Anna Daniels
For you, as a director, how did it feel when you learned that Trolls World Tour was skipping its traditional theatrical release and going straight to video on demand?
It was a complex thing, but here is the thing: It was almost like my initial thought was, “This is an opportunity.” This is an opportunity to share this movie with even more people that might not go to the theater because of this unprecedented situation.
This thing that we made is pretty much engineered to make you feel good, from the colors, to the comedy, to the music, the production design. It’s made to make you feel good. So I went, “Oh, this is an opportunity to share that with everyone who’s stuck at home right now.” I have two little kids, so I know. It almost felt like an honor. Like, “All right, I get to be a part of helping people feel good.” It’s a small thing, but it still mattered. So that’s where my mind went immediately, as an optimist.
As far as designing the thing, we design it to have that optimum experience [in the theater], but I also know that most people will be, after the theater, experiencing this at home or on their phones, so we’re designing it to that as well. In fact, in editorial, when we were cutting the movie we’d have this little monitor that I would look at, which is about the size of a phone, always making sure the stuff read well and that it was designed for all of these experiences.
Had you known how it would be released, would you have done anything differently?
I don’t think so. When it comes down to it, even with all of the bells and whistles, which this movie has a lot of, it all comes down to telling this story and having those dynamics between the characters. It doesn’t matter which way you view it. You ultimately are having the experience of the jokes and the dynamics between the characters and the thematic elements. Regardless of the platform, that’s the experience the audience takes away.
There are some movies that are getting released to video on demand or on streaming services instead of theaters. Some are just getting delayed. Why do you think Trolls World Tour fell in the former category and not the latter one?
In a way, I was relieved. This isn’t the exact answer, but there was a certain relief, because I had been working on this myself for four years, three years in production. We were done, man. We were really on schedule on this film, and we were done. So I was just kind of anxious to get it out to the world. I really wanted to share everyone’s amazing work on this thing. I didn’t want to wait any longer.
As the movies were getting delayed, I felt like, man, the marketplace is already so crowded. It’s hard to really to find your position, to get the audience. I was afraid, just personally. I’m like, “Man, if we delay it, not only will it drive me insane because I’m ready to show the movie, but it would have a hard time competing with all those films that are delayed.”
I had been doing press for a couple of months around the world, and I felt like there was a momentum and an awareness gaining for the film. And I think it was a good idea to take advantage of that awareness and get the movie in front of people’s eyes.
Were you involved directly with the decision to go straight to VOD?
Yeah, Universal was definitely keeping us informed. We would be going to marketing meetings and talking about the plan, and that whole team was amazing. They were really great pivoting because, as you know, every day was different. We were doing a lot of bobbing and weaving and preparing about how we wanted to do this, so they were really great about keeping us informed.
But this franchise, the characters in this world, it’s bigger than me, and I acknowledge that. It exists way outside of the story I’m telling in so many ways. They were definitely taking me along on the ride. And I’m happy where it landed, especially now after the weekend. I saw, right, people were watching it. They were ready.
Written by: Looper
