Just the moon, the Middle Kingdom, and the box office...
The China-based arm of DreamWorks Animation may not be cut off after all...
Oriental DreamWorks Unveils New Slate
Launched with big Chinese partners five years ago, it was part of founder/former CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg's ambitious plans to expand DreamWorks beyond a single animation studio that was getting by on making $140 million-costing animated behemoths. One of the plans was to have this very studio produce a big slate of animated features and live-action films.
Of course, we all know that DreamWorks faced a lot of roadblocks over the past five years. Within months of this studio's launch, DreamWorks saw their first box office flop in years (Rise of the Guardians), which was followed by three more money-losing pictures: Turbo, Mr. Peabody & Sherman, and Penguins of Madagascar. How To Train Your Dragon 2 was not the domestic tentpole smash that it should've been, despite scoring over $600 million worldwide. Oriental DreamWorks eventually handled a 1/3 of Kung Fu Panda 3, which did great worldwide but it wasn't as big as its predecessors.
Upon Comcast's acquisition of the moon boy animation studio, the Chinese arm's fate was seemingly sealed. NBCUniversal was set to sell their 45% stake in the Shanghai house, Chinese companies have a stake in the rest of the unit. This was on the grounds of Universal already having similar operations in China, though there is no China-based animation studio that happens to be owned by Comcast. This was weeks ago, and supposedly Warner Bros. was looking to invest in Oriental DreamWorks...
I guess NBCUniversal has other plans now, because the studio has seen some restructuring... They have a new CCO in former head of "creative for feature animation" Peilin Chou. A female CCO! How about that?
A new slate of family-friendly pictures has been determined, out of twelve in-development projects, the studio has chosen to reveal five of them. Five!
The first of which is a retelling of a Chinese myth, Over the Moon. Focusing on the Chinese moon goddess Chang'e (well, presumably, the reports didn't say much beyond that), this modern reinvention of the classic story will be written by Audrey Wells, the writer/director of Under the Tuscan Sun and also the writer of A Dog's Purpose, Disney's The Kid, and George of the Jungle.
An untitled "action comedy" with some supernatural elements is also in the works, though it doesn't have a title. This "untitled Chinatown project" comes from the co-creator of the acclaimed Netflix series Master of None, Alan Yang. An action comedy, you say?
It also seems like the industry can't get enough of Journey to the West, because one of the projects on ODW's slate is about... The Monkey King! And is titled The Monkey King! The writers of Disney Feature Animation's late Eisner-era films Brother Bear and Chicken Little - Ron Friedman and Steve Bencich - will pen this one.
Next up is a rather interesting one... Illumikitty. Described as an "irreverent comedy," it's about a cat who plans to take over the world. The title itself is perhaps a poke at conspiracy theories, or it suggests that the cat has the power to light up. Jenny Bicks, who penned Rio 2 and wrote several episodes of Sex in the City, is the scribe for this one.
Last on the list is Lucky, a story that sounds a little similar to Skydance/Paramount Animation's Luck. A look at good luck, bad luck, superstition... It's a buddy comedy, too. It'll be written by Mulan, Toy Story 2, and My Little Pony: The Movie writer Rita Hsiao.
Apparently Everest is still actually a DreamWorks-Glendale/ODW co-production. Little by little, I think that DreamWorks staffer who told me otherwise might've made a mistake. He did delete his tweet...
Well, so much for the stake selling... Now that we're nearing the end of this year, the beginnings of the "new DreamWorks" have gone from upsetting to just flat-out unpredictable. We started with Larrikins, The Croods 2, and other projects being cancelled while sequels to recent hits were immediately greenlit. Oriental DreamWorks possibly going bye-bye was another disappointing story. Now we're hearing of collaborations with Blumhouse, The Croods 2 being back on the reels, and Oriental DreamWorks now having something of a future. Who knows if this studio will become Illumination's twin or not, but things are sorta-kinda looking up in some ways... and I say that with caveats.
I mean, why would DreamWorks cancel a movie like The Croods 2 only to bring it back? Why cancel the sequel to a $587 million-grossing worldwide box office smash hit in the first place? Makes one wonder what will happen next...
