Igor Bows on 2,000 Screens

Last weekend saw one of the most interesting animated releases in a long time. It’s Igor, directed by Anthony Leondis (director of 2005’s Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch), written by Chris McKenna, and produced by Exodus Film Group. This is a new independent company in the realm of feature animation, and it’s aiming to shake up the world of Pixar and Dreamworks a little bit. Not a lot, of course; as producer Max Howard says in this Animation World Magazine article: “We’re not aspiring to be Pixar or Disney. We’re more like Juno. I’m hoping we’ll be discovered.”

According to Box Office Mojo they’re somewhat on their way. The film opened on an impressive 2,339 screens—quite a good number for an indie—and took in $8,010,000, which is perhaps slightly less satisfying. 

Igor looks like a good film as well. In it, the misunderstood assistant aspires to become a mad scientist himself, but he faces opposition from the mad scientist community and, I imagine, his own stature (as with the first Shrek, the film seems to create parallels between its antagonists and the production company’s competition). I’ve always enjoyed pictures that make spooky stuff fun, although in this case I can’t fathom why MGM, as the distributor, didn’t wait two more weeks to tie in better with Halloween. Maybe I'm wrong and they’re just getting a jump on it.

The film’s gotten mixed reviews, however, typical of this one by Jenna Busch or this one by Todd Gilchrist. Here’s a trailer:


                         

It might seem incongruous, but Igor and Exodus Film Group are also working to help eradicate malaria around the world (given the film’s plot, it’s not too incongruous after all). Here’s an article with more information.