Disney Sinks the Yellow Submarine - Plus "Return to Pepperland" Music Video

Disney Sinks the Yellow Submarine - Plus "Return to Pepperland" Music Video

Due to the box office failure of the motion capture animated A Christmas Carol and this past weekend debuting Mars Needs Moms, Disney has cancelled plans to finance Robert Zemeckis' animated remake of the Beatles' Yellow Submarine.

By EdGross - Mar 15, 2011 04:03 AM EST
Filed Under: Animated Features
Source: The Hollywood Reporter

"Submarine was already facing a few rocky reefs before this weekend," notes the story. "There were budget issues, and a key presentation Zemeckis was to have made before the Beatles heirs kept being pushed back. A December date for the confab was scrapped and never rescheduled. But sources say the disastrous $6.9 million opening for the $150 million-budgeted Mars, produced by Zemeckis, guaranteed that Submarine would never set sail at Disney. The producer-director is now free to shop the project to another studio."

There was some rumbling that besides using the 16 Beatles songs that were part of the original Yellow Submarine's soundtrack, an effort might be made to secure Paul McCartney's unreleased song "Return to Pepperland," a music video for which is provided below.

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Denn1s
Denn1s - 3/15/2011, 5:21 AM
box office failure? it was no avatar but it made money. it had about 150 million profit. budget was about 150-200 millions and the box office return was 323 millions despite the strong holiday competition. jeez...talking about greed.
EdGross
EdGross - 3/15/2011, 5:25 AM
But $323 millon on a $200 million investment is NOT a success. The formula Hollywood uses is you have to double your production budget (due to advertising and the cost of making up film prints), so under that formula the film would have lost money. Or perhaps eeked by with DVD/Blu-ray sales.
Denn1s
Denn1s - 3/15/2011, 5:38 AM
yeah i know but it still is a lot of money...oh well...
Orphix
Orphix - 3/15/2011, 6:00 AM
I was under the impression that the term 'box office failure' doesn't really exist anymore simply down to the fact that it is practically impossible to recoop all your costs for a film on a theatrical release.

I thought studios now see a theatrical release almost like a big advert for going out and buying the DVD/Blu-ray.
StuckInPanels
StuckInPanels - 3/15/2011, 6:31 AM
Well I think this is somewhat for the better. The original is a milestone in animation, why make it look even more really weird looking with that motion capture of his....why do I smell FOX picking this up so they can rub it in Disney's face like the Narnia series
Dmon
Dmon - 3/15/2011, 7:27 AM
@EdGross I agree with Orphix also maybe studios should start reducing their budget or not pay actors as much or at least not get high paid actors. Because if $323 million is not enough it is not going to get much higher because the economy sucks right now.
comicb00kguy
comicb00kguy - 3/15/2011, 3:57 PM
This is great news! The original Yellow Submarine is a classic, but not one that would really fit in with the times today. Let it be!
Dmon
Dmon - 3/15/2011, 6:39 PM
@comicb00kguy I agree but what I find the most interesting thing about this article is the money issue.
comicb00kguy
comicb00kguy - 3/16/2011, 10:12 AM
It is interesting just how poorly Mars Needs Moms opened at the box office, considering the HUGE push the movie got before it opened. Surprising? Hardly. The market is flooded with these animated features now, and kids are losing interest.
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