Weekend Box Office: 'Moana' Sing-Along Does Well, 'Sing' Stays

Sing remains a force to be reckoned with...

At work today, both screenings of it were PACKED. Like the first two Despicable Me films and The Secret Life of Pets, the legs for the thing are ridiculous...

Slipping a wee bit, the picture fell 31% and made $6 million for the weekend. It's now at $257 million domestically and $463 million worldwide. Sing 2 is probably going to make double that amount four years from now.

Monster Trucks continues to hold on well, though the drop was a bit harder than Sing's. It sits at $28 million here and $47 million everywhere, it probably could've done much worse.

Moana's limited Sing-Along re-release didn't quite send the picture to the top of the wave, but it did give it a nice little drop of 10%. Moana has collected $240 million to date, closing in on $250 million domestically. Worldwide, it continues to grow, as it now sits at $530 million. I think Japan's going to rocket this one into the six-oh-oh territory.

No major change or jump for Trolls, the movie is on its last leg.

In a couple weeks, The Lego Batman Movie should shake up the snowglobe.

Dropping In: Paramount Moves 'Amusement Park' to Summer 2018

It looks like the wait time to get on the roller coaster has shortened...

Yesterday, Illumination left the July 13, 2018 slot vacant when they moved their Secret Life of Pets sequel to the summer of 2019. That slot isn't being filled by another Illumination production. Instead, the mountain folk surprisingly decided to swoop right in...

Yes, that's right, Paramount Animation's cryptic Amusement Park is now set to open on July 13, 2018. The original date for the picture was March 22, 2019, and now I suspect that the third SpongeBob movie will take that slot because its current date - February 8, 2019 - pits it against Warner's Lego Movie Sequel. Any second now...

In their report of the release date change, Deadline revealed a nice-sized nugget. This film will be former Pixar animator Dylan Brown's directorial debut. Brown had actually moved to the ill-fated Pixar Canada unit and was a creative director on the Toy Story Toon short Small Fry (my favorite of the bunch), and was a top dog on several Pixar classics. I'm excited to see what he brings to table. Former Pixarians Teddy Newton and John Kahrs (who also had a stint at Disney Animation, directing their short Paperman) had also moved to work for Paramount Animation, but we've heard little to nothing on their respective projects. Are they still set to do projects for them?

The previously-announced cast consists of Matthew Broderick, Jennifer Garner, Jeffrey Tambor, Kenan Thompson, Ken Jeong, Mila Kunis, and John Oliver. The animation is being done at the Spanish studio Ilion, the people behind Planet 51 and Mortadelo and Filemon: Mission Implausible. Paramount Animation, for those who may not know, essentially operates like Warner Animation Group. Nothing is done in house, various different studios do the films for them. Monster Trucks was a Disruption film, SpongeBob 2 and 3 are Nickelodeon/United Plankton Pictures movies, and Gnomeo and Juliet's sequel is being done by Rocket Pictures, MGM, and Mikros.

I think this move shows that they're confident. I mean, moving right into a prime summer date after a big competitor left it? I think they've got some faith in this one, and it has taken a while for Paramount Animation to get off the ground. That was all due to former executives making very questionable decisions, and all kinds of muck-ups. See, I think Amusement Park is the very movie that will give us an idea of where Paramount Animation will be heading now that the proverbial band-aids have been ripped. Now with this switch, I get the sense that they want to really launch themselves as a viable competitor... And soon.

When will we hear details on the story? Probably towards the end of the year, because even before all the Monster Trucks woes, the studio's plan was to keep things in absolute secrecy. Anyways, I want to see them score, as they're one of the few major distributors that hasn't had a big animation line-up, and because they've been behind the 8-ball for far too long.

What say you?

Despicable Sequels: Illumination Announces Sequel-Heavy Slate

Illumination Entertainment... What a well-oiled hit-making machine...

As Sing continues to hang on at the box office, the studio has rolled out a revised slate that adds two sequels to the mix.

Remember how The Secret Life of Pets 2 was set to open in July of 2018, just two years after the release of the first one? That's no more, the film has now taken the July 3, 2019 slot.

Another sequel fills their summer 2020 slot: Minions 2. That is opening July 3, 2020. When will enough be enough?

Finally, and this was totally inevitable, Sing 2 has been penciled in for Christmas Day 2020. Four years after numero uno.

No word on what will take the July 2018 slot Pets 2 left vacant, but... Yeah, sequels sequels sequels.

Forget your old complaints about DreamWorks being sequel-heavy, forget the "Pixar is a sequel factory now!" schlop. Illumination has gleefully taken the cake. Outside of an already-adapted Dr. Seuss story, their slate is sequels and franchise entries. So far, they've already released two sequels... All within the span of five years. Unless an original miraculously finds its way into July 2018, this is what we're stuck with. What the heck's going on with Johnny Express and Flanimals? So much for a push for more original stuff. PR-friendly words...

Now, nothing is ever concrete. It's very possible that Illumination will slate an original (read: something that isn't a sequel, before someone chimes in) in-between two of the three sequels. They have nothing else slated for 2019, so maybe Johnny Express can worm its way into a fall slot and give us something cool. Something to off-set the barrage of sequels. I don't dislike sequels, but three in a row? C'mon.

You could bring up the fact that DreamWorks did a three-in-a-row once... Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss in Boots (yeah yeah, spin-off! Still a franchise entry, though), and Madagascar 3. All released back-to-back, all were pretty well-received. I found all three to be strong pictures. It's a good point! To be fair, many an animation fan in 2011 looked at Puss in Boots - coming off the heels of the relatively unwanted and safe-as-vanilla Shrek Forever After - and deemed it unnecessary. Kung Fu Panda 2 was highly anticipated because of how good the first one was, whereas I think we kind of treated Madagascar 3 as an "oh well, they had to make it" kind of movie.

