MovieChat Forums > The Secret Life of Pets (2016) Discussion > Low Budget?

Low Budget?

posted 8 years ago by OhNooos
17 replies | jump to latest

The difference in budget between this film and other animated features is significant.

Secret Life of Pets $75,000,000 (estimate)

versus

Finding Dory $200,000,000 (estimate)
Kung Fu Panda 3 $145,000,000 (estimate)
The BFG $140,000,000 (estimate)

What is the difference? Are all the studios reporting the same things? Are line items missing from SLOP? Are the voice actors less known? I haven't seen SLOP, but from what I saw of the ads, the animation looked cute. Is it less detailed? Is the lighting not quite to the quality of Dory or KFP3? I thought the hair on the dogs looked good, what of the other textures and shading?

[–] titanman083 8 years ago

Well finding Dory and Kung fu panda are established names so they have an idea of how successful their movies will be.

[–] OhNooos 8 years ago

I'm not sure what to make of that in terms of production costs. What do you think they did differently with Dory and KFP that cost more?

[–] blackbeautylana 8 years ago

Where's their studio located? The animator fees might be different. US tends to demand more money for their work.

[–] OhNooos 8 years ago

Thanks for that; that lead to some interesting information in a Google search. Illumination is an American company, but it looks like the studio itself is based in Paris. I didn't think Paris was cheap, but maybe the cost for animators is...?
http://www.illuminationmacguff.com/about.php

Also, from Wikipedia"

Meledandri is determined to keep his company adhering to a low-cost model, recognizing that “strict cost controls and hit animated films are not mutually exclusive.”[10] In an industry where movie expenses often exceed $100 million, Illumination’s first two releases were completed with significantly lower budgets, considering Despicable Me’s $69 million budget and the $63 million budget of Hop.[10] One way the company sustains a lean financial model is by employing cost-conscious animation techniques that lower the expenses and render times of its computer graphics.[10]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illumination_Entertainment

Which leaves all kinds of questions: How do they keep costs down? Is it at the expense of employee happiness and fulfillment? What will happen to Dreamworks, now that Comcast/Universal owns them? Will they insist on cutting costs and losing what we love about DW?

[–] Alondro 8 years ago

If you don't spend $20 million and up for voice actors, you'd be amazed how inexpensive it is to produce medium-to-above-average animation with modern technology.

I've seen fan artists and independent animators do amazing stuff with no other budget than their own credit line... some of the short works are even beyond Pixar's studio productions.

[–] OhNooos 8 years ago

Voice actor costs could well be a big piece of this. Disney and Dreamworks favor using recognizable names. But what about the rendering costs and the intricacies of the pipeline. Animated shorts that I've seen lack crowds, character effects, and much of the FX that I've seen in other films. Those add depth and layers to films that make their experience more immersive. I wonder also about re-writes and re-doing scenes and the associated costs.

[–] Hold_the_door 8 years ago

All studios work with different budgets. For example Blue Sky's films don't cost more than $100 million. Dreamworks usually less than $150 million. Illumination's have very limited budget... around $65-70 million. Disney movies as of late cost a little over $150 million, while Pixar is the most expensive studio with films cost $170-200 million.

[–] number1212 8 years ago

This movie was made in a sweat shop in France.

[–] OhNooos 8 years ago

They have sweat shops in France? Are you sure?

I'm beginning to suspect that it's the animation. Maybe less detail or articulation, less surfacing, less lighting effects.... Also, with a low budget, there's less room for error or trial. Maybe their numbers don't include marketing and if you added marketing, they'd be higher? I don't know.

[–] number1212 8 years ago

'Twas a joke. It isn't a literal sweat shop, but I do think they can pay people less in France than in the US.

[–] OhNooos 8 years ago

Ah, ok...they do? I thought European countries paid their employees well since they're more socialist and have many many more benefits and lots of taxes.

Ok, so I looked it up. I think their salaries are comparable:https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/jobs-animation-average-salaries-career-paths/

[–] Alondro 8 years ago

The acronym for this movie makes me giggle more than most of the humor contained within it.

I wonder if the studio ever realized it...

[–] OhNooos 8 years ago

Haha - true!

[–] number1212 8 years ago

My friend an I were just talking about that. We figured if there is ever a Secret Life of Pets 2 that is really terrible, we are just going to call it SLOP 2 and never use the full title.

[–] Royalcourtier 8 years ago

$75 million is ample for an animated movie. The others had obscenely large budgets.

[–] OhNooos 8 years ago

You say ample, I say low-ball. I would love to see a breakdown of costs. And how does this play out in terms of quality? Dory and KFP3 were rich and intricate. I would hate to see either studio cut costs if it meant compromising their quality. Their films are art.

[–] rbrtck 7 years ago

It's because of heavy government subsidies for this specific type of work, probably in addition to generous tax breaks. That's why those jobs are there and not in California. Meanwhile, studios like Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar, which are located in California, get no such "free money" (paid for by French taxpayers), and they also put more work into their movies. The latter involves more time for developing the best stories they can, more detailed and nuanced character animation, more sophisticated simulation of environmental elements and things like the movement of hair and cloth. Watch the dresses in Frozen, for example, as well as the simulation of snow--these are very difficult to accomplish at this level of realism and sophistication, and require state-of-the-art research and development, and often additional work for the animators.