Can this sloth save Hollywood?

FOR months, the film industry thought deliverance from its painful and prolonged box-office slump might come from A-listers such as Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp or Tom Hanks. Instead, the biggest box-office stars these days are a wisecracking woolly mammoth, an insecure sloth and an acorn-obsessed squirrel named Scrat.

In an unexpectedly strong opening, “Ice Age: The Meltdown” grossed $68 million, almost $20 million more than most film executives had projected. Moviegoers are continuing to flock to the animated comedy -- it was No. 1 at the box office again this weekend -- with a total estimated take thus far of $116.4 million. For a business beset by three straight years of declining ticket sales, the PG-rated sequel to 2002’s popular “Ice Age” delivered not only 2006’s biggest opening, but also gave hope to an armada of family films waiting in the wings, including Pixar’s newest, “Cars,” and the next installment of the wildly popular “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise.

Movie studios tend to shower the lion’s share of their production and marketing resources on high-profile action fare, a slate that this year includes “Mission: Impossible III,” “Miami Vice” and “The Da Vinci Code.” Those pricey summer films may yet generate blockbuster ticket sales, but audiences over the last several months have shown a surprisingly strong interest in movies that have one thing in common: They appeal to families with preteen kids.

“That was the message that was heard loud and clear by Hollywood,” Jeff Blake, Sony’s chairman of worldwide marketing and distribution, says of the drive toward family films. “Why not get everyone if you can? There’s great value in having a picture that can appeal to everyone.”

That has certainly proven to be the case in recent months. In addition to “Ice Age,” the troubled “Curious George” did much better business its first weekend than Universal Studios’ internal estimates had predicted; Disney’s dogs-in-peril story “Eight Below” grossed more than $79 million; and Sony’s live-action comedy “The Pink Panther” was a solid hit. Also, “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” despite being overshadowed by intense media attention surrounding the costlier, longer and more violent “King Kong,” left far bigger footprints in domestic and international theaters, grossing more than $731 million worldwide.

John Fithian, president of the National Assn. of Theatre Owners, says: “We are more optimistic at this juncture in 2006 than we were in 2005. [We’re] excited about the breadth of genres and ratings. Family pictures are spaced throughout the year.”

Of course, not every movie aimed at parents and their kids turns into a money-making hit. Of the recent crop, “Little Manhattan,” “The Shaggy Dog” and “Nanny McPhee” fizzled and faded quickly. And like any Hollywood romance, the industry’s love affair with family audiences waxes and wanes.

Just two decades back, Disney sold the vast majority of movie tickets to families, fueled largely by its animated hits “The Little Mermaid,” “The Lion King” and “Beauty and the Beast.”

A number of rivals tried to clone the Disney formula, but attempts by both 20th Century Fox (“Titan A.E.,” “Anastasia”) and Warner Bros. (“The Iron Giant,” “Quest for Camelot”) fared so poorly that the studios shut down their animation units.

But as the rivals stumbled, so too did Disney, as its two-dimensional animated movies, including “Home on the Range,” tanked. The competition stormed back. Pixar pioneered computer feature animation (“Finding Nemo,” “Toy Story”) and other studios such as DreamWorks (“Shrek,” “Madagascar”) followed their lead.

Now, both Fox and Warners are back in the animation game. Sony has made its first in-house computer-animated movie, July’s “Open Season,” and Paramount is releasing the animated “Barnyard” in October.

“There’s definitely a hunger for movies that you can take your kids to, and now it looks like everyone is in the children’s movie business,” says producer Gary Goetzman, who with Hanks is making the upcoming family films “The Ant Bully,” “Amelia Bedelia,” “The City of Ember” and “Where the Wild Things Are.”

The current spate of family-oriented films is generating solid returns in part because parents are buying tickets for themselves, rather than just dropping their kids at the megaplex. Even teens and adults without kids are attending screenings, says Chris Meledandri, the 20th Century Fox executive who shepherded both “Ice Age” films.

“What was clearly driving [opening] weekend was that the film was working for a broad audience -- not just a family audience,” Meledandri said.

Fox estimated that non-family patrons made up as much as 90% of the audience for some nighttime screenings of “Ice Age: The Meltdown.”

The studio is now at work on a movie version of its animated TV series “The Simpsons” (due next year) and an adaptation of the Dr. Seuss book “Horton Hears a Who!” (coming in 2008).

Simple economics -- rather than social altruism -- is driving the push for more G- and PG-rated movies. Family films tend not to star $20-million actors, and when A-listers are cast in animated movies as voice talent, they work at far below their market rates.

Then, too, family films tend to have better profit margins -- helped not only by the smaller talent costs but also by the potential for selling countless DVDs, toys and other ancillary products. The hit movie “The Polar Express” is now a holiday Imax chestnut. Even an obscure kid-friendly TV movie -- the Disney Channel’s “High School Musical” -- has yielded a soundtrack album that topped sales charts.

