We all love cartoons. Be it from Disney, Pixar, hell even from people who aren't either who do their own thing. To create something that is for the sake of entertainment that can be explored with the world of art. Now. In this day in age. The only type of animated feature you can see in an American movie theater are animated movies geared for children. So. Why not make an animated feature film, but for the audience of a PG13 or an R rating? Say that around anyone. And you'll be answered to a ton of nos, freak outs, along with stuff like 'that's not gonna work' and 'nobody is willing to make a movie thats a cartoon for adults since animation is JUST FOR KIDS'.
Since the dawn of television, America has stuck with the belief that animation of any kind is geared just for children only. That's been boggling my mind ever since I heard about it the first time around when I was in high-school. Europe and Japan respect the art form of animation and know that it's for both audiences. While America on the other hand is still sucking their thumbs while crying in the dark corner repeating 'it's just for children, it's just for children'. Back in the day, the golden age of animation day. Disney didn't just focus on children, they focused on both audiences. Walt Disney knew that in order to keep the audience entertained, there needed to be things that would work for both the children in the audience as well as the adults that were in the audience as well. Nobody was willing to do something extreme for animation(e.g having sex scenes, characters cursing, characters getting hurt and dying on screen) since it 'didn't feel right'. Believing that to the point where it was almost considered as a sin for the animation business. It wasn't until animator Ralph Bakshi proved that animation could be more than a kids fare with his debut feature animated film Fritz the cat(based off of the underground comic book from Robert Crumb). It was a surprise success. Nobody saw it coming. Both its success, as well as Fritz opening doors to endless possibilities on what couldn't be done before in animation. It led for a short time of animation studios even making animated feature films for adults. Some were successful, while others became cult classics. Nowadays. Animation that is made for the PG13 and R rated audience is hard to come across by in America. Only because animation studios believe that it isn't considered profitable.
However, when there is a spark of light at the end of the tunnel, in the end there's always darkness at the end of it. It ends up getting a limited release or just being released at film festivals. Its not much since studios aren't willing to risk wasting money on something that isn't made for a family friendly audience. While family friendly animated features make money, it's a gamble when it comes to marketing an animated feature that isn't family friendly. One feature that comes to mind that ALMOST had a theatrical release that is an adult cartoon is Rob Zombie's The Haunted World of El Superbeasto. In the end when the movie was finished, Rob and Starz entertainment had a falling out since Starz didn't know how to market the film since they didn't think nobody would pay to see a 2D animated feature film that was made for adults. There was one movie that was released theatrically that was rated Pg13, and that movie was 9. Which was released in 9/9/09, and it was marketed to remind people that it wasn't a kids movie. Since then. Nobody's made an animated film for the PG13 or R rating since. Until now. A trailer for Seth Rogan's new movie, Sausage Party, is being labeled as 'the first R rated cartoon'(those people who say that dont have the slightest clue about animation to know that Fritz was the first R rated cartoon, despite being X rated back in the day, its considered as a hard R rated feature).
However. I have very low expectations for it since Seth Rogan NEVER made me laugh. I've waited for someone to make an R rated animated feature film that wasn't based off of a cartoon in years, and Sausage Party was the best they could do out of all the pitches that were pitched to the studios? If this fails. Not only will this push back the chance of adult animation returning to the cinemas, but it will also show that Seth Rogan will be the second Seth(since Seth macfarlane) to give adult animation a bad name. I do hope that it does well enough box office wise so that we can see studios be more open minded about producing animated features that are not just for children. I know The Goon would be a much better 'First R rated CGI cartoon' compared to this, but sadly, Eric Powell isn't popular enough compared to Seth Rogan and his comedies that follow the same formula over and over again.
Would anyone on here would like to see studios allow PG13 and R rated theatrical animated features to be released? I am certain that there is profit in that since people are likely sick to death of having to take their kids to a dumb Dreamworks movie. As well as there being people who like animation would want to see something completely different that isn't made from either Europe or Japan.
Since the dawn of television, America has stuck with the belief that animation of any kind is geared just for children only. That's been boggling my mind ever since I heard about it the first time around when I was in high-school. Europe and Japan respect the art form of animation and know that it's for both audiences. While America on the other hand is still sucking their thumbs while crying in the dark corner repeating 'it's just for children, it's just for children'. Back in the day, the golden age of animation day. Disney didn't just focus on children, they focused on both audiences. Walt Disney knew that in order to keep the audience entertained, there needed to be things that would work for both the children in the audience as well as the adults that were in the audience as well. Nobody was willing to do something extreme for animation(e.g having sex scenes, characters cursing, characters getting hurt and dying on screen) since it 'didn't feel right'. Believing that to the point where it was almost considered as a sin for the animation business. It wasn't until animator Ralph Bakshi proved that animation could be more than a kids fare with his debut feature animated film Fritz the cat(based off of the underground comic book from Robert Crumb). It was a surprise success. Nobody saw it coming. Both its success, as well as Fritz opening doors to endless possibilities on what couldn't be done before in animation. It led for a short time of animation studios even making animated feature films for adults. Some were successful, while others became cult classics. Nowadays. Animation that is made for the PG13 and R rated audience is hard to come across by in America. Only because animation studios believe that it isn't considered profitable.
However, when there is a spark of light at the end of the tunnel, in the end there's always darkness at the end of it. It ends up getting a limited release or just being released at film festivals. Its not much since studios aren't willing to risk wasting money on something that isn't made for a family friendly audience. While family friendly animated features make money, it's a gamble when it comes to marketing an animated feature that isn't family friendly. One feature that comes to mind that ALMOST had a theatrical release that is an adult cartoon is Rob Zombie's The Haunted World of El Superbeasto. In the end when the movie was finished, Rob and Starz entertainment had a falling out since Starz didn't know how to market the film since they didn't think nobody would pay to see a 2D animated feature film that was made for adults. There was one movie that was released theatrically that was rated Pg13, and that movie was 9. Which was released in 9/9/09, and it was marketed to remind people that it wasn't a kids movie. Since then. Nobody's made an animated film for the PG13 or R rating since. Until now. A trailer for Seth Rogan's new movie, Sausage Party, is being labeled as 'the first R rated cartoon'(those people who say that dont have the slightest clue about animation to know that Fritz was the first R rated cartoon, despite being X rated back in the day, its considered as a hard R rated feature).
However. I have very low expectations for it since Seth Rogan NEVER made me laugh. I've waited for someone to make an R rated animated feature film that wasn't based off of a cartoon in years, and Sausage Party was the best they could do out of all the pitches that were pitched to the studios? If this fails. Not only will this push back the chance of adult animation returning to the cinemas, but it will also show that Seth Rogan will be the second Seth(since Seth macfarlane) to give adult animation a bad name. I do hope that it does well enough box office wise so that we can see studios be more open minded about producing animated features that are not just for children. I know The Goon would be a much better 'First R rated CGI cartoon' compared to this, but sadly, Eric Powell isn't popular enough compared to Seth Rogan and his comedies that follow the same formula over and over again.
Would anyone on here would like to see studios allow PG13 and R rated theatrical animated features to be released? I am certain that there is profit in that since people are likely sick to death of having to take their kids to a dumb Dreamworks movie. As well as there being people who like animation would want to see something completely different that isn't made from either Europe or Japan.