That being said, we got the three-in-a-row because of scheduling issues. In 2009, DreamWorks' 2010-2012 slate was a whole lot different. The same is true of Sony Pictures Animation. The Smurfs 2, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, and Hotel Transylvania 2 all opened back-to-back as well. Leave out Goosebumps, and you actually get four in a row, with Smurfs: The Lost Village. The streak is ironically going to be broken by The Emoji Movie. In Sony's case, it was two things... At one point, 2014 was supposed to house a feature called The Familiars, which would've put it between Cloudy 2 and Hotel Transylvania 2. At another time, Sony Animation's 2014 film was going to be Genndy Tartakovsky's Popeye. Second... There was a complete management overhaul not too long ago. Their slate looked a whole lot different before the late 2014 hack and subsequent switcheroos.

I think it's a me problem as well, because Illumination kind of frustrates me to be honest. I think their movies show potential and have some charm, but end up feeling very plastic and corporate. Plus their only Dr. Seuss adaptation (for now) is another issue. I like that they put out two original, half-decent movies this year, but they can do better. For a studio run by one guy that keeps its budgets down, they really play it safe. Despicable Me, as far as I'm concerned, is their only genuinely good film. But like all overhyped things, it took on a form of its own that can be somewhat annoying when crammed down your throat during a period of time. Minions, Minions, Minions... Screaming yellow tictacs, their designs so generic, yet people love them so much. So much for their "animation is for kids" attitudes, they find joy in the simplest of animated characters.

I don't hate the Minions, I think they're a lot of fun in the first Despicable Me, because they didn't overuse them in that film. In part deux, yeah, they're more prominent and the film's could've-been-great story about the kids wanting a mother takes a backseat. Despicable Me 3's teaser intrigues me because the Minions only appear for like a few seconds, the trailer's all Gru and the new villain.

I'll put aside my bias for a few seconds. Minions 2 could work if it's still set before the events of Despicable Me. The first spin-off ends with them ending up with Gru, so the sequel could be about them and their relationship with Gru throughout his childhood. I'm not saying that Gru is some hyper-compelling character who needs all this backstory (the stuff with his mother rejecting him was enough), but in this world of "everything needs a sequel", might as well salvage it in some way.

Sing 2's existence doesn't bother me, but where do they go from there? Same thing with The Secret Life of Pets 2. They could use the sequels to explore new avenues and experiment, but they didn't do that with Despicable Me 2, which leads me to believe that they'll just be business-as-usual entries that gross a billion dollars each and Universal/Comcast/Illumination goes home happy. Hey, it's business, I get it... But I still think they should even things out a little bit.

Despite the fact that these things reel in money, maybe I wouldn't be as ornery if they only announced Sing 2 and pushed Pets 2 - already a known thing - back. Minions 2 in-between both, instead of an original, kind of irks me a bit.

What say you?

Frontrunners: Best Animated Feature Nominees Announced

It has begun...

Five films have been nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar...

The choices are no surprise, really. Zootopia, Kubo and the Two Strings, Moana, My Life as a Zucchini, and The Red Turtle. Two are universally-acclaimed Disney animated features, one is a stop-motion adventure from a beloved house, another is a stop-motion film from a mainstay distributor, and the last one is a French production with help from none other than Studio Ghibli. In a year of strong mainstreamers and very strong indies, this batch isn't too bad.

We could perhaps argue that something like Your Name. or April, and the Extraordinary World deserved the last indie slot over The Red Turtle, or we could argue that Finding Dory was better than Moana, but overall I'm pretty content. Dory not making it is a bit bittersweet for me. I can acknowledge the movie's issues, at the same time it would've nice to see a film about disabilities at least be in the running. But a spade is a spade, I felt Moana had a tighter story structure and a little more verve. On the bright side, Life, Animated is up for Best Documentary, a film about how the Disney animated classics greatly helped an autistic boy through his life. Kind of evens things out, for me.

I'll be very happy if either Zootopia or Kubo take it home. One is Disney Animation at their greatest (I have it close to the Walt films I hold so near-and-dear), the other is a LAIKA masterpiece. Both near-perfect films, and of course the Academy Awards lived up to their predictability by not giving one of these two marvels a Best Picture nomination. I guess Toy Story 3's nomination will be the last time the Academy puts an inferior cartoon movie on the level of a "real", "legitimate" live-action movie... Despite having one more slot, but no. Nine it is. What else is new?

On the bright side, Kubo and the Two Strings broke some ground! It is the first caricature animation film to get a nod for Best Visual FX since The Nightmare Before Christmas... Way back in 1993, when there was no "Best Animated Feature" category. The Jungle Book is also up for that, though the movie is technically a 99% fully animated movie with one live-action element. Given the acclaim, it could've been up for Best Picture or Best Animated Feature, but the latter category is obviously for animated movies that aren't trying to be exact recreations of real life.

Best Animated Short... One mainstreamer (Pixar's Piper), a VR short by Feast director Patrick Osborne (Pearl), a film made possible by Pixar's Co-op program (Borrowed Time), and two indie entries (Blind Vaysha and Pearl Cider and Cigarettes). I'm rooting for Borrowed Time, not only because it was a great Western piece for adults that was smart (American adult animation not relying on gratuitous violence and sex?!), but because I heard from a reputable source that The Walt Disney Company gave Pixar guff over this project. I want it to win, even if it doesn't teach a lesson or two.

