Kicking off the year, The Weinstein Company is hoping to score their first major animated hit since Hoodwinked! with Escape from Planet Earth (February 14). The animated flick is opening on President's Day Weekend, which should help it perform well over the four-day weekend. Also, there's no choices for families over January and February, which will help Earth as well, and the starpower is good, with Brendan Fraser, Jessica Alba, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jane Lynch, George Lopez among others. There's a fairly good chance Earth gets to Hoodwinked's $51 million gross, but its' going to need a good marketing push in order to get there.
Starting its' new distribution agreement with 20th Century Fox, DreamWorks Animation releases their first of three animated films of 2013 with The Croods (March 22). From Chris Sanders (Lilo and Stitch, How To Train Your Dragon), the movie already has some excitement as trailers have enticed audiences by far. The animation on this pic looks gorgeous, and the family road-trip theme will likely pull in lots of families. When was the last time there was a prehistorically-themed animated movie? Almost never (The Flintstones was years ago). Even though Rise of the Guardians disappointed, its' not going to impact this films' performance. Plus, with no new movies for kids over the following two months, its' almost a foregone conclusion that The Croods will be the years' first $200+ million animated movie.
One thing's for sure, its' going to be a great year for Fox as they have two major animation studios under their belt. And on Memorial Day Weekend, their Blue Sky Studios division unleashes Epic (May 24). The trailers so far have excited audiences, and being the first new kids movie in two months will almost guarantee a strong audience. There's some great starpower here, with Amanda Seyfried (Les Miserables), Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games), Collin Farrell and singer Beyonce in the voice cast. Memorial Day Weekend is crowded this year, and while Epic probably will only open in third place, it's still going to get a sizable gross. And if it can spread good word-of-mouth, there's a chance it could be Blue Sky's first $200 million movie. Overseas grosses are likely to be strong as well.
But what will likely be the biggest-grossing animated movie of 2013 is Monsters University (June 21). I've already covered this in the "Heavy-Hitters" section, but Monsters Inc. is one of Pixar's most beloved films (not most popular though). And despite an 11 1/2 year wait, it seems audiences are clamoring to see this. It won't earn as much as Toy Story 3, but it will almost certainly gross at least the same as the original's $255 million. Overseas will give it even more.
What will likely determine how much Monsters University grosses is how big of an impact Despicable Me 2 (July 3) has on it. Its' going to be close, but this movie (already covered in the "Sequels" list) is the closest to the "Heavy-Hitters" list compared to most other contenders. The first Despicable Me was the surprise blockbuster of 2010, at over $250 million. With its' teaser trailer earning over 20 million views on YouTube plus Universal giving it a strong marketing push, it looks like Pixar will have a run for its' money. The only thing holding Despicable Me 2 is that competition in July is strong, as two other titles are releasing within the following few weeks. Plus, will audiences want to see a third animated film in one summer? But being Despicable Me, the answer will be undoubtedly yes (just like its' predecessor did in 2010 opening after Toy Story 3 and Shrek Forever After). Overseas grosses will be strong, so expect grosses on par with its' predecessor (at least worldwide).
Arriving just two weeks later is the second DreamWorks Animation movie of 2013, Turbo (July 19). The teaser was released recently, and so far, it looks pretty solid for an animated film. Plus the starpower is strong, with Ryan Reynolds, Paul Giamatti, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Pena and others lending their voices. Unfortunately, the timing isn't great. Turbo will have to compete against two safer-bet animated flicks (and one other one just a week and a half down the road). In other words, the movie is sandwhiched between competition. Its' going to be tough, but Turbo, while it will almost certainly have a great run overseas, may settle for the lower range among DreamWorks Animation films.
And that leads us to The Smurfs 2 (July 31), which already has released a trailer as well. I covered this in the "Sequels" section, but Smurfs 2 is coming just two years after the highly-successful original, which managed a huge $550 million worldwide. Overseas numbers are likely to grow with this films' foreign setting, but with families already catching four cartoons in less than two months, this probably won't match its' predecessors' gross stateside. But with overseas grosses usually treating films well, this will do just fine (a third movie is already in the works for 2015).
Originally set as a direct-to-DVD release, Disney recently put Cars spin-off Planes for theatrical release on August 9. And to think 2013 needs one more animated movie for the summer isn't exactly good thinking. The movie isn't from Pixar, its' from DisneyToon Studios, who hasn't had a theatrical release since Pooh's Heffalump Movie in 2005. With Cars being a popular movie among kids, though, its' hard to imagine this not at least becoming a minor hit, especially when there's no more competition during that month.
September (13) brings Disney's next 3D re-release, this time the 1989 classic The Little Mermaid. One thing's for sure, Mermaid is considered one of Disney's most popular movies (it ignited its' Renaissance period). Unfortunately, 3D re-releases have been ignored as of lately, with Beauty and the Beast only earning half of what The Lion King earned. There is one advantage for this though. Mermaid's re-release comes before its' Blu-ray release, in which the movie hasn't been available on DVD for the last five years or so. That same advantage helped Lion King open huge, and it wouldn't be surprising if Mermaid wound up with a higher gross than Beauty and the Beast's re-issue.
The other major animated sequel set for 2013 (September 27) is Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (the poster shown here is the old release date and title), which marks the third-straight year Sony Pictures Animation released two films in a year. Releasing four years after its' predecessors (I covered it in the "Sequels" section), the movie is opening at a good time when there's no other competition for kids until November. The original Cloudy managed $125 million domestic, and it wouldn't be surprising at all if the sequel grossed around the same. But, a glut of animated flicks this year could hurt it.DreamWorks Animation's third and final film of 2012 releases on November 1 with classic cartoon adaptation Mr. Peabody and Sherman. Those two characters were popular back in the 60's, and its' likely that nostalgic adults will come out to see this. Being the first family choice in over a month could help it do solid business, though Peabody's limited appeal overseas may not allow it to break out internationally.
A much safer bet is Disney's entry for 2013, their latest fairy tale adaptation, Frozen (November 27). Based on a less-popular tale, The Snow Queen, the movie has the advantage of opening over Thanksgiving weekend, which brings to mind 2010's Tangled, but that had a much more popular fairy tale basis (Rapunzel). But if Disney can give Frozen a similar marketing campaign and shine a light on its' voice cast (which includes Kristen Bell and Enchanted's Idina Menzel) and songs, it could wind up with at least close to Tangled's $200 million finish.
Finally, there's very little information right now. But Fox has set Walking with Dinosaurs 3D for December 20. With not much choices for families, and if the movie can wow audiences, then there's always a chance it can do well.
The Weinstein Company had originally set three other animated films for 2013, Leo The Lion (August 30), The Trick or Treaters (October 25) and Santapprentice (December 6), but have since removed them from the studio's release schedule. Their chance of hitting theaters will all depend on whether Escape from Planet Earth succeeds or not. Should it succeed, then these three might be able to keep their release dates. Or, due to much competition, they could be moved to 2014 or further.
