When they want to come and see your movie, even Lou Dobbs can't stop them.
Some of The Lorax's benchmarks:
* the biggest opening for a nonsequel since the Tim Burton Alice in Wonderland ($116.1 million), exactly two years ago;
* the biggest opening for an animated feature since Toy Story 3 ($110.3 million) in June 2010;
* the biggest opening for a movie based on a Seuss book, beating Jim Carrey’s live-action How the Grinch Stole Christmas ($55.1 million in 2000), Mike Myers’ live-action The Cat in the Hat ($38.3 million in 2003) and the animated Horton Hears a Who!, also voiced by Carrey ($45 million in 2008) — though, factoring for inflation, The Grinch would top The Lorax in real dollars; and
* the biggest opening for a nonsequel animated feature since The Simpsons Movie ($74 million) in July 2007. If you disqualify that transfer of a behemoth TV franchise as an “original,” then The Lorax‘s loot could top the first-weekend grosses of the Pixar CGI movies The Incredibles ($70.1 million), Finding Nemo ($70.3 million) and Up ($68.1 million) — though, again, not in real dollars. We’ll have a clearer view of The Lorax‘s weekend accomplishments when final figures are issued Monday afternoon. ...
The Lorax was made largely in France by Illumination Entertainment's newly purchased studio Mac Guff for a second foreign win from Chris Meladandri's shop. And CG feature animation is on a continuing roll. Consider:
DreamWorks Animation's two "underperforming" features for 2011 have grossed $1.2 billion.
Paramount Pictures first animated feature Rango gathered in a "Best Animated Feature" Oscar and a worldwide gross of $245.4 million. (Not enough to clear much -- if any profit, based on what we know of its costs, but not a bad performance, all things considered. And when all cash is counted, the movie probably edges into the black.)
Cars 2, generally acknowledged as a weak offering from Pixar, grossed $560 million and sold gazillions of toys.
So, all in all, animation continues to entice our fine entertainment conglomerates with its box office and merchandising possibilities. And when conglomerates get excited about something, they put people to work.
Which excites us.
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12 comments:
Anyone who's seen Lorax, was Illumination able to shoehorn "French cultural value" into the script?
They got a big tax credit for producing Despicable Me in France, but also had to include the scenes depicting Gru stealing the Eiffel Tower to qualify for it.
Whatever it takes to bring the budget down ...
...followed very closely by whatever it takes to sell and brand the film to international audiences. That is where the focus is for profits for the film branding business is currently. Illumination obviously understands this. Look at Ice Age franchise numbers. JK and Pixar need to do as much thinking about the direction of the film business as they do the direction of the art. At least the numbers make it appear so....
Very impressive, and done outside of L.A. and for 70M!?? The film generated more than its budget in a weekend. Wonder how the huge budget studios are going to react to this?
I feel like the Lorax has GREAT marketing as well! I've seen ads for the movie everywhere. Last bunch of DreamWorks film that have been very good, have lacked in marketing presence. Just my 2 cents.
Hey, just a few comments about MacGuff: after Despicable Me, they fired 75% of the animation department, saying "we will hire you back in a couple of months". Then, instead of doing this, they went to recruit cheap students at Gobelins...
They have also decreased the salary for the artists who stayed. I can honestly say their wages are incredibly low for a city like Paris. I am really happy for their big success, but let's not forget about this quite ugly truth.
And yet, they seem well staffed enough to make Lorax a huge hit.
Look, I hate the situation, but I think we're seeing the beginning of the end for American feature animation production done in America.
When they can assemble a crew this skilled overseas, at a fraction of the cost, the old paradigm is going to fall.
It was always just a matter of time...
I don't think it's the beginning of the end, but more like the acknowledgement of what has been slowly happening in recent years. And that is finding a more effective way to make these films than the old big bloated Hollywood system.
I'm particularly curious, as I'm sure the studios are, what it is that propelled Lorax to this level of financial achievement in the first place. I found neither the trailer nor the concept of the film particularly compelling (another Seuss book stretched to a 2-hour movie??), and at 56% on Rotten Tomatoes, it's not exactly Oscar material. Is it Taylor Swift? Maybe the opening weekend (which it shared with Alice) is more desirable than previously realized? Is there a lot Seuss nostalgia out there? I bet Disney/Pixar are dying to know...
Good question, but remember one thing when some of the geniuses on this board give you their reasons why it was a success - NO ONE KNOWS ANYTHING!!!
If anyone had a clue they'd be doing it over and over with the same success every time.
Chris Meledandri has a long, successful track record in CG animated features.
The hand-drawn studio he set up in Arizona with Bluth in the mid nineties, on the other hand, not QUITE as successful. ...
Adam, one possible boost to the success of The Lorax was the Seuss birthday tie-in. There are many posters at the local elementary schools, which tend to heavily promote Dr. Seuss activities and reading in general around this time of year.
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