In the summer of 1990, two animated movies based on popular television shows were released. The two also proved to be box office failures but each had a different critical reception.
In July of 1990, Universal and Hanna-Barbera released Jetsons: The Movie. The idea of adapting the TV series, The Jetsons, was first pitched in 1985 but the initial pitch was to adapt it into live action. But it was shelved in favor of an all animated feature film. The movie was the last project that the first voices of Mr. Spaceley and George Jetson, Mel Blanc and George O’ Hanlon respectively, worked on before their deaths in 1989. It was also the last movie Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera directed. When it was first released, the reviews were bad due to the story and characters not being interesting or well written and the blend of 2D and 3D animation was off putting and the environmental lesson was boring. While it earned back its production costs, it was thought to be a box office failure. Not even casting the popular singer, Tiffany as daughter Judy helped the film.
One month later was the release of Disney’s DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp. The film was first developed as a TV movie to introduce the last season of DuckTales and would’ve been split up into a multiple part episode storyline for future broadcast. But it was thought that it might work as a theatrical feature instead. It was then Disney founded what would soon become DisneyToon Studios. The animation for the film was done at the now defunct Disney Animation Studio in Paris and was one of the last to use the old fashioned cel animation method. The reviews were mixed to positive but due to the failure of Jetsons: The Movie, this also proved to be unsuccessful at the box office. Because of this, plans for sequels were scrapped.
What’s your thoughts about either one of these? Please share your thoughts in the comments below and remember to give a thumbs up and subscribe for more content.
Lightning Sketch Productions
In the summer of 1990, two animated movies based on popular television shows were released. The two also proved to be box office failures but each had a different critical reception.
In July of 1990, Universal and Hanna-Barbera released Jetsons: The Movie. The idea of adapting the TV series, The Jetsons, was first pitched in 1985 but the initial pitch was to adapt it into live action. But it was shelved in favor of an all animated feature film. The movie was the last project that the first voices of Mr. Spaceley and George Jetson, Mel Blanc and George O’ Hanlon respectively, worked on before their deaths in 1989. It was also the last movie Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera directed. When it was first released, the reviews were bad due to the story and characters not being interesting or well written and the blend of 2D and 3D animation was off putting and the environmental lesson was boring. While it earned back its production costs, it was thought to be a box office failure. Not even casting the popular singer, Tiffany as daughter Judy helped the film.
One month later was the release of Disney’s DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp. The film was first developed as a TV movie to introduce the last season of DuckTales and would’ve been split up into a multiple part episode storyline for future broadcast. But it was thought that it might work as a theatrical feature instead. It was then Disney founded what would soon become DisneyToon Studios. The animation for the film was done at the now defunct Disney Animation Studio in Paris and was one of the last to use the old fashioned cel animation method. The reviews were mixed to positive but due to the failure of Jetsons: The Movie, this also proved to be unsuccessful at the box office. Because of this, plans for sequels were scrapped.
What’s your thoughts about either one of these? Please share your thoughts in the comments below and remember to give a thumbs up and subscribe for more content.
3 months ago | [YT] | 5