Why has Crash Bandicoot never received the movie treatment like Sonic?

Oberstein

Oberstein

Member
Sonic was on a serious decline until not so long ago, and yet the success of the Sonic movies brought the hedgehog back into the spotlight, despite the games being average or even bad. At least it gave the franchise some visibility... But the Crash tragedy is far more scandalous.

First of all, unlike Mario (and like many people, I do enjoy Mario), at least Crash doesn't treat you like an idiot. Mario games are ridiculously easy—clearly made to sell—but it's frustrating when a franchise doesn't care at all about more experienced players. Meanwhile, Crash 4, the latest entry, will make you sweat. There are assist options so you're not completely lost, but just the bonus levels and those 90s-style VHS stages are treasures of ingenuity and challenge... Anyway, I'm getting off track.

We recently saw that the upcoming Crash game (a crossover with Spyro) got cancelled... why? Because Crash 4 didn't generate 500 trillion in profits? Even though it actually sold pretty well... I genuinely believe that transmedia could save this franchise—it has a strong visual identity, tons of zany characters, and the funniest villain in gaming (Cortex). There's so much potential here.

Some leaked artworks from the cancelled crossover:

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It went multiplat and lost most of its relevance.
I'm not saying going multiplat was the reason but I'm not saying it wasn't.

The character was the psx mascot and featured in all kinds of marketing, even for stuff not directly related to its game. That all went away.
 
We watched Sonic 3 last night. Enjoyable action.
Jim Carrey needs to be in the 4th one. Assuming there is going to be a 4th one.

Edit-Maybe Crash could make a cameo in the 4th Sonic movie. :)
 
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I think the incredibly well selling remaster harmed the brand. Lots of people bought it but I'm sure they realized it played worse than they remembered and have little interest in any new games or movies.
 
Crash isn't really a bankable IP, couple of well liked games and then the license was passed around for years to any 2-bit developer in need for a job, without any sense of direction. Same as Spyro btw. There's not much lore you can work with and anything after the OG trilogy and maybe 4 would be discarded to get rid of contracts/rights landmines.
A film might be too much, an eight episode CGI mini-series on Netflix would be in the realm of possible. If it clicks with audiences, that's when you do more and maybe a movie.

Put Alexandra Rushfield on it after her bang up job with Santa Inc. Crash would be perfect as a stoner comedy with a social justice bent and Seth Rogan could do Crash's voice.
That should secure a solid 6.2 IMDb rating and be hated by viewers.
 
Crash is clearly not as popular, that's it, and Sonic covered much more generation.

And remember also the "beta" Sonic 😹
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Speaking of this beta Sonic, he made a really clever apparition, in my opinion, in the great movie: Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers

Won't spoil more.
 
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LOL what the hell does a game "not treating you like an idiot" have to do with whether it'd make a successful movie adaptation? You're whole premise is nonsensical.

Crash doesn't have anywhere the nostalgia, popularity, and brand recognition that Sonic has. Simple as that.
 
DonkeyPunchJr said:
LOL what the hell does a game "not treating you like an idiot" have to do with whether it'd make a successful movie adaptation? You're whole premise is nonsensical.

Crash doesn't have anywhere the nostalgia, popularity, and brand recognition that Sonic has. Simple as that.
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Not sure I'd agree with that, Crash Bandicoot at its peak on the PS1 era was at a similar level to Sonic at its peak on the MD era when accounting for non-bundled sales.
N. Sane Trilogy sold 20M units.
 
Holammer said:
Crash isn't really a bankable IP, couple of well liked games and then the license was passed around for years to any 2-bit developer in need for a job, without any sense of direction. Same as Spyro btw. There's not much lore you can work with and anything after the OG trilogy and maybe 4 would be discarded to get rid of contracts/rights landmines.
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I don't think Sonic was all that bankable either. Sure, he had more longevity, but Sonic's sales were stagnating—or even collapsing—due to some truly poor strategic decisions. How many Sonic games are there compared to just four main Crash entries?

Kadve said:
You cant make a movie out of a protagonist that can't talk.
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Actually, that's exactly the point—there's always room for creativity, which is pretty much the opposite of how the film industry works in this area. Given how most of the other Crash games feature characters who do talk, you could easily create tons of funny situations. But let's be real—for that, you need a good script and solid dialogue, which are about as rare as an oasis in the desert.

kevboard said:
Crash isn't a good character... that's basically it.

also his mainline games are as mid as it gets.
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The older fans would probably disagree with you. But yeah, I'll admit it—Gen Z TikTok kids? They won't be into it.
 
