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It’s bad enough that Happy Feet Two went over budget by $50 million. Or that my sources say Warner Bros plugged it figuring the sequel to the smash-hit 2006 Best Animation Oscar winner would be another big earner. But it’s not. 
The holiday pic is tanking. Now comes even worse Christmas news. According to an online article today in IF magazine, the Australian digital production company behind Happy Feet Two is laying off 600 staffers in early December. Sydney-based Dr D Studios is the 2007 joint venture between filmmaker George Miller’s and producer Doug Mitchell’s Kennedy Miller Mitchell, which is Australia’s most successful production company, in partnership with The Mapp family’s Omnilab Media Group, which is Australia’s largest film services company. Dr D Studios was intended to rival Peter Jackson’s Weta Digital in New Zealand as a home for high-end effects and digital feature film production. The IF article says some employees were also offered positions at a new company that KMM plans to set up early next year. Now, a retrenchment like this usually follows the end of a big-budget film like Happy Feet Two, and KMM’s Doug Mitchell recently said the business was restructuring as it faced a production gap before the Dr D’s next production, the 4th Mad Max film titled Fury Road.
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I blame the Twilight movie for making Happy Feet Two not perform well. There were far too many animated movies this year, and that probably didn’t help HF2, either. But HF2 was a great little movie. It still has a lot of openings in other parts of the world, so it will bring in more money over the next month of two. Then there will be DVD sales.
I hope the Aussie film industry hangs in there and continues to prosper.
Twilight had nothing to so with this crappy movie falling on its face. I knew it was in trouble when both of my kids showed zero interest.
I hope the executive who greenlit this pile of shi- get axed: if you make shitty sequels to create a brand instead of entertainment you deserve to be drawn and quartered. Pink slip is getting off easy
Not surprising. Maybe they will start to layoff the dang sequels.
Bitches should have been nicer to Brittany Murphy. she’s laughing at ya’ll. Her voice is missed <3
I logged on to comment about how maybe part of it is karma because of how Brittany Murphy was treated. I worked on the same movie w/ Brittany Murphy in 2009 and know it was keeping her going working on it and it could have been, and we can all relate to this when things are going wrong in our lives, the last straw when they shunned her.
Its karma
Very sad news for the animators in Oz…
However, let’s face it — who would use HF2′s ancient hip-hop tracks, except retired wedding DJ’s, in 2011??
LL Cool J’s ‘(Mama said) Knock you Out’ from 1990 !!?,
Janet Jackson’s ‘Rhythm Nation’ from 1989?, or
‘We are the Champions’ (since beginning of time)?! Err, no one –
This stuff is too old for today’s kids and burnt out/ played out for any living adult.
Then you add Robin Williams imitating a black guy — and it IS the 1990′s forreal. So, this was a textbook example of technically perfect, stale fish. Auds could smell it, pole to pole.
None of the original’s songs were what you’d describe as current, and it worked great.
Don’t get bent out of shape because today’s music stinks, T.
100% agreed. Also, they should have made movies with new characters every time until they were established, like Pixar did.
Feels like Warner Bros needs some in-house animation expertise — at least, if they’re going to continue to make animated movies. Maybe Happy Feet 2 and the owl movie are the last ones they plan on making. I might be forgetting something, but do they even have a feature ani division?
I’m curious, did you even to see Happy Feet 2? There was nothing wrong with the animation. It was beautifully done.
The main problem with it was that it was released at a poor time. There’s a LOT of competition out there, and people only have so much money to spend on movies. Last week they chose the Twilight movie, instead. This weekend The Muppet Movie came out. It’s just too much competition, but that does not make HF2 a bad movie.
Go see it!
Perhaps scheduling it on a holiday opening against three other family films AND Twilight + a paucity of advertising is more to blame than the content of the film itself. Parents are taking kids to the Muppets because it is as much/more for us than for them and Arthur Christmas has a Bieber connection and is more blatantly holiday themed. Literally any previous weekend it would have done fine. Maybe not well enough, but certainly better than this week.
“Perhaps scheduling it on a holiday opening against three other family films AND Twilight + a paucity of advertising is more to blame than the content of the film itself.”
There you go, you hit the reason, spot on: too much other competition at this time.
Wasn’t “Happy Feet”, in a way, a sequel or a very inspired by “March of the Penguins” flick?
