Early Man | Aardman/Nick Park | 2018 | Eddie Redmayne cast as lead

[Jonwo]

Just now, MovieMan89 said:

Honestly it's miraculous stop motion even gets made at all anymore. The last one to make a profit was possibly Coraline, and even that's debatable if it made a profit. Curse of the Were-Rabbit 13 years ago is the last one to make a healthy profit. 

Shaun the Sheep did $106m on a $25m budget, that's a good ROI.

[MovieMan89]

1 minute ago, Jonwo said:

Shaun the Sheep did $106m on a $25m budget, that's a good ROI.

Oh wow, didn't know it was that cheap. Assumed it was the typical $50-60m Aardman budget. 20-30m budgets are probably the only way the medium will survive at this point. 

Edited January 14, 2018 by MovieMan89

[AniNate]

It certainly helps to have a legacy fortune or a financially successful and Oscar nominated live action film to give you some clout

[Jonwo]

3 minutes ago, MovieMan89 said:

Oh wow, didn't know it was that cheap. Assumed it was the typical $50-60m Aardman budget. 20-30m budgets are probably the only way the medium will survive at this point. 

The models for Shaun and co already exists so it was basically building a few new sets and characters not to mention there was no famous voice actors to pay unless Early Man which has Redmayne and Hiddleston. 

 

Aardman makes most its money from other sources and the income from licensing Wallace and Gromit, Creature Comforts and Shaun the Sheep, the fact they make one movie every couple of years is due to how it takes to develop and make a stop motion film, Shaun the Sheep 2 is the exception as that's cheap to make and they don't have to build much from scratch. 

 

 

[MovieMan89]

14 minutes ago, Jonwo said:

The models for Shaun and co already exists so it was basically building a few new sets and characters not to mention there was no famous voice actors to pay unless Early Man which has Redmayne and Hiddleston. 

 

Aardman makes most its money from other sources and the income from licensing Wallace and Gromit, Creature Comforts and Shaun the Sheep, the fact they make one movie every couple of years is due to how it takes to develop and make a stop motion film, Shaun the Sheep 2 is the exception as that's cheap to make and they don't have to build much from scratch. 

 

 

I still feel like the medium is going to need a bonafide success soon to keep it afloat. Chicken Run, Were-Rabbit, Coraline, and Nightmare's developing legacy and enduring popularity last decade made it so that it stayed justifiable for them to keep going this decade with the budgets they typically require. But this decade it has just been grim all around for stop motion in terms of success. Sounds like Shaun got lucky to be able to reuse assets, but for the most part I'd imagine it's pretty hard for these studios to make the films under $50m. And I don't know how much longer studios will want to feasibly greenlight and distribute those budgets if something doesn't show soon that the medium can still be relevant enough to be capable of actual profit.

 

I'm hoping Wes Anderson has developed a large enough committed fanbase now that Isle of Dogs will surprise and do 100-120 or so WW. Of course that's also assuming the budget isn't much more than Fantastic Mr. Fox's $40m. 

Edited January 14, 2018 by MovieMan89

[Fancyarcher]

12 minutes ago, Jonwo said:

Studiocanal sells the OS rights aside from a handful of countries to recoup the budget much like Lionsgate does. It also has funding from the BFI and Amazon but I think Studiocanal sees Aardman films as a long term investment to build their family slate

Aardman is just basically another studio for Studiocanal at this point, only they make animated films. 

[Jonwo]

15 minutes ago, MovieMan89 said:

I still feel like the medium is going to need a bonafide success soon to keep it afloat. Chicken Run, Were-Rabbit, Coraline, and Nightmare's developing legacy and enduring popularity last decade made it so that it stayed justifiable for them to keep going this decade with the budgets they typically require. But this decade it has just been grim all around for stop motion in terms of success. Sounds like Shaun got lucky to be able to reuse assets, but for the most part I'd imagine it's pretty hard for these studios to make the films under $50m. And I don't know how much longer studios will want to feasibly greenlight and distribute those budgets if something doesn't show soon that the medium can still be relevant enough to be capable of actual profit. 

Laika and Aardman aren't ever going to compete with the big boys of animations and the advantage both have is that they're distributed by studios who aren't expecting huge numbers and in some cases, there is public money, the BFI for example part funded Early Man with Studiocanal. A big box office total is nice but in the long run, these films will make money

11 minutes ago, Fancyarcher said:

Aardman is just basically another studio for Studiocanal at this point, only they make animated films. 

Studiocanal proved with Paddington that a family film not from the American studios can be successful. Shaun wasn't a huge hit but it made money. 

Edited January 14, 2018 by Jonwo

[MovieMan89]

^I'm not talking about a "big" box office though and certainly not competing with the big animation studios, I'm just saying stop-motion movies aren't even capable of doubling their budgets this decade. Shaun being the exception, but again you already stated why that was able to be so cheap. 

[DAJK]

Wait, this is releasing the same weekend as Black Panther AND Samson??? 

 

Rip

 

[Morieris]

I'll see this....after BP.

 

Chances are good it's going to be at the Regal and BP at the AMC because our AMC and Regal trade off MCU films and Ragnarok was at the Regal so whoo it all works out.

[That One Girl]

Rated PG for rude humor and some action

[dudalb]

Huge Wallace and Gromit fan, So I will be seeing this.

[Porthos]

7 hours ago, dudalb said:

Huge Wallace and Gromit fan, So I will be seeing this.

 

 

(Hey, I can poke fun at myself from time to time )

 

---

 

I'm a Wallace and Gromit fan myself (more the older ones than the newest ones), so I'm intrigued as well.   Probably catch it on a Discount Tuesday though, if I do. Do like their style of humor, so we'll see.  Fingers crossed it does acceptable.

[Eric Duncan]

 

[YM!]

I laughed.

[Morieris]

Was there monarchies in the Bronze Age?

 

I know the Stone Age had queens 

I'm not taking this too seriously, it's a talking bird! and it is pretty funny. Still can't believe that's Tom Hiddleston as the bad guy.

[AndyK]

Morph has come a long way.

[wildphantom]

Saw it this morning. 

Found it enjoyable enough, if very slight and inferior to most of their other movies.

 

Worth the price of admission just to see the animation. There’s a magic to Aardman’s craft that is still something to behold. 

[Porthos]

Early Man will live up to its name here in the States, as its previews will start at 5pm next Thursday.  It's gonna get utterly crushed against Black Panther, but we all knew that any way.  Still interesting they're going for a 5pm preview. Probably because of the age demo they're targeting.  And, hell, who knows.  Maybe they have their fingers crossed that they can get some families to see Early Man and then go see Black Panther.  Can't be many peeps who are going to do that.

 

But at 90 minutes long, seeing this at 5pm and then BP at 7pm (when the first non-Fan Event, first 2D showings start) is pretty feasible.  If not very likely to happen.

[Eric Duncan]

15 minutes ago, Porthos said:

Early Man will live up to its name here in the States, as its previews will start at 5pm next Thursday.  It's gonna get utterly crushed against Black Panther, but we all knew that any way.  Still interesting they're going for a 5pm preview. Probably because of the age demo they're targeting.  And, hell, who knows.  Maybe they have their fingers crossed that they can get some families to see Early Man and then go see Black Panther.  Can't be many peeps who are going to do that.

 

But at 90 minutes long, seeing this at 5pm and then BP at 7pm (when the first non-Fan Event, first 2D showings start) is pretty feasible.  If not very likely to happen.

I believe most kids movies get 5 PM previews. I'm sure someone else has a longer list, but in terms of examples, Goosebumps, Pan, Ice Age 5, and Lego Batman all had them off the top of my head.