Dreamworks buys Felix....the Cat

[Xtremer Sadiqachu]

http://www.animationmagazine.net/licensing/dreamworks-collars-felix-the-cat/
 

 

 

The DreamWorks Animation juggernaut has rolled over another classic property, with head honcho Jeffrey Katzenberg announcing at Licensing Expo that the company has acquired the rights to Felix the Cat.

“Felix really goes beyond evergreen status and rises to something even more uncommon, as he is a true icon,” Katzenberg told 

Variety

. “We plan to make him one of the most desired fashion brands in the world.”

Felix the Cat first appeared on the screen almost 100 years ago, in Pat Sullivan and Otto Messmer’s silent short Feline Follies (1919). The mischievous mammal went on to star in a slew of shorts and series and became a pop culture icon. Katzenberg did not reveal any plans for a DWA Felix film, although the idea is likely. The studio released a CG adaptation of Mr. Peabody & Sherman earlier this year and recently announced feature plans for the Harvey Comics character Hot Stuff.

Katzenberg also revealed more about the studio’s planned holiday season theme attraction DreamWorks’ DreamHouse, which will be a sort of Santa’s workshop populated with characters from DWA films and will pop up somewhere in the U.S. in time for Christmas 2014.

As a fan of classic cartoons, I have to say I'm not so sure about this. I mean, I enjoyed Mr Peabody and Sherman, but it seems to me they just want to profit off of this old franchise for merchandise. What do you think?

[Emperor Robrainiac]

I have a soft spot old cartoons like Mickey Mouse, Oswald the lucky Rabbit, Flip the Frog, and of course Felix the Cat. Though I mostly remember Felix from the "Twisted Tales" series, which had some of the same people who worked on "Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog."

 

As for Dreamworks buying them... Eh, I have faith in them. I mean, Nobody's done anything with Felix the Cat over the years, and Dreamwork's current track record with projects have been pretty good so far.

 

I'm personally interested in what they'll do with him in the future.

[Ultimate Waffle]

Felix will feel so wrong animated in CG. Hope they atleast do a Paperman technique that makes the animation look 2D if they do decide to make a movie or TV show

[Kuzu]

They're gonna Felix like a dog, OH NO.

[Boomer]

*awaits Felix's response*

Anyway I can't say I'm particularly interested as I've never really heard of it before. Same thing as Mr. Peabody and Sherman really although I think this has a bit more of a universal appeal.

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

Honestly I am a little worried, but that's partially because how I view DreamWorks in general, their projects(or at least animated ones) skew all over the place from lousy to great, and they can't seem to maintain a consistent amount of quality, and while Sherman and Peabody wasn't bad, I've seen much better movies, and Turbo just sank and wasn't the only one

 

say what you will about Disney animation studios, even their worst are solid films in their own right, just simply can't live up to the standards in the past, none are stinkers, whereas as DreamWorks puts out a stinker ever other year or so, and they tend to rely to heavily on some questionable jokes and behavior as well

 

so put me on the cautious side, but that's in a big part of how I view DW in general

[Nepenthe]

DreamWorks has long since admitted they're a company that produces films for the sole purpose of franchising and merchandising them. They did good however in making sure the films themselves were good, so Felix being thrown into the canon is not a real problem for me. Neither is the inevitable CG angle. Whether they do it more traditionally or stylize it a la Peanuts, I feel there's a base level of quality we can expect from it.

 

*awaits Felix's response*

Anyway I can't say I'm particularly interested as I've never really heard of it before. Same thing as Mr. Peabody and Sherman really although I think this has a bit more of a universal appeal.

 

o.o You've literally never seen this character before?

 

 

He was Mickey Mouse before Mickey Mouse hit the scene in terms of worldwide popularity. And even Sonic is partly based off his appearance.

[Boomer]

 

 

He was Mickey Mouse before Mickey Mouse hit the scene in terms of worldwide popularity. And even Sonic is partly based off his appearance.

I honestly haven't. It might be due to me living in the UK or my age.

People were surprised I hadn't heard of Mr. Peabody and Sherman either though so.

[Nepenthe]

The thing is, Felix definitely crossed over into the UK. When I say he was Mickey before Mickey, I mean his popularity was international.

 

Peabody and Sherman I can understand, because Rocky and Bullwinkle was pretty American-centric which in turn lost its cultural appeal as time went on. But if you are 20 and older, or like animation and its history, you should likely know who Felix is. xD

[Boomer]

But if you are 20 and older, or like animation and its history, you should likely know who Felix is. xD

I'm 19

But fair enough, it's probably just me being stupid.

[Debug Ring]

That's interesting. I've watched a few Felix cartoons before and I enjoyed them. I love old cartoons though, Like Mickey Mouse and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, so of course I did like what I saw of Felix, and I'm interested in where they take this. I'm looking forward to what we get, yeah.

[SuperLink]

So DreamWorks bought Felix The Cat? Interesting.. hope you're all ready.. for this

 

 

context

[Willsy]

I was so close to freaking out before I saw 'the cat'. Felix belongs to us dammit. 

 

I've heard of Felix The Cat but I've never actually seen it before.

[Zaysho]

Huh. While I've always known who Felix the Cat was... I honestly have never seen one of his cartoons. I'm not sure how that happened, but here we are. It's cool Dreamworks is adding him to their roster, so it should be interesting to see how they bring him back and what sort of merchandising will be behind this sort of thing.

[Detective Shadzter]

OMG! I grew up with Felix the Cat. I loved the old cartoons and I even liked Twisted Tales, even though it lost some of the original charm. Hope Dreamworks do Felix justice.

[Mauro Fonseca]

Twisted Tales was a return of the original charm, pretty much, not a losing of it Speaking of, here's hoping this somehow leads to it finally being possible to have Twisted Tales on DVD or VHS or anything.

[Detective Shadzter]

Twisted Tales was a return of the original charm, pretty much, not a losing of it Speaking of, here's hoping this somehow leads to it finally being possible to have Twisted Tales on DVD or VHS or anything.

I meant more the classic charm. Twisted Tales kept the character's charm, but as a whole it was pretty zany and out there in comparison to the classic cartoons if I recall correctly. 

[Teoskaven]

Well, at least they can't do a CGI head of Felix worse than the one from the Felix the Cat Movie, right?

 

 

...right?

[Mauro Fonseca]

I meant more the classic charm. Twisted Tales kept the character's charm, but as a whole it was pretty zany and out there in comparison to the classic cartoons if I recall correctly. 

 

We talking 1920's or 1950's classic? Because both are different and Twisted Tales definitely feels like a return to the 1920's style instead of the magic handbag 1950's stuff (even though even the 1920's one was never as out there as Twisted Tales IIRC except when Felix gets drunk)

[Detective Shadzter]

We talking 1920's or 1950's classic? Because both are different and Twisted Tales definitely feels like a return to the 1920's style instead of the magic handbag 1950's stuff (even though even the 1920's one was never as out there as Twisted Tales IIRC except when Felix gets drunk)

I grew up with the 1950's Felix before Twisted Tales came along. I've only watched a couple of the 1920's cartoons online. I'll have to watch some more sometime. 

[Johnny Boy]

Well Peabody and Sherman was enjoyable so I have faith in them. Besides, as a studio they could only go up after the abomination known as Shark Tale so I know they're not going to give us another shitty Felix movie.

[Chili Dawg]

Besides, as a studio they could only go up .

Never, ever, ever assume this about anything. It can always get worse.

[Gabz Girl]

I don't mind Felix so much for merchandising. In fact I'd like to own a Felix plushie or a t-shirt. :3

 

Movie or tv series on the other hand? Weeell they'd have to pull it off pretty damn well for me to care about it. I heard Mr Peabody and Sherman wasn't too bad except for The Girl character, so maybe if they can pull something like that off with some more stylised animation then it could be good.

 

Speaking of the animation, I've never watched any of Felix's 1920's shorts but I've seen one or two of the 1930's ones and I grew up on the cartoon series in the early 1990's. Not sure if it was Twisted Tales or some other Felix cartoon, but I really liked it as a kid.

[iDEATH]

Even though I'm not a dreamworks fan, I'd be happy enough with a new Felix movie. Felix has be reinvented constantly throughout the years, from more classic cartoons to a fantasy feel, Twisted Tails, the comics....a new movie would be pretty cool.

 

At least we don't need to worry about a gritty reboot, grit's been with the series from the beginning, Felix literally commited suicide in the first cartoon he was in

[Indigo Rush]

 

I really hope it isn't going to use this as a source material.