Dec 26, 2019

Disney opens the first blue sky movie - "Spy in Disguise" - with decent reviews and box office predictions

For Disney, Christmas came early many times throughout 2019, a year that saw six of the studio's films top $1 billion worldwide. Now that Christmas has actually come, the House of Mouse is once again dominating the box office with a volley of films, led by Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. This week another film joined the pack: Spies in Disguise.

The cg comedy caper opened yesterday on 3,500 screens domestically. In its opening five-day holiday frame (Wed-Sun), it's projected to pull in something in the range of $20 million, which all things considered, wouldn't be too bad. Competition could come from starry period drama Little Women, another wide entry, as well as holdovers like Star Wars, Frozen 2, and Cats. The only other wide release of the week, Adam Sandler thriller Uncut Gems, skews older.

Spies in Disguise comes from Blue Sky, the studio best known for its Ice Age and Rio franchises. None of its films outside those franchises has taken more than $300 million at the global box office. Its last offering, Ferdinand, opened in December 2017 (also against a Star Wars film), and took $13.4 million in its first three days on its way to $84.4 million domestic. The film performed well abroad pulling in an additional $211M from international plays.

Watch the trailer and read the official synopsis below:

Spies in Disguise has a long history. The feature is loosely based on Lucas Martell's 2009 indie short film Pigeon: Impossible. The short went viral on Youtube and was optioned by Chernin Entertainmnt which partnered with Fox Animation, which owns Blue Sky.

That film was delayed at least a couple times from its original release date of January 18, 2019, with some of the delay owing to Disney's buyout of 21st Century Fox assets. When the deal was completed last March, Blue Sky fell into Disney's business, where it now sits awkwardly alongside Pixar and Walt Disney animation Studios.

Meanwhile, in July, Andrea Miloro stepped down as co-president of Fox Animation, in which capacity she had oversight of Blue Sky. At the time, reports noted that Spies in Disguise has been beset by budgetary issues.

Following Disney's buyout, the future of Blue Sky remains uncertain. Disney has confirmed that it will also finish the feature following Spies in Disguise - Patrick Osborne's Nimona - but it is not publicly known what will become of the Greenwich, Connecticut studio after the completion of that film.

Spies in Disguise is produced by Fox Animation, Blue Sky Studios, and Chernin Entertainment, and marks the feature directorial debuts of veteran animators Nick Bruno and Troy Quane, who are working with a script from Brad Copeland and Lloyd Taylor. Michael J. Travers (The Peanuts Movie) is producing.

Overall, the film's critical reception is warm if not too enthusiastic, with many reviewers praising the satirical humor. At the time of writing, its critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes was 73%.

Thomas Floyd gives the film three stars out of four in The Washington Post:

The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw drops the score to three starts out of five:

Kate Erbland singles out the design for praise in Indiewire:

But Carlos Aguilar, writing in The Wrap, is less enamored of the visuals: