Superhero Movie

Superhero Movie Information

Superhero Movie is a 2008 American comedy 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!.

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 is the breathtaking, Jill Johnson (Sara Paxton]. During a school field trip at an animal research lab, a mutated dragonfly bites Rick.

During a science fair Rick begins to experience strange physical traits which creates a number of mishaps. Rick reveals his secret to his uncle and an argument starts between him and Albert.Later a bank robber shoots Albert landing him in the hospital. 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. Later as Dragonfly he quickly becomes a media sensation but gets badly injured by a villian named Hourglass.

Jill is attacked by thieves, but Dragonfly saves her and shares a kiss. Landers plans to construct a machine that will kill people and give him enough life energy to make him immortal. Later the Hourglass learns Rick's true identity and murders Aunt Lucille. After Albert recovers and a comic funeral, Rick decides to end his superhero career. At an awards ceremony, Jill discovers that Landers is Hourglass. When Hourglass clashes with Dragonfly he tries to activate a machine that'll make him immortal. But Dragonfly manages to blow him up before it's too late. Rick finally grows wings and flies aways with Jill.

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. 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. Though the film was produced in New York, the flyover scenes used as transitions in the film use footage of the business district in downtown Kansas City, Missouri.

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."

Soundtrack

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 negative 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". Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 33 out of 100, based on 14 reviews, indicating "generally negative reviews".

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. There is also a Blockbuster Exclusive version of the Film which is the PG-13 version with the bonus features on the Unrated version and even more deleted scenes.

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. 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. 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.