Box Office Catchup: 'Batman' Holds On, 'Rock Dog' Disappears

A few weekends have gone by, nothing of note had really happened.

This weekend, The Lego Batman Movie held its own against Disney's beast of a movie. Still in the Top 10, The Lego Batman Movie collected $4 million for the weekend, and is now up to $167 million domestically. Worldwide, the film has pulled in $287 million, as it's still bubbling up overseas. Not a bad gross if you think about it, considering that The Lego Movie made less than $500 million worldwide. Lego Batman, like its predecessor, cost $80 million to make. They're all set...

In 19th place is Moana, even though the Blu-ray has been out for a couple of weeks. It's up to $248 million here, I wonder if Disney will fudge some numbers and get it past two-five-oh. Sometimes, they'd do that by double-billing the movies with their then-newest releases. For example, by the time Tangled was out on all home media formats, it was at $198 million domestically. Disney kept it in theaters all throughout April, and when Pirates of the Caribbean's fourth entry came out in May of that year (2011), some double-feature screenings had Tangled. Tangled finally crawled past the $200 million mark, the first time a Disney animated film had done that since The Lion King.

So maybe Disney may do just this for Moana when Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 comes out in May. Or maybe, coincidentally, Pirates of the Caribbean cinque.

Worldwide is another story. The picture is finally out in Japan, and the opening gross was around $5 million. Some are questioning this, but Zootopia had opened with $3 million, so it all depends on the legs. Things play out differently in Japan than they do here. Moana's next target is Big Hero 6, which finished up with $657 million worldwide. It may or may not beat it, I think it has something of a shot at doing it. If it does, then it'll the third biggest Lasseter-era Disney animated feature.

Sing is right below Moana on the domestic weekend chart. $269 million here, $589 million everywhere. Should be wrapping up its run soon.

In 24th place is Rock Dog. Losing roughly 900 screens this past weekend, the film 75%. $10 million looks like the final total here, and that's around the same amount it made overseas. Lionsgate will probably yank more screens next weekend when their Power Rangers hits. A big flop, sadly.

Trolls still rolls in 69 theaters, but there has been no dramatic change with the numbers. No matter, Comcast is clearly pleased with the results, if Trolls 2's release date didn't already confirm that.

In limited release, the Swiss-French frontrunner My Life as a Zucchini has made $219k. The Red Turtle has made $788k. For some reason, the 2004 Danish CG flick Terkel in Trouble is still playing! Running in 12 theaters last month, it's now playing in 2, and the thing has made $104k to date. This is way more than what its first two (!) American releases took in, combined. Those American releases occurred in 2010, six years after the film came out in its country of origin.

Strange, strange, strange...

Weekend Box Office: 'Lego Batman' Hovers, 'Rock Dog' Flops

One animated film did well, another did not.

The Lego Batman Movie slipped down to #2 and dipped 41%, showing that at this rate, it probably won't have The Lego Movie's legs. That's fine, for it still has already made nearly 3x its budget. The Lego Batman Movie now sits at $133 million domestically and $226 million worldwide. Some places around the globe haven't gotten it yet. Australia, where most of the movie was made, hasn't even gotten it yet. China's getting it soon, along with Japan.

Down in 11th place is Rock Dog, opening with a paltry $3 million. This comes as no surprise, because Lionsgate doesn't put any marketing oomph into pretty much every animated film they release. Reviews suggest that this Chinese animated picture is a cut above the likes of The Wild Life and Norm of the North, but they did little for it. The film also sadly flopped in its own country due to a complicated problem concerning the theater chains over there. Perhaps this one will find a new life.

Moana eased 21% and fell to fifth place, with the physical media (meaning, Blu-ray and DVD) release right around the corner. To date, the picture has made $246 million stateside and $580 million worldwide. Six-oh-oh, here we come!

Sing fell to #21, stabilized and sunk 37%. It's up to $267 million here, and $550 million everywhere.

The Red Turtle saw a little expansion because of the Oscars, domestically the pic has only made $595k. Unfortunate, but expected for a film like this. It's playing in no more than 115 theaters.

Monster Trucks still exists. Down to #35, slipped 45%, $32 million here and $61 million everywhere.

GK finally released the nominated Swiss-French stop-motion film My Life as a Zucchini here. Playing in 2 theaters, it collected $28k.

Trolls' gross hasn't been updated since the 23rd. Apparently it's still showing somewhere, despite being on all the formats. What's the verdict on this one, DreamWorks bean counters?

Everything is Awesome-er...: 'Lego Movie Sequel' Will Be a Space Action Musical

The team behind the Lego Movie franchise is sure going to pull out all the stops for the sequel...

On the heels of The Lego Batman Movie's success, director Chris McKay said in an interview that The Lego Movie Sequel is going to be two things: A space action movie, and a big musical.

