Consider yourself lucky if you’ve never heard of Ooigieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure, let alone having watched even a minute of it. This mind-numbing Michigan-made movie was filmed in 2009 over four weeks in Farmington Hills, Shelby Township, Canton, Waterford Township, and Holland.
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On paper, this movie looked like a ‘can’t miss’ at the box office with its loaded cast and the Hollywood machine behind it. Well, it missed and did so in a historical fashion.
Hollywood’s All Time Biggest Flop Was Filmed In Michigan
Despite having the marketing gurus from “Teletubbies” and “Thomas the Tank Engine” working on the film, as well as Cloris Leachman, Christopher Lloyd, Cary Elwes, Chazz Palminteri, Toni Braxton, and Jamie Presley, the film managed to have the historically lowest ‘wide’ opening of all time.
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A ‘wide‘ opening, or release, is a movie that opens in more than 2,000 theaters, for which Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure set a record, making only $443,901 on its August 29th, 2012 opening weekend.
Hollywood’s All Time Biggest Flop Was Filmed In Michigan
According to MLive, they received $3.9 million in tax incentives for spending $9.8 million in Michigan while shooting the movie. Sadly for Hollywood, the Oogieloves would only make short of $1.1 million at the box office, which made this a massive write-off for the studio.
Michigan Made Oogieloves and the Big Balloon Adventure Popped at the Box Office
Hollywood’s All Time Biggest Flop Was Filmed In Michigan
The Oogieloves and the Big Balloon Adventure follows the three main characters, Zoozie, Goobie, and Toofie, as they search for five balloons that were supposed to be a gift for a friend but were lost when they blew away. The friends get help from a talking vacuum cleaner and fish (no, I’m not making this up).
Their adventures lead them around town, and a familiar Michigan location will occasionally pop up. A few scenes were filmed during Holland’s Tulip Festival.
Hollywood’s All Time Biggest Flop Was Filmed In Michigan
Remember that if you decide to watch this film, it is made for children, and even they didn’t like it. A quartet called The Gel Caps, an acapella singing group from Jackson, Michigan was tapped to the voices of four of the balloons. The group, which has since dissolved, comprised Andrew Gorney, Mike Reed, Timm Richardson, and Steven Tucker.
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I reached out to Mike Reed and asked him what it’s like to be a part of Hollywood’s historically worst opening; here’s what he had to say: “For me, there’s a blessing in that I’m not named in the credits. It also helped me in the 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon.”
Mike, I checked, and your name is listed in the credits. Sorry to be the one to tell you.
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Gallery Credit: Scott Clow
