Forbes magazine is enthusiastic:
... Johnny Depp tops our most recent list of Hollywood’s Highest Paid Actors with $75 million in earnings ... being one of the few stars in Hollywood who can almost guarantee big bucks at the box office both here and abroad. ...
The actor’s most intriguing upcoming project is Rango, an animated film being released by Paramount Pictures next March. (It is the studio’s first original animated film.) ... This isn’t Depp’s first foray into animation, in addition to guest voicing spots on Spongebob Squarepants and King of the Hill, he voiced the lead role in Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride.
That film performed modestly at the box office earning $117 million but it came out in 2005, before Depp’s star had risen to its present height. Rango is likely to continue Depp’s current winning streak. ...
Not to be the killjoy here, but box office big shots voicing cartoon characters guarantee ... not very much.
Brad Pitt might be a gold-plated addition to DreamWorks Animation's Megamind, but he didn't put fannies in the seats for the same studio's Sinbad.
And Tom Hanks might be a pull for Toy Story (even though he wasn't a monster draw at your local AMC back when he was doing the first one.) But does anyone seriously believe that Kung Fu Panda slammed it out of the park because Angelina Jolie performed a character's voice? ("Leave the clothes in the washer, Ma! Angelina's doing Tigress!!")
Don't think so.
To paraphrase Bill Shakespeare, the movie -- particularly in Cartoonland -- is the thing. Big name actors can provide some benefits with talk-show visits and promotional tours, but they're not the reason people go to see animated features. Never have been, never will be.
Actor Hans Conried was anything but a marquee name when he thesped the role of Captain Hook for Disney in 1952, but I can't think of anybody who's put a stronger stamp on a character than Mr. C. And I can't imagine a higher profile actor who could have done the part better.
So Angelina? She's a big star, and graces lots of magazine covers. But give me old Hans any day of the week. He really provides added value.
Posts
11 comments:
Pixar actually lucked out with Tom Hanks in Toy Story 1. When they hired voice actors Tim Allen was the "bigger" name because of his new show Home Improvement. Hanks just came off the box office bomb Joe vs. the Volcano and his career genuinely considered on the way out. Then during the time Pixar recorded their voices in 92(ish) and the launch of the film 1995 Hanks appear in Philadelphia and Forrest Gump, won a few academy awards, and his star rose to power just in time for Toy Story to ride on it.
Other movies have made the same gambles with actors who they thought would be bigger in a few years when the movies are complete only to have the actors fade into obscurity. Those are the movies where they don't put the name on the marquee above the title (and people say "wasn't he famous like 3 years ago?")
Sorry to be another killjoy, but I've seen chunks of Rango, and you might want to count it as a minor blip on the animation radar. Especially Depp's voice--very bland for animation (as was proven in Corpse Bride). He's sometimes a terrific actor, but not a great voice for animation.
Are you nuts??? Justin Timberlake and Dan Akroyd will guarantee that Yogi Bear will break a billion bucks domestic!!!!
Depp's eccentric and unique screen persona is what counts, not so much his voice. one wonders if "Rango" has made efforts to capture it in the characterization.
and ... times change. I wonder why TAG readers are always in a hurry to shove these old truisms into any debate ("story matters above all", star voices don't, artist friendly culture alone can produce good work, etc.". it's as extreme as the studio exec positions (nothing matters but marketing). Radicals of all hues are lame.
We need to have space for more nuanced and evolving debate. Otherwise every "alvin" and "avatar" & perhaps "yogi bear" just makes us look more and more like cranky old men devoutly polishing the shoes of the Nine Wise Men or whatever outdated dogma we choose to shove forward to explain today's marketplace, only to have the next friday's movie totally overturn it.
No one cared who Captain Hook's voice was but this is a different era which is very celebrity, pop culture and "in the moment" obsessed. Star voices do make a difference - then of course the movie has to be good too but that's not the be-all of every debate. One can't downplay what Tom Hanks, Jack Black (he made KFP, not Jolie or the thin storyline) and Mike Myers brought to their respective animated characters just cause they're celebs. It was a combination of a "star voice" plus a "good fit" in all these cases.
about the only statement I can wholly endorse as being eternal and beyond debate is "nobody knows anything"
One can't downplay what Tom Hanks, Jack Black (he made KFP, not Jolie or the thin storyline) and Mike Myers brought to their respective animated characters just cause they're celebs.
Agreed. For me, one of the most memorable lines from KFP was "skidoosh", and that is pure Jack Black, no one else could have done that line and it still mean the same thing.
So while it certainly is not all about "Star Power", it certainly does consist of the right kind of "Star Power". Not all celebrities are cut out to do voice acting, but that doesn't mean that none of them are.
Agreed. For me, one of the most memorable lines from KFP was "skidoosh", and that is pure Jack Black, no one else could have done that line and it still mean the same thing.
Believe the complaint is that DW, in the style of every other star-struck Hollywood studio, tends to make their movies ABOUT the star and not the story--
The first half of KFP seemed to be "Here's Jack Black, playing a lovable loser slacker!" (and one that didn't really seem to earn our sympathy, YMMV), as much as "Bee Movie" seemed to have been made for no other earthly reason than "We got Seinfeld!"
Compare this to Eric Goldberg trying to sell Disney on the fact that they could make Aladdin with a recognizable Robin Williams, and it wouldn't ruin the main dynamic of the story...Things were different twenty years ago.
"Pixar actually lucked out with Tom Hanks in Toy Story 1. When they hired voice actors Tim Allen was the "bigger" name because of his new show Home Improvement"
You should keep in mind that Mr Allen is golf buddies with Michael Eisner, and that helped him big time with his carrer. Talk about overrated!.
"Believe the complaint is that DW, in the style of every other star-struck Hollywood studio, tends to make their movies ABOUT the star and not the story--"
Couldn't agree more!
Unfortunately, executives love to rubb shoulders with celebs, so they'll keep making up reasons why it's important to have those celebrities involved. They can't wait to post those pics on their facebook page. "Look mom...I'm with Angelina Jolie!!"
wtf
Also, DW seems to have been self-hypnotized by too many gushes over Shrek's "Humor adults can enjoy(TM)", and now believes that adults have a fear and loathing of good CGI unless it has something in it that Adults Like.
Which, to their inferiority complexes, either means Wacky Adult Satire and sitcom humor, or....big stars.
But not so much true of "How to Train Your Dragon."
Yes, but that was the one where they brought in the Ringer, and didn't count. ;)
I don't think you understand how it works at DW.
Jeffrey replaced the directors on HTTYD because it wasn't the film he wanted to make. He released with Sanders at the helm it becuase it turned into the film he wanted it to be or it wouldn't have been released and Sanders would've been replaced as well.
Post a Comment