“LEGO 2 is going to be this big musical and space action movie. They need a lot of the writing, a lot of development, not only with script development, but development with songwriters. So it was very ambitious to get that movie out.”

Well then...

Warner Animation Group and this team really want to top themselves. With The Lego Batman Movie being as a great as it was, I have a feeling that they're going to put their absolute all into the sequel. There were concerns early on about the picture because it lost its director Rob Schrab, and folk also worry because Phil Lord and Christopher Miller aren't writing the script. They penned a draft before getting a gig in a galaxy far, far away, and BoJack Horseman creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg is sharpening it. Mike Mitchell will direct the film.

Honestly, now I can see why. Mitchell has already directed a pretty successful animated musical, last autumn's lite-psychedelic DreamWorks romp Trolls. It looked awful from the trailers, but ended up being pretty decent. Some point to Mitchell's not-so-great movies, and clickbait leads you to believe he's a hack, but no... He has some decent stuff under his belt.

So, big time songs. A perfect send-up of the recent resurgence in animated musicals, I'd say. I expect it to hit all the biggies, from Frozen to Sing, and maybe even hit some classics - animated or not. Whatever it ends up being, I like this mix of genres! A little less than two years away, my excitement grows.

What say you?

Batman Succeeds: 'Lego Batman' Wins the Weekend Again

No shock, really.

The Lego Batman Movie wasn't facing any tentpole-esque competition this week. Not even the big budget epic The Great Wall, which might make its money back because of the Chinese and overseas grosses. Universal pretty much dumped that one here, so the mini figures had the weekend all to themselves.

Falling a good 35%, The Lego Batman Movie collected $20 million and is sitting at $98 million domestically. Not as strong as The Lego Movie's second weekend drop, but it doesn't matter. The thing is doing damn fine for a spin-off. Worldwide, it is currently at $170 million, more than double the budget. We're off to a good start!

Moana surged a few spaces ahead, going from 17 to 13, and rising 37%. No theater expansion or special promotion or anything, it just... Jumped a bit. There's still some oil in this tank. $244 million domestically, $573 million. Japan will do the rest in a matter of weeks.

What's impressive is the weekend performance puts it ahead of Sing, a leggy smash that opened nearly a month after it. Sing tumbled 58%. $266 million here, it should top out between $270-275 million here, making it Illumination's second biggest non-Despicable Me film behind The Secret Life of Pets. Worldwide, the film is up to $528 million. China just got the film, Russia and Japan get it next. Let's see how high it goes from here...

Monster Trucks is down 70%, not much has changed. $60 million worldwide. No update on Trolls, whether it has ended its run or not. I wonder how the home media sales are...

UPDATE: Four-days are in...

The only major change here is The Lego Batman Movie, which looks to make $107 million by the end of today. Worldwide, this puts its a few clicks higher, $179 million.

Brickbuster: 'Lego Batman' Wins the Weekend Box Office

The bricks sold the tickets...

Projections for The Lego Batman Movie were all over the map, some suggested it could open as high as $85 million. It didn't quite do that, in fact it made around the same amount I thought it would make all along. $53 million, not too bad!

The Lego Batman Movie cost a bit more than its surprisingly lower budget predecessor, but it's no matter. By weekend deux, it'll probably make it all back. Worldwide, the film sits at $90 million. A handful of countries, including China, Australia (where it was made, no less!), and Japan, haven't gotten it yet. It's sure to do fine in those territories.

What's more impressive is that it staved off Fifty Shades Darker. That film was #1 on Friday, but because Fifty Shades is one of those frontloaded films that a base audience flocks to on the first day of release, it slipped, letting Lego Batman take the trophy home. Since the first movie was sort of a one-and-done thing, Fifty Shades Darker unsurprisingly opened with nearly half of the first movie's opening weekend take.

Sing took a tumble, land right outside of the Top 10. Dropping 59%, the film is now at $265 million here and $501 million everywhere. Perhaps the sky is $275 million domestically (making it their biggest non-sequel yet), and $570 million worldwide, if it breaks out in France and Japan.

At #17 is Moana, up to $243 million stateside and $565 million worldwide. Japan is getting it soon, $600 million worldwide is pretty much a given at this point.

Monster Trucks is a goner. Dropped 70%, is at $32 million here and $58 million everywhere. Perhaps the film can find a following on TV/video, it's supposedly not all that bad. I saw bits and pieces of it, wasn't terrible or anything.

Trolls is on Blu-ray, but was still playing in some areas. It's pretty much done now. Looks like the final worldwide tally will be $339-340 million.

Holy Bricks, Batman!: A 'Lego Batman Movie' Review

I don't know about you, but I think Warner Animation Group is full of surprises...

