Foodfight! (partially found early version of CGI animated film; 2002)

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Foodfight-Lady X LK FINAL sm.jpg

A promotional still released in 2003.

Status: Partially Found

Foodfight! is a CGI-animated movie from Threshold Animation Studios, considered by many to be one of the worst animated films of all time. The early version of the film seemed to be a lot different from the original and was slated for a Christmas 2003 release. However, the original files were deleted by the film's creator,[1] and production was stuck in development hell for a decade.

After a lengthy development, FoodFight! was finally released in 2012 to largely negative reviews.

History

Larry Kasanoff, the film's director, with concept art and stills of the original version of the film.
Promotional image from Foodfight!. Dex is notably depicted as a human.

Conception for the first version of Foodfight! materialized in 1997, from Lawrence Kasanoff and Joshua Wexler, at the time, an employee of Threshold. In late 1997, Threshold applied for two trademarks for the "Foodfight!" name related to merchandising. A $25 million grant was issued on behalf of a Korean capital firm, at the request of Wexler, and an additional $50 million was expected through various product placements and pre-sale market hype of the film. With cash in hand, development of the film began in 2002. CGI and voice-over work took place at Threshold's Santa Monica, California studio. Threshold thought that the pre-deletion version was going to showcase the uniqueness and ability of their studio. Critics and investors were initially so confident in the film that some of them actually called Threshold "the next-generation Pixar."

However, the film reached an impasse in development in December 2002. Hard drives containing the film's progress were reportedly stolen. This was proven false, as they were in reality, deleted[2]. As the majority of the budget was already spent on licensing products, mascots, actors, and production, it was given a new "live-action" take and was produced on a very restricted budget, using the insufficient software. Attempts were made to release Foodfight! by 2005. In 2007, a distribution deal was struck but soon fell through as no one knew when the movie could be released. In 2011, the remaining assets of the film were put up for auction at a starting bid of $2.5 million. The rights and assets, presumably, were never sold due to releases still having a copyright notice attributed to the insurance company, and the Fireman's Insurance Fund hired a studio to complete the movie as quickly as possible. The finished product was released on June 15th, 2012, but was met with negative reception.[3]

Plot

Foodfight! is stylized as a "Toy Story in a supermarket," as it was about products in a supermarket that come to life when the store is closed. The film includes many legendary food mascots, representing the large portion of the budget that came from the product placement. The film follows the original main character Dex, who is a detective in "Marketropolis". Dex then proposes to his girlfriend, Sunshine Goodness. Before Dex proposes to his girlfriend, she vanishes. Six months later while Dex is partying Brand X then appears. Brand X attempts to destroy "Marketropolis" but is stopped by Dex. The film stars actors and actresses such as Charlie Sheen and Hillary Duff, who played and voiced original mascots Dex Dogtective and Sunshine Goodness respectively.

Availability

It's unknown whether Foodfight! could have lived up to the hype surrounding its original production. Before the original files were deleted,[4] It is unknown what happened to the remainder of the film. The original trailer, a few reels, some storyboards[5] and concept art have surfaced however.

In addition, as of August 24th 2023, Lost Media Wiki user TiffanyAmber01 found a copy of a novelization based on a very early draft of the script. The novelization has been scanned and uploaded in its entirety to the Internet Archive by her here[6] , and a blog has been written by the same user documenting all the changes between the novelization and the finished film- this can be found here. [7]

The novelization was written and published in 2008 by children's author Irene Trimble[6], however it seems to be based on an early version of the movie, pre-hard drive deletion - there are 8 pages of color stills in the middle of the book, but these are very evidently from the 2002 version of the movie and not a later iteration. In addition, the novelization contains many differences to the final movie. Among these are Fat Cat Burglar being an actual cat (he's a rat in the finished film), most of the sexual humor and innuendo not being present, the character of the Brand X Lunchlady being replaced entirely by a character known as the "Mashed Potato Man", as well as there being a completely different ending.[6] This ending takes place entirely in the real-world grocery store and only features the manager, Mr Leonard, whereas the finished film ends with Dex and Sunshine's wedding at the Copabanana in Marketropolis. In the novelization, their wedding is simply alluded to by Mr Leonard recieving a shipment of a brand-new cereal- "New and Improved Cinnamon Sleuth Cereal- Now with Sunshine Goodness Raisins!".[8]

