History Trivia / RiseOfTheGuardians

* TheWikiRule: [[http://riseoftheguardians.wikia.com/wiki/Rise_of_the_Guardians_Wiki Here]] is the wikia for the movie.

* TheMerch: Images found at the Rise Of The Guardians wiki show that there were plans to release a big merchandising campaign with the movie hoping to attract a kid audience. Everything was included from a spring theme clothing line (featuring Bunny and Toothiana) to Jack Frost toy staffs and pajamas which, unfortunately, failed to materialize likely due to the poor reception of the movie.

* DoingItForTheArt: The directors' commentary consists almost entirely of the directors geeking out over how beautiful the movie is and giving a ShoutOut to the designers and animators who made it so.

* FollowTheLeader: Averted, as while 'Santa's Elves' act more like [[WesternAnimation/DespicableMe the Minions]] in the [[NeverTrustATrailer trailers]], they're actually more capable and moody in the actual film.

* OldShame: While beloved by fans, you'll hardly find it mentioned by [=DreamWorks=] thanks to its flop. ''[=DreamWorks=] Universe of Legends'' features Jack Frost, Pitch Black and a Nightmare as playable heroes, but primarily to fill up roster space and none of the other guardians appear.

* ImageSource: KidsMealToy

* FanNickname: North is Heavy Weapons Santa, especially among the ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' fandom, due to his resemblance in size, mannerism, and nationality to a certain, well, Heavy Weapons Guy.

* VindicatedByCable: When released, ''Rise of the Guardians'' found itself in fourth place at the Box Office by ''[[Literature/{{Twilight}} The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2]]'', ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'', and ''Film/{{Lincoln}}''. On video, ''Rise of the Guardians'' finally found its audience on cable.

* BoxOfficeBomb: The movie lost the studio $87 million. The losses forced [=DreamWorks=] to lay off over three hundred workers.

* AcclaimedFlop: Critics did like the movie, but it's considered a box-office failure for Creator/DreamWorksAnimation since the actual revenue did not meet the cost of production and advertisement. The losses forced [=DreamWorks=] to lay off over three hundred workers.

* BoxOfficeBomb: The movie lost the studio $87 million.

* FanNickname:
** North is Heavy Weapons Santa, especially among the ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' fandom, due to his resemblance in size, mannerism, and nationality to a certain, well, Heavy Weapons Guy.
** Jack Frost is called Frostface by those who dislike him.
* FandomLifeCycle: In theatres, it was at Stage 0-1, [[AcclaimedFlop well-received by the few who saw it]]. Following home release, it crept toward Stage 2. With the rise of the superhero genre thanks to ''Film/TheAvengers2012'' and the popularity of Jack/[[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 Elsa]] CrossoverShip, it launched into late Stage 2 / early Stage 3: a CultClassic with massive internet popularity. Sadly, it seems to remain stuck firmly in Stage 3, being not popular enough enough to become a mainstream household name (like ''Franchise/{{Shrek}}'' or ''Franchise/KungFuPanda''), and not enough for Creator/DreamWorksAnimation to give it a new chance at life.

* OldShame: While beloved by fans, you'll hardly find it mentioned by [=DreamWorks=] thanks to its flop. ''[=DreamWorks=] Universe of Legends'' features Jack Frost as a playable hero though.

* FandomLifeCycle: In theatres, it was at Stage 0-1, [[AcclaimedFlop well-received by the few who saw it]]. Following home release, it crept toward Stage 2 with cries of SugarWiki/NeedsMoreLove. With the rise of the superhero genre thanks to ''Film/TheAvengers2012'' and the popularity of Jack/[[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 Elsa]] CrossoverShip, it launched into late Stage 2 / early Stage 3: a CultClassic with massive internet popularity. Sadly, it seems to remain stuck firmly in Stage 3, being not popular enough enough to become a mainstream household name (like ''Franchise/{{Shrek}}'' or ''Franchise/KungFuPanda''), and not enough for Creator/DreamWorksAnimation to give it a new chance at life.

* CreatorKiller:
** Almost at the start. This was the first in-house movie from Creator/DreamWorksAnimation since ''WesternAnimation/SinbadLegendOfTheSevenSeas'' that lost the company money (''WesternAnimation/FlushedAway'' also bombed, but that film was a co-production between DWA and Creator/AardmanAnimations, and the results ended their relationship with them). As a result, [=DreamWorks=] was forced to lay off over 300 employees to compensate for it. Since then, [=DreamWorks=] has come out to the public revealing that they need to focus on their CashCowFranchise(s) to stay afloat, and given that this movie flopped, chances of a sequel are not likely.
** ''Rise of the Guardians'' was the first in a chain of films that were either not critically successful enough or not commercially successful enough due to combined high budgets and marketing costs .(During this period there were three exceptions: ''WesternAnimation/TheCroods'', ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon2'', and ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda3'' which were major hits.) Things came to a head in 2014 when ''WesternAnimation/MrPeabodyAndSherman'' and ''WesternAnimation/PenguinsOfMadagascar'' bombed, with both films claiming the careers of an additional 500+ DWA employees and three critical [=DreamWorks=] Animation executives: Chief Creative Officer Bill Damaschke, Chief Operating Officer Mark Zoradi, and finally, [=DreamWorks=] co-founder/Chief Executive Officer/Disney veteran Jeffrey Katzenberg himself. Katzenberg agreed to sell DWA to [=NBCUniversal=] in 2016, but the agreement forced him to retire from the company (he briefly remained attached as the head of [=DreamWorks=] New Media before leaving to start the streaming service Quibi).

* GenreKiller: It was the last Christmas-themed kids movie that came out after a few ones that were critically praised but were also underperforming as well.

* AcclaimedFlop: Critics did like the movie, but it's considered a box-office failure for Creator/DreamWorksAnimation since the actual revenue did not meet the cost of production and advertisement. In fact, the losses forced [=DreamWorks=] to lay off over three hundred workers!
* AllStarCast: Order of the day for a [=DreamWorks=] animated film.
* BoxOfficeBomb: Lost the studio $87 million.

* FandomLifeCycle: In theatres, it was at Stage 0-1, [[CriticalDissonance well-received by those who saw it]] but so obscure it was an AcclaimedFlop. Following home release, it crept toward Stage 2 with few and far between cries of SugarWiki/NeedsMoreLove. With the rise of the superhero genre thanks to ''Film/TheAvengers2012'' and ''especially'' the runaway popularity ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'', (with many [[JustForFun/SurprisinglySimilarCharacters comparing Jack and Elsa]] and inspiring [[LauncherOfAThousandShips endless]] [[CrossoverShip crossover shipping]]), it launched into late Stage 2 / early Stage 3: a CultClassic with massive internet popularity. Sadly, it seems to remain stuck firmly in Stage 3: popular enough to gain a BrokenBase and HypeBacklash who [[VocalMinority drown out the positive voices]], but not enough to become a mainstream household name (again, like ''Franchise/{{Shrek}}'' or ''Franchise/KungFuPanda''), and not enough for Creator/DreamWorksAnimation to (as yet) [[OldShame give it a new chance at life]].

* FakeNationality: Creator/AlecBaldwin gives North a booming Russian accent.
** Creator/HughJackman (for once) gets to avert this trope in a non-Australian production as Bunnymund.

** Heavy Weapons Santa for North, especially among the ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' fandom, due to his resemblance in size, mannerism, and nationality to a certain, well, Heavy Weapons Guy.
** Jack Frost has earned the nickname Frostface for those who dislike him.

* OldShame: While beloved by fans, you'll hardly find it mentioned by [=DreamWorks=] thanks to its flop. ''DreamWorks Universe of Legends'' features Jack Frost as a playable hero, hinting that [=DreamWorks=] may be coming around on this film; however most of the Guardians are missing and his role seems to only fill space in the roster.

** Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio was originally going to voice Jack Frost, but he dropped out supposedly because of scheduling conflicts. His voice is somewhat higher and would've fit Jack's apparent age more than Creator/ChrisPine's.

* DawsonCasting: Voice casting anyway, maybe. Jack Frost looks like a teenager and his voice is a lot more mature than you'd expect from a teenage boy, though not to the point of being unbelievable. Could cross over into FridgeBrilliance -- Jack's voice letting the audience know that he is [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld much, much older than he looks]]. Also note that in his [[spoiler:flashback scene]], Jack's voice was ''slightly'' more high-pitched.

* IronyAsSheIsCast: The choice of a Russian accent for Santa Claus is amusingly ironic, as Santa actually does not visit Russia at Christmastime; they instead welcome a similar character by the name of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ded_Moroz Ded Moroz]]. Granted, Moroz [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute is an old man with a white beard who frequently wears red and delivers toys to good children in his sleigh]], but Russians are quite adamant that he is ''NOT Santa'', even frequently staging publicity events where [[https://news.err.ee/117406/gallery-santa-claus-ded-moroz-meet-on-bridge-over-narva-river he and Santa meet]] to reinforce the disconnection. Granted, there are a few differences between the two: Ded Moroz visits children on New Year's Eve rather than Christmas Eve (a holdover from the Soviet era, where Christmas was not an official holiday) and he is usually accompanied by his pretty young granddaughter, Snegurochka.

