The state and future of animation

[GeffreyDrogon]

The Wild had already been in development for quite a few years, even when Madagascar was in development.

[Ben]

Yes. Yes, it had. And only came out a year later, perhaps another result of the Disney-Katzenberg breakup that saw a small rush of similar projects from both studios for a while after, with The Wild having been in development for a long stretch, although not to be confused with the never-made, Roy Disney-hated The Wild Life.

Ultimately, you can’t say if a film would be a hit if another film hadn’t been made. Disney didn’t do a great job of marketing The Wild, as opposed to DWs then huge marketing muscle, though it’s true to say that critics didn’t praise it as much as they might have done if it hadn’t have come afterwards, although the same could be said for Antz and A Bug's Life, and Bugs stomped all over Antz in box-office terms. Personally, I quite like The Wild. I think it’s funny.

[Daniel]

It's amazing how many of those who worked on the film joined the board back in the day!

[Bill1978]

I think I prefer The Wild over Madagascar, but it has been a while since I have watched both.

[ShyViolet]

It's amazing how many of those who worked on the film joined the board back in the day!

I know, that was so cool! I wonder if maybe Spaz will come back eventually. Hopefully, it was really neat having him here!

[GeffreyDrogon]

Honestly, I tend to like Madagascar better than The Wild, because the story makes more sense. In Madagascar, the main characters get stranded on a remote part of Madagascar. In The Wild, there's apparently some kind of rewilding project going on where numerous exotic animals get relocated onto a small, uninhabited island somewhere in the Atlantic. What doesn't make sense about that is why would a bunch of exotic, endangered animals get relocated to an island with a volcano that's about to erupt? Let alone the idea that apparently the native ecosystem of the island would get destroyed from a bunch of animals that were introduced to the island for some inexplicable reason. Also, it makes little sense why a herd of wildebeest would suddenly "go carnivore" when there's plenty of vegetation on that island. Madagascar makes far more sense than the latter film.

Also, I don't think The Wild looks that appealing to look at.

[GeffreyDrogon]

Do you think Disney is going to make live-action remakes of direct-to-video sequels to animated films in the Disney Animation Canon, like The Lion King 2: SImba's Pride or the Aladdin sequels?

[Ben]

No.

[GeffreyDrogon]

Why not? Disney has already remade several of its classic animated films, and most of them were quite successful.

[Ben]

Well, we know that Disney is making sequels to those films, and they are not the DTV stories.

[GeffreyDrogon]

Why wasn't Strange Magic a success despite being made by George Lucas? Though he wasn't the director of that film (sound designer Gary Rydstrom was), it had great animation, a great cast that included Alfred Molina and Alan Cumming, and a mix of well-known songs. He could've made it a success by his name alone, because Star Wars made him famous.

It's like why no one showed up for Everyone's Hero despite having the late Robin Williams in it and with Christopher Reeve being one of the people who made that film.

[EricJ]

...Do you ever actually SEE any of the films you ask "Why weren't they a hit, if they had big stars in them?" about??

(Believe me, if you had seen Strange Magic...you'd remember it.)

[Ben]

Why wasn't Strange Magic a success despite being made by George Lucas?

Because it was sith! Or, er, something like that.

And thanks for the reminder. I’m still trying to delete it from my head.

U-G-L-Y-!


(Everyone’s Hero is a lovely little film, though, that just didn’t find its audience. Williams did it as a favor to his friend Reeve, but as such wanted to be uncredited, which ironically might have helped his friend's film more if they’d been able to include him in the marketing.)

[GeffreyDrogon]

Honestly, it makes little sense why Robin Williams would want to stay uncredited for a film just because his friend Christopher Reeve died.

I also think that film didn't do well because the whole idea of having inanimate objects (a baseball bat and baseball) be sentient in what is supposed to a period piece just doesn't sound appealing to most people.

[Ben]

A brave little toaster says "hi!"