Anyways, it seems obvious that Zootopia takes home the feature statue. What takes home the other statue?

To recap, I'm rooting for:
Feature: Zootopia and/or Kubo and the Two Strings 
Short: Borrowed Time
Docu: Life, Animated

What say you?

Weekend Box Office: 'Sing' Still Carrying a Tune

Hey look, a January weekend that wasn't all that dry!

On the live-action end, M. Night Shyamalan's newest posted a great $40 million opening, putting it up there in the top January openings. Makes up for the relatively shoddy last few weeks. (Though Hidden Figures' success is quite something!)

Anyways, onto the real news... Sing is still in the Top 5, now at #4. It collected $9 million this weekend, down 36%. Grossing $249 million domestically to date, it's a few days away from surpassing the domestic gross of the first Despicable Me. Worldwide, it is now at $427 million. This one should be at over $500 million when all is said and done, I think.

Monster Trucks is somewhat beating the snark and bad buzz, for it held on quite well. Dipping 36% and collecting $7 million, it now sits at $22 million here and $41 million everywhere. It's still a crushing flop, but the decent-sized drop (and the fact that it's still getting good-sized crowds at my theater) tells me that audiences are kinda digging it. Perhaps Paramount should've had a wee bit more faith in this one?

Moana didn't move, staying in 12th place. Falling a solid 41%, it took in $2 million for the weekend, and is now at $236 million domestically. Should still reach $250 million at the end of the line, worldwide it has finally cracked five-oh-oh, now sitting at $509 million. If it's a breakout hit in Japan, $600 million is doable.

No major changes for Trolls: $152 million domestically and $337 million worldwide.

Blue Sky's Bull: First Image from 'Ferdinand' and Some Cast Details

Blue Sky's next feature is not out until till Christmas time, but some information on the somewhat-cryptic picture has finally surfaced...

Ferdinand, as expected, is based on the classic 1936 children's book The Story of Ferdinand. Walt Disney adapted it into an animated short in 1938, which went on to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Short of that year. The book itself, back in the day, was actually pretty controversial despite being a simple little story about a peaceful bull refusing to be a part of bullfights. Was it pacifist? Fascist? It made a real impact, that's for sure.

How they can successfully stretch that to 90 minutes is beyond me, but we shall see... Now we know what the titular character will look like in Blue Sky CG form, thanks to an image posted by brand agency Merchantwise...

Nothing too amazing, the image looks like most DVD/Blu-ray covers for animated films these days, you know which ones I'm talking about? The ones that just have a close-up of a character against a plain, colored background. Anyways, the design's appealing and I'm not sure I like the new logo for the film, but a logo is a logo. The full package matters most.

The site also reveals that Adam Devine will be voicing Ferdinand, and Kate McKinnon will play Lupe, a friend and "trusted advisor". Gabriel Iglesias was announced as part of the cast back in November, as a character named Cuatro. I wonder if they'll set the story in 1936 Spain, or modern day Spain.

Anyways, I'm curious to see how Blue Sky pulls this one off. What say you?

Sonypalooza: Numerous Sony Animation Announcements Made

Out of nowhere, Sony Pictures Animation gave us plenty of updates on their big slate yesterdary...

Why? Apparently, it was Sony Animation Day, even though the studio was founded in May 2002. You're almost 15, guys, hold 'yer horses!

Before anyone asks... Yeah, I'll say one thing about The Emoji Movie's casting. Patrick Stewart as the poop emoji... Now we've seen it all. You can't make this shit up. (Yes, shamelessly intended) Oh, and the character Maya Rudolph is voicing is kind of unsettling-looking.

In fact, the whole design of this movie is just... It's some of the most questionable I've seen for a big-time CG animated movie.

Anyways, despite how I feel about any animation studio wasting resources on something like this, I'll still say a few other things. The full cast - outside of Stewart and Rudolph - consists of TJ Miller, Jennifer Coolidge, James Corden, Ilana Glazer, Rob Riggle, and Steven Wright. It's kind of a solid cast, I suppose, but it's still baffling to me that Stewart is on board on this flick, let alone voicing "Poop Daddy". Yes, I'm still processing the fact that the character is named that.

Perhaps the only cool thing about this movie is that it'll have a Hotel Transylvania short attached to it. Titled Puppy, it's one of the only Sony Animation theatrical shorts to be based one of their movies.

Hotel Transylvania 3 is keeping the September 21, 2018 release date (regardless of S.C.O.O.B. having that date, the Drac Pack got it first), and the plot synopsis sounds a bit interesting. Dracula and the gang will go on a cruise, Dracula falls for the captain, who turns out to be the daughter of Van Helsing. Now that is kind of a cool plot, despite what I think of the Hotel Transylvania series. I have a little faith in this particular entry because it seems like the Adam Sandler camp has been dialed back a smidge, and that Austin Powers scribe Michael McCullers will be handling the script instead.

Opening after The Emoji Movie is The Star, a new take on the Nativity story. Sony Animation's co-production with Walden Media will actually be outsourced to Cinesite Animation, who are up and coming and actually quite promising. Anyways, Sony Animation is usually conservative with budgets, but this move is rather smart. An animated faith-based movie is not a guaranteed $150 million-grossing no-holds-barred blockbuster, so it's good to see them being careful here.

We now have a look at two of the main characters...

