Zemekis/Disney To Remake "Yellow Submarine?"

[Drtooth]

Yeah, I mean that's what went wrong with Dinosaur. All the motion capture.

Actually, adding in dialogue at the last minute didn't exactly help things either... the whole movie was just a 90 minute snoozefest. I think it was the worst thing I've seen ever to come out of Disney (animation)... even worse than the totally historically inaccurate (and not too much fun to watch) Pocahontas. What's it to say when you're biggest star is Della Reese? Really... totally dull film. I agree with a lot of critics... had it been a half hour I-Max presentation, it would have been good.

And I snuck into this one. Could you imagine how much I'd have hated it if I actually paid for it? I mean, I saw Viva Rock Vegas the same day. And what does it say when that's a far superior movie? Least I didn't feel like falling alseep during it.

 

[hoopless]

motion capture remake? no thanks.
HOWEVER... if they just freshened up the original with a bit of polish and made it 3D it could be one of the most trippy and exciting cinema experiences with all those bright colours leaping out of the screen

 

[Drtooth]

motion capture remake? no thanks.
HOWEVER... if they just freshened up the original with a bit of polish and made it 3D it could be one of the most trippy and exciting cinema experiences with all those bright colours leaping out of the screen

I fail to see why revival theater is dead. Really. I remember when Disney re-released all of the old movies to theaters when I was younger... like Bambi, 101 Dalmatians, and all that. I know they've done it with more recent films, like NBX and both Toy Stories for the 3-D market... I'd love to see Yellow Submarine re-released in 3-D, just as you said.

Or, again, at LEAST Re-Release the DVD so people don't have to buy it off of internet scalpers for a fortune.

 

[Drtooth]

(Sorry to bump a 5 year old thread, but recent developments made this relevant again... you'll see)

Okay. Remember when this was a thing? That this was going to happen? Well... listen closely...

FFfffPANG!!!!

You know what that's the sound of? A MAJOR Bullet we dodged

Check out this animation reel:

1 minute or so in, you'll see the Blue Meany test animation. He's borderline wearing S&M Biker gear! Check out the concept art on that webpage. This would have been a terrible movie on all levels, especially ugliness.

What's really both sad and hilarious (sadlarious?) is this quote by Zemeckis himself:

That would have been a great one to bring the Beatles back to life. But it’s probably better not to be remade – you’re always behind the 8-ball when do you a remake. It gets harder and harder [to make movies]. With the current state of the industry, it’s difficult to stay passionate about it. The hardest thing for a filmmaker as he’s aging is saying, “How much more of this crap can I take?” It’s tough, I can only do it if I have a script to believe in. Like Flight.

It took him until his Mo-Cap system was discredited to actually say that. Had Mars Needs Moms not bombed terribly and gotten cold shoulders from critics, he would have happily, willingly had this made. He actually gained clarity after realizing this was going to be the worst idea for a film ever. But it could have happened.

So enjoy the horrible concept art (including Max being a fatter version of George Costanza for some reason, and a HORRIFYING Nowhere Man), and be glad this concept never made it past the murky, infested swap it came from.

 

[mr3urious]

It took him until his Mo-Cap system was discredited to actually say that. Had Mars Needs Moms not bombed terribly and gotten cold shoulders from critics, he would have happily, willingly had this made. He actually gained clarity after realizing this was going to be the worst idea for a film ever. But it could have happened.

First Spielberg feels ashamed of neutering E.T., and now Zemeckis says this. I'm still holding my breath on George Lucas saying that the "special" editions of Star Wars were a mistake and that he will be pushing help get the original, unaltered trilogy receive a proper remastering.

 

[Drtooth]

Lucas washed his hands of the franchise, and I'm sure he's still self deluded enough to never renounce them. At this point, I have more faith in Disney pressuring Fox to release the original films somehow. At least, I'm hoping that's likely and Lucas didn't put a clause in the buyout contract to never let them see the light of day. Releasing the original versions of the film would be a license to print money for both Fox and Disney. But Lucas, he's been in his own little world. Back up special feature releases were the best fans got with him in charge.

But back to YS... Zemeckis's moment of clarity after that awful movie bombed somehow hints that he somehow knew it was a bad idea, but would have gone forward with it anyway knowing it was a mistake. On every level, this was a bad idea. YS is an amazing film for the animation. Not that it wouldn't be a relatively good film otherwise, but the visuals and trippy sequences of animation are the film. It surpasses the Beatles aspect. Even if it was Pixar like stylized fun animation instead of the stiff MoCap there's a complete loss of translation.

