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Hoot (film)

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Hoot
Hoot film poster
Directed byWil Shriner
Written byWil Shriner (screenplay)
Carl Hiassen (novel)
Produced byJimmy Buffett
StarringLogan Lerman
Brie Larson
Cody Linley
Luke Wilson
Tim Blake Nelson
Clark Gregg
Jessica Cauffiel
Eric Phillips
Kiersten Warren
Neil Flynn
Robert Wagner
Jimmy Buffett
CinematographyMichael Chapman
Music byJimmy Buffett
Distributed byNew Line Cinema
Walden Media
Release date
May 5, 2006
Running time
90 min.
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$15 million
Box office$8,224,998

Hoot (2006) is an American feature-length film based on Carl Hiaasen's novel of the same name. It was directed by Wil Shriner and produced by Walden Media and New Line Cinema. Hoot was released on May 5, 2006 for its initial theatrical run in North America, received theatrical distribution in many other parts of the world, and has subsequently been released through many other channels of distribution.

This family film is about a group of children trying to save a burrowing owl habitat from destruction. The habitat is located on the intended construction site of a pancake house. The greedy and corrupt developer of the project intends to proceed regardless of the environmental damage it would cause; and the workers he employs are, for the most part, simply attempting to do their jobs, unaware of the larger issues at stake.

Hoot features live burrowing owls and music by Jimmy Buffett. Buffett was also listed as a co-producer, and played the role of Mr. Ryan, the science teacher, in the movie.

The film was generally regarded as unsuccessful in its initial theatrical run, and received largely negative to middle-rated reviews from notable film critics and film-review websites.

Plot

Roy (Logan Lerman) has just moved to Florida from Montana, and makes the mistake of telling everyone. So he is teased mercilessly, and is pretty fed up, until he makes the acquaintance of Beatrice "the bear" Leep (Brie Larson), and her stepbrother "Mullet Fingers" (Cody Linley), a runaway.

Meanwhile, the corrupt and ruthless CEO of a pancake company is attempting to construct a new pancake house on a nearby vacant lot. There is a problem though - a group of burrowing owls live on the site, and they will be killed if their habitat is bulldozed.

The trio embark on a crusade to save the endangered animals. Mullet Fingers continually sabotages construction efforts on the site, while Roy is drawn deeper and deeper into the effort to save the owls. Meanwhile, Delinko (Luke Wilson), an incompetent police officer, is assigned to find out who is vandalizing the site; and Curly (Tim Blake Nelson), an inept construction foreman, is trying to keep the construction schedule going, despite the presence of the owls.

In the end, the trio shows Officer Delinko and the rest of the town that there are burrowing owls on the lot. They manage to get everyone to be quiet long enough for the owls to emerge, and the CEO is subsequently arrested by Delinko. The construction site eventually becomes an owl preserve.

Cast

Production

The principal filming locations were in Fort Lauderdale, on Florida's Atlantic Coast, and the Gulf Coast hamlet of Boca Grande on Gasparilla Island.[1]

Most of Hoot was shot in Florida between July 6, 2005 and September 2, 2005. Some new scenes were shot in Los Angeles on January 21, 2006. For example, the scene where Mullet Fingers leaps out of a tree after dropping a bulldozer seat was actually shot in Los Angeles.[2]

Hoot was shot during hurricane season, and the set didn't escape Hurricane Katrina, which struck Southern Florida on August 25, 2005. Brie Larson and Cody Linley were moved from their beach-front hotel (Marriott Harbor Beach) to another hotel because of the storm.[3]

Distribution

New Line and Walden Media pushed the film's initial release date of April 14, 2006 forward to May 5, 2006 as only Mission: Impossible 3 was opening wide that weekend.[4] The gambit failed and Hoot opened at #10 at the U.S. and Canadian box office on 3,018 screens. Hoot's opening U.S. and Canadian box office was a disappointing $3.4 million - well below forecast. Hoot held on at #10 for its second week then the movie broke a record set by Gigli for biggest drop in cinemas screening the film as it lost 2200 screens and came in at #19 on its third weekend. The film grossed $8,224,998 worldwide.[5][6] In 2007, Walden Media's The Seeker:The Dark is Rising nudged Hoot into second place in terms of 'biggest theatre drops'.[7] Hoot topped The Seeker:The Dark is Rising in reaching number one in the "worst super-saturated (3000 plus screens)" openings in the US and Canada: Hoot opened in almost 42% of all screens.[8] Hoot's production budget was $15 million, although the costs for such a wide opening would probably have made the film considerably more expensive to distribute than it was to produce - the cost of its prints would have been twice as much as the production budget, according to respected industry opinions.[9]

Reception

The movie scored mostly negative to mixed reviews and has a Rotten Tomatoes "Rotten" rating of 26% and a Metacritic score of 46 (mixed or average reviews).[10][11]

One of the most positive reviews came from the Boston Globe's Ty Burr (3 stars out of 4)[12]:

Hoot tells kids they can make a difference in this world, and that's worth a hundred Ice Age 2s. Of the several different messages knocking around in the movie -- overdevelopment is bad, nature is good, don't stand on a golf course during peak drive-time -- the most effective is the simplest: You have more power than you think.

Another positive review was by the San Francisco Chronicle's Ruthe Stein (3 stars out of 4) who said ...the film does nothing to dilute the save-the-Earth-and-every-creature-on-it message of Carl Hiaasen's ingeniously plotted award-winning children's book.[13]

On the other hand, Roger Ebert gave Hoot 1.5 stars (out of 4) and has included Hoot in his 2007 book - Your Movie Sucks - where he says 'Hoot' has its heart in the right place, but I have been unable to locate its brain and ... the kids (especially Mullet Fingers) are likeable but not remotely believable.[14]

Michael Medved panned Hoot (2 stars out of 4) saying that ...the lame plot centers around a greedy developer who wants to bulldoze a lot inhabited by rare burrowing owls and though I'd like to root for 'Hoot', its entertainment value is moot.[15]

The movie performed poorly at the box office, ranking as the poorest super saturated opening week since 1982,[16] the film managed to recover $8,117,637 gross revenue worldwide.

Awards

Logan Lerman, who played the lead role of Roy Eberhardt, won a Young Artist Award for his performance in Hoot. He received the nomination & win in early 2007 for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actor.[17]

Sequel

Hiaasen is now planning on a sequel to Hoot, either titled Screech or Swoop. The plot is about a year later with Roy and Beatrice growing feelings for one another and Mullet Fingers returning with trouble. Also, officer Delinko will be a major character.


Soundtrack

The soundtrack of Hoot has three elements: an original score, pop songs, and songs sung by Jimmy Buffett.

The original score was composed by Mac McAnally, Michael Utley and Phil Marshall.

The pop songs are sung by a variety of artists:

The Jimmy Buffett songs are:

References