The Onion Movie

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Onion Movie is a comedy film written by The Onion writers Robert Siegel and Todd Hanson. It was filmed in 2003 and 2007 and released on June 3, 2008 direct-to-video.

The plot revolves around an Onion television news anchorman, Norm Archer, who is forced to face the inevitability of a corporate takeover. This plot serves as a springboard for various satirical and ironic comedy skits.

[edit] Production

In 2003, Fox Searchlight Pictures was on board to release a movie written by The Onion staff. Tentatively titled The Untitled Onion Movie, it was to be directed by music video directors Tom Kuntz and Mike Maguire and written by then Onion editor Robert Siegel and writer Todd Hanson. After delays and middling previews to test audiences, the film was shelved and eventually dropped by Fox. At some point in the process, directors Tom Kuntz and Mike Maguire and writer Robert Siegel walked away from the project.

In 2006, New Regency Productions took over the production of the troubled project. Then, the film's fate was in limbo with studio heads at odds with current Onion management as to what to do with the film. No new director was named to helm the project and Mr. Show writer Scott Aukerman has been recruited to help rescue the project. Reportedly the studio wanted to keep one hour of already completed footage in the final film and film new material to flesh it out, while current Onion management was rumored to be leaning towards scrapping all shot footage and starting from scratch.

In a March 15, 2007 interview, Scott Aukerman said that the Onion movie was at a "dead standstill". Within two weeks, the listing for The Untitled Onion Movie at the Internet Movie Database had disappeared.^[1] Additionally, Onion, Inc. President Sean Mills has indicated The Onion is no longer associated with the film project.^[2]^[3] In August 2007, the IMDb listing was restored.

In November 2007, President Sean Mills told Wikinews that the movie was a dead project. Although the studio Fox Searchlight had an option to release it on DVD, there were no announcement of plans to do so. Everyone involved in the project from the writers, to the directors to the studios, decided the material simply was not working. However the trailer appeared on the DVD for The Darjeeling Limited. ^[4] Because of the trailer's recent appearance on the DVD for The Darjeeling Limited, there was speculation that the movie would be released on DVD later in 2008. The trailer also appeared on the Hitman and Alien Versus Predator: Requiem DVDs.^[5]

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released The Onion Movie DVD on June 3, 2008 ^[6]