Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank

[Ben]

Really? I mean…really really…?

[gaastra]

$7m is awful. It needs the international box office now to save it. Again surprised it did so bad. Was it due to puss and boots 2 trailer out at the same time? People saw it as a kung fu panda copy or did they just not care to see it? Really did think it would do better.

[Randall]

Okay, gotta ask: Was there anyone else who thought this film could do better than $7M? I mean, it beat my projection by about $5.5M.

[Ben]

Xactly.

And international can’t "save" this: it’s going direct to streaming or as a TV original in a lot of other places, including here in the UK. This was a deranged idea from day one, had a bumpy ride to being completed at all, and then was fumbled in sales to multiple distributors who all took different pieces for different pies. And then it gets dumped out between two or three much higher profile, much more anticipated family pictures. So, yeah, I’m kind of surprised it even made it to $7m too. Whatever the "merits" of the film itself, this was a botched release.

[EricJ]

I had to look up the studio to see which country this came from:
Usually, rule is, the European studios think all US animation is Ice Age and Madagascar, and the Chinese studios think all US animation is Kung Fu Panda.

The passports are a bit mixed, but in the end, it's a Paramount/Nickelodeon Animation, so...of COURSE it was going to go to Netflix. Duh.

[Ben]

Paramount only picked up the US rights once it was finished. They didn’t make the film, hence the bumpy production history I mentioned above.

Multiple versions, directors, animation studios and even distribution, before Paramount (who even then only took the US; it’s further split around the world) stepped in. Universal have it here, for example, as a direct-to-TV "Sky Original", without any Nick branding whatsoever.

More than a bit of a mess, it’s no surprise that it’s finally crashed and burned, after a tortuous path to the screen where the producers have eventually just looked for whatever scraps they could by breaking up and selling off rights to whoever would take them.

[Dacey]

This review…actually makes it sound like I might enjoy this?

https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/revie ... meta-treat

[Ben]

Somebody has to!

[EricJ]

And, on the briefly mentioned subject of Kung Fu Panda: Dragon Knight--
From Thursday to Sunday, EVERY...SINGLE...SOLITARY...YouTube video I opened over the weekend on a particular favorite vintage-toon channel was not a, but THE exact same KFP:DK ad, over and over. And over.

It got to the point that I would innocently, unwittingly open a YouTube video and, a few seconds later, go "....NOOOOOOO!!!!! (sprays noodles everywhere)"

[Ben]

You’ll lose more noodles that way…

[Daniel]

Well, that review convinced me to give this a rental. Doubt it will play free over here.

[Daniel]

Will be released on home video October 18:

Special Features:
Cool Cats and One Hot Dog— Meet Hank (Michael Cera), Jimbo (Samuel L. Jackson) and their nemesis Ika Chu (Ricky Gervais) plus more hilarious characters!
In the Drawing Room with Director Rob Minkoff—Learn to draw the characters with director Rob Minkoff.
Giving Voice to PAWS OF FURY: The Legend of Hank – Voice cast Michael Cera, Samuel L. Jackson, and Ricky Gervais share behind-the-scenes fun and a sneak peek at what happens during voiceover sessions.

[Ben]

Mel Brooks has gone from "based on the film by" to not even getting a credit appearance on the poster/cover art.