The Addams Family (2019 film)

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The Addams Family
Theatrical release poster
Directed by
Screenplay byMatt Lieberman
Story by
Based onThe Addams Family
by Charles Addams
Produced by
Starring
Edited byDavid Ian Salter
Music by
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release date
  • October 11, 2019 (2019-10-11) (United States)
Running time
86 minutes[3]
CountriesCanada
United States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$24 million[4]
Box office$203.7 million[4][5]

The Addams Family is a 2019 animated supernatural black comedy film based on the characters from the cartoon created by cartoonist Charles Addams. It was directed by Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan, with a screenplay by Matt Lieberman and a story by Lieberman, Erica Rivinoja, and Vernon. The film stars the voices of Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron, Chloë Grace Moretz, Finn Wolfhard, Nick Kroll, Snoop Dogg, Bette Midler, and Allison Janney.

The film was theatrically released in the United States and in Canada by United Artists Releasing on October 11, 2019. It received mixed reviews from critics for its narrative and screenplay, though the voice acting and animation were praised, and grossed $203 million on a $24 million budget.

It is the final project for Kelly Asbury, who served as a story consultant, before his death a year after the film's release in June 2020.

A sequel, The Addams Family 2, was released on October 1, 2021.

Plot[edit]

An angry mob of villagers that rejects anything macabre in nature disrupts the midnight wedding ceremony of Gomez Addams and Morticia Frump and drives them away with the rest of the Addams clan. During the chaos, Grandmama buys Uncle Fester time to evacuate Gomez, Morticia, and Thing. Gomez and Morticia decide to move to New Jersey, a place "no one would be caught dead in." There, Gomez, Morticia, and Thing find their "perfect" home in an abandoned asylum on a hill. They meet Lurch, an escaped mental patient whom they hit when Thing was driving their car, and immediately recruit him as their butler.

13 years later, the Addams family continue to live their gloomy lives in isolation from the outside world. Gomez prepares his son Pugsley for his upcoming "Sabre Mazurka", a rite of passage that every Addams family member takes. Morticia struggles to keep their daughter, Wednesday, from wanting to experience the world outside the mansion after a balloon and confetti appear on their property.

Elsewhere, reality TV host Margaux Needler, who is building a perfect planned community called "Assimilation" so her show will have a successful season finale, discovers the Addams family's household and becomes determined to rid the town of it when the family refuses to change, starting with spreading rumors about the Addamses through social media, claiming that they are freaks. Wednesday then meets Margaux's neglected daughter Parker and persuades Morticia to let her attend junior high school. Pugsley struggles with the complicated traditions and pressure of his Mazurka, even with the guidance of Gomez and Uncle Fester. Grandmama arrives at the house for the event.

At school, Wednesday stands up for Parker and her twin friends Layla and Kayla from the school's bully Bethany and befriends them after she resurrects some dead frogs and commands them to attack Bethany. Later on, the two discuss their frustrations and change their dressing habits – Parker becomes more gothic and Wednesday dresses more colorfully – to the shock of both of their mothers, with Margaux vowing to destroy the Addamses and Wednesday grounded by Morticia. After an argument with Morticia, Wednesday decides to run away in secret and stay with Parker for a while, which Pugsley inadvertently tells Morticia.

As Cousin Itt arrives at the Addams household, Wednesday and Parker discover a secret room under Parker's house and that Margaux has planted hidden cameras in every house she designed in town. Margaux catches the two and locks them in the attic, but Wednesday breaks them out. Margaux rallies the townsfolk to attack the mansion just as the entire Addams clan arrive for Pugsley's Mazurka.

During the Mazurka, Pugsley fails in front of the whole family, but Gomez admits he forgot to let him be who he is. The mob arrives flinging boulders, severely damaging the mansion and trapping the family inside. Pugsley uses his love of bombs and destruction to defend his family and manages to destroy the mob's trebuchet. Wednesday and Parker join in and help everyone out of the wreckage safely with help of the living tree Ichabod.

Assimilation's civilians realize that the Addamses are not monsters, but a family, as Wednesday and Parker state that everyone is weird in their own unique way, revealing also Margaux's spying on the civilians, who are violated upon hearing this. Margaux gets her comeuppance when her true nature is then exposed during a subsequent tirade against the civilians — demanding they do as she says or be kicked out of town — thanks to Parker live-streaming it on her phone, after which Margaux's agent Glenn informs her their network has cancelled her show because of the bad publicity from said tirade. As Fester comes up with a compromise for Margaux, Assimilation's civilians offer to make amends with the Addamses.

After they work together to rebuild the mansion, the Addams family and Assimilation's civilians live in peace. Margaux becomes Fester's business partner, selling homes to the other members of the Addams clan, and Pugsley is coronated as an Addams for his defending of the clan.

