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Hooray for Hollywood Shannon Maughan -- 11/13/00 A variety of children's book properties are going strong in film and on TV
With a budget that is rumored to be $123 million and a nearly $5-million upfront rights fee paid to Seuss's widow, Audrey Geisel, The Grinch has cost plenty of green already. But good early industry buzz, Geisel's approval and a plethora of licensing and promotional deals should have the studio and licensees seeing some return on their investment fairly soon. The film steps outside the parameters of the Seuss original, providing the Grinch's back story (from infancy to how he got so grinchy) and introducing several denizens of Whoville not seen in the book (Molly Shannon as Mary Lou Who--Cindy Lou's mom--and Jeffrey Tambor as the mayor of Whoville). Anthony Hopkins serves as narrator throughout, taking on the role that Boris Karloff filled for the television program. On October 20, the Wall Street Journal predicted the film's U.S. box office sales would be approximately $140 million. Grinch Oreos, Grinch Pop-Tarts and other movie tie-in goodies have already hit grocery store shelves as part of promotions with Kellogg and Nabisco; Hershey, Visa and Wendy's are also in on the act. And, recently, a whole hour of airtime was devoted to selling Grinch movie-inspired merchandise on QVC. Random House, Dr. Seuss's longtime publisher, is a key player in the licensing and promotion arena. On October 24, Random released a total of 1.4 million copies of its eight official movie tie-in titles. This group includes the paperback How the Grinch Stole Hollywood: The Making of the Movie, a behind-the-scenes look at the productionby Andy Lipschultz; storybooks; coloring and activity books; and a deluxe slipcased edition of the classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas! hardcover.Account-specific signage and promotions were arranged with such key accounts as Barnes & Noble, Walmart and Target; more than 20,000 other accounts received Grinch floor displays, counter units, shelf trays and other display materials. In addition to its publishing program, Random House has joined forces with Universal Pictures to create an initiative that will benefit literacy organization First Book. On November 1, which was First Book Day, Grinch director Ron Howard and cast members of the movie, as well as representatives from First Book and Random House, kicked off the program at the New York Public Library. Random House donated 30,000 books that day to First Book for distribution to children in the New York City area and announced a nationwide 500,000-book donation to come. For every copy of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! or any Random House tie-in purchased throughout the holiday season, Random and Universal Studios will donate one new book to First Book. Grinch First Book event kits are still available; booksellers may contact their Random House sales rep for more information.
The Little Vampire and The Grinch, two distinctly different productions, suggest a range of opportunities that exist in the children's and family film arena. This wealth of possibility is one reason that producers like Jane Startz of Manhattan-based Jane Startz Productions believe that the climate for developing children's and family movie projects has never been healthier. "It's an exciting time to be involved in this business," she said. "There's a broad spectrum of production opportunities--from independent companies to big studios. There are new kinds of technology and animation that allow us to do projects that don't cost a zillion dollars. The opportunities have greatly expanded." The industry has opened up in other ways as well, in Startz's view. "There are more parents running studios now," she said. "Their agenda has changed from their wild and crazy single days. There is also a large acting pool who are parents and who have an incentive to be in family movies." Startz specializes in developing children's literary properties, a line of work she grew to love as cofounder and executive v-p of Scholastic Productions. During her time at Scholastic, she created and executive-produced the animated Magic School Busseries based on the books by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen, and produced the company's first two feature films, The Indian in the Cupboard and The Baby-Sitters Club. In her current capacity, Startz has a first-look deal with Miramax Films, which released the Startz-produced The Mighty (based on Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick) in October 1998. Among the new projects on her slate is a film adaptation of Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine's Newbery Honor title; and an adaptation of the YA novel Burger Wuss by M.T. Anderson, a coproduction with New Line. According to Startz, finding such quality properties is something that comes naturally. "I read all the time--it's my major passion," she says. "I'm a big admirer of the children's book genre and have developed a close relationship with authors, editors and agents. I look for a story that has a strong hero or heroine who g s through some sort of growth and comes out on the other side. Something that has intrinsic goodness to it and an earned redemptive ending." Acquiring the right book isn't a task she undertakes alone, however. "My vice-president, Gillian MacKenzie, constantly scours the marketplace. She's on the phone all day. Both of us are incredibly passionate." 