Paramount Drops Release of "The Little Prince" One Week Before Release

March 13, 2016 12:48 PM

“All grown-ups were once children... but only few of them remember it.” Variety reports that Paramount has decided to not release the film adaptation of the beautiful and classic "Le Petit Prince" in the U.S. despite glowing reviews and a very successful overseas release. The film features the voices of Jeff Bridges, Rachel McAdams, James Franco, Marion Cotillard and Benicio Del Toro .No reason was given for the decision to drop the U.S. release however the film’s director, Mark Osborne, noted that the film will be released later in 2016, with a new distributor:

The Little Prince was written in 1943 by famed aviator and writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and has become a much loved classic dealing with the conflicts of a world seen through childish innocence vs. the inevitability of being an adult.

FWIW I've seen it already and it's lovely.

posted by AGameOfMoans (76 comments total)

Oh my I forgot! Ricky Gervais has a voice in there too.
posted by AGameOfMoans at 12:55 PM on March 13, 2016

it's fairly easy to get a hold of - i am waiting for just the right nostalgic morose mood to strike me before i watch it. i'm looking forward to it very much. this is such a bizarre move from paramount.
posted by nadawi at 12:57 PM on March 13, 2016 [2 favorites]

Clearly, the elephant-eating snake lobby has more power in Hollywood than we ever dreamed.
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:01 PM on March 13, 2016 [42 favorites]

I have no desire to see this movie out of a general "I'm not a fan of the ending of the book," but it was such a surprisingly weird move by Paramount.
posted by Atreides at 1:03 PM on March 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

Hey I mean who needs this when we have 500 new superhero movies to choose from, right? /sarcasm

Very strange.
posted by sallybrown at 1:06 PM on March 13, 2016 [17 favorites]

I don't remember another instance of someone dropping a movie a week before release, anyone else? How much of the cost is already sunk here?

Is Paramount about to go out of business or something?
posted by selfnoise at 1:10 PM on March 13, 2016 [3 favorites]

That's truly bizarre. I think I'll go read the book again while not looking for a torrent.

To be honest, I've seen *1* trailer for it ever. Maybe they realized they forgot to market it, and decided if they postpone 6 months, they can let people know the movie's actually coming out?
posted by DigDoug at 1:15 PM on March 13, 2016 [3 favorites]

Paramount wanted to rework the film so that it can be in a shared universe with the Very Hungry Caterpillar, Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel, and Knuffle Bunny.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 1:17 PM on March 13, 2016 [80 favorites]

And this, folks, is the source of the real cause of piracy.

People who were looking forward to this film and know it is released elsewhere will seek out more illicit ways to see it.

How does this industry not see that it's shooting itself in the foot constantly with this sort of thing?
posted by deadaluspark at 1:19 PM on March 13, 2016 [35 favorites]

Out of curiosity, does anyone know if the film as released in German-speaking areas has dubbing or subtitles? (French is ok but I have about three words of german..) and is it still available? Looks like it released in many places last summer, and in Germany/Switzerland mid December..
posted by nat at 1:24 PM on March 13, 2016

The adaptation didn't need to be even remotely loving or careful, as the book became public domain in the US a couple of years ago. But it sounds like it was done with a little bit of care.
posted by scruss at 1:31 PM on March 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

I can say they did a great job with the adaptation. Some people might not like how the original book is a sort of framing device but it just adds more layers of "Here is all the ways adults fuck up their own lives." I can't recommend it highly enough.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 1:41 PM on March 13, 2016 [5 favorites]

It would have been kind of insane to try and release a random animated children's film against Zootopia.
posted by trackofalljades at 1:41 PM on March 13, 2016 [15 favorites]

In the framing story the character of "le businessman" is expanded upon and becomes a villain who imprisons all the stars as well as all the people, including Le Petit Prince. Perhaps the powers that be do not care for such a portrayal ?
posted by AGameOfMoans at 1:54 PM on March 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

Maybe they had to edit out the guest cameo by Donald Trump.
posted by ardgedee at 1:56 PM on March 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

This looks like it will be quite wonderful, but I suspect my heart will always belong to the 1974 musical. Bob Fosse's snake was just mesmerizing.
posted by Proofs and Refutations at 1:56 PM on March 13, 2016 [10 favorites]

Bob Fosse's snake and Gene Wilder's fox!
posted by rmd1023 at 2:04 PM on March 13, 2016 [11 favorites]

well, that sounds pervier than it actually is.
posted by rmd1023 at 2:04 PM on March 13, 2016 [28 favorites]

People who were looking forward to this film and know it is released elsewhere will seek out more illicit ways to see it.

