Hoodwinked into success

Culture | Writer-director Cory Edwards found a new path to Grandmother’s house—and a hit animated film | Andrew Coffin

Since I was 8 years old," says Cory Edwards, "I've wanted to be a filmmaker." You could say now that's a realized dream. The 37-year-old director of the CGI animated feature Hoodwinked is enjoying a rarified success. In a medium traditionally dominated by big players like Disney and DreamWorks, Mr. Edwards helped the new Weinstein Company (founded by brothers Bob and Harvey, formerly of Miramax) score an early victory.

Out from under the umbrella of Disney, the Weinsteins are now free to compete in the animation market, and they picked a modest winner in Hoodwinked. Budgeted at less than $20 million, the film had grossed more than $45 million domestically in three weeks after its January release. In a field where successful entries are budgeted at nearly five times that amount (Pixar's Finding Nemo and The Incredibles each cost more than $90 million to produce), that's quite an achievement. Less expensive CGI (computer-generated imagery) films have had a particularly hard time reaching audiences: Last year Valiant, despite Disney muscle, only recouped about half of its $40 million budget in U.S. box-office grosses.