to travel back to 1994--months before "The Lion King" shattered Hollywood records.
Far from Los Angeles, Warner Bros. held two test screenings of "Thumbelina," showing clips from its animated movie to gauge audience interest. The first time around, audience reaction was flat. For the next test, according to people familiar with the experiment, Warners stripped off its company logo--and slapped Disney's name on the exact same "Thumbelina" footage.
The test scores soared. (Warner Bros. declined to comment.)
"Toy Story" director John Lasseter is only half-kidding when he says, "You can have an hour and a half of blank film leader with the Disney name on it and people will go see it."
What has been equally true is that if an animated movie--no matter how brilliant and entertaining--does not sport Disney's logo, people will avoid it. It's as if the movie has rabies: The audience steers clear, the theaters become empty quarantines.
Nevertheless, some of Hollywood's biggest players--Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, DreamWorks--are now poised to challenge Disney's animation dynasty, and their first three rival movies are nearing completion. Unlike earlier adversaries, the competing studios are committing vast sums to the campaign, erecting sprawling animation studios from scratch and organizing expansive marketing campaigns. The buildup for the animation battle has been happening for a couple of years, already dramatically changing the animation job market, but the next several months will finally see some of these competing studios' big releases.
The goal is simple: Grab a slice of Hollywood's single most lucrative franchise.
In just over a decade, Disney has turned animation from an ailing weakling into a show business steamroller, building the only real brand name in movies. The franchise is more profitable than James Bond and any cleavage you throw his way. Better than the "Die Hard" and "Lethal Weapon" series rolled into one. One animated movie alone--"The Lion King"--generated an estimated $1 billion in profits.
Not revenue. Profits. Every T-shirt. Every sing-along book. Every pair of flannel pajamas. Every ticket sold in Pago Pago and Bora Bora. Even an assumed clunker like "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" added an estimated $500 million to Disney's bottom line--or about a quarter of Disney's entire...