Some executives say movies aimed at kids are doing well because their target audience is not distracted by the media that grab many teens’ attention: text messaging, iPods and video games.

“My kids don’t have cellphones to watch entertainment on. So, going to the movies is what we do,” says Terry Press, marketing chief for DreamWorks Animation and the mother of 6-year-old twins. DreamWorks releases its animated comedy “Over the Hedge” on May 19, the same day “The Da Vinci Code” is coming out.

Parents may not find some family movies great works of art -- indeed, reviews for “Ice Age: The Meltdown” were mixed -- but they know the films will rarely be longer than 90 minutes. And the movies represent a safe zone -- parents can usually assume they won’t have to explain too many off-color jokes.

Suzanne Todd, producer of Sony’s “Zoom,” says her summer movie isn’t trying to be edgy. Instead, the mother of three young children says she wants the Tim Allen comedy to be safe and entertaining. “There are those movies that you take your kids to that are painful,” Todd says. “In a different time and a different place, ‘Zoom’ would be a Disney movie.”

Moviemakers -- even those whose pictures might seem to hold little interest for the family film crowd -- say they are laboring to give stories as much broad appeal as possible. Even though Adam Sandler engages in some risque scenes in “Click,” director Frank Coraci says his movie about a self-centered dad given a remote control to skip through life is ultimately about parenting and enjoying unexpected moments.

“You definitely can bring your kids,” Coraci says of the movie, even though it will likely be rated PG-13. Similarly, the filmmaker behind the haunted-house movie “Monster House” says his picture, which he hopes will get a PG rating, is geared to young teens and their parents. “It’s scary -- but it’s fun scary,” director Gil Kenan says. “And I hope the themes will be nostalgic for adults.”

Disney, not unexpectedly, is focusing much of its movie slate on audiences not old enough to drive. Disney will release “Cars,” the new movie from Pixar and “Toy Story” director John Lasseter, on June 9. As it did on the first “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie, the studio will put its Disney logo -- not that of its grown-up movie label, Touchstone -- on its July “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” sequel.

“The audience is there and it’s stronger than ever,” Disney studio chief Dick Cook says of the drive to focus his slate on Disney-labeled family films.

“It’s what we live on, it’s our bread and butter. But we have started to reemphasize the brand in a major way.”

So far, the box office is still down 1.4% in admissions from this time last year, according to the tracking firm Exhibitor Relations Inc. But box office sales are almost even with last year’s figures.

Theaters owners are optimistic that 2006 will be better than 2005, because there are so many family films comes out.

And like his colleagues, Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros., which is releasing “The Ant Bully,” hopes family films will become habit forming: “Going to the movies is a contagious thing. You see one good movie and you want to go see another.”

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Weekend Box Office

Preliminary results (in millions) based on studio projections.

*--* Movie 3-day gross Total Ice Age: The Meltdown $34.5 $116.4

The Benchwarmers 20.5 20.5

Take the Lead 12.8 12.8

Inside Man 9.2 66.1

Lucky Number Slevin 7.1 7.1

Failure to Launch 4.1 79.1

ATL 3.8 17.3

V for Vendetta 3.4 62.3

Phat Girlz 3.1 3.1

Thank You for Smoking 2.4 6.3

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Source: Nielsen EDI Inc.

Los Angeles Times

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Family fare

Movie audiences lately have been showing interest in films aimed at children. (Family-oriented films)

Top grossers of 2006 (through 4/9/06)

*--* Box office Title, rating Open date (in millions) (1Ice Age: The Meltdown,PG) 3/31/06 $116.4 (2ThePink Panther,PG) 2/10/06 $81.8 (3Eight Below,PG) 2/17/06 $79.4 4Failure to Launch,PG-13 3/10/06 $79.1 5Big Momma’s House 2,PG-13 1/27/06 $69.3 6Inside Man,R 3/24/06 $66.1 7Madea’s Family Reunion,PG-13 2/24/06 $62.9 8Underworld: Evolution,R 1/20/06 $62.3 9V for Vendetta,R 3/17/06 $62.3 (10Curious George,G) 2/10/06 $57.6

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Top grossers of 2005*

*--* Box office Title, rating Open date (in millions) 1Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith,PG-13 5/19/05 $380.3 (2Chronicles of Narnia,PG) 12/09/05 $291.2 (3Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,PG-13) 11/18/05 $290.0 4War of the Worlds,PG-13 6/29/05 $234.3 5King Kong,PG-13 12/14/05 $218.1 6Wedding Crashers,R 7/15/05 $209.2 (7Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,PG) 7/15/05 $206.5 8Batman Begins (PG-13) 6/15/05 $205.3 (9Madagascar,G) 5/27/05 $193.2 10Mr. & Mrs. Smith,PG-13 6/10/05 $186.3

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*Figures represent total box office for movies that opened in 2005, a few of which did significant amounts of their overall business in 2006

Source: Nielsen EDI Inc.