Looked like one of their worst films yet. Not surprised it bombed. Animation seems to be having a hard time at the box office this year so far outside of How to Train Your Dragon 3.
I don’t think spending tons of money on marketing is going to fix the problem. The issue of why these movies don’t sell all that well is because of the stop motion. It’s just an animation style that just doesn’t have big appeal as much as people want. Stop motion works best for like scary movies or Gothic horror like The Nightmare Before Christmas. It’s unnatural animation style is perfect for something creepy or something stiff like plastic and that won’t appeal to a lot of people especially kids. I don’t think it’s inherently bad for this or say Kubo and the Two Strings but they would make more money if those movies were just 3D animation. Like I doubt those movies needed to be stop motion to begin with honestly.
“Recent box office disasters were Kubo and Early Man and Isle Of Dogs did mediocre business, though that was hardly aimed at children.”
That sentence is poorly worded, and has improper grammar. Here’s my revised version of that sentence.
“Recently both Kubo and Early man were box office disasters. While Isle of Dogs did mediocrely at the box office (though that film wasn’t directly aimed at children)”
It’s a real shame that this flopped. I think that the release date was one of the big reasons why it didn’t do so well. It had a lot of competition and I think that releasing it in the fall would’ve been a better move. (Then again, DreamWorks is releasing Abominable in the fall. What’s up with all these Bigfoot and yeti movies all of a sudden?) If I had to guess as to what made Missing Link more expensive than their other movies, it’s probably due to the well-known voice cast as well as more of a reliance on CG in order to clean up some things such as backgrounds. I really enjoyed this movie and I hope that more people check it out down the line but I wish the best for Laika and will be there day one for whatever their next project is.
I’m really hoping that $100M budget isn’t true. The majority of Laika’s films hovered around the $60-70M range for their production budgets, and I assumed Missing Link was the same. I can’t understand what made the budget inflate from their usual fare.
Do you happen to have a source of the budget claim, perhaps? Until now it seemed like the budget for the film was a mystery.
Jesus. If Laika didn’t have the Nike CEO as Travis Knight’s father, they would probably be under by now.
Here’s to hoping that their next feature gets better planning. Even with the major studio push, the release date wasn’t great and the marketing wasn’t as representative as it should have been.
This film is still unreleased in Italy.
United Artists is spending a lot of money on an Oscar campaign, I believe with the intention of disguising the box office disaster.
Looks like it worked, they got a nom.
Good news, The Missing Link has led the DVD release!
Missing Link ended it’s run with 16 million.
Thanks Tracey. Updated.
Looked like one of their worst films yet. Not surprised it bombed. Animation seems to be having a hard time at the box office this year so far outside of How to Train Your Dragon 3.
I don’t think spending tons of money on marketing is going to fix the problem. The issue of why these movies don’t sell all that well is because of the stop motion. It’s just an animation style that just doesn’t have big appeal as much as people want. Stop motion works best for like scary movies or Gothic horror like The Nightmare Before Christmas. It’s unnatural animation style is perfect for something creepy or something stiff like plastic and that won’t appeal to a lot of people especially kids. I don’t think it’s inherently bad for this or say Kubo and the Two Strings but they would make more money if those movies were just 3D animation. Like I doubt those movies needed to be stop motion to begin with honestly.
Im surprised that laika isnt closed down yet
Travis Knight is the son of Nike’s founder. Basically, their billions bankroll the company.
“Recent box office disasters were Kubo and Early Man and Isle Of Dogs did mediocre business, though that was hardly aimed at children.”
That sentence is poorly worded, and has improper grammar. Here’s my revised version of that sentence.
“Recently both Kubo and Early man were box office disasters. While Isle of Dogs did mediocrely at the box office (though that film wasn’t directly aimed at children)”
There is no need for a full stop before the Isle of Dogs comment. You could have just put in a comma. Also, it’s “did mediocre”, not “mediocrely”.
It’s a real shame that this flopped. I think that the release date was one of the big reasons why it didn’t do so well. It had a lot of competition and I think that releasing it in the fall would’ve been a better move. (Then again, DreamWorks is releasing Abominable in the fall. What’s up with all these Bigfoot and yeti movies all of a sudden?) If I had to guess as to what made Missing Link more expensive than their other movies, it’s probably due to the well-known voice cast as well as more of a reliance on CG in order to clean up some things such as backgrounds. I really enjoyed this movie and I hope that more people check it out down the line but I wish the best for Laika and will be there day one for whatever their next project is.
WOAH! A 100 million dollar budget? I honestly did not see that coming.
I’m really hoping that $100M budget isn’t true. The majority of Laika’s films hovered around the $60-70M range for their production budgets, and I assumed Missing Link was the same. I can’t understand what made the budget inflate from their usual fare.
Do you happen to have a source of the budget claim, perhaps? Until now it seemed like the budget for the film was a mystery.
Here’s two: https://deadline.com/2018/05/filmnation-china-deal-agc-makes-ingenious-move-carnaby-joins-highway-american-jedi-sales-cannes-briefs-1202386020/
https://variety.com/2018/film/festivals/animation-cannes-fireheart-missing-link-1202805624/
Jesus. If Laika didn’t have the Nike CEO as Travis Knight’s father, they would probably be under by now.
Here’s to hoping that their next feature gets better planning. Even with the major studio push, the release date wasn’t great and the marketing wasn’t as representative as it should have been.