It’s been a very long and painful road for Animal Crackers, but it’s finally tasting some success as it’s currently the #2 movie on Netflix and the fifth-most popular piece of content overall on the platform. If you’re not yet aware of it, it’s a 3D animated film about the members of a travelling circus and stars the vocal talents of actors like John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Danny DeVito, Ian McKellen and Sylvester Stallone. But why does this innocuous animated movie have such a tortured history?
Well, it appears to be cursed. Animal Crackers began its studio sessions with the cast way back in 2015, was finished in 2017 and it premiered at the Annecy International Film Festival soon afterwards. The reception was positive but then the company that was set to release the movie in theaters went bankrupt. Following that, Animal Crackers was scooped up by another studio, which also went bust. Entertainment Studios then stepped with plans for it to hit cinemas in August 2018, but for undetermined reasons that never happened.
At this point, you can imagine the frustration of directors Scott Christian Sava and Tony Bancroft, who for years have had a finished film full of stars and no way to show it to people. Finally in steps Netflix, who released it on their service on July 24th.
And now, after all that, Animal Crackers is a hit. It’s taken a little longer than planned, but at least people are finally watching it. Of course, not everyone that’s seen it is loving it, but it’s far from the worst movie that’s hit Netflix lately. It’s also picking up a dedicated fanbase who are busy defending it from the naysayers on social media.
Still, even the director admits that there are flaws. Sava recently responded to a tweet criticizing the flashbacks and said:
“It’s my first film and I think I tried to tell too much story. Ha ha. I hope I can improve if I get another shot.”
Well, if Animal Crackers maintains its position in the Netflix charts, he might well get his chance.
