Hmmm...What movies ARE popular at the moment? I've not seen any good or unique kids movies advertised in ages that arn't just sequels or reboots? Anyone else seen anything?
I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'm shocked that there aren't any live action crappy remakes of cartoon shows or halfbaked book adaptions this Summer, relying only on CGI movies and a couple stop motion films. Sure, there are 2 sequels.
Still, there aren't really any trends in kid's movies other than hit or miss live action CGI hybrids. And even then, Chipmunks was REALLY REALLY lucky. Smurfs more so.
Well, vampires was the big thing for a while, but it seems like the zombie craze is coming into light right now, but again, I don't think any of us really would want to see something like THAT.
The thing is, that's what happens when Hollywood finally acknowledges teh internetz. The zombie thing is
played. Really really
played. Zombies are basically a meme. And zombie movies that cash in off that meme are as lame as the older relative that sent you a Rick Roll 4 years later in the middle of October.
Vampires are on the way out, as the last Twilight movie is coming out this year, not to mention the horrible HORRIBLE best selling book that's basically poorly written Twilight fan fic with the names changed to avoid a lawsuit. The only monsters left to ruin are Japanese Kaiju (like Godzilla... though the American Godzilla film did damage), The Mummy (though Brendan Frasier tried), and creatures from the Black Lagoons.
A new movie needs to deal with a real issue. Perhaps bullying or maybe even child abuse. Something real and hard hitting. Sesame street has turned into this odd fairy tale like setting. It needs to get back to reality. It needs to take place in the real worl where grouches live among us and run cruddy diners, not a weird magIcal world where grouches come from some alternate dimension.
Yes, but that's what the show is for. They already dealt with bullies twice in the current season.
FTB had the luxury of being a movie about something. The Child services bit, sure... but also about what a family should be (even though Mrs. Finch only had the best of intentions, she thought) and touching a little on the follies of racial supremacy (at the very least, Birds should be raised by birds). Of course the family messages stick out much better.
EIG didn't for multiple reasons. First of all, like I said, issues are addressed through the show in much more subtle ways (just not that much at that point), and secondly, they just wanted a happy little film for 3 year olds that sold Elmo dolls. It came of very plastic and inorganic compared to FTB, but it was also escapist and made exclusively for 3 year olds who don't care about subtlety, with some gags thrown in to keep the adults relatively awake.
This next film will no doubt be an escapist cartoony film. There isn't anything wrong with that, but EVERY kid's film has to shove a message in at some point. Even less obvious ones, like the first Chipmunks movie's candy coated blast at the music industry (the part where Uncle Ian tempts the boys with riches and gadgets, then throws them into a cage to force them to perform over and over...
that's a standard recording contract!) Soon, people are going to get sick of messages and just want something completely mindless. Especially since most messages in kid's movies are hypocritical and plastic. I especially like the "be yourself! The world loves a unique person" message they shove into franchises and books that that the studio execs make them change the story of.