History of Sony Pictures Animation Part 2

The first movie to be released after Kristine Belson joined SPA was Hotel Transylvania 2, released September 2015. In this film, Mavis and Johnny (the human boy that Mavis falls in love with in the original film) have a child: A half human/half vampire hybrid named Denis. While Mavis and Johnny go on vacation, Drac has to babysit Denis, and tries to scare him so he can turn into a bat like a vampire. The movie got mixed reviews, but this time better (56% compared to 44% on Rotten Tomatoes), and grossed over 474 million dollars at the box-office. The movie even won the KCA for Favorite Animated Movie over Inside Out and The Peanuts Movie! Perhaps it was because of the introduction of Kakie, a parody of Cookie Monster from Sesame Street, that kids got intrigued in.

The next movie I'll talk about technically isn't from Sony Pictures Animation, but still had involvement of ImageWorks.

In 2016, Sony Pictures Animation took a break, but ImageWorks was still tasked on working on two other animated movies that year for other companies. Since we're going to talk about The Angry Birds Movie 2, we have to talk about The Angry Birds Movie 1, first. Based on the successful mobile video games, the premise of the movie is simple: Pigs invade Bird Island, steal their eggs, and the birds have to fight back. Outside of being 3D while the video games are 2D, The Angry Birds Movie is also notable on changing the birds' designs so they can walk and emote more naturally. The pigs were also redesigned, but otherwise look the same as their game counterparts.

The movie got mixed reviews, but managed to earn over 350 million dollars at the box-office.

In 2017, SPA released three films in a single year. Their first was Smurfs: The Lost Village, released in April. In 2013 or so, after plans for a Smurfs 3 was scrapped, Sony went back to Square 1 and started development on a reboot, instead. Disney and DreamWorks veteran Kelly Asburry was hired as director, and the result was a movie that stays truer to its source material, both story-wise and visually, but got rather harsh reviews from critics. It was also Sony Pictures Animation's first flop since Surf's Up, because it had to compete against Beauty and the Beast and The Boss Baby at the box-office.

In July, Sony released their worst-reviewed film to date, The Emoji Movie. It was about a Meh Emoji named Gene, an Emoji who has several emotions. When he screws up on his first day, Gene travels across Alex's cellphone with Hi-5 and Jailbreak to find a way to fix him. As many said before, The Emoji Movie is a pandering and unengaging character-for-character knockoff of Wreck-it Ralph, Inside Out, and The LEGO Movie. Gene is a copy of Ralph, Hi-5 (the hand Emoji) is a copy of Bing-Bong (Riley's imaginary friend in Inside Out), Jailbreak is a copy of both Vanellope and Wyldstyle (the Elizabeth Banks character from The LEGO Movie), Smiler is a copy of Lord Business (the Will Farrell villain from The LEGO Movie), and even Alex shares some similarities to Riley Anderson. Despite negative reviews, The Emoji Movie managed to earn over 200 million dollars at the box-office, but won four Razzies: Worst Picture, Worst Screenplay, Worst Screen Combo, and Worst Director.

In November, Sony teamed up with The Jim Henson Company and Walden Media (the company behind Chronicles of Narnia, Bridge to Terabithia, Charlotte's Web, and Dora and the Lost City of Gold, among other films) to create a Christian film, The Star. It tells the story of Bo, a donkey who dreams of a life beyond the grain mill. One day, he finds the courage to break free and teams up with a lamb named Ruth and a dove named Dave with lofty expectations. Along with three wisecracking camels and some eccentric stable animals, Bo and his friends follow a star in the sky on the adventure of their dreams, and become part of the greatest story ever told. Rather than being animated at Sony Pictures ImageWorks, The Star was animated at CineSite in Montreal. While the movie had to compete against Coco, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle at the box-office, The Star got mixed reviews and managed to get the Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song.

In July 2018, Drac and the gang returned for an all-new movie with Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation. In this movie, Drac, Mavis, Johnny, Denis, and the rest of the monster gang go on a cruise ship, unaware that the captain wants to kill every monster on Earth by luring them to the Kraken! Once again, Hotel T 3 got mixed to positive reviews from critics and earned over 528 million dollars at the box-office. It was the second highest-grossing animated movie of 2018, only behind Incredibles 2. As I am typing this, there's rumors of a fourth Hotel T movie in development.

In December of that year, SPA released what is perhaps their best film, and the best animated movie of 2018, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. This was one of the most experimental CG animated films in years, with a limited frame rate, no motion blurs on the characters, and a 2.5D look only imagined previously in short films. I actually reviewed this movie back in January 2019, and my review can be viewed in the link below.

https://asateriale.blogspot.com/2019/01/movie-review-spider-man-into-spider.html
Spider-Verse got great reviews, earned over 375 million dollars at the box-office, and won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. It was ImageWorks's first Oscar win in over a decade, and the movie greenlit a sequel and rumors for spinoff films and a TV series!

In August 2019, Red, Chuck, Bomb, and the rest of the flock returned for another adventure with The Angry Birds Movie 2. In this movie, the Birds and the Pigs have to put their differences aside to stop the purple eagle Zeta from destroying both their islands. While the movie didn't do as well as the first film financially ($147 million on a $65 million budget), Angry Birds 2 got better reviews than the original. As I am typing this, this movie is Sony Pictures Animation's most recent film.
As for what's next for Sony Pictures Animation, their next movie will be Connected. The movie will be about a dysfunctional family embarking on a road trip while having to save the world from evil robots. The movie will (hopefully) relate to audiences on how people start using their cellphones more often, ruining family moments.

Connected was originally supposed to be released this September, but because of the Corona Virus outbreak, it will instead be released in October. I might see this movie in theaters because it (once again, hopefully) will be Sony's first animated movie since Smurfs: The Lost Village to have a female protagonist.

Also in development is a movie that Sony's been developing for quite a few years now, Vivo. However, I won't talk about it until January 1st, 2021, when I talk about animated movies that will be released that year.

Well, that concludes the history of Sony Pictures Animation. Next on my movie review schedule will be Niki Caro's Mulan. It will be released on September 4th, but it won't be released in theaters in most territories. Instead, it will be released on Disney+, but you have to pay 30 dollars if you want to watch it. Hopefully, more information will be revealed as the date claws closer.

History of Sony Pictures Animation Part 1

Hi, everybody! Today, I'm going to do something different: I'm going to go over the history of Sony Pictures Animation, the creators of Surf's Up, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Hotel Transylvania, and Spider-Verse. Since there have been up-to-date articles and videos on the histories of Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, DreamWorks, Blue Sky, and even Illumination, I couldn't find any about Sony that went beyond 2017, so I decided to make my own.
For my sanity's sake, I won't do any of the live-action films, which include The Smurfs, The Smurfs 2, Goosebumps, Peter Rabbit, and Goosebumps 2.
The story of Sony Pictures Animation begins in 1992, with the visual effects company Sony Pictures Imageworks. They worked on effects for movies like Last Action Hero, The Net, The Cable Guy, and Paulie. In 2002, impressed by the CG effects in Stuart Little and Stuart Little 2, Imageworks decided to start making animated feature films. They started with the short films The ChubbChubbs and Early Bloomer. The ChubbChubbs was a short about an alien named Meeper, who looks like Mario's dinosaur companion Yoshi, trying to warn the other aliens about a threat known as The ChubbbChubbs, while also protecting adorable chick-like creatures.

In Early Bloomer, a tadpole gets made fun of for sprouting legs, only for the other tadpoles to sprout legs, too.

Both shorts got very good reviews, and The ChubbChubbs even won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Subject. In 2003, shortly after the release of Early Bloomer, Sony Pictures Animation was founded and started production on three films. Their first movie was Open Season, released in September 2006.

