'Ice Age' Helps Thaw Hollywood Slump
A mammoth hit helped Hollywood forget its latest slump, but a long-time-coming sequel was no help at all.
"Ice Age: The Meltdown" exceeded high expectations, taking in almost $70 million in its opening weekend. But Sharon Stone's "Basic Instinct 2" proved a big flop on the big screen.
The Early Show entertainment contributor and People magazine Editor at Large Jess Cagle
"And there was a secret weapon to the sequel, just as there was a secret weapon to the original, the little character, Scrat, that crazy little squirrel-rat hybrid, and people loved the character. In the original, people saw the trailer and saw that character, and that was enough to get them into the theater."
But, Cagle pointed out to co-anchor Julie Chen Tuesday, "Ice Age: The Meltdown" was hardly just for kids: "With this one, just like 'Shrek' and just like the classic Warner Brothers 'Bugs Bunny' cartoons, there's a lot of humor in there for adults that may sail over the kids' heads. But 'Ice Age,' interestingly enough, a third of the audience was not families. That's a pretty tremendous number. That means teenagers, people like me without kids, went to see the movie opening weekend."
The first "Ice Age" movie made $46 million in its opening weekend. Overall, it took in $170 million.
"This one," Cagle predicted, "will go well north of $200 million. If you look at similar openings, like 'Finding Nemo,' that had about a $70 million opening. That went on to make hundreds of millions of dollars. Since this one isn't as family-friendly as that one, it won't make as much, but will go well over 200."
Tinsel town plans to turn out seven more animated films over the next six months, but Cagle says he doesn't see a point of saturation coming.
"There's always a market for a good animated movie," he said. "The original 'Ice Age' kind of kicked off a big trend among filmmakers to make these movies. Not all of them will do well. Some have already come out and failed. But 'Cars,' for example, the next Pixar, coming in June, is going to be huge."
On the other hand, Cagle describes "Basic Instinct 2" as "one of the great, 'What were they thinking?' moments in Hollywood history. It might have made sense if it was a decade ago, soon after the original opened. But they had a hard time getting the movie together. For a while, they pulled the plug. Then they realized they had to pay Sharon Stone her $14 million anyway. They went ahead and made the movie. Probably should not have."
But Stone needn't be concerned, Cagle adds, saying: "She was never a box office star. This is something people forget. She was never a star who could open a movie. So I don't think it really hurts her. It doesn't affect her one way or the other. And she gets points for clearly being in on the joke — the performance was so over the top."
The next big thing to look for out of Hollywood? Cagle says "Mission Impossible 3" in May.