Animated Theatre films based on shows!

[gaastra]

Just for fun let's look at some theatre films (animated) based on tv shows. Anyone go to theatres to see any of them?

Feel free to post one you saw in theatres or loved. Also yes limited and fathom events count. I will count golden age shorts like bugs bunny also.

Here are the first three--







Yogi was rereleased in theatres again in 1986.

[Ben]

Technically, of course, Magoo was a star in short (sighted) subjects first, from which 1001 was spun off.

We had Yogi on VHS, probably as a result of the '86 reissue. It’s not a bad little movie, and the best "limited animation" that HB did for the big screen, certainly better crafted than what we saw on television of the time. I’m singing the opening credits song in my head now…

[gaastra]

Yup it was rereleased by paramount under the "clubhouse pictures" logo. They paid for the rerelease and also got the gobots movie from hanna barbera also. There was a big hanna barbera boom in the mid 80s to early 90s thanks to usa cartoon express, vhs releases and scooby reruns leading to the film getting a rare wide rerelease for an animated film based on a show and new shows like yogi treasure hunt and funtastic world of hanna barbera. Funny thing is the ads marketed it in 86 like it's an all new movie thinking people wouldn't remember it's an old movie anyway!

Saw 1001 on vhs back in the 80s. Mom rented it one night having watched magoo as a kid herself. Wanted to see chipmunk adventure in theatres but we had to pick and choose as we didn't have much money so going to the movies was a big event for us. (We did see et, gremlins, neverending story, supergirl and some others) and didn't get to see alvin till vhs.

[Randall]

I have 1001 Arabian Nights in the Mr. Magoo theatrical DVD set, but haven't watched it yet. I reviewed the DVD for The Chipmunk Adventure, and was pleasantly surprised at its high quality. It did have a whole lot of moonlighting talent in the animation staff. (I have the Blu-ray for it now, which is now out of print and commanding high prices on eBay. I actually got a pretty good price for the DVD when I sold it.)

I saw Hey There It's Yogi Bear as a double feature with my favourite of these, The Man called Flintstone, back in the 70s. A local theatre had kiddie matinees with cool double features, and that was one of the few I got to see. I wished I could go every weekend, but it was just an occasional treat. Ah, but I do love The Man. The opening sequence is my favourite Hanna-Barbera sequence ever. I have the neat LP too. I regret selling my LaserDisc when the DVD came out. Little did I think that Warner would remove the Wilma Columbia lady on their DVD!

[Daniel]

For anyone curious:



Carved in stone, naturally. Such a cool variant!

[EricJ]

I have 1001 Arabian Nights in the Mr. Magoo theatrical DVD set, but haven't watched it yet.

It's definitely off the theatrical-shorts canon (where the gags are still about Magoo's eyesight), since it predated "Magoo's Christmas Carol", and some of the played-straight Famous Adventures TV episodes like "Snow White" and "Robin Hood" that were later reissued as kiddy matinees.

Yup it was rereleased by paramount under the "clubhouse pictures" logo. They paid for the rerelease and also got the gobots movie from hanna barbera also.

Not to mention:

(As well as giving us a new movie-friendly Rainbow Brite theme that will root its head and lay eggs even more powerfully than the original TV theme... )

And, while not Clubhouse, the movie whose success for Sam Goldwyn distribution infamously shame-motivated 1985 Disney out of their Black Cauldron malaise:

[Ben]

I think Flintstone was the first Columbia variant I saw — nope, strike that, it would have been Cat Ballou, which was even better as it was animated Tex Avery style (well, she always reminded me of Red anyway).

Interesting sideline: Ballou was the first *altered* Columbia logo. There had been a handful (literally) of color and text variations before, but the first one to be totally new and film-specific was for the Peter Sellers comedy The Mouse That Roared in 1959, brilliantly shot in full live-action (a mouse scares the Columbia Lady off!). After that there were a few more joke versions — William Castle had fun with it a couple of times — but Cat Ballou then came along in '65 as the first logo to animate/change the basic setup (followed by The Trouble With Angels, where a cartoon angel blows the torch out!). I’d guess this gave HB the idea for Wilma the following year…



Obviously, that was also referenced in the Spider-Verse opening! And, just for fun, here’s the Mouse logo!




Back to the TV Toons, and Rainbow Brite was a WB release over here, with the trailer on a NeverEnding Story tape, I think. Either that or one of the WB compilation movies. I’ve never seen it, but always wanted to, as the animation looked pretty good. Clubhouse had a few releases around then; I’ll always remember the logo from American Rabbit.

I’m glad someone brought up The Care Bears Movie, as I would have done otherwise. Yes, it shook Disney into getting back to roots with more populist fare like Basil and what would become Mermaid, but it’s actually a darned good little picture, and Nelvana did a really nice job on the animation, well deserved of a long-overdue disc release. Part of its success, I’d argue, was that it felt more Disney than Disney at the time: that evil book felt like a villain that had been in a classic Disney film. She obviously never had, but it had that feeling that cancelled out the soppy antics of the Bears, and the book's luring of "Nicholas… Niiiicchooolaaaassss…" was proper creepy! Considering the success — Columbia put out two theatrical sequels — you’d think someone would have this out in some kind of decent edition. Must be rights issues, though I’d have thought this was with MGM by now.

And don’t forget The Secret Of The Sword, hehe.

[gaastra]

Care bears movie and smurfs and the magic flute were huge hits both at their release the highest non disney animated film. Care bears I saw as a school field trip. It was released with a strawberry shortcake special as well, but our screening didn't play it. Care bears made $34m and smurfs $19m 80s money.

Secret of the sword ended up making $9m on a $2m budget in america alone! Some say its success led to greenlighting the live action film.

Also, yes rainbow brite movie was wb who still owns the film. You can rent it on vudu but can't buy it sadly.

https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/det ... aler/10113

Hey there's orko on the poster and music video--who is not in the film. Talk about false advertising!




Film got not one but two soundtracks!

[gaastra]

[Ben]

The music from TSOTS still cracks me up. Just after disco, there are still the "disco horns" in there and it’s got a real funky vibe (talking about the music score, not the cheesy song, which you posted as I was writing this)! We used to play the trailer over and over for that, though only saw the film itself once on VHS (though I have the unwatched DVD too). One of my pals and I still shout that music out to each other!

So, interestingly, the Belvision Smurfs, from '74 I think, wasn’t such of a hit until it got a reissue in '83 off the back of the HB series. And, being kids, we didn’t like the different music and character voices (and no Gargamel)! Of course now, I know what it actually was and appreciate it as a product from the great Belvision studio. Unfortunately the Blu-ray release is an absolutely AWFUL interlaced upscale from early in the format and is essentially unwatchable.

[gaastra]

Also, here you go--

[gaastra]

In America smurfs and the magic flute was not released till the 80s. The poster got the ok to use the hanna barbera versions but that's not how they looked in the film confusing kids. Smurfette was not in the film, so the American dub gave the smurf leading them to the village a female voice to fill in for her. Note they replaced the uk dub with a new one. Later they redubbed papa smurf to sound more like the cartoon hb version when it aired on tv and the smurf party scene was moved up to the start to get the smurfs in the film faster. They made a big event out of its tv airing as well on thanksgiving night!

Sadly, due to a rights snag shout used the uk dub over the two american dubs.

[gaastra]

By the way, will try not to clog this thread up with tons of video links from youtube if thats better guys.

[Ben]

No probs. I’ve been playing and humming that Power song video since you posted it!


(Although, weirdly, none of the Tubes, in other ones I posted, are showing!? Is YT down or something?)

[gaastra]

They play fine for me. Odd.

Few more played in theatres--