** There were early storyboards depicting a very different plot of the story, in which Toothiana meets Jack first, she promises to get his teeth back, Bunnymund is still a professor-rabbit, etc. The storyboard had Toothiana being kidnapped numerous times and seemed to lead more to the Tooth x Jack ShipTease.
** In the earlier versions of the movie, Tooth had BelligerentSexualTension with Jack.

* FollowTheLeader: Averted, as while 'Santa's Elves' act more like [[WesternAnimation/DespicableMe the Minions]] in the [[NeverTrustATrailer trailers]], they don't in the finished film.
* GenreKiller: Was the last Christmas theme kids movie which was coming right after a few ones, that were critically praise but were also underperforming as well.
* IronyAsSheIsCast: The choice of a Russian accent for Santa Claus is amusingly ironic, as Santa actually does not visit Russia at Christmastime; they instead welcome a similar character by the name of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ded_Moroz Ded Moroz]]. Granted, Moroz [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute is an old man with a white beard who frequently wears red and delivers toys to good children in his sleigh]], but Russians are quite adamant that he is ''NOT Santa'', even frequently staging publicity events where [[https://news.err.ee/117406/gallery-santa-claus-ded-moroz-meet-on-bridge-over-narva-river he and Santa meet]] to reinforce the disconnection. Granted, there are a few differences between the two: Ded Moroz visits children on New Year's Eve rather than Christmas Eve (a holdover from the Soviet era, where Christmas was not an official holiday) and he is usually accompanied by his pretty young granddaughter Snegurochka.

* OldShame: While beloved by fans, you'll hardly find it mentioned by [=DreamWorks=] thanks to its flop. ''DreamWorks Universe of Legends'' features Jack Frost as a playable hero, hinting that [=DreamWorks=] may be coming around on this film, however most of the Guardians are missing and his role seems to only fill space in the roster.

* VindicatedByCable: When released, ''Rise of the Guardians'' found itself in fourth place at the Box Office by ''[[Literature/{{Twilight}} The Twilight Saga-Breaking Dawn - Part 2]]'', ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'', and ''Film/{{Lincoln}}''. On video, ''Rise of the Guardians'' finally found its audience on cable.

** Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio was originally going to voice Jack Frost, but he dropped out supposedly because of schedule conflicts. His voice is somewhat higher and would've fit Jack's apparent age more than Creator/ChrisPine's.
** Creator/JeffBridges, Creator/KevinCostner, Creator/AlbertFinney and Creator/KevinSpacey were considered to voice Santa Claus.

** In the art Book of Rise of the Guardians there are several illustrations of Sandy's Sandship, which flies around the world constantly remaining within the twilight time zone region to help Sandy spread dreams. The ship took many forms all revolving around an ocean theme with the ship even resembling a turtle and whale at one point. The ship was to be included in battle against Pitch, where the Nightmares overpowering the ship and eventually consuming it, with Jack reaching out for [[GoingDownWithTheShip Sandy's hand before he fades as well]].

* FandomLifeCycle: In theatres, it was at Stage 0-1, [[CriticalDissonance well-received by those who saw it]] but so obscure it was an AcclaimedFlop. Following home release, it crept toward Stage 2 with few and far between cries of SugarWiki/NeedsMoreLove. With the rise of the superhero genre thanks to ''Film/TheAvengers2012'' and ''especially'' the runaway popularity ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'', (with many [[JustForFun/SurprisinglySimilarCharacters comparing Jack and Elsa]] and inspiring [[LauncherOfAThousandShips endless]] [[CrossoverShip crossover shipping]]), it launched into late Stage 2 / early Stage 3: a CultClassic with massive internet popularity. Sadly, it seems to remain stuck firmly in Stage 3: popular enough to gain a BrokenBase and HypeBacklash who [[VocalMinority drown out the positive voices]], but not enough to become a mainstream household name (again, like ''Franchise/{{Shrek}}'' or ''Franchise/KungFuPanda''), and not enough for Creator/DreamWorksAnimation to (as yet) [[OldShame give it a new chance at life]].

* StillbornFranchise: ''Rise of the Guardians'' was intended to be the start of a new trilogy for [=DreamWorks=] Animation, but the film's competition with other movies including ''Disney/WreckItRalph'' along with the film's 84 million write down for the company deemed it very unlikely.