Foodfight! (Early Sizzle Reel) is a lost CGI-animated sizzle reel from Threshold Animation Studios, having been originally made to pitch to investors. Production on the film proper would end up delayed for a decade.
History[]
Conception for the lost early version of the film first materialized in 1999, from Lawrence Kasanoff and Joshua Wexler, at the time, an employee of Threshold. A $25 million grant was issued on behalf of a Korean capital firm, at the request of Wexler, and an additional $50 million was expected through various product placement and pre-sale market hype of the film. With cash in hand, development of the film began. CGI and voiceover work took place at Threshold's Santa Monica, California studio.
The film allegedly reached an impasse in development. Hard drives containing the film's progress were reportedly stolen, leading to the entire film having to be made over again from scratch. The documentary Rotten debunks this claim, showing testimonies from those who worked on it being skeptical of that even happening, some even hinting it the theft was a lie in order to continue missing deadlines without consequence.
The film was given a new "live-action" take, and was produced on a very restricted budget, using insufficient software. On its heavily delayed release in 2012, the movie received negative reviews, with most criticism directed towards the abysmal CGI animation. Critics described the movie as "stiff, jerky, lifeless and unfinished", in addition to noting other problems, like uncomfortable sexualization, Nazi overtones, and a terrible script.
The original sizzle reel made to pitch the film had significantly better, if still kind of rough CGI animation rather than the infamously terrible mocap the final film uses under a director who seemingly thought that was both more efficient and straight up superior. Despite being heralded as a hopeful what could have been of a production that could've shown the uniqueness and ability of Threshold Animation Studios, it was still largely the same movie with less adult jokes and more branded mascots, with the sequences of the sizzle reel being mostly identical with those of the final film. It would've been largely the same infamous movie writing and story-wise.
Plot[]
Foodfight! is stylized as "Toy Story in a supermarket," as it was about a supermarket that came to life when the store closed. The film includes many legendary food mascots, representing the large portion of the budget that came from product placement. The film stars actors and actresses such as Charlie Sheen and Hillary Duff, playing original mascots Dex Dogtective and Sunshine Goodness, respectively.
Discoveries[]
Seeing as production never actually started on the film proper before it switched to mocap, all that remains to be found of the alleged "early version" of the film is a sizzle reel amongst preproduction work like visual development, storyboarding and a work print. The latter contains most of the sizzle reel footage, but about a minute or so is still lost. This footage was also used in the early trailer with significantly better animation.
In 2024 many production assets were leaked from this early cut of the film including a work in progress animatic cut of the film.
All Things Lost’s video on the subject.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfn-FJK2Sp4
A documentary on the production with interviews from crew members.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgBO9c3WKII