Who is starring in The Star? Zachary Levi, Gina Rodriguez, Steve Yeun, Kristen Chenowth, Keegan-Michael Key, Anthony Anderson, Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry, Kelly Clarkson, Tracy Morgan, and Christopher Plummer. The latter two are voicing Felix and King Herod, respectively.

The most exciting of the 2017-2018 Sony Animation bunch is the still untitled animated Spider-Man movie...

It has been confirmed that the film will be about Miles Morales, not Peter Parker.

Joining director Bob Perischetti is Peter Ramsey, the director of DreamWorks' good but ill-fated Rise of the Guardians. It's great to see him at the helm of a new picture, and it's also great to see another big-scale animated feature being handled by a person of color. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, as reported several times before, penned the script. It's sure to be great, and probably a unique and irreverent spin on superhero movies. The big superhero franchises are in need of a good send-up. (Whether Megamind was just that or not, that's all up to you.) No cast announcements were made, but the film is still set for December 21, 2018.

There was no word on the live-action/photoreal CG pictures Goosebumps 2 and Peter Rabbit. Both are set to open in the first quarter of 2018, and are likely to bear the Sony Pictures Animation logo. Also, no word on the untitled 2019/2020 pictures, not a peep on Vivo. Those projects are still a little ways off, but since it's been two-oh-one-seven for half a month, I'd expect some animation studios to talk 2019/2020 films... If not 2021 films.

Anyways, that's Sony Animation's line-up for this year and all of next year. Some of it's exciting, some of it I couldn't care less for, other parts make me curious. What say you?

Nut That Bad: 'Nut Job 2' Teaser Sorta Surfaces

Forgive the pun, but yes... The Nut Job 2... That animated sequel not too many folk want. The teaser is here.

You're probably wondering... Where? It's not online, that's for sure... But I saw it. Some other folk saw it, too. Where? If you're new here, fun fact: I've been working at my local movie theater since August of 2015, and when I'm an usher, I get the time to check on the movies and see trailers.

So when popping into a screening of Monster Trucks, I saw the very beginning of The Nut Job 2's trailer. Then I thought, "The trailer for this thing isn't out yet. At least not online..." So I stayed in the empty theater and gave it a watch, figuring that it may not pop up online for a while because of the recent release date change (Originally set for May, it's now set to open in mid-August) and the general quietness surrounding this movie. We also have the poster at the theater, which we got before the delay.

Honestly, the teaser wasn't all that bad. The Nut Job is currently viewed as one of those smaller and not-so-good animated flicks that tend to come out in January or so. I've actually never seen the film, I've seen the short that it's based on, but the movie? No. The trailers for it give me little incentive to check it out, and so did the pretty sour critical reception. How does The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature look?

Well... Tolerable.

Not funny or exciting or anything, just tolerable. Definitely slapstick-heavy, too. It looks very run-of-the-mill, and the plot is the tired "greedy human wants to develop on an area that the animals inhabit" slop. I guess no one learned from Norm of the North. All's okay until the final second, where the pug character farts for no reason.

That's basically it. You're not really missing much, but I figured I'd share my thoughts on it anyways. Not sure if or when it'll go online, but it's rolling before Monster Trucks, if you - for some reason - check that thing out.

UPDATE: A day later, it's online.

Weekend Box Office Report: Paramount Finally Rips Band-Aid, Others Hold Well

In an alternate universe, maybe Paramount's misguided mishap would've been the next Avatar...

Anyways, we all saw it coming. Monster Trucks' tires deflated. Opening at #7, behind several holdovers, the film took in $10 million for the three-day. It's also doing nothing in the few territories it's out in. With a 3x multiplier, the thing won't make more than $30 million, so yes. Big loss, but again, we knew it was going to happen. Paramount knew it back in August, the spillover from the previous guard is finally here and off their chests. Cult favorite in a few years? Or something that'll be locked in the bad box?

Paramount Animation will be fine. A few days ago, it seemed like a few heads were optimistic about their more animated future. By that, I mean we'll be seeing more caricature animation films from them, less live-action movies with hyper-real VFX elements.

Sing still crows, dropping a great 33% and reeling in $18 million for the weekend. At this point, somewhere between $250-270 million seems to be the sky. The picture's now at $397 million worldwide, still has to open in some key markets, as noted before. How long before Universal and Illumination officially ink Sing 2's 2019 release date?

Moana is now out of the Top 10, but it's still hanging ten. (My theater lost it this weekend.) It fell 38%, the gross to date is $231 million domestically. Worldwide, it's now at cruising its way towards $500 million, as it's now at $482 million. Finally past the 3x mark, Disney must be happy. Does it break out in Japan? Could it get to $600 million? We shall see...

Trolls is still around, dropping 12% and making 385k. $151 million domestically, $338 million worldwide. Still waiting on the verdict from DreamWorks themselves, whether this thing's a profit-maker or not.

Storks officially ended its run this past Thursday. $72 million here, $182 million worldwide. Non c'è male!

What are saying for The Lego Batman Movie's opening numbers?

UPDATE: MLK weekend totals...

Four-days are in...

Monster Trucks has made $15 million now, an $29 million worldwide.

Sing is now up to $238 million domestically, and $402 million worldwide.

Moana is still at $233 million, as it's pretty late into its run. $484 million worldwide.

Trolls stayed the same.

Animated Future: Paramount Animation's Plans, 'Monster Trucks' Debacle Explained

Well, Paramount Animation's second film is out, and it is set to trip out of the gate.

