Trivia / Curious George (2006)

General trivia

• The Other Darrin: In the first movie, Ted was voiced by Will Ferrell; in the sequels, he was voiced by Jeff Bennett. It also counts as a role reprise from the TV series.
• Role Reprise: Frank Welker once again voices George in the four sequels. Likewise, Jeff Bennett reprises the role of Ted (The Man In The Yellow Hat) from the 2006 cartoon for the four sequels.

The original film

• Box Office Bomb: The film just barely broke even, grossing $58 million in America (and $70 million counting worldwide totals) on a $50 million budget. Would've likely become a Franchise Killer without the TV series that followed.
• Breakaway Pop Hit: The film was fairly successful but it was eclipsed by its hit theme song "Upside Down" by Jack Johnson, which became a substantial radio hit. Indeed, his entire soundtrack album is arguably more popular than the movie it was written for.
• Creator Killer: The film's mediocre box office intake led to Universal's in-house studio, Universal Animation Studios, undergoing a slow decline as Universal began outsourcing its productions to other animation studios, with their only in-house work being made since the film's release being two animated series based off Curious George (ironically) and The Land Before Time. Its demise was formally sealed when Universal purchased DreamWorks Animation and merged its television animation operations with Universal's. It's now an In Name Only unit for properties not under the DreamWorks or Illumination Entertainment banner.
• Genre-Killer: Despite its decent success at the box office, the movie had the misfortune of conceding with the decline of theatrically-released traditional animation in the west and only further cemented its status in the 21st century.
• International Coproduction: On the animation end, with animation and paint work shipped off to Canada (Mercury Filmworks and Yowza! Animation), France (Neomis Animation), South Korea (Sunwoo Entertainment), Taiwan (Wang Film Productions) and the Philippines (Toon City)
• Life Imitates Art: Curious George Takes a Job ends with the premiere of a Curious George movie, almost 60 years before the actual release of one
• Saved from Development Hell: The movie had been planned for nearly twenty years.
• Troubled Production: Until Matthew O'Callaghan stepped in, the first movie was very much this.

For the first sequel, Follow That Monkey:

• All-Star Cast: Frank Welker and Jeff Bennett return to their respective roles. They are joined by the likes of Tim Curry, Matt Lauer, Jamie Kennedy, Clint Howard, and Jerry Lewis.
• Billing Displacement: To a degree. The opening sequence credits Frank Welker and Jeff Bennett last despite playing the protagonists. However, it's averted in the end credits, where, among the principle cast, the two actors are credited first.
• He Also Did:
  • Co-writer Chuck Tately also wrote for the cartoon.
  • Director Norton Virgien also worked on Rugrats, and would go on to be the supervising director for Doc McStuffins and Vampirina.
• The Other Darrin:
  • Mr. Bloomsberry was voiced by Dick Van Dyke in the theatrical film while Fred Tatasciore voices him in the first DVD sequel.
  • Nickie Bryar replaces Drew Barrymore as Maggie Dunlop.
• Playing Against Type: Tim Curry voices The Great Piccadilly, a somewhat misguided, but otherwise good hearted circus troop leader.

For the second sequel, Back to the Jungle:

• Acting for Two: Given that Frank Welker is only credited for George, this means that Dee Bradley Baker voiced literally all the other animals in the movie.
• All-Star Cast: We have Frank Welker and Jeff Bennett back in their roles, with major characters voiced by Angela Bassett, John Goodman, and Alexander Polinsky.
• Billing Displacement: Once again played with. Frank Welker and Jeff Bennett are billed third and fourth in the opening sequence, but are given top billing in the closing credits.
• He Also Did: Director Phil Weinstein worked on Aladdin: The Series, Hercules: The Animated Series, House of Mouse, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Hell Boy Animated, and Mickey and the Roadster Racers.

For the third sequel, Royal Monkey:

• Billing Displacement: Actually averted this time. Frank Welker and Jeff Bennett are rightfully given proper billing as the main characters.
• Dawson Casting: Princess Isabel, a young girl, is voiced by 26 year old Daniela Bobadilla .
• Playing Against Type: Production example. Rather than getting Susan Blu, who worked on both the 2006 series and the previous 2 sequels as the voice director, Wes Gleason, who's normally associated with DC animation, is this movie's voice director.
• Recycled Script: This movie is essentially an expanded version of 2 episodes from the cartoon, those being "New Hundley" and "King Doggy". ^note  For the former, there's the plot of an excitable character accidentally switching places with a more no nonsense character. As for the latter, there's the plot of being mistaken for a royal figure.

---