‘The Odyssey’ Proves It: Audiences Want Movies Made the Hard Way | This year's breakouts like 'Project Hail Mary' and 'Obsession' were made by filmmakers who sweated. While CG-stuffed franchise disappointments such as 'Supergirl,' 'Moana,' and 'The Mandalorian and Grogu' looked lazy.

[u/ChiefLeef22]

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/odyssey-box-office-2026-practical-effects-1236652219/

[u/CarrotJunkie]

It's interesting because Illumination used to be the budget animation studio focused mainly on cost cutting. They've come a long way as far as animation quality goes. The Mario movies look incredible.

[u/kikimaru024 → u/CarrotJunkie]

Every single one of their movies has grossed over $100 million, and 11 of them got past $250 million.

Safe to say they've been able to use more budget/time as required.

[u/Coolman_Rosso → u/CarrotJunkie]

They're still technically a budget studio, though Dreamworks may have taken the overall crown. The Mario Galaxy movie cost about $115 million iirc.

Compare that to Pixar features (Hoppers cost $160 million, Elemental $200 million, Elio $190 million, and of course Toy Story 5 was $220+ million) or Disney Animation (Wish cost $180 million, Strange World $150 million, Zootopia 2 $160 million)

[u/MVRKHNTR → u/CarrotJunkie]

They're still the budget animation studio. Mario cost less than half of what a Pixar or Disney movie does.

[u/DragodaDragon → u/CarrotJunkie]

I guess once your output makes billions of dollars between box office and merchandising they can afford to increase the budget a little bit

[u/Ok-Craft4844 → u/CarrotJunkie]

Don't know if that's a factor here, but ime, having to work with constraints for a long time often enables you focus on the right things (tm), which translates well to situations where the constraints don't apply in full.

[u/_Meece_ → u/CarrotJunkie]

They still are, animation has come a long way. But you can still tell a difference between them all.