Sunday, September 03, 2006

No Accounting For Taste

We can file this under the "What the fig?" department: Garfield 2 breaks animation box office record in China Beijing, Aug. 31 (PTI): 'Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties' grossed USD 5.8 million in its first three weeks in China, breaking the Chinese box office record for an animated film held by 'The Lion King' for 12 years. The animation directed by Tim Hill debuted in cinemas on August 11, taking in USD 1.74 million in the first weekend, USD 750,000 more than 'Ice Age 2', another Fox animation distributed in China in March. The Garfield craze continued in the second week, generating USD 2.5 million in ticket sales, although the third week saw its takings halved. Before Garfield, "The Lion King", made by Disney, held the record of USD 5.12 million for 12 years, 'Beijing News' reported. However, another Disney animation with high box office expectations, "Cars", opened last weekend, taking merely USD 1.35 million... -- The Hindu Times * * * * * * * So let's make sure we have this correctly: "Garfield 2" beat Lasseter's latest, also the highest grossing hand-drawn feature of all time. 20th Century Fox's domestic distribution operation must be racking its brain, trying to figure out what it did wrong...

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

As a guy who worked on the old Garfield TV show, I looked forward to one day doing a Garfield feature film, traditionally animated of course. Such was not to be.

Instead, we have to 3D demon Garfield racking in all the cash. Who knew?

As for China. Must be cultural, I guess.

Anonymous said...

I'm not surprised. They love cats in China. They're delicious.

Anonymous said...

I think China is banning television animation to help grow their own (also prohibiting some theatrical releases, but who can resist the orange fur ball?)

Would the Hindu Times LIE?

Duder NME said...

A billion Chinese people can't be wrong about rice, but apparently they can be wrong about Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties

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