Why Don't Aardman Films Do as Well in America?

Note the very British Blue Peter badge on the hat of the far-left pirate.

Aardman, for the few of you that don't know, is the studio that brought us Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Chicken Run, Flushed Away and Arthur Christmas, four brilliant films that all received critical praise, with the former two being lauded as fantastic. And now their latest film, The Pirates! In An Adventure with Scientists, is out; it's been out for about two months over here in the UK, and about one month in the US. However, whilst the critical praise is (as we have come to expect with Aardman) high, the box-office returns are not so.

So far, The Pirates!, branded in the US as The Pirates! Band of Misfits, the big screen adaptation of Gideon Defoe's popular children's books, has grossed about $100,000,000 worldwide. Only a quarter of that amount was collected in the US, with the majority coming from other regions (it had a particularly strong box-office run here in the UK). As we reported a few weeks ago, The Pirates! was received with, despite the positive word of mouth, Aardman's weakest opening ever stateside, and hasn't drastically improved on that since. Admittedly, $100 million isn't to be sniffed at, it's more than double the takings of the likes of, the equally great, live-action feature Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, but it's still disappointing for a film that has received such strong critical praise and a fairly good advertising campaign.

Unfortunately though, this is more the rule than the exception where Aardman films are concerned, despite an average Rotten Tomatoes score of 88% and a national following here in the UK, Aardman films average less than $170 million worldwide; largely due to none too strong performances in America. The question though is why, when they are such huge hits here in the UK?

Aardman News 7 - How Will The Pirates! Sail in America?

Aardman's latest film, the fantastic The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists, has just been released state-side, where it's branded as The Pirates! Band of Misfits. Despite critical praise and a strong box-office showing here in the UK, Aardman's home territory, how it'll fare in America is far less certain.

The pirate theme to the film may broaden the film's appeal to US audience, who have never quite got Aardman's trademark British wit, but if opening sales are any indication, that may not be enough. The Pirates! clocks in Aadramn's weakest US opening to date, taking an estimated $11.4 million, compared to $12.1 million for last year's Arthur Christmas. The fact that the film is being released in accordance with Sony Pictures Animation, who are much better known in America, and the film's fairly strong advertising campaign - focusing on Aardman's Oscar success and the film's comedy - may also work some way to help boost sales - although by how much will remain to be seen.

Aardman can probably expect a decent, if unexciting, box-office report for The Pirates! - although hopefully good word of mouth will drive the masses in. Large box-office receipts are going to be pretty necessary if the talk of a sequel is going to go anywhere - I'd certainly love to see a sequel.

Director Peter Lord said the following to BBC News on the subject:

"My attitude is one of hope. We do what we do and we hope the rest of the world will come to the party. I shall now be going around North America and beating a drum and wearing a sandwich board to get them to come to the cinema.

We'd be interested in doing a sequel for this film because I'd love to re-explore this bunch of characters but it entirely depends upon box office business.

This is a really rash thing to say, but most of the rest of the world I am quite confident about. We always do really well in places like France and Germany, but America is the tricky one, and that's because I think our brand of comedy is less familiar to them."

Here's hoping the film does well - it deserves too. A note to any American readers: go see it! You won't be disappointed.

The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists Review - Worth it's Weight in Doubloons

Although it's been out a few weeks now over here in the UK (but it's not released stateside until the 27th of this month), I only got the chance to see Aardman's latest feature film: The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists on Wednesday, and it was well worth the wait.

The Pirates! is Aardman's first stop-motion animated film since 2005's Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and is directed by Chicken Run helmer, Peter Lord. And whilst The Pirates! retains the trademark British wit and endearing characters that made their previous films such hits with audiences and critics, it also - following in the footsteps of 2007's Flushed Away and last year's Arthur Christmas - broadens its style somewhat, boasting a lot more action and spectacle than the more simplistic Wallace and Gromit or Chicken Run.

Rango Takes Home a BAFTA

Although the presentation of the award appears to have been cut from the broadcast of the 65th British Academy Film Awards, earlier today the BAFTA for Best Animated Film was awarded to Paramount and Nickelodeon's Rango. The Gore Verbinski directed animated western is the favourite heading into the 84th Annual Academy Awards in two weeks' time and this is a huge honour for the film.

Rango beat out Steven Spielberg's mo-cap adventure, The Adventures of Tintin and the British film, Arthur Christmas. Check out the full BAFTA results here.

