I always dreamt of opening a bar that featured animatronic characters hanging out and riffing live with the audience while people drank. Something that could bring back the classic 70s Chuck E Cheese style antagonism and grit but in a setting of adults trying to have a fun night out rather than needing to appeal to small children.
https://youtu.be/VINPLJ_xviw?si=RphW2ukQbQ-AcOeS

Do you think there is a market for such a thing or is it too far out there?

you could use language models so they can actually talk to patrons. itd be cool.
the hitch is you-know-who breaking them all the time.

>>149317919
In my head it was always live actors riffing from a control room. I think people would respond better to that than an AI, though I'd probably have some sort of AI b mode just in case

>>149317986
then you gotta pay actors and youll have downtime on the characters.

Forget it, OP. It's a post Five Nights at Freddy's world.

>>149318160
This is a good thing though. Never before has the ratio of people into animatronics to available animatronics to visit been so high.

>>149318156
The schedule I've had in my head is live audience interaction on Friday Saturday and Sunday, then prerecorded shows/"reruns" made up from clips of previous weekends played during the week. Maybe with the exception of Tuesdays which could be trivia night or something hosted by the animatronics

>>149317780 (OP)
Imagine having a drink and riffing on some shitty movie with animatronics like an interactive MST3K experience.

>>149318309
Movie nights would be a really really good idea

>>149317780 (OP)
do it anon

>>149317780 (OP)
Damn that video is creepy. I remember being scared of the animatronics at Chuck E Cheese when I was in kindergarten. Probably around 1990 or so.

If you really like animatronics. Zoltar is technically an animatronic. You could just make a barcade and have Zoltar as one of the arcade games.

>>149319234
Zoltar is way creepier than chuck

>>149317986
Would the people voicing the animatronics dunk on patrons that were doing poorly at the various games? That would be funny.

>>149317780 (OP)
Your best bet is to note how your 70s/80s era CEC did it, which is the portraits hung far above guests so no drunkfag can damage them

>>149320692
This is definitely wise.

Or halfbodys a good few feet up

>>149317780 (OP)
bump

>>149317780 (OP)
Do so at your own risk

Sooner or later you'll get your purple guy wannabie that will try to do a fnaf inspired murder spree in your bar, than attempt to stuff the bodies into your animatronics.

>>149317780 (OP)
Old chuckey would fit right in a shady bar

>>149318160
Zoomers have passed the irony phase
https://youtu.be/sSAdwpkLGC8?si=g6OPAXjrVtmRjKmV

>>149319234
These seem less creepy than the later animatromics to me just because there's fewer moving parts. Aside from the weird desynced blinking its kinda like a glorified kids toy with more personality

>>149318160
If anything FNAF pretty much brought animatronics and practical effects back into relevance. The movie made a billion dollars, it's practically keeping the Jim Henson studio afloat.

>>149323035
Not gonna lie, that's sick as hell.

>>149323035
Zoomies turning out alright
Its alpha that will be fucked

>>149326986
Gen alpha will somehow manage to be even funnier

>>149318160
>acting fnaf didn’t revive interest in animatronics

>>149317780 (OP)
Haha, this sounds like a great idea, OP! One suggestion, you should have a super girly and feminine animatronic that women can relate to. You could even give her a more feminine body to visually express that.

The airport bars based on Cheers had two wisecracking animatronic customers inspired by Norm and Cliff.

https://vinepair.com/articles/airport-bars-history-cheers/

>>149327699
They already did that
>Originally meant to entertain adults, Dolli's performances had a sexy edge to them, and her breasts literally heaved up and down thanks to an added animatronic bouncing movement. She often quipped comments to the guys in the crowd, describing her long string of husbands, and telling the audience members that they were getting her all "hot and bothered" among other subtle and not-so-subtle flirty innuendos

>>149328314
Jesus Christ how horrifying.

Why do people try to make these weird characature animatronics? They never look good

>>149328486
Another picture. They remind me a bit of the Spitting Image puppets.

>>149317780 (OP)
Any hope for the new show? Had some ideas regarding bringing back some of the retired characters to fill out the background cast.
>Crusty is a local baseball star the gang idolize
>The other female guest stars are Helen's gal pals/ esports team
>Dolli runs a diner across the street, with the other cabaret characters as her employees
>Babysitting episode where the gang looks after Munch Jr.
>Chuck has his parrot from Studio C
Plus any of the newer characters kids are more likely to recognize.

