The big winner in the box office this past week was Robert Zemeckis' update of Charles Dickens' ""A Christmas Carol,"" a film that has already been made countless times. Once again, Zemeckis decided to experiment with motion capture animation, in which the actors do their scenes in front of green screens, and then animated versions of them are placed into animated backgrounds.
So far, the sub-genre has not been off to a great start, and has been described by some as oddly disconcerting because of the film looking incredibly real with the exception of characters' eyes, which look soulless, empty and dead.
The much bigger news about ""A Christmas Carol,"" however, is how its decision to open in the first week of November is faring. Even though the film opened at the top of the box office, ""A Christmas Carol"" still fell below studio estimates for the film, leading to some speculation that it may flounder. Companies have made sure Christmas officially starts immediately after Halloween with their store promotions and endless holiday advertising, but never before has a Christmas-themed film attempted to open so early and carry through to the holiday box office boom.
When studio executives decided to give ""A Christmas Carol"" a November 6 release, they essentially indicated the film would continue to perform strongly enough to last until Christmas, and then surge through the holiday season into mid-January, making it even more successful than it would have been with a Christmas release. This is a bold strategy, but at this point, the film's only saving grace might be that it's being shown in 3D and in IMAX, and will be one of the only films in that format until Christmas. If the movie crashes and burns, you would probably assume that it would be the end of Zemeckis' motion capture movie experiments.
But you know what they say about assuming, don't you? Because instead of waiting a few more weeks, checking out fan reactions and doing some market research, Zemeckis is already moving forward with yet another motion-capture film based on a Christmas story.
First we had 2004's ""Polar Express,"" then we got ""A Christmas Carol"" and now we can look forward to ""The Nutcracker and the Mouse King."" The movie will be based not on Tchaikovsky's ballet, but on the E.T.A. Hoffmann novel, in which we learn of the nutcracker's past and witness the battle between dolls and mice.
The distressing part of all this is not that the film sounds like a bad idea—which it does—or that it deals with the novel rather than the ballet; it's that without waiting to see whether ""A Christmas Carol"" would sink or swim, Zemeckis and studio executives moved right along as if it were a smashing success.
This leads me to one of two conclusions: Studio executives are so bereft of ideas that they're willing to greenlight any film based on a classic with an added twist, or Robert Zemeckis is so convinced motion-capture filmmaking is the new big thing that he'll doggedly continue to make films with it whatever the results may be.
In truth, it's probably a little of both things. Studio executives do greenlight horrible remakes, but many of them make money simply based on name recognition. ""The Polar Express"" capitalized on the Christmas market twice, having the movie and DVD both released in late December, an almost unheard of delay at this stage of the movie-to-DVD business. But the trick worked, as shoppers caught up in holiday spirit bought the film in droves, seemingly forgetting about the mixed reviews from the year before.
It can also be said that Robert Zemeckis is overzealous about motion-capture technology. He already experienced his first colossal failure in motion capture with 2007's ""Beowulf,"" a sad attempt to capitalize on the popularity of ""300.""
He also has yet to find critical acclaim for his films, with ""A Christmas Carol"" probably being the closest. And yet he soldiers on, ready to make another motion-capture film based on a Christmas story, one that won't be released for a long time, meaning motion-capture technology could be considered completely passé by that point.
Whatever the rationale is for greenlighting ""The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,"" it certainly seems to be too soon. Given the risky nature with which ""A Christmas Carol"" was marketed, it's hardly a guarantee that this fledgling sub-genre will flourish. Yet if writing about the film industry has taught me anything, it's that studio execs are unpredictable, and their decisions are inexplicable.
Would you want to see a motion capture adaptation of ""The Nutcracker?"" Tell Kevin why at kevslane@gmail.com.
