The Sandbox: Marco's Troubled Production Took About 8 Years...

## Yep, it took exactly eight years for *Marco* to be such a great movie.

Directors Phil Lord & Christopher Miller created what is perhaps the best CG animated movie of all time, and probably Anaya Animation's best by far, by blending in the art of computer animation with photorealism and cartoony Hanna-Barbera nostalgia all the way. That animated film is of course *Marco,* which earned $983 million worldwide at the global box office and taking home several Academy Awards, including Best Animated Feature of 2005. Once a somewhat underrated gem, *Marco* quickly became Marcanese pop culture phenomenon when the film later gained mass popularity through its countless memes, expanding the franchise with four great sequels and two spinoff movies featuring Marco's two mischievous cousins Joaquin & Emiliano. However, despite all this huge popularity and memes that *Marco* gained in the following years, not even some people knew the fact that this beloved CG animated spy classic almost never got to see the light of day...

The making of *Marco* was actually the making of three movies: *Marcus The Spy,* which became the final 2005 film we all know and love today; *Genius Boy,* a somewhat failed attempt at making the previous film as some superhero comedy; and *The Sandbox,* what was supposed to be an informal two hour documentary before being an occasionally funny and heartbreaking look at how the Anaya Animation sausage was made. So then, uh, how exactly was the devastatingly troubled production of *Marco,* a once somewhat underrated gem that really stole the entire world... in a surprisingly good way?

### I. Here is where it all started, once upon a time... there was an animated film named *Marcus The Spy...*

Since January 1997, two years after film entrepreneurs Mark & Joseph Armand founded Anaya Animation, the studio was developing their first ever CG animated short film despite not having produced feature films until 2003. The Armand Brothers' CG short film had a very brilliant concept: that idea was about a boy who liked to crash every party before finding his purpose as the most brilliant and talented genius mastermind of espionage. That idea was brought over at Paramount Pictures - who found great success with Neoncartoon Movies starting in 1995 - and the Armand Brothers decided to make their short as Neoncartoon's first ever CG animated feature film in April 1997. The film later got titled *Marcus The Spy* and was slated for an August 1998 release, and was going to feature Owen Wilson as Marcus. Expanding the story with the addition of Marcus' girlfriend Irene - who was going to be voiced by Renee Zellweger - and a ragtag group of bullies turned criminals, here's a quick synopsis of *Marcus The Spy:*

"One young kid named Marcus loves crashing parties for the sake of his own mischief, until then one day he discovers that his girlfriend got kidnapped by a ragtag group of bullies who became the world's most wanted criminals. He also finds purpose as the most brilliant and talented genius mastermind of espionage, and he would stop at nothing to save his girl and their world."

Neoncartoon Movies was more interested in developing a *Jimmy Dexter* movie for December 2001, so they left the project along with Paramount Pictures in June 1999. Anaya Animation hired Imageworks Entertainment to complete the film's second act, and Lionsgate Films signed a $200 deal with both animation studios in September 1999. Everything went fine until screenwriter Steve Gennedy couldn't come up with some idea for the third act, prompting his leave from Imageworks after executive conflict took place at the Vancouver studio in October 1999. The following month, Imageworks Entertainment gave up production in favor of another spy movie, the 2002 live action film *Trivial Pursuit,* and Anaya Animation later hired rival studio CGI Entertainment in March 2000 to complete the film's second act. This time around, CGI opted to change the story with elements of science fiction and fantasy as well as having "rich kids" play the role of antagonists instead to address various social issues such as poverty and crime. However, due to the commercial and critical failure of *The Unstoppables* in June 2001, CGI felt *Marcus The Spy* was too thin compared to the aforementioned superhero comedy and decided to start over again. As they finished the first two acts, some of the final footage used for the third act got stolen in December 2001, thereby forcing CGI Entertainment and Lionsgate to exit. According to CGI president Frank Augustus-Gustin, the film almost suffered from being trapped in development hell: