Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Booking WB cartoons?

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Posted by David E. Nedrow (Member # 4981) on 05-28-2010, 01:26 PM:

Has anyone booked a Warner Brothers cartoon lately? Who did you do it through? The only contact I've been able to locate is a fax number for WB Classics, faxes to which have yet to generate responses. I've bounced around between a few people -- big companies are always fascinating, "cartoons?" -- without much luck. SPecifically looking for Merry Melodies stuff. I can run these from DVD if necessary, but I need to pay someone, somehow. [Wink]

-David

Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 05-28-2010, 02:29 PM:

You might want to check with the CAPA folks over at the Ohio. They run cartoons every summer, and they are advertising Warner cartoons this year. (They run them this year on June 19.) They might be able to give you a lead on where to get them.

Posted by David E. Nedrow (Member # 4981) on 05-28-2010, 02:41 PM:

D'oh! I meant to check with Lance Carwile, who had been booking the SMS up until the past year or so.

-David

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 05-28-2010, 06:15 PM:

We recently ran some at the Everett, and they looked GREAT for the most part. Extensive reviews of the ones we ran can be found here. I'll see if I can find out how exactly we booked them and let you know, but I think we went right through WB.

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 06-01-2010, 08:47 PM:

Reply from Elizabeth, film chairperson at the Everett:

quote:

Warner Bros classic division Marilee Womack. She only accepts fax requests fax# 818-986-7565

You have to list what packs you want and the show dates. There are packs of cartoons you can get. They are $200 per pack of 6.

You have to pick several packs in order that you would like to have but you never know what pack you are going to get, they are very popular all payments are due 4 weeks before you are going to show them and then they get delivered. Then you have to pay for the delivery to the delivery company

I can get the pack lists for you if you would like them, or if you fax Marilee, I'm sure she'd provide them as well.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

Posted by Robert E. Allen (Member # 1351) on 06-02-2010, 02:57 PM:

When I managed a single screener in Iowa ('06) one could only rent cartoons in groups of six on a single reel from WB Classics. Single WB cartoons do not seem to be available. The reel cost me $200 for a week.

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 06-02-2010, 06:49 PM:

Six cartoons would be about 40 minutes. That's a big reel. Now they come on two reels.

[Smile]

Posted by David E. Nedrow (Member # 4981) on 06-02-2010, 09:57 PM:

Thanks for the info. That sounds.... less than optimal. At least for my situation.

I'd like to book a cartoon (played from DVD) that is related to the film we're showing. E.g. RABBIT HOOD to go with ROBIN HOOD. The furthest in advance that I've ever know what we would be showing -- at least so far -- is three weeks. It's generally more like 5 days. [Wink]

I've sent Marilee a fax requesting a list of packs.

Thanks for the info.

-David

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-02-2010, 10:15 PM:

When we played Disney's ALADDIN, we showed the WB cartoon "A Lad In His Lamp" with it. People really liked it.

I do wish WB would make their classic cartoons more easily available, but there are too many wimpy parents out there who think they're too violent. I'd love to play a Looney Tune once in a while.

Posted by Jeremy Weigel (Member # 4208) on 06-02-2010, 11:08 PM:

When I first started working projection we had about ten 2K reels in brown boxes stored in a corner of the booth. I got curious one day and looked through the boxes to find that they were cartoons. I remember some were Woody Wood Pecker, Looney Toons, and Peanuts. When I inquired about them, I was told that they were used as part of a summer kids program prior to me working here, so I guess someone forgot to send them back.? Unfortunately about a year later a new GM came in and did some house cleaning and through out the boxes. I had asked him if I could have them, but he said no. And just to make sure that I didn't go dumpster diving he poured water all over them. [Mad]

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 06-03-2010, 07:35 AM:

That will teach you to ASK!

David, if you're running Robin Hood w/Erol Flynn, I believe it comes with Rabbit Hood already attached to it. You may want to check on that.

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 06-03-2010, 09:53 AM:

Oh, and

quote: Mike Blakesley
there are too many wimpy parents out there who think they're too violent.

I do not believe that is the case. There are too many PC groups out there making everyone THINK there are too many parents thinking they are violent. These groups are loud and obnoxious and WB plays it safe because they don't want to deal with them / offend anybody. Even though I have yet to meet any real person who is personally offended. I have met plenty of people who are convinced that everyone ELSE is offended, but no one who is personally offended. It's the same thing with Speedy Gonzales being pulled. It offends Mexicans/Hispanics? Really?? Disney has the same ridiculous problem with Song of the South. This topic could be a thread on its own, and probably has been at some point.

