The Weinstein Company announced a couple of weeks ago that they would do something highly unprecedented. In addition to Escape from Planet Earth (set for February 15, 2013), the company slated an additional three animated features for 2013, marking the first time ever a studio has self-distributed four animated features in one year.
Escape from Planet Earth should do solid business since its' opening on the four-day President's Day Weekend and is benefiting from zero competition for the next month and a half. The sci-fi animated film stars the voices of Jessica Alba and Brendan Fraser.
Slated for August 30, 2012, Leo The Lion will tell the simple story of a lion changing to a vegetarian diet. Now, it could look better by the time its' finished, though the film will certainly benefit from opening Labor Day Weekend.
The Trick or Treaters launches on October 25, 2013. The Halloween animated film is about a bunch of Halloween characters being charmed by an orphan young girl looking for fun. While it will have Halloween weekend all to itself, its' chances at holding well are not good since the holiday will pass. Plus, it will be competing against Henry Selick's next currently untitled project (October 7) and Fox's CGI-animated Walking with Dinosaurs (October 14).
Finally, Santapprentice released on December 6, 2013. The Christmas-themed animated adventure tells the story of an orphan adopted by Santa to take his place after the big man retires. Christmas-themed films usually have strong legs, and this could be another one that could play well for a few weeks. Unfortunately, it does release on the post-Thanksgiving weekend when audiences usually aren't relevant (though Fred Claus did open to $19 million on that same weekend five years ago).
Is this a good move? Personally, while Santapprentice and Escape from Planet Earth sound very interesting, it doesn't quite sound right to me for a studio who has only had one animated hit (Hoodwinked! earned over $50 million in 2005) to get more than one release in theaters per year.
Hopefully, 2013 will be Weinstein's year. But those four additions bring 2013's total to an unprecedented 15 animated features!!! (19 including four animated/live-action films) Also slated for 2013 are 3D re-releases of animated classics Monsters, Inc. and The Little Mermaid, as well as the highly-anticipated prequel to Monsters, sequels to Despicable Me and The Smurfs, a new fairy tale from Disney and three releases from DreamWorks Animation.
