Austin Powers (film series)

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Austin Powers
Directed by	Jay Roach
Produced by	Mike Myers Demi Moore Jennifer Todd Suzanne Todd
Written by	Mike Myers Michael McCullers
Starring	Mike Myers Michael York Robert Wagner Mindy Sterling Seth Green Elizabeth Hurley Verne Troyer
Music by	George S. Clinton
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date(s)	1997- 2002
Running time	283 min. (total)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$112,500,000
Gross revenue	$676,356,278

Austin Powers is a series of action-comedy written, produced by and starring Mike Myers as the title character, directed by Jay Roach and distributed by New Line Cinema. The films mainly spoof the James Bond, Derek Flint, Jason King and Matt Helm franchises^{[citation needed]}, incorporate myriad other elements of popular culture and follows the British spy's heroic quest to bring the villain Dr. Evil to justice.

The films poke fun at the outrageous plots, rampant sexual innuendo, and one-dimensional stock characters characteristically associated with 1960s spy films, as well as the cliché of the ultra-suave male superspy. Contrary to the handsome, super-smooth leading men of the James Bond genre, Powers is not characterized as being conventionally attractive (he is especially known for his bad teeth), although female characters in the films seem to find him irresistible.

The general theme of the films is that arch-villain Dr. Evil plots to extort large sums of money from governments or international bodies but is constantly thwarted by British super-spy Austin Powers, and (to a degree) his own inexperience with life and culture in the 1990s. In the first film, he and Dr. Evil are awakened after being cryogenically frozen for 30 years. Continuing to incorporate cultural elements of the 1960s and 1970s, the second and third film features time travel as a plot device and deliberately overlook inconsistencies.

Contents 1 Original sources 2 Characters 3 Cars 4 Reception 4.1 Box office performance 4.2 Critical reaction 5 Media 5.1 Films 5.2 Games 6 Future 6.1 Austin Powers 4 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Original sources

Mike Myers himself has stated in interviews that the idea for Austin Powers came to him one night while driving home from ice hockey practice. Hearing the song "The Look of Love" by Burt Bacharach on his car radio, he wondered "Where have all the swingers gone?", and conceived the character who would become Austin Powers. The first phrase he thought the character might say was "Do I make you horny?" which later did indeed become a catch phrase for the character.

Myers has also disclosed that the character also draws on his recollections of former Radio Caroline DJ Simon Dee who hosted the first real TV chat show in the UK in 1967 which ended with his driving off in a sports car with a young blonde in the passenger seat.

A Canadian by birth, Myers' parents are British and he holds dual nationality. Although the films parody the plots and characters of 1960s spy movies, the humour is influenced by Myers' British heritage particularly the Carry On films, Benny Hill and Peter Sellers of whom Myers is a self-confessed fan (his favourite films being the Bond spoof Casino Royale and The Party). Influences from Sellers' films are apparent throughout the series with the character of Austin Powers being inspired by Seller's portrayal of Roger Danvers in the 1972 film There's a Girl in My Soup. Powers' dandyish appearance is inspired by Jason King - the adventurer from Department S who starred in his eponymous spin-off show. The name Austin Powers is probably inspired by the British Austin brand of motorcar. Other influences are The Beatles films, The Monkees television series and the cocktail party scene from Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In.

[edit] Characters

Character	Film
	Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery	Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me	Austin Powers in Goldmember
Austin Powers	Mike Myers
Dr. Evil	Mike Myers
Basil Exposition	Michael York
Number 2	Robert Wagner	Robert Wagner Rob Lowe (younger version)
Frau Farbissina	Mindy Sterling
Scott Evil	Seth Green
Vanessa Kensington	Elizabeth Hurley
Felicity Shagwell		Heather Graham
Foxxy Cleopatra			Beyoncé Knowles
Nigel Powers			Michael Caine
Mrs. Kensington	Mimi Rogers
Mini-Me		Verne Troyer
Fat Bastard		Mike Myers
Goldmember			Mike Myers

[edit] Cars

There were two cars featured in the films, called "SWINGER" and "SWINGER2". The cars were a 1961 Jaguar E Type and a 2001 XK8 convertible. He also called these cars "Shaguars." He is also seen driving a 1999 Volkswagen Beetle convertible in the second movie. In addition, Nigel Powers' car is a 2001 Mini, which is able to travel under water and has a license plate reading "GR8SHAG". There were two cars made by the MOD to transport Austin back in time, one of them being the Volkswagen Beetle, and the other a 1975 Cadillac Eldorado Fleetwood. Felicity Shagwell, in the second movie, drives a 1966 Chevrolet Corvette with a U.S.A. flag paintjob.

