Diary of a Wimpy Kid (film)

Diary of a Wimpy Kid (film)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Thor Freudenthal
Produced by Nina Jacobson
Brad Simpson
Screenplay by Jackie Filgo
Jeff Filgo
Jeff Judah
Gabe Sachs
Based on Diary of a Wimpy Kid by
Jeff Kinney
Narrated by Zachary Gordon
Starring Zachary Gordon
Robert Capron
Rachael Harris
Steve Zahn
Devon Bostick
Connor and Owen Fielding
Chloë Grace Moretz
Grayson Russell
Laine MacNeil
Karan Brar
Music by Theodore Shapiro
Julia Michels
Cinematography Jack N. Green
Editing by Wendy Greene Bricmont
Studio Color Force
Sachs/Judah Productions
Amulet Books
Dune Entertainment
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date(s) March 19, 2010 (2010-03-19)
Running time 92 minutes
Country United States
Language English
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 Diary of a Wimpy Kid.[2][3][4] The film was released on March 19, 2010. It was released on DVD, iTunes, and Blu-ray on August 3, 2010.[5]

Contents

Plot

11-year-old Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon) starts going to middle school with his immature friend, Rowley Jefferson. Greg and Rowley's friendship falls tragically apart after Greg allows Rowley to take the blame for a mistake Greg made during Safety Patrol. 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. When Mr. Winsky, the Safety Patrol teacher, heard what had actually happened, he told Greg that he was now relieved of his Safety Patrol duties "effective immediately", and promotes Rowley to a captain. Rowley then leaves 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. He then tries to pursue popularity without Rowley by auditioning for the school play of The Wizard of Oz, but the performance is ruined by Patty when she throws a 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.

At the school's 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. 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, but Greg steps in and blames himself. 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. Greg and Rowley make it into the class favorites list as "cutest friends". 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.

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 can be heard playing in the background at the Mother/Son Sweetheart Dance when Greg and his mom enter.
  • "The Popular Thing" by Jukebox The Ghost. This song is played 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.[6] A poster for the film was released shortly after. Another trailer was shown with Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.[7]

The official Facebook account for Wimpy Kid had uploaded three clips from the film, as of March 1, 2010.[8] In the United Kingdom and Ireland the film was released in cinemas on August 25, 2010.

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."[9] It also holds a "mixed or average" rating of 56 at Metacritic, based on 26 reviews.[10] 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."[11] 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."[12] 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."[13]

Box office

The film opened in second place at the weekend box office grossing $22.1 million, behind Alice in Wonderland.[14]

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.[14] The film grossed $63,003,625 in North America and $11,695,602 in other territories for a worldwide total of $75,699,227.[15]

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

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.[16][17]

Awards and nominations

  • 2011 Kids Choice Awards
    • Favorite movie (nominated) lost to The Karate Kid (2010 film)
  • 32nd Young Artist Awards
    • Best actor in a feature film (Zach Gordon) (nomination) lost to Jaden Smith
    • Best supporting actor in a feature film (Robert Capron) (nomination) lost to Billy Unger
    • Best supporting actor in a feature film (Alex Ferris) (nomination) Lost to Billy Unger.
    • Best asemmblence in a feature film (Zach Gordon, Robert Capron, Devon Bostick, Chloë Moretz, Laine MacNeil, Grayson Russell, Karan Brar, and Alex Ferris) (Won)
    • Best supporting actress (Laine MacNeil) (nomination) lost to Diandra Newlin and Stefanie Scott

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. http://www.webcitation.org/5sJLb21NH. 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. http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2009-09-28-first-look-wimpy-kid_N.htm. Retrieved October 20, 2009. 
  3. ^ a b McNary, Dave (August 3, 2009). "Steve Zahn to star in 'Wimpy Kid'". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118006840.html?categoryid=13&cs=1. Retrieved October 20, 2009. 
  4. ^ a b McCarron, Heather (October 12, 2009). "Nothing 'Wimpy' about local author's success". Milford Daily News. http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x2118273676/Nothing-Wimpy-about-local-authors-success. Retrieved October 20, 2009. 
  5. ^ http://diaryofawimpykidmovie.com
  6. ^ "Diary of A Wimpy Kid Theatrical Trailer". http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810075645/video/17742420. 
  7. ^ Official Wimpy Kid Movie on Facebook (January 2010). "Wimpy Kid Movie Poster". http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3401682&id=261188703422#!/photo.php?pid=3534939&id=261188703422&fbi4648422. 
  8. ^ Official Wimpy Kid Movie on Facebook (January 2010). "Facebook | Official Wimpy Kid Movie". http://www.facebook.com/pages/Official-Wimpy-Kid-Movie/261188703422?v=wall&ref=ts#!/pages/Official-Wimpy-Kid-Movie/261188703422?v=wall&ref=ts. 
  9. ^ "Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/diary_of_a_wimpy_kid/. Retrieved August 29, 2010. 
  10. ^ "Diary of a Wimpy Kid reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/diaryofawimpykid. Retrieved August 1, 2010. 
  11. ^ Ebert, Roger (March 17, 2010). "Diary of a Wimpy Kid review". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on August 1, 2010. http://www.webcitation.org/5redvaGsi. Retrieved August 1, 2010. 
  12. ^ The San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/03/18/entertainment/e033305D08.DTL. [dead link]
  13. ^ "29 September 2010". David Stratton, Margaret Pomeranz. At the Movies. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. September 29, 2010. Transcript.
  14. ^ a b http://boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=2688&p=.htm
  15. ^ "Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010)". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=diaryofawimpykid.htm. Retrieved August 1, 2010. 
  16. ^ "Jeff Kinney to make The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary". http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Jeff-Kinney-to-Write-and-bw-2885089598.html?x=0&.v=1. 
  17. ^ The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary, Book Details

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