Has Wes Anderson’s stop-motion animated adaptation of Roal Dahl’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox” been downgraded from 20th Century Fox to Fox Searchlight?
We had friends in attendance at a recent New York test-screening of the film, but friends of the Film Experience who saw the same screening, say that the Fox Searchlight logo, not the 20th Century Fox one was plastered ontop of the opening credits.
What does that mean exactly? Did the test-screening results go well, but perhaps not gangbusters enough for Fox proper? Do they still feel Anderson’s work is a smaller niche audience and not a big, animated film for kids that will rake in in excess of $50-60 like most animated movies that have hit in the last year (if not significantly much, much higher).
Even “Coraline,” a dark, fairly under-the-radar, in terms of animation, picture grossed $75 million in the U.S. and on the surface, “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” is more accessible and lighter so it should be able to top that, no?
Probably not. Anderson’s “The Darjeeling Limited” which was released by Fox Searchlight only cumed $23 million in the U.S., and not to sound up the alarms, cause a stir or even diss Searchlight, but if ‘Fox’ can’t top ‘Coraline’ (which a downgrade to Searchlight kind of suggests), it must mean, kids-friendly or not, this is still an idiosyncratic Wes Anderson film that 20th Century Fox doesn’t think is going to rule the November box-office. Maybe they just feel the film will play better to his core and while it’s an ardent one, that base is much smaller than most F0x-proper films.
Frankly, Fox Searchlight’s a better place for it and they surely have the muscle, track record and juice to turn it into something with sustaining legs, but you can’t help but think this does mean something, and while not entirely negative or even troublesome, it is a small indication that it’s not an animated mainstream slam dunk (and because it’s Wes it was probably never going to be mainstream). Rumor from /Film say the film’s trailer will be attached to “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs,” which opens July 1st 2009.
“Fantastic Mr. Fox” opens November 13th and our sources at the screenings confirmed that Meryl Streep not Cate Blanchett (as once was the plan) voices the lead Mrs. Fox — the husband of Mr. Fox as voiced by George Clooney. Additional once-rumored voice cast members now confirmed also include Owen Wilson (who’s apparently there for just a second), Michael Gambon (who was already rumored for sometime), Willem Dafoe, Adrien Brody, Jarvis Cocker and Wes Anderson himself. Our guys also said, musically there were songs by Jarvis Cocker, the Beach Boys, some Ennio Morricone, and the theme to Davy Crockett. Film Experience says Angelica Huston also has a brief voice cameo.