VeggieTales Creators File for Bankruptcy

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/135/41.0.html ^

[fishtank]

VeggieTales Creators File for Bankruptcy

Bob the Tomato and friends sold to company that already has Lassie, Lone Ranger, and Rudolph. By Bob Smietana, Religion News Service | posted 09/04/2003

Big Idea Productions, makers of the best-selling VeggieTales video series, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Tuesday, as part of a deal to sell the financially troubled company.

Big Idea has agreed to sell its assets—including copyrights to Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber and other VeggieTales characters—to Classic Media LLC, which owns or manages media properties such as "Rocky and Bullwinkle," "Lassie," "The Lone Ranger" and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."

Despite Big Idea's continued popularity—eight of the top 10 selling videos in the Christian retail market are from Big Idea, including the recently released The Ballad of Little Joe—the company has had cash flow problems in recent years.

Last November, following the release of the motion picture Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie, which grossed more than $24 million at the box office, Big Idea laid of 30 employees. Additional layoffs have cut the company's staff from a high of 200 part-and full-time employees to a current staff of 44.

"To call the last year difficult is an understatement," said Big Idea founder and CEO Phil Vischer in a statement. "In the midst of VeggieTales' success, we made several key strategic errors that led us to this point. Due to their great enthusiasm for both our business and our ministry, I believe Classic Media is a wonderful partner to help guide Big Idea back to financial health."

Kris Fuhr, a spokesperson for Big Idea, said the company intends to continue making VeggieTales videos, with an Easter special due for release next February, followed by videos in May and September. Plans for a second VeggieTales film, announced last fall, are now on hold, Fuhr said.

"There are projects that are ready to go," she said, "but they have to have the appropriate business model" before proceeding.

The Jonah film, which cost an estimated $10 million to $20 million to produce, was self-financed by Big Idea. The company would take on "financing partners for our future film projects," said chief operating officer Terry Pefanis, in a statement.

With video sales topping more than $20 million, Big Idea was once the largest animation studio in the Midwest. The company will now focus on story concepts and preproduction, with the animation and production outsourced, "which is what the rest of the industry is doing," said Fuhr. "We were one of the last places doing 30-minute-length videos in house," she said.

Big Idea began looking for a buyer this past summer, after it lost a lawsuit brought by Lyrick Studios, its distributor until 2001. Lyrick, which also distributes "Barney," sued after Big Idea switched to Warner Home Video to distribute its videos to the mainstream market.

In April, a Texas jury awarded Lyrick $11 million in damages, deciding that Big Idea violated a verbal contract with Lyrick. On July 9, Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn of the Northern District of Texas Federal Court upheld the verdict against Big Idea.

In an interview in the Aug. 4 issue of Christian Retailing magazine, Vischer defended the decision to leave Lyrick, claiming that three years of negotiations with them had failed to result in a signed contract. He also cited the sale of Lyrick and the death of former owner Dick Leech, who was instrumental in the early success of VeggieTales, as reasons for changing distributors.

Vischer, whose role models included Walt Disney, and who often spoke of building a company as influential as the Disney Company, also blamed his decisions as Big Idea's CEO for the company's difficulties.

"We got ourselves upside down financially when everything was working wonderfully," Vischer told Christian Retailing. "When things were doing so well, I thought that was God wanting us to expand, so we grew like crazy. Now I think it was more me having all these great ideas in my head and being so excited that I wanted to do them all at once."

No terms of the sale were announced. Big Idea's Fuhr said that the company hoped to complete the sale by the end of 2003.

In a statement, Eric Ellenbogen, chairman and CEO of Classic Media, said that his company looks forward "to supporting (Big Idea's) mission" and "growing the brand" in the future.

"Although Big Idea has experienced considerable financial difficulties, it has never let down its audience," Ellenbogen said. "We will commit everything it takes to advance Big Idea's unique franchise."

[KarlInOhio]

Larry branching out into the adult film market didn't help.

Joke, joke. Put down those stones.

[mongrel]

I think a moral evaluation of bankruptcy depends on how it's done. If it's done to dissolve and avoid debts, that's a problem. If it's done to seek protection while a plan is put in place to honor debts, that's the right thing to do.

[Lurker]

"Madame Blueberry" is the favorite in our house.