We had a pretty good turn out for our cartoon show with lots of "thank you"s and no complaints. I think if you ask around you will find more people want the cartoons back, and I doubt you'll find anyone who is offended. And if you do find someone who's offended, you can always just drop an anvil on them. Or a piano.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-03-2010, 11:30 AM:

Mark - I'll bet you're right.

I was Youtubing some of the Looney Tunes the other day and watched one called "Horse Hare" which is really quite obnoxious to Native Americans. There were several comments on there griping about it, but there were also some comments FROM Native Americans who were telling the complainers to "get a life, it's just a cartoon, it's FUNNY!"

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 06-04-2010, 10:21 AM:

quote: Robert E. Allen
one could only rent cartoons in groups of six on a single reel from WB Classics. Single WB cartoons do not seem to be available. The reel cost me $200 for a week.

$200 for one week? That sounds like they are renting them as a cartoon package "show," not as a single cartoon to screen with a feature. But if that's their thinking, then a little less than 50mins running time is not "show" lenght, so you are not going to be able to use then that way.

And if you want to show a single cartoon prior to a feature which is mostly what art houses would want to do, then what's the need for six of them at a time unless Warners is letting you keep the reel for six weeks -- then it might make sense.

When we used to book them singly out of Warner's NY office, they would book them one at a time and we could play them for the length of the feature engagement. They cost $25 bucks a week and our trucker would pick up the cartoon with whatever feature we were playing out of Bonded in Fort Lee (NJ) so the cartoon didn't cost us a penny extra in shipping.

Different times.

I wonder if Warners will eventually transfer the cartoon library to digital, then it would be a piece of cake to book them singlely.

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 06-04-2010, 12:14 PM:

quote:
I was Youtubing some of the Looney Tunes the other day and watched one called "Horse Hare" which is really quite obnoxious to Native Americans. There were several comments on there griping about it, but there were also some comments FROM Native Americans who were telling the complainers to "get a life, it's just a cartoon, it's FUNNY!"

You also have to consider that people who are commenting on youtube are likely younger and therefore have a slightly different perspective on things, even amongst people you'd expect to be offended.

For example, I heard on the radio an interview with some black playwright who'd just had a play that was a period piece dealing with slavery but also a bit of a comedy piece as well. He commented how the younger crowd of blacks laughed at completely different things than the older ones; like he mentioned the younger crowd laughing at scenes with the whole stereotype of eating watermelons whereas the older crowd did not at all (and apparently he hadn't even considered those scenes to be the comedic ones when he wrote them).

Just food for thought.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 06-04-2010, 02:42 PM:

quote: Jeremy Weigel
Unfortunately about a year later a new GM came in and did some house cleaning and through out the boxes. I had asked him if I could have them, but he said no. And just to make sure that I didn't go dumpster diving he poured water all over them.

I suppose if you were angry enough (perhaps angry enough to quit, that is) you could have written an anonymous letter to the distributors who owned those classic cartoons and let them know that new GM deliberately destroyed the film prints. Maybe a better one would be informing them the prints were still there and in good condition to bait them into requesting they be returned. Then the GM would have some explaining to do about destroying the reels.
[evil]

Posted by Robert E. Allen (Member # 1351) on 06-04-2010, 10:06 PM:

quote: Frank Angel
$200 for one week? That sounds like they are renting them as a cartoon package "show," not as a single cartoon to screen with a feature. But if that's their thinking, then a little less than 50mins running time is not "show" lenght, so you are not going to be able to use then that way.

And if you want to show a single cartoon prior to a feature which is mostly what art houses would want to do, then what's the need for six of them at a time unless Warners is letting you keep the reel for six weeks -- then it might make sense.

When we used to book them singly out of Warner's NY office, they would book them one at a time and we could play them for the length of the feature engagement. They cost $25 bucks a week and our trucker would pick up the cartoon with whatever feature we were playing out of Bonded in Fort Lee (NJ) so the cartoon didn't cost us a penny extra in shipping.

Different times.

I wonder if Warners will eventually transfer the cartoon library to digital, then it would be a piece of cake to book them singlely.

After the first night I cut them down to three to go with the film I was playing Frank. Yes, it would have made sense to let me keep the reel for six weeks but that's not the way they handled it then. They had no single cartoons available. When I was able to book them singly they cost $10 a week.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-04-2010, 11:00 PM:

In the early 90s we booked the WB toons through Kit Parker Films. Then, they were shipped one to a reel, and you had to book 3 at a time at $50 each, but you could keep them for 2 months. Some of those prints were awful but it sure was great seeing them on the big screen.