How does this industry not see that it's shooting itself in the foot constantly with this sort of thing?

The filmmakers (who are the ones who are going to be fucked by piracy) are ready to go. They've basically been fucked by their distributor who now has pretty much no financial interest in whether this gets pirated.
posted by Talez at 2:09 PM on March 13, 2016 [5 favorites]

Gah! This is an excellent movie.

If you are near San Jose there's a single screening at 3:30 (an hour from now) at the Cinequest Film Festival
. If you are in the area don't miss it.
posted by flyingfox at 2:09 PM on March 13, 2016

It's playing in Canada now. If, you know, you need another reason to move here.
posted by GhostintheMachine at 2:17 PM on March 13, 2016 [23 favorites]

I think we can all agree that film piracy is driven by film distributors dropping releases of adaptations of public-domain French children's stories.
posted by beerperson at 2:25 PM on March 13, 2016 [73 favorites]

Perhaps they are waiting for America to be mature enough to understand it?
posted by srboisvert at 2:28 PM on March 13, 2016 [6 favorites]

If you were to say to grown ups at Paramount "I have a beautiful movie about not losing your childhood's curiosity and is nostalgic for Boomers, Gen X, and Millenials" they would not be able to get any idea of the movie at all. You would have to say to them: "I have a movie worth 82,000,000." Then they would exclaim "Oh, what a pretty movie worth distributing that is!"
posted by Become A Silhouette at 2:29 PM on March 13, 2016 [51 favorites]

trackofalljades has the right answer, I think. Zootopia is turning into a much bigger hit than was probably initially expected, given the modest performance of the last Disney/Pixar animated film (The Good Dinosaur). Zootopia beat Frozen's opening weekend record last week, and there's not much else out aimed at kids at the moment. And, Little Prince won't be a tentpole for a franchise, so there's no reason to give it any big release buildup, It's surprising it was planned for a wide US release at all, if you ask me.
posted by briank at 2:30 PM on March 13, 2016 [2 favorites]

It's surprising it was planned for a wide US release at all,

"Why we can't have nice things," I'll take Potent Potables for $800, Alex.
posted by JHarris at 2:38 PM on March 13, 2016 [8 favorites]

I really disliked the book as a kid. It was stupid and twee and only put in the children's collection because it was short and had pictures.

This is my long-delayed revenge. Snow Goose, I'm coming for you next.
posted by Joe in Australia at 2:41 PM on March 13, 2016 [12 favorites]

In the inbred Hollywood corporate structure, Paramount is part of Viacom, the 6th largest media corp, whose main assets are Cable TV channels - MTV, Nickelodeon, BET, TVLand, Spike, etc., and which split off CBS ten years ago and now CBS is bigger (they retained joint custody of Star Trek, it's complicated). So far in 2016, they have released "13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi", "Zoolander 2", "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" and "10 Cloverfield Lane". Animation-wise, they lost distribution of Dreamworks movies to Fox right before "How to Train Your Dragon 2", and their main toon output is now mostly Nickelodeon Pictures (coming soon: "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows"). To their credit, they released "Anomalisa" but that was no kids cartoon and its underperformance ($3.1 million worldwide, against a budget of $8 million) may have scared Par execs away from anything considered "quality animation". With that context, this deeply disappointing move is far less surprising.
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:01 PM on March 13, 2016 [5 favorites]

One word: Zootopia.
posted by sammyo at 3:17 PM on March 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

The Good Dinosaur... what the fuck happened with that?

I'm still not entirely convinced that they didn't time the DVD/streaming release for Oscar season in order to bury it under Inside Out rewards hype.
posted by Artw at 3:18 PM on March 13, 2016

Oh, right, yep, what trackofalljades and briank said. (zootopia)
posted by sammyo at 3:20 PM on March 13, 2016

Big studios have, at a minimum, a reputational interest in the success of their releases, requiring a certain minimum promotional spend, and may well have a contractual obligation for release spending that is higher even than that minimum. It could easily be the case that dropping the picture and losing whatever they pre-paid for distribution rights is the better business move for Paramount and the filmmakers. Paramount doesn't have to chalk another one up for the year in the "L" column and the filmmakers get an enthusiastic distributor, maybe one which will spend a little less than a standard studio release but still get in front of people.
posted by MattD at 3:21 PM on March 13, 2016 [2 favorites]

deadaluspark: People who were looking forward to this film and know it is released elsewhere will seek out more illicit ways to see it.