We all know the story of Monster Trucks now. Former Paramount executive Adam Goodman, who was instrumental in the early building of Paramount's animation division, got the idea from his 3-year-old son. Originally conceived as a four-quadrant blockbuster meant to reel in Transformers crowds and spawn follow-ups, the Chris Wedge-directed (or did he really direct the finished product?) hybrid movie was delayed several times, reshoots occurred, the tone was changed to make it more kid-friendly, and it had fallen off the charts after Goodman was ousted in mid-2015. The LA Times' sources said the movie became an "orphan" after Goodman's departure.

Now the article also says that the constant delays had to do with the executives turning their attention to other projects, but if we are to believe an anonymous fellow...

Either way, it was supposed to come out as far back as May 29, 2015. The first delay pushed it to Christmas Day, but Paramount pushed it not too long after Star Wars: The Force Awakens officially got a near-holiday release date. Then it was pushed out of March 18, 2016, to today. The Little Prince briefly took the March 2016 slot until Paramount - at the very last second - dropped the film, Netflix swooped in and took it.

Yes, Paramount Animation has had a rocky start. Not much is expected of the movie now, as it looks to open with $10 million tops. Paramount took the write-down way back in August, an unprecedented move to say the least. You could tell from that point onward that this movie was going to be a "rip the band-aid" moment for them.

The studio's president, Marc Evans, didn't say much about Monster Trucks but did express enthusiasm for the next two announced projects: Sherlock Gnomes (the belated sequel to Gnomeo & Juliet) and Amusement Park. Of course, future Paramount Animation productions will be done by other studios, similar to Warner Animation Group. Rocket Pictures, Mikros, and MGM are doing Gnomes, and Spanish studio Ilion is handling Amusement Park.

He also mentioned that upcoming films will mostly be "conventional" animated movies, basically animated movies that know they are animated. Not live-action movies with hyper-real CGI elements in them, not movies like Monster Trucks. That's good, because I want to see what Paramount has up their sleeves in this field. It's been too long of a wait, and it's good to see some projects finally getting off the ground that aren't Nickelodeon-based.

Currently, Paramount Animation has three projects dated: The aforementioned Sherlock Gnomes and Amusement Park hit in January 2018 and March 2019 respectively, a third SpongeBob movie is penciled in for February 8, 2019, but that's likely going to move since WAG has The Lego Movie Sequel in that slot now. The budgets for these films should be reasonable, as the first Gnomeo cost only $36 million, Ilion's Planet 51 cost $70 million. Sponge out of Water, a mixed-media kinda picture, cost $74 million to make. Certainly much better than Monster Trucks and its unnecessarily gargantuan $125 million budget.

With that said, what's going on with previously-announced projects of theirs? What's going on with John Kahrs' Shedd? Or Beastlies? Or The New Kid? Or Trey Parker/Matt Stone's Giant Monsters Attack Japan?

What say you?

A New Head: DreamWorks Animation Gets a New CEO

The transitioning still isn't over, it seems...

DreamWorks Animation finally has a new CEO, and one who is no stranger to animation.

The man in question is Chris DeFaria, who actually began his career in animation long before his live-action successes. He started out doing the voice of Peppermint Patty in a few Peanuts films and specials from the late 1960s to the early 1970s. For over twenty years, he has been at Warner Bros., being a key part of the visual fx/animation side of the company, and was one of the overseers of Warner Animation Group. He has quite a bit of experience, and seems like he is a good fit for the position.

As expected, DreamWorks president Bonnie Arnold (now by herself, co-president Mireille Soria stepped down last month) will answer to him, and he will answer to Universal chairman Donna Langley. CEO and founder of Illumination Entertainment Chris Meledandri, who made it clear that he wasn't going to run the studio, will be a senior advisor.

Here is what DeFaria had to say...

"Having the opportunity to shape the future of DreamWorks Animation and build on its storied legacy is an unbelievable honor... I can’t wait to get started with Donna and Chris, as well as Bonnie and the incredibly talented artists at DWA, on bringing more iconic stories and characters to audiences around the globe. This is the opportunity of a lifetime and while I will miss the many great people at Warner Bros. and the terrific projects with which I was involved, I couldn’t be more excited about everything that lies ahead."

The slate is still being figured out, while there is a clear road ahead. Nothing has changed for the films that have concrete release dates, but after this move, we should get an idea of what's in store. Will more interesting fare make the cut? The same ol'-same ol'? Or something unexpected?

What say you?

Road Trip Detours: Open Road Shuffles Animation Slate

Sometimes, even the smaller folk do some shifting in animation-land...

Open Road Films is the distributor of ToonBox Entertainment's films, scoring a modest success with The Nut Job some two years ago around this time. The Nut Job 2 was originally set to open in January of last year, but it ended up being pushed to this coming May... Well, it has been pushed again, even though a trailer for this thing is ready.

The new date is August 18, 2017.

The distributor is also handling the feature Blazing Samurai, a family-friendly cats-and-dogs in feudal Japan story inspired by Blazing Saddles (Mel Brooks is involved, too!), and that was originally set for August 4th of this year. The same day as Sony Animation's *gag* Emoji Movie. That is now without a concrete release date, but fear not! It isn't in the "to be determined" black hole. Now, it's expected to hit some time in 2018.

ToonBox's other upcoming, completed film Spark is currently set to open on April 14th... Just about a full year after its screening at a festival in Toronto. It has not moved, though I think it should take advantage of the space The Nut Job 2 left vacant. Not like it's going to be a big blockbuster to begin with, might as well move it away from The Boss Baby (opening 3/31) and Smurfs: The Lost Village (opening 4/7), give it a little breathing room. Not saying animated films cannibalize each other, but I think for best possible results, it should get a new date.