2012 BAFTA Nominations Revealed

The nominations for the 65th annual Orange British Academy Film Awards were revealed this morning. Silent film and Oscar front-runner The Artist leads nominations with 12, whereas British spy thriller Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy follows with 11. In terms of animation though, the nominees for the BAFTA for Animated Film are:

• The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn
• Arthur Christmas
• Rango

It's unsurprising to see Arthur Christmas - from British giants Aardman - Globes winner, Tintin and awards favourite this year, Rango favoured by the BAFTAs; but it's a shame DreamWorks' Kung Fu Panda 2 couldn't snag a nomination. We'll find out the results on 12 February on BBC One - hosted by Stephen Fry, the awards emenate from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London. For a full list of nominations, click here.

More For Your Consideration Adverts

As awards season heats up, what with Annie, Golden Globe and more nominations being revealed, and the 84th Academy Awards getting closer and closer, we are treated to more and more For Your Consideration Ads, promoting the year's best animated films.

Above and below, you can see, courtesy of Awards Daily, some of the latest For Your Consideration Ads for animated films, including ones for the Warner Bros. short film, I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat, as well as Blue Sky Studios' Rio, DreamWorks' Kung Fu Panda 2 and Puss in Boots, and Aardman's Arthur Christmas.

For a full list of For Your Consideration Adverts, animated or otherwise, keep your eyes on Awards Daily.

Golden Globe Nominations Revealed

The nominations for the 69th Annual Golden Globes Awards have been revealed today, the full list of nominations and categories can be viewed here.

In terms of animation, the nominations for the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature are:

• THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN
  Paramount Pictures/Columbia Pictures/ Hemisphere Capital/Amblin Entertainment/Wingnut Films Production/ Kennedy/Marshall Production A Steven Spielberg Film; Paramount Pictures and Columbia Pictures
• ARTHUR CHRISTMASColumbia Pictures & Sony Pictures Animation; Sony Pictures Releasing International
• CARS 2
  Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar Animation Studios; Walt Disney Pictures
• PUSS IN BOOTSDreamWorks Animation; Paramount Pictures
• RANGO
  Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies present A Blind Wink / GK Films Production; Paramount Pictures

It's somewhat strange to me that Puss in Boots and Arthur Christmas (or even Cars 2, due it's rather negative reviews) were nominated, whereas Kung Fu Panda 2 - definitely one of the best films of the year - was omitted.

Nonetheless, it is a very solid field this year, and it seems likely to me that the HFPA will pick either Tintin or Rango. However, we'll have to wait until January 15 to find out.

Via Big Screen Animation.

2011 So Far

With the end of the year just over a month away, and Christmas approaching even faster, now seemed as good a time as any to take a retrospective look back at 2011 in animated films.

Now, first of all, a few have pointed out that my reviews are mostly positive, don't get me a wrong, I can be a particularly nasty blighter some times, particularly when I strongly dislike a film, however, I, obviously, am very passionate about animation, Disney and Pixar in general, and hate to fault it, furthermore, I purposefully avoid films that I know will be bad or that I have no interest in seeing, so I'm generally complementary in my reviews, yet, even by my standards, 2011 has been a brilliant year for animation thus far.

Arthur Christmas Review - A Festive Gift of a Film

Although it may still be over a month until the most festive day of the year, it is very much Christmas time, at least commercially, and Aardman set the mood this year, rolling out the year's first Christmas film, Arthur Christmas. The British animation giants behind Wallace and Gromit, famous for their use of stop-motion, release Arthur Christmas as their fourth feature film, (and their second CGI animated film) and their first under the Sony Pictures banner, after their deal with DreamWorks ended a few years back, and, as we have all come to expect from Aardman, the film was funny, charming, thoughtful, warm and quintessentially British, yet being a broad, entertaining and generally great family to the extent that it will appeal to people all over the world this holiday season.

More For Your Consideration Ads

After just posting about the Cars 2 For Your Consideration Ads, I stumbled upon (thanks to Big Screen Animation) Awards Daily's large list of the For Your Consideration Ads released as of now, a select few of which are scattered about this post, the rest can be viewed at Awards Daily.

I particularly like the sleek designs of the Tintin and Arthur Christmas ones, as well as the very vibrant Happy Feet Two and Rango ones. Also, note how The Adventures of Tintin is also being promoted for consideration in the Best Feature Film category, which it is good enough to be nominated for!

New The Pirates Trailer

Aardman and Sony Pictures Animation have unveiled the latest trailer for their next animated feature film, The Pirates: In an Adventure With Scientists (The Pirates: Band of Misfits in America). The stop motion giants behind Wallace and Gromit, roll out their latest feature, directed by the man behind Chicken Run, Peter Lord, next year (after recently releasing the CGI film, Arthur Christmas - which I'm going to see tomorrow).

