By Michaela Gordoni
Disney Pixar Animation Studios is taking advantage of a viral meme about a google-eyed lizard to bait people to theaters for HOPPERS, and it’s working.
The lizard first appeared in the credits of ELIO. The reptile repeatedly taps a glowing screen to trigger an automated voice that says “lizard.”
The clip went viral, inspiring music, thousands of posts and even a “lizard click” website, Reuters reported.
“I don’t know that you can ever predict these things. As soon as you try to make something go viral, that’s like certain death,” said Pixar’s Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter. “We just thought it was funny. We thought this character is quirky and weird.”
Pixar re-introduced the character in August, saying “his name is Tom.”
“People fell in love with Tom the Lizard,” said Martha Morrison, head of marketing for Walt Disney Studios. “Then, we were sort of figuring out when’s the right time to identify that Tom the Lizard is part of our movie.”
HOPPERS director Daniel Chong said Tom “snuck his way into the movie.”
“We maybe just started throwing him in there just for variety ’cause he’s green and he’s small and just gives you a little bit of versatility in different ways,” Chong explained. “And then suddenly he just took on a life of his own in the story and started having some of the best lines.”
Tom has been showing up at HOPPERS events all over the US, photo-bombing broadcasts and even DJ-ing.
HOPPERS is about a young animal fanatic, Mabel, who uses new tech to “hop” her consciousness into a robot beaver in order to talk to other animals.
Part of Movieguide®’s review reads, “Beautifully animated, HOPPERS tells a delightful, wacky, hilarious story with fun twists and turns. Despite some Romantic, environmentalist content, the movie ends up on strong morally uplifting notes.”
Docter said it’s been difficult to launch original content.
“You know, it’s tough right now because people on the one hand say they want original stuff, but they, with their pocketbooks, kind of vote more for the sequels,” said Docter. “I think what it is, you have to balance like stuff that people go, ‘I recognize that, I see that in my own life, but it also feels like nothing I’ve ever seen before,’ which is a really difficult needle to thread.”
Box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian says HOPPERs has received the best reviews for a Pixar movie in 10 years.
“Original animated films such as DOG MAN, THE WILD ROBOT and most recently GOAT have all done very well because they’re actually good movies,” said Dergarabedian. “That’s a currency that can deliver dividends for the long term.”
You can watch HOPPERS in theaters now, as of March 6.
Read Next: Pixar Boss Says No Live-Action Remakes: ‘I Like Making Movies that are Original’
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