Sony Pictures Animation (SPA) General Thread

Does Arthur Christmas and Pirates even count? Those were Aardman co-productions.

The only way I can see the Popeye movie getting back on track is if it pulls a Deadpool marketing by leaking the script and test footage, causing fans to like it so much that an online campaign rise up to get that movie made. Said campaign ended up forcing thr studio to make the movie with the person who came up with this passion project (in this case Tartakovsky in place of Reynolds) to work on it.

However a test footage of thay film was released and in spite of very positive fan reception it was not enough to force Sony to make the movie (as well as Rocky & Bullwinkle . . . or is that Dreamworks related seeing how its a follow up to Peabody & Sherman).

Still want to see a Popeye movie made. It was about time to revive that franchise for the new generation. Especially with his ongoing rivalry with Saitama.

That was a particular problem for Deadpool because of the way the rights which Fox holds operate. The way superhero movies are going now, we're liable to never get a that could star that character which wouldn't be under the rigid control of Fox (since he's part and parcel of their X-Men rights, and thus they could hold onto the character forever without ever using him as long as they kept making other X-Men related movies) and their desires for their own superhero universe framework - that's why people had to go out of their way to convince Fox to take a chance on the character.

Popeye, meanwhile, isn't in that situation at all. Sony doesn't have sole rights in effective perpetuity to make Popeye movies (they likely have a few years unless they extend it by actually making the movie after all, and depending on the deal they made they might not even have that), and there isn't exactly a race of classic cartoon/comicstrip characters that would color the way any future movies with him are released and received. He's in the standard place a wayward idea is in Hollywood - limbo, until a pitch gets accepted elsewhere.

edited 15th Jul '17 2:07:37 AM by KnownUnknown

I thought we dropped this discussion.

I thought so too. I kept thinking to myself "Dude, do not contribute to this conversation. You promised to drop it and everything."

Changing subject time!

Anyone remember Open Season, namely the first one? I remember liking it the first time I saw it.

Yeah I was the one who revived that subject BTW. What I just entered the topic at the time and wanted to give my input on that and its related to Sony Pictures Animation.

Anyway, yeah I remember that film. It was pretty bland if you ask me from the character designs and story. And it pretty much gets more blander with the sequels which I remembered seeing on Cartoon Network. Seriously, there was a time where Cartoon Network marathon the shit out of the Open Season series. The worst part is they didn't even get Martin Lawrence and Aston Kutcher to return for said cash in sequels, opting for different voice actors who barely nailed the original voice.

Well, at least it ain't Alpha & Omega.

Open Season to me was bland even when I was a kid, and it's even blander to me as an adult.

I never really found the movies to be anything special, either.

I do not subscribe to the idea that SONY canceled Popeye to make The Emoji Movie. It doesn't sound plausible at all, since a movie and studio have tons of minds trying to work together while each having their disagreements and own plans.

Yeah I don't think Sony specifically canned some of their more anticipated projects in favor of other films like The Emoji Movie. I do think it doesn't help the company's image that projects people were actually curious about were rejected or scrapped; while other projects that could be said to be more creatively lacking were picked up.

Maybe the guys in charge of choosing what gets greenlit and what doesn't thinks it's more about the execution of the idea rather than the idea itself.

That's a common mindset, right?

The biggest thing that makes me doubt it?? The Popeye movie is STILL getting made, though with another set of crew members.

Any proof of that?

I remember reading how SPA hired T.J. Fixman from the Ratchet & Clank games to write the Popeye movie, but that was quite a while ago.

Aside from that? Radio silence.

Bump.

An interview with the director of The You-Know-What Movie.

Ok, let's talk about this nice and easy like mature adults. Don't want to get this thread locked, right? Here goes.

So, it's kind of curious that they don't mention anything regarding pre-release criticism for the movie, isn't it?

Personal feelings aside, that's probably for the best. I mean, when you read an interview for a movie, you don't expect the people involved talk about the contempt people may have for the movie, you expect them to talk about the movie itself. Isn't that something? (Nervous grin)

edited 19th Jul '17 12:12:40 PM by TargetmasterJoe

I'm every bit as not confident in this film as you are, even for similar reasons (like the cliche plot), but still, don't push it, please.

I feel like if they had actually gotten someone who was well-versed in emojis, then, if anything, they would have known that the eggplant emoji wouldn't be a misfit emoji. If they did research emojis and why they're popular, then they did kind of a poor job of it from what we've seen so far.

edited 19th Jul '17 4:21:21 PM by kablammin45

Well I'm feeling optimistic: maybe they are aware what the eggplant emoji symbolizes and decided to place him in the misfit category because of its shapely features . . . or maybe I am giving them too much credit to come up with that dirty joke.

Wow, that interview is the most softball questioning I've seen in a while.

Even divorced from context, nothing even remotely challenging was really asked.

Exactly. Nothing about the poor reception it has received since it first announced. Nothing about how this film will stand out from other movies. Hell, nothing about who exactly is profiting from this movie aside from Sony trying too hard to be hip and all those apps that are shamelessly used as product placements.

Seriously, I really want to know what company is profiting on the emoji brand as clearly the movie is a product placement for those icons.

The interview was merely just a promotion to the film based on all the answers I read that tries to convey it as a film that people worked hard on and put a lot of heart into it.

I cant believe there were three studios bidding for the rights

I think it says a lot that we're roughly a week away from the release of this film and there are no reviews out yet. I wouldn't be surprised if they actually prohibited advance screenings up until release day.

Remember this when it comes out: THREE STUDIOS were in a BIDDING WAR for the rights to this!

Can we not make this into another complaint thread about that damn movie?

Pretty sure kyun is just stressing how baffling it is that three studios tried to snag film rights for emojis. Which begs the question: apart from Sony, who else was in that bidding war?

In any case, yeah, we're a week away and nothing resembling a review has been brought up. Barely a good sign.