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nial said:
Not sure I'd agree with that, Crash Bandicoot at its peak on the PS1 era was at a similar level to Sonic at its peak on the MD era when accounting for non-bundled sales.
N. Sane Trilogy sold 20M units.
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That's a whole lot of qualifiers.

Crash had his heyday 25+ years ago and faded into relative obscurity since. Sonic has had roughly 1 zillion games across every platform imaginable, plus multiple animated series + comics.

Any kid who owned a console/handheld in the last 35 years has probably owned at least 1 Sonic game. Any kid who grew up over the last 20 years has probably watched at least one of the cartoons on Netflix or wherever.

Both of my kids and all their friends knew who Sonic was before they announced the Sonic movie. I'd be surprised if even 10% of the kids in their classes have heard of Crash Bandicoot before, and even the ones who know what a Crash Bandicoot is have zero emotional connection to this series at all.
 
DonkeyPunchJr said:
That's a whole lot of qualifiers.

Crash had his heyday 25+ years ago and faded into relative obscurity since. Sonic has had roughly 1 zillion games across every platform imaginable, plus multiple animated series + comics.

Any kid who owned a console/handheld in the last 35 years has probably owned at least 1 Sonic game. Any kid who grew up over the last 20 years has probably watched at least one of the cartoons on Netflix or wherever.

Both of my kids and all their friends knew who Sonic was before they announced the Sonic movie. I'd be surprised if even 10% of the kids in their classes have heard of Crash Bandicoot before, and even the ones who know what a Crash Bandicoot is have zero emotional connection to this series at all.
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I was talking about the 'nostalgia' part of your comment.
 
Sgt.Asher said:
People don't really care about Crash whatsoever since Y2K. At this point he's a relic of the psone, an oddity to look at in a museum.
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A so-called 'relic' in the series has sold over 35 million units with just five games. There are much larger franchises out there that wish they were a 'relic' like that.

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Because Crash is not even remotely as popular, and has only gotten more irrelevant as time has gone on while Sonic has seemingly only continued to gain popularity.
 
I think it's solely because he dropped off the map. Had Sony bought the rights from Universal and kept him as their mascot and also kept making high quality games and spin-offs over the years I have no doubt they'd have also made a movie or two alongside that.
 
He's just as shit as Sonic so its a fair question.

Now where's my $150,000,000 Blinx the Time Sweeper movie?!
 
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I don't know, something could have happened with Crash (and with Spyro, and/or Skylanders, albeit Skylanders had some non-game franchise attempts,) and maybe could still happen, but Activision isn't interested in the brand and nobody is ringing up Microsoft to get a sublicense deal.

Personally, I never really loved the Crash games much. (Jumping seemed floaty and dependent on the spin, although the overall feel had the right momentum to be fun. They just didn't click with me aside from the later GBA game, there was kind of a tech-demo feel to Crash that you had to play it once but it didn't always feel like it had its gameplay identity worked out.) I always got the feel that players loved Crash as a mascot, that they dug him for 2 of the 3 first games but they were all kind of the same and barely kept interest through 3 (even though it sold well) then the Kart game was awesome just because it was very well made, but oherwise when the character left Sony, the interest investment was done, whether or not the future games were good. He had a pop of nostalgia in the remaster and Crash 4, maybe that could happen again in a new game, but it's not a lost future that seems tragically underutilized. If he comes back, that could be fun; if there's never another Crash, so be it.
 
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LavitzSlambert said:
Didn't they try doing a TV show at some point? Let's just put it this way, it did worse than the DK Saturday morning cartoon/CGI show.
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There might have been attempts, search and you'll find this clip which was meant to be featured in the first game as an intro. They made an ending too.
It seems Sony & Naughty Dog hated it so much it was locked in a vault for years.

 
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DonkeyPunchJr said:
If you want to imagine how a Crash Bandicoot movie would turn out, just imagine a less successful version of the Ratchet & Clank movie.
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Nah Crash has a much wider appeal than R&C, and I say this as a bigger fan of R&C.

What diminished it as a brand is the post-ND ennui period where they released like 3 mediocre games after each other. Before that it had one of the best mascot hit-rates both critically and commercially.

Just yesterday my wife's niece was playing Crash 4 and enjoying it.
 
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