While it is available on BluRay and DVD through retail routes, it still looks significantly easier to get a BluRay rip than it is to release the kraken.
posted by filthy light thief at 3:36 PM on March 13, 2016

Well ssssso ssssee, it's just not really going to be quite the same without Bob Fosse as the sssssSnake in the Grasssss.
posted by sammyo at 3:40 PM on March 13, 2016 [2 favorites]

I really disliked the book as a kid. It was stupid and twee and only put in the children's collection because it was short and had pictures.


I always noticed an almost desperate over-hyping of the book...it seemed that it was really important to adults that we like it
posted by thelonius at 3:53 PM on March 13, 2016 [21 favorites]

Griffin Mill: It lacked certain elements that we need to market a film successfully.
June: What elements?
Griffin Mill: Suspense, laughter, violence. Hope, heart, nudity, sex. Happy endings. Mainly, happy endings.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 3:57 PM on March 13, 2016

they released "Anomalisa"

Just got back from watching Anomalisa. It was oddly engaging and not overwhelmingly cheerful.

Having said that, it was more rewarding to watch than all of the Hobbit flicks + all of the Transformer movies, and only lasted about an hour and a half. Recommended!
posted by asok at 4:05 PM on March 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

How does it compare to the 1974 film?
posted by humanfont at 4:13 PM on March 13, 2016

I never encountered the book until senior year of high school, when it was presented as a "deceptively simple" book or something like that. I didn't much take to it, but a friend fell so in love with it that year that she eventually got a elephant eating a snake tattoo.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 4:26 PM on March 13, 2016 [3 favorites]

As a kid I thought the book was dumb. As an adult I think it is heart breaking and brilliant. Kids aren't capable of feeling nostalgic for their own lost innocence.
posted by OnceUponATime at 4:40 PM on March 13, 2016 [28 favorites]

This is my favorite kind of headline, one that can be read to mean two completely different things because of a word - "drop", in this case - that has two almost exactly opposite meanings.

For comparison: 'Batman v Superman' Drops a New International Trailer
posted by Hatashran at 4:47 PM on March 13, 2016 [5 favorites]

it has always been one of my favorite books since i read it for the first time at 6 or 7. it was the first book where what i took away from it was heavily dependent on when i read it. i actually took french in high school so i could read it in its native language (much better that way, imo). i have a postcard with a quote from the book in my kitchen and i still want to get a tattoo based on it.
posted by nadawi at 5:08 PM on March 13, 2016 [5 favorites]

I did notice that there are Little Prince themed board books out now. Why buy your baby Sandra Boynton or Leslie Patricelli when you can buy them a wispily illustrated adaptation of the classic story no baby has ever asked for?
I did not buy them for my library.
posted by Biblio at 5:10 PM on March 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

Metafilter: well, that sounds pervier than it actually is.
posted by hanov3r at 5:11 PM on March 13, 2016 [7 favorites]

Last week was spring break here and we gave the kids the choice of seeing The Little Prince or Zootopia. They chose The Little Prince and we all went to see it at the theatre (yes, in Canada). I'm quite sure that the reason the kids chose it over Zootopia was because they had both read the book or had the book read to them in school, thank you teachers. It was not twee. It was lovely. On the way home my son wondered aloud about the parts cut from the book, and why they hadn't made it into the film. My daughter had opinions about why they had added the storyline with the girl and her mother. My wife, who has recently been reading up on the use of archetypes in writing mused about the roles of the various characters. I came home and started researching Saint-Exupéry, who was himself a fascinating character. In short the film brought pleasure to everyone from 7-45 years old. It was exactly the right kind of film to see in the theatre together.
posted by Cuke at 5:13 PM on March 13, 2016 [27 favorites]

Has anyone mentioned the anime, because there was an anime.
posted by juv3nal at 5:17 PM on March 13, 2016 [4 favorites]

I tried watching that anime - and appreciate your mentioning it! - but after 5 or 6 minutes I realized that it's not really The Little Prince in any way at all.
posted by AGameOfMoans at 5:37 PM on March 13, 2016 [4 favorites]

Reminds me of the Anime adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo... In SPAAAACE
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 5:44 PM on March 13, 2016 [2 favorites]

wait! the first "huh, this changes every time i read it!" book was actually "there's no such place as far away" by richard bach, but the little prince was the second one, and has kept on changing far longer than the bach book did.
posted by nadawi at 5:48 PM on March 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

Hatashran: "This is my favorite kind of headline, one that can be read to mean two completely different things because of a word - "drop", in this case - that has two almost exactly opposite meanings.

For comparison: 'Batman v Superman' Drops a New International Trailer"

If you read "drops" as "craps out", it almost works both ways…
posted by Pinback at 6:06 PM on March 13, 2016 [3 favorites]

[Anomalisa] was more rewarding to watch than all of the Hobbit flicks

Incidentally, the fan edit called "The Tolkien Version" is amazingly better than all of the Hobbit flicks (which I reluctantly own).
posted by sneebler at 6:09 PM on March 13, 2016

Reminds me of the Anime adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo... In SPAAAACE

Hey, Gankutsuou was pretty well done, and the visual design very clever and not typical anime. Just sayin.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:15 PM on March 13, 2016 [2 favorites]

Clearly, the elephant-eating snake lobby has more power in Hollywood than we ever dreamed.

I think you mean the hat lobby?
posted by Itaxpica at 6:46 PM on March 13, 2016 [20 favorites]

The comments I've read online were scathingly negative about the film, particularly the framing device and a new ending. Can anyone comment? I'd seen the trailer and had thought to see the film.
posted by the sobsister at 6:59 PM on March 13, 2016

Well the framing device was necessary for a couple reasons I think: firstly to necessarily pad the story out a bit to conventional movie lengths and secondly, if not more importantly, to establish a rapport between the movies primary audience, children. I thought that framing story was well done and in keeping with Saint-Exupéry's overall feeling for the piece. The somewhat softened ending I think was needed because no one wants to make a theater full of kids leave crying and unhappy so a bit of softening is pretty much essential.

The comments about the movie that I have seen were overall very positive but again it depends on if you are looking at a place similar to Reddit or similar to here. I believe it got a 93 at Rotten tomatoes, was well received at Cannes and, the ultimate test, was very well received at it's showings in France.
posted by AGameOfMoans at 7:28 PM on March 13, 2016 [2 favorites]

The only time I ever was exposed to this was in French class, senior year of high school. We read "Le Petit Prince", in French, that year. I pretty much have no idea what it was really all about...

I was not a great French student.
posted by Windopaene at 8:07 PM on March 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

Windopaene: "The only time I ever was exposed to this was in French class, senior year of high school. We read "Le Petit Prince", in French, that year. I pretty much have no idea what it was really all about..."

Yes I'm surprised by this thread's nostalgia for the book. I have nothing against it but it was not part of my childhood in the Midwest. Honestly I don't think I had ever heard of it until college, and only then in the context of friends majoring in French.

I guess I've always thought of it as marginal in an American context, and really an idiosyncratic European thing fiercely beloved by people over there -- like Asterix, Tintin, or the Moomins. But I bet some of you loved these too!
posted by crazy with stars at 9:02 PM on March 13, 2016

Does this one tack on a happy ending?
posted by benzenedream at 9:38 PM on March 13, 2016

This is my long-delayed revenge. Snow Goose, I'm coming for you next.

Camel's Snow Goose is actually a wonderful pop-prog-rock-instrumental concept album. I highly recommend it!
posted by Jon Mitchell at 12:29 AM on March 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

The adaptation didn't need to be even remotely loving or careful, as the book became public domain in the US a couple of years ago.

Not with a 1943 publication date it didn't. Interestingly, it appears that the book has entered the public domain everywhere except the US and France.
posted by startled at 12:53 AM on March 14, 2016

I must say I was deeply relieved to learn that it wasn't a screenplay of Kevin Allison's retelling of The Little Prince from Risk! podcast #716, a few episodes ago. (The magic begins at 6:40, for the brave, and is very unlikely to be appropriate for work.)

By deeply relieved of course I mean deeply disappointed. That would have been a real experience on the big screen.
posted by Mrs. Davros at 12:57 AM on March 14, 2016

The comments I've read online were scathingly negative about the film, particularly the framing device and a new ending. Can anyone comment? I'd seen the trailer and had thought to see the film.

