| Hop | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Tim Hill |
| Produced by | Chris Meledandri Michelle Imperato |
| Screenplay by | Ken Daurio Brian Lynch Cinco Paul |
| Story by | Cinco Paul Ken Daurio |
| Starring | James Marsden Russell Brand Kaley Cuoco Hank Azaria Gary Cole Elizabeth Perkins Hugh Laurie |
| Music by | Christopher Lennertz |
| Cinematography | Peter Lyons Collister |
| Editing by | Peter S. Elliot Gregory Perler |
| Studio | Relativity Media Illumination Entertainment |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | April 1, 2011 |
| Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $63 million[1] |
| Box office | $183,953,723[2] |
Hop is a 2011 Easter-themed part live-action-part animated comedy film from Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment, directed by Tim Hill and produced by Chris Meledandri and Michelle Imperato. The film was released on April 1, 2011 in the United States and the United Kingdom. Hop stars the voice of Russell Brand as E.B., a rabbit who does not want to succeed his father, Mr. Bunny (Hugh Laurie), in the role of the Easter Bunny; James Marsden as Fred O'Hare, a human who is out of work and wishes to become the next Easter Bunny himself; and the voice of Hank Azaria as Carlos and Phil, two chicks who plot to take over the Easter organization.
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On Easter Island, a young rabbit named E.B. (Russell Brand) is intended to succeed his father Mr. Bunny (Hugh Laurie) as the Easter Bunny. Intimidated by the calling's demands, E.B. runs away to Hollywood to pursue his dream of becoming a drummer. Mr Bunny sends his three ninja royal guards, the Pink Berets (Janet Healy), to find his son. Meanwhile, Easter Chicks Carlos and Phil (both played by Hank Azaria), plot a coup d'état against Mr. Bunny to take over the Easter organization.
Wandering through Los Angeles, E.B. is hit by Fred O'Hare (James Marsden), an out of work slacker job hopper (who is being pressured by his family to "get a job") who was driving to his sister Sam's (Kaley Cuoco) boss's house he's housesitting . Feigning injury, E.B. persuades Fred to take him in as he recovers, but when E.B. causes trouble Fred attempts to abandon him in the wilderness. E.B. persuades the human to help him by claiming to be the Easter Bunny, whom Fred saw in operation in his youth. The rabbit sees the Berets closing in on him and hides inside a business where Fred is having job interview. E.B. enjoys a successful recording session with the Blind Boys of Alabama as their substitute drummer, but ruins Fred's job interview. In the process, E.B. gets a tip about a possible audition for David Hasselhoff, who invites him to perform on his show.
Afterward, Fred attends his adopted younger sister Alex's (Tiffany Espensen) Easter school pageant with E.B. hiding in a satchel. E.B., alarmed that the Pink Berets have apparently found him due to the three bunny suit shadows on a wall and disgusted by Alex's awful rendition of Here Comes Peter Cottontail, dashes out and disrupts the show. Fred feigns a ventriloquist's act with the bunny's cooperation as his dummy and they lead the show in singing, "I Want Candy". Both his father, Henry (Gary Cole) and Alex, are angry about the upstaging, but Fred is inspired to be the Easter Bunny himself. E.B. is skeptical, but he agrees to train the human and finds that Fred has some genuine talent for it.
As the Pink Berets close in on him, E.B. prepares a decoy to fake his death and leaves for Hasselhoff's show. The Berets see the decoy and, horrified that the human has apparently killed E.B., capture Fred and take him to Easter Island. Fred is held captive and confronted by Mr. Bunny and Carlos about killing E.B. Carlos pretends to be upset about E.B.'s death, silences Fred (who tries to reveal the truth of the decoy) and seizes control of the Easter factory.
