Bobo the Friendly Clown

Bobo the Friendly Clown is a 2009 Robloxian animated musical comedy film directed by Noah Wright and written by Jaime Gardner from a story by Madeleine Macdonald. Based on the children's book of the same name, which was illustrated by Bradley Gray, the film was produced by Universal Pictures. It stars the cast of Jacob Hall, Zackary Fraser, Elliot Parker, Eva Butler and Leo Cooper. The plot follows the title character as he joins a circus to perform around the world.

Bobo's development began in February 2008 with a deal between Bradley Gray and Universal Pictures, who acquired the book's rights. The following month, Noah Wright, who had written the original script, was hired to direct it. The story was changed several times during the film's production because it was originally intended to be an original story but was changed to be entirely based on the novel. Sapphire Film Studios handled the animation. Songwriter Ari Dudley wrote and composed the musical numbers, as well as the score.

Bobo the Friendly Clown premiered at the Greenville Movie Theater on August 13, 2009, and was released theatrically in the United States on August 21 of that year. The film received negative reviews from critics and audiences, who criticized the story, pacing, character development and especially the darker tone, though the animation was praised. It was also a major box-office bomb, only grossing about $96 million, which nearly all of the revenue was earned from the United States and an estimated $2 million internationally, against its $120 million budget. A sequel, titled Bobo the Happy-to-Lucky Clown, was in production before the film's release, but was cancelled shortly after.

Voice cast

• Jacob Hall as Bobo, the title character of the film. Bobo, who dressed as a clown, serves as the "leader" of the tour and is described as "happy-go-lucky". He is very caring about his friends and especially the animals.
• Zackary Fraser as Jackson, the boss of the circus. He is respectful of his performers, despite claims that he has anger issues.
• Elliot Parker as Rory, a male performer.
• Eva Butler as Bella, a female performer. She was the first members that joined the circus, which was during the founding of the place.
• Leo Cooper as Zak. He adores animals and frequently bursts into tears of joy when he sees them. Leo also provided voices for all of the animals in the film, which included horses, dogs, cats, elephants, foxes, and sheep. During the conflict between Bobo and Jackson, Zak calms the animal down.

Production

In January 2008, Universal Pictures announced that they were attempting to earn the rights of the well-received children's book Bobo the Friendly Clown, which was previously released in July 2007, to produce an animated film. Bradley Gray, the author, was concerned at the time that the film would be a critical and commercial failure, so he refused to give the studio the rights to the book. However, by the following month, Bradley accepted a deal between him and Universal Pictures and later on, the film was green-lit for production. The film was originally planned to be directed by animator Bobby Anderson, who expressed an interest in developing it, but due to a major change in leadership just weeks into the development, Noah Wright was hired instead. As a result, Bobby ended up becoming the key animator of the title character.

Despite Bradley's agreement to make the film based on the book, Universal Pictures ordered the production team to write an original story, which resulted in various story issues because the book was focused on the emotional character development between Bobo and his boss Jackson, whereas the studio's version was exploring Bobo's origins and how he became the "clown that he is". Bradley's managers described that he was "so angry" of how the project was being handled by the studio that he was considering going to Universal Pictures to likely "cancel the entire film" and to earn back the rights. However, following another agreement, the project was completely rewritten to be based on the children's book, with Bradley in charge of overseeing the film, as he was not during the development of the original version. The screenplay was written by Jaime Gardner from a story by Madeleine Macdonald, who co-wrote the original book. Storyboarding began by July of that year and animation, which was handled by Sapphire Film Studios, started by January 2009. Animators stated that they were forced to "work around fifteen to sixteen hours" to make the style of the film "realistic as possible". It was originally planned to create the film with 2-D animation, but it was later ordered to be developed with 3-D animation. Production of Bobo the Friendly Clown lasted from February 2008 to July 2009, becoming among Universal Pictures's shortest production time for an animated film. The film was completed by August 6, two weeks before its release.

Music

In February 2008, songwriter Ari Dudley was hired to write the songs. Ari immediately worked on creating the first musical number, which was planned as a "massive epic opening to a crappy movie" after working on the project for several weeks and following a read-through of the script to get a sense of the core message. However, as the studio was aiming for a original story and because the songs Ari wrote were for the plot of the book, they were cut, much to Ari's dismay, resulting in a conflict over making a film based on the film. Dudley's original songs for the film was re-added, which was reimagined as a "Broadway-style" musical numbers, and began production by December of that year. Ari began composing the score by April 2009. The soundtrack, titled Bobo the Friendly Clown - The Greatest Soundtrack, was released on September 30, 2009.