L

[ER_in_OC,CA]

While your point that the shows "could" be more clearly Christian is true, some of your supporting claims are false.

You wrote:
(Begin quote)
Yet in not one of their videos do they talk about Jesus or Christ or the Gospel; not a single story or video based on events in the New Testament.
(end quote)

Both of these statements are plainly false.

Off the top of my head, here is one example from a Veggie Tales videos that uses the New Testament as a source: In one video, the parable of the Good Samaritan is the plot line for a story with Junior Asparagus traveling between two towns with clashing cultures.

Furthermore, other videos present a scripture verse from the New Testament.

In the Christmas Video, a full review of the true meaning of Christmas is given. The lesson is clearly stated as the birth of Christ our Redeemer.

Many of the Veggie Tales videos present morality plays that use stories without a direct scriptural source. All the Larry-Boy films, the Viking one, etc. But this doesn't mean that these morality plays are inappropriate or even non-Christian.

I just don't see how these videos being marketed as Christian is incorrect unless there is content in these videos that is contrary to general Christian teachings.

You seem to suggest that a story that doesn't explicitly share the gospel is not a Christian story. But living for God and Christ should be in every part of our lives, like yeast through bread dough. All creation is for God's glory and we can work, we can write, we can cook, we can excercise, etc. all for the glory of God and to give Him pleasure. (credit is due: I'm regurgitating some things I've just read in the Purpose Driven Life book by Rick Warren)

Given that your statements of fact were mistaken, your objections appear to be a matter of taste -- and there's nothing wrong with that. Heck, sitar music played for the Glory of God will still not be to my liking.

I'm certain there are plenty of videos on the market that you can choose that are more to your taste. Just because they're not anywhere close to the popularity of the Veggie Tales series doesn't mean they don't exist.

[ConservativeDude]

this post shocks me.

i admired them for the same reason. heck, why NOT concentrate on the old testament and have a broader audience? that is good business. but that is a minor point.

that point aside, i am deeply disturbed by the apparent theology behind this post. it sounds like you are saying that "if it is not New Testament" then it is not authoritative enough, or about Christ.

let's get this straight: Christianity teaches that the OT is about Christ, also. He is there, just not as obviously. It is completely appropriate for a Christian preacher to preach out of the OT....now, he should always make a bee line for the cross, of course, as Spurgeon always said. But that is in the context of a sermon. I don't think that something has to be a sermon to be from God. The OT is still God's Word and the obedience of Joshua, the courage of David and the sovereignty of God as shown to Jonah (all of these were VT stories) are completely legitimate topics.

Heck, by that reasoning, I can't read my kids the story of Noah, leaving it at that, without being "non-Christian". I think that is crazy.

I am disturbed by the notion that there is something defective about a presentation of the OT. The NT does NOT replace the OT, any more than Act V of Hamlet replaces Acts 1-4. The NT completes it, it doesn't replace it.

[ConservativeDude]

"You seem to suggest that a story that doesn't explicitly share the gospel is not a Christian story."

see my post on this, also, above. i think the author went a step further and was stating that somehow the OT is not Christian...and thus that only the NT is Christian.

I think that is a dangerous theology.

I admit, though, I am infatuated with the OT. I love it. I think it emphasizes aspects of God's character which we today largely ignore. It is, after all, God's righteousness and justice which caused the sacrifice of His Son which led to a clear understanding of God's incredible mercy. Christians today seem to forget the OT which made the NT not only possible, but necessary....

The Church would be much better off, in my opinion, if it preached more often from the OT. Like JOnathan Edwards did for example.

In its own small and childlike way, Veggie Tales contributed to that project. I hope it survives.

[myprecious]

As a tin foil Freeper with Christian teens, I have found the only was to prevent Veggie Tale songs from getting stuck in your head for hours it to wear the new Non-Stick Reynolds wrap. Otherwise, you will be hearing "Oh where is my hairbrush?" all day long.

(I should have added a disclaimer before posting the song. Now YOU are stuck with it.Sorry.....)

