Animated yeti movies have become almost too popular over the last year, so what is Hollywood doing? Yetis – or the Abominable Snowman as they are sometimes called – are no strangers to being part of popular animated films. John Ratzenberger voiced one in Monsters, Inc. and Monsters University, while Bumble from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a classic example of the mythological beast.
However, yetis have arguably never been as prominently featured as they are right now. Hollywood’s apparent obsession with the creatures kicked off last year with the release of Smallfoot – telling the tale of a yeti discovering humans exist – and continued earlier this year as Missing Link showed humans try and help Bigfoot find his yeti cousins. The latest example of the yeti takeover is Abominable, which follows a group of kids led by Yi (Chloe Bennet) trying to return the magical creature to its family. For all three of these movies, yetis are key components to them and left us wondering why they’ve become so popular.
As discussed in the latest Screen Rant video focused on Abominable, the trend is incredibly odd. Three movies starring the same mythological being coming out in such a short time span is bizarre, especially when yetis have not traditionally been given this much of a spotlight. So, why is this happening now? There wasn’t another recent yeti-focused animated movie that did well, so this isn’t an example of studios copying a formula for success. Instead, the answer might just be that this is one strange coincidence that resulted in multiple yeti movies all being released so close to one another, something that can and does happen in Hollywood from time to time, just not always about yetis.
If we dive into the production timelines on Smallfoot, Missing Link, and Abominable, this is where the coincidence of this obsession begins. While live-action movies can often be turned around in just a few years, animated movies are a much longer process. Abominable may be the most recent yeti movie to hit theaters, but it is actually a project DreamWorks has wanted to make since 2010. In late 2016, the studio finally was able to give the movie its 2019 release date.
Under normal circumstances, Abominable could’ve been released several years ago without the development setbacks it incurred. Meanwhile, development on Smallfoot began in 2016 with production officially starting in May 2017 ahead of it hitting theaters in September 2018. While Smallfoot happened much quicker than Abominable, Laika announced Missing Link in early 2018 and had it in theaters this April. If all three of these movies came out within a five-year span instead of across one year, the yeti craze is likely not as noticeable.
But, this would still give us three animated Hollywood movies about yetis, which still leaves us wondering why these creatures specifically are being highlighted. It may just be that they weren’t focused on much ahead of these films, so putting a yeti in a prominent role could help each of these movies stand out without the rest. Now that all of these movies have been released though, the question is whether or not this trend will continue.
The possibility of Hollywood making more yeti-focused movies comes down to the success of Smallfoot, Missing Link, and Abominable. For Smallfoot, the movie earned $214 million worldwide after positive (76% on Rotten Tomatoes) critical reception. Missing Link followed this up with mostly great reviews (89% on RT), but it tanked at the box office with only $26 million globally. Abominable is proving to be a fairly big hit early on with an 83% on RT and earning $129 million in just over a month, and only recently released in China. Animated movies starring yetis may not seem like a key to success, but this recent run has resulted in three well-received movies and two that should be box office successes, so maybe Hollywood is onto something here.