Hoot (film)

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Hoot

Hoot film poster
Directed by Wil Shriner
Produced by Jimmy Buffett
Written by Wil Shriner (screenplay)
Carl Hiassen (novel)
Starring Logan Lerman
Brie Larson
Cody Linley
Luke Wilson
Tim Blake Nelson
Clark Gregg
Jessica Cauffiel
Eric Phillips
Kiersten Warren
Neil Flynn
Robert Wagner
Jimmy Buffett
Music by Jimmy Buffett
Cinematography Michael Chapman
Distributed by New Line Cinema
Walden Media
Release date(s) May 5, 2006
Running time 90 min.
Country United States
Language English
Budget $15 million
Gross revenue $8,224,998
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Hoot is a 2006 film based on Carl Hiaasen's novel of the same name. Directed by Wil Shriner, Hoot was released on May 5, 2006. It was produced by Walden Media, of the Narnia franchise, and New Line Cinema. It features live burrowing owls and music by Jimmy Buffett, who is also a co-producer and who plays Mr. Ryan, the science teacher, in the film.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Roy Eberhardt (Logan Lerman) has just moved to Florida from Montana, and makes the mistake of telling everyone so. He is teased mercilessly, and is pretty fed up, until he makes the acquaintance of Beatrice Leep (Brie Larson), and her stepbrother "Mullet Fingers" (Cody Linley), a runaway. Meanwhile, a corrupt and ruthless CEO of a pancake company is attempting to construct a new pancake house close by. There is a problem though - a group of burrowing owls will be killed if they bulldoze the site. The trio embark on a crusade to save the endangered animals. Mullet Fingers continues to sabotage the site while Roy is drawn deeper and deeper into the effort to save the owls. Meanwhile, Delinko (Luke Wilson), an incompetent police officer, is assigned to find out who is vandalizing the site, and Curly (Tim Blake Nelson), an inept construction foreman, is trying to keep the construction schedule going despite the owls. In the end the trio shows Officer Delinko and the rest of the town that there are owls on the lot, and the construction site becomes an owl preserve. They manage to get everyone to be quite long enough for the owls to emerge and the CEO is arrested by Delinko. Roy and Beatrice become best friends and Mullet Fingers leaves Roy secret messages in the form of a mullet fish in a sneaker whenever he wants to hang out with him.

[edit] Background/Production

Hoot was shot during hurricane season, and the set didn’t escape Hurricane Katrina, which struck Southern Florida on August 25, 2005. Brie Larson and Cody Linley were moved from their beach-front hotel (Marriott Harbor Beach) to another hotel because of the storm.[1]

Most of Hoot was shot in Florida between July 6, 2005 and September 2, 2005. Some new scenes were shot in Los Angeles on January 21, 2006. For example, the scene where Mullet Fingers leaps out of a tree after dropping a bulldozer seat was actually shot in Los Angeles.[2]

The principal filming locations were in Fort Lauderdale, on Florida's Atlantic Coast, and the Gulf Coast hamlet of Boca Grande on Gasparilla Island. [3]

[edit] Cast

[edit] Crew

[edit] Distribution

New Line and Walden Media pushed an initial release date of April 14, 2006 forward to May 5, 2006 as only Mission: Impossible 3 was opening wide that weekend.[4] The gambit failed and Hoot opened at #10 at the U.S. and Canadian box office on 3,018 screens. Hoot's opening U.S. and Canadian box office was a disappointing $3.4 million - well below forecast. Hoot held on at #10 for its second week then the movie broke a record set by Gigli for biggest drop in cinemas screening the film as it lost 2200 screens and came in at #19 on its third weekend. The film grossed $8,224,998 worldwide.[5][6]. In 2007, Walden Media's The Seeker:The Dark is Rising nudged Hoot into second place in terms of 'biggest theatre drops'.[7]

Hoot's production budget was $15 million although its very wide opening would have made distribution costly - the cost of its prints would have been twice as much as the production budget.[8]

[edit] Reception

The movie mostly scored negative reviews and has a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 26% and a Metacritic score of 46 (mixed or average reviews).[9][10]

One of the most positive reviews came from the Boston Globe's Ty Burr (3 stars out of 4)[11]:

Hoot tells kids they can make a difference in this world, and that's worth a hundred Ice Age 2s. Of the several different messages knocking around in the movie -- overdevelopment is bad, nature is good, don't stand on a golf course during peak drive-time -- the most effective is the simplest: You have more power than you think.

Another positive review was by the San Francisco Chronicle's Ruthe Stein (3 stars out of 4) who said ...the film does nothing to dilute the save-the-Earth-and-every-creature-on-it message of Carl Hiaasen's ingeniously plotted award-winning children's book.[12].

On the other hand, Roger Ebert gave Hoot 1.5 stars (out of 4) and has included Hoot in his 2007 book - Your Movie Sucks - where he says 'Hoot' has its heart in the right place, but I have been unable to locate its brain and ... the kids (especially Mullet Fingers) are likeable but not remotely believable.[13]

Michael Medved panned Hoot (2 stars out of 4) saying that ...the lame plot centers around a greedy developer who wants to bulldoze a lot inhabited by rare burrowing owls and though I'd like to root for 'Hoot', its entertainment value is moot.[14]

[edit] Awards

Logan Lerman, who played the lead role of Roy Eberhardt, won a Young Artist Award for his performance in Hoot. He received the 2007 Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actor award on March 10.[15]

[edit] Soundtrack

The soundtrack of Hoot has three elements: an original score, pop songs, and songs sung by Jimmy Buffett.

The original score was composed by Mac McAnally, Michael Utley and Phil Marshall.

The pop songs are sung by a variety of artists:

The Jimmy Buffett songs are:

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Young Stars of Hoot Discuss the Family Friendly Film
  2. ^ Hoot Movie Official website under "Production Notes"
  3. ^ Hoot Movie Official website under "Production Notes"
  4. ^ Walden Media April 7 Press Release
  5. ^ The Numbers.com
  6. ^ Box Office Mojo under "Hoot"
  7. ^ Box Office Mojo: Biggest Theatre Drops.
  8. ^ Weekend Box Office Wrap-Up for May 5-7, 2006 By John Hamann
  9. ^ Rotten Tomatoes.com under "Hoot"
  10. ^ Metacritic.com under "Hoot"
  11. ^ "'Hoot' delivers message of empowerment to kids"
  12. ^ "Kids unite to save owls before a pancake house flattens them"
  13. ^ Roger Ebert reviews Hoot
  14. ^ Michael Medved's Movie Minute "Hoot"
  15. ^ 28th Annual Young Artist Awards

[edit] External links