Mining the Faults

Fred Flintstone has been done and redone, so why not the less successful prime time series?

Mexican animation shingle Anima Estudios is taking the “Top Cat” franchise back to the bigscreen with “Top Cat Begins.” In 2011, Anima produced “Top Cat: The Movie,” which became the highest grossing Mexican film that year, clocking 2.5 million admissions and its $3.2 million on its opening weekend broke box office records. Toon was theatrically released in more than 25 countries. Warner Bros will distribute “Top Cat Begins” in Mexico.

“ ‘Top Cat Begins’ is the most ambitious project in our studio’s history and the one with the most international potential,” said Fernando De Fuentes, chairman of Anima Estudios.

“It’s not a sequel but rather a companion piece to the first ‘Top Cat,’ and will be in CGI, not 2D like the original,” ...

Top Cat, launched with fanfare in '61, landed with a dull ker-splat and was broadcast history by the end of the television season. It was always a poor relation to The Flintstones, but it's nice that it's a gargantuan box office hit south of the border.

It's nice that T.C. is a hit anywhere.