Ben Gets a 10

Big news about the live-action Ben 10 movie, Race Against Time, which scored huge numbers (for Cartoon Network) when it aired the night before Thanksgiving.

BEN 10: RACE AGAINST TIME Scores as Cartoon Network’s
Most-Watched Telecast in Network History and #1 Show of the Day Among Boys
Live-Action Superhero Beats All Cartoon Network Programming Among Kids 6-11, Kids 2-11 Since January 2002
Cartoon Network Also Posts Its Most-Watched Total Day Ever with Kids 6-11, Kids 2-11

Young Ben Tennyson proved his supernatural delivery and ratings strength last Wednesday night when Cartoon Network premiered the original live-action movie special BEN 10: RACE AGAINST TIME (8:00 p.m., ET/PT), setting all-new records as the most-watched telecast in Cartoon Network history, according to preliminary data from Nielsen Media Research. The 90-minute live-action film delivered 3,987,000 viewers age 2+, out-performing the network’s 2002 presentation of Dragon Ball Z, which previously held the #1 ranking. This outstanding performance propelled BEN 10: RACE AGAINST TIME to the #1 telecast of the day on all television—among both cable and broadcast—with boys 6-11 and boys 2-11. Moreover, Cartoon Network posted its most-watched day ever in total day delivery with kids 6-11 (785,000), kids 2-11 (1,101,000), boys 6-11 (615,000) and boys 2-11 (840,000).

My personal take: I thought the movie was really very good and delivered exactly what it set out to deliver: a live-action Ben 10 experience! The alien effects were better than I expected and the performances ranged from good (Lee Majors) to acceptable (the kids) to over-the-top (Eon). In fact, I have very little bad to say about the movie. It's really well done. The only thing that I'm still getting used to is the idea of the live-action cartoon movie as a general concept, and where it fits on the air. Something still feels "off" to me, but it's probably just something we need to get used to. I smell sequel!