Meanwhile, at the Hoff Knows Talent live show E.B. is in his dressing room preparing for his performance but his reflection begins to berate him for leaving Fred. Just then a production assistant (also Russell Brand) arrives to tell him that he is next to perform. E.B. leaves his dressing room and begins to feel guilty about leaving Fred so he discusses the situation with Hasselhoff, who advises him to go back and help his friend. E.B. finds evidence of Fred's capture and races back to the factory. He confronts Carlos, but is immobilized in gummi candy and tossed into the chocolate bunny carving line. Fred and Mr. Bunny are tied up with black licorice and are to be boiled alive. Fred manages to free himself and Mr. Bunny by eating away the licorice and E.B. survives by dodging the blades. Carlos, now a chick-bunny combination due to Easter magic engages battle with E.B. and defeats him easily due to his size and then tries to lead the Egg sleigh out with Phil directing via lighted wands.
To stop the launch, E.B. improvises a drum session. Uncontrollably driven to dance to the beat, Phil provides the wrong signals, causing a crash and Carlos is subdued. After being defeated, Carlos is made to pull the Egg sleigh and Phil is made the new head of the Easter Chicks. E.B. and Fred are made co-Easter bunnies and take over the job. Fred's family is now proud that he has a job and responsibilities.
In an after-credits scene, E.B. and Fred are in China delivering an Easter basket to the same woman who had previously attacked Mr. Bunny earlier in the film.
E.B. was designed by Peter de Sève, most famous for the work on the Ice Age characters.[3] The CGI animation of the film was made by Los Angeles based Rhythm & Hues Studios.[4] The theme song ("I Want Candy") was performed by Australian pop/R&B singer Cody Simpson.
Universal teamed up with 92 major companies to promote Hop, including Holiday Inn, Krispy Kreme, Lindt, Kraft Foods, The Hershey Company, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Comcast, Kodak, Hallmark, HMV and Burger King.[5] The premiere of Hop took place at Universal Studios Hollywood on March 27 2011. James Marsden, Russell Brand, Kaley Cuoco, Hank Azaria, Gary Cole, Elizabeth Perkins, Hugh Laurie, David Hasselhoff, Cody Simpson and costumed characters of E.B., Carlos, Phil and the Pink Berets all attended the event.[6]
Hop received negative reviews. Review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 26% of 128 critics gave the film a positive review, with the consensus statement being: "It's impressively animated, but Hop's script is so uninspired that not even James Marsden's frantic mugging can give it any bounce."[7] Metacritic gave the film a 41/100 based on reviews from 23 critics.[8] The subplot involving Carlos the Easter Chick was considered to be insensitive to Mexican Americans by some reviewers.[9][10]
Hop opened at number one at the Friday box office in the U.S. and Canada, earning $11.4 million, beating Source Code and Insidious, two other movies that opened that weekend.[11] It then topped the weekend box office with $37.5 million, then making it the 2nd highest opening weekend in 2011 behind Rango, until Rio came out.[12] It also topped the UK box office in its opening weekend, with £1,392,740.[13] Hop held onto the #1 spot in the U.S. and Canada for its second weekend, with a 42% drop, and grossed $21.4 million. During its second week, it beat the four new nationwide releases, Arthur, Hanna, Soul Surfer and Your Highness.[14] In the 2011 Easter weekend, Hop increased 13.7% from its third weekend, with a gross of $12.5 million, and crossed the $100 million mark in North America, becoming the third 2011 film to reach this mark after Rango and Just Go with It.[15] Hop earned $108,085,305 in North America and $75,868,418 in foreign countries, bringing its worldwide total to $183,953,723.[2]
In 2011, popular app Doodle Jump launched a Hop themed version of the game.[16] On March 18, the TV advertisement for the game was posted onto YouTube by the film's official YouTube channel.[17]
A video game adaptation based on the film has been released exclusively for the Nintendo DS.[18][19]
Five books based on the film have been released[20]:
A large range of licensed merchandise is being released in connection with the film, including toys, stuffed animals, many sorts of candy, T-shirts, cookie decorating kits, baked goods and other products from Kraft Foods. Some items will be available exclusively at Walmart stores.[21] Burger King have launched a line of Hop-themed toys included in their kids meals throughout April 2011.[22]
The film's official 35-track original score soundtrack (by Universal/London) was released in stores on April 5, 2011. However, in some store branches (such as Barnes & Noble), it was not available until April 19, 2011.
Universal Studios Home Entertainment will release Hop on DVD and Blu-ray on March 20, 2012.
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