The Monkey Island SCUMM Bar: Monkey Island movie art?

We semi-confirmed that a Monkey Island movie was in production and subsequently canceled a while back (the semi part being that LucasArts never confirmed it). We now may have found some art that may have been concept art for the project. Or it may not have been.

Check out Tony Stacchi's art. Apparently Tony worked at ILM together with Steve Purcell when the movie was in production (or pre-production as it probably was), and some of the Monkey Island art which was colored by Steve himself has been put up on Tony's site. The movie may also have been called The Curse of Monkey Island if Tony's resume is anything to go by.

Check out LeChuck and crew and drool. Or how about Skull Island? Stacchi's highly impressive portfolio with additional Monkey Island art can be viewed here.

Now speculate away on yet another world exclusive TSB scoop. ;

Update: Tony has confirmed that this was from the MI movie project:

The drawing was mine but the great painting job was done by Steve Purcell. He helped develop the project for awhile and his experience working on the games really helped.

I'm glad the movie was scrapped.
Just because it's funny doesn't mean the graphics have to be cartoony. Monkey Island looked its best with the realistic paintings on the boxes of MI1 and 2.

Posted Jan 09, 2005

Well.. we have to evolve and i dont think a movie with MI1 graphics would've worked.. (see evolve or die from Gabez!) Personally, I think it could've been great but those fella at Lucasarts think it's funny to cancel everything that might be good............. ...For the heck of it let's imagin a Lucasarts brainstorm: Someone1: does anybody have ideas for a new game? Someone2: well.. we could do Monkey Island 5 Someone 1: Yes! we'll do it and then we'll cancell it and make a Star Wars game!!

Posted Jan 09, 2005

I agree we have to evolve, but how does that equate to having cartoony graphics? The mass market wants realistic graphics these days - that's what gets everyone excited about Half Life 2, Doom 3, Final Fantasy, etc.

And Monkey Island was just as funny in the first two games with it's realistic/slightly surreal graphics. The cartoony graphics did nothing to enhance the humour. If anything, it made it less subtle and more crass - "LOOK AT ME! I'M A FUNNY GAME! I HAVE THE GRAPHICS TO PROOVE IT!!"

I think the series worked better when it took a realistic setting like Melee Island, and threw in something like a grog machine. That worked really well.

Posted Jan 10, 2005

Now Im torn between Megacles and Supermax. I agree with Megacles on the humour side, the 'serious' look of the game did enhance the odd random grog machine that popped up. But was this look used because it was the only 1 that could b created @ the time? I know my pc couldnt have handled more detailed or cartoony graphics! And besides, wasnt there a 'serious' undertone 2 the game (ie a secret)? Could we have taken MI1 or MI2 AND the 'secret' seriously if the game looked like MI3 or whatever. MI3 onwards seems 2 b LucusArts cashing in on a classic, hence the 'huge' enhancement, which is where i agree with Supermax, no way could they compete in a games market, particularly as the MI genre is supposedly 'dying out'. (Oops, seems i have gotten carried away)

- Going back 2 the movie aspect - i fink its definatly another moment in history where LucasArts have realised that they spent 2 much time (ie 30mins) where they havent released @ least 5 star wars games, so have scrapped it 2 catch up with the demand 4 crap SW games. o so sorry yoda, dont sell your shares in us.... The movie, if @ all made, wont b 4 years yet - unless us lot want 2 get 2gether @ some point and make it ourselves. POTC eat ur spleen out...

Posted Jan 11, 2005

To be honest I just love the style in this one. I reckon it looks cartoony and realistic at the same time. Now if they could get that into decent looking 3D, then we'd have something special...

Posted Jan 11, 2005

there's a problem tough... Lechuck doesn't look dead.. was it a prequel or what?? the problem with that sort of news is that it makes us even more angry at Lucasarts... maybe it's what the scummbar wants so they can manipulate us and make us all go bomb lucasarts.. well you wont have my soul so easily mr scumm bar.. hihihihihi.. ok MAYBE i'm already out of my mind! but who cares? Am I out of my mind or is Lucasarts???

