‘Invincible’ EP Marge Dean Says Adult Animation Was “Barely” Marketed By Amazon Prime Video But Has Succeeded Through Word Of Mouth – MIA Market
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With a budget less than four times that of The Boys and “barely” any marketing, Amazon Prime Video’s Invincible has succeeded through word of mouth and attracting new viewers to the genre, according to its EP Marge Dean.
Dean, who runs Walking Dead maker Skybound Entertainment’s Animation Studio, claimed in a MIA Market keynote today that the streamer spends around four times more per episode on The Boys, its smash hit superhero series.
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Invincible, however, has at times joined The Boys in Amazon’s top-five most-watched shows, Dean said. The first season of the adult animation from Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman launched in 2021 and a second will premiere in November. Based on the Image Comics series of the same name by Kirkman, Cory Walker, and Ryan Ottley, the show follows 17-year-old Mark Grayson and his transformation into a superhero under the guidance of his father Omni-Man, the most powerful superhero on the planet. The show stars J.K. Simmons, Sandra Oh and Steven Yeun and several spin-offs are in the offing.
“I love Amazon, they’re great, but there was barely any marketing for this show,” added Dean as the first day of the Rome market concluded. “This thing just popped up but I had no idea what it was or what was going to happen.”
Dean added that a “significant number of people who don’t normally watch this stuff found the show and took a chance.” Invincible managed to push on despite the dual U.S. labor strikes but Dean said there will be a gap in the genre soon as adult animation shows that were delayed take longer to get to screen.
“Like throwing spaghetti on the wall”
In a wide-ranging keynote, the storied animation exec, who has worked on the likes of Scooby Doo, Batman and Godzilla during a varied career, touched on AI in animation and rejected the notion that it is a major threat, rather pondering how it can be a force for good.
“[AI] can’t quite animate yet, it doesn’t seem to understand consecutive frames,” she added. “But I know a lot of people are using it in development and that makes sense to me because it is like throwing spaghetti on the wall.”
She continued: “It’s only a danger to creativity if we let it be. I can easily recognize an image that is AI-produced, there is a certain creepiness and darkness about it.”
Dean argued passionately for the TV and film industry to hold adult animation in the same esteem as other big-budget genres, free “from the kids and comedy box that it has been stuck in for decades.”
She cited world-famous directors such as Guillermo del Toro, Wes Anderson and Richard Linklater, who have caught the animation “bug” of late and want to keep working in the medium.
“At the heart of adult animation are themes, issues and ideas that build into a story in a way that people can actually hear,” she added. “The key is that balance between action and deep emotional human experience.
The MIA Market is running all week in Rome, with the likes of Nicolas Weinstock, Nicole Clemens and Ari Folman set to keynote.
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