So why did they release a movie they knew would suck rather than fix it?
Fear Of Bad News
One of the problems with any project is that the people running it tend to dodge bad news. They are faced with deadlines and know that if they delay the project it will get more expensive and folks will hold them accountable so indications of problems tend to be swept under the carpet rather than explored, vetted, and eliminated.
In a movie, you have a script that can be reviewed, you have storyboards that can be reviewed, you have phases in filming, or animating in this case, where the parts of the film that are supposed to be funny can be tested to see if they are funny. In addition, you have long periods in pre and post production where near finished product can be reviewed. While this is sometimes done, it doesn’t appear to be effective at stopping bad movies from making it to theaters.
Granted focus groups, if you want the project to be confidential, can be problematic but you could assemble a pool of people that work for you who only do internal reviews. You’d qualify them by testing them against existing movies to see if their responses were in line with their demographic and you’d keep them away from the creation process so you didn’t contaminate them.
