Wednesday, July 22, 2009

The Continuing Dino Rampage

I know this sounds repetitious, but there's a reason all the major animation studios keep making sequels:

... The $448 million golden egg laid so quickly overseas by "Ice Age 3" has been one of the season's bigger surprises.

Toon is currently the top earner of the summer (although "Half-Blood Prince" will ultimately overtake it) and is on the verge of surpassing the $456 million earned by "Ice Age: The Meltdown" over its entire foreign run.

Indeed, "Dawn of the Dinosaurs" will soon pass WB's "The Dark Knight," which cumed $468.6 million internationally.

...Box office observers say "Dawn of the Dinosaurs," helped by the extra cost of 3-D tickets, has a good chance of becoming the top-grossing animated title of all time at the international B.O., surpassing Pixar's "Finding Nemo" ($524 million).

Toon is now the biggest film of all time in Russia and a number of Latin American countries, including Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Uruguay. And in Brazil on Tuesday, "Ice Age 3" managed to outdo "Half-Blood Prince." ...

You can hardly blame our fine, entertainment congloms for making IIs, IIIs and IVs when all those foreigners keep flinging money at their newer installments of old standbys. (Not to mention the heavy coin that flows out of the U.S. of A.)  Because as a wise old film editor once said to me:

"In Hollywood, a good movie is a movie that makes a lot of money."

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why this movie? I enjoyed it and thought was a good time at the movies, but I've seen a number of movies this summer that I could say the same thing about. What is it about this movie that makes it the best movie of all time in international countries? Why is everyone seeing it more than other movies? Are dinosaurs making a comeback? Or is this a combination of higher ticket prices and 3d prices adding to a larger total?

Anonymous said...

One word -- Skrat. Everybody loves Skrat.

g said...

The Ice Age franchise has always been very popular internationally. Not sure why. Is it maybe due to the non-national aspect of the material?

RR said...

Cause it's got Ray Romano in it?

Kevin Koch said...

I was in Taiwan recently, and was amazed at the lines for the film on opening day. All anyone seemed to know about the film was that the trailers featured hilarious bits with Skrat. Among the animation students there, I didn't hear any of them mention Ice Age as their favorite animated film, but they all knew and loved Skrat.

Bob and Rob Professional American Writers said...

Wow, congrats to the funny and talented gang at Blue sky! What a great example of how a funny, tight, visually explosive film (with well known characters), can perform.

Neal said...

I agree that it's most often a good thing for anyone working in animation when a toon does this well; more production, more employment, etc, etc. As long as there are other studios making different kinds of films, taking creative risks, or at least offsetting new, risky ideas with sequels to past hits (see Pixar's slate) then I personally don't feel concerned. I look forward to seeing Blue Sky use the financial security of the Ice Age films to bankroll some new, totally original ideas.

Anonymous said...

Blue Sky's next film: Rio

And Pixar isnt against sequels either...TS3, Cars 2, Monster Inc 2 (rumored)

Anonymous said...

I just clicked thru to "Bob and Rob"s profile. Under "favorite music" they have "Bob & Rob began their careers as writer/performers with THE GROUDLINGS and SECOND CITY LA..." (followed by the rest of their lengthy resume)

That was a great album. The CD reissue wasn't as good as the original 8-track though.

Bob and Rob Professional American Writers said...

The idea is to hum "There's no business like show business" while you read the bio. And thanks for being our third visitor this month!

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