Superhero Movie

"Superhero movie" redirects here. For the film genre, see Superhero film.

Superhero Movie
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Craig Mazin
Produced by	David Zucker Robert K. Weiss
Written by	Craig Mazin
Starring	Drake Bell Sara Paxton Christopher McDonald Kevin Hart Brent Spiner Jeffrey Tambor Robert Joy Regina Hall Pamela Anderson Leslie Nielsen
Music by	James L. Venable Drake Bell
Cinematography	Thomas E. Ackerman
Studio	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Distributed by	Dimension Films
Release date(s)	March 28, 2008 (2008-03-28)
Running time	85 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$35 million
Box office	$71,237,351

Superhero Movie is a 2008 American spoof film written and directed by Craig Mazin, produced by David Zucker and Robert K. Weiss, and starring Drake Bell, Sara Paxton, Christopher McDonald, and Leslie Nielsen. It was originally titled Superhero! as a parody to one of David and Jerry Zucker's previous films Airplane!.^{[citation needed]}

Superhero Movie is a spoof of the superhero film genre, mainly the first Spider-Man, as well as other modern-day Marvel Comics film adaptations. The film follows in the footsteps of the Scary Movie series of comedies, with which the film's poster shares a resemblance. It was also inspired by, and contains homages to, some of Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker's earlier spoof films such as Airplane! and The Naked Gun.

Production began on September 17, 2007, in New York. It was released on March 28, 2008 in the United States, and the UK release was June 6, 2008, and received $9,000,000 on its opening weekend and was #3 at the box office. The film was rated PG-13 by the MPAA for crude and sexual content, comic violence, drug references, and language. In Australia, it was rated M for moderate sexual references and infrequent coarse language.

Plot

Rick Riker (Drake Bell) is an unpopular student at Empire High School. He lives with his Uncle Albert (Leslie Nielsen) and Aunt Lucille (Marion Ross). He has one friend and confidant, Trey (Kevin Hart). His crush, Jill Johnson (Sara Paxton), who hardly notices him, is dating Lance Landers (Ryan Hansen), a bully who torments Rick. During a school field trip at an animal research lab, Rick meets Lou Landers (Christopher McDonald), who coughs up blood because he is terminally ill. Dr. Strom (Brent Spiner), the head researcher at the lab, presents his mutated dragonflies, one of which has escaped and bites Rick, and causes his neck to swell.

By the time Rick returns home he is violently ill. Uncle Albert and Aunt Lucille believe Rick is acting strange, so Albert proceeds to talk to Rick about puberty, but Rick passes out from the bite. He wakes up five days later, tries to look up "dragonfly bite" online but is contacted by a stranger instead who wants to speak to him in person, later adding Rick as a friend on Facebook.

Meanwhile, Lou Landers is involved in an accident during an experiment at the lab, transforming him into Hourglass, a villainous being who can siphon the life energy from others, killing them.

During a science fair at school in which a comically rude and mean-spirited Stephen Hawking (Robert Joy) is present, Rick begins to experience strange physical traits, such as becoming stuck to objects, which creates a number of mishaps during the fair. Fleeing school, he discovers has developed superhuman abilities, such as the ability to walk on walls and superhuman strength, though he repeatedly laments throughout the film that he cannot fly. After testing his abilities, he pushes an elderly woman and her dog out of the way of an out-of-control truck, colliding with the truck himself. He is congratulated by passers-by, though he notices that the elderly woman he shoved out of the way landed into a woodchipper and crushed, with her dog still on its leash.

Rick reveals his secret to his uncle and Trey and the latter offers to become his sidekick, but Rick refuses. He and Uncle Albert have an argument, which spurs a flashback sequence in which a younger Rick and his parents (Robert Hays and Nicole Sullivan) are mugged in an alley, and die in a spoof of Batman Begins. With his dying words, his father urges him to sell all his shares in Google, but invest heavily in Enron.

Later, after seeing Jill and Lance leave in Lance's Porsche Cayman, Rick, who desires a car of his own, goes to a bank, where he is denied a loan. A bank robber then holds up the bank and after Rick fails to stop him, Uncle Albert is shot and hospitalized. Jill visits Rick at the hospital, and they kiss for the first time. Meanwhile Landers accidentally takes his secretary's life energy, killing her.

