$175 million "Mars Needs Moms" opens to $7 million weekend

[control-z]

Link to NYT article that may or may not let you view it. (https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/business/media/15mars.html&OQ=Q5fQ72Q3dQ31)

Personally I haven't heard much at all about this movie, no McDonalds Happy Meal tie-ins and whatnot, sad but true, that's the way publicity works. The animation style didn't look very good, and Mars Needs Moms sounds like the Martians are kidnapping women to breed with them, which doesn't jive with a Disney movie. The NYT article also mentions that 3D movie prices might also hold it back, which I heartily agree with. Let's see, movie tickets are getting more expensive and less people are going, so they come up with a new technology that only half the people want and then charge *more* for tickets? I think I see the problem.

[Skammer]

I don't mind 3D movies, but it's a horrible strategy for kids movies. First of all, my kids are young enough that the movie doesn't have to be in 3D to impress them. I'll pay a few dollars extra to see 3D when I'm going to a movie alone, or even with my wife, but when you're taking the whole family it's just too expensive for a gimmick that's wasted on the kids anyway.

[Ludovic]

Personally I haven't heard much at all about this movie, no McDonalds Happy Meal tie-ins and whatnot, sad but true, that's the way publicity works.You probably haven't seen many movies in the past year. I've only seen a handful of them, but this was heavily flogged before all of them. So much so that I'm surprised it was just released now and not months ago when I was seeing it heavily promoted.

[Swords to Plowshares]

They must not have spent that money on advertising because I have not heard of it.

[sitchensis]

I watch TV all the time and I had no clue what you were talking about. In fact I can’t picture seeing one commercial for the show.

[control-z]

You probably haven't seen many movies in the past year. I've only seen a handful of them, but this was heavily flogged before all of them. So much so that I'm surprised it was just released now and not months ago when I was seeing it heavily promoted.

I went to quite a few, but I don't remember any trailers for this. I saw Inception, Resident Evil (something), Red, Iron Man 2, and True Grit. None were kid movies though.

[Uosdwis R. Dewoh]

Just watched the trailer. Looks like a standard CGI kids film. Here's what's puzzling me. They've hired Seth Green to play the main character through motion capture, but hired someone else to voice act that sounds exactly like Seth Green.:confused:

Hey fellas! If you need a voice actor that sounds exactly like Seth Green, I heard Seth Green's available.

[Marley23]

I think I saw two trailers for this, and no, it didn't look interesting in any way. I don't think I saw any of Zemeckis' motion capture movies; they all looked creepy and unconvincing. If this tells movie studios that not everything that's computer animated will be a hit and that 3-D ticket prices are getting too high, that's great.

[runner pat]

I think I saw two trailers for this, and no, it didn't look interesting in any way. I don't think I saw any of Zemeckis' motion capture movies; they all looked creepy and unconvincing. If this tells movie studios that not everything that's computer animated will be a hit and that 3-D ticket prices are getting too high, that's great.

That's the last conclusion they'll come to.

[WordMan]

I saw previews at 2 or maybe three movies I took my kids to over the past couple of months. They are tweeners, so perhaps a bit old for the movie's target demographic, but their immediate response was "Mars Needs Moms" sounds stupid as a name and a concept - it just reeked of uncoolness. I wouldn't be surprised if most kids felt that way...

[Death of Rats]

Any chance that this is bombing at the same time that the 2D only Rango is making money hand over fist will slow the 3D train for a while?

[Drunky Smurf]

I don't really go to the movies so i had no chance of seeing it there but I did see one commercial for it on tv last week after it opened. It seems like the studio did no marketing for this for some reason.

Rango however I've seen a commercial for on tv almost every day on different channels.

[Gus Gusterson]

Just watched the trailer. Looks like a standard CGI kids film. Here's what's puzzling me. They've hired Seth Green to play the main character through motion capture, but hired someone else to voice act that sounds exactly like Seth Green.:confused:

Hey fellas! If you need a voice actor that sounds exactly like Seth Green, I heard Seth Green's available.They originally recorded Seth Green's voice for the main character but decided that he didn't really sound like a kid so they got a kid to redo all of the lines.