Open Season was about a trained bear named Boog, and after meeting a deer named Elliot, he gets released back in the wild and encounters a variety of woodland critters, and has to find a way back home while also confronting game hunter Shaw. The movie is basically Madagascar if it took place in North America, but even less compelling. Anyway, Open Season got mixed to negative reviews, but managed to earn over 200 million dollars on an 85 million dollar budget, and even spawned three direct-to-DVD sequels.

SPA's next feature film was Surf's Up, released in June 2007. Directed by Toy Story 2 director Ash Brannon and Tarzan and Frozen (except Frozen didn't exist yet) director Chris Buck, Surf's Up was about a rockhopper penguin named Cody, who participates in a surfing competition at the tropical Pengu Island. After getting wiped out by a tidal wave, Cody meets Zeke, who's also his hero, and he trains Cody to become the best surfer in order to beat the boastful Tank Evans. The movie actually got good reviews when it was released, and even got the Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature. Unfortunately, the film tanked at the box-office because it had to compete against Shrek the Third, Ratatouille, and The Simpsons Movie.

In September 2009, Sony released Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Based on the book by Judi and Ron Barrett, 'Cloudy' tells the story of an aspiring inventor named Flint Lockwood. He tries improving the lives of the citizens of Swallow Falls, who only eat sardines, with his inventions, but they always end up in a disaster. When one of Flint's inventions actually becomes a success (a device that can turn water into food), however, he becomes more popular and respected. When the food start getting bigger, however, it's up to Flint to destroy what he created.
I know lots of people like this movie, but I have several problems with it. The characters in the movie only eat sardines, despite there being over 30,000 different species of fish, and they don't even bother diving for crustaceans or mollusks, starting their own farms, or even importing food from other countries! I also don't like the character designs, and feel that they're too cartoony.
I know that this movie is meant to embrace the style of cartoons from the 1930s and 1940s, but those, for the most part, starred animals, like Mickey Mouse, Tom and Jerry, the Looney Tunes (though there were occasionally humans in the Looney Tunes cartoons), and Woody Woodpecker. These characters look like they came from Nickelodeon.

If I were director of the film, I would've explained why the characters can't afford other kinds of food and redesign the human characters under supervision from Ralph Eggleston, Kathy Altieri, and David Goetz (pronounced gets).
Nitpicking aside, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs earned over 243 million dollars at the box-office, got great reviews, spawned a sequel, and even a TV series!

In November 2011, Sony released their first co-production with Aardman, Arthur Christmas. The movie tells the story of Santa's youngest son Arthur, who noticed that St. Nick forgot to deliver one present: A bicycle to a young girl in Trelew, England! Now it's up to Arthur, Grandsanta, and a stowaway elf to deliver the present to her by Christmas Morning. While the movie got great reviews, Arthur Christmas only earned $147 million on a $100 million budget.

Sony's next collaboration with Aardman would be The Pirates! Band of Misfits, released in April 2012. This movie was actually not produced by Sony, but distributed by them, similar to how DreamWorks distributed Chicken Run. I actually reviewed this movie back in 2018, and it can be viewed here.
https://asateriale.blogspot.com/2018/01/movie-review-pirates-band-of-misfits.html
Unfortunately, The Pirates! Band of Misfits didn't meet box-office expectations: It had to compete against The Hunger Games and The Lorax at the box-office, and Sony and Aardman quit their partnership.

In September of that year, SPA released Hotel Transylvania, their most successful franchise to date. The concept about Dracula having a daughter and making a hotel for monsters has been floating around the Sony studios since 2006, and was bounced from director to director. Then one day, Genndy Tartakovsky, creator of Dexter's Laboratory and Samurai Jack, took over and had a clear vision for it. This is what he had to say about the movie.
"I took all the esthetics I like from 2D, and applied them here. I don't want to do animation to mimic reality; I want to push reality. I wanted to have an imprint so you'd go 'Well, only Genndy can make this'. It's hard, especially with CG, but I feel that there's a lot of moments that feel that they're very me. So hopefully, it will feel different enough that it has a signature to it."
Anyway, Hotel Transylvania got mixed reviews, but earned over 358 million dollars at the box-office and spawned two sequels and a TV series. There's even rumors of a fourth film in development!