The Lego Movie, I think, took many of us by surprise, being more than just a fun little movie about the bricks we all love. Their second feature, the Sony ImageWorks-made Storks, was more divisive. For some, myself included, it was a surprisingly strong comedy with great Looney Tunes-like energy, others found it to be incoherent noise and blabber-jabber. So how were they going to pull off the Batman-centric Lego movie that didn't have directing/writing duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller in the cockpit?

The answer?

They pulled it all off with flying colors. Literally and figuratively...

SPOILERS ahead...

Give it director Chris McKay, writer Seth-Grahame Smith and his team, The Lego Batman Movie is a very hilarious send-up of everything Batman, poking at everything from the comics to the movies to even its more offbeat adaptations. Best of all, it completely subverts expectations. You would think this would be a simply funny movie where Batman takes on foes, right? Not really. In the film, Batman's characteristics are exaggerated the extreme. He has no attachment to anybody, prefers to seriously work alone, and will never express anything to The Joker (not even an "I hate you"), which grills the clown prince of crime. Deep down, he wants a family, at the same time he fears losing a new family.

Gotham City's new police commissioner, Barbara Gordon, wants a new Gotham that doesn't let Batman do all the work alone, challenging the Caped Crusader. The Joker hatches a big scheme in the process, getting him and all of his cronies sans Harley Quinn locked up. Batman plans to send all of the bad guys into the Phantom Zone (which he, of course, steals from Superman) in order to prove that he truly can clean Gotham of crime. At the same time, he inadvertently adopts a young man named Dick Grayson, who of course becomes Robin later on.

There's a lot of great stuff here, from the father-son dynamics to the parodies of Batman stories. His relationship with Alfred is a lot of fun as well. The Joker's master plan is a real burst of coolness, he recruits lots of iconic villains and baddies, and together they all take Gotham City by storm. Menaces like the Wicked Witch, King Kong, Voldemort, the Eye of Sauron, and so on. Batman and his crew respond by forming Suicide Squad, literally... Making it the Suicide Squad movie Suicide Squad should've been.

Bolstering all of this is fantastic action that's staged impeccably, an explosive script, and pretty even pacing. Oddly enough, unlike most animated films these days, it didn't feel too long nor did it feel too short. There's real heart to this film, which I was not expecting. The Lego Movie should've taught me that lesson, but no, The Lego Batman Movie actually is a heartfelt film about Batman's reluctance to start a new family because of his fears of losing more people who are near-and-dear to him. This balanced with comedy quite well, and while I didn't think it was as sharp as The Lego Movie, it comes pretty darn close!

It's a Batman movie I never knew I really needed. Who would've thought Batman, Robin, Alfred, and Batgirl facing off against iconic baddies outside of the DC rogues gallery would've made for a great movie?

2017's animated feature line-up is off to a strong start. While most of this year's crop - from what I'm seeing - isn't doing it for me, I can only hope that it'll do like this movie and... Surprise me. Yes, The Lego Batman Movie is something special...

Brick Fight: 'The Lego Ninjago Movie' Trailer Debuts

Just in time for the release of the newest brick pic comes the teaser for the next brick pic...

The Lego Ninjago Movie, for the uninitiated, is based off of the company's long-running line of the same name. A line that combines martial arts and monsters and all sorts of action-packed stuff, it even spawned a long-running TV series that was shown on Cartoon Network. After the runaway success of The Lego Movie back in 2014, Warner Animation Group kicked their Lego movie series into high gear.

The full trailer is finally here, and it's nothing like the short film/semi-teaser we got back in September...


I don't know, folks... I wasn't too impressed. A trailer is a trailer, yes, but the film just looks kind of there to me. It's clearly going for the irreverent edge of the first film and Lego Batman, but few of the jokes landed, and while I like some of the little cracks at the good son-evil father cliche, it didn't leave much. Visually, however, it looks pretty cool. We're getting what was promised, for sure. The action looks ace!

Anyways, I'll wait for the next full trailer. If you know me well, I'm not fond of the way most American animated movie trailers are edited, and I'm well aware that trailer editing is a big task - all that story and humor and stuff that you have to pack in, in order to get the people into the seats. But there were some glimpses of awesome in the teaser, so I have some hope. The Lego Batman Movie, going by the reviews, seemed to turn out more than just a good companion piece. Also, I think WAG's only non-Lego film - Storks - was pretty good, too. Perhaps this will kick some butt, too.

What say you?

Rebuilding: 'Lego Movie Sequel' Switches Directors

The Lego Movie Sequel had one of its big pieces replaced...

The film, originally slated for a summer 2018 release, had been pushed to February 2019 a while ago. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the genius writing-directing duo behind the first film, weren't going to direct the sequel, but they were going to write it. Their script is currently being rewritten by BoJack Horseman creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg.

Up until now, the picture was set to be directed by Rob Schrab. He was one of the writers of Monster House, the creator of the comic Scud: The Disposable Assassin, and a worked on quite a few comedy shows here and there. He is now off the picture, due to... You guessed it! Creative differences.

