Migration | Universal/Illumination | December 22, 2023

[AniNate]

 

 

 

Probably not gonna move the needle much for anyone not already inclined to give this a chance, but do finally get to hear DeVito's character and the heron a bit.

 

Starting to see some advance screenings be announced for December 16th so Illumination evidently pretty confident the target dem will like it.

[dudalb]

On 11/14/2023 at 6:47 AM, AniNate said:

 

 

 

Probably not gonna move the needle much for anyone not already inclined to give this a chance, but do finally get to hear DeVito's character and the heron a bit.

 

Starting to see some advance screenings be announced for December 16th so Illumination evidently pretty confident the target dem will like it.

You have to give Illumination grudging respect; they make incredibly mediocre movies that all seem pretty much the same, but they all make money. Their marketing skills are much better then their filmmaking skills.

[AniNate]

I know I'm a curse but I'm still holding onto hope it is actually good. I expected Illumination would promote it with the usual emphasis on Illuminationness, but Benjamin Renner is a legit filmmaker and his indie French work has a lot more heart than any Illumination effort has to this point. Rooting for him to get some big Hollywood clout at least, definitely could use a new outside voice.

 

Meledandri has gone on record saying he wanted this to be a more creator-driven movie, and press writeups also have been noting an intentionally slower pace and more focus on character development, and I do think you kind of get hints of that in the trailer even if it's drowned out by record scratch one liners. Can only hope the Rennerness overcame the Illuminationness in the final product.

 

EDIT: Indeed, just came across this nugget:

 

Director Benjamin Renner had a very specific rule whenever it came to making his latest animated feature, Migration: No fart jokes.

 

https://ew.com/migration-benjamin-renner-mike-white-little-miss-sunshine-big-duck-energy-8400438

 

 

Edited November 17, 2023 by AniNate

[AniNate]

John Powell cooking

 

 

[YM!]

 

[AniNate]

 

 

[Mojoguy]

10 minutes ago, AniNate said:

 

 

Why didn't they just call this movie Birds? Who cares if there is a Pixar short called For the Birds already?

Edited November 20, 2023 by Mojoguy

[AniNate]

It's being titled "Ducks" in certain markets, but I frankly like Migration a lot better. 

[YM!]

 

[MysteryMovieMogul]

Over a month to go and they're already using the Minion short to advertise the film.

 

That right there tells me all I need to know about the film itself.

[AniNate]

I mean they've been promoting it with minions since the beginning. Everything illumination does gets promoted with minions. "From director Benjamin Renner" isn't exactly the same kind of selling point for the target audience.

 

In any case, it's getting released earlier in certain European and middle east markets, so word is gonna be out on its quality by the time it's released here.

Edited November 20, 2023 by AniNate

[MysteryMovieMogul]

I mean, even Dreamworks, Pixar, and Disney name drop their older films in trailers.

 

I'm specifically referring to their short film.

 

But to be fair, it may not mean it's a bad film. But it does mean Illumination isn't quite sure it'll be well-received. It's like when Disney put a Frozen short before Pixar's Coco. That ended up being a really good movie and, if I remember correctly, the short was removed after a couple weeks.

[Youngstar]

1 hour ago, AniNate said:

It's being titled "Ducks" in certain markets, but I frankly like Migration a lot better. 

Here in Germany it's called "Raus aus dem Teich" which translates to get out of the pond or getting out of the pond ^^

[AniNate]

I don't expect the same will happen here, ofc. Minions are their most iconic characters and huge fodder for short form slapstick hijinks. Sure, it's fair to say it's Illumination's way of hedging their bets I don't think it means they think the movie's an audience alienating dud.

 

It is relatively short by Hollywood standards apparently at 82 minutes (though on par with Renner's low budget work), so I'm sure the short will help with making it feel more like a full bodied experience, which wasn't really the case with the frozen short which dragged the Coco experience over 2 hours

[Mojoguy]

11 minutes ago, AniNate said:

I don't expect the same will happen here, ofc. Minions are their most iconic characters and huge fodder for short form slapstick hijinks. Sure, it's fair to say it's Illumination's way of hedging their bets I don't think it means they think the movie's an audience alienating dud.

 

It is relatively short by Hollywood standards apparently at 82 minutes (though on par with Renner's low budget work), so I'm sure the short will help with making it feel more like a full bodied experience, which wasn't really the case with the frozen short which dragged the Coco experience over 2 hours

I'm a Frozen fan, but I consider that 30 min Olaf short the worst piece of Frozen media ever released. It was unbearably long and drained all the excitement I had after sitting down to watch Coco. 

Edited November 20, 2023 by Mojoguy

[YachtyLogs]

Was gonna make a joke about how they should've called that Frozen short a Long instead of a short but I couldn't figure out how to phrase it in a funny way so I'll just leave it as that. I hope Mooned isn't that long because that could be a huge detractor from the movie if that's the case. 

[AniNate]

It's about 9 minutes long

[PNF2187]

14 hours ago, MysteryMovieMogul said:

I mean, even Dreamworks, Pixar, and Disney name drop their older films in trailers.

 

I'm specifically referring to their short film.

 

But to be fair, it may not mean it's a bad film. But it does mean Illumination isn't quite sure it'll be well-received. It's like when Disney put a Frozen short before Pixar's Coco. That ended up being a really good movie and, if I remember correctly, the short was removed after a couple weeks.

I think Illumination is just aware that even with their marketing machine, they're going to have a harder time selling this movie to the masses on its own. This is Illumination's first original movie in 7 years, and it's coming at a time when people are less willing to shell out money to see an original movie, even with an existing brand name attached to it. There isn't a load of slapstick pet comedy or an in movie contemporary song for kids to sing along to, so the odds are somewhat stacked against it. Attaching Mooned seems like less of a quality concern and more of a means to get more people to buy tickets for the movie, which is totally reasonable. Disney did it with Elemental and Coco to... results, but I don't really think this a bad omen for Migration, at least in terms of quality. Plus, it has the holidays to leg it out. Trolls and Wish are going to be pushed out in favour of this, and I think this is going to be the best reviewed mainstream animated movie of Q4 (even if that's not a high bar to clear).

[AniNate]

I said it in the animated feature thread but at this point even if it only gets like decent respectable reviews it could end up being an Oscar player, especially if its box office ends up better than Elemental's. Renner has some respect in AMPAS circles, and I feel like they'll be less inclined to hold their nose voting for this compared to Mario.

 

 

Edited November 21, 2023 by AniNate

[AniNate]

Illumination illuminating

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apparently this Thanksgiving parade had the highest viewership ever, so safe to say it got a lot of exposure