Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters

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Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Matt Maiellaro Dave Willis
Produced by	Matt Maiellaro Dave Willis Jay Edwards
Written by	Matt Maiellaro Dave Willis
Starring	Dana Snyder Carey Means Dave Willis Andy Merrill Bruce Campbell Chris Kattan Tina Fey George Lowe C. Martin Croker Neil Peart
Distributed by	First Look Williams Street Cartoon Network Adult Swim Warner Bros. (DVD)
Release date(s)	April 13, 2007
Running time	86 min.
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	$750,000
Gross revenue	$5,520,369

Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters^[1] is an animated comedy film based on the Adult Swim animated series Aqua Teen Hunger Force. The film was written and directed by the show's creators, Matt Maiellaro and Dave Willis, and was released on April 13, 2007, by First Look Pictures. The film's poster was illustrated by Julie Bell and Boris Vallejo, and parodies the "King of the Mountain" design.^[2]

It had its cable television premiere March 30, 2008, on Adult Swim, and it aired again twice on August 15, 2008, and August 16, 2008.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 4 Soundtrack 5 Marketing 5.1 Boston ad campaign scare 5.2 April Fools' Day television "premiere" 5.3 Fake endings 6 Release 6.1 Reception 6.2 Box office and theaters 7 DVD release 7.1 "Deleted Scenes" 8 Sequel 9 References 10 External links

[edit] Plot

The movie begins with a song by an animated quartet consisting of a bag of popcorn, a hot dog, a chocolate Popsicle and a cup of soda encouraging viewers, in a parody of the 1957 short film Let's All Go to the Lobby, to buy food from the concession stand, only to be interrupted by heavy metal band Mastodon—with Troy Sanders animated as a gum drop, Bill Kelliher as a pretzel, Brent Hinds as a box of Ice Caps, and Brann Dailor as a box of nachos—who warn the audience that bad movie etiquette will result in severe bodily harm or death.

The movie proper begins in Egypt, where Master Shake, Frylock, and Meatwad escape from the Sphinx, and are attacked by an oversized Poodle who kills Frylock before being destroyed by Shake. Shake and Meatwad flee with Frylock's corpse and meet Time Lincoln, who revives Frylock; however, when government agents break into his house, the Aqua Teens flee in his wooden rocket ship, and Time Lincoln is shot, changing the timeline and effectively resulting in white people being enslaved by black people. This, however, is all revealed to be an elaborate story concocted by Shake to explain their origin to Meatwad and Frylock. An elaborate animated music video then follows, as a remix of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force theme plays.

Shake heads off to work out on his new exercise machine, the Insanoflex. Upon discovering that the machine is not assembled correctly (and the instructions are nowhere to be found), Frylock searches online for them. He finds a website written in a rare robot dialect with the only words in English warning "never to assemble it...ever." The site then lists a phone number which Frylock calls.

The film cuts to outer space on board the Plutonians Emory and Oglethorpe's ship. Before they even bother to answer the phone (the number on Frylock's computer was theirs), the Plutonians discover the Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future onboard with them. The Cybernetic Ghost begins explaining to the two aliens the story of the Insanoflex: the machine, when assembled, will exercise a man into a super-being, who will attract all the women on Earth leading to massive inbreeding and the eventual extinction of mankind. To prevent this, the Ghost has traveled into the past and stolen a single screw that holds all the parts together. The Plutonians point out to him that to get it assembled, someone could just buy another screw or shove a pencil in the screw hole.

Back on Earth, Frylock finishes building the machine (somehow having obtained the instructions), having just shoved a pencil in the screw hole. Before Shake can work out however, they discover a missing M-shaped circuit board on the back panel. The trio visit Carl, from whom Shake had stolen the machine, to see if he has the missing piece. After he refuses to tell them, Meatwad finds the address in the Insanoflex's box. Meanwhile, a triangular slice of watermelon named "Walter Melon", is flying about in a space ship made from a hollowed-out watermelon, observing the events unfolding according to his plan - Walter Melon is joined in the ship by Neil Peart from Rush, sitting at his drum set.

Dr. Weird, whose abandoned insane asylum has been purchased and is being turned into condominiums around them, are visited by Shake, Frylock, and Meatwad, who retrieve the missing piece and head home. Frylock installs the missing circuit board, but Carl insists that as the rightful owner he should be the first to test out the machine. The machine straps him in and elaborately transforms itself into a huge one-eyed robot. The robot plays dance/techno music and begins stomping around, crushing houses and heading toward downtown, all while Carl's strapped-in form is forced to exercise. Eventually, the robot begins laying large metallic eggs, which hatch into smaller versions of the machine. The Aqua Teens, aided by an instructional workout video, find a way to destroy the machine. Shake plays his original song "Nude Love" on acoustic guitar, forcing the machine to commit suicide because Shake's song is so bad. Carl (now bulging with so much muscle that he is rendered unable to move) leaves with his date, a muscular woman named Linda, and they head back to her condo while the Aqua Teens try to figure out a way to stop the newly-hatched smaller robots from destroying the city.