His replacement is Mike Mitchell, who has a history with family films. Mitchell recently directed DreamWorks' Trolls with Walt Dohrn, and had also directed the studio's Shrek Forever After. He had even animated on a couple of their films, while directing some live-action films in the mid-to-late 2000s. He is also known for... Alvin and the Chipmunks 3, but he directed the live-action portion of Sponge out of Water. With Trolls, I think he showed some potential, so maybe he could make The Lego Movie Sequel work.

Again, the current draft of the script is being done by the BoJack Horseman creator, BoJack Horseman is a successful adult-oriented animated Netflix show that's actually smart and "adult". Now of course Lego Movie Sequel won't be just that, but I'm confident that Bob-Waksberg will breathe something fresh into the sequel, and knock it out of the park, despite the director change.

What say you?

(via The Hollywood Reporter)

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...

Weekend Box Office Report: Small Stumbles

With Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them expectedly topping the chart, a few movies have seen some pretty good-sized drops.

Trolls is currently in third place, and it's a smidgen behind Doctor Strange. Both movies dropped over 50% this weekend, the Marvel sorcerer seeing an unsurprisingly harsher drop. Trolls collected $17 million (estimate) for the weekend, and is at $116 million here in the states. Overseas numbers are a little sluggish right now, as the picture's still below $300 million worldwide. Next weekend, I think, will also be something of a test for Trolls. It could either hold up quite nicely against Moana, or get hit a little hard.

Even films outside the Marvel and DreamWorks wheelhouses dropped pretty hard this week, so all-around it's just an okay week for holdovers. I expect Fantastic Beasts to see a bit of dipping next week, as Moana is sure to be open big.

Storks fell off 60%, it has crept to $71 million here and $175 million worldwide. This is the final set of laps, methinks. I wonder how much higher it'll go overseas. It has officially made 2 1/2x its budget. I hope Warner Bros. is happy with it. Kubo and the Two Strings is pretty much done, I doubt it'll make much in the two markets that haven't gotten it yet: Poland and Bulgaria. $47 million domestically and $69-71 million worldwide it is.

Finding Dory is still juicing in some small venues, total is pretty much the same here. $1,026 million worldwide, still a few clicks above Zootopia. It's the year's biggest animated film. The Blu-ray cover for the film states that it's the biggest, too... But only at the domestic box office. The covers for these things are made and printed looooong before they hit stores, so I guess at the time, Disney bean counters weren't sure if the fishies would overtake the animals. In a way, that's quite exciting.

See, I thought the Pixar sequel to the beloved hit from 13 years ago would've easily been this year's animated champion. While Finding Dory is the champion, it literally eked by Zootopia to claim the trophy. No, Disney Animation's little animal movie was the little animated movie that could. Projections said it would do good but no exceptionally, it did more than just that. Reminds me of how Disney wasn't so sure about an animal picture some 22 years ago. It just proves that old William Goldman quote... "Nobody knows anything... Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what's going to work."

Some thought Trolls would open with a meager $25-30 million and finish up with $90 million at best, that's clearly not the case, three weeks in.

Anyways, prime time will truly be in full swing by next weekend.

Digging Up the Bones: Warner Animation Revives 'Bone' Movie

It looks like Bone is back on!

A Bone movie has been on the table as far back as the late 1990s. Jeff Smith's lauded blend of the cartoony and the epics of high fantasy got picked up by Warner Bros. in 2008, Animal Logic was set to do the animation for the adaptation. It went through a few writers over the years, even a director was attached at one point, but it never came to fruition.

It seemed like a no-brainer, for the series was family-friendly, and blended humor and adventure. I'll admit that I've barely read Bone, but from what I've seen of it over the years, I can't get enough of its style. In some ways, it has influenced some of my own work. While I'd prefer a traditionally animated film that really works off of the graphic novel's aesthetic, I'm glad it's happening.

Now, Warner Animation Group has tapped Mark Osborne - director of Kung Fu Panda and The Little Prince - to helm the long-gestating adaptation. Holy wow if this isn't a great choice, I don't know what is!

Osborne will be co-writing the script with Adam Kline. Mr. Kline is supposed to write the Artemis Fowl movie, if Disney ever gets around to approving it. I figured Bone would eventually be on Warner Animation Group's docket, and they intend to launch a franchise with it. I'd say one was long overdue, and it would be a nice break from the familiar Hanna-Barbera and Lego franchises that the group is going to expand in the future.

Animal Logic sounds right for this kind of picture, as they did tackle a similarly big, high fantasy story, The Owls of Ga'Hoole. That was based on a series of books, sadly that one came and went. Regardless of whether how good or bad it was, it was at least something that was a wee bit different. Happy Feet, issues notwithstanding, was also a little different and certainly stood out in a basket of mostly generic fluff. 2006, young'uns, was really not a good year in feature animation. It also helps that Happy Feet was a George Miller film, and even though the released film is very much a watered down version of what Miller had in mind, watered down George Miller is still George Miller.