Rick is met by Xavier (Tracy Morgan) at his school for mutants ala X-Men where he meets Storm, Wolverine, Cyclops, the Invisible Woman and Mrs. Xavier. Rick is told to make a costume by Mrs. Xavier, and adopts the identity of the Dragonfly. He meets the Human Torch but fails to fly. Dragonfly quickly becomes a media sensation, fights and gets badly injured by Hourglass who manages to escape stealing a canister of Cerillium.

Jill is attacked by muggers, but Dragonfly saves her. Just after Dragonfly defeats the last of the thugs, Jill is shown with an admiring look on her face, and it starts to rain heavily, setting the scene for a hot, romantic moment, but Dragonfly disappears up a building. Jill looks for him and when she can't find him, she calls out "Where are you?", and Dragonfly responds "Behind you." A startled Jill turns around and finds Dragonfly hanging upside down hoping Jill will thank him with a kiss. Jill tells Dragonfly he saved her life, and shyly asks Dragonfly if she can thank him with a kiss. This is the moment Dragonfly has been waiting for his whole life, so he agrees, and Jill moves in. Just before she can kiss him, Dragonfly slides down so he has a perfect view down Jill's shirt. Jill lifts him back up, but he goes over the building, leaving Jill alone. Jill thinks her chance to kiss Dragonfly is over,and she desperately searches for him. Dragonfly sneaks up behind Jill and taps her shoulder. Jill turns and sees her savior. The two of them are unsure what to do for a few seconds, but Jill moves toward Dragonfly, and the two of them share an extended kiss, which Dragonfly has been dreaming of his whole life. Dragonfly tries to kiss Jill again, but decides to fight more crime to impress her. Landers plans to construct a machine that will kill 42 thousand people and give him enough life energy to make him immortal. During a Thanksgiving dinner at the Rikers', Landers visits the family, where he nearly catches Rick dressed as the Dragonfly. Though Rick escapes detection, Landers later manages to learn his secret identity. Just as Rick and Jill are about to kiss, the Hourglass appears and murders Aunt Lucille. Uncle Albert recovers, and after a comical funeral, Rick decides to end his superhero career, though Trey and Uncle Albert convince him to find Hourglass, who plans to kill countless innocent people. At an awards ceremony to honor achievements in feminine hygiene, Landers is presented with a Douchebag Of The Year Award. Although Rick goes to the ceremony too, Landers tricks him into thinking that the Dalai Lama is Hourglass, which leads to a brawl in the ceremony hall involving all the attendees, including Buddhist monks, the Pope and Stephen Hawking. During this, Jill discovers that Landers is Hourglass. In a nearby hall there is a superhero convention where a flying machine awaits Hourglass. Landers gets in the convention hall and changes into Hourglass as Rick gets into his Dragonfly costume and fights him. When Hourglass tries to finish off Dragonfly, Jill attempts to intervene and is critically injured. Hourglass flies off with the machine to the rooftop where he activates the machine to steal the lifeforce from all the attendees of the ceremony and the convention.

After Stephen Hawking implores Rick not to give up, using a rationale that Rick points out are the lyrics to Celine Dion's "Taking Chances", he dons the Dragonfly suit, and battles the Hourglass on the rooftop. Dragonfly siphons off some of Hourglass's stolen lifeforce to heal Jill, but the Hourglass throws a bomb at Dragonfly, with the bomb sticking to Dragonfly's crotch. He backflips several times, finally managing to stick the bomb to Hourglass. Stuck to his invention, he shouts "Oh, f**k!" , with the bomb detonating and killing him.

Jill falls off the roof, but Dragonfly jumps off after her. After he grabs her and reveals that he is Rick, Jill tells him that she loves him,and they passionately kiss, and Rick finally grows wings. He flies them away, landing on the rooftop where uncle Albert and Stephen Hawking await them. While they walk away, Hawking's wheelchair gets stuck and hits the ledge sending Hawking to a freefall. Rick and Jill fly once more but they are hit by a helicopter.

As an epilogue, before the end credits roll, several "cut scenes" are shown with even more extreme parody.

Alternate ending

Instead of the rooftop battle, the Hourglass and Rick battle inside the comic book convention. At one point, several convention attendees tell the Hourglass how to kill people. When the Hourglass is defeated, Landers' nephew realizes that Rick has killed his uncle. Enraged, he lunges for Rick, but is knocked out by Trey with the Douchebag of the Year Award. Instead of Hawking falling off the building, he is blown up by an Hourglass Bomb, and crushed by his falling wheelchair. The helicopter scene is omitted from this version, as Rick and Jill silently share two passionate kisses, which are significant because Rick initiates the kiss with Jill for the first time as the end credits roll.

Cast

• Drake Bell as Rick Riker/Dragonfly
• Sara Paxton as Jill Johnson
• Christopher McDonald as Lou Landers/Hourglass
• Leslie Nielsen as Uncle Albert
• Kevin Hart as Trey
• Marion Ross as Aunt Lucille
• Ryan Hansen as Lance Landers
• Robert Joy as Stephen Hawking
• Brent Spiner as Dr. Strom
• Jeffrey Tambor as Dr. Whitby
• Tracy Morgan as Professor Xavier
• Regina Hall as Mrs. Xavier
• Pamela Anderson as the Invisible Girl
• Simon Rex as Human Torch
• Craig Bierko as Wolverine (deleted scenes)
• Robert Hays as Blaine Riker
• Nicole Sullivan as Julia Riker
• Sam Cohen as Young Rick Riker
• Dan Castellaneta as Carlson
• Keith David as Chief Karlin
• Marisa Lauren as Storm
• Miles Fisher as Tom Cruise
• Charlene Tilton as Mrs. Johnson
• Sean Simms as Barry Bonds
• Freddie Pierce as Tony Bennett
• Howard Mungo as Nelson Mandela
• Lil' Kim as Xavier's daughter
• Cameron Ali Sims as Xavier's son
• Marque Richardson as Xavier's oldest son (uncredited)
• Kurt Fuller as Mr. Thompson

Production

The film was initially slated for theatrical release on February 9, 2007 as Superhero! under the direction of David Zucker.^[1] However, it was delayed, and the film later began production on September 17, 2007 in New York, and the director's chair was shifted to Craig Mazin, with Zucker being pushed back to being a producer.^[2][3]

Zucker said the film primarily parodied Spider-Man, but it also spoofed Batman Begins, X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Superman. The producer elaborated, "It's a spoof of the whole superhero genre, but this one probably has more of a unified plot, like the Naked Gun had."^[4]

Soundtrack

"Superhero! Song"
Single by Drake Bell
Released	April 8, 2008 (Digital download)
Format	digital download
Recorded	2007-2008
Genre	Pop rock
Length	3:14
Label	Motown/Universal/The Universal Motown/Universal Republic Group
Writer(s)	Drake Bell, Michael Corcoran
Producer	Backhouse Mike
Drake Bell singles chronology
"Leave It All to Me" (2007) "Superhero! Song" (2008) "Our Love" (2008)

Star of the film Drake Bell composed (along with Michael Corcoran) and recorded a song for the movie entitled "Superhero! Song" during the movie's post-production. Co-star Sara Paxton provided backup vocals for the song. This song can be heard in the credits of the movie, however it is credited as being titled "Superbounce". It originally appeared on Bell's MySpace Music page. It was released in iTunes Store as a digital downloadable single on April 8, 2008.

Sara Paxton also sings the second song heard during the credits, titled "I Need A Hero" (not to be confused with Bonnie Tyler's "Holding Out for a Hero"), which she also wrote with Michael Jay and Johnny Pedersen.

Release

Critical response

Though the film received mostly mixed reviews from critics, it was more positively reviewed than previous spoofs like Meet the Spartans and Epic Movie. As of June 22, 2009, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 15% of critics gave the film positive reviews. Though the film was riddled with negative reviews, they were slightly more positive than the previous spoof films, which were critically panned. The Rotten Tomatoes Consensus stated "Superhero Movie is not the worst of the spoof genre, but relies on tired gags and lame pop culture references all the same".^[5] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 33 out of 100, based on 14 reviews, indicating "generally negative reviews".^[6]

Box office performance

On its opening weekend, the film grossed $9,510,297 in 2,960 theaters averaging to about $3,212 per venue and ranked #3 at the box office. As of June 25 it has grossed $25,881,068 in North America, and $45,285,554 overseas for a total of $71,166,622 worldwide.

DVD release

Superhero Movie was released on DVD July 8, 2008. It was released in the rated PG-13 theatrical version (75 min.) and the extended edition (81 min.). The extended DVD features commentary by Zucker, Weiss, and Mazin, deleted scenes, and an alternate ending.

• Audio commentary by writer/director Craig Mazin and producers David Zucker and Robert K. Weiss — Extended Version Only
• Deleted scenes
• Alternate ending
• Meet the Cast featurette
• The Art of Spoofing featurette
• Theatrical trailer

The European (Region 2) DVD has 15 certificate and (according to play.com) has all the features of the Extended Region 1 version.

Parody targets

The film parodies the entire superhero genre but is mainly a direct parody of the first Spider-Man.^[4] However, the film also features some spoofs of Batman Begins, X-Men, and the Fantastic Four. The scene of the death of Bruce Wayne's parents is parodied. Some of the members of the Fantastic Four are also featured in the movie.

The film also makes references and homages to other films such as when Rick Riker and Trey are in a bus and Trey is pointing out the different groups of cliques, this parodies the Mean Girls scene where Janis explains to Cady the cliques. One of the cliques is "Frodos" - kids dressed up as Hobbits looking similar to Frodo, the Lord of the Rings character. The film also targets Wikipedia, when Lou's assistant talks in a very highly scientific and complicated language to explain that Lou needs Cerillium to live. Lou then appreciates him by saying that he is a genius, only to know that he got all of that from Wikipedia.

The film also makes fun of certain celebrities and their real-life actions such as Tom Cruise's Scientology video and Barry Bonds' alleged use of steroids. It also makes fun of British scientist, Stephen Hawking.^[7] The movie also has instances of product placement such as T-Mobile, iPods, and Craigslist. It is questionable whether it has been made fun of, but there too is the appearance of an iPhone. It also pokes fun at the Fav Five commercials by Drake Bell claiming: "I'm sorry...but...you're no longer in my Five." Which also spoofed Peter Parker dumping Mary Jane at Norman Osborn's funeral. There is also a reference to the viral Internet video 2 Girls 1 Cup.

See also

• Airplane!
• Top Secret!
• Police Squad!
• The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
• The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear
• The Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult
• Scary Movie 3
• Scary Movie 4
• An American Carol
• Disaster Movie

References

1. ^ Sarah Levinson-Rothman (2006-04-16). "'Scary Movie 4' Sets Box Office Record". PR Newswire. 
2. ^ Dave McNary (2007-09-19). "Dimension casts 'Super' spoof". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117972335.html?categoryid=13&cs=1. Retrieved 2008-01-31. 
3. ^ Gina Piccalo (2007-09-20). "Superheroes to get a sendup". Los Angeles Times. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Anthony Breznican; Robert Bianco, Mike Snider (2008-02-07). "Coming attractions: Superheroes get spoofed in 'Movie'". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/life/2008-02-07-coming-attractions_N.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-08. 
5. ^ "Superhero Movie Movie Reviews, Pictures — Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10004559-superhero/. Retrieved 2008-03-29. 
6. ^ "Superhero Movie (2008): Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/superheromovie. Retrieved 2008-03-29. 
7. ^ Brian Orndorf (2008-03-28). "THIS IS BRIANDOM: Film Review: Superhero Movie". brianorndorf.com. http://www.brianorndorf.com/2008/03/film-review-sup.html. Retrieved 2008-03-29. 

External links

• Official website
• Official MySpace
• Superhero Movie at the Internet Movie Database
• Superhero Movie at AllRovi
• Superhero Movie at Box Office Mojo
• Superhero Movie at Rotten Tomatoes
• Superhero Movie at Metacritic