Anyways, I hope all works out for Blazing Samurai. One of the companies behind it - Arc Productions  - went bankrupt, but said company got bought by Jam Filled Toronto, so it's still a go as far as I'm concerned.

What say you?

Burning Rubber: Extended Sneak Peak for 'Cars 3' Debuts

Aired during the National Championship as expected, a new look at Pixar's next is now online...

Instead of being a proper full trailer, this is more an extended version of the teaser that debuted back in November. The very teaser that got folk talking! The first half is the whole teaser, the rest is all-new stuff.


No silly country bumpkin hijinks with Mater to be found here, no spots of humor, really. The trailer focuses entirely on McQueen and his millennial competition. We get a little peak at Cruz Ramirez, but the trailer shows off the antagonistic Jackson Storm. The trailer also confirms that this will be very different from its predecessors, and as a trailer, it has an overall intense and dramatic tone.

I want to point out that the nighttime crash that you see quickly in the second half of this is going to be the one in the finished film. The crash scene in the teaser? It's in the movie, but they re-lit it and made it look like it was set during the day. How do I know? Someone leaked the actual clip from the movie, which was only shown to those who attended the presentation at the International Auto Show in Detroit. The same shots and everything, but at nighttime. It was much more colorful, too... Almost as if the marketing people were jabbing at Hollywood's love for desaturated, grayed out, "gritty" movies.

That's the last thing most folk would associate with Lightning McQueen and pals. It's genius, really. The film will probably open higher than I expected it to at one, because of this. Long shunted aside as the "kiddier" Pixar series, the marketing is really making an effort to get adults interested. While the film itself looks more vibrant than the teaser, it still isn't as popping as the first two installments in the series. They've gone for something a little less candy-coated this time, and I think it'll work.

Anyways, I've been sold on it since the day they said it would be much like the first Cars. This new extended first look/trailer? I'm impressed. What say you?

Weekend Box Office Report: Everyone Slips

Well, now that the holiday season has pretty much ended, things took dips...

Sing still leads the pack, sitting at #3. Falling 54%, it collected $19 million and the film sits at $213 million domestically. Is a $300 million final gross in play for this thing? I wouldn't be shocked if it got that high, as it is yet another leggy Illumination monster. Worldwide, it's at $356 million. It has yet to open in the UK, China, Russia, Japan, and ironically the country it was produced in... France. The film has already made over 4 1/2x its budget.

Moana had a milder dip, easing 41% and collecting $6 million for the weekend. The film is now at $225 million domestically, keeping Walt Disney Animation Studios' winning streak going, and passing the studio's Big Hero 6. If the film keeps it up, we could be looking at a $250 million domestic haul. Still yet to open in some key territories, Moana is up to $450 million worldwide. That's very good for now, as that is exactly 3x the picture's budget. I see some sites are writing Moana off as an underperformer. It is anything but... Not every animated feature is destined to magically pull Frozen/Zootopia/Inside Out/Secret Life of Pets numbers out of a hat. It's just the way it goes. Besides, the movie has already made 4x its opening weekend gross... Underperformance alright.

Down 35% this weekend was Trolls, still shining. It's now in the sub-500k zone, taking in 430k for the weekend. The picture looks to stop somewhere below $155 million domestically, and worldwide it's pretty much done. $340 million or below for the final global tally. That would be 2.7x the budget. DreamWorks seemed happy with Home, which made 2.9x the budget. Penguins of Madagascar made 2.8x its budget, but they deemed that a flop. I'm not sure what the verdict will be for Trolls, but I think all's well because of Trolls' very good domestic performance (something Home had, but Penguins didn't) and the consumer product sales I think were strong. I haven't seen so much merchandise for a DreamWorks movie in years.

Storks is surprisingly still playing in some theaters out there, but nothing has really changed: $72 million domestic / $180 million worldwide.

I'll of course cover Monster Trucks, as that is a Paramount Animation-branded flick and I'm curious to see how it does despite the fact that the distributor took a huge writedown on the picture many months ago. $115 million to be exact. The real box office fun will begin again with The Lego Batman Movie next month...

Revving Up: New 'Cars 3' Cast and Character Details Revealed

Since it's getting a new trailer on the 9th, Pixar released some stuff from their next...

A new look at Cars 3 has been posted by Entertainment Weekly, indicating that the marketing for this film will definitely follow the route the ad campaign for the first Cars followed. Cars 2's marketing aligned with its far-removed-from-car-culture plot, but since Cars 3 is returning to what made the first film special, it makes sense that the promos will cater to gearheads.

We now have close-ups and more information on the two new characters: Main rival Jackson Storm and trainer Cruz Ramirez.


Jackson Storm will be voiced by Armie Hammer, which is definitely an unexpected choice but one I'm oddly very satisfied with. Not only will he be arrogant like McQueen was in the first film, he will also have this idea that racecars like McQueen are old-timers, and that they should be outmoded. Unlike Chick Hicks, who was really a frustrated vet longing to finally beat a legendary all-time champion in a race, this guy seems like he's got a real plan or two.

Cruz Ramirez is around the same age, but unlike Jackson, she respects the more seasoned types. It was previously reported that Cruz will be Lightning's trainer of sorts, and it's been revealed that she is also a long-time fan of McQueen.


Voiced by Cristela Alonzo, I'm a bit surprised by her design. I thought the supercar in the concept art from last year was going to be her...

... but I guess they decided on a new design. Either that, or the concept artwork is from a few years ago. I mean, I doubt that's Jackson in the artwork, why would Lightning be racing with him on the beach? That all being said, I prefer the new design. Looks luxurious yet powerful.

