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In early 2005, Genesis hired Eissinmann, 44, of Celebration, to oversee final production, mostly through subcontractors, and his wife, Alex Eissinmann, 40, to produce a gala premiere in Celebration. The artists produced all the rough footage. Carrot Top, the Winter Park comedian, voiced Tugger's sidekick, Shorty. Jim Belushi, star of the ABC sitcom According to Jim, voiced the lead character, Tugger. Such success can inspire the great American dream: Get rich quick. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the first eye-catching, independent 3-D hit was Hoodwinked, which cost the Kanbar Animation Studios $15 million to $20 million and grossed $70 million last year.
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Until recently, 3-D animated features were the exclusive domain of the "big three": Disney-Pixar, Fox-Blue Sky Studios and DreamWorks Animation, which each could spend more than $75 million per film.īut with the arrival in the early 2000s of inexpensive 3-D animation software and an influx of hungry artists trained to use it, the field opened rapidly to upstarts. "That company came very, very close to having it all." "That company had the story and the talent, artistically, to make it big," O'Neal said. When Fox learned that in mid-2004, it canceled plans to work with Genesis because the Fox deal had been dependent on revenue coming from Chrysler, former chief operating officer Guimond said.
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It turned out, Chrysler never contracted to buy DVDs, a Chrysler official said. He also announced, in a July 2004 press release, a theatrical and DVD distribution deal with 20th Century Fox. Staff members said Varab told them that he had a deal for DaimlerChrysler to buy 250,000 Tugger DVDs, to give one away with every new Grand Cherokee. "I gave everything I had and lost."įor more seasoned employees, such as Kathy O'Neal, 51, Genesis' chief financial officer for much of 20 before quitting and suing for back pay, expected business deals were what kept them going. "They gave their nest eggs and lost," said Woodman, who stated in his suit that he is owed $94,000. But Woodman and others said most never did get back pay and quit still owed thousands of dollars apiece. Workers saw paychecks irregularly, sometimes going several weeks with only promises. Genesis' cash came sporadically, mostly from investors, much of it as loans secured with promissory notes for stock, ex-employees and investors said.
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Several ex-employees, including technical director Heath Hollingshead, 30, of Clermont, sound editor Jonathan Lewis, 26, of Winter Park, and art director Robert Kaczmarczyk, 28, of Celebration, said for a while it seemed like a dream to work with such an impressive pro as Varab. At Genesis he frequently talked about his times with animation legends: Steven Spielberg, John Lasseter, Don Bluth, Tim Burton. He worked at several studios and rose in prominence, while animating such films as The Fox and the Hound, FernGully, Balto, Casper and Mulan.
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Varab has been in the animation business for decades, going back to 1977's Pete's Dragon, a children's movie that included animation.
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Soon, Woodman said, a dozen people worked there, many fresh out of schools such as Full Sail. In March 2003, Genesis Orlando was incorporated, with a studio in Varab's Celebration town house. They merged the stories, and Tugger was rolling. They also brought in a similar story from another writer about a tractor named Tugger that wanted to fly. They decided to make their own movie, under Varab's start-up studio. He had met Varab while the two worked together on Mulan, and one day he showed him the story. He had written a story about a Jeep named Willy and its life after World War II, inspired by the old all-purpose vehicle his grandparents had on their farm. In 1997, Disney hired him, starting on Mulan, a 1998 movie about a Chinese maiden who becomes a warrior hero.īy the early 2000s, word was getting around that Disney might close its Florida studios, and Woodman was mulling his options.
![tugger: the jeep 4x4 who wanted to fly tugger: the jeep 4x4 who wanted to fly](https://www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/pict/284531594200_/Tugger-The-Jeep-4x4-Who-Wanted-to-Fly.jpg)
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Then he pursued his dream of becoming an animation artist by heading to the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota. After high school, he joined the Marines, served in the Gulf War and went to community college. He's turned this into a red-tape nightmare," Woodman said. Now, Woodman said everyone's dream of making a hit independent film franchise is in tatters.
Most of the other state suits, filed in Osceola and Orange counties, claim breach of contracts, charging that various employees, contractors and investors never got paid. Woodman also claimed he never got paid, never got the screen credits on Tugger that his contracts required and lost control of his own characters.
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In his state suit, Woodman claimed Varab fraudulently obtained copyrights for Woodman's movie characters behind his back, then further defrauded him with a series of contracts that Woodman charges Varab never intended to honor. Woodman also joined the bankruptcy petition.