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Open Season (2006 film)

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Wikipedia article




{{Infobox film

| name = Open Season

| image = Open Season.jpg

| border = yes

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| director =

| producer = Michelle Murdocca

| screenplay =

| story = Jill Culton
Anthony Stacchi

| based_on =

| starring =

| music =

| editing = Pamela Ziegenhagen-Shefland

| production_companies =

| distributor = Sony Pictures Releasing

| released =

| runtime = 86 minutes

| country = United States

| language = English

| budget = $85 million

| gross = $200.8 million

}}

'Open Season' is a 2006 American computer-animated adventure comedy film, directed by Jill Culton and Roger Allers from a screenplay by Steve Bencich, Ron J. Friedman, and Nat Mauldin with a story by Culton and co-director Anthony Stacchi from an original story by Steve Moore and John B. Carls. The film stars the voices of Martin Lawrence, Ashton Kutcher, Gary Sinise, Debra Messing, Billy Connolly, Jon Favreau, Georgia Engel, Jane Krakowski, Gordon Tootoosis, and Patrick Warburton. Its plot follows Boog, a domesticated grizzly bear who teams up with an amnesiac one-antlered mule deer named Elliot and other woodland animals to defeat human hunters.

'Open Season' was produced by Sony Pictures Animation as its debut film, and was released to theaters by Columbia Pictures under Sony Pictures Releasing on September 29, 2006. It has also been released in the IMAX 3D format. A video game for the film was released on multiple platforms.

Despite receiving mixed reviews from film critics, the film was positively welcomed from audiences and was a box office success, earning $200.8 million on an $85 million budget. The film was followed by three direct-to-video sequels: 'Open Season 2' (2008), 'Open Season 3' (2010), and 'Open Season: Scared Silly' (2016).

Plot





In the small town of Timberline, a 900-pound (400 kg) grizzly bear named Boog enjoys a captive but luxurious existence and spends his days as the star attraction of the town's nature show, while at night living in the garage of park ranger Beth, who has raised Boog since he was a cub. One day, the cold-hearted hunting fanatic Shaw drives into Timberline with a mule deer named Elliot strapped to the hood of his truck, who is missing an antler after Shaw purposefully ran him over. When Boog meets him, Elliot begs Boog to cut him free before he gets mounted on a wall and Boog does so. Due to Boog casually calling him "buddy" as he leaves, Elliot becomes convinced that they are now friends. Later that night, Elliot finds Boog sleeping comfortably in the garage, telling Boog to be "free" from his garage captivity and introducing him to sweet temptations he has never known. When Boog becomes sick from eating too many candy bars, events quickly spiral out of control, as the two raid a convenience store. Elliot escapes before Boog is caught by Beth's friend Gordy, the local sheriff in town.

At the nature show the next morning, Elliot (who is being chased by Shaw) finds Boog and goes to him for help, but Boog wants nothing to do with him after their last encounter and tries to get rid of him. The audience mistakes him for attacking Elliot and they go into a panic. Shaw tries to shoot Boog and Elliot, but Beth shoots both animals with a tranquilizer gun just before Shaw fires his own gun; Shaw flees before Gordy can arrest him. Realizing that Boog is too threatening in the town, Beth relocates him and Elliot into the Timberline National Forest, only two days before open season starts, but they are relocated above the waterfalls, where they will be legally safe from hunters.

Since he lacks any outdoor survival skills, Boog reluctantly takes Elliot as his unreliable guide to get him back home to Timberline to reunite with Beth. Boog encounters a lot of forest animals that are very unwelcoming towards him, including skunks Maria and Rosie, ducks Serge and Deni, various unnamed panic-stricken rabbits, the Scottish-accented squirrel McSquizzy and his loyal gang of fellow acorn-throwing squirrels, beaver Reilly and his construction worker team, a porcupine named Buddy who is in search of a friend, and a herd of deer led by Ian and Giselle, a doe that Elliot is in love with. It's then revealed that Ian banished Elliot from the herd for being a loser. Eventually, Boog and Elliot start to bond after realizing that they are both outcasts and Boog considers letting Elliot stay with him when they get back.

The next day, however, it is revealed that Elliot has absolutely no idea where they are going and has been leading Boog in a big circle. The two are then confronted by Shaw and accidentally destroy Reilly's dam trying to get away, causing a flash flood that also sweeps up most of the other animals. They end up in a waterfall, which sends the animals and Shaw plummeting down into the hunting grounds. After recovering from the flood, at first all the animals are furious at Boog for pushing them into the hunting ground, but then he accuses Elliot of lying to him about knowing where Timberline is. Elliot admits that he just wanted Boog to stay with him in hopes that he would finally have a real friend. Boog angrily storms off, but unwittingly ends up in Shaw's log cabin, where he is discovered by Shaw. Boog manages to escape before Shaw can shoot him, when he ends up on a nearby road where he evades a group of hunters driving into the woods. Following the road, Boog happens upon the glowing lights of Timberline. Instead of returning back home, Boog reconciles with Elliot and tries to take him back to town, but the other animals want to come with them after hearing they would be safe there. Knowing that they wouldn't all fit in the garage and there being no way to sneak past the hunter's tents, Boog rallies the animals to use their natural skills to fight back. They scavenge supplies from an RV owned by a caring married couple named Bob and Bobbie, who are looking for Bigfoot, while their pet dachshund Mr. Weenie joins the forest animals.

