Unrealistic Expectations for Chicken Little

Chicken Little is one of those projects that I catch myself really looking forward to that no one else seems interested in. I remember a few months back I put up a couple of posts with some Chicken Little news and most of the comments and feedback were neutral to negative about the whole thing.

Chicken Little represents Disney’s first full blown venture into 3D animated films. What was once the absolute King Pin of the animation world has quickly fallen out of relevance at all with companies like Pixar, Dreamworks and Sony pushing ahead of them. Getting back into the animation game is a good move on Disney’s part… the question of “can they compete?” is another issue… but they at least have to get into the fight.

Having said all that, I came across an interesting article on Guardian where it seems that expectations for Chicken Little are a little unrealistic. Here’s what they had to say:

Investors are looking for worldwide box office of around $350 million from “Chicken Little” according to David Miller, an analyst at brokerage firm Sanders Morris Harris.

The film’s performance could affect ongoing talks between Disney and Pixar. After an ugly public split last year, in which Pixar chief executive Steve Jobs called off talks for a new distribution deal, the two sides have been negotiating again. “I think Steve Jobs is watching ‘Chicken Little’ very closely,” Miller said. “If the film underperforms relative to his, he may use that as a nugget of leverage.”

Are they serious? $350 million at the box office? Honestly folks, I have no idea what they’re thinking. Personally I’m looking forward to Chicken Little… but the fact of the matter is that I haven’t heard much excitement about the film from the wider film fan base at all. The trailers frankly have not been that good, and the overall marketing campaign hasn’t been very creative. It seems like Chicken Little to most people is just an afterthought.

So what do you think? Can Chicken Little hit say… $120 million domestically? Damn I sure hope so… if it’s any good.

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5 thoughts on “Unrealistic Expectations for Chicken Little

  1. hey! i quite liked dinosaur. it was like a “land before time” for the cgi generation :) the visuals were (nd still are) amazing, even though the story was a complete ripoff from the land before time. hweverif you xcuse the pun, it hasn’ stood the test of time. afterall, who ctully remember’s it? also, it was on that top10 most expensive films list as well, and john nd doug had no clue what it was. it was a costly exercise in doing something different. but if someone like disney can’t afford to take risks like this, who will?

    rant over.

    personally i see chicken little as more of an “ice age” level rather thn a “toy story” film. it’s just not at the same level. i’m guessing it was dirt chep to make as well, since ther’es no big hollywood star voice talent in it, and it hasn’t been advertised at all. market it to kids, get some kiddie games made, get the dvd out quickly and it’ll make enough. hell, there’s probably a tv show waiting in the wings…

    on an unrelated note, wasn’t there a lilo & stitch 2 coming out?

  2. I think this will be a good movie. No, really, I do. It won’t be fantastic, but it won’t be bad. I think this movie will be nominated for best animated picture along with Robots and Corpse Bride.

  3. You said this is Disney’s first venture into 3D animation. Was Disney not responsible for the terrible Dinosaur years ago?

    Honestly: I don’t think Chicken Little will do very well at the box office, or be a particularly good movie. The animation looks pretty, but the story and jokes seem to be lacking somewhat, at least from what I’ve seen in the advertisements. A lot of the “funny” stuff just wasn’t humorous at all. My general perception is basically, “This movie looks like it has potential, but it’s not going to be excellent.” I’m guessing it will be rather mediocre, but I could (and hopefully will, for Disney’s sake) be wrong.

    I don’t think it will do amazingly well its first weekend (I’m guessing Jarhead will make more money), but if it’s at least somewhat decent, it might possibly last long enough to make it to $120 million domestically. If it sucks, however, there’s not a chance. The news of its suckiness will spread by word of mouth, and no one will go to see it.

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