Tarantinoesque

There must be something in the air. Or maybe it's just a force field that every Pretender to the Animation Throne is tapped into. Because there seems to be a raunch vibe circling the globe.

Bad Cat Sells to China, Middle East

A risque, action-packed comedy for adults, it is described as blending — in animated form — “the outrageousness of 'Fritz The Cat', the cuteness of 'Garfield' and the whip-smart action of [Quentin] Tarantino."

On the eve of Filmart, Beijing-based distributor Turbo Film and Kuwait’s International Film Distribution (IFD) pounced on mainland China and Middle East rights, respectively, for Odin’s Eye Entertainment’s upcoming animated feature Bad Cat.

A risque, action-packed comedy for adults, Bad Cat is described as blending — in animated form — “the outrageousness of Fritz the Cat, the cuteness of Garfield and the whip-smart action of [Quentin] Tarantino." ...

The Big Prize that everyone is chasing are the monster grosses enjoyed by pictures like Zootopia, Minions, Inside Out and a handful of other animated features. As we've noted, there are the big-budget animated blockbusters that vacuum up $500 million to a billion dollars, each festooned with production costs of $80 million to $200 million.

Then there are the animated features on lower tiers, those entertainments produced in Europe, South America and Canada costing $20-$40 million. Many of these epics scratch out tidy profits. Most of these efforts follow the Disney/Pixar model.

But now we're getting a bunch of R-rated experiments, and all of them within a sport space of time. And if the markets are kind, no doubt there will be more.