Can someone explain the popularity of the Ice Age Franchise?

[Bruce Malone]

As of now the 3rd highest grossing movie of the year is Ice Age 4. Its made $630m purely overseas it's going to make more money overseas than toy story 3, ice age 3 already did!

No ice age movie has ever cracked 200m domestic at the box office though and ice age 4 only sits at 143m and will likely make less money then the 1st ice age did 10 years ago. So this franchise is purely an international phenomena right now making 80% of its money overseas.

Coming from someone who lives in north america can anyone explain why these films are so damn huge bigger than anything disney or dreamworks puts put?

 

[dark_b]

the first ice age movie was realesed in 2002. a time when you got maybe 3 animated movies.

 

[Pink Ranger]

Kids like talking animals, kids like dinosaurs, this movie kind of combines both (I know prehistoric mammals are not the same as dinosaurs, but the cultural footprint among children is similar).

Also, each movie has an epic voyage scale to it, fairly straightforward to understand. No magic, no time travel, no alternate universes. Even Shrek movies require some conceptual leapfrogging at times, which is fine for adults, but harder for young children to comprehend.

Thirdly, since the movie takes place before human civilization, the movies require almost no cultural context to understand, which is great for young children just discovering the world, especially in countries abroad. Kung Fu Panda requires you to know that China exists, a lot of Shrek's humour revolves around pop culture references that only older children have seen, Toy Story is best enjoyed if you are familiar with the middle-class, middle-America suburban setting of the films.

Ice Age is actually one of the strongest talking animal franchises out there, not sure why more animation companies haven't been able to duplicate its success.

 

[Soapy]

Kids have **** taste in movies. Mystery solved.

 

[Tony Stark]

The first one was freaking hilarious. The subsequent ones were crap IMO.

 

[Ultimatehero]

I like the franchise still. I might get around to seeing this in theaters. Might not. But, I just like the actors in it and the innocence of the series. As for kids, maybe it's a reason why I liked 'The Land before Time' a lot when I was a kid (just here, the sequels past the second one are still entertaining).

 

[DarkSovereignty]

I somewhat enjoyed the the third one, the only one I legitimately liked though was the first one, though I've seen it too many times.

 

[venus_ice]

Yeah so I voluntarily went to see this and a lot of the 6+ year olds were laughing HYSTERICALLY at some of the terrible jokes and then they all clapped at the end AND stayed for the credits too! Bizarre. It was mildly enjoyable, IMO.

 

[CJ]

I don't get it either. The first one was good, but the other two were awful.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Kids are entertained by a squirrel chasing an acorn, apparently.


I only want them to make one more sequel: ICE AGE: EXTINCTION.

I believe I might enjoy that movie.

 

[8wid]

Kids want to see cute cartoon animals attract both young genders, dinosaurs and prehistoric animals bring out young boys, characters of both genders appeals to both genders, it's a comedy which attracts all parts of the demographic, it reflects themes that show the importance of caring about family, the boys like the plot about the pirates in it thanks to Disney, there is another teenage daughter of Manny in this movie wanting to date which young girls think they need to work about, the animation is richer than before, brand recognition comes into play, characters are stereotypical and easy to understand and are involved in some sort of love story. Not to mention its not something only with American human actors or a story about Americans set in the U.S. Cartoons are not as common in pop culture as they are in the US in other parts of the world, especially where there is no television. The American public is also sick of the franchise I'm sure too and wants something new.

Cute animal characters of both sexes going on comical adventures and falling in love attracts lots of kids on a global level which bring their older siblings, grandparents, neighbors, aunts and uncles who have to babysit them and then their parents. Most of the people on this planet will be one of these to a young kid. It's also the only children's and general animated movie coming out during the summer when kids are out of school and need something to do to be entertained. It's probably going to be the best of the year too. It's also shown in countries where the only movies that are made are American produced such as South Korea, Japan, western Europe, New Zealand, Australia, and Latin America which is directly under American cultural influence and military too.

 

[ThePowerCosmic]

I only want them to make one more sequel: ICE AGE: EXTINCTION.

I believe I might enjoy that movie.

 

[Anno_Domini]

Kids have **** taste in movies.

That made me LOL so hard.

 

[Thundercrack85]

They're not terrible movies. Hell, I'ill even admit I kind of liked the first one.

 

[Bruce Malone]

I'm just kind of wondering why they're still doing so amazingly overseas when their numbers have fallen off domestically.

Is there something about ice age that transcends language and culture more so than other animated flicks?

 

[Sawyer]

Is the concept of kids liking dumb stuff really that far fetched? ****, Batman and Robin was my favorite movie when I was 7.

Nuff said.

 

[HopeOfTheFuture]

I thought part 1 was medium, part 2 is the one I liked the most. Part 3 was bad and part 4 was fun again but the story wasn't big, it felt simple.

Sid and Scrat are the best characters of the series.

 

[terry78]

When we were kids, we liked garbage. We did. The **** that we pine over nowadays, it was literal garbage.

 

[marvelman2006]

I have never seen any of them except part 1 in bits on TV and it just didnt interest me. Some movies like these just keep getting churned out because kids and families are showing up in droves and the actors are getting there pay checks for a couple hours of work. Its a shame because most kids movies now are crap except for a few and even pixar is starting to go down in quality.


I will admit I liked crap too like the power rangers movie when I was a kid or even blank check. Kids movies are always bad because there broken down to the lowest common denominator.

 

[Lord]

I was one of the kids that watched the original when it appeared, i remember not liking it that much, strange that after 10 years this still has new movies made, and it's a success. I allways liked Pixar more either way, from the animation, to the story, to the characters.

 

[Piper Maru]

I don't think I've seen any of them, maybe i'll check them out.

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

It is popular because it is funny ( I didn't saw the last one yet ) and the Scrat character sells very well.
I will watch Ice Age movies over Shrek's anytime.

 

[marvelman2006]

It is popular because it is funny ( I didn't saw the last one yet ) and the Scrat character sells very well.
I will watch Ice Age movies over Shrek's anytime.

those are fighting words mister.....

 

[Lord]

It is popular because it is funny ( I didn't saw the last one yet ) and the Scrat character sells very well.
I will watch Ice Age movies over Shrek's anytime.

I can even watch the bad Shrek movie any time because they can still be entertaining, but with Ice Age the only thing i like is the squirrel

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

Shrek 1 is fine, 2 is "ok", the rest is recycle bin material. IMO.