Inside Universal Forums

Welcome to the Inside Universal Forums! Register a free account today to become a member. Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members and unlock our forums features!

  • Signing up for a Premium Membership is a donation to help Inside Universal maintain costs and offers an ad-free experience on the forum. Learn more about it here.

The Grinch (2018)

Nov 23, 2013
21,482
28,762
Seattle, WA!
It was announced of Benedict Cumberbatch of him taking over the role of the one and only Grinch for Illuminations upcoming adaptation; simply titled: The Grinch.

The cast news is from Cinemacon, and the film releases next year by Universal and Illumination.

So, thoughts on the casting?

To me, I put it at this. I am curious on how they'll handle this character that's beloved, even more than The Lorax and arguably the Cat.

Edit: ...So, the Lorax twitter posted this official look of the green menace..

 
Last edited:
Cannot wait for this!!! Illumination is on a roll right now so hopefully this is a home run!!
 
Universal has to do a ride based on this, right? How can you not use Benedict Cumberbatch when you have the opportunity?

Hopefully this turns out better than the live action film. Gonna be tough since the animated show 50 years ago is a classic.
 
What we’ve set out to do with this telling of the Grinch is make it both modern and traditional at the same time,” Meledandri told Deadline. “When I say that I mean from a traditional standpoint, we’ve really tried to go back to what we perceive as the essence of what Ted Geisel was communicating. What I love about his work is that at the center of it, of all of his stories, are very, very simple and universal ideas. The last telling of the Grinch focused a little bit more on sort of the commercialization of Christmas and how the commercialization of Christmas can lead us down the wrong path.

“For me, in reading what Geisel wrote, I view it more from a character perspective. I think that the essence of this film is the notion of this cynicism comedically expressed in the Grinch and this absolute innocence represented in Cindy Lou, on a collision course with one another through the course of this movie. It’s the simple question of whether or not innocence can transform cynicism. The beauty of that simplicity for me is what’s at the heart of the movie. In the experience of the movie I love the sort of wicked comedic aspect of this character the Grinch and I think that what you’ll see is from the very, very early animation tests, very raw, you’ll see that there’s an undeniable appeal in the character in spite of that kind of, sort of wicked persona, and I find that very, very, appealing and attractive.

“Our choice in directors on one hand, Yarrow Cheney, who’s come up through our process of having been a production designer and now co-director and directed one of the sweetest shorts we ever made, called Puppy, combined with Pete Candeland who is really best known for his work co-directing all the animated Gorillaz videos. The modern and the traditional coming together. And I think our choice in voice will also immediately suggest the distinction of the film.”

Benedict Cumberbatch Set To Star In ‘How The Grinch Stole Christmas’ | Deadline
 
If I had to guess, they probably want a film with holiday staying power like Frozen. That'd be tricky to do with Star Wars Episode 8 coming out a month after the original date.
 
And I wouldn't be surprised if its that, but it does make me worried a bit; in a strange sense.

The only other reason I would be worried is if Universal is planning to add new original songs and trying to find some famous popstar to write the music kinda what Dreamworks did with Trolls and is also doing with Larrikin in hopes to pull a Pharrell and a JT by having a popular song attached to the movie
 
PkE8n8E.jpg
 


*See's a younger Grinch and that tagline* Uh ohhhh, this is giving off some major red flags.

Hmm, might be getting some back story. By not calling it "How the grinch stole Christmas" it opens them up to be able to tell more of the story, and thats a good thing.

Those who hate the live action version would certainly tell that more story is NOT a good thing, and while I do like the live action version, I can acknowledge that one of the complaints about it is the Who's are -worse- then the Grinch himself. An' with what this poster is teasing, it can fall into the exact same issue. (The Grinch was good and kind hearted, but then some Whoville kids were jerks, now he hates Christmas and the Who's, rinse repeat.)
 
To be honest, letting go of just the title of stealing Christmas gives me the vibes that this film will be completely about The Grinch, and that I am almost betting that it will be giving a reference to Grinch Night in the process, if it isn't just going to be doing How The Grinch Stole Christmas.
 
*See's a younger Grinch and that tagline* Uh ohhhh, this is giving off some major red flags.



Those who hate the live action version would certainly tell that more story is NOT a good thing, and while I do like the live action version, I can acknowledge that one of the complaints about it is the Who's are -worse- then the Grinch himself. An' with what this poster is teasing, it can fall into the exact same issue. (The Grinch was good and kind hearted, but then some Whoville kids were jerks, now he hates Christmas and the Who's, rinse repeat.)

Well they could do a word for word retelling of the original story, but what would be the point of that? The live action movie is fine to me, but I don't want the same exact story as that either. I think a story that shows that the Who's are bad people who think they are good really would fit in today's society. Both from a "me first" aspect and a "don't be mean to people that are different" aspect. Whether that's a good thing or not is up to each person's personal feelings though. I just want something new. They have to touch on the basics of the grinch stealing Christmas, but if they look at it another way, I think thats a good thing. Honestly, as loved as the grinch is, I wouldn't mind if the Who's were the bad people and the Grinch is teaching them a lesson about their ways. At the end, they realize they were the ones who were wrong. But thats just spitballing.
 
Top