Measuring Success: The Iron Giant

http://cf.drafthouse.com/_uploads/galleries/22306/iron-giant-film-2.jpg

      

      The Iron Giant is one of animation’s most loved and disappointing film in the industry.  Fans of animation have grown to love The Iron Giant and consider it a masterpiece.  On the other hand, people never heard of the film and walked past it in your local bargain bin pile. 

The film takes place during the Cold War where America’s paranoia at its height. In the film,  a boy finds and befriends a giant iron robot.  The robot has no knowledge of his purpose on Earth because of a malfunction.  The child teaches the robot that he can be a good guy like Superman and that he is not a soulless weapon. Warner Bros. released the film, July 31,1999, and it failed to make an impact in the box office.  The Iron Giant had a production budget of $70 million and grossed $23 million (Box Office Mojo). As a result, Warner Bros. had a $47 million dollar loss.

 

            Since the release of The Iron Giant, it has become a cult classic among fans of animation. In addition, syndication on television helped increase the films recondition.  I know “cult” is a code word for box office failure but The Iron Giant is proving that it was ahead of its time in the story and technology.  The story of The Iron Giant was heavy. It dealt with themes of war, single-family homes, big evil government and the threat of weapons of mass destruction.   On the technical side, The Iron Giant broke new grounds in animation using CGI (computer generated images) to create the giant robot.  The breakthrough came from using a CGI model then giving it a traditional hand drawn look to fit in with the look of the film. Disney’s Tarzan used a similar technique using CGI for backgrounds and trees.

           

 So how do we measure success? The film did not make Warner Bros. any money upfront.  On the Brightside,  they have a beloved animated classic in their library  by critics and fans.  Since the release the film has gained recognition and the film’s director, Brad Bird, would go on to direct successful films like The Incredibles, Ratatouille and Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol.  Warner Bros. is criticized for the poor marketing of the film and giving up on the project before the theatrical release.  Instead of blogging on whom to blame for the failure of The Iron Giant we need to look forward.  Its overall impact rather than the box office numbers should measure the Iron Giant’s success.  I know the purpose of any film is to make as much money as fast as possible; however, not every movie is a grand slam.  Just like The Iron Giant himself it might take a while for the movie to live up to its full potential.

Purchase or rent the movie here.

http://whyiadore.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/iron-giant1.jpg