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Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010 film)

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Diary of a Wimpy
File:Diary if a Wimpy Kid movie poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byThor Freudenthal
Screenplay byJackie Filgo
Jeff Filgo
Jeff Judah
Gabe Sachs
Produced byNina Jacobson
Brad Simpson
StarringZachary Gordon
Robert Capron
Rachael Harris
Devon Bostick
Steve Zahn
Narrated byZachary Gordon
CinematographyJack N. Green
Edited byWendy Greene Bricmont
Music byTheodore Shapiro
Production
companies
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • March 19, 2010 (2010-03-19)
Running time
92 minutes
CountryTemplate:FilmUS
LanguageEnglish
Budget$15 million[1]
Box office$75,700,498

Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a 2010 American comedy film directed by Thor Freudenthal and based on Jeff Kinney's book of the same name.[2][3][4] The film was released on March 19, 2010 (September in Australia). It was released on DVD, iTunes, and Blu-ray on August 3, 2010.

Plot

11-year-old Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon) is anxious to start middle school, confident he will easily become the school's most popular kid. However, Greg worries about how his "uncool and embarrassing" best friend, Rowley Jefferson (Robert Capron), will fit in. While Rowley is a good friend who helps Greg escape his terrorizing older brother, Rodrick (Devon Bostick), Greg worries that Rowley's "dorky" clothes and personality will embarrass both of them.

On their first day, Greg and Rowley meet Angie Steadman (Chloë Moretz), a seventh grader who works for the school's paper. Throughout the school year, Angie gives Greg and Rowley information about the workings of middle school, which she believes was created to store kids while they make the awkward transition between children to teenagers. Classmate Chirag Gupta (Karan Brar) tells Greg and Rowley the story behind the moldy slice of Swiss cheese laying on the school's basketball court; upon touching the cheese, a kid named Darren Walsh (Harrison Houde) contracted the Cheese Touch and caused the 1st Cheese Touch Apocalypse ; anyone who touches the cheese will create chaos and they pass on the Cheese Touch by touching someone else. The Cheese Touch eventually got taken away by a German exchange student named Dieter Müller, who moved back to Düsseldorf over the Summer and took the Cheese Touch with him.

Greg is determined to be voted a "class favorite" and listed in the yearbook, but each of his attempts to do so backfire. His popularity quickly drops as he loses to Patty Farrell (Laine MacNeil), Greg's archenemy, and Fregley (Grayson Russell), the weirdest and 201st most popular (past the bottom) kid in school, in scholastic wrestling (taught by Coach Malone, portrayed by Andrew McNee); making Greg the 72nd most popular kid in school, making Greg groan. Greg angers teenagers on Halloween night by threatening to call the police on them after they spray him and Rowley with a fire extinguisher, and then damages their eight-generation Ford F150 pickup truck with a weed whacker; Greg joins the geeky Safety Patrol with Rowley; and breaks Rowley's left hand during winter vacation during a game Greg invented with his Big Wheel. At school, everyone notices Rowley's broken hand and Rowley becomes very popular, much to Greg's dismay. Rowley's popularity increases when he beats Greg to become the school paper's cartoonist, despite Greg's dismissal of his ideas.

Greg and Rowley's friendship falls apart after Greg allows Rowley to take the blame for a mistake Greg made during Safety Patrol. Mr. Winskey suspends Rowley from Safety Patrol and called his parents, Mr. Jefferson and Mrs. Jefferson including his whole family, and then Mr. Winskey tells Rowley to apologize to the kindergarteners, when Rowley got home after apologizing to the kindergarteners, he ended up getting grounded for 2 days and Rowley's parents told Greg that they are going to teach him a regretful lesson about what happens if he does very bad things to the kindergarteners again, his punishment is he is not allowed to go to Greg's house for 2 days. But then 2 days later, After Greg tells Rowley the truth and tries to tell it as a joke, Rowley berates him for being a bad friend who cares about nothing but himself, not watching the Ni Hao, Kai-lan marathon on TV with his family and getting him grounded for 2 days. When Mr. Winsky, the Safety Patrol teacher, heard what had actually happened and the kindergarteners finally told their parents, grandparents, uncles, grand uncles, aunts, grand aunts and cousins, brothers and sister the whole story, he told Greg that he was now relieved of his Safety Patrol duties "effective immediately", and promotes Rowley to team captain.

Rowley then leaves and breaks up with Greg and befriends a kid named Collin Lee (Alex Ferris). Greg tries to move on by having a sleep over with Fregley, but Fregley's sugar-induced hyperactivity is too much for him to take and hides in the bathroom, but then at night, Fregley slips a piece of paper under the bathroom door and Greg reads the note and it says "Dear Gregory, I'm really very sorry for chasing you with the booger on my finger, here I have put it on this piece of paper for you so you can get me back!" and passes up and is taken home by Frank Heffley.

