The first Ice Age movie came out when there wasn’t many 3D animated movies
yet. It’s no beloved classic – at least,
as far I’m concerned – but with not much benchmark around then, I really found
it a good, re-watchable film. Through
the years, more and more 3D animated films have been made, and we’ve seen how
far – especially through Disney and Pixar – the medium could achieve in both
visual and storytelling standpoints. Meanwhile,
all this time, Ice Age has been
spewing sequels, getting more and more stupidly over-the-top, boring, lazy, and
unfunny with each new installment.
It has been about a decade and a half since the
first movie, and it perplexed me that this franchise is still alive when it’s only
getting worse – and this latest one, Ice Age:
Collision Course, is the worst yet. But
I did some Googling, and it finally made sense to me: these movies might have been terrible but they
yield profit – much profit. Ice Age
(the good one) grossed $383,257,136 from a budget of just $59 million. Ice
Age: The Meltdown (the passable but forgettable sequel) made $660,940,780 –
almost double of the first one – from an insignificantly higher budget of $80
million. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (when it jumped over the shark and
killed the integrity of this franchise) made $886,686,817 out of $90
million – its best box office performance. And Ice Age: Continental Drift grossed $877,244,782 out of $95 million.
These impressive return-on-investment numbers have made Ice Age a prominent franchise despite the inferior quality of its films.
Besides, as far as Hollywood is concerned, making money is more
important than making worthwhile films.
Again, Ice Age: Collision Course is the franchise’s worst. The plot is also its most ridiculous, which now
involves an alien spacecraft, a world-ending asteroid heading to earth,
prophetic monoliths, and immortality-giving space rocks. Subplots include a trio of dromaeosaurs set
on revenge against Buck; the upcoming wedding of Manny and Ellie’s daughter,
Peaches; Diego and Shira scaring away kids; and Sid’s desperate search for love
(since he’s the only one among the gang that doesn’t have a partner yet) – all
of which I didn’t care for. In fact, its forgettable, substandard narrative didn’t make me care a bit at all. It’s an incredibly stupid movie.
Some might reason that this movie
is meant for kids anyway. That’s true. But there are a lot of better alternatives
out there. Maybe let them watch
something that would be more likely to make them think, even subtly; or teach
them a moral; or incite their imagination; or not kill their brain cells too
much, at the very least. Let Ice Age: Collision Course be a last
option. Heck, watching the Scooby Gang team up with WWE superstars pretending to be Death Race drivers – dumb and ridiculous that may sound – is even
more preferable.
This franchise needs to die already – which might finally happen after Collision
Course. It still grossed about three
times its budget, but having the franchise’s highest budget yet – $105 million
– and failing to replicate the outrageous ROI rate of the previous movies, its
studio might finally be discouraged to make another sequel.
No comments:
Post a Comment