It's a 'Monster' mash!
Sept. 22, 2002
Monsters, Inc., the latest DVD release from Disney (and Pixar) proves once again why Disney would be wise to extend its current contract with the CGI studio. Consumers bought more copies of Monsters, Inc. on its first-day release than any other movie in history. Disney's wholesale revenue was reportedly near the whopping $85-million mark.
Consumers purchased five-million copies of Monsters, Inc., with the larger percentage sold being on the DVD format. The movie is on pace to beat its heated box-office rival, Shrek, in one-week sales. DreamWorks Animation's meal-ticket held bragging rights last fall with a record nine-million copies sold in one week (Warner's Harry Potter claims to have since topped that record with $1 million more, but we're talking animated movies here)
This good news was preceded by news that Lilo & Stitch, which costed $80 million to produce and has grossed more than $142 million, was the first animated Disney feature to turn profit since The Lion King. Disney's latest round of profit-making ventures helped it to further its cred as the top animation studio in the world. It comes as good news to fans of Mickey Mouse and friends at a time when the company has been quoted as saying that it isn't in the market to lead anymore, and execs are content to sit still and live off the brands they've already built. Before you read too much into that, however, the studio simply meant that it would buy new technology from companies rather than create new technology in-house.
Monsters, Inc. was a great movie. The first time I saw it was when I rented it this weekend at Blockbuster. Ready for the latest and shortest review of a movie ever? OK ...
Monsters, Inc. was awesome. It was better than Shrek. Well, I didn't really even like Shrek. That movie was good, but overrated. It's true, though, that Shrek had more of that wink-wink humor that adults enjoyed. Back to Monsters: the movie was quirky, cool and helped to explain modern-day mysteries such as the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot—I always wondered about those elusive bastards. I definitely recommend it. Monsters, Inc. is better than Toy Story, but not as good as Toy Story 2. The price might be high (30 bones on DVD and 25 on VHS, but most retailers are selling it for cheaper), but you get a boat load of extras on disc 2. Still, my philosophy on DVD extras is, they're a good novelty, but after watching them once, you'll never want to watch them again—especially when they're on a whole other disc. Like I'm gonna stand up to switch 'em? I 'spose that's why they have five-disc changers.
Chris Douvalas
Discuss this topic here.
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Monsters, Inc. DVD features:
- Commentary by filmmakers Pete Docter, Lee Unkrich, Andrew Stanton, John Lasseter
- All New Animated Short Film "Mike's New Car" (Created Exclusively for the DVD)
- "For The Birds" - 2001 Oscar Winner For Best Animated Short Film
- Hilarious Outtakes
- The Monsters, Inc Company Play (New Animation)
- Boo's Door Game - All New Set Top Game
- Monsters Inc. Music Video
- Finding Nemo - An Exclusive Sneak Peak Of Disney/Pixar's Summer 2002 Feature Film
- Two Worlds to Explore: The Monster World and The Human World
- Pixar Tour
- Discover how computer animation works
- See how Monstroplis was created
- Abandoned Concepts
- Disney DVD Story time: Welcome to Monstropolis
- Animation gags
- Location flyarounds
- Never-before-seen tests
- Full-screen and widescreen anamorphic formats
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