Trivia / Rise of the Guardians

• Acclaimed Flop: Critics liked the movie, but it's a Box Office Bomb for DreamWorks Animation since the actual revenue did not meet the cost of production and advertisement.
• All-Star Cast: Order of the day for a DreamWorks animated film: Chris Pine as Jack, Isla Fisher as Tooth, Hugh Jackman as Bunny, Alec Baldwin as North, and Jude Law as Pitch.
• Box Office Bomb: Budget $145 million. Box office: $306.9 million. That may seem like it's barely enough to make it break even, but that's not counting the distribution costs of the film. The movie lost the studio $87 million. The losses forced DreamWorks to lay off over three hundred workers.
• Dawson Casting: Jack Frost looks like a teenager and is voiced by 32 years old Chris Pine. The fact that Jack sounds older than you'd expect from a teenage boy, though not to the point of being unbelievable, is seen by some as Fridge Brilliance: Jack's voice lets the audience know that he is much older than he looks. And in the flashback, Jack's voice is slightly more high-pitched.
• Defictionalization: The Merch includes a set of North's Russian dolls.
• Fake American: The very American Tooth Fairy is voiced by the decidedly Australian Isla Fisher.
• Fake Nationality: Hugh Jackman, for once, gets to avert this trope in a non-Australian production as Bunny.
• Fake Russian: The American Alec Baldwin gives North a booming Russian accent.
• Fandom Life Cycle: In theatres, it was at Stage 0-1, well-received by the few who saw it. Following home release, it crept toward Stage 2. With the rise of the superhero genre thanks to The Avengers (2012) and the popularity of Jack/Elsa Crossover Ship, it launched into late Stage 2 / early Stage 3: a Cult Classic with massive internet popularity. Sadly, it seems to remain stuck firmly in Stage 3, being not popular enough to become a mainstream household name (like Shrek or Kung Fu Panda), and not enough for DreamWorks Animation to give it a new chance at life.
• The Merch: Images found at the Rise of the Guardians wiki show that there were plans to release a big merchandising campaign with the movie hoping to attract a kid audience. Everything was included from a spring theme clothing line (featuring Bunny and Toothiana) to Jack Frost toy staffs and pajamas which, unfortunately, failed to materialize likely due to the poor reception of the movie.
• The Other Darrin: None of the guardians are voiced by their original actors for the tie-in game and were recast with imitators:
  • Kevin Noonchester replaces Chris Pine as Jack.
  • Danielle Kaplowitz replaces Isla Fisher as Tooth.
  • Thomas Bromhead replaces Hugh Jackman as Bunnymund.
  • Fred Tatasciore replaces Alec Baldwin as North.
  • Fabio Tassone replaces Jude Law as Pitch.
• Out of Holiday Episode: The film was released in November 2012. While Santa Claus and Jack Frost are two of the main characters, and most of the movie features snow-covered locations, it's actually set in the Easter period.
• Stillborn Franchise: Rise of the Guardians was intended to be the start of a new trilogy for DreamWorks Animation, but the film's competition with other movies including Wreck-It Ralph along with the film's 84 million write down for the company deemed it very unlikely.
• Vindicated by Cable: When released, Rise of the Guardians found itself in fourth place at the Box Office by The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2, Skyfall, and Lincoln. On video, Rise of the Guardians finally found its audience.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Leonardo DiCaprio was originally going to voice Jack Frost, but he dropped out supposedly because of scheduling conflicts.
  • Jeff Bridges, Kevin Costner, Albert Finney, and Kevin Spacey were considered to voice Santa Claus.
  • Early casting reports also reported Christopher Lee as a choice for the voice of North.
  • Guillermo del Toro's suggestion for the story was to have Jamie be the Audience Surrogate. In addition, at least one early version had the climax take a darker turn in which Pitch uses his Nightmare Galleon to harpoon the Moon to create an eclipse to gather his dark forces under for an assault against the Man in the Moon himself.
  • In the ROTG art book, there are several illustrations of Sandy's Sandship, which flies around the world constantly remaining within the twilight time zone region to help Sandy spread dreams. The ship took many forms, all revolving around an ocean theme, with the ship even resembling a turtle and whale at one point. The ship was to be included in the battle against Pitch, where the Nightmares overpower the ship and eventually consume it, with Jack reaching out for Sandy's hand before he fades as well.
  • Some more early concept art for the film reveals that initial designs for Pitch were much more demonic and nightmarish than the film's version of him, which isn't all that different from the books. The concept art also reveals a scene in which Pitch joins with his nightmare sand and becomes as tall as a skyscraper, raining nightmares down upon the world, with Jack clinging on for dear life and looking down at the nightmare sand entering peoples' homes.
  • There are early storyboards depicting a very different plot of the story, in which Bunnymund is still a professor-rabbit, Toothiana meets Jack before anyone else did and is the only one in the group who never questions him, she promises to get his teeth back, etc. Some artwork from the creators hint that she was also going to be kidnapped once or twice. There was more Tooth x Jack Ship Tease; in the earlier versions of the movie, they have Belligerent Sexual Tension.
  • Earlier versions of the script featured Pitch and Jack being brothers. In other materials (especially in rufftoon's drawings), they tend to interact as "Aloof Big Brother and Annoying Younger Sibling."

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