On the whole, some of the pictures sound intriguing, and I'm curious as to how ODW will go about all of this. Their goal is plain and simple, if expected: Make family films for a worldwide audience, but aim mostly at China... Doesn't sound dissimilar to what some Chinese executives have been doing lately... Ya know... Taking trips to Walt Disney Animation Studios to get some... Advice...
Didn't hear about it? That's okay, Cartoon Brew is perhaps the only American outlet actually reporting this. I have... Thoughts on that, but that's another story.
'Sonic The Hedgehog' Races To Paramount
The live-action/CG hybrid Sonic The Hedgehog film is still a thing, but it will no longer be a Sony release...
Sony had simply lost the rights, time was up apparently. Jeff Fowler is still set to direct the picture, with Tim Miller executive producing. The film will now be distributed by Paramount, which makes me wonder if they'll put it under their Paramount Animation banner.
Then again, Paramount's heads have implied that they don't want to go the Monster Trucks route again, and that they just want to focus on pure animated films. But what kind of hybrid is Sonic The Hedgehog going to be? Monster Trucks is a live-action film with hyperreal VFX creechers, but that approach obviously can't work for the speedy blue hedgehog. Something tells me the characters will appear like they do in the games, though I am not keen on them mixing that with live-action. Just do it as an all-animated movie, damn it.
That being said, Miller and Fowler's involvement have me somewhat interested, plus I like Sonic and have always wondered what a theatrical movie would look like. Will they adapt one of the better games in the series? Or go with their own story? If they go with the latter, will the story be canon?
Either way, the Sonic The Hedgehog movie has been on the docket since roughly... I want to say mid-2013? Back when its first screenwriter was attempting to make a PG-13 film adaptation of a normally E/E10+ rated series. (To my understanding, in Japan, the games and spin-offs skew a more teen-centric audience.) In my humble opinion, most video game movies should be all-animated, especially ones based on characters like Sonic. Ratchet & Clank could've opened the door to a string of those, but was compromised behind the scenes and limped to the big screen.
Since nothing seems to be set in stone, I can imagine this project changing direction over the coming months... We shall see.
Weekend Box Office
The Lego Ninjago Movie fell 43%, collecting $35 million so far and $58 million worldwide. The best comparison is of course Warner Animation Group's previous late September release, Storks. On weekend two, that was at $38 million, dropping 36%. This suggests that Ninjago's legs might be weaker in the long run. Its drop is nowhere as strong as The Lego Movie's 2nd weekend drop, a little below Lego Batman's. At this point, I see Lego Ninjago landing somewhere around $60-65 million, which is hardly great, but if it can pull good numbers worldwide and make Storks numbers, it should be fine.
I still think its performance will lead to some rethinking on the standalone end of the Lego film franchise, though. I think making a film based on a line and TV series geared mostly towards 6-12 year old boys wasn't a wise decision, financially. Limit the audience, limit the box office. It ain't just kids making these things big. The Lego Movie clearly did better because it had so much more appeal, ditto The Lego Batman Movie. Not rocket science, and I think Lego Ninjago yet again proves what I and others have been screaming for ages.
No major changes with Leap!, as it nears the end of its run: $23 million domestic, $104 million worldwide.
Despicable Me 3, a titan it may be, is puttering now. $1,023 million worldwide, $262 million here. It'll end up being the least-attended film in the franchise, not that that really matters right now, but I'm curious to see how Minions 2 performs domestically in summer 2020.
Cars 3 still rides. $152 million here, $368 million worldwide. Germany just got the movie, so we'll see how much higher it goes.
Loving Vincent is something I didn't cover on the last post... Last week, it opened in a single theater, making a seemingly-good $23k. Now in 4 theaters total, it rose 139% and has now grossed $92k to date. Little by little, it'll expand, but how big can this thing get? I certainly hope it comes to my area! Perhaps it's a miracle that the film was even made and released at all.
Captain Underpants, after much crawling, finally topped $110 million worldwide. 2.8x the budget! Let's hear it for the hypnotized principal hero!