Fun fact, at one point he wanted Mad Max: Fury Road to be a computer animated film. Now that would've been something! I wonder if he'd reconsider that for a future installment, because more are supposed to come.

Anyways, I think this is fantastic news all around. What say you?

Ready, Set, Go: The Eligible Films in the Animated Feature Race [UPDATE]

That time is upon once again folks...

The Oscar prelude...

Note: The real list was released today - November 11th... What follows is the original article, and then the update, for a lot of the films on the Variety list ended up being on the official list...

Variety has released the (note: unofficial, but still very likely) list of 21 eligible animated features aiming for the five nomination slots. As usual, I'll list them and some premature predictions. Alphabetical order, let's go!

First up is Rovio and Sony ImageWorks' The Angry Birds Movie, based on that app we all know. It wasn't all that well-received, it's not award winner material. After The Lego Movie's snub, I'm not sure the Oscars would consider another big brand-based movie, especially one whose critical reception was nowhere near the unanimous praise for the brick flick.

Next up is April and the Extraordinary World. GKIDS knows how to score with great independent animated features, as their other releases put up a good fight in previous Oscar races, even imported films that were around 2-3 years old! April and the Extraordinary World blended sci-fi, steampunk, and adventure into a beautiful traditionally animated story. With the way the Oscar nom-pickers are now, I can see this being a very strong candidate... But GKIDS has other strong contenders on hand.

Then we get to Finding Dory... Here's where things get a little tough... The Academy has shown little love for non-Toy Story Pixar sequels, but with one of them (Cars 2) the reasons are obvious. Monsters University on the other hand got good enough reception, but Disney themselves didn't push the Pixar prequel, they poured all the Oscar love into "grand event" Frozen from Walt Disney Animation Studios. Monsters University should've gotten into the race, not fluff like Despicable Me 2 and The Croods. Anyways, Finding Dory's critical reception, not to mention its box office, is significantly better. The film also explored disabilities, and was very resonant. And of course, it is Pixar in good form. Those right there guarantee it a nom, right?

No, actually... Ever since the changes to the Oscars were implemented, things have been different in animationland. After 2013, the folk who pick the nominees for Best Animated Feature made it their mission to make more diverse choices. This is why The Lego Movie got left out of the 2014 race, and why LAIKA's stop-motion film The Boxtrolls - a pleasant but unspectacular film - got in. It also made room for great films like Song of the Sea and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya. Finding Dory, being a "good" mainstreamer and a sequel in this new climate, was already not quite locked. In 2011, it would've been.

Disney also has two other animated biggies, both from Walt Disney Animation Studios. Zootopia I think is a guaranteed lock given the film's quality and the fact that it tackled timely issues, it's one of the best-received movies of the year. Some have worried that the Oscars could last-minute view it as a Lego Movie-type, but I don't think so. In a year where most of the mainstreamers have been good enough, Zootopia has quite a few advantages. Moana is the one to look out for, for it is a big musical in the Renaissance tradition, it's about a princess (and the marketing is emphasizing the "girl power"), it has all those ingredients they love, is sure to be a box office smash. Oh, and the guy behind Hamilton was a driving force in the film's soundtrack.

(Okay, I guess we can ignore alphabetical order from this point onward...)

If Moana gets Frozen-level reception or higher, I think it's a lock. Zootopia and Moana getting into the race could squeeze the Pixar sequel out, for the three other slots need to go to films that would normally get pushed out by mainstreamers. Since the likes of Kung Fu Panda 3 and The Secret Life of Pets weren't spectacular, there's lots of room. Sing could be a potential candidate. No Illumination film has gotten unanimous praise yet, and early buzz on this feature - screened at the Toronto International Film Festival a few months back - is quite good... But will it be loved enough to get a nod? Since both aren't out yet, Moana and Sing are kind of up in the air, though I think the former has higher chances at locking a slot than the latter. Kubo and the Two Strings is definitely a lock. LAIKA, stop-motion, it's excellent. It's in.

GKIDS is loaded. They have acclaimed films from all around the world, like Phantom Boy and Miss Hokusai. My Life as a Zucchini, a stop-motion film from France and Switzerland, shouldn't be counted out either for it tackles some weighty themes. The last of the GKIDS releases is Mune: Guardian of the Moon, which is definitely more kid-oriented and cutesy. I don't think one really has a chance.

Sony Classics is readying The Red Turtle, which goes wide in January 2017. That's a co-production with Studio Ghibli, so that has a very good chance at getting in. Your Name is the current anime sensation, a blockbuster in Japan that has gotten lots of praise. That is being brought here via FUNimation. Shout! Factory has the 2D Long Way North, which could get in, but the other indies seem stronger. The Little Prince got lots of love, is thankfully eligible, and it's stop-motion... But I still feel that others have a greater chance at getting in.