>>149328728
Is this official? I can't believe it went under my radar

>>149329293
Yep, pitch bible leaked last year, and a Christmas special serving as a backdoor pilot is set to air in November.

>>149328486
In cases like this, caricature is preferable to realism. Animatronics looking like actual people quickly steers into uncanny valley territory. Granted this is ALSO uncanny valley, but it would've been so much worse.

>>149328728
>>149329293
>>149329399
I hope it does well. These characters deserve another chance before the franchise implodes.
That's also an excellent chuck design. Feels like a good compromise with the current design

>>149329293
Yeah it got officially announced last month
https://www.animationmagazine.net/2025/06/chuck-e-cheese-to-star-in-his-first-animated-christmas-special-from-happynest/

>>149329442
Implodes? You mean the bankruptcy? I thought with the Fun Spot rebrandings, new merchandise, the water park & game show announcements, and now a cartoon they got over it at this point.

>>149329632
These things all need to succeed to prove their worth. Otherwise it's a last flailing attempt at relevancy, not a revival.

I'm rooting for them but we will see what things look like in another two years

>>149328728
With everything so far (pitch bible, scripts, designs) it looks very promising. They are seemingly take it serious too with VAs/studios. We haven’t see a second of footage however so it can go either way.
At the same time will any of the potential content after the special even happy? Seems contingent on getting a distributor and the Christmas special was announced without one so far. This can’t survive being on Kidoodle or a non-serious platform if no one picks it up

>>149317780 (OP)
>I always dreamt of opening a bar that featured animatronic characters hanging out and riffing live with the audience while people drank. Something that could bring back the classic 70s Chuck E Cheese style antagonism and grit but in a setting of adults trying to have a fun night out rather than needing to appeal to small children.

Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do

>>149329632
The bankruptcy was only because they were 100% dependent on in-person entertainment that got shut down for Covid. People complained about the ghost kitchen but that was necessary for its survival. It’s out of bankruptcy now.
There was news of struggling to sell a 600 million bond to refinance debt due next year (taken to stay afloat during COVID) and some locations are closing, but it is steady and still brings in large revenue. If it was dire they wouldn’t be wasting money on Chuck’s Arcade and a show.
Animatronicfags who know nothing of business keep trying to portray it as they are going bankrupt in 2 weeks because they dared removed the animatronics and decor from 20 years ago. When you see that it’s usually autists salty they removed their run down nostalgic elements no current kid cares about anymore and it’s not rooted in reality
So really it’s a scenario in the middle of extremes

>>149329399
Any word on networks it's being pitched to?

>>149332443
No, probably everyone
Announcing it with no attached network while it debuts in 4 months is concerning though

>>149319234
>Zoltar uses ai and public data recollection to know people’s names as they walk by and ask them if they want their fortunes read
>record the reaction to such a machine speaking to people, make millions

Couple character doodles since you guys seem encouraging.

I really wanted to do a fly lady character but I'm realizing that it would probably be a bit too unappealing to guests, if not outright grotesque

>>149332443
My guess is they are trying to get a US broadcast channel to air it as a primetime Christmas special and they want a NBC/CBS/ABC/Fox signed on

>>149333528
>>149333984
Guaranteed YouTube upload followed by no pickup

>>149333834
I think they're neat, but probably not something you'd want for a restaurant, yeah. They'd do great as a gimmick in some sort of science exhibit, though.

>>149333834
They need to be more breedable

>>149333834
I actually think id get a kick out of the fly, but that definitely wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea

The walrus is great, but I think he needs more of a catch or a trope to fall into for people to play off of

>>149334896
Worse case would at least be Kidoodle picks it up and they sell dvds of it, they pick up anything
Regardless at least we will get a hour of it. And if they retheme the restaurants around it like Great Wolf Lodge did their film we would get more content regardless

>>149328486
>>149328725
On one hand, the fact that thise exist is cool. On the other, woof.

>>149337228
They just scrapped most of the animatronics and installed dance floors not too long ago, not sure how willing they'd be to retheme it again after that. But if I were a kid, I'd take pic related's aesthetic over the solid tones and exposed wood they have now.

>>149323035
what the fuck am i looking at

>>149337390
Oh no I didn't mean doing any real store revamp, they are keeping the dance floors and store designs and whatever else, meant more using the show designs for promotional material and wall décor
Which then again, maybe they don't because they aren't that hugely different to the ones they currently use in the first place

>>149338579
Ah, gotcha. Would still be a step up from the art they have currently.