Fly Me to the Moon (film)

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For other uses, see Fly Me to the Moon (disambiguation).
Fly Me to the Moon

Promotional poster
Directed by Ben Stassen
Written by Domonic Paris
Starring Nicollette Sheridan
Tim Curry
Christopher Lloyd
Robert Patrick
Kelly Ripa
Adrienne Barbeau
Ed Begley, Jr.
Buzz Aldrin (voices)
Music by Ramin Djawadi
Distributed by Summit Entertainment
nWave Pictures
Illumina Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) Belgium:
January 30, 2008
United States:
August 8, 2008 (IMAX 3D)
August 15, 2008 (Digital 3D)
Running time 85 mins
Country Belgium
Language English
Budget $25,000,000[1]
Gross revenue Domestic:
$12,423,424
Worldwide:
$32,553,554[1]

Fly Me to the Moon is a Belgian CGI animated 3D feature film. It was released in digital 3D in Belgium on January 30, 2008 and in the USA and Canada on August 15, 2008. The film was also released in IMAX 3D in the USA and Canada starting August 8, 2008.

Fly Me to the Moon was directed by Ben Stassen and produced by nWave Pictures in association with Illuminata Pictures, and distributed by Summit Entertainment and Vivendi Visual Entertainment.

The total production budget of Fly Me to the Moon is €17.3 million (about $25.2 million). nWave financed about 75% of the budget itself. To raise the rest, investors could benefit from Belgium’s Tax Shelter system. The Flanders Audiovisual Fund contributed €100,000 ($146,100), 10% of its annual budget for animation.

Apart from the feature-length version, two further versions of the films exist. The 49-minute Attraction version was released across theme parks starting in the summer of 2007. Venues showing this version, which features added 4D effects, include Isla Magica in Spain, Mirabilandia in Italy, Bellewaerde in Belgium, Bakken in Denmark, and Blackpool Pleasure Beach in the UK, as well as the Adler Planetarium in Chicago and the Museum of Science in Boston. This version of the film omits the subplot about the attempt by Russian flies to sabotage the mission. The 13-minute Ride version is featured at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey and Six Flags Over Texas in Texas.

Contents

[edit] Plot

A preteen-aged fly named Nat and his two best friends, I.Q. and Scooter, build a “fly-sized” rocket in a field across from Cape Canaveral, Florida, where the Apollo 11 sits on the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39. From his earliest memory, Nat remembers his grandfather, Amos, telling him of his daring rescue of Amelia Earhart when she and Fred Noonan crossed the Atlantic Ocean on their historic flight in 1937. Wanting to be an adventurer like his Grandpa, Nat knows what he has to do. Defying the notion that “Dreamers get swatted!” he tells his friends his plan to get aboard the Apollo 11 and go to the moon. His buddies, with some reluctance, are in. The next morning, as their families realize they are missing, the three flies make it to Space Center command. In their homemade space suits, Nat, I.Q. and Scooter stow away inside the space helmets of astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. As they blast off, our three tiny adventurers are about to make some history of their own.

Back on Earth, Grandpa, Mom and the others watch TV to get news of their offspring’s adventure. As the astronauts appear on camera, the heroic flies wave in the background, visible to other flies but barely seen by humans – except for the attentive NASA flight controller Steve Bales, who informs Armstrong that there appear to be “contaminants” on board. One other problem: In far-away Russia, there are other flies watching TV - Russian flies that cannot tolerate American flies getting to the moon first. A Russian plan is hatched and operatives are enlisted to interfere with the US mission. Mother Russia puts all its hopes of success on the back of one nasty operative named Yegor. Fortunately, a pretty Russian fly named Nadia also sees the flies on board and hears Scooter calling out Grandpa’s name, the very name of the fly Nadia met in Paris and loved so many years ago.

Back on board the space ship, as the burn cycle to enter the moon's Trans Lunar Injection orbit begins, the spacecraft is rocketed violently. There’s a short circuit in the Service Module that must be fixed manually or the ship won’t be able to complete its mission. Nat and I.Q. fly through a maze of wires, find the problem and repair it just in time. Unaware of the flies’ aid, the ship enters orbit and all is well... or so they think. Just as they congratulate each other, the little flies are sprayed with a numbing aerosol and are captives in a test tube vial – contaminants indeed.

The flies manage to break the vial. Nat sneaks into Armstrong’s helmet just in the nick of time. The Lunar Module Eagle lands on Mare Tranquillitatis. From inside the helmet, Nat beams with every awe-inspiring historic step. I.Q. and Scooter join him on the surface inside Aldrin’s helmet. After a climatic rescue with Nat bringing Scooter back to the Columbia, the Eagle is jettisoned, Back on Earth, other plots are being set in motion. After more than 30 years apart, Nadia finds Grandpa, though the joy of their reunion is brief. She tells Grandpa and Nat’s Mom about the Russian plot to divert the mission to crash directly into Mount Rushmore. Nat’s Mom faints while Grandpa takes off with a renewed youthful vow to save his grandson. At Mission Control Center, the Russian operatives have infiltrated and are preparing to alter the descent codes. Unaware of the potential danger looming, the astronauts and the little flies sit back and prepare to come back home as heroes.

Grandpa, Nat’s Mom and Nadia join forces to stop Yegor and the Russian plan as the Command Module Columbia hurtles closer and closer toward Earth's atmosphere. In a series of death-defying stunts, they crush the Russian threat. the Columbia splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean, where it is recovered by the USS Hornet. Returning as heroes, the three little flies share a slogan embraced by all: “Adventure forever! Dreamers get swatted? Never!”

At the end the real Buzz Aldrin spoils the film by explaining that no flies were on board during the flight.

[edit] IMAX Version

As IMAX 3D films are usually less or around an hour, some scenes were cut from the IMAX version. The IMAX version starts with the opening scene which shows the first monkey being launched to space. It then cuts to Nat sneaking out to meet his friends and sneak into the command centre, cutting out the scene with Nat and Amos, discussing Amelia Earhart. The IMAX version also cuts out the Russian Sub-plot.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Release

Fly Me to the Moon was released in 12 IMAX 3D theaters on August 8, 2008 in Canada and the United States, and in a further 18 on August 15, 2008. The film was released widely in 3D equipped theaters on August 15, 2008. It earned $704,000 on opening day in 452 theaters and $1,900,523 in its opening weekend, drawing in the number 12 spot. As of November 4, 2009, the film has grossed $41,412,008 worldwide.[1]

[edit] International Distribution

[edit] Reception

Based on 50 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes reported that 18% of critics gave positive reviews. One person said, "The animation is so stiff it makes South Park look like Walt Disney's Fantasia."[2] Despite the nearly universal negative reviews, Paramount Pictures has sent the film as their entry for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards.[3]

[edit] DVD release

Fly Me to the Moon was released on DVD in North America on December 2, 2008. Two versions were released, a standard 2-D version and a 3-D version of the film that includes two pairs of 3-D glasses. Bonus features on both version include an interactive game.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c "Fly Me to the Moon". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=flymetothemoon3d.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-28. 
  2. ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10009249-fly_me_to_the_moon/ "Fly Me To The Moon" at Rotten Tomatoes.
  3. ^ http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/2008/08.11.10a.html

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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