Megamind

Megamind is a 2010 American computer-animated superhero comedy film, directed by Tom McGrath, produced by DreamWorks Animation, and distributed by Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation. The film premiered on October 28, 2010, in Russia, while it 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.[5]

Megamind
Theatrical release poster
Directed byTom McGrath
Produced by
  • Lara Breay
  • Denise Nolan Cascino
Written by
  • Alan J. Schoolcraft
  • Brent Simons
Starring
Music by
Edited byMichael Andrews
Production
companies
  • DreamWorks Animation[1]
  • Pacific Data Images[2]
Distributed by
Release date
  • October 28, 2010 (2010-10-28) (Russia)
  • November 5, 2010 (2010-11-05) (United States)
  • December 3, 2010 (2010-12-03) (United Kingdom)
Running time
96 minutes[3]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$130 million[4]
Box office$321.9 million[4]

The film tells the story of a super-intelligent alien supervillain, Megamind, who after a long-lasting battle one day actually destroys his foe, the much-loved superhero Metro Man. Having Metro City for himself, Megamind finds out that his villainy has no purpose, and thus creates a new superhero to serve as his nemesis. His plan backfires, as he ends up creating instead a new supervillain. With Metro City spiraling out of control, Megamind attempts to set things right and discovers his newfound purpose—as a superhero.

Megamind received generally positive reviews from critics, praising its strong visuals and the cast's performances, but criticizing its unoriginality and humor.[6] With a budget of $130 million, the film grossed over $321 million worldwide,[4] becoming one of DreamWorks Animation's lowest-grossing CG animated films of the 2010s.[7]

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

Plot

Megamind and Metro Man are life-long rivals in Metro City. Both are alien orphans sent to Earth from their dying planets but raised in far different circumstances, with Metro Man becoming a superhero defending the city from Megamind's villainous plans that he executes with help of his henchman Minion, a fish-like creature in a mechanical suit.

Megamind kidnaps Metro Man's girlfriend and reporter Roxanne Ritchi and lures the hero to a copper-lined observatory. Metro Man frees Roxanne but reveals copper to be his weakness, allowing Megamind to kill him with a death ray. Megamind quickly takes over the city, but finds that with no one to challenge him his life has no meaning.

Megamind prepares to destroy the recently opened Metro Man museum, but when he sees Roxanne wandering inside, he takes on the holographic disguise of Bernard, the museum curator (temporarily dehydrating the real Bernard into a small cube). Megamind finds himself attracted to Roxanne, and from her, gets the idea of creating a new hero to fight. In his lab he creates a serum from Metro Man's DNA to give his target superhero powers, but it is accidentally injected via his defuser gun into Hal Stewart, Roxanne's dimwitted cameraman when she enters the lab. Megamind finds Hal is easily coerced, and using a hologram of "Space Dad", trains him to become a superhero. Hal takes the name "Tighten", misunderstanding Megamind's suggested "Titan". Meanwhile, Megamind continues to see Roxanne using the Bernard disguise.

Feeling Hal is ready, Megamind schedules a date for the two to fight. However, on the night before Megamind has a falling out with Minion, while Hal sees that Roxanne has no feelings of him as she prepares for a date with Bernard, and he goes on a crime spree. While on her date with Bernard, Megamind's disguise falters, and she leaves him, causing Megamind to also misplace his invisible car and the defuser gun.

Megamind tries to get Hal to fight him by revealing all of his disguises and manipulations and infuriating Hal further. Fighting now for his life, Megamind traps Hal in a ball of copper, but it fails to do anything. Confused, he finds Roxanne and asks her to take her to Metro Man's secret lair to find out any other weaknesses. There, both are surprised to find Metro Man alive; he feigned his death as he wanted to retire and take up country music. He refuses to help, but reminds Megamind a hero will always emerge to challenge evil.

Feeling responsible, Megamind turns himself into the authorities and is imprisoned, while Roxanne tries to appeal to Hal directly, but instead ends up captured. Hal challenges Megamind to a fight, threatening Roxanne. Megamind appeals to the warden to let him free, and surprised to see that the warden was Minion in disguise.

Megamind and Minion uses holographic disguises to trick Hal into believing that Metro Man is back, but Hal sees through it based on Megamind's odd pronunciation patterns. Hal attacks Megamind, and during the fight, he finds his invisible car. He recovers the defuser gun and shoots Hal with it, reverting him to human form.

Hal is arrested for his crimes, while Megamind is treated as a hero by the city and Roxanne. In disguise in the crowds, Metro Man congratulates his former foe.

In a mid-credits scene, the original Bernard is rehydrated while Minion is doing the laundry, and Minion knocks him out before he asks too many questions.

Voice cast
Will Ferrell (in costume), Tina Fey and Jonah Hill at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International
  • Will Ferrell as Megamind, a big blue head-shaped alien who is a supervillain. He is a spoof of Lex Luthor and Brainiac,[8] while his "Space Dad" persona is a parody of both Jor-El as played by Marlon Brando in the 1978 film Superman and Brando's performance as Vito Corleone in The Godfather.[9] The DVD commentary notes that his costume and showmanship are purposely evocative of Alice Cooper.
  • Tina Fey as Roxanne Ritchie, a TV news reporter who becomes Megamind's love interest. She is a spoof of Lois Lane.[10]
  • Jonah Hill as Hal Stewart / Titan / Tighten,[11] Roxanne Ritchie's hapless, dimwitted but nerdy cameraman who has unrequited feelings for her. His motivation throughout the film is to get her back to his apartment with him. Given powers by Megamind to become a superhero named Titan, he later becomes a supervillain named Tighten. The name Hal Stewart refers to Hal Jordan and John Stewart of the Green Lantern Corps.[12]
  • David Cross as Minion, a talking fish who has been Megamind's sidekick and best friend since childhood. His costume is evocative of Ro-Man from Robot Monster.
  • Brad Pitt as Metro Man, Megamind's former nemesis. He is a spoof of Superman.[10] The DVD commentary notes that his costume and showmanship are purposely evocative of the late Elvis Presley.
  • 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.
  • Christopher Knights as Prison Guard
  • Tom McGrath as Lord Scott / Prison Guard
  • Jack Blessing as Newscaster
  • Justin Theroux as Megamind's Dad
  • Jessica Schulte as Megamind's Mom