Voice cast[edit]

Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron, Chloë Grace Moretz and Finn Wolfhard voiced Gomez, Morticia, Wednesday, and Pugsley Addams respectively
  • Oscar Isaac as Gomez Addams, Morticia's husband and Wednesday and Pugsley's father
  • Charlize Theron as Morticia Addams (née Frump), Gomez's wife and Wednesday and Pugsley's mother
  • Chloë Grace Moretz as Wednesday Addams, Gomez and Morticia's daughter, Pugsley's older sister, and a mad science child prodigy.
  • Finn Wolfhard as Pugsley Addams, Gomez and Morticia's son and Wednesday's younger brother
  • Nick Kroll as Uncle Fester, Gomez's older brother, Morticia's brother-in-law and Wednesday and Pugsley's paternal uncle
  • Snoop Dogg as Itt, Gomez and Fester's hairy cousin
  • Bette Midler as Grandmama, Gomez and Fester's mother, Morticia's mother-in-law and Wednesday and Pugsley's paternal grandmother
  • Allison Janney as Margaux Needler, a divorcee, a sly and greedy reality TV show host and homemaking guru
  • Martin Short as Grandpa Frump, Morticia's late father whom she contacts through a séance
  • Catherine O'Hara as Grandma Frump, Morticia's late mother whom she contacts through a séance
  • Tituss Burgess as Glenn, Margaux's agent
  • Jenifer Lewis as Great Auntie Sloom, Grandmama's strict and cold sister, Gomez' aunt, and Wednesday and Pugsley's great-aunt with a missing left eye and stilts under her dress who judges Pugsley's Mazurka
  • Elsie Fisher as Parker Needler, Margaux's neglected and rebellious daughter who regrets not going to live with her father, and who befriends Wednesday
  • Conrad Vernon as:
    • Lurch, the Addams Family's butler
    • An unnamed priest that presides over Gomez and Morticia's family that is related to them
    • The spirit of the house
    • Dr. Flambé, a devil-like relative of the Addams family who can light his head on fire.
  • Aimee Garcia as Denise, a camera operator who works for Margaux
  • Scott Underwood as Mitch, a member of Margaux's film crew
  • Mikey Madison as Candi the barista, who works in Assimilation
  • Chelsea Frei as Bethany, a popular girl who frequently bullies and antagonizes Parker
  • Pom Klementieff as Layla and Kayla, twin girls who are Parker's friends
  • Deven Green as Ms. Gravely, a teacher at Parker's school
  • Maggie Wheeler as Trudy Pickering, an inhabitant of Assimilation
  • Harland Williams as:
    • Norman Pickering, an inhabitant of Assimilation and the husband of Trudy
    • Ggerri

Production[edit]

In 2010 after Illumination Entertainment acquired the rights to The Addams Family comics, they began work on the film at Universal Pictures as a stop-motion animated film directed by Tim Burton and produced by Chris Meledandri.[6] After development stopped, however, in 2013, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer announced that they would produce the animated film based on The Addams Family comics, with Pamela Pettler then writing the screenplay.[7][8] On June 6, 2019, it was announced that Bron Creative is co-financing the film with MGM as part of a multi-picture co-financing agreement with the studio.[9] In October 2017, it was announced that the film would be directed and produced by Conrad Vernon. Additionally, Gail Berman, Alex Schwartz, and Alison O'Brien also produced the film. Matt Lieberman wrote the finished screenplay, with story by credit for Lieberman, Erica Rivinoja, and Vernon. The film was animated by Cinesite Studios and Nitrogen Studios with Tabitha Shick overseeing it for MGM.[10][11] In December 2017, it was reported that Oscar Isaac was in talks to voice the role of Gomez Addams in the film.[12] On June 5, 2018, Isaac was officially cast, alongside Charlize Theron, Allison Janney, Bette Midler, Chloë Grace Moretz, Finn Wolfhard and Nick Kroll.[13] On July 24, 2018, Aimee Garcia joined the voice cast.[14] On August 30, 2018, Elsie Fisher was added as well.[15] On November 23, 2018, Catherine O'Hara and Martin Short were added as Morticia's parents,[16] On August 7, 2019, Snoop Dogg, Tituss Burgess, and Jenifer Lewis joined as Cousin Itt, Glenn, and Great Auntie Sloom, respectively.[17]

Music[edit]

Main article: The Addams Family (2019 soundtrack)
Mychael Danna and Jeff Danna composed the film's score

Migos, Karol G, Snoop Dogg, and Rock Mafia recorded a song for the film called "My Family", which was released on September 13, 2019, and plays during the end credits; while Christina Aguilera released the song "Haunted Heart" from the film's soundtrack on September 27, 2019, which plays in the film's opening.[18] HeathisHuman created an updated version of Vic Mizzy's original theme song that plays at the film's ending.[19]

Marketing[edit]

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer launched the film with a global promotion partner campaign worth $150 million, their largest ever outside the 007 franchise.[20] They spent a total of $72 million on prints and advertisements for the film.[21]

Release[edit]

Theatrical[edit]

The film was theatrically released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer through United Artists Releasing in North America on October 11, 2019, with Universal Pictures handling the international rights.[15] It was previously set for October 18, 2019[22][12] before being moved up to October 11, 2019, to avoid direct competition with Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.[23]

Home media[edit]

The film was released by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment digitally on December 24, 2019, followed by a DVD and Blu-ray release on January 21, 2020.

