Animation &Commentary 02 Oct 2006 08:37 am
Big Bucks?
- Though I have no immediate plans to see it on the big screen, I’m pleased that 
Open Season did fairly well at the box office. The film grossed $23 million on 3800 screens averaging $6000 per screen. It means the film will probably gross (in the U.S.) about $70 million. However, with the negative cost and ad budget I’m not sure it’ll leave much for profit.
That’s not bad considering how poorly Monster House and Everyone’s Hero did. (One wonders if Everyone’s Hero would have done better if had been released at the beginning of baseball season?)
The animation style of Open Season intrigues me a bit. I’ve seen some interesting movement and some really horrible cgi-like (meaning they let the machines do the action) movement in the trailers, and I want to see a bit more. The reviews were unanimous in panning the story, so I don’t expect much there. I’m also interested in seeing the direction of a converted 2D Director, Roger Allers, in a cgi world. Brad Bird did so well with his initial effort in The Incredibles. One would like to think Roger Allers might do the same. However, I’ve never been the biggest fan of the cgi animation Sony has done in the past. The Chubb Chubbs anyone? Their EFFX-cgi work is excellent.
I am curious to know how Roger Allers did both this feature at Sony and The Little Match Girl at Disney this year. I wanted to see the short at Ottawa, but my schedule didn’t work with theirs. It’s also interesting to note that the official website has Roger (Lion King) Allers‘ bio but no mention of the other two co-directors: Jill Culton and Anthony Stacchi.
on 02 Oct 2006 at 10:07 am 1.hans bacher said …
the matchgirl was finished around the year 2000. it was
only released later, and not just this year for ottawa.
about the open season style, and I have only seen stuff they
showed me at sony and in the trailer, I think it is very different
from most other CG crap. it is more graphic, like an illustration
that starts to come to life. in my oppinion refreshing. at least
the artists there tried to come up with different ideas.
I like the look much better than the recent dreamworks
operas and even pixars oeuvres.
hans
on 02 Oct 2006 at 11:03 am 2.Ward said …
I saw Open Season yesterday with the kids (it was the first movie my 2 year-old sat through a flick without getting up and wanting to sit in other seats). It was half-and-half with me. I enjoyed the animation and character designs, but the story was all over the place. Obviously some exec-noodling in the story, which is a shame.
on 03 Oct 2006 at 10:59 am 3.Michael said …
Thanks, Hans, for the clarification on Roger Allers’ schedule. He’s obviously someone to follow. It sounds like scripts are the big problem in cg features (as it was with 2D features.) Surprise! Surprise!
Where’s Bill Peet, Michael Maltese & Ted Sears when you need them.