Hollywood's going green

June 1, 2006
by Mike Thomas

The land has been surveyed. The bulldozer has arrived. And soon, so will yet another Mother Paula's Pancake House, the national (and fictional) flapjack shack vilified in the film "Hoot," released in early May.

With its message of habitat preservation, "Hoot" pits a group of righteous kids against an evil corporation hellbent on expanding its empire despite the heavy cost to nature and, in particular, a protected species of Florida owls. "Those owls can't fight for themselves," one young idealist says. "Somebody's gotta stick up for them." Laments another, "If they build that pancake place, those baby owls are toast."

One of several environmentally friendly flicks to open in the past couple of months, "Hoot" is part of a wave of what you might call eco-films. Following in the waddling footsteps of last year's hit "March of the Penguins," which earned an estimated $122.6 million worldwide -- and before that such nature sagas as "Ferngully: The Last Rainforest" (1992), "Never Cry Wolf" (1983) and "The Glacier Fox" (1979) -- are several wide-release features. Aside from "Hoot" (underlying theme: habitat preservation), these include "Ice Age 2: The Meltdown" (global warming) and "Over the Hedge" (urban sprawl).

As of Monday, the latter three had hauled in more than $700 million worldwide, with "Ice Age 2" ($620.3 million) leading the pack, "Over the Hedge" ($86 million) performing respectably in second and "Hoot" ($7.6 million) bringing up the extreme rear.

Two more eco-films are on deck: Al Gore's PowerPoint presentation "An Inconvenient Truth: A Global Warning," opening Friday, and director Chris Paine's "Who Killed the Electric Car?" (July 7).

Whether this trend speaks to mere copycatting or a shared morality isn't clear. Either way, Hollywood has sensed an opportunity to capitalize on high-profile debates about mounting planetary issues: oil, land-hogging McMansions, oil, frequent natural disasters, oil, melting glaciers, oil.

"I think we're at a tipping point," Paine says. "Oil prices and global warming [are] beginning to seep down into the consciousness, and I think people are more interested in these kinds of topics. So Hollywood responds. Sony might not have bought our picture two years ago."

"Hoot" director-writer Wil Shriner says he and his creative partners (including singer-turned-producer Jimmy Buffett and author Carl Hiaasen, from whose popular book the film was adapted) didn't set out to make an environmental flick per se, but they were all acutely aware that the Florida they've long known was changing for the worse.

Hiaasen's family-friendly story line about adventurous adolescents and their quest to save a rare type of Florida owls from being bulldozed by developers gives voice to that concern.

"The whole essence of why we wanted to make this movie," Shriner says, "was to send this message that, 'Kids, if you like where you live and you see your trees disappearing and your water getting polluted, speak up. Do something about it. It's up to you guys. We'll be dead and gone in 20 years and your kids and your kids' kids won't be able to go to the beach anymore.' "

Hollywood's green thumb

Those who make their livelihoods promoting conservation and environmental consciousness see the current crop of eco-films as a step in the right direction and a boon to business.

"I certainly hope that these films do have an impact upon all these moviegoers every weekend," says Colleen Sarna, global warming conservation organizer for the Sierra Club's Chicago chapter. "Because urban sprawl is something we're dealing with every day. Global warming is happening right now. And whether it's being discussed in 'Ice Age 2' or in Al Gore's film, it's important to get the message out there."

Flo Stone, founder and artistic director of the Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Film Festival, is heartened by Hollywood's emerging green thumb. She wishes, though, that it were even more pronounced. As evidenced in part by the record 20,000 people who attended her 11-day event in March, she's not alone.

"There are so many fantastic stories connected to the environment, and one wants those scripts out there," she says. "Not just feature documentaries, but fiction films, feature films. The stories are so great that I just hope more and more come out. They have a huge impact because so many people get to see them. And they see them on the big screen, which is enormously effective."

Of society's celluloid-centric mentality, Shriner says, "More kids see a movie than read a book. A book will sell a million or 2 million copies, and 10 million people will see the movie."

Hollywood, Shriner says, has "a tremendous influence" when it comes to swaying public opinion. "And given the right opportunities, where there can be a message that can also be something that will make a profit, then they'll probably continue down that road."

Selling the environment

Stone, although encouraged by Hollywood's ongoing trickle of eco-education, is disappointed by a meek advertising mentality when it comes to championing environmentally themed projects. The genre needs a string of hits to prove its marketability. So far, she says, that hasn't happened.

"And sometimes when things haven't happened, they get the reputation that it's not a good subject, it won't draw people in," Stone says. "But when something of quality appears, people will respond, hopefully. And one of the hopes is that Hollywood will advertise these films and have the confidence that they're going to have larger and very appreciative audiences. They have to feel they've got something that is really worth advertising and promoting."

But even the slickest media blitzing goes only so far. The success of issue-oriented films depends largely on striking before the iron cools -- before oil prices fall, before dying species flourish, before temperatures reach record lows.

"Film is a good place to activate people when the time's right," Paine says. "If the time is wrong, then people aren't gonna pay attention. But the time is here for people to clue in more."