Flubber

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Flubber
Flubber DVD Cover
Directed by	Les Mayfield
Produced by	David Nicksay, William Ryan
Written by	John Hughes, Bill Walsh
Starring	Robin Williams, Marcia Gay Harden, Christopher McDonald
Distributed by	Buena Vista
Release date(s)	November 26, 1997
Running time	93 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

For the Marvel Comics character, see Flubber (comics).

Flubber is a 1997 film produced by Disney starring Robin Williams and Marcia Gay Harden. It is a remake of the 1961 Disney film, The Absent-Minded Professor.

Robin Williams plays an absent-minded professor named Philip Brainard who develops a green rubber-like substance as a new form of energy which he calls Flubber. It is highly unstable in bright light, but under all conditions is ductile, elastic, anthropomorphic, intelligent, impressionable, nearly indestructible, and capable of retaining kinetic energy indefinitely, so that if given the impetous it will rebound repeatedly, increasing the velocity and force with each collision.. It is eventually used to help the University basketball team win. The film is rated PG for slapstick action and mild language.

The film's plot is similar to that of The Absent-Minded Professor, albeit with the addition of an anthropomorphic, aerial robot called Weebo. This Weebo is the Professor's constant companion. She resembles a combination of flying saucer, television monitor, camera, and computer; but behaves like a human, displaying the emotions of affection, jealousy, joy, and sadness as well as loyalty, self-sacrifice, and courage. She is intimate with the Professor, fond of illustrating her emotions by showing relevant images on her monitor, prone to curiosity, and very much attached to the Professor and his happiness. It is she, in fact, who allowed the Professor to forget his wedding to Sara Jean Reynolds, so that she (Weebo) would have all the Professor's unreliable attention to herself. Later, she came to regret this, because it had caused his sorrow. Ultimately, Weebo is irreparably broken when two thieves, sent by the father of a disgruntled student, enter the Professor's laboratory; when Weebo intervenes, one of the thieves strikes her with a baseball bat.

Mourning her death (for as such it is depicted), the Professor and a reconciled Sara scan Weebo's memory, finding there a message that Weebo left for him. In this message, Weebo explains that she, in preparation for her death, created plans by which a second robot like herself may be built. This robot, called Weebette, is later seen assuring that the wedding of Sara to the Professor will take place. When the newlyweds leave for a wedding trip, Weebette is heard by the viewer addressing Sara as "Mom".

[edit] Box office

US Gross Domestic Takings: US$ 92,977,226

+ Other International Takings: $85,000,000

= Gross Worldwide Takings: $177,977,226

[edit] Trivia

Chicago Cubs radio broadcaster Pat Hughes is heard as the voice of the announcer at the Medfield College basketball game.
There is actually no Medfield College, as there is only one town named Medfield in the United States. It is rumored that Walt Disney used to vacation in Medfield, Massachusetts, and used this name in the original, The Absent-Minded Professor.
Robin Williams showed up on the set with matching shaved eyebrows.
In the video, the building that was shot as Ford's headquarters is actually Adobe Systems' headquarters in San Jose, California.
Special effects were done mainly by two studios: Industrial Light and Magic and Hammerhead Studios.
We can see a scene from a Simpsons episode in this film.
In The Simpsons episode Children of a Lesser Clod, Flubber is directly referenced by Professor Frink. Also in the episode Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em..., Homer Simpson says to Professor Frink "No problem, but why don't you go inside and stir your Flubber while I get to work."
The film was filmed inside the San Jose university campus, California.
The two thugs that work for Hoenicker are Smith and Wesson, a nod to the Massachusetts-based handgun manufacturer of the same name.