Is ‘Hop’ a one-off success or the beginning of a talking-animal comeback?
The LAT asked the question in the post title last week:
Even seasoned box-office observers were caught off guard this weekend when “Hop” came out of nowhere not only to win the weekend but also to top the opening of every other 2011 release with an estimated $38.1 million at the box office.
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But perhaps most surprising about the triumph of the Easter Bunny picture is the fact that the subgenre of the talking-animal hybrid film — movies with real actors and cartoon animals, epitomized in the last few years by “Alvin & the Chipmunks” — has been in the doldrums lately.
Over the last 12 months, hybrids such as “Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore,” “Yogi Bear” and “Marmaduke” all had dismal openings. It was starting to seem as though a modern trend that essentially began 13 years ago with “Dr. Dolittle” (in which the animals were real but also spoke), continued the following year with “Stuart Little” (where the animal was animated) and reached its apex over the following decade with all manner of gabby cats, dogs and guinea pigs (yes, “G-Force” is one of the category’s top earners) was coming to a squeaky end.
Hollywood’s eyebrows will be raised even higher this week because Hop is #1 at the B.O. for the second weekend in a row, smashing all the newcomers including Arthur, Hanna, Soul Surfer and Your Highness.
The temptation might be to rush off and start on a talking animal screenplay. Perhaps. In six months time, the buying market will likely be significantly different. But if you do happen to have a talking animal screenplay lying around in the ‘similar but different’ vein to Hop, you’d more than likely have a receptive mood toward it among managers, agents, producers, and studio execs the next month or so.