The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure
An interactive film that failed to engage audiences or critics.
Here is the rewritten encyclopedia entry:
**The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure** is a 2012 American children's film that blends education, music, fantasy, and comedy. It draws loose inspiration from the television series *My Bedbugs*, created by Alex Greene and Carol Sweeney. The film was promoted as an "interactive" experience, prompting its young audience to sing and dance along with the action. Despite this novel approach, the movie was both a critical and commercial disappointment. It earned just over $1 million at the box office against a production cost of $20 million, and critics largely panned it.
Quick Facts
- Director
- Matthew Diamond
- Producer
- Kenn Viselman / Gayle Dickie
- Writer
- Scott Stabile
- Based On
- My Bedbugs · Alex Greene / and Carol Sweeney
- Starring
- Toni Braxton / Cloris Leachman / Christopher Lloyd / Chazz Palminteri / Cary Elwes / Jaime Pressly
- Music
- Joseph Alfuso / Robert Rettberg
- Cinematography
- Peter Klein
- Editing
- Girish Bhargava
- Studio
- Kenn Viselman Presents
- Distributor
- Freestyle Releasing
- Released
- 29 August 2012
- Runtime
- 88 minutes
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The film was written by Scott Stabile and produced by Kenn Viselman, who was the producing partner of the Teletubbies in the Western Hemisphere. Viselman was partially inspired to create a children's film with interactivity after seeing Madea Goes to Jail in a theater, where audience members shouted advice to characters. He wanted to add something new to the Pixar and DreamWorks-dominated market, stating, 'Why can't we have something that's all love, where we don't even have the color black?' The film was shot in 2011, with principal photography taking place that year in various places of Michigan, including Canton, Farmington Hills, Shelby Township, Waterford, and Windmill Island in the city of Holland.
Reader's Guide
The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure is notable primarily as a commercial and critical disaster. Its opening weekend gross of $445,000 in 2,160 theaters made it one of the biggest box office bombs of all time for a film released in at least 2,000 theaters, with a per-theater average of $206. The film's failure was attributed by producer Viselman to marketing issues, though critics panned it as derivative and unengaging. Despite its poor reception, the film was nominated for Worst Picture and Worst Screen Ensemble at the 33rd Golden Raspberry Awards, losing both to The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2. Its legacy is as a cautionary tale in film marketing and distribution, and it has not led to sequels.
Did You Know?
- Toni Braxton had a severe cold when recording the song 'Ode to Adelaide (The Scratchy Sneezy Cough Cough Song),' and her sneezes were real; her voice was pitch-shifted higher for the song.
- Producer Kenn Viselman was inspired to create the interactive film after seeing audience members shout advice to characters in Madea Goes to Jail.
More in Interactive films 1-24
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced