MovieChat Forums > The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie (2008) Discussion > Big Idea Productions went bankrupt in 20...

Big Idea Productions went bankrupt in 2003...

posted 16 years ago by brent-65
6 replies | jump to latest

Seems like nobody here's heard the news... Big Idea productions (the folks who originally made Veggie Tales) grossed about $44M in 2000 and went bankrupt in 2003. See http://www.philvischer.com for the tale, or the book "Me, Myself and Bob" by Phil.

Essentially they had 1) bad management 2) their movie "Jonah" was a financial disaster and 3) they lost a lawsuit to their distributor.

VeggieTales is now produced by Classic media, the company that buys the corpses of old franchises like Casper, Rocky & Bullwinkle, etc. They're the ones who produced this movie and all the shows since 2003.

The old VeggieTales had some great episodes, but since the fall of Big Ideas, it looks like what's left of the creative team's lost their spark.

[–] rythosd 16 years ago

You realize that even though the company went bankrupt and was sold to classic that the writer and director of this film are the two original creators of Big Idea and veggie tales correct?

[–] darinlwarren 16 years ago

Thank you for this post. I knew something was wrong/different with the newer vids. But I didn't know what it was, just that Veggie Tales seems to have lost something. I'm probably one of the biggest 41yo veggie fans there is. But I didn't follow Phil's story at all. I'm getting the book RIGHT NOW.

http://youtube.com/profile?user=MrDarinWarren

[–] Dsneybuf 16 years ago

The case for the late 2007 episode "Moe and the Big Exit" bears the logos and copyrights of only Big Idea. Neither Classic Media nor its parent Genius Entertainment is mentioned at all. Does this mean Big Idea got out of bankruptcy?

[–] tvtv3 16 years ago

No. I don't remember the specifics, but "Big Idea" was just part of the name of the original company (I think it was "Big Idea Company"). Classic Media kept the "Big Idea" name (it's something like "Big Idea Media" or something like that now).

[–] timothyhodge 16 years ago

Actually, Big idea Productions (the company's original name) didn't "get out" of bankruptcy like an individual person would. In 2002, they were several million dollars in debt and had already laid off about 75% of their employees, so the company was auctioned off. Classic Media (www.classicmedia.tv) won the bid. Big Idea's debts were paid out of the purchase price. Classic then changed the name of the company from Big Idea Productions to Big Idea, Inc.

In 2003, Classic Media moved the Big Idea offices and most of the remaining employees to Franklin, TN (including VeggieTales co-creator Mike Nawrocki). At that point, all of the animation was outsourced to Canada while all the writing, design and voice recording is still done in-house.

In 2007 Classic Media was bought by Entertainment Rights of London (http://www.entertainmentrights.com/). So they now own all of Classic's library of characters, which includes Big Idea's (VeggieTales and 3-2-1 Penguins) as well.

So, in short, Big Idea, Inc. is a currently a financially solvent company that is a subsidiary of a much larger conglomerate.

[–] darinlwarren 16 years ago

I read Phil's book. "Me, Myself and Bob"

http://www.amazon.com/Me-Myself-Bob-Talking-Vegetables/dp/1595551220/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203549337&sr=8-2

Wonderful book written by Phil. When it was all over, after reading the book. I felt alot better about the whole thing and had a greater understanding of how God let everything happen the way it did. Everyone who is a fan of Veggies should read the book. You'll laugh, cry, and understand.