The trailer reveals more of the plot and gives us a further look at the epic scale of the huge stop-motion animated film, which promises to be another Aardman classic, with their trademark look, deep and detailed story and all-star voice cast.

Via Yahoo! Movies.

Arthur Christmas Unwrapped Tomorrow

Aardman's latest feature, the Christmassy collaboration with Sony Pictures Animation, Arthur Christmas arrives in cinemas over here in the UK tomorrow (whereas, US readers will have to wait until the 23rd), and, as such, Aardman and Sony have swamped us with clips.

Above, we have highlights of the star studded premiere of the film. In addition to the creative talent from the studio - director and writer, Sarah Smith, and Aardman head honchos, David Sproxton, Peter Lord and Nick Park - the premiere was attended by members of the film's cast including Bill Nighy (Grandsanta), Ashley Jensen (Bryony) and Outnumbered's Ramona Marquez (Gwen). In addition to some new clips of the film, the video also show's Nighy and Jensen helping to turn on the famed Regent Street Lights.

If this magical event encapsulates the film as a whole, we're all in for a treat when it hits cinemas tomorrow. But, speaking of clips, Sony also rolled out a plethora of new clips from the movie (below), but, be warned some clips are a little spoiler heavy.

 

 

  

I particularly loved that last clip, 'Elf Delivery', it was jaw dropping, both in the ambition of the story, and in terms of the beautiful animation. The film, from these clips at least, looks funny, gorgeous and touching. I can't wait to see Arthur Christmas (I'll be heading out to see it next weekend, so look out for a review around then).

The Oscar Race Begins - 18 Qualify

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently revealed the 18 feature films that have qualified for consideration in the Best Animated Feature Film category for the 84th Academy Awards - to be hosted by Eddie Murphy, the voice of Donkey in Shrek.

These feature films are (links lead to our reviews of the highlighted films):

"The Adventures of Tintin"

"Alois Nebel"

"Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked"

"Arthur Christmas" (to be released on November 11, review to follow the week after)

"Cars 2"

"A Cat in Paris"

"Chico & Rita"

"Gnomeo & Juliet"

"Happy Feet Two"

"Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil"

"Kung Fu Panda 2"

"Mars Needs Moms"

"Puss in Boots"

"Rango"

"Rio"

"The Smurfs"

"Winnie the Pooh"

"Wrinkles"

Providing that at least 16 of these films make the necessary theatrical runs to qualify, then there will be five nominees for the prestigious award this year, as opposed to the three we saw last year.

2011 has been a very good year for animated film, with all major studios (and some minor ones) bringing out brilliant films (personally, as it came out in January over here in the UK, and not November 2010 as it did it in the US, I also count Tangled as from this year). So, it's going to be a very competitive year, with the usual Academy favourite, Pixar, churning out, what was viewed as, a weak entry into their canon, it's likely that Cars 2 won't win this year, but, from the films I've seen so far, my five to be nominated would be:

• The Adventures of Tintin
• Cars 2
• Rio
• Rango
• Kung Fu Panda 2

With Tintin probably coming out on top; those predictions are based upon now and, not necessarily my personal opinion, but what I believe the Academy will choose. Also, this is discounting films not yet released and ones I haven't seen; also, it's hard to count out Aardman, so I wouldn't rule out Arthur Christmas yet (stay tuned for a review of that in two weeks).

I guess we'll just have to wait and see, we're only at the start of the journey now anyway.

Thanks to The Pixar Blog.

Aardman News 6 - Trailers Galore and More

The stop-motion giants, Aardman, have been hard at work, in collaboration with Sony Pictures Animation, making their next two feature films, the CGI film, Arthur Christmas, due out this November and the stop-motion film, The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists (internationally known as The Pirates! Band of Misfits) due out March next year, and, today, we get to see some new clips and trailers from both.

Firstly, we have the next theatrical trailer for The Pirates (above), from Peter Lord, the director of Chicken Run, and it is looking phenomenal, as is to be expected from Aardman; funny, clever and with an all-star voice cast, look out for The Pirates as a top animation contender next year.



Secondly, we get a couple of clips promoting the ever approaching release of Arthur Christmas, which, likewise, looks phenomenal. Anyone who knows me personally, or indeed has spoke to me a bit, knows how much I love Christmas, Christmas films included, and I can't wait to see Arthur Christmas in all its glory on the big screen. The extended version of the clip is embedded above, the shorter version can be viewed here.

