In what has to win the worst news of 2008, “Paramount Pictures has made a deal with Wildbrain to turn its Kidrobot branded collectible character creations into a series of feature films that will be a mix of animation and live action.” (link) The Blot is stunned to say the least. In less than 24 hours Kidrobot has gone from edgy and designer to complete sell out.
Worst of all, while we still don’t know which of Kidrobot’s “branded collectible character creations” Paramount has its eyes on, we do know that unfortunately the films will be a part of Paramount’s Nickelodeon Movies label. (link) It seems like Kidrobot’s days of producing collectibles is now officially over. From here on out their vinyl figures are strictly kiddie toys.
It seems weird that Paramount would want to make a series of children’s films about a line of limited edition vinyl figures “painted by a group of graffiti and graphic artists and musicians.” (link) According to Variety, because the figures “come with no linear storyline…the plan is to draft…a story about ordinary kids who are transported into the edgy world populated by the Kidrobot creatures.” (link) This sounds like one of the worst movie ideas I have ever heard and, in all honesty, I hope it fails.
Having its properties turned into a kids movie make zero sense for Kidrobot when you consider their current business plan is to sell their vinyl figures and apparel line in high-end stores nationwide. Isn’t this just going to spurn their current primary fan base? That seems like a pretty big risk considering they don’t even know if they can pull in the younger demographic these movies would be aimed at.
There was one interesting tidbit that came out of yesterday’s Variety article and it explains how all this came about. It turns out that Kidrobot founder Paul Budnitz no longer owns Kidrobot. He sold the company to Wildbrain, the producer of the Nick Jr. series Yo Gabba Gabba! and Higglytown Heroes for the Disney Channel. Now that Wildbrain is the company’s primary owner, it appears they want to broaden Kidrobot’s appeal and have the brand skew younger to a demographic they know more about. What a sad, sad day in The Blot’s world.