The rest are the mainstreamers. Ice Age: Collision Course? Nope. Sausage Party? Nada, despite the aggressive push it's getting. Trolls? Nope. Secret Life of Pets? Not really. Ratchet & Clank? Forget it. Storks? Also not really. The Jungle Book is not counted, despite the fact that everything in that movie except Mowgli is CG. I must give the animation branch props for focusing on animated movies that know they're animated, not VFX trying to emulate real life... But still, it's kind of a contradiction, and this is coming from someone who didn't love the film.

Anyways...

The Angry Birds Movie - 5% chance
April and the Extraordinary World - 90% chance
Finding Dory - 80% chance
Ice Age: Collision Course - 0% chance
Kubo and the Two Strings - 100% chance
Kung Fu Panda 3 - 50% chance
The Little Prince - 70% chance
Long Way North - 70% chance
Miss Hokusai - 80% chance
Moana - depends on quality, will update
Mune: Guardian of the Moon - 10% chance
My Life as a Zucchini - 75% chance
Phantom Boy - 90% chance
Ratchet & Clank - 0% chance
The Red Turtle - 90% chance
Sausage Party - 50% chance
The Secret Life of Pets - 50% chance
Sing - depends on quality, will update
Storks - 50% chance
Trolls - 50% chance
Your Name - 80% chance
Zootopia - 100% chance

Buckle up, I think it's going to be a wild race...

Update...

The real list is here, as of November 11th... It includes a record twenty-seven animated features...

Here are the ones I missed, all which are foreign/independent features:

Bilal - From last year, a UAE-produced animated feature based on the real-life Bilal ibn Rabah.

Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV - Based on the long-running video game series, this opened theatrically in Japan this past summer.

Monkey King: Hero is Back - Another entry that is actually over a year old. The Chinese animated feature that at one time held the record for biggest animated movie in that country.

Mustafa & the Magician - Apparently an Indian production. Can't seem to find much on this one.

Snowtime! - Another 2015 film, from Canada. I've heard good things about this one.

25 April - A New Zealand production about the 1915 Gallipoli Campaign. This also came out at festivals last year.

I can't say much about these inclusions, because I feel their changes at getting in are similar to some of the other indies that I already went over.

You'll also notice that Norm of the North, The Wild Life, and Ratchet & Clank are completely absent. Not submitted, I see...

Reviews for Moana are already pretty good, so I think it's chances are very high at getting in, but some reviewers seem a bit dissatisfied with the story. From now on, I think this and Finding Dory will compete for a second slot for The Walt Disney Company. I think Zootopia easily locks one, so for the other slot, it's either Disney Animation's Oceanic odyssey or Pixar's return to the big blue. Who gets in?

Anyways, revised:

The Angry Birds Movie - 5% chance
April and the Extraordinary World - 90% chance
Balil - 25%
Finding Dory - 80% chance
Ice Age: Collision Course - 0% chance
Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV - 25% chance
Kubo and the Two Strings - 100% chance
Kung Fu Panda 3 - 50% chance
The Little Prince - 70% chance
Long Way North - 70% chance
Miss Hokusai - 80% chance
Moana - 80% chance
Monkey King: Hero is Back - 15%
Mustafa & the Magician - 15%
Mune: Guardian of the Moon - 10% chance
My Life as a Zucchini - 75% chance
Phantom Boy - 90% chance
Ratchet & Clank - 0% chance
The Red Turtle - 90% chance
Sausage Party - 50% chance
The Secret Life of Pets - 50% chance
Sing - depends on quality, will update
Snowtime! - 25% chance
Storks - 50% chance
Trolls - 50% chance
25 April - 25% chance
Your Name - 80% chance
Zootopia - 100% chance

The plot thickens...

Weekend Box Office Report: 'Storks' Keeps Hovering, 'Trolls' Incoming

We're now in the final stretch, before the holiday season kicks off next weekend. Everything winds down, while other movies are winding up...

Down just 30% in its last weekend all to itself, Storks is making it to the seven-oh. It should settle for a decent $75-77 million domestic haul when all is said and done. Worldwide, it is now at $153 million, barely double the budget. Hopefully it lands closer to $200 million soon.

That's the only animated picture in the Top 10 right now. Bubbling far below at #25 is The Secret Life of Pets, at $366 million domestically and $868 million worldwide. Watch the sequel break a billion in summer 2018.

Kubo and the Two Strings saw a nice 100% rise, it has one more weekend then the Blu-ray hits (alongside Sausage Party, both on Election Day), it's at $47 million here and $67 million around the world. The film is LAIKA's lowest-grossing, but that doesn't matter. They have the clout to keep doing these films.

Finding Dory is still at $485 million here, but at $1,021 million worldwide. Just two millions away from topping Zootopia as biggest animated movie of the year. It's really rocking in territories like Germany, it seems!