Mascots

Final Film

  • K.C. Penguin
  • Energizer Bunny
  • Punchy (Hawaiian Punch)
  • Charlie the Tuna
  • Mr. Clean
  • Twinkie the Kid
  • Curly Cupcake
  • Vlasic Stork
  • Duncan Hines
  • Lenders Bagel Boy
  • Mrs. Buttersworth
  • Hungry-Man
  • Mama Celeste
  • Mr. Owl (Tootsie Roll)
  • Tootsie Roll Midge
  • Spammy
  • Dinty Moore Lumberjack
  • The California Raisins
  • Mr. Bubble
  • Chef Boyardee
  • Aunt Jemima

Characters Cut During Production

  • Chester Cheetah (Trailer, Commercial Alert[9], Wall Street Journal[10], Box Office Prophets[11])
  • Lipton Tea Man (Trailer, Commercial Alert[9])
  • Brawny Paper Towel Man (The New York Times (first article)[12], The New York Times (second article)[13])
  • Coca-Cola Polar Bears (The New York Times (first article)[12])
  • Uncle Ben (The Wall Street Journal[10], Box Office Prophets[11])
  • Count Chocula (The Wall Street Journal[10])
  • Alphabits (The Wall Street Journal[10], Box Office Prophets[11])
  • M&M's (The Wall Street Journal[10], Foodfight! website, Commercial Alert[9], The New York Times (second article)[13])
  • Contadina Lady (Scrapped before file deletion)(The Wall Street Journal[10])
  • Dolly Madison (The Wall Street Journal[10])
  • Mr. Pringle (Commercial Alert[9], Box Office Prophets[11])
  • Trix Rabbit (Box Office Prophets[11])
  • Honey Bear (Box Office Prophets[11])
  • Chiquita Banana Lady (Box Office Prophets[11])
  • Cocoa Puffs Bird (Box Office Prophets[11])
  • Honey Nut Cheerios Bee (Box Office Prophets[11])
  • Lucky (Box Office Prophets[11])
  • Cap'n Crunch (Cartoon Brew[14])
  • Angel Soft Baby (The New York Times (second article)[13])
  • Little Debbie (The New York Times (second article)[13])

Products (not including those of the characters)

Final Film

  • Blue Bunny
  • Swifter
  • Crest
  • Glide
  • The Hostess Truck
  • Wonderbread, The Wonderbread Truck
  • Ding-Dongs
  • Suzy-Os
  • Ho-Hos
  • Zingers
  • Log Cabin
  • Van De Kamp's
  • Mrs. Paul's
  • Open Pit
  • Swanson
  • Dots
  • Crows
  • Sugar Babies
  • Hormel
  • Spam, Spammobile
  • Ascendia
  • Farmland

Cut

  • Palmotive (Trailer)
  • Colgate (Trailer)
  • Kleenex (Trailer)
  • Gilette (Trailer)
  • Reese's Puffs (Trailer)
  • Fruit Loops (Trailer, Promotional Image)
  • Cookie Crisp (Promotional Image)
  • Kix (Promotional Image)
  • Creamette (Promotional Image)
  • Honey Bunches of Oats (Promotional Image)
  • Cream Wheat (Promotional Image)
  • Pops (Promotional Image)
  • Eggo Cereal (Promotional Image)
  • Crispix (Promotional Image)
  • Special K (Promotional Image)
  • Rasin Bran (Promotional Image, Commercial Alert[9])
  • Corn Pops (Promotional Image)
  • Waffle Crisp (Promotional Image)
  • Imperial Margerine (Commercial Alert[9])
  • Ragu (Commercial Alert[9])
  • Cup-A-Soup (Commercial Alert[9])
  • Wishbone (Commercial Alert[9])
  • Pedigree (Commercial Alert[9])
  • Whiskas (Commercial Alert[9])
  • Skittles (Commercial Alert[9])
  • Snapple (Commercial Alert[9])
  • RC Cola (Commercial Alert[9])
  • Motts Applesauce (Commercial Alert[9])

Gallery

Videos

The original trailer for the film

Daniel Browning Smith's stunts reel containing his clip of the early version of the film (2:01-2:13).

Jeremy Yates animation showreel featuring early footage from the film (notably depicting Dex as a human) (starts at 1:18).

Kung Foolish clip with an intro that seems to be at the very least based on the early version's assets (0:00-0:11)

All Things Lost's video on the subject.

Early Assets Seen in the Final Film

See Also

External Links

References