Production
Director Tom McGrath promoting the film at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International

The film was written by Alan J. Schoolcraft and Brent Simons.[13] It was first titled Master Mind, and then Oobermind.[14] It was suggested that Ben Stiller would be cast as Megamind,[15] and later Robert Downey Jr.[16] but Will Ferrell was ultimately given the role, due to "scheduling conflicts" for Downey.[5][17] Lara Breay and Denise Nolan Cascino were the film's producers, and Ben Stiller and Stuart Cornfeld were the executive producers.[14] 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,[18] 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.[19]

Music

Megamind: Music from the Motion Picture is a soundtrack to the film of the same name, composed by Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe, and released on November 2, 2010 by Lakeshore Records.[20][21]

Release

Megamind premiered on October 28, 2010 in Russia, and was theatrically released in the United States on November 5, 2010.[22] It was supposed to be released in Japan on March 12, 2011, but because of the earthquake and tsunami a day before, the Japanese release was cancelled.[23][24]

Marketing

Megamind was promoted at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International, with Tom McGrath, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, and Will Ferrell, who was dressed as Megamind.[25]

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.[26] The Button of Doom also had its television premiere on Nickelodeon, which was aired on February 26, 2011. It was the seventh-best-selling DVD of 2011 with over 3 million units sold.[27] The film made a total of $75 million in DVD and Blu-ray sales.[28] As of November 2012, 5.6 million home entertainment units were sold worldwide.[29]

The film was released on Blu-ray 3D in March 2011 exclusively as a part of Samsung 3D Starter Kits,[30] and on September 11, 2011, exclusively at Best Buy stores.[31]

In July 2014, the film's distribution rights were purchased by DreamWorks Animation from Paramount Pictures and transferred to 20th Century Fox;[32] the rights are now owned by Universal Pictures.

Reception

Box office

Megamind opened to $12.5 million on opening day, and earned $46 million 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 fellow DreamWorks Animation film 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 $29.1 million for a $7,374 average from 3,949 theaters, and bringing its 10-day cumulative total to $88.8 million. On its third weekend, it fell 45% to $16 million 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 $12.6 million 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 $4.9 million 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), earning $148.4 million in North America, and $173.5 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $321.9 million.[4] 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 ($494 million), the highest-grossing film worldwide in both Ferrell's and Fey's careers,[33][34] as well as the fifth-highest-grossing computer-animated superhero film, behind Incredibles 2, The Incredibles, Big Hero 6 and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

Critical response

Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives a score of 72% based on 178 reviews and an average rating of 6.65/10. The site's 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."[6] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 63 out of 100, based on reviews from 33 critics.[35] Audiences polled by Cinemascore gave Megamind a grade of "A-" on a scale from A+ to F-.[36]

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."[37] Stephen Holden, of The New York Times, positively wrote in his review, "Visually Megamind is immaculately sleek and gracefully enhanced by 3-D."[38] Entertainment Weekly reviewer Owen Gleiberman graded the film a B+ and wrote, "...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."[39] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone commented, "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."[40] In a mixed review, Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Just as Megamind struggles to find his center, at times, so does the film."[41]

The main point of criticism was the unoriginality of the film. Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "You have seen all this before".[42] 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."[43] Claudia Puig of USA Today even asked: "Do we really need Megamind when Despicable Me is around?".[44]

Accolades
Award Category Name Result
38th Annie Awards[45] Animated Effects in an Animated Production Krzysztof Rostek Nominated
Character Animation in a Feature Production Mark Donald Nominated
Anthony Hodgson Nominated
Character Design in a Feature Production Timothy Lamb Nominated
Storyboarding in a Feature Production Catherine Yuh Rader Nominated
Writing in a Feature Production Alan J. Schoolcraft, Brent Simons Nominated
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards 2010[46] Best Animated Film Nominated
2011 Kids' Choice Awards[47] Favorite Buttkicker Will Ferrell Nominated
The National Movie Awards[48] Best Animated Movie Nominated
The Comedy Awards[49] 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.[50]

Comic books

DreamWorks Animation and WildStorm produced a 32-page full-color comic book titled The Reign of Megamind, which was released in July 2010 exclusively at the Comic-Con convention.[51] A full version of the comic is also available on the Megamind website.[52]

Ape Entertainment released under its Kizoic label five full-color 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 a story titled "Can I Have This Dance", #2 features "Bad Minion! Bad!", #3 features "Megamutt" and #4 features "A Sidekick's Sidekick".[53]

Legacy

Possible sequel

In April 2011, DreamWorks Animation's CEO, Jeffrey Katzenberg, commented that the studio did not have plans to produce future movie-genre parodies like Shark Tale, Monsters vs. Aliens, and Megamind, saying that these films "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."[54]

References
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  3. "Megamind (2D)". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved December 11, 2013.
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  9. Boucher, Geoff (November 7, 2010). "Will Ferrell channels Brando in 'Megamind'? 'Yes, I do, isn't that weird?'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
  10. Wilkins, Alasdair (July 22, 2010). "Megamind asks the great superhero question: what if Lex Luthor killed Superman?". io9. Retrieved August 29, 2011.
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