Fine Tuning: Pepé Le Pew's Backstory & Disney's Live-Action Gargoyles Movie

Animated Oscar Nominations

• 🏆 The Academy Award nominations for Best Animated Feature included "Over the Moon," "Onward," "Shawn the Sheep: Farmageddon," "Soul," and "Wolfwalkers."
• 😔 The animated short category nominations were "Burrow," "Genius Loki," "If Anything Happens, I Love You," "Opera," and "Yes People," with a notable absence of "To Gerard."
• 🎶 "Soul" also received nominations for Best Score and Best Sound.

Disney Plus and Box Office Performance

• 🐉 "Raya and the Last Dragon" earned $5.5 million in its second weekend, a 35% drop, with a worldwide total of $562 million.
• 📈 Disney reported over 100 million subscribers for Disney Plus within 16 months.
• 🎬 Upcoming theatrical releases for Marvel's "Black Widow" and "Cruella" are confirmed for May 2021.

The "Art of" Book and Animation Design

• 📖 The "Art of Raya and the Last Dragon" book highlights the design process, including character development for Raya and Sisu.
• 🎨 The book showcases design work from artists like Helen Chen, Amy Thompson, and Corey Loftus, featuring early concepts for the dragons and Kumandra's five lands.
• 💡 Cinematography choices, such as wide lenses for Raya and long lenses for Sisu, were used to reinforce character traits.

Pepé Le Pew's Controversial History

• 🎬 A scene in the "Space Jam 2" script featured Pepé Le Pew being rejected by a model, with LeBron James advising him, "No means no."
• 😠 The character's existence stemmed from a rivalry between animators Chuck Jones and Eddie Seltzer, with Jones persisting in developing the skunk character despite Seltzer's opposition.
• 🏆 The short "For Sentimental Reasons" featuring the skunk character won an Academy Award, leading to a series of 14 Pepé Le Pew shorts.

Unproduced Live-Action Gargoyles Movie

• 📺 The animated series "Gargoyles" debuted in 1994, known for its mature themes and strong voice cast, including members from "Star Trek: The Next Generation."
• 📜 A 1998 screenplay draft for a live-action "Gargoyles" movie by Jim Kouf (based on a Dean Devlin script) featured only one gargoyle, Goliath.
• 🔮 The plot involved Goliath and other gargoyles turning into humans to fight a sorcerer named Morgan, with a modern-day descendant of Goliath battling Morgan's return to open a portal to hell.
• 💥 The script included significant destruction in New York, raising questions about budget and technological feasibility at the time.
• 🔮 Later attempts to revive "Gargoyles" include a pitch by Jordan Peele in 2018 and potential projects for streaming services.