Is the Sky Falling Around Disney's 'Chicken Little?'
According to Jim Hill Media, all is not well in the Magic Kingdom. Rumor is that director Mark Dindal has quit the Walt Disney studio, apparently because studio execs have been distancing themselves from the film for fear it may tank. Apparently, Dindal isn't the only one in the cross-hairs:
Right now, the "blame game" (I.E. Finding which studio exec will actually take the fall when "Chicken Little" fails to meet expectations) is allegedly already well underway. With the top guys at Disney Feature Animation frantically pointing fingers at Thomas Schumacher (I.E. The former head of WDFA. More importantly, the guy who actually greenlit "Chicken Little" back in 2001) and Michael Eisner (The company's recently departed CEO. Who inexplicably had the film-makers make many changes to "Chicken Little" while this movie was in production. Among then ordering that the film's title character be changed from a girl to a boy).
The marketing has been criticized as unfocused and infrequent as well. Jim Hill thinks this whole imbroglio couldn't have come at a worse time given the
negative advance reviews that are already rolling in.
I would think that this film would've steamrolled over the bad press and reviews with heavy TV ad rotation, and it may even surprise everyone at the box office this weekend (although expectations are being heavily managed right now, of course). This whole blame game scenario is really "inside baseball" -- it'll get some play in the trades and blogs, but I don't think that makes much difference -- kids don't care about reviews or Hollywood machinations. If it fails, the marketing should take it's fair share of the blame.
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