Horror was in a bad way during a good chunk of the 1990s. The slasher craze kicked off by John Carpenter's "Halloween" had more than run its course, so the studios, which never truly respected the genre in the first place, generally threw up their hands. If it wasn't a sequel or a Stephen King adaptation, they really weren't interested.
This is where upstart, mid-range production companies came in. There was still a healthy market for horror in the home video market, and, if you made the movie cheaply enough, potential to make a lightning-quick killing in theaters. Mark Jones' "Leprechaun" accomplished the latter in 1993. Released over the second weekend of January, the silly yarn about an ill-tempered fairy who goes on a murderous rampage whenever anyone steals his gold scared up $8.6 million at the United States box office. Given its $1 million budget, it was a modest hit for Trimark Pictures.
This is where upstart, mid-range production companies came in. There was still a healthy market for horror in the home video market, and, if you made the movie cheaply enough, potential to make a lightning-quick killing in theaters. Mark Jones' "Leprechaun" accomplished the latter in 1993. Released over the second weekend of January, the silly yarn about an ill-tempered fairy who goes on a murderous rampage whenever anyone steals his gold scared up $8.6 million at the United States box office. Given its $1 million budget, it was a modest hit for Trimark Pictures.
- 10/6/2023
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Duane Earl Poole, a writer and producer for Aaron Spelling, Hanna-Barbera and Sid & Marty Krofft whose credits include Hart To Hart, The Love Boat, The Smurfs and Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, died of cancer on April 1 in Studio City, California. He was 74.
His death was announced by his husband, Frank V. Bonventre.
Born in Prescott, Arizona, Poole was raised in Kennewick, Washington, Poole began working for King World Productions in Seattle after graduating from the University of Washington. He relocated to Los Angeles in 1975 to work for Hanna-Barbera, and soon became a prolific writer of such Saturday morning cartoon fare as The Great Grape Ape, Scooby’s Laff-a-Lympics, The All-New Super Friends Hour and The Smurfs, among others.
Poole also wrote for Sid and Marty Krofft, whose bizarre, colorful live-action shows rivaled Hanna-Barbera in Saturday morning popularity. Far Out Space Nuts, Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, The Krofft Supershow and...
His death was announced by his husband, Frank V. Bonventre.
Born in Prescott, Arizona, Poole was raised in Kennewick, Washington, Poole began working for King World Productions in Seattle after graduating from the University of Washington. He relocated to Los Angeles in 1975 to work for Hanna-Barbera, and soon became a prolific writer of such Saturday morning cartoon fare as The Great Grape Ape, Scooby’s Laff-a-Lympics, The All-New Super Friends Hour and The Smurfs, among others.
Poole also wrote for Sid and Marty Krofft, whose bizarre, colorful live-action shows rivaled Hanna-Barbera in Saturday morning popularity. Far Out Space Nuts, Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, The Krofft Supershow and...
- 4/21/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
On June 15th one of the most recognizable voices in radio and television died, succumbing to lingering complications of Lewy Body Dementia. At 82 years of age the legendary Casey Kasem passed on to the next level of existence.
For America it was a sad day. Despite the fact that hordes of the younger generations couldn’t speak on the man’s accomplishments, they know his voice when they hear it. And we know it too. The longtime, hardcore, deeply rooted genre fans know Kasem for his prolific run as the eventual pop-culture standout character Shaggy Rogers, of the timeless “Scooby-Doo” series.
Shaggy was one of (if not the) first animated stoners to hit commercial television. Hanna-Barbera Productions – to my knowledge, which is creepily thorough in all honesty – never stepped out of the shadows to make it known that Shaggy was a major weed-head (totally expected and for quite obvious reasons...
For America it was a sad day. Despite the fact that hordes of the younger generations couldn’t speak on the man’s accomplishments, they know his voice when they hear it. And we know it too. The longtime, hardcore, deeply rooted genre fans know Kasem for his prolific run as the eventual pop-culture standout character Shaggy Rogers, of the timeless “Scooby-Doo” series.
Shaggy was one of (if not the) first animated stoners to hit commercial television. Hanna-Barbera Productions – to my knowledge, which is creepily thorough in all honesty – never stepped out of the shadows to make it known that Shaggy was a major weed-head (totally expected and for quite obvious reasons...
- 7/10/2014
- by Matt Molgaard
- DreadCentral.com
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