Another Claptrap Movie Spoof Revealed!

When Des and I were putting together the CLAPTRAP campaign, we consulted a number of crowdfunding veterans for advice. We got a lot of great direction, and one of the things almost all we spoke to suggested was to have one really high end, ridiculously expensive “super perk”. It should be something crazy that probably wouldn’t get picked up, but that “high end” perk makes a fun bookend to the choices. So, Des and I came up with the “Megalomaniac” perk. This one allowed the backer to tell US what movie to spoof, with the only caveat being it was a major motion picture and that MAD had not already spoofed it. They also then got drawn into the parody as a character, and they get every page of the original artwork… plus of course all the lower perk’s goodies. We added two of them. At $6,000 each we figured they would never sell, but it was a playful idea and a good way to cap off the perk tiers.

Both sold within two weeks.

Both Megalomaniacs have made their choices, and today on a CLAPTRAP campaign update we revealed both the movie and the “Megalomaniac” backer who is bringing it to you. The movie we’ll be spoofing is Toy Story 4, and the super-backer who chose that film happens to be the film’s Oscar winning director, Josh Cooley!

Toy Story 4 is a great choice for the book. First, it ticks a few boxes as an animated and family film. Second, it was seen by almost everyone on the planet, as it earned a measly $1.073 billion in the worldwide box office, and sold about that many “Forky” toys. Third, not only did MAD never do a full spoof of any of the Toy Story films, it never did a proper parody of ANY Pixar movies.

I met Josh back in 2010 when he spoke at a National Cartoonists Society chapter event in Omaha. At the time, Josh was working as a story artist at Pixar and had worked on films like The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille and Up. In talking with him, he admitted to being a big fan of MAD, and we exchanged drawings a few weeks later:

Josh went on to co-write (and get a Best Original Screenplay Oscar nomination for) Inside Out, and then made his directoral debut with Toy Story 4, which won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature back in February.

Being a big fan of the MAD movie parodies, Josh can’t wait for Des and I to ridicule his film in CLAPTRAP. Des and I can’t wait to do it!