2001 and Beyond Moving into next spring, one of the children's films that could make it bigis the long-awaited Shrek. Featuring the voices of funnyman Mike Myers as ogre Shrek, Eddie Murphy as Donkey, Cameron Diaz as Fiona and John Lithgow as Lord Farquaad, the computer-generated animation/live-action version of William Steig's 1990 picture book will be released by Dreamworks next May 18. It's been at least three years in the making and survived some substantial retooling after the death of Chris Farley (the original voice of Shrek) in 1997. But after its big-screen run, it will have a really big screenrun as a 3-D film in IMAX theaters beginning in December 2001. The term "big children's movie" may take on a whole new meaning when a certain project now filming in Britain--Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Warner Bros./Heyday Films)--comes to fruition next fall. Sorcerer's Stone is scheduled to hit theaters November 16, 2001--and will no doubt be accompanied by an astonishing marketing/licensing push. Harry Potter merchandise mania has begun in dribs and drabs with products inspired by J.K. Rowling's phenomenally selling books about boy wizard Harry hitting store shelves this summer and fall. Even with the film release that far off, discussion of this project has been going at a fever pace for more than a year. Confirmed cast members include Daniel Radcliffe as Harry, Alan Rickman as Professor Snape, Maggie Smith as Professor McGonagall, Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid and John Cleese as the poltergeist Nearly Headless Nick. TV Time Just as there are increased opportunities to develop children's books for the big screen these days, there are a number of new outlets for adaptations of children's books on the small screen, too. The array of cable channels continues to grow, and established cable and premium cable channels have increased their family programming. Examples of beefed-up coverage include the Fox Family network, a new initiative to develop book-based movies at Nickelodeon and a proven commitment to family programming by Showtime. HBO Family continues to air the animated George and Martha by James Marshall (Houghton), Babar by Laurent de Brunhoff (Random House), The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy (Candlewick) and Dear America series (Scholastic). New for December is an extension of Dear America, called The Royal Diaries: Isabel, Jewel of Castilla.
Disney synergy is at work for The Jersey, a TV series on the Disney Channel inspired by Gordon Korman's Monday Night Football books published by Hyperion. Featuring a magical football jersey, authentic football action and appearances by plenty of NFL stars, the show has been a hit since its September 1999 premiere. Nickelodeon's daily Nick Jr. block remains a stronghold in book-based programming for preschoolers with Maisy by Lucy Cousins (Candlewick), Franklin by Paulette Bourgeois (Kids Can and Scholastic), Little Bear by Else Holmelund Minarik, illustrated by Maurice Sendak (HarperCollins), and Kipper by Mick Inkpen (Harcourt), which are now also featured on CBS's Saturday morning lineup as a result of the Viacom-CBS merger. PBS has joined the Saturday morning fray for the first time with a programming block for preschoolers that contains six half-hour shows based on children's books. The series includes, among others, Timothy G s to School by Rosemary Wells (Viking), George Shrinks by William Joyce (HarperCollins/Geringer) and Marvin the Tap Dancing Horse by Betty Paraskevas, illustrated by Michael Paraskevas, which will be released in book form by Simon & Schuster in May 2001. Clifford the Big Red Dog has also joined the PBS fold. The beloved books by Norman Bridwell (Scholastic) have been transformed into an animated daily series that debuted in September. Actress Glenn Close has been an ardent supporter of children's book projects for television, having starred in the adaptations of Patricia MacLachlan's books Sarah, Plain and Tall and Skylark, which were Hallmark Hall of Fame movies costarring Christopher Walken. More recently Close produced the TNT movie Baby, inspired by MacLachlan's book of the same name, which aired in October with Farrah Fawcett in the lead role. Next up, Close will star in a TV movie version of The Ballad of Lucy Whipple, a novel by Karen Cushman, for CBS, scheduled to air in February. With so many children's books gracing both the big and small screens, and with many more projects on the way (see sidebar), it's clear that the children's and family film genres are going strong. And with demographics indicating a large viewing audience for these films for the foreseeable future (there are approximately 38 million kids between the ages of 5 and 14 in the U.S.), children's book publishers--and the popcorn industry--are likely breathing a little easier. For those wondering whether a children's book will be at the heart of the next family-film blockbuster--stay tuned.
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Hooray for Hollywood
Nov 13, 2000
A version of this article appeared in the 11/13/2000 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline:
