Glen here...

...with a little news about an Animaniacs project apparently teetering on the brink of theatrical release, or straight-to-video relegation.

To be totally and completely honest with you, I’m not a *huge* Animaniacs fan - so I didn’t know what to make of the two messages copied below. Reversely, I am constantly annoyed and bereaved by the lack of kid-friendly (but smart-enough-for-adults) material hanging out in theaters these days, so the idea of an Animaniacs feature film rocks hard, methinks.

Everyone I have shared this news with has gone completely batty about the idea of an Animaniacs project being released as a feature film.

My little boy’s head started pulsing and doing the Scanners thing.

Annie Reed went into some very peculiar conniptions and started speaking in strange, slobbery tongues. I hadn’t seen her behave this way since she we were in a Target parking lot and she spotted some Ford Mustang convertible which was built before I was born.

Someone else I told about this project immediately began railing on Warner Bros. - hemming and hawing about how the beleaguered studio couldn’t possibly be smart enough to release the below-mentioned project as a feature film. This rant is still ongoing, by the way. It’s been forty-eight hours.

As such, I can only surmise that an Animaniacs motion picture could draw substantial interest from both young audiences and an adult crowd as well. Here’s two (slightly edited) messages which will tell you a little bit more about Wakko’s Wacko Wish (sp?) - Warner Bros.’ new Animaniacs project...

Warner Bros. Animation has finished production on the Animaniacs movie, entitled "Wakko's Wacko Wish." Yeah, it sounds a lot like kid's tripe, but Animaniacs has always been a show of sneaking in some right hilarious humor into their stuff (the old Pinky & the Brain for example, and if either of you haven't seen the 'Please Please Please Get A Life Foundation' short.. well.. find it! NOW!).

At any rate, the big wigs at WB will be screening the final product tomorrow to decide upon a theatrical or direct-to-video release. ((Glen Note: this message was mailed Friday. So...presumably...The powers That Be have already seen the project by now)).

Wanted to pass along some interesting information to you regarding an animated feature film that Warner Bros. Animation (WBA) has made that sounds very interesting and entertaining, but that I fear might get lost in the shuffle without somebody calling people’s attention to it. The title of it, last I heard, was Wakko’s Whacko Wish [spelling, and the title may since have changed] and uses characters from the long-running Animanaics series.

If you are familiar with the Batman and Superman animated series, you may well be familiar with Animaniacs, since like those shows, Animanaics was produced by WBA. Also, like Batman and Superman, the show had a great deal of critical success, winning a Peabody award and a slew of Emmy awards for the show itself, as well as its writing and voice work.

The show also has a legion of loyal and devoted fans, like me, who were heartbroken to see the show canceled last year (many, like me, wrote letters to Time Warner and the network, asking for a reprieve), and who were very excited to hear about the film.

From a technical standpoint, I understand the movie was filmed in two versions, one of which was letterbox (i.e. 1:85:1) for theatrical release, and one was standard video. The animation was done by Tokyo Movie Shinsha (a/k/a TMS), one of the leading animation outfits in Japan; they’ve done extensive work on the Batman and Superman series as well.

There are a number of songs written by Randy Rogel, an ex-West Point man who has written a number of memorable songs for Animaniacs. The show apparently features nearly all of the cast of characters, including my favorite, Minerva Mink. As I understand it, the movie takes a playful poke at fairy-tale type animated features, and has a great deal of music, in fact.

Here’s the situation, as far as I know it. A few days ago (Thursday, I’m led to believe), there was a screening on the Warner Bros. lot for the WB brass, including some highups, who, I’m told, had a positive reaction. Folks I’ve talked to who were there say that TMS did a first-class job on the animation. Supposedly, the movie is now going for test screenings, possibly in the Los Angeles area, sometime in the near future.

A decision is being made, I’m told, whether to release the film theatrically or have it go straight to video. Personally, I’d like very much to see it do well at the box office, in a fashion that might make some of the powers at The WB Network consider putting the show back into production.

Glen here, again...

The above-mentioned Randy Rogel and company are a class-act. I’d like to see this project go-the-distance happen for them.

For the fans.

And for my little boy...