[mrklutz]

I've seen trailers for it quite a bit. I'm pretty easy to please when it comes to cartoons, but this looked terrible. I'm not at all surprised it's bombing.

[Marley23]

That's the last conclusion they'll come to.
It's nice to dream. You never know what conclusions executives are going to draw from the failure of a movie (if any). For all I know, 3-D prices will keep going up and people will keep making bad animation, but it'll be years before we see another movie with "Mom" in the title.

[Skammer]

You would have thought they learned that lesson from "Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot!"

[Unintentionally Blank]

It's unfortunate as I have a soft spot for Berke Breathed, who wrote the original kids story. (Outland, Bloom County, etc)

The story had NOTHING to do with butt blasters.

[Voyager]

Any chance that this is bombing at the same time that the 2D only Rango is making money hand over fist will slow the 3D train for a while?
The message seems to be that audiences are getting less and less willing to tolerate the Zemeckis motion capture method. Which is a good message. I think there was also some talk about it showing that parents aren't willing to spend extra money on 3D movies for kids that the parents will hate.

One more good result of this bomb - Disney killed the Zemeckis Yellow Submarine remake. (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/disney-kills-robert-zemeckis-yellow-167415) Seeing the Beatles with dead eyes would have been rather nasty.

[friedo]

Any chance that this is bombing at the same time that the 2D only Rango is making money hand over fist will slow the 3D train for a while?

Rango got really good reviews. It'll do fairly good business in the coming weeks, despite the mediocre opening.

[Uosdwis R. Dewoh]

I think there was also some talk about it showing that parents aren't willing to spend extra money on 3D movies for kids that the parents will hate.
I don't think parents that hate their kids (now or in the future) are part of Disney's target demographics.;)

They originally recorded Seth Green's voice for the main character but decided that he didn't really sound like a kid so they got a kid to redo all of the lines. I guess that makes sense, though the kid's name is also Seth, which is kinda weird.

[Voyager]

I don't think parents that hate their kids (now or in the future) are part of Disney's target demographics.;)

If a kid likes this movie, I don't know ....

[elfkin477]

Someone I talked to last week thinks that it's failing because the characters are too far into the uncanny valley for kids to enjoy. Thoughts?

[Jeep's Phoenix]

I saw lots of commercials for this on TV...the characters looked way too creepy. I wasn't even aware of the plot or the original story's author until this thread.

[MPB in Salt Lake]

I was part of a test panel who was paid to watch some early-release footage of Mars Needs Moms, and I was brutally honest with them, begging them to re-edit it, telling them that is was among the wost movies that I had EVER previewed.

I guess they didn't listen.....

[Bryan Ekers]

Personally, I don't plan on seeing any 3D movies anytime soon. The gimmick is too distracting when it doesn't work perfectly, which is unfortunately a lot of the time, especially if you got to the theatre late and can't get perfectly-centered seats. 2D will do, thanks, and a weak story isn't going to be improved by adding effects of any kind.

[Max the Immortal]

[Nelson Muntz]HA ha![/Nelson Muntz]

[AuntiePam]

I've seen trailers for it quite a bit. I'm pretty easy to please when it comes to cartoons, but this looked terrible. I'm not at all surprised it's bombing.

I've seen a lot of the trailers too (on TV). It looks awful. If they're using some of the best stuff -- catchy lines, etc. -- for the trailer, yeah, it's gonna suck.

Good point also, about the uncool title.

There's another kids' movie trailer I'm seeing -- I've forgotten the title and I just saw the damn thing an hour ago (it's that memorable). All I remember is "by the people who brought you Despicable Me". It doesn't look good either. Oh! It's Hop! A "save Easter" movie? :dubious:

[Sakuma Drops]

There's another kids' movie trailer I'm seeing -- I've forgotten the title and I just saw the damn thing an hour ago (it's that memorable). All I remember is "by the people who brought you Despicable Me". It doesn't look good either. Oh! It's Hop! A "save Easter" movie? :dubious:Oh yeah, the movie that finally teaches us the truth about jellybeans: they're Easter Bunny poo, don't eat them! :p I noticed that the bumper for this trailer (with the Universal logo) had the Minions from Despicable Me wearing bunny ears. Why didn't they just make a movie (or at least a short film) where the Easter Bunny gets the flu and subcontracts the Minions to make and deliver all his Easter treats instead? I would have paid to see that.