Anyways, it's great to see them giving the series a new and prominent female lead, and a Hispanic one at that. In addition to these new reveals, we have also gotten a better look at the current Lighting McQueen... You know, in pristine condition.


Less stickers... Interesting move to say the least.

Director Brian Fee, first-timer at Pixar said "Where the franchise goes from here, I have no idea what may be down the road, but I can tell you that for Lightning McQueen, as a character, I think by the end of the movie it’s safe to say that this is only the beginning for him."

Not surprising, as we live in a world where Toy Story 4 exists. I didn't think Cars 3 would be an ending to McQueen's story or anything, because he's very much a side character in Cars 2. Not like they have a master story to cap off, plus Cars is the very Pixar film that spawns billions and billions of dollars of merchandise. I think that they aren't ending it there.

Anyways, if you're new here, I've been anticipating Cars 3 since the day someone said something about the story. I love the first film, and this threequel looks to be more like it than the messy second film. I'm in.

What say you?

More and More Animals: See an 'Animal Crackers' Animation Test

Animal Crackers has been in the making for quite a while.

Apparently the personal pet project of longtime VFX man/animator Scott Christian Sava, this film is set to come out some time this year. It's being done up at Blue Dream in Spain, and it has yet to lock an American distributor, but it seems like the film is in the final laps of production.

It's this neat-sounding story about magical animal crackers. A person eats a certain animal-shaped snack, they turn into that animal. Below is a test, a sort of showing off of the concept, probably made some time during pre-production as the movements aren't quite sharp. In terms of the look, it overall is nice on the eyes.


Animal Crackers Concept Test by CGMeetup
It doesn't look too bad. It looks like they'll have fun with this idea, and the dialogue here is solid.

I have a feeling it won't be ready for March, the end of the first quarter. We've heard little to nothing about it for a while, even from the film's UK and Canadian distributors. This leads me to believe that it won't be out until summer at the earliest. This isn't uncommon for non-mainstreamers like this, that often get picked up long after they've been completed. Here's a fine example: ToonBox's Spark waited and waited to get distribution, it's coming out in April... The movie was completed way back, like before April of last year!

Anyways, to recap, Animal Crackers is not only a Sava film, but also a Tony Bancroft film. Yes, that Tony Bancroft, who directed Mulan and is a Disney animation veteran. It also features an all-star cast consists of the likes of John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Danny DeVito, and even folks like Sylvester Stallone! Harvey Fierstein, who voiced Yao in Mulan, will be in this as well just to make things even cooler.

Animal Crackers has been on my radar for a while. It sounds like it's aiming to be a fun film based on a cool premise. I'm also looking forward to seeing this studio's debut feature. Scott and Blue Dream have another feature that's deep into production, Pet Robot. I've seen some footage from that one on the studio's reel on Vimeo, it also looks like it could be decent.

What say you?

New Year Box Office Bash: 'Sing' Sings Loud, 'Moana' Rides the Wave

Illumination's newest, big shock, is an unstoppable beast.

Sing had excellent three and four-day grosses. The four-day on this one was a fantastic $56 million, up 60%. The picture now stands at $180 million domestically and $277 million worldwide. Already 3 1/2x the $75 million budget, the usual for Illumination's films. Just you watch, in a few weeks, that untitled Illumination film set for summer 2019? That's probably going to be Sing 2.

Moana was no slouch, either. Moving from #6 to #4 on the charts, rising while other new competitors fell, it took in $14 million for the 4-day. That's up 85%, and the film has made $213 million stateside. It's a few millions away from passing the studio's own Big Hero 6, the original 1992 gross Aladdin collected, and should be past Team Emeryville's Brave ($237 million) in a couple of weeks. We saw an uptick in the foreign box office too, for Moana is now at $402 million worldwide.

While not Frozen 2.0 at the box office, it is doing very respectable business. To be disappointed, I think, is silly. Frozen's success was a once-in-a-blue-moon all-the-planets-align kind of thing, Moana looks to at least outgross Tangled at the worldwide box office once it hits a few more key markets in the coming months.

Even Trolls jumped up. $900k for the 4-day, up 133%! It has finally crossed $150 million domestically and sits at $332 million worldwide. It's out everywhere, so there are no more markets for it to open in. The current gross is still only 2.6x the budget, not sure what DreamWorks wants. Are they okay with 2 1/2x the $125 million cost? Or do they expect it to make around 3x the budget? Or is the merchandise doing the rest of the work?

There haven't been any updates on Storks since December 22nd, so I'll safely assume it ended its run. $72 million domestically, $179 million worldwide. Not bad for a film that got slipshod marketing, as it only cost $70 million to make. Warner Bros. ought to be happy with how it did.

Review(s): 'Storks' is a Cartoony Animated Comedy Done Right

We may want to leave a lot behind, and leave certain things in 2016... What we want to take with us, however, is a pretty solid crop of animated movies. One of which I just saw for the first time...

Storks.

Yes, Warner Animation Group's second feature, a fun little comedy outsourced to Sony ImageWorks up in Vancouver. Storks is the movie that Sony Animation hasn't made in a while, and it's also one of the better animated comedy romps made in the last few years.

Spoilers follow...

I liked the characters a great deal! The film's sense of humor channels The Lego Movie and other irreverent cartoon comedies, but it definitely swings more towards classic Looney Tunes. The premise is pretty fun and inventive as well, and while some may say that rings similar to Pixar, I don't mind. Pixar did not create the "what if so-and-so" story, though they do specialize in it. On paper, Storks sounds like it takes a lot from other places. It does, it's not ashamed of that, but...

