Universal Giving 'Curious George' Another Look

Here's a case of pretzel logic: Universal, reassured in its animation efforts thanks to the strong but not exceptional performance by Despicable Me, has decided to work on a sequel to Curious George. Hm. That is curious. The 2006 movie, released at an optimal time for such a thing (February), produced by Imagine Entertainment, and featuring Will Ferrell, Drew Barrymore, and a Jack Johnson song, was basically a stiff. So why would it be any different now? IGN says that Universal will bring Illumination Entertainment into things this time, and since that's the team that produced a very budget-friendly Despicable Me and an agreement has already been made to produce a sequel, the thought is the same kind of success could be out there for George. But again, why? The first one, a decent enough offering trading on the familiar name, didn't do great business and it was also not that expensive, and a direct-to-DVD sequel, released last year, only brought in $5 million. I can understand the reasons for exploring Where's Waldo and Dr. Seuss' The Lorax - two of the future titles for this collaboration - but more Curious George just strikes me as throwing good money after bad. Larry Stuckey, who wrote the studio's Little Fockers has been put to work on the screenplay, which based on the trailer for that film, means we'll see George get curious with a box of Viagra. Solid.