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Megamind

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This article is about the film. For the video game, see Megamind (video game). For the short film, see Megamind: The Button of Doom.

Megamind
Theatrical release poster showing primary characters; from left to right: Metro Man, Minion, Megamind, Roxanne and Tighten
Directed byTom McGrath
Written byAlan J. Schoolcraft
Brent Simons
Produced byLara Breay
Denise Nolan Cascino
StarringWill Ferrell
Tina Fey
Jonah Hill
David Cross
Brad Pitt
CinematographyPhil "Captain 3D" McNally
Music byHans Zimmer
Lorne Balfe
Production
companies
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • November 5, 2010 (2010-11-05)
Running time
98 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$130 million[1]
Box office$321,885,765[1]

Megamind is a 2010 American 3D computer-animated superhero action comedy film directed by Tom McGrath. It was produced by DreamWorks Animation and Red Hour Productions, and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film was released in the United States in Digital 3D, IMAX 3D and 2D on November 5, 2010. It features the voices of Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, David Cross and Brad Pitt.[2]

The film tells the story of a super-intelligent alien, Megamind, who after a long-lasting battle one day actually destroys his nemesis, Metro Man. Having Metro City for himself, Megamind finds out that his villainy has no purpose and thus creates a new superhero for him to fight.

Megamind received generally positive reviews from critics, praising its strong visuals, but criticizing its unoriginality.[3] With a budget of $130 million, the film grossed over $320 million worldwide,[1] becoming one of the lowest grossing DreamWorks' CG animated films.[4]

A short film, titled Megamind: The Button of Doom, was released on February 25, 2011, on the Megamind DVD and Blu-ray.

Plot

Megamind (Will Ferrell) is a super-intelligent alien, and the supervillian of Metro City. He continually battles - and loses - against his nemesis, Metro Man (Brad Pitt), a rivalry that has extended since the two arrived on Earth as infants.

On the day of dedication of a museum in Metro Man's honor, Megamind and his sidekick Minion (David Cross) kidnap reporter Roxanne Ritchi (Tina Fey) to lure Metro Man into a copper-lined observatory. Inside, Metro Man seemingly becomes weak from the copper, and everyone is surprised when Megamind's death ray kills Metro Man. Megamind revels in his victory, but this is short-lived as without a nemesis, his villainy has no purpose.

While attempting to destroy the Metro Man museum, Megamind uses a holographic disguise of the curator, Bernard (Ben Stiller), to talk with Roxanne. She gives him the idea of creating a serum containing Metro Man's DNA to inject in a worthy target, thus creating a new superhero for Megamind to fight. Later, as Megamind finishes the serum in his lair and locates a worthy target, Roxanne sneaks into the lair, and in the resulting chaos, Megamind injects the serum into Roxanne's dimwitted camera man, Hal (Jonah Hill). Megamind disguises himself as Hal's "space dad" to groom the new hero into shape to fight Megamind in a few days; Hal takes the superhero alias of "Tighten", a result of mishearing Megamind's suggestion of Titan. During this, Megamind, in the Bernard disguise, continues to see Roxanne and becomes close to her, unaware that Hal also had romantic interests in her. Minion expresses discontent at Megamind's lack of villainy and angrily leaves him.

On the night before the battle, while dining with Roxanne, and gaining their first kiss together, the holographic disguise fails revealing his identity, and Roxanne leaves him. Furthermore, he loses track of his invisible car that has the anti-serum to restore Hal to normal. Upset, he vows to fight Hal the next day, but Hal does not show up at the appointed time. Megamind finds a bitter and heart-broken Hal having used his powers for ill-gotten gains. Megamind is horrified at this change and attempts to convince Hal to be a "hero" by revealing how he has manipulated Hal. Hal realizes he has been toyed with and battles Megamind. Megamind attempts to capture Hal in a copper-lined trap, but it fails to weaken Hal, which confuses him, and the villain is forced to flee Metro City, while Hal begins to threaten the city with his powers.

Megamind meets with Roxanne who takes him to Metro Man's secret lair, which happens to be the schoolhouse both Megamind and Metro Man attended, and the two are surprised to find Metro Man there. The former hero explains on the fateful day, he had an epiphany and pretended to have a weakness for copper and be killed as to forego the superhero career and become a musician. He refuses to help stop Hal. Roxanne tries to convince Megamind that he could be the hero, but Megamind has resigned himself to be the villain and turns himself in at prison. When Hal kidnaps Roxanne and threatens her life if Megamind does not fight him, Megamind has a change of heart and requests the warden to let him go, surprised to find the warden is Minion in disguise, having returned to help out.

Megamind and Minion fight Hal by holographically disguising themselves as Metro Man and Megamind, respectively, but Megamind's true identity is revealed when he slips and says 'Metrocity' instead of 'Metro City'. With the disguise broken, another battle ensues. In the fray, Megamind discovers his misplaced invisible car. He grabs the anti-serum and heroically dejects the serum out of Hal with it, reverting the superhero to a normal man. Hal is taken away while Roxanne convinces Metro City's citizens that Megamind chose to be their hero. Later, Megamind and Roxanne's relationship has become close, and the city welcomes Megamind as their new protector, while a disguised Metro Man, hidden in the crowd with his grown beard and mustach, quietly congratulates him.

Cast

Cast members of Megamind at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International
Will Ferrell
Tina Fey
Jonah Hill
  • Will Ferrell as Megamind, an extraterrestrial mastermind who turns from supervillain to superhero. He is a parody of Lex Luthor and Brainiac.[5] The DVD commentary notes that his costume and showmanship are purposely evocative of Alice Cooper.
  • Brad Pitt as Metro Man, Megamind's former arch-nemesis. He is a parody of Superman.[6] The DVD commentary notes that his costume and showmanship are purposely evocative of Elvis.
  • Tina Fey as Roxanne "Roxie" Ritchi, a TV news reporter who becomes Megamind's love interest. She is a parody of Lois Lane.[6]
  • Jonah Hill as Hal Stewart/Tighten,[7] Roxanne Ritchi's hapless, dimwitted cameraman who has unrequited feelings for her. He later becomes a villain named Tighten (he misspells "Titan"). The name Hal Stewart refers to Hal Jordan and John Stewart of the Green Lantern Corps.[8]
  • David Cross as Minion, a sapient talking fish who has been Megamind's sidekick and best friend since childhood. His costume is evocative of Ro-Man from Robot Monster.
  • J. K. Simmons as the Warden, the no-nonsense head of Metro City Prison.
  • Ben Stiller as Bernard, a museum curator whom Megamind impersonates to win Roxanne's affections.
  • Justin Theroux as Megamind's father, a parody of Jor-El, Superman's father, as played by Marlon Brando in Superman.[6]
  • Christopher Knights as a Prison Guard.
  • Tom McGrath as Prison Guard.
  • Jack Blessing as Newscaster.
  • Jessica Schulte as Megamind's mother.

Production

The film was written by Alan J. Schoolcraft and Brent Simons.[9] It was first titled Master Mind, and then Oobermind.[10] Ben Stiller was originally cast as Megamind, and later Robert Downey, Jr.,[11] but Will Ferrell was ultimately given the role, due to "scheduling conflicts" for Downey.[2] Lara Breay and Denise Nolan Cascino were the film's producers, and Ben Stiller and Stuart Cornfeld were the executive producers.[10] Justin Theroux and Guillermo del Toro worked as creative consultants on the film. Del Toro only came onboard three weeks before the end of production,[12] but went on to have a more substantial role in subsequent Dreamworks Animation films. The opening of the film, where Megamind is falling to his apparent death, was del Toro's idea.[13]

Soundtrack

Untitled

Megamind: Music from the Motion Picture was released on November 2, 2010 by Lakeshore Records.[14][15]

All music is composed by Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe, except as noted

No.TitleArtist(s)Length
1."Giant Blue Head" 4:28
2."Tightenville (Hal's Theme)" 2:15
3."Bad to the Bone"George Thorogood and the Destroyers4:48
4."Stars and Tights" 1:25
5."Crab Nuggets" 2:17
6."A Little Less Conversation (Junkie XL Remix)"Elvis Presley3:31
7."Mel-On-Cholly" 2:32
8."Ollo" 3:06
9."Roxanne's Theme" 2:36
10."Alone Again (Naturally)"Gilbert O'Sullivan3:37
11."Drama Queen" 1:47
12."Rejection in the Rain" 1:45
13."Lovin' You"Minnie Riperton3:23
14."Black Mamba" 1:13
15."Game Over" 3:21
16."I'm the Bad Guy" 2:37
17."Evil Lair" 3:29
Total length:48:10

