Summary

• Despite initial success, the film "Rise of the Guardians" was a financial flop for DreamWorks, almost leading to bankruptcy.
• The movie's unique animation style, reinterpretation of Western folklore, and message of preserving childhood beliefs were praised.
• DreamWorks still has ample material to explore in a potential sequel, including diving deeper into character backstories and introducing new legends.

To the untrained eye, the 2012 animated fantasy film Rise of the Guardians seemed to be a modest critical and box-office success. However, despite raking in generally positive reviews and nearly twice its budget at the box office, extenuating factors turned the film into a failure that nearly bankrupted DreamWorks. The film was such a disappointment that not only did the studio have to restructure, but any plans for a Rise of the Guardians sequel were shelved. However, even though 12 years have ed since the film’s release, Rise of the Guardians is one film that deserves the franchise treatment.

Based on the book series The Guardians of Childhood by William Joyce—who also co-wrote and was an executive producer for the film—Guardians deals with the introduction of Jack Frost (Chris Pine) as he is indoctrinated into a group of reimagined holiday folklore creatures known as Guardians who are tasked with preserving the purity of childhood. The Rise of the Guardians cast of characters includes Santa Claus (Alec Baldwin), the Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher), the Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman), and Sandman, providing plenty of scope for future stories. Even after the first film's failure, The Rise of the Guardians 2 can still happen.

Rise Of The Guardians Still Deserves A Sequel 12 Years Later

The Movie Had Many Redeeming Qualities

Upon release, Rise of the Guardians received generally positive reviews from critics and fans alike. The film scored 74% on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics pointing to its unique animation style (inspiring examples of impressive Rise of the Guardians concept art), its reinterpretation of Western folklore heroes, and its central message of protecting childhood beliefs as high points. The film was also nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 2013 Golden Globe Awards, but ultimately lost to Disney Pixar’s Brave. These accolades and successes point to the fact that, while heavy marketing costs contributed to the film's failure, there is huge value in Guardians' story

Over 10 years later, Rise of the Guardians is still a wildly popular product with a loyal fan base vying for the film’s revival in the form of a sequel film.

An avid online fan base has also formed since the film’s release, deeming it a gem that often goes unnoticed compared to the likes of more popular DreamWorks films such as the Shrek and How to Train Your Dragon franchises. Over 10 years later, Rise of the Guardians is still a wildly popular product with a loyal fan base vying for the film’s revival in the form of a sequel film. The fact that its reputation only seems to have grown in many circles, coupled with the fact that the movie deserved to find more success, suggests that a Rise of the Guardians 2 could be an exciting prospect.

Why Rise Of The Guardians 2 Never Happened

There Were Many Reasons For Its Failure

Despite grossing $306.9 million worldwide against a budget of $145 million, Rise of the Guardians was the lowest debut for a DreamWorks Animation film since 2006’s Flushed Away. The film’s release also marked the first time the studio had lost money on an animated film since 2003’s Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas. It is estimated that DreamWorks lost $87 million, making the project the studio’s biggest box-office bomb until 2023’s Ruby Gilman, Teenage Kraken (via The Guardian).

The studio had been heavily dependent on the success of Rise of the Guardians to fund other studio projects. As a result, the film’s underwhelming box office performance had a knock-on effect on the studio’s ability to continue releasing original films. Although original author Joyce expressed interest in a potential Guardians sequel in 2013, these talks never came to fruition, leaving a potential follow-up in limbo.

A Rise Of The Guardians Sequel Would Have Plenty Of Stories To Tackle

There Is A Lot Of Source Material To Cover

In the event that DreamWorks does decide to greenlight a sequel, there is no dearth of material the studio could tackle when building a franchise. In fact, the studio could go right back to the books the film was based on, because the film itself is not a straight adaptation. Whereas the series explains the origins of the characters, the film takes place 300 years after the books, borrowing character concepts and overarching themes, but not plot. This means that DreamWorks could continue the Guardians franchise, albeit in a different direction: by fleshing out the origins and mythos of the characters beyond what the film initially introduced.

The film cleverly weaves throughout its roughly 90-minute runtime enough backstory for each Guardian that the audience feels connected to their mission. This is also done for the purpose of the audience understanding the meaning of each Guardian's center (or the aspect of childhood that they each foster in children). Because the film only touches on the elements of each Guardian's backstory, subsequent installments in the Guardians franchise could dive deeper into each character's origin story as a Guardian in the same way the film is Jack Frost's origin story as a Guardian.

Furthermore, because Rise of the Guardians reimagines Western folk characters and how they function in the modern world, DreamWorks could expand their existing cast of characters by introducing other holiday classics to the team. The leprechaun is one such folk legend already mentioned in the film. Regardless of who exactly they bring into the fold, the important aspect that a sequel must not forget is how a new honorary guardian would fight to protect hope, wonder, and curiosity.