“Wreck-It Ralph,” Disney’s 3D animated film about a video game character who smashes everything in his path, made history on Sunday after earning $49.1 million in ticket sales, the highest-grossing opening weekend in Disney animation history. The mega-success of the flick was predicted early on by the film’s assistant picture editor and University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate Rick Hammel.
“Right from the get-go I knew this movie was going to be awesome,” Hammel said. “It’s really funny, and there are still parts in it that are going to get you choked up.”
Inspired by classic 8-bit arcade games, Hammel specialized in editing the sound effects heard in “Wreck-It Ralph.”
Hammel, a two-time Emmy winner and seven-time nominee for outstanding sound editing, got his start in animation studying Communication Arts at UW-Madison in the late 1980s.
After graduating in 1989 Hammel, a Cudahy, Wis., native, was offered a job outside of Madison in Janesville. However, rather than taking on the entry-level position, he packed his things and moved out west to Hollywood.
After interning at various positions, Hammel jump-started his career at a small studio called Horde Editorial in 1992. From there, he moved onto Warner Brothers Pictures in 1997, where he found his niche in sound editing for animated television series. For Hammel, who has worked with both animated and live-action film, the animated medium remains his favorite.
“I've always liked animation more. I think it’s just because I’m a big kid really, I like cartoons.”
A big kid indeed – Hammel, 47, has had his share of cartoon editing over the past two decades. He supervised the sound editing for “Angry Beavers,” which scored him an Emmy nod in 1998, and he has since worked on the popular television shows: “Buzz Lightyear of Star Command,”“The Legend of Tarzan,” and “Hercules: The Animated Series.”
While Hammel has found success in animation, he still encounters his share of challenges in the field. After constructing the sound for an animated scene, it is not uncommon that a sound editor must start from scratch following a script change. Additionally, the nature of the fast-paced industry means short deadlines and long hours.
“There is a lot of overtime, and plenty of seven-day work-weeks, but it is a labor of love. I would rather be working a lot as opposed to not enough,” Hammel said.
Considering the box-office receipts from “Wreck-It Ralph,” Hammel’s hard work has more than paid off. Today, Hammel is employed by Disney Studios, a company created by the father of animation, Walt Disney.
As expected, Hammel describes the atmosphere at Disney as “really creative.”
“Everyone works together, the morale is really high, and it is just a fun, great place to work,” he said.
Now that editing on “Wreck-It Ralph” has wrapped, Hammel is gearing up for a short film pitch with Pixar executives. If his idea is accepted, Hammel will have the opportunity to direct the animated short that appears in theaters before the next Pixar movie.
“I’m just keeping my fingers crossed, and it seems like I have a pretty good idea from talking to a few of the other editors,” Hammel said. “In a perfect world that would be really cool if that happens.”
A second UW-Madison grad, Neenah native Phil Johnston (BA'94, Journalism) is also credited as writer of the film.