Other songs used in the film include:

Release

File:Megamind, Will Ferrell, cardboard cutout of Brad Pitt, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill.jpg
Will Ferrell, cardboard cutout of Brad Pitt, Tina Fey and Jonah Hill promoting Megamind at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International

Marketing

Megamind was presented at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International, with Tom McGrath, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, and Will Ferell, who was dressed as Megamind.[16]

Home media

Megamind was released on both Blu-ray Disc and DVD on February 25, 2011, accompanied with an all new short titled Megamind: The Button of Doom.[17] The Button of Doom also had its television premiere on Nick, which was aired on February 26, 2011.

The film was released on Blu-ray 3D in March 2011 exclusively as a part of Samsung 3D Starter Kits,[18] and on September 11, 2011, exclusively at Best Buy stores.[19]

Reception

Critical response

Megamind received positive reviews from most critics, with the film garnering a 73% "fresh" rating on review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes based on 172 reviews with an average rating of 6.7.[3] Its consensus states the film "regurgitates plot points from earlier animated efforts, and isn't quite as funny as it should be, but a top-shelf voice cast and strong visuals help make Megamind a pleasant, if unspectacular, diversion."[3] Another review aggregate, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated an average score of 63 based on 33 reviews.[20]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times awarded the film three out of four stars, stating "This set-up is bright and amusing, even if it does feel recycled from bits and pieces of such recent animated landmarks as The Incredibles with its superpowers and Despicable Me with its villain."[21] Stephen Holden, film critic for The New York Times, positively wrote in his review that "Visually Megamind is immaculately sleek and gracefully enhanced by 3-D."[22] Entertainment Weekly film reviewer Owen Gleiberman graded the film a B+ described the film as "too goofy-surreal to pack a lot of emotional punch, but it's antically light on its feet, with 3-D images that have a lustrous, gizmo-mad sci-fi clarity."[23] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote that "What this raucous 3D animated fun house lacks in originality (think bastard child of The Incredibles and Despicable Me) it makes up for in visual and vocal wit."[24] Betsy Sharkey of The Los Angeles Times gave the film mixed review as well writing "Just as Megamind struggles to find his center, at times, so does the film."[25]

The main point of criticism was unoriginality of the film. Michael Phillips of Chicago Tribune wrote: "You have seen all this before,"[26] while Justin Chang of Variety said: "Though enlivened by some moderately clever twists on the superhero-movie template, Megamind never shakes off a feeling of been-there-spoofed-that."[27] Claudia Puig of USA Today even asked: "Do we really need Megamind when Despicable Me is around?"[28]

Box office

Megamind opened to $12,530,397 on opening day, and earned $46,016,833 over the three-day weekend, taking the No. 1 spot and averaged $11,668 from around 7,300 screens at 3,944 theaters. The opening was a bit higher than How to Train Your Dragon, which earned $43.7 million back in March 2010. It was the fifth-highest opening for an animated feature in 2010. In its second weekend, it repeated at No. 1 and dropped 37% to $29,120,461 for a $7,374 average from 3,949 theaters, and bringing its 10-day cumulative total to $88,822,635. On its third weekend, it fell 45% to $16,012,831 and finished second to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, averaging $4,237 from 3,779 theaters. Over Thanksgiving weekend, it held well with just a 22% drop to $12,575,778 and slid to third place behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Tangled (it earned $17,304,307 over the five-day Thanksgiving period). Following Thanksgiving, the film fell a sharp 61% in its fifth weekend to $4,936,851 and finished in sixth place.