[GOP Jedi]

Part of Big Idea's business model was to create stories that are morally Christian, but not necessarily overtly so. Their idea was that there is a vast middle ground of parents (and kids) who would avoid the more overt alter call "sing with Jesus" type entertainment products, but be receptive to less overt fare (the spread was about 20% would never buy any sort of religion-content product, 60% would go for some religious content, while only 20% would patronize the "sing with Jesus" material). Big Idea saw it as their mission to sow seeds among the 70%.

When they were growing, Walmart approached them and said they'd carry their entire line if only they'd de-Christianize their videos (such a deal represented a huge leap in income). Big Idea told Walmart to pound sand, and eventually got it to carry the videos as-is.

I'm sorry they've had to close shop, and I suspect the de-Christianization of the franchise will now commence.

Trivia -- The main VeggieTales characters were orginally candybars in the protoype stage, but Big Idea changed this to avoid turning off Mom...

[GOP Jedi]

Sow seeds among the 60%, that is.

[GOP Jedi]

Sow seeds among the 60%, that is.

[Rainmist]

My kids are too old for VeggieTales anyway ( thank goodness ! lol ), plus we'd rather watch SpongeBob .... " this isn't your ordinary everyday darkness .... this is ADVANCED darkness !!!! ".

[egarvue]

What you say about the OT being the foundation for the NT is true. But I am deeply disturbed by people's blind acceptance of everything that is marketed for Christian consumption.

As previous posters have corrected me, two (but only two) Veggie Tales videos do discuss, in brief Jesus Christ. Not one, in your quotation of Spurgeon, makes "a bee line for the cross, of course". The Cross, and Christ's redeeming work on it, is just not discussed in the Veggie Tales universe. I am not looking at the individual Veggie Tales tapes, I am looking at them as a whole. Presenting individual OT stories is not defective; presenting them without ever "making a bee line for the Cross" is.

Why should children be denied the Gospel message? Why should the forgiveness of Christ go absent in the stories we teach them? Why instead should we just present them with morality tales, who's only real message (as shown in the Veggie Tales Jonah movie) is "Be nice to other people"? Heck, even the heathens teach that. What happens when the child is disobediant to God, as we all will be? Will they remember the lessons they learned from Veggie Tales: "You Should Be Good - Try Harder"? Who will remind them that even though they sin, God forgives them on account of Christ? Certainly not the Veggie Tales.

And please note, I took pains to say that I did not outright condemn the Veggie Tales. Taken individually, they are some amusing recitations of OT Bible stories. But taken as a whole, they are a dirt poor representation of what Christianity really is.

[Kieri]

As a tin foil Freeper with Christian teens, I have found the only was to prevent Veggie Tale songs from getting stuck in your head for hours it to wear the new Non-Stick Reynolds wrap. Otherwise, you will be hearing "Oh where is my hairbrush?" all day long.

(I should have added a disclaimer before posting the song. Now YOU are stuck with it.Sorry.....)

It's hard to hum the hairbrush song when you've already got a more insidious one in your head...

SAY-BOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
(Also known as the Song of the Sabu)

[HungarianGypsy]

How sad! A lady working in the production industry in Chicago told me that Big Idea was the second biggest production industry. Second only to Disney. She was impressed by their success. Guess not. :-(

[HungarianGypsy]

In "Are You My Neighbor" they refer to the Good Samaritan. That's a story from the New Testament. I like Veggie Tales, because they aren't preachy and fun for any age. I usually buy for myself, rather than the kids.

[csvset]

"Rocky and Bullwinkle"

Classic TV cartoons.

[Zack Nguyen]

What a shame. I am glad the videos can continue. Our family just loves them. My wife and I bought them even before we had kids.

I admire Phil Vischer for his frank comments. He sounds like a stand-up guy. He didn't try to put the blame anywhere.

[Zack Nguyen]

Yet in not one of their videos do they talk about Jesus or Christ or the Gospel; not a single story or video based on events in the New Testament.

There Christmas video is quite Gospel-oriented.

[Maurkov]

Sure, some people are afraid of transgendered tomatos, but others have learned to accept and love them. They may be different, but its not their fault. Don't hate them for it.

[Politicalmom]

Have you seen the Christmas special "The Little Troll Prince"?

An excellent older show. Available on video and shows on the Cartoon Network or the Family Channel at Christmastime.

Clearly lays out the plan of Salvation, and it is cute, too.