[edit] Reception

[edit] Box office performance

Film	Release date	Box office revenue			Box office ranking		Budget	Reference
		United States	Foreign	Worldwide	All time domestic	All time worldwide
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery	May 2, 1997	$53,883,989	$13,800,000	$67,683,989	#1,002		$16,500,000	[1]
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me	June 11, 1999	$206,040,086	$105,976,772	$312,016,858	#90 #145(A)	#198	$33,000,000	[2]
Austin Powers in Goldmember	July 26, 2002	$213,307,889	$83,347,542	$296,655,431	#84 #175(A)	#221	$63,000,000	[3]
Total		$473,231,964	$203,124,314	$676,356,278			$112,500,000
List indicator(s) (A) indicates the adjusted totals based on current ticket prices (by Box Office Mojo).

[edit] Critical reaction

Film	Rotten Tomatoes		Metacritic	Yahoo! Movies
	Overall	Cream of the Crop
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery	68% (56 reviews)[4]	53% (15 reviews)[5]	51% (25 reviews)[6]	B- (10 reviews)[7]
Austin Powers: the Spy Who Shagged Me	52% (86 reviews)[8]	55% (20 reviews)[9]	59% (34 reviews)[10]
Austin Powers in Goldmember	54% (178 reviews)[11]	58% (36 reviews)[12]	62% (34 reviews)[13]	B- (15 reviews)[14]

[edit] Media

[edit] Films

The series consists of 3 films:

• Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery released on May 2, 1997
• Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me released on June 11, 1999
• Austin Powers in Goldmember released released on July 26, 2002

[edit] Games

Video games

• Austin Powers: Oh, Behave! (Game Boy Color)
• Austin Powers: Welcome to My Underground Lair! (Game Boy Color)
• Austin Powers in Operation Trivia (PC and Macintosh)
• Austin Powers Pinball (PlayStation and PC)

Other

• Austin Powers Collectible Card Game by Decipher Inc

[edit] Future

[edit] Austin Powers 4

On May 16, 2007 in an interview with IGN, when asked "So no more Austin Powers?" Myers responded, "No, no, there is a fully conceived idea for a fourth and I can just say that it's from Dr. Evil's point of view. So if you balanced how much of it was Austin with Dr. Evil, it's more about Dr. Evil than Austin." In mid-February it was announced that Roach will return for this film.^[15]

On May 9, 2007, at the Shrek the Third premiere, Mike Myers announced that a fourth Austin Powers film is in development and that it is planned to focus more on Dr. Evil than Austin himself. He also said that he'd be starting work on it after he starts work on another film project, The Love Guru, in August 2007.^[16]

On July 30, 2008 Mike Myers stated that he had begun writing Austin Powers 4 and that the plot is "really about Dr. Evil and his son".^[17]

[edit] See also

• Johnny English - another James Bond parody released concurrently with the Austin Powers series

[edit] References

• USA Today discusses parallel with Pussy Galore
• Slang City(online) discusses parallel with Pussy Galore
• The spy who came in from the cold, by Barbara Lester
• Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery, Chicago Sun Times, By Roger Ebert May 2, 1997

[edit] External links

• Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery at the Internet Movie Database
• Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me at the Internet Movie Database
• Austin Powers in Goldmember at the Internet Movie Database
• Austin Powers 4 at the Internet Movie Database

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Austin Powers Trilogy

v • d • e Austin Powers Films International Man of Mystery • The Spy Who Shagged Me • Goldmember Agents Austin Powers • Vanessa Kensington • Felicity Shagwell • Foxxy Cleopatra • Nigel Powers • Mrs. Kensington Villains Dr. Evil  • Scott Evil  • Mini-Me  • Frau Farbissina • Fat Bastard • Number 2 • Goldmember • Fembots Main Cast Mike Myers • Seth Green • Verne Troyer • Mindy Sterling • Rob Lowe • Robert Wagner Games Austin Powers: Welcome to My Underground Lair! • Austin Powers Pinball  • Collectible Card Game Other Ming Tea