Dance of the Penguins
Okiedokey, so it’s time for another animation related article. You guys may not know this, but I have been keeping a steady eye on the process of this movie: “Happy Feet.” For a synopsis, I turn to the ever-trustworthy IMDB:
Into the world of the Emperor Penguins, who find their soul mates through song, a penguin is born who cannot sing. But he can tap dance something fierce!
Awesome idea. Sounds totally cool. I like penguins, I like penguin animated movies and I like musicals. And the CGI approach actually seems to fit this project well, if you check out the website linked above. And for a starring voice cast, we have Elijah Wood as the hero “Mumbles”, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Brittany Murphy, Elizabeth Daily (known in voice acting circles for her role as Buttercup in “The Powerpuff Girls”) and Robin Williams doing what he does best. Only in this movie, they have him playing a number of comical roles, two of which are made quite obvious in the teaser trailer.
This brings me to my next major point: The teaser trailer. I’m not all that disappointed. I think they’ve done an excellent job in the presentation of the film. My only criticism is that so far the teaser seems a little…plain. I’m only saying this because I’ve expected a lot from this project. It’s got a starring cast, it’s directed by George Miller (The respectable father of the “Mad Max” trilogy and the new “Mad Max” due out next year. W00T!), but most of all it had just BETTER turn out good and do well. Why? Here’s why.
This is one of those projects that Hollywood spends an unbeLIEVable amount of money on. Not just your average movie, which these days can get up to the 30-40-million range, depending on the magnitude of the project. This is a Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings sized budget they’ve got going on this feature. I read about a year ago that they’d worked hard on this project, bringing in actual penguins to use for design AND motion capture because the George Miller wanted the most realistic penguin movement he could get and he STILL was unhappy with the results after they’d already spent over $100 million on the project. Why? Because real penguins move and act in a manner that is completely emotionless.
That’s correct: $100 million and the boss man still wasn’t pleased. Red Alert! How much money do you need to spend on a project like this, really? I’m not saying that the movie itself is going to be terrible, I’m saying that if this movie doesn’t do well, it will be a terrible loss. You know how movies like Harry Potter get $120 million something dollar budgets and do well? It’s because they have international fanbases who read the books and want to see the movies. That is, most often, a surefire guarantee for a hit movie with a big budget. You don’t throw a $100 million budget at any movie and tell them to make it happen. That’s how you get movies like “Van Helsing” that make a ton of cash, but make about -$40 million in profit.
In short: George, you better do a good job here.
Into the world of the Emperor Penguins, who find their soul mates through song, a penguin is born who cannot sing. But he can tap dance something fierce!
Awesome idea. Sounds totally cool. I like penguins, I like penguin animated movies and I like musicals. And the CGI approach actually seems to fit this project well, if you check out the website linked above. And for a starring voice cast, we have Elijah Wood as the hero “Mumbles”, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Brittany Murphy, Elizabeth Daily (known in voice acting circles for her role as Buttercup in “The Powerpuff Girls”) and Robin Williams doing what he does best. Only in this movie, they have him playing a number of comical roles, two of which are made quite obvious in the teaser trailer.
This brings me to my next major point: The teaser trailer. I’m not all that disappointed. I think they’ve done an excellent job in the presentation of the film. My only criticism is that so far the teaser seems a little…plain. I’m only saying this because I’ve expected a lot from this project. It’s got a starring cast, it’s directed by George Miller (The respectable father of the “Mad Max” trilogy and the new “Mad Max” due out next year. W00T!), but most of all it had just BETTER turn out good and do well. Why? Here’s why.
This is one of those projects that Hollywood spends an unbeLIEVable amount of money on. Not just your average movie, which these days can get up to the 30-40-million range, depending on the magnitude of the project. This is a Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings sized budget they’ve got going on this feature. I read about a year ago that they’d worked hard on this project, bringing in actual penguins to use for design AND motion capture because the George Miller wanted the most realistic penguin movement he could get and he STILL was unhappy with the results after they’d already spent over $100 million on the project. Why? Because real penguins move and act in a manner that is completely emotionless.
That’s correct: $100 million and the boss man still wasn’t pleased. Red Alert! How much money do you need to spend on a project like this, really? I’m not saying that the movie itself is going to be terrible, I’m saying that if this movie doesn’t do well, it will be a terrible loss. You know how movies like Harry Potter get $120 million something dollar budgets and do well? It’s because they have international fanbases who read the books and want to see the movies. That is, most often, a surefire guarantee for a hit movie with a big budget. You don’t throw a $100 million budget at any movie and tell them to make it happen. That’s how you get movies like “Van Helsing” that make a ton of cash, but make about -$40 million in profit.
In short: George, you better do a good job here.
posted by Jaimetud at 10:15 PM
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