Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced that it will release Open Season 2 on January 27, 2009.
The direct-to-DVD sequel to the 2006 animated film, the flick follows the further adventures of Boog and Elliot, the bear and mule deer voiced by Martin Lawrence and Ashton Kutcher respectively. It was a modest hit for Sony Pictures Animation, earning $189 million worldwide. Considering that it cost $85 million to make, that's a reasonable return on Sony's investment but nowhere near blockbuster territory.
What's Open Season 2 About?
Here's the synopsis, taken directly from the Sony website:
"Boog (Mike Epps) and Elliot (Joel McHale) are back. After Elliot falls head over hooves with Giselle (Jane Krakowski), his road to the altar takes a slight detour when Mr Weenie (Cody Cameron) is kidnapped by a group of pampered pets determined to return him to his owners. Boog, Elliot, McScquizzy (Billy Connelly), Buddy and the rest of the woodland creatures launch a full scale rescue mission for their sausage-shaped friend and soon find themselves in enemy camp; the world of the pets. Led by a poodle named Fifi (Crispin Glover), the pets don't plan to let Mr Weenie go without a fight."
As you might have guessed from the synopsis, Boog and Elliot may be back but Lawrence and Kutcher have not returned to voice the characters. Other no-shows for this release include Debra Messing (Beth, the forest ranger), Gary Sinise (the villainous hunter Shaw) and Jon Favreau (Reilly).
That doesn't speak well for Open Season 2's chances. Audiences tend not to like it when a studio changes its cast for another installment of a movie. Aladdin: The Return of Jafar was the lone exception, as Disney had alienated original star Robin Williams (a long, incredibly stupid story), and had to replace him with Dan "Homer Simpson" Castellaneta. But audiences weren't happy with Disney's "dreck to video" animated sequels either, and took it out on their theatrical releases.
Open Season 2's Extra Features
According to DVD Active, the extra features will include a "How to Draw: Boog, Elliot & Fifi" feature, deleted scenes, a "Who Let the Dogs Out" music video, a "Going WILD! With the Voice Cast of Open Season 2" featurette, and 4 interactive games (Elliot’s “Go Fetch!”, Doggie Strength Test, Track that Treat, Fix That 'Do). Blu-ray buyers will get an exclusive "Save Mr. Weenie" game.
Sony Pictures Animation's Troubled History
Sony's animation division has had a tough couple of years. Monster House, a motion-capture flick produced by Steven Spielberg didn't make its costs back in domestic theatres. Open Season did well, but not spectacularly so, and 2007's Surf's Up flopped with audiences, and was a distant third in the Best Animated Feature Film category at this year's Oscars (DIsney/Pixar's Ratatouille easily took home the prize).
Ironically, Sony Picture Classics – the studio's arthouse division – has had greater luck with animated films. It nabbed Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, a cel animated flick that won the coveted Jury Prize at last year's Cannes Film Festival and scored an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature Film.
This year, SPC nabbed Ari Folman's Waltz With Bashir, a harrowing look at the Sabra and Shatila massacres during the 1982 Israel-Lebanon war.
Open Season 2 is rated PG for "mild, rude humour."
