# $175 million "Mars Needs Moms" opens to $7 million weekend **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 24, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/175-million-mars-needs-moms-opens-to-7-million-weekend/575878 "2011-03-24T19:22:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/175-million-mars-needs-moms-opens-to-7-million-weekend/575878/1 "2011-03-24T19:22:13Z")
[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. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/175-million-mars-needs-moms-opens-to-7-million-weekend/575878/2 "2011-03-24T19:30:12Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/175-million-mars-needs-moms-opens-to-7-million-weekend/575878/3 "2011-03-24T19:30:17Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swords_to_Plowshares)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/175-million-mars-needs-moms-opens-to-7-million-weekend/575878/4 "2011-03-24T19:33:14Z")
They must not have spent that money on advertising because I have not heard of it. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/175-million-mars-needs-moms-opens-to-7-million-weekend/575878/5 "2011-03-24T19:34:27Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/175-million-mars-needs-moms-opens-to-7-million-weekend/575878/6 "2011-03-24T19:43:10Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/175-million-mars-needs-moms-opens-to-7-million-weekend/575878/7 "2011-03-24T19:47:56Z")
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.😕 Hey fellas! If you need a voice actor that sounds exactly like Seth Green, I heard Seth Green’s available. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/175-million-mars-needs-moms-opens-to-7-million-weekend/575878/8 "2011-03-24T19:49:48Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/175-million-mars-needs-moms-opens-to-7-million-weekend/575878/9 "2011-03-24T20:00:38Z")
> [@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.** That’s the _last_ conclusion they’ll come to. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/175-million-mars-needs-moms-opens-to-7-million-weekend/575878/10 "2011-03-24T20:08:39Z")
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… ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/175-million-mars-needs-moms-opens-to-7-million-weekend/575878/11 "2011-03-24T20:15:13Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/175-million-mars-needs-moms-opens-to-7-million-weekend/575878/12 "2011-03-24T20:21:07Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Gus\_Gusterson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@Gus\_Gusterson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gus_Gusterson)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/175-million-mars-needs-moms-opens-to-7-million-weekend/575878/13 "2011-03-24T20:23:24Z")
> [@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.😕 > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![mrklutz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@mrklutz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrklutz)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/175-million-mars-needs-moms-opens-to-7-million-weekend/575878/14 "2011-03-24T20:24:06Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/175-million-mars-needs-moms-opens-to-7-million-weekend/575878/15 "2011-03-24T20:25:54Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/175-million-mars-needs-moms-opens-to-7-million-weekend/575878/16 "2011-03-24T20:36:59Z")
You would have thought they learned that lesson from “Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot!” ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/175-million-mars-needs-moms-opens-to-7-million-weekend/575878/17 "2011-03-24T20:45:19Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/175-million-mars-needs-moms-opens-to-7-million-weekend/575878/18 "2011-03-24T21:13:15Z")
> [@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? 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. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/175-million-mars-needs-moms-opens-to-7-million-weekend/575878/19 "2011-03-24T21:17:58Z")
> [@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? Rango got really good reviews. It’ll do fairly good business in the coming weeks, despite the mediocre opening. ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/175-million-mars-needs-moms-opens-to-7-million-weekend/575878/20 "2011-03-24T21:20:04Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > 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.😉 > [@Gus Gusterson](#): > > 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. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/175-million-mars-needs-moms-opens-to-7-million-weekend/575878.md?page=2)