The film closed in theaters on February 24, 2011 (a day before it was released on DVD and Blu-ray), after grossing $148,415,853 in the U.S. and Canada as well as $321,885,765 worldwide.[1] The final gross was on the low end for a DreamWorks Animation film, but was still a box office success since it beat its $130 million budget. It is the sixth highest-grossing animated film from 2010 worldwide, behind Toy Story 3 ($1.063 billion), Shrek Forever After ($753 million), Tangled ($591 million), Despicable Me ($543 million), and How to Train Your Dragon ($495 million). The film also became the highest-grossing film worldwide in both Ferrell and Fey's careers.[29][30] It was also the second highest-grossing superhero comedy film, behind The Incredibles.

The film also had theatrical releases around the world. It was supposed to be released in Japan sometime in 2011, but because of the earthquake and tsunami in Tōhoku of that year, the Japanese release has been postponed indefinitely.[31] It is unknown if it will ever be released in Japan.

Accolades

Award Category Name Outcome
38th Annie Awards[32] Animated Effects in an Animated Production Krzysztof Rostek Nominated
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards 2010[33] Best Animated Film Nominated
2011 Kids' Choice Awards[34] Favorite Buttkicker From An Animated Movie Will Ferrell Nominated
The National Movie Awards[35] Best Animated Movie Nominated
The Comedy Awards[36] Best Animated Comedy Movie Nominated

Video games

Several video game tie-ins published by THQ were released on November 2, 2010 to coincide with the film's release. An Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 version is titled Megamind: Ultimate Showdown, while the Wii version is titled Megamind: Mega Team Unite and the PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS versions are both titled Megamind: The Blue Defender. All three versions of the game have been rated E10+ for fantasy violence by the ESRB.[37]

Comic books

DreamWorks Animation and WildStorm produced a 32-page full colour comic book titled The Reign of Megamind, which was released in July 2010 exclusively at the Comic-Con convention.[38] Full version of the comic is also available on the Megamind website.[39]

Ape Entertainment released under Kizoic label five full colour comic books based on the film. A 52-page prequel titled "MEGAMIND: Reign of Megamind" was released in October 2010. It features two stories titled "The Reign of Megamind" and "MINION 2.0". The stories show Megamind and Minion's biggest failures in their attempt to defeat Metro Man. In 2010 and 2011 followed a mini series of four 32-page books. The comic book #1 features story titled "Can I Have This Dance", #2 features "Bad Minion! Bad!", #3 features "Megamutt" and #4 features "A Sidekick's Sidekick".[40]