Although, if I was to fault Aardman, I'd say November 11 seems a trifle early for a Christmas film... nonetheless, we also get a couple of tidbits of news from the studio:

• In news that may not please all, Justin Bieber's version of Santa Claus is Comin' To Town is set to play over the end credits of Arthur Christmas - full story here.
• Secondly, James McAvoy, the voice of the eponymous Arthur is set to appear on the Graham Norton show later tonight on BBC One to talk about his role in the upcoming film - full story here.
• The Guardian has a very interesting interview with The Pirates director, Peter Lord, and a visit to Aardman's Bristol home - full article here.
• Finally, watch the below video. I command it. It's Aardman's latest short film, Pythagasaurus, and it's fantastic. It's hilarious, wonderfully animated, beautifully simple and is, simply, Aardman at it's finest (beware, however, of some mild use of adult language if watching with young kids) - full story here.

Aardman News 5 - Arthur Christmas Trailers and Park's Back

Finally we have enough substantial Aardman news to return to the Aardman News feature here on the blog as today we get a couple of big Aardman nuggets to think about.

Firstly, we have two new, full length, trailers for Aardman's next feature film, the CGI film, Arthur Christmas. Arthur Christmas, a film about how Santa really delivers presents to every child in the world in one night, and what happens, when he misses one, stars the voice talent of James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Jim Broadbent and Bill Nighy (a pretty all-star British cast to say the least) and is directed by Sarah Smith.

The trailers (UK one above, US one below) are fantastic, witty and provide far more details on plot, characters and looks at the breath taking, stop motion immitating, CGI animation used in the film - I particularly liked the bit concerning the reindeers' names: "Dasher. Dancer. What are the others called? I could never ruddy remember... Bambi?".

In addition to these two brilliant trailers for the studio's next film (on which they are collaborating with Sony Pictures Animation - the studio behind Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs) we get the extremely exciting news (courtesy of Bleeding Cool) that Wallace and Gromit creator, and four time Academy Award winner, Nick Park is working on a new project!

We currently know nothing of the project other than the fact that it is NOT a Wallace and Gromit film, but that it will be made using Aardman's trademark, stop motion style, as opposed to the CGI animation of Arthur Christmas.

I couldn't be more excited about all things Aardman!

Thanks to Bleeding Cool and Slash Film.

New Arthur Christmas Trailer

Just as I finished posting about the trailer for Aardman's next stop motion film, The Pirates, I noticed that Aardman and Sony have released the trailer for the pair's next film before that, Arthur Christmas.

Although Aardman's main talent has always been stop motion animation, I must admit, this looks absolutely fantastic, the CGI is gorgeous, the polar bear bit in the trailer was hilarious. I just love the entire idea of the film, and Arthur hit the nail on the head, I am already looking forward to Christmas!

I'm loving the Aardman news rollout and can't wait for any of their releases.

DISCUSS: Most Anticipated Animated Film?

Moments ago, I detailed why Brave is my most anticipated animated film; for a wide variety of reasons, it's the animated film that I most want to see. However, there are many more animated films that I want to see, and it occurs to me that (for some reason), people don't always agree with me. So, SOUND OFF, what's the animated film you most want to see? Arthur Christmas? Puss in Boots? The Pirates? Monsters University? Kung Fu Panda 3? The Croods? Something else?

Let your voice be heard. Comment below.

Aardman News 4 - Straight from Annecy

We've seen a lot out of the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, lots of details on the Pixar short, La Luna, and thanks to Aardman Co-Owener Peter Lord's Twitter, we get an article with some in-depth looks and thoughts on Aardman's upcoming slate, Arthur Christmas and The Pirates. The article tells us that Arthur Christmas is fantastic and a great twist on the rather stale Christmas film niche, it also gives us more insight into the film's plot - seeing Arthur and his granddad (the former Santa Claus) travel around the world in the old fashioned sleigh to deliver one last present that was left behind. It sounds great and Skwigly seem to agree, the animation style (CGI here, rather than the trademark Aardman stop-motion) looks great and distinctly Aardman.

The article also gives us a little more details on Aardman's 2012 stop-motion film, The Pirates, which is said to be even more impressive and visually stunning and massively impressive, as well as hilarious. The article also gives us an insight into the genesis of the film, and apparently it has been on the table since the 1990s, but DreamWorks told them that no one would pay to see a pirate film. Since then and the success of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, the film has been put under full production and is being directed by Peter Lord and is set to be released in 2012.

I can't wait to see either of these films, I love anything out of Aardman and would encourage you all to head over to Skwigly to read the full article, it's incredibly interesting.