He then tries to pursue popularity without Rowley by auditioning for the school play of The Wizard of Oz, but the performance is ruined extremely badly by Patty Farrel when she throws a huge temper tantrum at Greg when he does not sing and blames him for the play being ruined and Greg throws an apple at her resulting an apple-throwing fight in the middle of the performance, making Greg the 202nd most popular kid.

At the school mother-son dance, Greg's mother (Rachael Harris) suggests Greg ask Rowley to go out for ice cream with them. However, Collin tells Greg that he and Rowley already have plans. Later, Greg is excited when Rowley comes up to him in school, but is disappointed when he learns Rowley only wants a game back. Greg refuses to return the game, causing them to get into an argument and the kids gather around them, wanting them to fight, but are quickly dispelled when the teenagers that Greg and Rowley had angered on Halloween drive up, looking for revenge. The kids find the Cheese and make Rowley eat it. They are about to force Greg to eat the cheese when Coach Malone arrives, leading the kids to run away.

The children return and find the partially eaten cheese. Patty begins to accuse Rowley for causing the 2nd Cheese Touch Apocalypse, but Greg steps in and takes the blame. He picks up the cheese and makes a profound speech about the ridiculousness of the cheese and other middle school institutions, but Patty ruins it when she shouts out that Greg has the Cheese Touch, causing everyone to run away from Greg. Greg and Rowley reconcile, and Angie approaches them to compliment Greg for his bravery. The film ends with Greg, Rowley, and Angie laughing after Patty hugged Rowley and contracted the Cheese Touch, and Greg narrating that he still has the summer and next year ahead of him. Greg finally achieves his dream of being made a class favorite along with Rowley as both being made the cutest friends.

Cast

Soundtrack

The soundtrack is supposedly to be released by La La Land Records with special thanks to the labels for the artists; Universal Motown Records (Forever the Sickest Kids), Capitol Records (Beastie Boys), B-Unique Records (Kaiser Chiefs), Columbia Records (Bonnie Tyler, Teddybears), XL Recordings (Electric Six), Rough Trade (1990s), Beautiful Bomb Records (Smash Mouth), Chrysalis Records (Bonnie Tyler), Stick Music (Bonnie Tyler) and Gordy Records (Rick James). [citation needed]

  • "Ride" by The Vines plays when Greg first steps foot in middle school.
  • "Never Miss a Beat" by Kaiser Chiefs. This song is heard when the boys are playing a game of gladiator in gym class.
  • "The Four Seasons" by Vivaldi is played when Greg fantasises about himself being older and rich.
  • "More Than I Can Do" (instrumental version) by Scott Kinney (brother of Jeff Kinney) is played when Löded Diper arrives at Greg's home.
  • "Super Freak" by Rick James. It was heard when Fregley was wrestling Greg.
  • "When They Fight, They Fight" by The Generationals is played when Greg finds out he's in the school paper for being beaten by Patty in wrestling.
  • "Hot" by Smash Mouth is heard when Greg is walking down the hallway wearing a shirt and tie
  • "Danger! High Voltage" by Electric Six is heard when Greg and Rowley attempt to escape the teenagers on Halloween.
  • "Cobrastyle" by Teddybears. Played when Greg dreams of auditioning for safety patrols.
  • "O.K. Mr Hillbilly" written by Ron Henley is played when Greg thinks the teenagers from Halloween are passing by, when it is just a man in a truck
  • "You're Supposed to Be My Friend" by 1990s. This song is played when Rowley stops being Greg's buddy.
  • "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler is the song that is sung to when the kids audition for The Wizard of Oz.
  • "We Three Trees" performed by Greg and the other two trees in the School Play.
  • "Time To Die" written by Ali Dee Theodore and Joey Katsaros which was performed by Löded Diper when Greg's mother was about to tell Rodrick off.
  • "Le Freak" by Chic. This song is played at the Mother/Son Sweetheart Dance when Greg and his mom enter.
  • "The Popular Thing" by Jukebox The Ghost. This song can be heard playing in the background when Greg attempts to make up with Rowley by inviting him to join him for an icecream after the dance.
  • "Intergalactic" by Beastie Boys. This song is played at the Mother/Son Sweetheart Dance when Rowley and his mom dance.
  • "What Do You Want From Me (Diary of a Wimpy Kid Mix)" by Forever the Sickest Kids. This is heard in the end credits.
  • "Tear It Up" by White Demons
  • "Up Rock" (slow version) by Ali Dee Theodore and The Deekompressors
  • "Live to Rock" by Brian Tichy

Production

Filming of Diary of a Wimpy Kid wrapped up on October 16, 2009. A few months later, on March 19, 2010, the film was released. It combines live action with animation[4] and is directed by Thor Freudenthal,[3] with Zachary Gordon starring as Greg.[2]

The official trailer for Wimpy Kid was released virally on January 21, 2010 and was shown in theaters with Tooth Fairy and Alice in Wonderland.[5] A poster for the film was released shortly after. Another trailer was shown with Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.[6]

The official Facebook account for Wimpy Kid had uploaded three clips from the film, as of March 1, 2010.[7] In the United Kingdom and Ireland the film was released in cinemas on August 25, 2010.