[asterion]

I figure that Hop can be, at best, as good as Greg the Bunny. While the show had its moments, I don't think that's a very high bar.

[furryman]

Oh yeah, the movie that finally teaches us the truth about jellybeans: they're Easter Bunny poo, don't eat them! :p I noticed that the bumper for this trailer (with the Universal logo) had the Minions from Despicable Me wearing bunny ears. Why didn't they just make a movie (or at least a short film) where the Easter Bunny gets the flu and subcontracts the Minions to make and deliver all his Easter treats instead? I would have paid to see that.

I'd love to see a TV series starring the Minions, but I don't think there's a market for silent comedy.

[Loach]

My kids loved it.

[Hal Briston]

Someone I talked to last week thinks that it's failing because the characters are too far into the uncanny valley for kids to enjoy. Thoughts?Saw the trailer for this in front of Tangled, and it was the uncanny valley factor that made me think "no way in hell will I ever see that one". Absolutely horrid looking.

[astro]

Many Culprits in Fall of a Family Film (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/business/media/15mars.html)

LOS ANGELES — In the movie business, sometimes a flop is just a flop. Then there are misses so disastrous that they send signals to broad swaths of Hollywood. “Mars Needs Moms” is shaping up as the second type.

[Lumpy]

Berkeley Breathed wrote the book the movie's based on? That I have to take a look at.

[twickster]

Merged duplicate threads.

[BigT]

I was part of a test panel who was paid to watch some early-release footage of Mars Needs Moms, and I was brutally honest with them, begging them to re-edit it, telling them that is was among the wost movies that I had EVER previewed.

I guess they didn't listen.....

Or, worse, they did listen and still couldn't fix it.

[Khadaji]

I love 3D but Zemeckis makes bad choices for movies - or just makes bad movies.

Why on earth did he think we needed yet another version of A Christmas Carol? I didn't hate it, but c'mon; it has been done to death.

This one just didn't catch my interest. There was nothing in any of the marketing that made me want to see it.

[Labtrash]

I'd love to see a TV series starring the Minions, but I don't think there's a market for silent comedy.

It worked for Pingu, Shaun the Sheep, and currently works for Timmy Time on Disney Channel. I say go for it!!!

[Death of Rats]

There's another kids' movie trailer I'm seeing -- I've forgotten the title and I just saw the damn thing an hour ago (it's that memorable). All I remember is "by the people who brought you Despicable Me". It doesn't look good either. Oh! It's Hop! A "save Easter" movie? :dubious:

My wife and I have an ongoing debate about the content of the balckmail pictures that were used to get James Marsden to appear in this movie.

As for the OP, all of my wife's friends have refused to take thier under-tween aged kids to see it because they feel the concept of Moms being kidnapped would be too disturbing for littler kids, but the movie does not look appealing for older kids.

[Lumpy]

I was part of a test panel who was paid to watch some early-release footage of Mars Needs Moms, and I was brutally honest with them, begging them to re-edit it, telling them that is was among the wost movies that I had EVER previewed.

I guess they didn't listen.....You should have told them "I'm calling my broker and telling him to short Disney, just on the basis of this preview". :)

[Lamia]

I saw previews at 2 or maybe three movies I took my kids to over the past couple of months. They are tweeners, so perhaps a bit old for the movie's target demographic, but their immediate response was "Mars Needs Moms" sounds stupid as a name and a concept - it just reeked of uncoolness. I wouldn't be surprised if most kids felt that way...

