January 17, 2022

Producer, Arnold Leibovit - The Puppetoon Movie, George Pal and the Walt Disney Connection

1 hour 40 minutes

Hosts Dave Bossert and Aljon Go chat with Producer, Writer, and Director, Arnold Leibovit about The Puppetoon Movie (1987), The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal (1985), and Pal's connection and influence on Walt Disney and animation.

Arnold Leibovit is an award-winning writer, director, and producer. He wrote, directed, and produced the acclaimed film tribute "The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal" (1986) profiling the life of the Oscar-winning science fiction and fantasy film pioneer, who directed the first screen telling of H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine". "Fantasy Worlds" features a who's who of over 25 stars and industry greats that worked with the late director. The film premiered at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences and has since aired on The Disney Channel, PBS and won numerous awards.

Following this film, Leibovit obtained the rights to "The Time Machine" book and the motion picture which led to his Executive Producing the (2002) Dreamworks/Warner Bros. remake starring Guy Pearce and Jeremy Irons with special effects by Digital Domain, Industrial Light and Magic and Stan Winston. He is working on producing a sequel to "The Time Machine", a remake of George Pal's "7 Faces of Dr. Lao" and directing a science-fiction dramedy "Contactees Anonymous".

In addition, Leibovit directed and produced "The Puppetoon Movie," featuring such classic animation characters as Gumby, Pokey, and Tubby the Tuba and the Oscar-winning animated films of George Pal. The film premiered at the first American Film Institute Film Festival, distributed theatrically by Expanded Entertainment, and has since screened at international film festivals in such cities as London, England; Annecy, France; Sitges, Spain; Tokyo, Japan; and Melbourne, Australia, as well as airing on Showtime. The DVD was released by Image Entertainment (November 2000) and a newly restored expanded Blu-Ray was released by B2MP Inc. (December 2014) that includes more newly restored Puppetoons with the cooperation of Paramount Pictures, The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, and UCLA.

Mr. Leibovit received the George Pal Memorial Award 'The Saturn' from the Academy of Science Fiction and Fantasy three CINE Golden Eagles, two International Film & TV Festival Awards, two Awards of Excellence by the Film Advisory Board, and many others. Leibovit is an acting member of the Producers Guild of America. - From IMDB

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Outro music "The Pirate King" composed by Jared Rehnquist/Untold Journey - Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. *Source Wikipedia.

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By Aljon Go and Dave Bossert