Summary
- Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken had a confusing target age range, making it difficult for parents to determine if it was suitable for their children.
- DreamWorks Animation’s inconsistent output in recent years has made the studio unreliable, and audiences were hesitant to see their latest release.
- The lack of marketing for Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken contributed to its poor box office performance, as many people were unaware of its existence.
Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken was released in theaters on June 30, and it totally bombed at the box office, becoming one of DreamWorks Animation’s biggest failures. The movie is about the titular character, a teenage kraken who must face off against evil mermaids, continuing a war that has gone on for generations. Its impressive voice cast includes Toni Collette, Jane Fonda, Will Forte, and many more. Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken was even rated “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes with a positive 66% critic score, which was a huge win for the studio. The movie also won over general audiences, as Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken has an 81% audience score.
Movies from DreamWorks Animation are rarely critical hits, but they often become blockbusters, whether it’s a Croods movie, a Madagascar sequel, or more recently, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. However, despite its star-studded cast and positive critical reception, Ruby Gillman gave DreamWorks Animation its worst opening at the box office, making only 18 percent of its budget back during its debut. The 2023 movie impressively had a budget of $70 million, which is actually on the low side when it comes to animated features. Nevertheless, the film barely made back half of its budget, grossing just $35 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo).
10 Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken Has A Confusing Target Age Range
Parents likely had difficulty understanding what age group Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken was aimed at. The movie’s themes seem too mature for toddlers, but it also isn’t so mature that older children will find it interesting. The word “Teenage” in the title also doesn’t help parents decipher who the movie is for. Ultimately, the movie is suitable for younger audiences, but parents and carers couldn’t possibly have known that based on everything that was being fed to them. Between the title, the marketing, and the plot synopsis that details a war that has been raging on for centuries, the age demographic was hard to pin down.
9 DreamWorks’ Inconsistent Output Over The Past Few Years Has Made The Studio Unreliable
Whether it’s an actor or a director or an animation studio, if one’s output becomes increasingly inconsistent over time, audiences will naturally lose interest. DreamWorks Animation’s last movie, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish was a huge hit and earned a huge 95% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, but that isn’t what has become expected of the studio. Despite all its recent successes, DreamWorks Animation’s movies from the last decade also include Abominable, Trolls World Tour, and Spirit Untamed, all of which either underperformed at the box office, received poor reviews, or both. That inconsistency doesn’t exactly inspire audiences to rush to theaters to see Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken.
8 Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken Had Little To No Marketing
One of the primary reasons why nobody rushed out to see Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken was because people didn’t know it existed. The movie had almost no marketing to speak of, which is strange considering it had a budget of $70 million and was released in the middle of the summer blockbuster season. Studios generally spend as much as a movie’s budget on marketing costs, but there’s no way DreamWorks Animation spent $70 million promoting Ruby Gillman. It’s likely that the studio had little faith in the movie and decided to market it as little as possible to minimize costs and, as a result, reduce its losses when it bombed.
7 Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken’s Trailers Spoiled The Whole Movie
While Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken had almost no marketing, what little promotion it did have spoiled the whole movie. The trailers revealed absolutely everything, not hiding a single exciting detail for audiences to discover when watching the movie for the first time in full. Given that the trailers for Ruby Gillman essentially revealed the beginning, middle, and end of the movie, there was ultimately no reason for audiences to watch it. The trailer gave audiences absolutely no incentive to pay to see the movie, this on top of it failing to leave an impression on any viewers either.
6 The Little Mermaid’s Underperformance Could Have Impacted Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken
Given that both The Little Mermaid and Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken heavily feature mermaids and krakens, it’s likely that the animated movie was counting on The Little Mermaid to be a success. DreamWorks Animation was undoubtedly trying to capitalize on the release of the Disney movie, which would also explain Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken‘s bizarre release date. However, The Little Mermaid underperformed at the box office, especially compared to other live-action Disney movies. Given the films’ similar themes, if audiences didn’t bother with The Little Mermaid, they certainly had no interest in Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken, and DreamWorks Animation’s release strategy backfired.
5 Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken Has A Bad & Confusing Title
Movie titles are another marketing tool, one that should get across to audiences what the film is about. Yet the clunky title of Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken does no such thing. Movie titles that are simply a character’s name rarely help at the box office, with the prime example being John Carter, which is one of the biggest bombs in cinema history. While the DreamWorks Animation movie adds “Teenage Kraken” after the title character’s name, it doesn’t make the movie simpler to understand. Having the character’s name in the title is such a strange decision, as the film could simply have been called Teenage Kraken, and it might’ve been successful.
4 Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken Isn’t Part Of An Established IP
Most of DreamWorks Animation’s biggest successes are based on existing franchises. Sequels to Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, and How to Train Your Dragon will always be huge successes because they’re connected to well-known and established series. However, while the studio undoubtedly wanted to turn Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken into a franchise, the 2023 movie is a completely original concept. Though original films can still be hugely successful, they are much less likely to become hits than a movie sequel or reboot. The difference between Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken‘s $34 million gross and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish’s $484 box office success is a perfect example.
3 Animated Movies In General Have Struggled To Find Their Audiences Lately
Aside from The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, each of which is part of a huge brand, almost every animated movie in the past couple of years has underperformed or outright bombed. Pixar’s Lightyear and Elemental, Walt Disney Animation’s Strange World and Encanto, and now Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken have all underperformed. This is partly because of how streaming has changed the way audiences consume animated movies, and because audiences now expect to see new movies pop up on Netflix or Disney Plus soon after their theatrical releases. Even DreamWorks Animation has released movies straight to Netflix, which has reduced the worth of the brand.
2 Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken’s Animation Is Unappealing
While Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken was made with an impressively low budget for an animated movie, it’s obvious where DreamWorks Animation has made the cuts. The animation of the 2023 movie doesn’t look great, and it’s easy to see why the unpleasant visuals might be unappealing to young audiences. The characters have a rubbery appearance, and they have a simple emoji-style look, too. While The Emoji Movie had this cheap style, that was at least how emojis are supposed to look. Though DreamWorks Animation is an inconsistent studio, its animation is usually great, but Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken looks too cheap.
1 Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken Faced Tough Competition At The Box Office
More than anything else, Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken was a victim of its release date. Though the movie had a huge window of more than one month before any other animated movies would release, the multiplexes were still full of huge films. For starters, Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken shared its release date with Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. The fifth Indiana Jones movie underperformed at the box office as well, but it still made hundreds of millions of dollars. Though Elemental has ultimately underperformed, the Pixar movie was still impressively holding strong weeks into its theatrical release, meaning that Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken didn’t stand a chance.
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