Sequel

In April 2011, DreamWorks Animation's CEO, Jeffrey Katzenberg, revealed that due to the poor commercial reception of the film, Megamind will not get a sequel. Referring to Shark Tale, Monsters vs. Aliens and Megamind, he said: "All shared an approach and tone and idea of parody, and did not travel well internationally. We don't have anything like that coming on our schedule now."[41]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Megamind". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved October 13, 2012.
  2. ^ a b SuperHeroHype (August 16, 2009). "Ferrell, Pitt and Hill to voice Oobermind". Superhero Hype!. Retrieved August 18, 2009.
  3. ^ a b c "Megamind (2010)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved August 29, 2012.
  4. ^ Fritz, Ben (January 3, 2011). "'Megamind' less than a mega-success overseas". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 3, 2012.
  5. ^ Greydanus, Steven D. (November 11, 2010). "'Megamind' a Clever Spoof". National Catholic Register. Retrieved August 29, 2011.
  6. ^ a b c Wilkins, Alasdair (July 22, 2010). "Megamind asks the great superhero question: what if Lex Luthor killed Superman?". io9. Retrieved August 29, 2011.
  7. ^ ""Megamind" screenplay". Screenplay Explorer. December 3, 2010. Retrieved December 29, 2011.
  8. ^ Knolle, Sharon (June 17, 2011). "A Moviefone Salute to Guys Named Hal". Moviefone. Retrieved August 29, 2011.
  9. ^ Alex Amelines (August 17, 2009). "DreamWorks reveals voice-cast for Oobermind". One Huge Eye. Retrieved August 18, 2009.
  10. ^ a b Skott Stotland (May 28, 2009). "Master Mind" becomes "Oobermind". Bam! Kapow!. Retrieved August 18, 2009.
  11. ^ Dennis Michael (April 4, 2007). "Mr. Furious Goes Evil". FilmStew. Retrieved August 18, 2009.
  12. ^ Carnevale, Rob. "IndieLondon: Megamind - Tom McGrath interview". Retrieved March 23, 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |source= ignored (help)
  13. ^ Eisenberg, Eric (November 3, 2010). "Exclusive Interview: Megamind Director Tom McGrath". CinemaBlend.com. Retrieved March 23, 2012.
  14. ^ Jagernauth, Kevin (October 22, 2010). "'Megamind' Soundtrack Features Elvis Presley, George Thorogood & Lots Of Hans Zimmer". The Playlist. Retrieved April 20, 2012.
  15. ^ "Megamind". Lakeshore Records. Retrieved April 20, 2012.
  16. ^ Y Thompson, Luke (July 22, 2010). "Comic-Con #3: The 'Megamind' Panel". Deadline. Retrieved April 21, 2012.
  17. ^ Calonge, Juan (January 4, 2011). "Megamind Blu-ray Announced". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved January 4, 2011.
  18. ^ Calonge, Juan (March 24, 2011). "Samsung 3D Starter Kit Now with Megamind 3D Blu-ray (Update)". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved October 5, 2011.
  19. ^ Peck, Aaron (September 20, 2011). "Megamind – 3D (Blu-ray)". High-Def Digest. Retrieved October 5, 2011.
  20. ^ "Megamind". Metacritic. Retrieved October 13, 2012.
  21. ^ Ebert, Roger (November 3, 2010). "Megamind :: rogerebert.com". Chicago Sun-Times. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  22. ^ Holden, Stephen (November 4, 2010). "Animated Ambiguity, Featuring a Big Head". The New York Times Company. Retrieved November 5, 2010.
  23. ^ Glieberman, Owen (November 3, 2010). "MegaMind Movie Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved November 5, 2010.
  24. ^ Travers, Peter. "MegaMind Film Review". Rolling Stone. Wenner Media LLC. Retrieved November 6, 2010.
  25. ^ Sharkey, Betsy (November 5, 2010). "Movie review: 'Megamind'". Los Angeles Time. Retrieved November 7, 2010.
  26. ^ Phillips, Michael (November 4, 2010). "Heroes and villains: A wash of color can't perk up tired plot lines". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved August 29, 2012.
  27. ^ Chang, Justin (November 1, 2010). "Megamind". Variety. Retrieved August 29, 2012.
  28. ^ Puig, Claudia (November 6, 2010). "Villainous hero Megamind: Been there, animated that". USA Today. Retrieved August 29, 2012.
  29. ^ "Will Ferrell Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved July 6, 2011.
  30. ^ "Tina Fey Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved March 30, 2011.
  31. ^ Segers, Segers (November 3, 2011). "Tangled, Megamind Releases in Limbo in Japan". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 13, 2012.
  32. ^ "38th Annual Annie Nominations". The Annie Awards. Retrieved September 23, 2012.
  33. ^ "The 2010 WAFCA Award Winners". The Washington DC Area Film Critics Association. December 6, 2010. Retrieved September 23, 2012.
  34. ^ Nickelodeon (February 10, 2011). "Expect the Unexpected as Jack Black Hosts Nickelodeon's 2011 Kids' Choice Awards Airing Live From Los Angeles on Saturday, April 2, at 8pm ET". PR Newswire. Retrieved September 23, 2012.
  35. ^ "The King's Speech wins three National Movie Awards". BBC. May 11, 2011. Retrieved September 23, 2012.
  36. ^ "Nominees". The Comedy Awards. Retrieved September 23, 2012.
  37. ^ DreamWorks' Megamind: The Video Games. Retrieved December 8, 2010.
  38. ^ Goellner, Caleb (July 16, 2010). "'The Reign of Megamind' Comic Coming to Comic-Con (Exclusive)". Comics Alliance. Retrieved April 21, 2012.
  39. ^ "The Reign of Megamind". Megamind. Retrieved April 21, 2012.
  40. ^ "Megamind". Ape Entertainment. Retrieved April 9, 2012.
  41. ^ Lieberman, David (April 26, 2011). "DreamWorks Animation Pins Hopes On 'Kung Fu Panda 2′ After 1Q Earnings Fall Short". Deadline. Retrieved September 17, 2012.
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