The Ones That Got Away

Over the years, the big animation companies in the business have had story staff, animator and director losses left, right and centre, some of them more devastating than others. Here is a breakdown of some of the big losses, for the big companies:

The Big Blue Losses
Perhaps no company has suffered bigger losses than Blue Sky Studios, it recently lost a large amount of important staff members:

• Chris Meledandri, perhaps the biggest hit to Blue Sky Studios, one of their former big players decided to take a page out of Jeffrey Katzenberg's book and set up shop for himself, with the help of Universal Studios Meledandri went on to form Illumination Entertainment. The company behind Despicable Me really made a mark for themselves on the box office and audiences alike, Illumination Entertainment and Chris Meledandri could really make BSS pay and knock them off their 3rd place spot and close on Pixar and DreamWorks.
• Chris Renaud, another big loss, the acclaimed director of short film No Time For Nuts and a story artist on Robots, Ice Age 3 and Horton Hears a Who, Renaud went on to direct Illumination Entertainment's debut film, Despicable Me, another shot to BSS.
• Daisuke "Dice" Tsutsumi, formerly a colour key artist and animator at Blue Sky, Dice moved to Pixar in 2007 and made a big impact as the art director on Toy Story 3, helping to infuse a lot of the film's heart, warmth and charm.

The Cheese That Evaded the Mouse
Disney, perhaps the best known animation company of all time, has not been without losses, one of these some of the most devastating we've ever seen for a company:

• Jeffrey Katzenberg, the big one, a former Disney head honcho, left Disney on quite bad terms and decided to try his own hand at running an animation company, out of that desire DreamWorks Animation was born. Katzenberg deserves a lot of credit for creating an animation company out of nothing, that has been huge competition for Disney and Pixar for the last 15 years. Whilst I don't always agree with Katzenberg and his insistence on innuendo, pop culture jokes and sequel after sequel, DreamWorks has made some amazing animated films - Shrek, Shrek 2, Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon - and that's a big feat. However, he's also created a lot of poor filler (*ahem* Bee Movie *ahem* Shrek the Third), regardless DreamWorks great commercial success shows that Disney's letting go of JK may have been a crucial loss.
• Chris Sanders, another big loss, the co-writer and co-director of Disney's Lilo & Stitch also left the Mouse House on bad terms after being relieved of his position on Bolt (then American Dog) by the Lasseter Disney regime due to an alleged inability to listen to the Pixar Brain Trust. However, Sanders went on to DreamWorks and made a huge splash co-directing the fantastic How to Train Your Dragon, stiff competition for Toy Story 3.

The Bulbs that Broke the Lamp's Shine
Arguably the biggest animation company in the game today is Pixar, the studio that delivers hit after hit has suffered very few setbacks over the years, however there are two staff losses that really stand out:

• Doug Sweetland, a massive player at Pixar over the years, an animator on every Pixar film up until Cars, he then directed the fantastic Presto short film (my second favourite Pixar short), however he decided he wanted to be a bigger player. As such, Sweetland left Pixar and went off to Sony Pictures Animation - the studio behind the great Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs - to direct his own feature film, the Familiars, based on the book series by Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson. Not a devastating loss, but a pretty big one all the same.
• Rodrigo Blaas, a former Pixar animator who up and left the Toy Story studio to move to DreamWorks Animation and direct his own film. Blaas is to direct Alma, a film based on his independently created and eerie short film, whilst this doesn't sound too bad, factor in that movie legend Guillermo Del Toro is set to produce, and you have a potential pay-day for DreamWorks and stiff competition for Disney and Pixar

Only Once in a Full Moon
Over the years, DreamWorks haven't had that many losses in terms of staff, however they have had one big loss in terms of creativity:

• Aardman Animations, the company collaborated with DreamWorks on many films over the years, Chicken Run, Wallace and Gromit and Flushed Away, all great films, however they didn't make quite as much money at the Box Office as DreamWorks would've hoped, that and Aardman weren't happy with the credit DreamWorks took for their films. However Aardman have gone on to other partners, Sony Pictures Animation to be precise, and Arthur Christmas (their first collaborative film) looks great, so DreamWorks may rue the day they let Aardman slip away.

I've no doubt that there will be lots of losses on every front to come, however only time will tell what repercussions will come as a result of this.

Aardman News 3

I've just receieved the latest Aardman e-newsletter, which announced that the first trailer for Aardman and Sony Pictures Animation's upcomuing CGI film, Arthur Christmas, is online now. I've been looking forward to this film for a long time and I have to say it looks FANTASTIC.

You can watch the video (embedded above) and read the article about it on Aardman's website.
The film is set to hit cinemas in November 2011.