It does very cool things with what it has. I found myself really laughing at the jokes, but I actually really liked how they executed the story. The way they set up the storks' headquarters was really neat, and the machine they used to use to make babies. You have other things that really work, from Tulip's backstory to the subplot with the family. There's actually some real heart in the subplot alone, and how the kid Nate - who ends up being the older brother to the pink-haired baby Junior and Tulip have to deliver - just wants to spend time with his overworked parents.

The storks at CornerStore, an Amazon-esque parody located on a ridiculously high mountain above the clouds, have given up baby delivery. Their boss Hunter has turned the facility into a package delivery empire, and he's adamant that they don't go back to babies. Everything's pulled off with such zazz. Really picking up once Junior and Tulip set out to deliver the pink-haired baby that they accidentally used the machine to make, the film goes all sorts of weirdo directions. Everything concerning the wolf pack is downright hilarious, definitely spicing up the middle.

The film's offbeat sense of humor keeps what is actually a straightforward adventure firing on all cylinders. Not only do the wolves bring that, but also the Pigeon Toady, an intentionally hyper-obnoxious toupee-wearing chirper who is always talking like someone trying to be hip. Sometimes the film gets a little too frenetic, and at times it does feel a bit undercooked, but what bolsters the tone is the very strong character animation. Look, I may be souring on CG films trying to be so hyper-real yet trying to stay caricature-y in some way, but Storks' character animation really impressed me. The movements, the acting, it was just right.

Other than that, it's a very there-looking kind of movie. Undeniably pretty for something made for $70 million, it's not earth-shattering... But those movements! That character animation! It is no surprise, for director Doug Sweetland utilized Looney Tunes energy and slapstick in his Pixar short Presto, it carried over nicely into this film. If Mr. Sweetland ever got to make The Familiars a few years back at Sony Animation, I think it would've played out like this. I hope he secures more animation directing work in the future, because he nailed it! With the help of a solid script from the other director, comedy man Nicholas Stoller, it just really hits a sweet spot.

A good cartoony animated feature isn't easy to make. After Disney's few irreverent comedies of the 1990s and early 2000s, I feel few did this particular type of movie justice. Blue Sky did it with the first Ice Age, and to a lesser extent, Rio. Sony Animation impressed with Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, while I feel the first Despicable Me was actually a home run for Illumination. DreamWorks got it really right with their Madagascar 3. So Storks being a very good feature-length cartoon? That's a high honor in my book. It's gleefully silly, heartfelt, and pretty well-written. Not without some roughness around the edges, it flew to me.

Other things I saw recently... SPOILERS for these too...

Though this is mostly a Storks-related post, I'll briefly comment on other recent films I've seen.

The Nice Guys - This won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I quite dug it. A seedy, 70s-set buddy cop comedy with a groovy aesthetic and atmosphere, The Nice Guys has a pretty tight script though it can be convoluted at times. That all being said, it has some strong action scenes, it parodies 70s movies and shows with gusto, has a good if not slightly anachronistic soundtrack (my music nerd is showing here, I know!), and it's got a different sense of humor.

Doctor Strange - A big one right here, being a Marvel Cinematic Universe installment. Like Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange takes a good-sized risk: Introduce a whole new side of the MCU, in its case, the magical side. While Thor was a mild tease of Marvel's cosmic side, Guardians of the Galaxy was a full-blown jump into space. This sinks us right into magic, alternate dimensions, psychedelic altering of reality, all kinds of mind-bending stuff. All the players are good here, and Stephen Strange is immediately likable the minute you see him... He's basically me when it comes to music and the years certain songs/albums came out!

Despite a little too much over-explaining and exposition, and a rather dull villain, Doctor Strange lives up to its name and gets a little trippy at times. It also boasts a very satisfying third act battle, and is surprisingly very quiet in stretches, really refreshing in a world of blockbusters blowing stuff or being loud most of the time. In many ways, it felt like a Phase 1 MCU movie, mostly Iron Man. Slow-burn first third, some solid action in the middle, and a cool climax. Not a fantastic entry in the series, but one well-worth checking out.

Rogue One - This launching of the non-Episode chapters of Star Wars is more or less director Gareth Edwards' Godzilla. Many complained his Godzilla film, released two years ago, had very little Godzilla in it and very boring lead characters. I was on the other side of the coin, I loved everything but the leads, who were just decent characters at best. It's a film with an awesome story, but with rather rote leads. I loved how they looked at Godzilla and his duel with other creatures from a human perspective, and the sheer suspense that came with all of that.

Basically, Rogue One is pretty much that. I love how they tell the story of how the rag-tag group of rebels stole the Death Star plans, even though we know how it's all going to end. Outside of frontrunner Jyn Erso and the on-point droid K-2SO (Alan Tudyk!), the other characters are just kind of there. No standout personalities or anything, but they get the job done. Its first two thirds are satisfactory, and the film does a great job at blending a rougher atmosphere with the classic Star Wars feel and tone. We are really in the middle of the war here, and the violence is a little more real. This is handled without sacrificing what we love about the galaxy far, far away. The third act blows everything out of the water, with an absolutely perfect final five minutes.

People worried that Disney would kiddify Star Wars? People worried that they'd make Darth Vader break out into song? People worried the reshoot rumors meant that Disney was going to water this off-the-beaten-path installment down? Darth Vader's climactic rampage is one of the iconic villain's most intense and chilling moments ever... All in Disney's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story...