Posted Jan 11, 2005

Dont worry folks... I'm not that crazy... yet.

Posted Jan 11, 2005

Yeah, that's what I was thinking, but then I thought that in the game Elaine didn't have a crew of Scots either. I guess the movie was really really different from the game.

Posted Jan 11, 2005

Hmmm... What if this was Ron Gilbert's (or whoever was making the alternate CMI, I forgot :P) CMI?

Posted Jan 11, 2005

No.

Posted Jan 11, 2005

"But was this look used because it was the only 1 that could b created @ the time?"

By the time of MI2, some of the characters were more cartoony. Think of Governor Phatt and his guard, and that guy you have a drinking contest with. And the spitmaster. No, if they'd wanted the mains look larger than life, they could have done so. But they kept Guybrush and Elaine, and even Stan, more or less realistic.

"To be honest I just love the style in this one. I reckon it looks cartoony and realistic at the same time. Now if they could get that into decent looking 3D, then we'd have something special..."

I think the percieved realism only comes from excellent colouring job. Which does look great. I wish Purcell had just done the art by himself.

The fact that they were going to go that level of detail also shows that the next game could have that level of detail, me thinks.

I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but go and have a look at Purcell's cover art for MI1 and 2. Just imagine if the in game graphics in MI5 looked like that.

Posted Jan 11, 2005

I don't really mind the "cartoony" look of the games nor the movie. Personally, I loved CMI's graphics.

So what's up with those robots?

Posted Jan 11, 2005

I'm always amazed at how ignorant people are about animation production. People who have no experience in animation love to say, wouldn't it be great if you had a Monkey Island game that looks like the close-ups in the scummbar in Monkey 1. Yes, that would be great.

It would also be impossible. Can't be done. too much detail. There is a reason animation looks like animation. It must be simplified. Now in Monkey 1 and 2, they weren't even using the full 320x200 rectangular picture screen. Mushy little characters, it's possible to do a quasi-realistic style. But you get little expression from the characters.

It's a testament to the animators on those games that they were able to make those little characters appealing. But you couldn't scale them up and have them work. It would have been a mess.

So, you have a choice. Cartoony, or...low res. And had we come out with low res, we would have been crucified. The game wouldn't have been competitive and would have flopped.

Please, let's show some understanding about the nature of animation.

Also, making characters iconic is important in animation. This is directly due to how our brains react to faces. Even in 3D, making characters iconic is important.

Witness "The Incredibles"...very cool vs. the photorealistic "Polar Express"...very creepy.

Posted Jan 12, 2005

Agreed. How many hours more work, time and

Posted Jan 12, 2005

definetely monkey island! lol.

Posted Jan 12, 2005

Well if you think about it, Pirates of the Carribean is basically the movie just it's changed a bit and maybe if they do a sequel it could be MI2.

Posted Jan 13, 2005

POTC and an MI movie have simmilarities, but that's because a) MI borrowed from the POTC ride in Disneyland (of which the film is based on), and b) any movie about pirates it likely to be fairly simmilar anyway.

Incidentally, they *are* making POTC sequels (two of 'em, in fact) and if you Google for the storyline you'll see that one plot development is very MI2. I wouldn't read too much into that though. ;

Posted Jan 13, 2005

So what's the deal with the robots? Any ideas?

Posted Jan 13, 2005

.

The robots? It's the natural direction of the series!

You mean that you don't remember all the robots in the previous Monkey Island games? The giant monkey head, and um...Guybrush was an android...so was LeChuck. Mega Robo LeChuck was his next form after Giant Fighting Statue LeChuck.

...yeah...

Seriously, if you look at the file names, you can see that the robot pictures are from another project that the artist worked on. The weird freak/dead drawings are also from another project.

But what if Guybrush and LeChuck really WERE robots...let us discuss this development.

.

Posted Jan 13, 2005

Oh... Whoops. XD

I thought they were from the same project.

Posted Jan 14, 2005