Now, add to the matter the "things have to look like they would in real life" aspect, Uncanney Valley has passed, and now we're into nightmare territory. The Meanies look frightening. And not in the way they're supposed to be disgusting and evil and dark... they look downright like horrifying monster human hybrid abominations that would hunt you down and kill you in the most sadistic and gorn-y ways imaginable. Unimaginable even. And the one that doesn't looks like George Costanza. That's going to look rough on a Burger King collector's glass. Meanies are supposed to look all together threatening in a goofy way that's surprising. Instead they turned into a violent biker gang of murdermutants.

If Zemeckis wanted to ruin a Beatles project, why not remake the awful cartoon series that makes Ringo into an idiot and that Paul Frees didn't even bother doing anything but generic British accents instead of putting any effort because he didn't care? Seriously. Paul Frees's voice is like music when he's having fun. Any Bullwinkle cartoon will prove that. Heck, I kinda like him a little more than Mel Blanc. But this was just work for him.

 

[charlietheowl]

So glad this didn't get remade, mostly because you know the songs would have been reworked by all sorts of ill-suited musical acts to sell more soundtrack copies. It would have been like the Across the Universe soundtrack but five times worse. Sometimes there's no point in covering a song.

It's too bad we got Mars Needs Moms instead of a Bloom County movie. Opus the Penguin deserved more than just the small holiday special from the early nineties.

 

[D'Snowth]

It's too bad we got Mars Needs Moms instead of a Bloom County movie. Opus the Penguin deserved more than just the small holiday special from the early nineties.

Hey, a GET FUZZY movie was supposedly in the works as well, I don't know whatever happened to that.

 

[Drtooth]

It's too bad we got Mars Needs Moms instead of a Bloom County movie. Opus the Penguin deserved more than just the small holiday special from the early nineties.

Dude... I love Bill's work and all, but he's got his head up himself if he thinks that A Wish for Wings that Work is such a horrible project and hasn't said a nasty thing yet about this ugly film. From what I heard, he got all ticked off that Michael Bell (who was a great fit for Opus, mind you) voiced the penguin instead of the original voice of Winnie the Pooh (was he even still alive then?) By contrast, we have a freaking ugly movie that reflects some of his odd mother issues (that comes across as a little ...eh...unfortunate) that no one actually likes. Hasn't said a thing about that yet.

I'm guessing the fact he thinks Wings that Work was the worstest thing ever is why we haven't seen any Opus animations since. Plus, I don't think a movie would work that well, unless it was more of a storybook story. The political nature of the strip would make a strange film.

Hey, a GET FUZZY movie was supposedly in the works as well, I don't know whatever happened to that.

Maybe Over the Hedge didn't make as much as Dreamworks wanted and they didn't want to fget involved in another comic strip based movie? They had plans for Pearls Before Swine (if the faintest of rumblings had any merit), and nothing went past the consideration stage.

 

[charlietheowl]

Dude... I love Bill's work and all, but he's got his head up himself if he thinks that A Wish for Wings that Work is such a horrible project and hasn't said a nasty thing yet about this ugly film. From what I heard, he got all ticked off that Michael Bell (who was a great fit for Opus, mind you) voiced the penguin instead of the original voice of Winnie the Pooh (was he even still alive then?) By contrast, we have a freaking ugly movie that reflects some of his odd mother issues (that comes across as a little ...eh...unfortunate) that no one actually likes. Hasn't said a thing about that yet.

I'm guessing the fact he thinks Wings that Work was the worstest thing ever is why we haven't seen any Opus animations since. Plus, I don't think a movie would work that well, unless it was more of a storybook story. The political nature of the strip would make a strange film.

In one of the Bloom County books I have, he mentions that in the late 2000s an Opus movie was in development to the point that a screenplay was written and finished, but one of the big sticking points that caused trouble between him and the studio (can't remember if he said which one) was that they didn't want Opus talking to any actual people, like in the strip. From there the whole thing fell apart. No idea what the the plot was, but I'd have to imagine it wasn't political-themed or else it wouldn't have got that far to begin with.

(For what it's worth, I love A Wish For Wings That Work.)