Pinocchio by Guillermo del Toro was one of the best movies of 2022, and while I was hoping that the film’s success would lead to a resurgence in stop-motion movies, I’m still worried about the medium after Netflix’s Oscar winner. I’ve always been a fan of stop-motion, and while there are still all kinds of stop-motion movie classics that I can go back and watch, new stop-motion movies are incredibly rare. Movies of the quality of Pinocchio by Guillermo del Toro Hardly out, and I’m not sure if things will get better.
For a long time, I was worried that Pinocchio by Guillermo del Toro Was not going to get made. The acclaimed director had been pitching the idea for over a decade before the film was actually released, with most studios unwilling to fund it. Every time del Toro moved on to another project, I was worried it would be the last we saw of the film. luckily, when Pinocchio by Guillermo del Toro Finally got a 2022 release dateI knew I was only a short time away from seeing this film and how it would impact the animation industry.
Netflix’s Pinocchio Was a Major Hit (But It Didn’t Save the Stop Motion Industry)
Despite his critical successes
On the release of Pinocchio by Guillermo del Toro On Netflix, it became clear that the film was a massive hit. Although the film’s streaming release makes it impossible to know how many views it has had, it has had more cultural impact than most other Netflix original movies. The film was critically acclaimed and it is still talked about today, with it even winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 2023 Oscars. The successes of this film made me hope that we would see a resurgence in the popularity of stop-motion movies, but unfortunately, this was not the case.
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Unfortunately, in the two years since Pinocchio by Guillermo del Toro was released, was not the explosion in stop-motion that I had hoped for. Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget is the only high-profile animated film to be released since, and although there have been some interesting ones like Memories of a snailThey are still incredibly rare. Some major studios like Disney haven’t released a major stop-motion movie in years, and while there are a few notable stop-motion movies releasing in the future, it makes me sad to see how rare this style of animation is.
Stop motion animators are worried about the future of the industry
There are a lot of artists but very little work
While at SCAD AnimationFest 2024The Savannah College of Art and Design’s annual celebration of the art of animation, several animators from Pinocchio by Guillermo del Toro took the stage to talk about their time working on the film. This was one of the most exciting things I saw at SCAD AnimationFest 2024, with the trio of animators and model makers delving into how they animated the characters and crafted the film’s world. However, when the panel came to its Q&A section, I realized that the stop motion industry may be in trouble.
while the questions It became clear how little work there is in the stop-motion animation field. It became clear that there were very few options for what to work on Pinocchio by Guillermo del ToroWith the artist mentioned projects like Laika’s Wildwood and Nickelodeon The Tiny Chef Show. One of the artists advised the stop-motion animators at SCAD to develop a powerful, profitable second skill that could lead to more reliable work.
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This was heartbreaking to me, because there are artists who are hungry to make stop-motion animation. However, the expensive art form has led to studios not wanting to invest in it, and this fact is something that the most talented stop-motion animators have to face.
Could we see a boom in the popularity of stop-motion in the future?
What comes next from the world of stop-motion animation?
I’m crossing my fingers that stop-motion animation will become just as popular as computer-animated films someday, and while that’s a long way away from happening, there’s a possibility that things could get a little better. DC Studios just announced Dynamic duoA movie focused on the character of Robin from the Batman Franchise. The upcoming film is animated by New Orleans-based studio Swaybox, and it could be the start of a new era of stop motion.
Swaybox has developed a new technique of combining stop-motion and CGI animation in order to create a new and unique style of animation, and from the tests that have been released, it looks absolutely gorgeous. The fact that DC Studios is investing in this style of animation with the Batman Franchise means this will be one of the highest-profile stop-motion releases ever, and if it’s successful, it could lead to more in the future. This film could prove that stop-motion doesn’t have to be expensive and that it can be commercially successful, hopefully being the savior I thought it would be. Pinocchio by Guillermo del Toro would be.