Doctor Gonzo

LOS ANGELES – Well, that's one way to enter the record books. Despite boasting some actual stars and good reviews from actual media outlets, The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure made history over Labor Day weekend, joining Hollywood's greatest flops of all time.

Kenn Viselman Presents
Goobie, Toofie and Zoozie plan a birthday party in 'The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure.'


With a budget of $20 million, the film, marketed to toddlers and their parents, took in $443,901 on 2,160 screens, an average of $206 per screen, the biggest belly-flop for a movie opening that wide, says Boxofficemojo.com. The previous record-holder was 2008's Delgo, a $40 million cartoon that opened to $512,000, a per-screen average of $237.

To put that in perspective, Boxofficeprophets.com calculates that Oogieloves sold fewer than nine tickets a day on each screen.

"Approximately 56,000 people across the country had Oogie fever this weekend," says the site's John Hamann. "The rest of North America was apparently inoculated against it."

Perhaps, but that won't stop the Oogie universe from expanding. Oogieloves producer Kenn Viselman (Teletubbies, Thomas the Tank Engine) says a sequel is in the works, as are talks for a television series.

"I'll admit, it's been a remarkable four days, on a lot of levels," Viselman says. "We didn't go into this with box office as our end goal. We wanted to break through the plethora of entertainment options. Of course, I didn't go in there to have the worst box office in the history of the movies, either."

But that dubious distinction "could pay off in the long run," Viselman says. "One of our goals was to make people aware of Oogieloves. That happened."

Indeed, the film, which includes cameos by Cloris Leachman, Chazz Palminteri and Christopher Lloyd, has made for some pretty clever insults since its debut. One of Viselman's favorites: that he created an Ishtar for preschoolers.

"There's been quite an onslaught," he says. "A lot of the attacks are personal."

The jabs surprised Viselman, who says he was looking to create a more interactive environment for kids at the movies. The producer coaxed theater chains to allow kids to dance and sing in the the aisles when they got the on-screen cue.

At test-screenings, "everyone who saw it loved it," he says. "In a way, that makes this worse, because I know we didn't make a bad product."

The film scored a handful of thumbs-up from reviewers, including Entertainment Weekly, which gave it an A-minus, and the Village Voice, which called it "somewhat palatable for those over the age of consent."

But adults weren't shelling out this weekend for the story of three friends planning a birthday party.

Viselman says his "one huge mistake" was not having the money in hand to launch the movie's TV campaign, which he says began 17 days behind schedule.

"It's not that our audience didn't like it," he says. "They didn't know it was out there."

RichC2

Pixar = family flicks
This = slower pre-k kids.

DRG

Most parents (at least the ones I know) can't stand these types of shows, but only tolerate them because they can plop their kid in front of it and keep the kid occupied for a half hour while the parent does other things. So it's no surprise few parents were interested in sitting prone through a feature length version, with a bunch of other rugrats present, and paying for the privilege. It'll probably do much better on DVD.

whoopdido

I don't have kids and really don't pay attention to movies like this, but how have other similar movies done in terms of box office? I'm not talking about animated movies like Pixar stuff or the Lion King or whatever. Those movies, although geared towards kids, are actually good (at least most people think so) and adults can actually enjoy them. This movie appeared to have no redeeming qualities for anybody over the age of about 5.

I'm sure there have been other movies like this--Barney or Spongebob or Teletubbies or whatever. I'm just curious if they all bomb theatrically or if this was something special.

Groucho

I'd like to know how they scored Chazz Palminteri.

Ash Ketchum

They promised him they would finance A BRONX TALE 2 with the profits.

RichC2

Spongebob is more akin to "family film" than Barney or Teletubbies. Plus stoner college kids used to love that shit (It made about $80m in it's domestic run, opening to $32m). But then stoned college kids also like Yo Gabba Gabba.

The main difference being those other adaptations had TV followings before making the big screen leap, that doesn't appear to be the case here. You have to build a brand before you exploit it.

Crocker Jarmen

Mostly strings and percussion.

DaveyJoe

Mabuse

Precisely! The problem with this film is that they branded it and advertised it like it was the first feature film based on a long running and popular kids show. I actually saw the ads for this on Nick Jr. and asked my 4 year old, "Have you seen that show? Is it good?" She said she had never seen it.

Audiences who might have given a chance to an all new movie were probably confused and said, "I haven't seen the show, my kid hasn't seen the show, this just isn't for us." That and the whole thing looks like an unsightly and creepy mess.

islandclaws

Delgo only bombed because of a secret plot by James Cameron since, you know, Avatar ripped it off and all.

milo bloom

Dang, that's spot on. I saw mention of this film the other day on another forum and after watching the trailer I got this exact same feeling, I just couldn't put it into words. It felt like it came out of an alternate reality where the characters were already popular.

I'd definitely blame the editor of the trailer for not giving it a "introducing a new, fun group of friends for your little ones!" vibe to it.

LosingMyMind

Hopefully Cary Elwes stays on for the sequel and this doesn't hinder a BD release.

Troy Stiffler

The audience for this type of movie isn't old enough to see a movie yet. I would put it in the 0-3 age group.

Point is - 3 year olds are more likely to trot along with mom and dad to see Ted than this movie.

Tarantino

I had never heard of this property before, but now I'm aware of it. Mission accomplished, studio.

JTH182

wait, this was seriously a real movie?

LosingMyMind

It's going to be a trilogy. Next two are: The Oogieloves in the Big Family Adventure and The Oogieloves in the Big Holiday Adventure. Like I said, hopefully Elwes will stay on board for those and I wouldn't mind seeing him in the TV series, even if it's just a cameo.

Alan Smithee

Looks like a pre-school version of the Garbage Pail Kids Movie.

DRG

I'm not sure how they'd explain that, what with his decapitation at the end. I guess it *was* technically offscreen, but with the blood spray and the Oogieloves saying, "Bobby Wobbly just lost his noggin!" it would be a tough corner to back out of for the writers. Plus, I think the kids would call bullshit if they retconned that scene.

Randy Miller III

Spongebob has been on so long that kids who watched its first season are stoner college kids now.

RichC2

The sequel will be a prequel, it also reveals it isn't the first time that character has lost his head, Anthony Bourdain reattaches it at one point.

Valid point.

mrhan

Mabuse

My one year old saw the Ted commercials and went wild. She clapped her hands, cheered, giggled, it was hysterical. I would never take her to it but I certainly lauged at the idea of doing it. It would be completely over her head but she would love that bear.

asianxcore

I remember the trailer for this film being shown before many of the animated films I saw this year.

Most recently it was shown before 'Paranorman' at my local theater.

LosingMyMind

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