Songs

Release

On January 21, 2009, Universal Pictures announced that Bobo the Friendly Clown was scheduled to theatrically release on September 30, 2009. However, by March of that year, Bobo was pushed back to August 21, 2009. Previously, the film premiered at the Greenville Movie Theater on August 13, 2009.

Marketing

The teaser trailer for Bobo the Friendly Clown was released on April 4, 2009, attached to the theatrical release of Cloudy with a Chance of Parts, followed by the teaser poster on April 5. The first official trailer was released on June 9, followed by the second and final trailer on August 1 of that year.

Home media

On November 1, 2009, Universal Pictures confirmed that Bobo the Friendly Clown would be released on DVD on December 23, 2009. However, the release was pushed back to the following year, and by January 2010, Bobo was confirmed for a DVD release on June 9, 2010.

Reception

Box office

Bobo the Friendly Clown grossed $93.7 million in the United States and Bloxanada, and $2.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $96 million, becoming among of Universal Pictures's worst box-office bombs. Prior to its release, studio estimates had Bobo the Friendly Clown earned around $10 million worldwide on its opening weekend. However, the film grossed a disappointing $2,600,000 on its first day, including an estimated $1,200,000 from Thursday previews, causing box office results estimates to fall to around $5 million and even as low as $3 million. The film eventually grossed $4.9 million, coming close to $5 million, but nowhere near the $10 million mark. Despite this, the film grossed $5.9 million in its second weekend, up from the week before. However, on its third weekend, the film only grossed $2.1 million, a significant decrease. As a result, the studio extended the runtime in theaters through the holiday releases of the following year and considered delaying the DVD release. However, each weekend, the film keep decreasing and grossed between $4.9 million and $1.8 million. Internationally across forty countries, Bobo the Friendly Clown earned only about $100,000, the worst for any Universal Pictures film.

The release concluded on May 9, 2010. Universal Pictures cited the failure of the film's box office as "releasing too close" to those of Jim James: The Modern Ninja (2009) and War Zone III (2009), one of which were produced by the studio and the latter was by Roblox Pictures. Bobo the Friendly Clown was labeled as a box-office bomb, with The New Blockers Times stating that "it was the worst box-office results of any Universal Pictures movies in modern times". The studio lost $100 million from the film, though the commercial success of War Zone III helped the studio regain profits.

Critical response

Bobo the Friendly Clown was met with a generally negative reception. Critics heavily criticized the writing and pacing. Henry Smith gave the film a "D-" and stated that "Bobo was yet a another attempt by Universal Pictures to make a profit". He added that the story had the "most confusing writing" that he had seen in a film. Sophia Armstrong said that Bobo the Friendly Clown was among of the worst films that she had seen "in a while" and described the writing as a "piece of garbage", though she respected the author for trying to "hold everything together to put out the best that he can". Christopher Martin stated that the plot was "already done in various others films" and described the writing as "so messy that even children would have no idea what is going on". Brandon Thomson explained that Bobo the Friendly Clown "was nothing more than a absolute trash of a movie", citing the writing as "too hard to follow" as well as that the "conflict of the film felt very forced and a attempt to make a 'powerful scene' during the climax failed in the most trashy way ever" and ranked it as among of Universal Pictures's worst animated films of all time. The musical numbers was among of the very few elements that was praised by the general public and especially music critics. Fletcher Robles liked the songs and stated that the "musical numbers, except for only two of them, are the only best parts of the film".

Cancelled sequel

A sequel, titled Bobo the Happy-to-Lucky Clown, was announced to "be in active development" on August 1, 2009. Noah Wright and Jaime Gardner was set to return as director and writer, respectively. Jacob Hall, who voiced Bobo, was also expected to record his lines for the second film, as well as Zackary Fraser, Elliot Parker, Eva Butler and Leo Cooper. The film would have included an original story. However, as a result of Bobo's box office failure, Bobo the Happy-to-Lucky Clown was cancelled by Universal Pictures. In 2019, storyboards and concept art was released.