You can spread dough only so far before it rips.
“Happy Feet” was not inspired by “March of the Penguins”.
“March of the Penguins” and “Happy Feet” were in production at about the same time. In fact, “Happy Feet” started production in 2004, way before “March of the Penguins” was released. “March of the Penguins” came out first only because it didn’t require the years of animation that Happy Feet did.
It’s their own fault. Happy Feet was fine it didn’t need a sequel.
Agreed. ‘Happy Feet’ was in the same boat as ‘Kung Fu Panda.’ People enjoyed it but nobody was asking for a sequel…
Kung Fu Panda 2, Worldwide: $663,024,542 c/o Boxoffice Mojo
Oh! I hope it won’t endanger the sequel to Mad Max.
Would be such a shame to miss that masterpiece that it sure will be.
For myself, I just wonder when Hollywood’s sequelitis will be cured.
Sequel was ill advised – and terrible – if anyone at WB or the production company screened this and thought it would be huge – they need to be fired
Well said. And my five-year-old daughter agrees. Studios need to step it up a few notches and not assume there is a built-in family audience.
Good! Let the Robinov debacle begin!
This isn’t surprising… Hollywood films tank, people lose jobs…
Hollywood’s political experiment just keeps getting worse. There’s much more layoffs to come, I’m afraid… Films are expensive, marketing is expensive… making just over 40-50 million “Ides of March” style just isn’t going to cut it…
And don’t worry, there’s more “pro Obama” projects coming to finish the rest of us off in Hollywood.
There are many reasons this movie didn’t do well, some of which have been already listed here, but your political analysis is bullshit. Give it a rest.
You’re blaming the job losses at an Australian studio on Obama?!? Reaching much?
I am sorry that all those workers will be losing their jobs, especially at this time of year. It really is not their fault.
But maybe, just maybe, it was the studio heads that greenlit yet another sequel. Some stories are fine if they are told in one film. But many studio heads will keep milking the same title until it is dried up – then the crew is usually the victim.
Based on the trailer, HF2 did not look terribly different than the first one. Maybe it was, but if that message was not conveyed to potential audiences, then in the end it really did not matter. Economic realities being what they are, not every family film will find an audience just because it is a family film. Many families may already have the DVD of Happy Feet and did not see the reason to spend their hard-earned dollars to see a sequel that seemed indistinguishable from the original.
Studio heads need to learn a simple lesson – with few exceptions (like the Harry Potter series), audiences are not embracing sequels and reboots and reimaginings like you want us too. Your uninspired approach to content delivery is what accounts for “soft box office”. Hundreds, maybe thousands of good people lose their jobs because of your ignorance and failure to lead.
Happy Feet 2 may have been a genuinely good film, but there was no apparent reason to go see it. Let the creatives be, you know, creative and see if that doesn’t fatten up your bonuses.
Sounds like you haven’t seen Happy Feet 2. It was different than the first one.
More people *need* to go see it, not just take some reviewer’s opinion, or form an opinion based on nothing more than a hunch. It was a good movie.
“then the crew is usually the victim”
Or you could say that the crew was lucky to have had the chance to work on the second film. George Miller et al are trying hard to keep a film industry going in Australia. I say kudos to them.
“before the Dr D’s next production, the 4th Mad Max film titled Fury Road.”
Do we really need another Mad Max film? It might have had a shot a few years ago before Mad Mel self-destructed, but now it would take a complete reboot to distance itself from Gibson.
It is a reboot starring Tom Hardy. Gibson is not connected to the film.
It’s not Mel Gibson any longer. They’ve recast Max with Tom Hardy, of recent “Warrior” and “Inception” fame and the bad guy Bane in the upcoming Batman movie.
Originally it was planned as one long giant take. Or so Dean Semler told me a while ago…
Not sure if that is sticking — but should be interesting. I forgive Miller for Thunderdome.
-RnsW
Happy Feet was an interesting phenomenon. Kids clamoured to see the original because of the cute penguins in the trailer. But when they actually watched the film, they didn’t leave with any lasting attachment. The stories, the characters, the songs failed to make any lasting impression because they were pretty mediocre. Unlike any of the Disney/Pixar or Dreamworks films, my kids have never asked for Happy Feet on DVD, and despite having sat through the Happy Feet Two trailer about a dozen times, never once expressed the slightest interest in seeing the film. Don’t know who sanctioned sexy dancing kid penguins in the trailer, but it didn’t appeal to adults or children.
Spot on. As a father of two this was my experience exactly. Happy feet 2 is tanking because happy feet 1 did not leave audiences “wanting more”. Just once was enough, more than enough, thank you.
“Happy feet 2 is tanking because happy feet 1 did not leave audiences “wanting more”
That is exactly how the looser thinks. `Lets make it all about the money` And this is why TV shows are going to slip down and bore the audience very very soon. Every single season finishes without proper end. To make them want more.. Even the season finale. It gets boring. And soon nobody will be interested. People with that thinking, should be fired before this sickness catches movies too.
Miller was arrogant to setup Dr Digital- WB should never have allowed him to pull the film from Animal who had all the assets and pipe built- though Animal didn’t do themselves any favors.
The Mapps have a string of flops, Miller is no longer an interesting filmmaker- WB would be crazy not to pull Mad Max, though I’d love to see Hardy in the role.
Moving the animation sent the film way over budget and took too long to release, there were 2 more films in the franchise if handled properly. Pulling from the original animation studio was a personal issue for Miller, bad business for Warner to allow it.
No doubt Robinov will punish Miller by pulling Max.
Amen. I miss Murphy soo oooooo much. I just listen to Somebody to Love on the first film’s soundtrack. A HUGE talent. RIP. I’ll always love you Britt.
“I blame the Twilight movie for making Happy Feet Two not perform well. ”
Nice try. I took my five year old and when an hour in she asked if we could leave now I almost bolted out of my seat. It just wasn’t any good. And she isn’t the audience for Twilight. And neither am I.
I’m sorry you didn’t like it. You should have stayed until the end, but perhaps this just wasn’t your type of movie. That’s fair.
It’s a five-year sequel to a movie which people long forgot about. Why did anyone think it was going to be a hit? It should have been DTV if they were going to do a new one. Plus, it probably should’ve been a new movie. I just hope the poor animators find new work, because they don’t deserve to take the fall for the studio’s miscalculation.
AGREE!!!! Also why didn’t WB just wait until the 12/2 to release, when they would have had that date alone. There are no major releases on 12/2.!!
Agreed. And also, 2 months ago I had no idea of the existence of HF2. If they expected the success to be anywhere near the HF1, I should’ve been sick of hearing about HF2.
Happy Feet lacked any kind of attachment factor. The kids I took to see it were mildly entertained but there was none of the rapt attention and reception they’ve paid to other films. By the time they had their coats back on it had already been consigned to the ‘Meh’ file. What / who is there to bring back for Happy Feet Two that audiences want to see? The answer, my friend, is blowing in the unsold tickets. I feel sorry for the animators who have done sterling work nonetheless.
Maybe they shouldn’t have used the song “I’m Bringing Sexy Back” to market a movie for children.
Personally, I am glad it is flopping. I wish more of the crap Hollywood is producing experienced that fate. In these hard economic times the studios had better do more to get people into theaters. Sequels and 3D conversions are not likely to re-invigorate the box office over the long haul. The dearth of creativity and the general contempt many feel towards Hollywood is sure to continue having a negative effect on many Hollywood films.
The risks of sequels costing 5 times that of the original are an issue. Sequels that don’t bring any sort of reinvention to the franchise and cost too much are the issue. Sequels that open on a weekend where the air hs been completely co-opted by the biggest franchise in movie history, that don’t reinvent and cost too much are the real problem. Business is business and with every defining film (although there are less of them) a Studio makes they should be able to take advantage of their commerce. It’s just business. But with so many “smart” people in positions of power, making too much money so that others must be sacrificed for the beach homes that need to be continuously maintained, you would think someone might have said too much money is being spent on a sequel that doesn’t move a creative dial and then releasing it on the worst weekend imaginable, you start to wonder how smart the suits really are. Particularly those in Australia sitting around their holiday tables contemplating what to do next.
Early December??? So much for the holiday sprit. Here’s a nice pink slip for your stocking.
Blame the problem with Happy Feet 2′s piss poor box office performance on a piss poor film. Audiences care far less how a cartoon looks than they want to care about the characters and the storytelling. This cartoon was as bad as rango in that regard–except rango was FAR uglier and poorly “designed.”