In September 2013, Flint Lockwood and Sam Sparks returned for another adventure with Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2. I've honestly, as I am typing this, never seen this movie in its entirety, but from what I seen, it looks like Jurassic Park but with food animals. The movie got weaker reviews than the original, but managed to earn over 274 million dollars at the box-office.
In February 2015, after an anonymous group tried hacking into Sony to boycott the adult comedy 'The Interview', Sony as a whole had to go under new management. SPA's president went from Michelle Raimo-Kouyate to Kristine Belson, who worked at DreamWorks on films like Bee Movie, How To Train Your Dragon, and The Croods. Much like how John Lasseter had to breathe life back into Walt Disney Animation Studios in 2006, Belson had to reboot the reputation of Sony Pictures Animation. According to a hacked email, the company was in bad shape: They were completely disorganized, animators hated their jobs, great talents were gone, and no respected filmmaker would want to be caught dead at the place. Hannah Minghella and Amy Pascal had this discussion through email during the summer of 2013.
-Low morale negatively impacts talent retention.
-Studio reputation negatively impacts talent recruitment.
-Only one (proven) director in-house: Genndy.
-SPA no longer has the competitive edge it had before Fox, Universal, and Paramount started their animation divisions.
-ImageWorks moving to Vancouver also impacts the competitive edge that came from being LA based.
-Limited financial success compared with other animated titles. What are the drivers of this? Quality? Originality? Marketing? Dating?
-Limited number of active projects/franchises: Cloudy, Hotel T, Smurfs, Popeye.
-Does the relationship with ImageWorks help or hinder SPA?
One of the first things Belson did was to cancel projects that were in development, with the exceptions of a reboot to The Smurfs and a Hotel Transylvania sequel. One of these titles, a CGI Popeye movie, was one of the ideas to get scrapped, despite an amazing animation test.

She also wanted to find new potential franchises that could fuel the studio.
To be continued in Part 2, which will be posted tomorrow.

Movie Review: The Witches

Movie Review: The Witches                                                                                                     7-28-20

Based on the book by Roald Dahl, The Witches was one of Jim Henson’s final projects he’d be involved with, and is about a boy named Luke. His grandmother warns him about witches, who tore off one of her fingers when she was younger. One day, Luke and his grandmother visit a hotel for the weekend, but little does anyone know that a group of witches were holding a meeting to get rid of all the kids in England by turning them into mice! Now Luke, who got turned into a mouse himself, has to save the country before the witches start their plan.

The Witches is another diamond in the rough with great cinematography and on-set locations, life-like animatronics, a strong performance from Angelica Huston, and a story that stays true to Dahl’s work.

One of the witches trying to seduce Luke with a pet snake.

Also noteworthy are the grotesque prosthetic makeup for the witch characters, which easily rivals the most advanced motion-capture technology.

I don’t have much to complain about for this movie, though I personally wish there were more animatronics. However, it’s understandable, since Jim was also working on The Jim Henson Hour and planning on selling the Muppets to Disney.*

This isn't a trained mouse; It is, in fact, a puppet.

In conclusion, The Witches may not be as good as the three original Muppet movies (The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, and The Muppets Take Manhattan), The Witches is a fun family film for those too young or sensitive for The Dark Crystal or Labyrinth.

Rating: 3.45 stars out of 5.

*Near the end of his lifetime, Jim Henson was planning to sell the Muppets to Disney. He felt that if there was one company who kept their characters alive long after their creators died, it was Disney. Jim’s deal with Disney included not just making more TV shows and movies, but also theme park attractions. In fact, the TV special ‘The Muppets at Walt Disney World’ was all about the Muppets being inducted into the Disney family.

Unfortunately, ten days after the special aired, Jim Henson passed away at the age of 53 from pneumonia. Disney and The Jim Henson Company cancelled their agreements, but after the box-office failure of ‘Muppets From Space’ and the lackluster direct-to-video movie ‘Kermit’s Swamp Years’, the JHC sold the Muppets to Disney in 2004.