Sausage Party is pretty much done, $97 million domestically and $136 million worldwide. Expect more sequel announcements soon.

Trolls spiked a little overseas, it's now at $61 million, indicating that the new DreamWorks film could be saved by other countries if the stateside gross is not up to par. At this point I see it missing $100 million domestically, but who knows. I still think they threw away an opportunity by not releasing it in mid-October here in the states, when that field was arguably wide open.

How do you think next weekend will go?

Weekend Box Office Report: 'Storks' Continues to Ease, 'Trolls' Starts Overseas

Yet another pretty slow October weekend, but that means the current crop can ease.


Storks only fell 28%. It seems the final total for this film, currently at $64 million domestically, will be somewhere in the mid-70s. Just a good click below a similar September animated opener from a decade ago, Open Season. Sony was happy with that film's $197 million worldwide haul against its $85 million budget. Right now, Storks has doubled its $70 million budget worldwide. A few more chugs, and Warner Bros. should be happy with its performance.

Finding Dory lingers in the Top 25, still at $485 million domestically, $1,017 million worldwide. It's a few clicks away from outgrossing Zootopia and becoming this year's highest grossing animated film. It remains the grand champion of animation box office domestically, as the previous record was held for 12 years by Shrek 2. If Moana pulls a billion, the mouse will be a happy camper: Three animated releases of theirs, one Pixar, two from their once-ailing animation house, makin' the big billions.

We are so far from where we were ten years ago, when Disney Animation was scraping the bottom of the box office barrel and mostly putting out disappointing efforts.

Pretty much on its final legs, Kubo and the Two Strings may or may not hit $50 million domestically. It's currently at $47 million here, and $66 million all around the world. It doesn't matter, because LAIKA has the clout to keep making stop-motion extravaganzas. Also, $47 million is 3.9x the opening weekend gross. Shows that word-of-mouth was pretty strong!

The Secret Life of Pets treks slowly to $370 million here, it has topped $860 million worldwide. $366 million stateside, $864 million worldwide. Ice Age: Collision Course still skates a bit, $64 million domestically and $406 million worldwide. Sausage Party looks to just miss $100 million, but the little $19 million movie topped $135 million around the world.

On the other side of the globe, things are happening with the new kid on the block.

Trolls has collected $21 million overseas, as it rolled out in some territories recently. I think Fox and DreamWorks dropped the ball by keeping the early November release date for the US bow, as October was pretty much family film-free and it's out now in other countries. I get the sense that Fox just doesn't care, and will toss the remaining DreamWorks films that they have on hand, if Boss Baby's super-divisive teaser is any indicator.

Anyways, tracking says Trolls won't top $30 million for the weekend, but anything is possible. Remember when tracking said Home wouldn't make much more than like $25-30 million on opening weekend? Then in the week leading up to its release, the tracking folk were saying "$35-45 million", and it opened with $52 million. Anything goes, sometimes. Maybe Fox/DreamWorks can give it one last, eleventh-hour kick and have the little flick stack up well against the oncoming Marvel monster Doctor Strange.

On a side note, both films - visually - are kind of similar to me. Doctor Strange is psychedelic in one way, while Trolls is psychedelic in another. Doctor Strange is like Matrix mindbender-level stuff, while Trolls is the colorful, fuzzy, cute kind of psychedelia. It'll make for an interesting pair that weekend...

What say you?

Weekend Box Office Report: Billion Dollar Dory, 'Storks' Still Flies

Estimates for now, weekend actuals to be posted on Monday...

Another relatively quiet weekend, but some things are happening here and there...

Storks fell 37%, and is now sitting at $50 million domestically and $104 million worldwide. Certainly not the drop Open Season - the best we can compare this movie's run to - had on its third weekend, as that was at $59 million domestically by that point. Again, Storks cost $70 million, it's not too far from doubling that. Should it make above, around say, $180 million worldwide, it should be a success for Warner Bros. I've been watching Storks in particular, because I think it could set a new precedent.

Next in line is Sausage Party, which rose 139% because of an expansion, apparently extra footage was added to the film's ending. My theater didn't get this re-release. It's at $97 million domestically, $129 million. Quite the hit.

Notably, Finding Dory jumped 10 spaces up and rose 136%. Still at $484 million domestically, it has finally topped $1 billion worldwide. Amazing that it'll finish behind an all-original animated movie that came out a few months before it...

We did it... A calendar year where two all-animated pictures topped $1 billion worldwide...

Right behind it is The Secret Life of Pets, falling only 26% and landing at $365 million here, $848 million worldwide. Illumination really, really scored with this one. Watch Pets 2 be a potential candidate for highest grossing animated feature.

