Animation Source Forums

I say go for it!

Well i believe universal wont do that anyways due to the movies base of the story so i doubt if they will let you do that, also it would be completly expensive to do all of that together anyways........

But most likely it can't be done because Universal won't allow it

I think that'd be really cool! But I won't lie to you and say you can pull it off easily. I think there'd be like a one in a million chance that'd Universal would let that go much less even look into Balto again, don't get me wrong I wish that could happen because then more people would know about Balto and how great a movie it is, but the likelyhood of that actually becoming reality is slim to none I'm afraid as others have already said. I'd go with Drew's idea.

I hope you can! It'd be cool. But very hard. I wish you luck!!

I wanted to do that
but good luck, I hope that you make it well.

And of course, now I see there is no way to do this kind of thing in the current state. Universal won't give permission to do something like this right away.
Also imagine the amount it would take to fund such a production...What I'd do is start in another way, maybe try something a little smaller.
If you build your reputation as a film maker/animator up then perhaps Universal would take up on your offer.
In the current state things are, there's no way you can pull something like this off, but hey; Balto challenged the impossible, so can you.

Well I really wish that I thought you could do this but I just don't think it's possible for quite a few reasons...

1: I seriously doubt Universal Studios would allow you to use their characters without a 'very' substantial payment for the use of them.

2: It would take a team of 100+ people to make a project this big work, if not more people and it would cost thousands to do.

3: You'd need a fully fitted animation studio to pull this off and that in itself would be very expensive.

4: Even if you write a very good script and create good new characters Universal does'nt have to grant you permission to use their characters, it says so on their site that if you submit scripts and such to Universal they can legally use those scripts for their own films without including you in any way.

5: For the size and price of such a project you would'nt make enough profit from the sale of the movies to make up for it because not enough people would watch them mainly because they'd be the 4th and 5th in the Balto series and people would'nt get they storyline.

I really do wish this was possible but thinking about it, it's just not practical.

Well.....umm....sure....of course you are, do not mean too be rude but it sounds far feteched, and I mean really far fetched, how on earth are you going too do that, Universal are unlikely too let you take their characters.

it is highly impossible.

1. Universal refused to make Balto 4, because Balto isn't popular anymore, so they don't earn a lot of money out of it.

2. if you have your own money to do that, then how are you gonna get all the people, voices, costumes?

3. Will the theaters accept it?

4. Are the people gonna like it? Coming back to 1, not that much people are devoted fans of Balto like all of us are.

5. And if you will manage to do all of that, you will need even bigger money for advertising.

6. I am sure that you will be aiming to earn more money from that you spent - that is gonna be hard.

anyway, if you are still gonna try to do that - GOOD LUCK!

Here's my ¢.02:

I disagree that Balto's simply not popular anymore (whether the cartoon or the real deal. The cartoon, like others, has a loyal fan base...and the real Balto, well, that's not even worth debating).

What's more truthful is that Universal Studios did not see significant enough profit in the theatrical releases and direct-to-video (DVD) sales to warrant continuation of the subject matter. That is clear from the interview Steet shared with us on BS.

Projects like this take great gobs of money. Hundreds of thousands of dollars. Not even little projects started by individuals (I know this is a poor example, but take South Park for instance) took off without significant financial backing, and the acceptance of some large corporation.

In order to fund a Balto 4 project for general release...no matter if it was direct-to-video, or theatrical (or even televised), the following would be needed:

1. Negotiated release of the rights to use the copyright-protected properties (the characters, settings, story lines, etc. from the three Balto cartoon movies) from their owners. Not only Universal Pictures/Universal Studios, but also Amblin Entertainment (the descendant of Amblimation, which no longer exists) in the case of Balto 1. That would involve a great deal of negotiation by corporate lawyers and agents and involve many thousands of dollars alone. (Why do you all think it's been so hard for New Line Cinema and Peter Jackson to secure the rights to make a movie version of "The Hobbit"? Those rights are owned by another Hollywood entity, who are being stubborn about releasing those rights...and that's to another MAJOR Hollywood company and a successful multiple Oscar-winning director/writer...not some private citizen with no existing rep in the industry!)

2. Several hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund such a project (pre-production layout, voice casting, scripting, etc.; production elements which include animation, inking [or computer generation] and laying down of voice tracks, sound effects, and music, and then all the salaries; and post-production clean up and assembling of the work, packaging, marketing, etc.)

And there's probably lots more too...

The 2nd and 3rd movies have been done... the best thing to do is to stop living in the past. The 2nd and 3rd movies are what they are. I had a hard enough time trying to produce a film off a book owned by a publishing company, movie company's are major major ball players that would look down on you and say spit shine my shoe... then we'll "think" about reading your ideas. It's just in no way possible... sorry man.. and yes I'm in the movie bussiness and I have friends and family in the movie bussiness. It's just not possible, especially with the age and funding problems.

Good luck,with it pal,i hope US won't be mad it you don't contact about them.

_Angel_'s trying to drive up her post count, Dan. And she's trying VERY hard to irritate people, and to ignore those who are calling her on it...

...I'm one of those. And she doesn't seem to care. She appears to just want to be an irritant.