Meanwhile, Frylock begins to tell the origin story of the Aqua Teens: they were created by Dr. Weird, along with a chicken nugget who had gone by the name of Chicken Bittle. In the flashback, Dr. Weird proclaims that the Aqua Teens were created for one purpose, and one purpose only: to crash a jet into a brick wall. Realizing the pointlessness of this mission, Frylock simply diverted the jet (after a struggle with Bittle) and set a course to Africa, where they would try to use their intelligence to solve world hunger. While parachuting down to the earth, Bittle was attacked and eaten by a lion. The remaining three then tried to help a small village, but the natives feared them and ran away. After realizing they couldn't be much help, they hopped back in the jet and rented out what is now their house in New Jersey. Shake and Meatwad state that they cannot remember any of this, but Frylock explains it was because they were too busy playing their Game Boy to pay any attention.

Meanwhile, Carl and the muscular woman Linda recline in her room, where she reveals "herself" to be Dr. Weird in disguise. He cuts off Carl's muscles with a hunting knife and grafts them onto his own body. Frylock and Dr. Weird do battle, and the struggle continues while they argue back and forth about who created whom. Dr. Weird claims that it was Frylock who created him, not the other way around. Dr. Weird then reveals that the blue diamond on Frylock's back hides a VCR, in which a video with false memories of Dr. Weird creating Frylock had been playing in Frylock's head. Just then, Walter Melon arrives in his ship and explains he created the Aqua Teens and all the other characters so that they would eventually kill each other, after which Walter would inherit all their real estate in order to create the "Insano-Gym." The other characters, however, inform Walter that they all rent and do not own any property, not only rendering Walter's plan completely useless, but proving that everyone's existence is completely pointless. Walter storms off in his ship, threatening to tell their mother about their failures. Just then, the Teens' see their alleged mother standing before him, revealed to be a 9-layer bean burrito. Shake is so shocked at her, he jumps out a window. The Soda Dog Refreshment comes onscreen once again and dismisses the audience, insulting them sightly.

After the credits, there is a quick scene of the Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future humping the television in the Aqua Teen's living room. The camera then pans left to Frylock who now has large breasts, primped hair, and is dressed in women's clothing, indicating that Frylock got a sex change.

[edit] Cast

• Dana Snyder as Master Shake
• Carey Means as Frylock
• Dave Willis as Meatwad, Ignignokt, Carl & Video Game Voice
• Mike Schatz as Emory
• Matt Maiellaro as Err, Cybernetic Ghost, & Satan
• George Lowe as Space Ghost
• C. Martin Croker as Dr. Weird & Steve
• Andy Merrill as Oglethorpe
• Fred Armisen as Time Lincoln
• Bruce Campbell as Chicken Bittle
• mc chris as MC Pee Pants
• Chris Kattan as Walter Melon
• Neil Peart of Rush as Neil
• Isaac Hayes III as Plantation Owner
• Tina Fey as Burrito
• Jon Benjamin as CIA Agent 1
• Jon Glaser as CIA Agent 2
• Craig Hartin as Rob Goldstein
• Matt Harrigan as Linda

[edit] Production

In an interview at the 2005 San Diego Comic-Con, Dana Snyder and Matt Maiellaro confirmed rumors that there would be a feature-length movie of Aqua Teen Hunger Force. More details^{[dead link]} were revealed at the 2005 Paley Television Festival, such as a possible cameo by 80s funk group Cameo, and Maiellaro described it as "an action piece that leads into an origin story that unfolds in a very 'Aqua Teen' way."

The creators revealed much more information in an interview with Wizard Entertainment. While they dodged many questions, they confirmed that the movie would run 80 minutes, was filmed on a meager $750,000 budget, and features a plot detail about a "lost Aqua Teen", who is a large chicken nugget named "Chicken Bittle" (voiced by Bruce Campbell).^[3] They also confirmed more cameos, with Rush drummer and lyricist Neil Peart, voice actor H. Jon Benjamin and his comedy partner Jon Glaser, and SNL's Fred Armisen to make appearances. Heavy metal band Mastodon stated in a Decibel article that they would be performing during the opening, and that the band would be animated as a bucket of popcorn, a soda, a hot dog, and a candy bar. They were actually animated as a pretzel, a pile of nachos, an "Icecaps" box, and a gumdrop.^[4]

Regarding the film's rating, Maiellaro commented that "I think if [the movie is rated] R, it won't get the audience that watches it. But we don't know yet. We're still waiting to find out." Since then, the trailer released has advertised the film as rated R. The movie is mostly uncensored; the word "shit" is never censored, and while the word "fuck" is usually uncensored it is occasionally accompanied by a censoring beep that does not obscure the word, and is censored once during a flashback. As explained in the production feature, the inconsistency was an editing mistake, but left untouched for comic effect.

[edit] Soundtrack

The Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters Colon the Soundtrack, which features skits and sound bites from the movie as well as original recordings from other artists, was released on April 10, 2007. It contains music such as heavy metal, rock, hard rock, and rap.