Reception[edit]

Box office[edit]

The Addams Family grossed $100 million in the United States and Canada and $103 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $203 million.[4][5] Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $76 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues.[21]

In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside Gemini Man and Jexi and was projected to gross $28–30 million from 4,007 theaters in its opening weekend.[24] The film made $9.7 million on its first day including $1.25 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $30.3 million, finishing second behind holdover Joker.[25] It made $16.3 million in its second weekend, $12 million in its third and $8.2 million in its fourth, finishing fourth, third and sixth, respectively.[26][27][28]

Critical response[edit]

On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 45% and an average rating of 5.3/10, based on 159 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "The Addams Family's starry voice cast and eye-catching animation aren't enough to outweigh its saccharine handling of the delightfully dark source material."[29] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 46 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[30] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported that surveyed children and parents gave it 4 and 3.5 out of 5 stars, respectively.[25]

Accolades[edit]

Year Award Category Nominee Result
2019 HMMA Award Best Original Song – Animated Film
("Haunted Heart")		 Christina Aguilera (written and performed by)
Antonina Armato (written by)
Tim James (written by)		 Nominated
2021 Saturn Awards[31] Best Animated Film The Addams Family Nominated

Sequel[edit]

Main article: The Addams Family 2

On October 15, 2019, it was announced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer that a sequel was scheduled for release on October 22, 2021, with Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan reprising their roles as co-directors, and Cinesite Studios returning as animators.[20][32][33] On October 8, 2020, Bill Hader and Javon "Wanna" Walton joined the cast; Hader voices a new character named Cyrus, while Walton replaces Finn Wolfhard as the voice of Pugsley. It was also pushed forward two weeks to October 8, 2021.[34] On January 21, 2021, it was again pushed forward one week to October 1, 2021, allowing another MGM film, No Time to Die to take over the slot.[35] In July 2021, Wallace Shawn was revealed to have voiced a new character for the film.[36] In August 2021, the film shifted its release for a simultaneous premium video on demand rental and theatrical release on the October 1 date, in the United States and Canada, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the rising cases of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant.[37]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Mychael & Jeff Danna to Score Animated 'The Addams Family' Movie - Film Music Reporter". Archived from the original on 2019-04-17. Retrieved 2019-04-17.
  2. ^ Galuppo, Mia (February 5, 2019). "MGM, Annapurna Team for Distribution Label United Artists Releasing". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on February 6, 2019. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
  3. ^ "The Addams Family (2019)". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on September 14, 2021. Retrieved September 14, 2021.
  4. ^ a b c "The Addams Family (2019)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved September 14, 2021.
  5. ^ a b "The Addams Family (2019)". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved September 14, 2021.
  6. ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (March 18, 2010). "Tim Burton's Next 3D Animated Film? Da Da Da Da, Snap Snap: 'The Addams Family'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on October 1, 2017. Retrieved November 9, 2017.
  7. ^ Eisenberg, Eric (31 October 2013). "New Animated Addams Family Movie Is In The Works". CinemaBlend. Archived from the original on 10 November 2017. Retrieved November 9, 2017.
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  9. ^ Siegel, Tatiana (June 6, 2019). "Bron, MGM Ink Multipicture $100M Co-Financing Deal". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on September 7, 2019. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
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  11. ^ Trumbore, Dave (October 13, 2017). "Addams Family Animated Movie Hires Director Conrad Vernon". Collider. Archived from the original on November 10, 2017. Retrieved November 10, 2017.
  12. ^ a b McNary, Dave (December 15, 2017). "Oscar Isaac in Talks to Voice Gomez Addams in Animated 'Addams Family'". Variety. Archived from the original on December 16, 2017. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
  13. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (5 June 2018). "'Addams Family' Movie Scares Up Charlize Theron, Bette Midler, Allison Janney & More For Voice Cast". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  14. ^ ""Lucifer" Star Aimee Garcia Joins 'The Addams Family'". IMDb. Archived from the original on 2019-09-07. Retrieved 2018-07-24.
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  18. ^ Moreland, Quinn (September 13, 2019). "Snoop Dogg and Migos Share New Song for The Addams Family: Listen". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on July 26, 2020. Retrieved September 14, 2019.
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External links[edit]

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