Every major CGI studio has its franchise series going these days, that acts as a "can't lose" (they hope!) money generator with audiences while they cast about for the next big hit series.
Pixar has Toy Story, starring Tim Allen and Tom Hanks, DreamWorks Animation has Shrek with Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and an ever-expanding cast, and Twentieth Century Fox/Blue Sky Animation has the Ice Age series, starring Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Dennis Leary and (after 2006's Ice Age: The Meltdown) Queen Latifah.
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs Stand-Up Poster
Coming Soon scored a look at the stand-up for the next installment in the saga, called Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. Yes, it's a blurry image but what can be seen doesn't exactly inspire confidence as to the quality of this flick.
Actually, imagine the polar opposite of such things as 'confidence,' 'anticipation,' and "OMG, I gotta be the first in line to see this movie!" and you have pretty much what this concept inspires.
The most worrying aspect of this poster comes from the giant-sized T-Rex about to devour Romano's woolly mammoth, Leary's saber-toothed tiger and Leguizamo's sloth. The animators at Fox/Blue Sky have clearly forgotten their history: the two ice ages killed off all the dinosaurs (being reptiles, they couldn't handle the cold). Not only that, the previous flick, 2006's Ice Age: The Meltdown, showed the various characters not knowing how to handle the fact that the Ice Age was just about over. So now these guys are going back in time?
There are two possible explanations for this.
- The first theory is that the writers thought up a Lost World-type scenario, which features the main characters getting dumped in some tropical paradise where the dinosaurs somehow managed to survive.
- Either that, or they run into some kindly industrialist who clones dinosaurs from frog DNA in order to make a dinosaur theme park, but a venal researcher deactivates the security systems, allowing the nasty reptiles to run amuck. Steven Spielberg is on Line 4, folks, and he's not happy.
What's clear is that Twentieth Century Fox wants another Ice Age movie. Ice Age: The Meltdown managed to get past the Animation Glut of 2006, earning a respectable $192 million domestically but over $400 million internationally, making it the most profitable North American animated flick in overseas markets for that year. So Fox and Blue Sky need new adventures for Manny, Sid, Diego and Ellie and they need them now, and screw such notions as decent storytelling and plausibility.
That's a dangerous game to play. DreamWorks' Shrek the Third managed to rack up some hella box office ($321 million in domestic box office) despite many critics feeling the series had jumped the shark, but there's only many times you can pull that before the audience turns on you.
Will Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs pull the T-Rex out of the hat, or will it be the death knell for the franchise? Find out when Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs lumbers into theatres sometime in 2009.
You can check out the full-sized image by clicking over here.
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