I saw it a few months ago. For what it's worth, it left absolutely no impression on me that I can recall other than a) I didn't enjoy what I watched, and b) I didn't watch it all the way through, which is exceedingly rare for me.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 1:16 AM on March 14, 2016

@scruss: became public domain in the US

That's crazy talk right there.
posted by HillbillyInBC at 1:24 AM on March 14, 2016 [2 favorites]

My first introduction to the The Little Prince was Will Vinton's 1979 Claymation adaptation. I'm surprised at how below the radar its become.
posted by KingEdRa at 1:49 AM on March 14, 2016 [3 favorites]

Take the film "Spirited Away" for comparison. Currently IMDB-rated #29 film ever. US release a year later in 151 theatres. Gross: $450,000. After winning an Oscar, it's released to 700 more. Gross: $10 million. Many possible reasons for the way this blockbuster was treated.

The Wizard of Oz made $3 million on release (a $1 million loss).

Wonderful things find their audience, and once that audience exists, they become available. This is a wonderful thing, so get on the list!
posted by Twang at 2:05 AM on March 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

Yes I'm surprised by this thread's nostalgia for the book. I have nothing against it but it was not part of my childhood in the Midwest. Honestly I don't think I had ever heard of it until college, and only then in the context of friends majoring in French.

This is somewhat similar to my experience. I was aware of the book as a kid, but I didn't read it until my third year of French in high school, and I think that's a fairly common experience in the US. It feels very much like a book for grown-ups in kids'-book clothing, like a catalyst for childhood nostalgia more than a book people feel nostalgic for. And, in my experience, high school is when kids get enough distance from their early years to start feeling nostalgic. Not to mention the book has some very elegant, very senior-quotable observations about love that seemed to hit at just the right time.
posted by Metroid Baby at 4:43 AM on March 14, 2016 [2 favorites]

What I'm taking away from this thread is I need to reread The Little Prince post-haste, as I haven't read it since I was... oh,12? but multiple times before then. From what I remember, it makes absolute sense that it'll be a different book when one is an adult.

I did like it as a kid, but I mostly liked the worldbuilding I think.
posted by seyirci at 6:17 AM on March 14, 2016 [2 favorites]

i found it so early (in arkansas) based on the anime. the dubbed english version was all over nickelodeon when i was little. as soon as i found out it was based on a book, i demanded we go to the library to find it.
posted by nadawi at 6:27 AM on March 14, 2016

and really an idiosyncratic European thing fiercely beloved by people over there -- like Asterix, Tintin, or the Moomins. But I bet some of you loved these too!

Asterix is arguably brilliant. By which I mean I could produce a few paragraphs arguing in favour of it.
posted by ersatz at 8:19 AM on March 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

The Count of Monte Cristo... In SPAAAACE

Wait, they made The Stars My Destination?!!?
posted by Naberius at 9:03 AM on March 14, 2016 [6 favorites]

What a brilliant marketing plan! Hats off to them. I am surprised anyone swallowed it whole.
posted by notmtwain at 9:07 AM on March 14, 2016

ersatz: "Asterix is arguably brilliant. By which I mean I could produce a few paragraphs arguing in favour of it."

Oh sure, nothing against Asterix. My only point is that it's not very popular/mainstream in the US -- everyone I know who loves Asterix is from the UK or continental Europe.
posted by crazy with stars at 9:11 AM on March 14, 2016

Asterix is about a plucky bunch of French who continue to resist the hilariously inept yet rapacious military and commercial empire that's crept up to their doorstep.

There are no cultural politics there that might make Americans feel uncomfortable.
posted by bonehead at 9:04 AM on March 15, 2016 [5 favorites]

I ran across Asterix courtesy of a friend who's mother was an extreme francophile and had fun reading through them or simply following the visual story on the copies without English translations.

Asterix is about a plucky bunch of French who continue to resist the hilariously inept yet rapacious military and commercial empire that's crept up to their doorstep.

And yet doomed to lose. Americans like last stands!
posted by Atreides at 9:27 AM on March 15, 2016

a plucky bunch of French

Well, actually Gauls. France is also a nation of contrasts...
posted by sneebler at 10:48 AM on March 15, 2016

Netflix swoops in!

Netflix has confirmed that it will premiere Mark Osborne’s The Little Prince via its streaming service in the United States, just days after Paramount Animation confirmed it was dumping the film from its theatrical release schedule. Paramount had planned to release the film in the United States tomorrow, March 18. For reasons that remain unknown — though plenty of rumors are flying around — Paramount opted not to release the film stateside. ...

Netflix has not yet confirmed when it will premiere the film, but is expected to do so sometime this year.

No word on Canada yet :-(
posted by maudlin at 6:01 PM on March 17, 2016 [4 favorites]