The next day, Boog leads a revolution against the hunters, causing the hunters to retreat in defeat after McSquizzy blows up their trucks with a propane tank ignited by using an emergency flare. Shaw returns for a final showdown and seemingly kills Elliot by gun-shot, prompting Boog to furiously confront Shaw and quickly overpower him by tying him up with his own gun. Boog rushes to Elliot, who survived but his remaining antler is broken off by the shot. The forest animals thank Boog for his help and then proceed to take out their vengeance on Shaw by smothering him with honey and pillow feathers and sending him fleeing into the woods. Beth later returns in a helicopter to take Boog back home. Realizing how the experience has changed him, Boog decides to stay in the forest with Beth's blessing. A Post-credits scene shows that Bob and Bobbie mistakenly thought that Shaw was Bigfoot due to the fact that he was covered with leaves and the couple took him with them.

Cast



* Martin Lawrence as Boog, a 900 pound pampered grizzly bear.

* Ashton Kutcher as Elliot, a cheerful but oblivious mule deer who got his antler broken off after being hit by Shaw's truck.

* Gary Sinise as Shaw, the nastiest hunter in Timberline and Beth's arch-rival.

* Debra Messing as Beth, a park ranger who had raised Boog since he was a cub.

* Billy Connolly as McSquizzy, a grumpy elderly eastern gray squirrel with a Scottish accent.

* Jon Favreau as Reilly, a diligent North American beaver.

* Georgia Engel as Bobbie, a friendly but dim-witted hippie woman who is Mr. Weenie's owner.

**Bobbie's husband, Bob, is unvoiced.

* Jane Krakowski as Giselle, a beautiful mule deer doe, a victim of Ian's stalking and Elliot's love interest.

* Gordon Tootoosis as Gordy, Timberline's sheriff and Beth's friend.

* Patrick Warburton as Ian, a large, intimidating mule deer stag and the alpha of his herd.

* Cody Cameron as Mr. Weenie, Bob and Bobbie's domesticated German-accented dachshund.

* Danny Mann as Serge, a French-accented mallard duck.

* Maddie Taylor as Deni, a mute and insane but brave mallard duck and Serge's brother / Buddy, a blue North American porcupine who searches for friends.

* Nika Futterman as Rosie, a striped skunk with a Mexican accent.

* Michelle Murdocca as Maria, a striped skunk who is Rosie's identical twin.

* Fergal Reilly as O'Toole, a beaver and one of Reilly's men.

Production



and Jill Culton, the directors of the film, at the 34th Annie Awards

The ideas for 'Open Season' came from cartoonist Steve Moore, who is known for his comic strip 'In the Bleachers'. Moore and producer John Carls submitted the story to Sony in June 2002, and the film immediately went into development. On February 29, 2004, Sony Pictures Animation announced the beginning of the production on 'Open Season', its first CGI animated film.

The film location was inspired by the towns of Sun Valley, Idaho and McCall, Idaho, and the Sawtooth National Forest. References to the Lawn Lake, Colorado, Dam flood, Longs Peak, and other points of interest in the area are depicted in the film.

The rendering services used were Hewlett-Packard and Alias Maya.

The Sony animation team developed a digital tool called shapers that allowed the animators to reshape the character models into stronger poses and silhouettes and subtle distortions such as squash, stretch, and smears, typical of traditional, hand drawn animation.

To choose the voice cast, Culton blindly listened to audition tapes, unknowingly picking Lawrence and Kutcher for the lead roles. Their ability to improvise significantly contributed to the creative process. "They really became meshed with the characters", said Culton. Until the film's premiere, Lawrence and Kutcher never met during production.

Reception



Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 48% based on 101 reviews with an average rating of 5.4/10. The site's consensus reads: "'Open Season' is a clichd palette of tired jokes and CGI animal shenanigans that have been seen multiple times this cinematic year." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 49 out of 100 based on 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

Kevin Smith gave the film a thumbs up during an appearance as a guest critic on 'Ebert and Roeper', saying: "If your kids like poop jokes as much as I do, 'Open Season' will put a big smile on their faces". However, Richard Roeper gave the film a thumbs down, saying, "It's just okay, the animation is uninspired".

Box office

'Open Season' opened number one with $23 million on its opening weekend. It grossed $88.6 million in the United States and $112.2 million in foreign countries, making $200.8 million worldwide. The film was released in the United Kingdom on October 13, 2006, and opened at number three, behind 'The Departed' and 'The Devil Wears Prada'.

Accolades

The film was nominated for six Annie Awards, including Best Animated Feature (lost to 'Cars'), Best Animated Effects, Best Character Design in a Feature Production, Best Production Design in a Feature Production, and Best Storyboarding in a Feature Production.

Home media



'Open Season' was released on VHS and DVD, Blu-ray, and UMD Video on January 30, 2007. It includes an animated short called 'Boog and Elliot's Midnight Bun Run'. The film was later released to 3D Blu-ray on November 16, 2010.

Video game



A video game based on the film was released on September 18, 2006, for PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Gamecube, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation Portable, and Microsoft Windows. For Wii, it was released on November 19, 2006, together with the console's launch.

Music



The soundtrack includes an original film score by Ramin Djawadi and several original songs by Paul Westerberg, formerly of The Replacements. 'Rolling Stone' gave the film's soundtrack three stars out of five, as did Allmusic.

'Open SeasonOriginal Motion Picture Soundtrack (10 LP)' includes two songs that did not appear on the soundtrack CD: an alternative version of "I Belong" and Paul Westerberg's own version of "Wild as I Wanna Be".

{| class="wikitable"

! Chart (2009)

! Peak

|-

|U.S. 'Billboard' Top Soundtracks

|align="center"| #15

|}

Sequels



'Open Season' was followed by three direct-to-video sequels: 'Open Season 2' (2008), 'Open Season 3' (2010), and 'Open Season: Scared Silly' (2015). A majority of the characters' voices were recast, with Michelle Murdocca (Maria) being the only cast member to appear in all sequels.

References




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