Ruby Gillman: Worst Performance

From the deep sea of the unknown, one movie tried to swim up for fame – only for the movie to sink back to the bottom of the abyss. That movie is Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken (2023), only earning about $41.9 million at the global box office, netting a $30 million loss based off of its $70 million production costs alone. The loss would likely be insurmountable because the $30 million loss does not account for the amount of money spent advertising the movie. However, the movie did reach a new record: the lowest theatrical global haul for any Dreamworks Animation movie in history. So what could have gone wrong, especially from the studio that made the critically acclaimed movie – the tenth-highest-grossing film of 2022: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)?

One key factor TheDirect’s Richard Nebens points out from the article “Dreamworks Suffers Worst-Ever Box Office Performance In Animation Studio History'' is the competition. To bring to perspective Gillman’s competition: Ruby Gillman is a new IP with the usual 3D CGI artstyle meant to appeal for the younger audience. To me, from the trailers alone, nothing about the movie stands out in a visual perspective besides flashing lights and loud sound effects. This new IP was being released on the same day as the well-established IP of Indiana Jones with the release of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023), and the larger competition that was the “Barben-heimer” internet craze. This craze would influence more movie goers to watch Barbie (2023), another movie from a known IP, then Oppenheimer (2023), a movie about a known historical event, for the sheer juxtaposition of a bright, happy movie being released on the same day as a dark, grittier movie.

At least with Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022), excluding the movie’s intense and engaging story, it was already part of an established IP and utilized a new enticing animation style similar to Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse (2018). Both Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse (2018) and Spider-man: Across the Spider-verse (2023) have such a unique animation styles present in their movies, and both still have the safety net of being a part of the established Spider-man IP that would at least make people curious to watch if not for its art style or story. It would take a lot more for Ruby Gillman to stand out amongst the crowd of well-established IPs and internet craze, which sadly, it didn’t.

Link: https://thedirect.com/article/dreamworks-box-office-animation-studio-performance