Sequels

Due to the film's success, a sequel was made, and released in March 25, 2011, and is based on book two of the Wimpy Kid series, Rodrick Rules, and is called: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules.

Now that the film has become a trilogy, a third film will be released soon.

The film is based on books three and four of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Last Straw and Dog Days. The film is going to be released on August 3, 2012 and is called: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days.

Reception

Critical reception

Reviews of Diary of a Wimpy Kid have been mixed. It holds a "rotten" rating of 53% on the film review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, based on 101 reviews. The consensus given is "Unlike its bestselling source material, Diary of a Wimpy Kid fails to place a likable protagonist at the center of its middle-school humor – and its underlying message is drowned out as a result."[8] It also holds a "mixed or average" rating of 56 at Metacritic, based on 26 reviews.[9] Roger Ebert gave the film a three and a half out of four stars rating: "It's nimble, bright and funny. It doesn't dumb down. It doesn't patronize. It knows something about human nature."[10] Glenn Whipp of the Associated Press was less positive, saying, "In transferring the clean, precise humor of Kinney's illustrations and prose to the big-screen, the material loses just a bit of its charm."[11] At the Movies host David Stratton gave the film one star while co-host Margaret Pomeranz gave it half a star. Stratton called the film "tiresome" and said there was "nothing remotely interesting in Thor Freudenthal's direction or the screenplay." Pomeranz disliked the character of Greg Heffley, saying "I really thought he was unpleasant. I did not want to spend time with him. I could not wait for the end of this film."[12]

Box office

The film opened in second place at the weekend box office grossing $22.1 million, behind Alice in Wonderland.[13]

Despite a lack of distinctive marketing, Diary of a Wimpy Kid drew a decent crowd, opening to $22.1 million on approximately 3,400 screens at 3,077 sites, notably beating out the heavily hyped The Bounty Hunter. It was the biggest start ever for a non-animated, non-fantasy children's book adaptation. Diary of a Wimpy Kid grossed more in its first three days than similar films like How to Eat Fried Worms and Hoot grossed in their entire runs.[13] The film grossed $63,003,625 in North America and $11,695,602 in other territories for a worldwide total of $75,699,227.[14]

Home video release

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on August 3, 2010. The Blu-ray Version features six pages from Rowley's diary, Diary of The Most Awesome Friendliest Kid.

Book

Main article: The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary

A tie-in book, written by Kinney, called The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary was published on March 16, 2010, by Amulet Books (an imprint of Abrams Books). It includes film stills, storyboards, preliminary concept drawings, and also behind the scenes information to humorously chronicle the making of the film. It also includes some new illustrations.[15][16]

Awards and nominations

References

  1. ^ "Movie Projector: No 'Bounty Hunter,' 'Repo Men' or 'Wimpy Kid' can upstage 'Alice' (updated)". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company. March 18, 2010. Archived from the original on August 28, 2010. Retrieved March 19, 2010. The modestly budgeted picture cost 20th Century Fox's movie label Fox 2000 only about $15 million to produce
  2. ^ a b Breznican, Anthony (September 29, 2009). "First Look: 'Wimpy Kid' actor embraces being 'a likable jerk'". USA Today. Retrieved October 20, 2009.
  3. ^ a b McNary, Dave (August 3, 2009). "Steve Zahn to star in 'Wimpy Kid'". Variety. Retrieved October 20, 2009.
  4. ^ a b McCarron, Heather (October 12, 2009). "Nothing 'Wimpy' about local author's success". Milford Daily News. Retrieved October 20, 2009.
  5. ^ "Diary of A Wimpy Kid Theatrical Trailer".
  6. ^ Official Wimpy Kid Movie on Facebook (2010). "Wimpy Kid Movie Poster". {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  7. ^ Official Wimpy Kid Movie on Facebook (2010). "Facebook | Official Wimpy Kid Movie". {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  8. ^ "Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved August 29, 2010.
  9. ^ "Diary of a Wimpy Kid reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved August 1, 2010.
  10. ^ Ebert, Roger (March 17, 2010). "Diary of a Wimpy Kid review". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on August 1, 2010. Retrieved August 1, 2010.
  11. ^ The San Francisco Chronicle http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/03/18/entertainment/e033305D08.DTL. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help) [dead link]
  12. ^ David Stratton, Margaret Pomeranz (September 29, 2010). "29 September 2010". At the Movies. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 29 September 2010. {{cite episode}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |seriesno= (help); External link in |transcripturl= (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |transcripturl= ignored (|transcript-url= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ a b http://boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=2688&p=.htm
  14. ^ "Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010)". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved August 1, 2010.
  15. ^ "Jeff Kinney to make The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary".
  16. ^ The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary, Book Details

External links

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