by Rollin Bishop

The finale of The Amazing Digital Circus is set to premiere this summer, and while the animated series coming to a conclusion is itself notable and special, it's actually even more significant. An hour-long feature-length theatrical experience combining the ultimate and penultimate episodes, called The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act, will hit theaters on June 4th… two weeks prior to the finale actually hitting YouTube and Netflix.

This is, despite some grinding of teeth by fans, unequivocally a good thing. The Amazing Digital Circus finale dropping in theaters, that people have to buy tickets to see, is what success looks like. This is winning! We've won!

I'm not going to pretend this being an objective success is only to do with the magic of cinema. I'm not Nicole Kidman, and even if I do personally gravitate toward some of that fantastical thinking, it doesn't change the fact that this makes literal dollars and sense.

After all, what does the future of indie animation look like? I've no idea, frankly, but there's one thing for certain: artists have to eat. In order to make the animation, they need reliable food, shelter, and so on. Simply put, they need money. Cash is necessary, and to make indie animation you have to make money somehow. This is just true.

But, OK, how do you make money? Great question! I've also no idea, frankly, but a whole lot of people have tried a whole lot of ways to do so. Crowdfunding remains popular, services like Patreon, ad-supported video services like YouTube — the list goes on for ways to support a particular brand of digital indie animation.

This is all fairly bog standard at this point. Nobody bats an eyelash at modest success stories through any of these methods, though it's more common to hear about struggles. It does increasingly feel like creators that have seen success at least once in the traditional studio system have turned to indie avenues in order to actually make what they want, but I'd argue a couple of high-profile successes like Matt Braly's ongoing Kickstarter for Clara & the Below that's now funded three episodes are the exception rather than the norm.

Enter The Amazing Digital Circus finale in theaters. "The reason we're pushing for this at all is because this one event has the potential to change how the entire industry views indie animation," states Kevin Lerdwichagul, CEO of Glitch, in a letter shared to social media after the announcement that TADC finale would hit theaters first. "If this works, if we get a YouTube animated series into thousands of theatres globally, it opens the door not just for us, but for many creators, many projects, and the future of original, creator-led storytelling."

In an environment where even a feature film from the Avatar: The Last Airbender franchise was not afforded the opportunity to play theatrically and streamers generally seek to avoid the space more and more, it's interesting to see a production company which once said they put "YouTube first" realize the viability of the cinema. 

But the full letter is really worth a read in its entirety. Basically, the company is making a bet that this is a viable path forward for similar productions. That indie animation that started out on YouTube and built a major following that translated to streaming on Netflix can make the segue to theaters. It's a big bet, but if it pays off, it sets a pathway going forward for others to follow.

Yes, there's the reality that this means people can pay to see the finale some weeks early, but it's still then going to stream. Nothing is lost here, just delayed. But the possibility for what might be gained is enormous, and good on Glitch for trying.

/out of frame

🐁 Rollin: I've been playing through MOUSE: P.I. For Hire, which you might recall from those impressive trailers featuring 1930s-style black-and-white animation and a noir mouse detective. Keep an eye out for my full thoughts over at my day job, but I suspect re:frame readers will find plenty to enjoy.

🕵️ Toussaint: Been watching Sherlock Hound on TMS' YouTube channel while playing with my son recently. Really wonderful, whimsical take on Arthur Conan Doyle's classic genius sleuth. I've also enjoyed Paul Chadeisson's latest sci-fi short Second Skin about humanity's migration to a superstructure centuries in the making. 

🏍️ Kambole: A quick self-plug – I had a great time presenting a 35mm print of Akira over the weekend at the ICA, the very print which showed at the London venue back on its first UK run in 1991. I hosted a panel afterwards with Manga Entertainment co-founder, Andy Frain, and Takeshi Katsurada, an editor at Kodansha's Young Magazine (in which Akira was first published), about the legacy of the film ahead of its 4K rerelease in UK cinemas. Even got Kaneda's jacket on loan for the event!

Anyway, like anyone else, I'm very excited by the promise of Beyond the Spider-Verse finally coming to cinemas about 3/4 years after its initial date, announced as of today through a handful of stills (maybe I'm childish, but out of context seeing "GONNA SAVE YOUR DAD" in cutout zine lettering made me chuckle). In the meantime, I've really been wowed by Nippon Sangoku: this anime season is turning out to be an incredibly rich one.