Disney+ Artemis Fowl (2020)

[Malcolm R]

Title: Artemis Fowl

Genre: Adventure, Fantasy

Director: Kenneth Branagh

Cast: Ferdia Shaw, Lara McDonnell, Judi Dench, Josh Gad, Nonso Anozie, Tamara Smart, Miranda Raison, Nikesh Patel, Adrian Scarborough, Joshua McGuire, Laurence Kinlan, Michael Abubakar, Simone Kirby, Jean-Paul Ly, Bernardo Santos, Conor MacNeill, Sally Messham, Hong Chau, Lukas DiSparrow, Rachel Denning, Jake Davies

Release: 2019-08-09

Plot: "Artemis Fowl" is about a 12-year-old Artemis who is a millionaire, a genius - and above all, a criminal mastermind. But Artemis doesn’t know what he's taken on when he kidnaps a fairy (Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon Unit) to harness her magic to save his family. These aren't the fairies of the bedtime stories - they're dangerous.

 

[Malcolm R]

https://ew.com/trailers/2018/11/27/artemis-fowl-trailer-judi-dench/

Some good supporting players (Judi Dench, Josh Gad), but I'm not familiar with the leads. They're all characters with strong personalities in the books. Hope they didn't muck up the casting.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I read the first two books years ago (like, 2001 or so?), but passed them along when I moved, so don't have them anymore. I really wish I could have those back now. I'm not really sure what to make of the trailer, except that Disney appears to be dropping trailers for all of their summer releases except for Avengers 4.

The poster looks like it's straight out of The Matrix, though.

 

[Malcolm R]

The poster looks like it's straight out of The Matrix, though.

It's also in French, for some reason.

 

[Jake Lipson]

It's also in French, for some reason.

I've seen the English version of it across Disney's social media channels. I'm not sure why IBDB uploaded it in French.

 

[Malcolm R]

Official trailer:

 

[Jake Lipson]

As someone who used to read a couple of these books all the way back in middle school, I've got to say that trailer is doing nothing to rekindle my excitement. I hardly remember anything about the books except that it is about some genius kid trying to mess with fairies. Based om the trailer, I'm not sure why I should care about what is going on. This looks bad.

 

[Chris Will]

The teaser had me intrigued but, this trailer turns me off.

One nitpick. A point is made in this trailer by a couple characters saying that Artemis is not ready or meant to see "this" yet (implying that he's too young) but, when he is shown the secret lair there is a perfectly sized, tailored suit for him to wear. Stuff like this just bugs me. I guess it's a magic suit that grows with him, just in case it's needed.

 

[JimmyO]

The teaser had me intrigued but, this trailer turns me off.

One nitpick. A point is made in this trailer by a couple characters saying that Artemis is not ready or meant to see "this" yet (implying that he's too young) but, when he is shown the secret lair there is a perfectly sized, tailored suit for him to wear. Stuff like this just bugs me. I guess it's a magic suit that grows with him, just in case it's needed.

Dude that showed him the suit got it with Amazon Prime.

 

[Malcolm R]

Disney decides to skip theaters, will premiere Artemis Fowl on Disney+

https://deadline.com/2020/04/artemis-fowl-disney-release-trolls-world-tour-1202900186/

 

[Jake Lipson]

Theaters are not happy with Universal for skipping theatrical on Trolls, which probably would have been a hit if it had been rescheduled for after the pandemic. It will be interesting to see if they say anything about this one. But I don't think they can afford to be too pissed at Disney, because Disney holds all the biggest franchises.

I also think Disney is dodging a bullet here. This is not Mulan or Black Widow and was never going to be in their tier. I get the sense that Artemis Fowl would have tanked anyway, so by moving it over to Disney+, they avoid the embarrassment of a low box office run and give the streaming service a nice exclusive they can tout. I know the books do have their fans, although I'm not sure if the base is big enough to have supported a theatrical release on their own. However, if Disney+ gets some signups from people who like the book and want to check out the movie, some of them might stick around afterwards and that would be a win for the service.

 

[TravisR]

The trailer for a major studio fairly big budget movie came out a year and a half ago and the movie still isn't out? It must be really good.

 

[Jake Lipson]

The trailer for a major studio fairly big budget movie came out a year and a half ago and the movie still isn't out?

That's because the movie was originally supposed to come out last AUGUST, so they began marketing in advance of that expected date.

Then it got bumped to the weekend after Memorial Day.

Then it got bumped to Disney+.

They don't appear to have much faith In it.

 

[TravisR]

That's because the movie was originally supposed to come out last AUGUST, so they began marketing in advance of that expected date.

Then it got bumped to the weekend after Memorial Day.

Then it got bumped to Disney+.

They don't appear to have much faith In it.

It seems like Disney has one misfire every year now (The Nutcracker in 2018 and Malificent last year) so pandemic or not, I think this was the one for this year.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I think this was the one for this year.

Yes, and I'm sure Disney knows that too.

They're not moving Mulan or Black Widow exclusively to Disney+ because they believe, probably correctly, that those movies will make bank with a traditional theatrical release when the pandemic is over.

If Disney still thought Artemis Fowl was going to be a viable property in the theatrical marketplace, it wouldn't have been moved off the slate either. By sending it to Disney+, they avoid the bad press that would have resulted from a poorly-attended theatrical result and also get any fans of the novels who might actually have checked it out in theaters to subscribe to Disney+.

 

[Johnny Angell]

I have not read the books. Just watched the trailer and I found myself having a hard time believing a kid can save the world. But what about Harry Potter, I bought into that premise. Yeah, but Harry wasn’t ready at first. It took several novels and movies to get him ready. Artemis is jumping into the deep end of the pool right away, I presume.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

These companies need revenue at some point. Several sources have claimed Black Widow is in discussion for D+ or PPV depending on how long this goes on, and while I don’t think that’s their first choice, they would be irresponsible business-wise to not even consider it.

Disney is about to furlough the majority of its employees, but since they’re still paying health benefits in this time, there’s still a massive cost they have each month even without paying full salaries. At a certain point, they need revenue, and whether it’s moving something to D+ to drive subscriptions and/or keep existing subscribers from bailing, or getting something instead of nothing by doing a higher priced digital rental or sale, they gotta do something. If the movies don’t make what the company thought they would make theatrically, they can take a write-down on the loss. But if they just hold on to stuff and don’t put anything out, they may end up with far less. If you read their recent SEC filing, their product pipeline and revenue is drying up and there’s no indication for when they can get back into business. As nice as it would be to hold everything indefinitely, they may not have a choice.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Disney has to hold onto some things. Unless movie theaters are closing forever, they're going to need big event titles to get people to come back whenever the shutdown ends. They won't be able to wait for production to resume on other films which will then have to be shot, edited and released in a year. If Disney were to take Back Widow straight to streaming, that would be a major blow to theaters in a way that Artemis Fowl is not. I do not for one second believe that an MCU title will go straight to streaming unless movie theaters permanently close, in which case the industry is looking at a very different situation.

On Artemis Fowl, they've dodged a bullet. Black Widow is a different situation entirely.

 

[TravisR]

I do not for one second believe that an MCU title will go straight to streaming unless movie theaters permanently close, in which case the industry is looking at a very different situation.

I don't think it'll happen but if the theater chains all fold and no other company wanted to buy & reopen them, I think the studios would buy existing theaters just to play their movies. I'm aware that studios can't own theaters but studios will meet whatever requirements the government needs to avoid being a monopoly in order to get that theater revenue stream back.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Actually they just reversed that decree so studios can now own their own theaters. If anyone does it, it’ll be Disney.