Kubo and the Two Strings is pretty much disappearing, falling 54%, the climb to $50 million may be a bit of a struggle from here on out. Even then, if it doesn't reach it, it still had incredible legs. It's at $63 million worldwide.

The Wild Life still lingers, going up 12%, but $8 million will be this one's final domestic gross. $30 million worldwide.

And so we wait for the trolls...

Weekend Box Office Report: 'Storks' Eases, 'Dory' Near $1 Billion

It looks like Storks will be all set.

As said before, the film cost $70 million to make, so not too much is riding on the back of this pretty well-liked animated comedy. It fell a good 36%, ending up at $38 million domestically. Worldwide, it's at $77 million, so it's slowly but surely picking up steam. If it follows Open Season's ten-year-old trajectory, then the picture will end up with $77 million domestically. Overseas grosses should get it up to a good near-$200 million total worldwide, which Warner Bros. should be satisfied with, which I elaborated upon here.

Right now, Storks is the only caricature animation film flying around the Top 10. Kubo and the Two Strings fell 58%, it looks like the crawl to $50 million will be slow, but that will still be 4.1x its opening gross. Worldwide, it's at $61 million. The Blu-ray is coming in a little over a month.

The Secret Life of Pets continues to linger and linger and linger. It fell 36%, it's at $364 million domestically and $834 million worldwide. Just wow... Sausage Party fell 66%, still below $100 million domestically, but it doesn't matter, the budget was tiny on this one. $124 million worldwide, 6 1/2x the budget. Titmouse's adults-only feature Nerdland is hitting theaters thanks to Samuel Goldwyn Films, and perhaps this months-old movie got picked up because of how well the food film did.

Finding Dory looks to finish with around $485-486 million when all is said and done, but it surged in Germany, bringing the worldwide gross up to $986 million. It is now officially getting closer, and as Cartoon Brew noted, this will be the first year where two animated features (again, of the caricature/not same-as-real-life variety) have cracked the big billion at the worldwide box office. Yes, this year has been pretty darn good to the medium...

Little to no movement on Ice Age cinque, The Wild Life fell 25 places, lost 1,200+ theaters, and dropped 87%. The picture looks to barely crack $8 million domestically, much worse than Norm of the North. I hate to think what Lionsgate will do to Rock Dog this coming February... But what matters is, the microbudgeted movie made it back worldwide.

What say you?

Box Office Report: 'Storks' Flies Low, 'Kubo' Lingers, 'Wild Life' Dead

Results are in, Warner Animation Group's second didn't quite soar.

However, Storks is far from doomed. The movie only cost around $70 million to make, as it was done by Sony ImageWorks in Vancouver. WAG's projects aren't animated in-house, hence their name: Warner Animation Group. The Lego Movie was a co-production between Animal Logic (also out of town) and a few other houses, while the upcoming Smallfoot will mostly be done at Sergio Pablos' Madrid studio. Smart strategy, but...

Why did Storks not open much higher than $20 million? Warner didn't seem to put much effort into marketing this one, methinks, putting all the love into Suicide Squad. Understandable in a way, if they were so disappointed with how Batman v Superman did ($872 million, in this day and age, is a disappointment... Because of an astronomical high budget and marketing costs... Let that sink in...), they were absolutely banking on the villain team-up to save them from an overall lousy year. Storks was much lower budget, so they probably figured a ho-hum campaign would be enough for it.

Anyways, $140 million is double the film's budget, should make that worldwide and should be all set. I'm confident it won't flop. It doesn't have much family competition up until Trolls hits, so it should do the usual multiplier for an animated family film. Word of mouth seems good, so we'll see how high it flies from here on out. As long as it's profitable, no worries, but c'mon WB. You coulda put more oomph into the non-Lego movie. Heck, you've felt The Lego Batman Movie's presence (which is opening in February, no less) more than Storks'. I know, I know, not every animated film is meant to pull those huge numbers out of a hat, regardless of their quality. At least WB was smart in not making this some $100 million-costing goliath. They'll win in the end.

Kubo and the Two Strings hangs in the top 10, losing 500+ screens, dropping 56%, and landing at $45 million domestically. Worldwide, it has collected $58 million, still quite below the other LAIKAs, but a few countries just got the picture, and quite a few more markets are left. Can it at least crack $100 million worldwide? We shall see.

The Secret Life of Pets still has some staying power, landing ahead of later films like Sausage Party and The Wild Life. Fell 45%, is now at $364 million domestically and $820 million worldwide. Hit-makers, Illumination's folk are. Watch Sing really soar this holiday season.

Sausage Party fell 52%, as it slowly crawls to the big one oh oh. $96 million here, $122 million everywhere. The Wild Life lost over 1,400 screens and dropped a massive 85%... Its third weekend. Curtains. No matter, the Belgian picture is at $29 million worldwide, it has doubled its tiny budget. Distributor Lionsgate will probably dump Rock Dog like this as well, come late February.

What say you?