Turner Broadcasting joins race to capitalize on the animation craze.

Turner Broadcasting joins race to capitalize on the animation craze

Turner Broadcasting System Inc. signed a letter of intent last week to buy Hanna-Barbera Productions, the latest development in an industry where production companies are racing like the Road Runner to make animated motion pictures and television shows.

Animated entertainment is in again, and Ted Turner wants to exploit that interest, either by increasing the amount of cartoons showing on his cable networks or by possibly forming a new network devoted to animated programming, said Paul Marsh, an entertainment analyst with Los Angeles-based Kemper Securities, a brokerage firm.

Hollywood-based Hanna-Barbera, the creator of animated characters Fred Flinstone, the Jetsons and Scooby Doo, is owned by Cincinnati-based Great American Communications Co. Rumors have been floating for the past year that Hanna-Barbera is up for sale. The animation house could fetch $200 million or more, according to recent reports.

No wonder Turner is looking at the cartoon business. The industry is gaining muscle like Popeye after eating spinach.

The resurgence began in Summer 1988, when Burbank-based Walt Disney Co. released "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," which grossed $154 million at the box office. The film was a combination of live action and animation.

Then, in the fall, Disney released an animated feature called "Oliver & Company," and Steven Spielberg's studio, Amblin Entertainment, released "American Tale." These films grossed $53 million and $48 million, respectively.

Since then, other production companies have jumped on the animation bandwagon.

Disney's feature film animation division has burgeoned from 160 employees to 600 employees in the past seven years, said Peter Schneider, senior vice president of feature animation for Disney.

And the department has boosted production, releasing one cartoon film each year compared to one every three to four years before, Schneider said.

Gone though are the days when Disney was the sole maker of feature-length animated films. Other Hollywood studios are bringing cartoons to the screen.

Cartoons aren't just for kids either. The popularity of "The Simpsons" - the first prime-time animated show aimed at adults - has spurred production companies to develop cartoon characters that will appeal to a higher maturity level than does Fred Flinstone.

Even the makers of Saturday morning and weekday afternoon children's cartoons are fighting for space on the airwaves.

Meanwhile, makers of feature-length films are chasing after the burgeoning video market. The best-selling video cassettes, aside from exercise tapes, are animated films, said Steve Hulett, a business representative for Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists, an animators' labor union.

Small children like to watch these films over and over again, and it is more economical for parents to buy the cassette of, say, "101 Dalmatians," than it would be to rent the movie repeatedly, Hulett added.

"Little Mermaid," a Disney film released in 1989, grossed $84 million at the box office, but raked in another $100 million in video sales, he said.

Since most animated features sell well in video, investors are now more confident about putting their bucks into cartoons.

Van Nuys-based Kroyer Films Inc. was given $20 million by a private Australian investor to produce "Fern Gully," an animated film about a community of fairies that will be released next Easter. Company President Bill Kroyer said that without the likelihood of the picture's success on video, Kroyer Films wouldn't have attracted an investor.

Animated films generate cash from other sources as well - most notably via merchandising of characters for such products as T-shirts and cups.

But the films themselves are also doing more than holding their own at the box office. Disney's rerelease of "101 Dalmatians" has grossed nearly $56 million so far this summer, even though tickets to children's movies typically cost only half those charged for adult movies.

Following the success of "The Simpsons," more animated characters are showing their faces in new prime-time television shows aimed at viewers of all ages.

Hanna-Barbera - which wants to break into prime time - is developing "Fish Police," a half-hour animated comedy about a metropolitan police department under the sea. This show will debut next spring on CBS during prime time and is aimed primarily at adults; said Melissa Goldsmith, senior vice president of television at Hanna-Barbera.

Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment is developing "Family Dog," an animated show that looks at life from a dog's perspective. The show will debut on CBS at prime time this fall, said Marvin Levy, marketing consultant for Amblin.

The networks are going after Saturday morning and weekday afternoon cartoons aimed at children as well. Disney created a block of cartoons last year called "Disney Afternoon," which airs on Channel 9, and Fox has created its own cartoons to air on its network, said Jean MacCurdy, senior vice president of Burbank-based Warner Bros. animation division, which airs some of its cartoons on Fox.

PHOTO : |Fish Police': The Hanna-Barbera production is headed for prime time on CBS

PHOTO : |Beauty and the Beast,' The Disney production is due to be released at movie theaters this fall

PHOTO : |The Pirates of Dark Water': The Hanna-Barbera produced series will air on Saturday mornings on ABC starting in the fall