Laika

[Daikun]

Just got back from seeing Kubo. Freaking sweet-ass movie! I think this is Laika's best film to date.

Go see it if you haven't yet.

[Peanutbutter]

Definitely want to soon. Might could get my aunt to take me, but I don't know yet. Laika has become the Pixar of Stop Motion.

[Avaitor]

I loved just about everything about this movie. The world building, the characterization, the moral which teaches the importance of memory. And oh wow, Laika do such a great job with animation.

I cannot emphasize how great they are, and how fresh their output feels for the scene. It's definitely worth seeing if you're a fan of animation.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

As great as Zootopia and Finding Dory were, part of me really hopes that Kubo can take the Oscar for best animated picture this year. It probably won't happen, but Laika deserves the popularity push, and I'm honestly a little ticked at the clear Disney/Pixar bias from the academy, with pictures like Frozen and Big Hero 6 winning out over far stronger competition. I mean, I even enjoyed BH6, but HTTYD2 was a substantially better movie.

Likewise, Kubo is clearly the best animated film of the year (so far at least). I'm honestly not knocking Zootopia or Finding Dory, either. I just believe that Kubo really is that great, and it hit me on a far more emotional level as well.

[Avaitor]

I can't really tell if I like Kubo or Zootopia better, but I would be totally in favor of Laika getting the win for a change. I'm still not too interested in Finding Dory, though.

But I don't think that'll happen, as long as the Academy remains as clueless and disinterested in animation as they are. They'll just continue to vote for whichever movie their kids liked the most that year, with a little bit of prestige sometimes factored in. Disney and Pixar usually fit that bill.

Edit: Also, I hear that there's actually an attempt for a campaign for The Boy and the Beast to be nominated. Even though that has even less of a chance to win, I hope it gets the nom, if only to help give Hosoda even more recognition stateside.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Edit: Also, I hear that there's actually an attempt for a campaign for The Boy and the Beast to be nominated. Even though that has even less of a chance to win, I hope it gets the nom, if only to help give Hosoda even more recognition stateside.

Absolutely, I 100% agree. However, it will still get snubbed like both Summer Wars and Wolf Children did. That's because it only has a small company like FUNimation behind it in the west. With Studio Ghibli films, they were distributed by Disney in the west, one of the world's largest and most recognizable companies with a lot of pull and influence in the movie industry, and in the end, that's what the Academy Awards are really about: money and politics. The Boy and the Beast has no realistic chance of a nomination, even if it deserves it.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Man, I hope they don't pass over Kubo for Zootopia. With it's box-office being so underwhelming, it'd be nice for it to at least get a prestigious accolade to compensate. For Boy and the Beast, just getting a nom would be a win for getting more recognition for Hosoda's films out there.

[Dr. Insomniac]

What if it's a worst-case scenario and Kubo gets passed over for Sausage Party and Angry Birds at the nominations?

[Avaitor]

WalMart has the Laika triple pack Blu for under $20, so I finally picked it up.

Awesome! And now I have an excuse to finally see Boxtrolls.

[Lord Dalek]

What if it's a worst-case scenario and Kubo gets passed over for Sausage Party and Angry Birds at the nominations?

That's actually feasible as those movies made money and Kubo hasn't.

Laika really needs to move on from Universal. Their arrangement has been pretty detrimental to both sides (Universal doesn't make much money off Laika, Laika's films get lost in the shuffle from bad marketing)

[Avaitor]

It's honestly not doing that badly when you look at it. Kubo's opening is only $2 mill less than ParaNorman, and none of their other films have opened with more than $20 mill.

These aren't mega hits, but they're not that expensive to make. As long as Phil Knight's doing okay, I think Laika can survive.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Maybe. But it only making about 30 mil in it's first two weeks when it cost 60 mil to make is a little concerning. Then again, I don't remember how well Laika's other films did in a similar timeframe, so maybe it'll still make a profit.

[Lord Dalek]

Just making 60M is far from profitable though with the shear amount of overhead from promotional goods and printing costs. They probably need 110m just to break even.

[Daikun]

Coming to Universal Studios...

[Avaitor]

Schway...

CA or FL?