Illumination presents: How The Grinch Stole Christmas

Okay, we already know it's coming soon. As in "this holiday season" soon.

So maybe we should give it its own thread already? I'm sure everyone's seen the poster with the baby Grinch that had the tagline "He gets meaner." So I won't post it here.

What I will post is this promo/first footage that shows even the Grinch can't say no to the Winter Olympics.

Have a look:

Let's get all the "This'll probably be better than the Jim Carrey version" remarks out of the way. But then again, that movie set such a low bar for quality it would be very easy to be better.

Given how they [Illumination] treated The Lorax, I'm pretty sure this'll be worse the Jim Carrey version.

It'd be nice to be wrong, but given the staggering lack of quality outside two of those Despicable Me movies....

I feel much the same.

That teaser didn't exactly fill me with confidence either.

Keep in mind that the stuff that happens in that trailer probably won't happen in the movie itself.

Well yeah,it's promoting a sporting event,

Unless they decide to change the plot from ruining Christmas to something unrelated (I wouldn't put it past Illumination to be honest)

How much do we know so far about the plot?

It's "How The Grinch Stole Christmas". Everyone knows the plot.

... is his home on Mt Crumpet?? It doesn't seem like he's living in .... a CAVE! If that is his own home, are we to expect that they WILL locate his home on a mountain but decorate the interior like a normal home?? That's not very creative.

Also, glad to see that one of the dogs from The Secret Life Of Pets is still getting work.

To be fair, thr Grinch did live in some house that is not on a mountain in that crossover special he did with The Cat in the Hat.

And parroting what I said about The Lorax in the Illumination Mario Movie thread, I have mixed feelings about the movie; namely that overall it was indeed a faithful adaption to the original story that did a good job at expanding upon the characters and its world as well as conveying its anti consumerism message in a satirical fashion . . . the problem is all the ads and product placements for said film that basically ruins the theme and gives off a manufactured tone once released.

Honestly I hope Illumination learn from their mistake with The Lorax and doesn’t do the same with the Grinch . . . than again, considering the fact the Grinch stole all the Who’s shit just because he is annoyed with their indulgence of said products, maybe blatant product placement will work better in this film than The Lorax as they can actually used that to its advantage (maybe do a subtle Take That to how said ads helped ruin the quality of The Lorax).

As you can see, I’m a bit more optimistic about this movie than I should be. Since its Illumination and all.

It's good to have little faith that they will do this right.

Nobody did, but they knew a new Grinch remake would make money, so they did it anyways.

The one potential saving grace the film has is that it doesn't have the same writers of The Lorax film (who have also been responsible for penning almost every Illumination film; Sing and Minions being the other two exceptions). So we might luck out and this film might actually turn out okay.

As for the Winter Olympics clip....it's harmless enough, I guess.

edited 11th Feb '18 5:37:23 PM by Yeow95

What worries me is the fact that it looks like they're trying to give the Grinch as tragic backstory like in the Jim Carrey version.

Hopefully they'll make the backstory as distinct as possible to prevent it from being too similar.

A new poster is out online.

Oh, joy.

Interesting new plot synopsis. It doesn't sound TOO similar to the Jim Carrey version, that's for sure.

Kind of odd that Cumberbatch is the only actor mentioned, though.

I guess they haven't finalised the cast list for the movie yet seeing as Benedict's the only one mentioned here. Plot does sound interesting though but may need more of the film shown off before we give a verdict.

I've noticed that Illumination seems to like using adult cartoon creator-voice actors in their recent films, like Seth MacFarlane in Sing and Trey Parker in Despicable Me 3. I wonder who it'll be in this film. Maybe Justin Roiland?

edited 7th Mar '18 10:11:45 AM by MrMediaGuy2

Is it an updated synopsis?

Huh. So Cindy-Lou's getting a mildly mischievous streak this time? That's...an interesting twist to things.

Also, something I noticed:

Doesn't the Grinch's heart grow three times its normal size at the end of the story? I saw what you did there, Illumination...

RE: Not establishing any other cast members other than Benedict Cumberbatch: Maybe they're waiting for the first trailer to announce the rest of the cast? Illumination seems to like having a big list of celeb names in the first trailer of their movies... (Anyone else notice that or is it just me?)

So far I'm liking the sound of this story much more than Jim Carrey's The Grinch. Though we still have to expect his back story of him as a child again.

Yeah the plot definitely sounds promising and comes off as an extended version of the animated tv special.

Makes sense for Grinch to be a really grumpy neighbor who does not want to fucking deal with a bigger and louder celebration of the holiday that ruins his tranquility. Plus a B plot that utilize Cindy Lou Who in a reasonable fashion (catching Santa Claus) seems like an interesting spin.

I liked the Jim Carey movie.

Like a snowball to the face, here comes the first trailer!

It was more subdued than I predicted. It could at least be an average film with charm like Sing. I kind of like that in this version Grinch loves doing the Poke the Poodle routine.