As for the OP, all of my wife's friends have refused to take thier under-tween aged kids to see it because they feel the concept of Moms being kidnapped would be too disturbing for littler kids, but the movie does not look appealing for older kids.I don't have kids, but I would guess that these two factors do a lot to explain why families have been staying away in droves. Any kids young enough not to think that the title/concept are incredibly uncool is probably young enough to be frightened by a PG-rated movie about aliens kidnapping mommies. And frankly, if I did have kids I don't think I'd be in a hurry to take them to a movie in which the mean Martian matriarchy abducts human women to raise their Martian children. Maybe I'm mistaken in perceiving a "Back to the kitchen!" message there, but I wouldn't shell out for 3D priced tickets for the entire family just to find out.

There doesn't seem to be anything about this movie that would draw in teens or adults without kids, either. I know almost nothing about Rango, but I can imagine people without kids going to see it on a whim just because they like Johnny Depp or enjoy Westerns.

[BigT]

I just discovered that some of the animation is on IMDB. This (http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2511379737/) doesn't look that bad. I'm impressed, actually. I didn't know we had that level of facial capture. I am very surprised that people are complaining about it if it looks like that.

I guess I do see some uncanny valley problems, but only in stills. In motion, everything looked fake and over exaggerated enough. Maybe the 3D makes that part worse.

[SciFiSam]

Link to NYT article that may or may not let you view it. (https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/business/media/15mars.html&OQ=Q5fQ72Q3dQ31)

Personally I haven't heard much at all about this movie, no McDonalds Happy Meal tie-ins and whatnot, sad but true, that's the way publicity works. The animation style didn't look very good, and Mars Needs Moms sounds like the Martians are kidnapping women to breed with them, which doesn't jive with a Disney movie. The NYT article also mentions that 3D movie prices might also hold it back, which I heartily agree with. Let's see, movie tickets are getting more expensive and less people are going, so they come up with a new technology that only half the people want and then charge *more* for tickets? I think I see the problem.

The Total Film review of this movie made it sound exactly like that was what was going on. I'll see if I can dig out the exact quote later.

[lindsaybluth]

I'll pay a few dollars extra to see 3D when I'm going to a movie alone, or even with my wife, but when you're taking the whole family it's just too expensive for a gimmick that's wasted on the kids anyway.

Agreed, it absolutely is wasted on the kids. My boyfriend's 8 year old sister couldn't care less if the movie is in 3D or imax or whatever. Now, she likes going to see stuff in the omnimax, but she'll look at what's coming up and request nature-y movies (she and I saw Hubble together a few weeks ago). I suspect she wants to see those movies on the big screen because you can't get a nature/science movie at a regular theater; the omnimax is just icing on the cake.

Plus, ultimately you gotta remember that parents have to find it mildly interesting to even consider going. That's why Ratatouille was such an incredible hit - it worked on many levels and had little bits and pieces of adult humor that wouldn't harm the kids at the same time.

[shy guy]

I just discovered that some of the animation is on IMDB. This (http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2511379737/) doesn't look that bad. I'm impressed, actually. I didn't know we had that level of facial capture. I am very surprised that people are complaining about it if it looks like that.

I guess I do see some uncanny valley problems, but only in stills. In motion, everything looked fake and over exaggerated enough. Maybe the 3D makes that part worse.
Whereas from my perspective, that clip could be used as an excellent illustration of everything that is odious and terrible in modern animation. Soulless, ghastly, artless.

[Jeep's Phoenix]

Whereas from my perspective, that clip could be used as an excellent illustration of everything that is odious and terrible in modern animation. Soulless, ghastly, artless.
Wasn't there some big fuss about this type of animation (motion-capture with computer graphics) used to depict humans back when The Polar Express came out? I definitely think the human characters in Mars Needs Moms look better from a rendering standpoint, but when I watched that clip I was so focused on the characters that I wasn't paying attention to anything else. It seemed like they flipped back and forth between human actors with *something* not right, and modern Saturday morning cartoon fare. The facial expressions were definitely "off" -- at some points the faces seemed to be moving in ways not possible with live human muscle.