[edit] Marketing

[edit] Boston ad campaign scare

On January 31, 2007, police in Boston, Massachusetts received reports of devices resembling bombs in various places around the city. The devices turned out to be electronic signs similar to a Lite-Brite that displayed images of the Mooninites Ignignokt and Err giving the finger, and were designed to promote the Aqua Teen Hunger Force television show as part of a guerrilla marketing campaign authorized by Cartoon Network, the cartoon's parent company. The boards were present in several cities for weeks before the ones in Boston were reported.^[5]

The Boston City Government sought a reimbursement for the money spent responding to the incident. The amount quoted was $500,000 initially, and then was increased to $750,000.^[6] On February 5 it was announced that Turner Broadcasting and the city of Boston have reached an agreement to pay $2 million to offset the cost of removing the devices: $1 million to cover the cost of the agencies involved and an additional $1 million in goodwill funding to homeland security.^[7]

[edit] April Fools' Day television "premiere"

Adult Swim began running ads on March 25, 2007, advertising the television premiere of the movie the following Sunday, April 1, 2007. Their only reasoning behind this stunt, as stated in the ad, was, "because we're fucking crazy". While Adult Swim's TV listings on their website stated the movie would be shown, other TV listings reported the same Sunday block. It was an April Fools' prank: though the first few minutes of the movie were shown normally, the remainder was shown in an obnoxiously small picture-in-picture box in the bottom left-hand corner, with no sound over the normal programming and occasional giant pop-ups alerting viewers of its presence, as well as advertising the actual premiere. The advertising was shown again on one episode of the Family Guy marathon on July 6, 2007. The episode was Peter's Two Dads. Adult Swim has made similar pranks during its run, including placing fart sounds intercut with anime shows and using Engrish VHS fansubs for the first season of Perfect Hair Forever, and airing entire blocks of programming with mustaches drawn on all the major characters of the shows. The movie eventually was shown on Sunday, March 30, 2008.

[edit] Fake endings

In yet another promotional stunt, the "ending" to the movie was posted in various places including YouTube, KingColon.com (in the Worst Game Ever game), and fansite Aqua Teen Central, all of which were completely different.

Eventually, adultswim.com let it be known that none of the "endings" were real and presented seven more clips throughout the weeks following the release of the movie (which turned out to also be fake.)

These endings, (now called the "fake.com endings") are available on the film's "Extras" DVD on the 2-Disc Collector's Edition. These endings are parodies of other movies. For example, one of the endings spoofs The Terminator, featuring Meatwad as "The Determinator".

[edit] Release

[edit] Reception

The film received a 48% Rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the consensus being, "The non sequitur humor of Aqua Teen Hunger Force will surely appeal to its built-in fan base, but for the uninitiated, the premise wears thin."^[8]

With twenty-eight reviews compiled, Metacritic reported that Movie Film for Theaters has received "mixed or average reviews" with an average rating of 54.^[9] Reviews ranged from Glenn Kenny at Premiere magazine who referred to the movie as "the most successful full-on surrealist film since Buñuel and Dalí's 1930 L'Âge d'or" to Ty Burr with the Boston Globe who called it "an act of terrorism against entertainment."

In response to such reviews, a commercial featuring the Mooninites began airing during the Adult Swim block. The two characters spend the entire commercial insulting a supposedly typical reviewer, "Lionel" of lionellovesmovies.com (the site merely leads back to the movie page). Other movie commercials recommend people see the movie two or three more times to push the box office numbers up. Adult Swim also mentioned in one of its commercial bumpers that the review situation highlights the generation gap, and that most negative reviews came from older critics.

[edit] Box office and theaters

The film was very profitable relative to its budget. Boxofficemojo.com listed that 877 theaters carried the movie on opening day.^[10] The movie made $3 million outside the top 10 at No. 13 on its opening weekend, The movie made $854,198 on its second weekend, $265,716 on its third, and $37,575 on its fourth. The movie was closed on June 14, 2007, grossing $5,520,368 according to BoxOfficeMojo.com and turning over its budget seven times.

[edit] DVD release

Warner Home Video released Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters for two-disc DVD on August 14, 2007. For the DVD release, the studio changed the title of the eighty-seven minute full length movie to Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters for DVD, just like the film soundtrack's title. The DVD's features include the 10 fake endings as shown on the internet, a "making of" featurette, promos, the "Deleted Scenes" episode, a music video, and an eighty minute animatic (rough cut) of the movie made out of the deleted scenes from the film and scenes from the "Deleted Scenes" episode as well as a commentary. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Patti Smith is featured on the DVD Commentary. The scene after the credits was removed in the UK DVD release.

[edit] "Deleted Scenes"

Deleted Scenes (also known as "Star-Studded Xmas Spectacular"), the first twenty-two-minute episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, is a collection of deleted scenes from the film. It premiered on December 18, 2005. It was also included in full on the DVD itself. Additionally, early versions of the scenes used in the special can be found in the Deleted Movie on Disc 2.

[edit] Sequel

A sequel called Death Fighter is planned for a "tentative" release in 2010.^[11] Unlike the first film, the sequel may be released onto DVD rather than theatrically.^[12]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official site
• Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters at the Internet Movie Database
• Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters at Allmovie
• Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters at Rotten Tomatoes
• Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters at Box Office Mojo

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