The Boss Baby

The Boss Baby

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Tom McGrath
Produced by Ramsey Ann Naito
Screenplay by Michael McCullers
Based on The Boss Baby
by Marla Frazee
Starring
Music by
Edited by James Ryan
Production
company
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date
  • March 12, 2017 (2017-03-12) (Miami)
  • March 31, 2017 (2017-03-31) (United States)
Running time
 97 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $125 million[2]
Box office $497.5 million[3]

The Boss Baby is a 2017 American computer-animated comedy film loosely based on the 2010 picture book of the same name written and illustrated by Marla Frazee[4] and produced by DreamWorks Animation. It was directed by Tom McGrath and written by Michael McCullers, and stars the voices of Alec Baldwin as the title character, Miles Bakshi, Steve Buscemi, Jimmy Kimmel, Lisa Kudrow, and Tobey Maguire. The plot follows a baby who is a secret agent in the secret war between babies and puppies.

The Boss Baby premiered at the Miami International Film Festival on March 12, 2017, and was released by 20th Century Fox on March 31, 2017, in the United States.[5] Upon release, the film has grossed $497 million worldwide against its $125 million budget. A sequel is scheduled to be released on March 26, 2021.[6]

Plot

A man named "Tim" Templeton (Tobey Maguire) tells a story about his 7-year-old self (Miles Bakshi) who lives with his parents, Ted (Jimmy Kimmel) and Janice (Lisa Kudrow). One day, Tim is surprised when an infant wearing a business suit shows up in a taxi at his house, and Ted and Janice call him Tim's little brother. Tim is envious of the attention the baby receives, not to mention suspicious when the infant acts odd around him.

Soon, Tim learns that the baby can talk like an adult (Alec Baldwin), and he introduces himself as "The Boss". Seeing an opportunity to be rid of him, Tim decides to record a conversation between the Boss Baby and other toddlers who are at Tim's house for a meeting (under the guise of a play date by the parents) to do something about how puppies are receiving more love than babies. The Boss Baby and the other infants catch Tim with the recording, and the tape is terminated after the Boss Baby threatens to tear up Tim's favorite stuffed animal. With no evidence to support him, Tim is grounded by his parents for his actions.

The Boss Baby apologizes to Tim and has him suck on a pacifier that transports them to Baby Corp, a place where infants with adult-like minds work to preserve infant love everywhere. The Boss Baby explains that he was sent to see why puppies are getting more love than infants. He has infiltrated Tim's residence because his parents work for Puppy Co., which is unleashing a new puppy on the day that employees take their children to work. The Boss Baby stays intelligent by drinking a "Secret Baby Formula" that enables a baby to act like an adult. However, if a baby does not drink it after a period of time, he or she becomes a regular baby. When they overhear Boss Baby's boss threaten to fire him for not bringing in information, thereby stranding him at the Templetons, he and Tim agree to work together to keep that from happening.

Tim's parents lift the grounding and take them to Puppy Co. for the "take your child to work day". While there, they slip away and find what they think is the plans for a "Forever Puppy", but it turns out to be a trap set by founder Francis E. Francis (Steve Buscemi). They discover that Francis used to be the head of Baby Corp. and Boss Baby's idol but was forced out when it was discovered that his lactose intolerance kept the secret formula from working properly. Vowing revenge, Francis founded Puppy Co. and intends to have the Forever Puppies overshadow babies by stealing Boss Baby's serum bottle and infecting the puppies with it. Tim's parents go with Francis to Las Vegas, and Francis has his brother Eugene (Conrad Vernon) pose as Tim and Boss Baby's babysitter to keep them from interfering.

Without a steady flow of formula to keep his intelligence in check, Boss Baby starts becoming a normal baby. Despite this, he and Tim evade the "babysitter" long enough to get to the airport but are too late to intercept Tim's parents. After sneaking on a plane for Elvis impersonators (James McGrath and James Izzo) bound for Vegas, they stall Francis' presentation when Eugene unwittingly gives away their plan.

Furious at their interference, Francis locks Tim's parents up so he can burn them with exhaust from a rocket used to launch the Forever Puppies. Tim and Boss Baby push him off of a ledge, making Francis tumble into the formula. Boss Baby opens the rocket to let the dogs out so they can save Tim's parents. He returns to baby state while on the rocket, but Tim sings to him with the family song to show his appreciation, causing him to jump off the rocket before it launches.

Boss Baby gets promoted and leaves. Tim goes back to being an only child, but Tim and Boss Baby miss each other. After Tim writes a letter convincing him to live with him as his brother, Boss Baby returns to the Templeton family as a regular baby named Theodore Lindsey Templeton.

Back in the present, Tim, who finished the story, is now an adult and the father of an infant daughter who acts like Theodore did when he was Boss Baby.

Voice cast

Alec Baldwin at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con

Production

Director Tom McGrath at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con

On June 12, 2014, DreamWorks Animation announced plans to release the film on March 18, 2016, with the film being directed by Tom McGrath.[11] On September 30, 2014, Alec Baldwin and Kevin Spacey joined the film, Baldwin would play a baby and Spacey would play the villainous role. Ramsey Naito and Denise Cascino would produce the film based on a script by Michael McCullers.[4] On December 11, 2014, it was announced that The Boss Baby had been removed from the schedule and replaced with Kung Fu Panda 3, with a new release date yet to be announced.[12] On January 22, 2015, the film's release date was pushed back to January 13, 2017,[13] and in September 2015, further back to March 10, 2017, taking over the Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie date.[5] In June 2016, more casting was announced, including Steve Buscemi replacing Spacey,[14] and the release date was pushed back again to March 31, 2017.[15]

Miles Bakshi, son of the DreamWorks Animation's producer Gina Shay and grandson of the film director Ralph Bakshi, provided the voice of 7-year old Tim. He was 10 when he began recording the voice. During the long process, his voice started to change and "by the end it got pretty tough", according to Bakshi, who was 14 when the film was released. He had to get his voice "very soft, but when I got that perfect tone it was great." Having been often present at DreamWorks, McGrath initially asked him only to provide a temporary voice for Tim to see if the character "worked". They still had to listen to between 30 and 40 children to choose the scratch voice. McGrath explained their decision: "No one sounded as authentic as Miles did. A lot of child actors are great, but they are over-articulate for their age. Miles was just natural and charming. He had a little slur to his voice at the time and it was very endearing." Three years later, Miles was told that he got the part.[16]

Music

The film was scored by Hans Zimmer, along with Steve Mazzaro and various artists. The film's soundtrack was released on Back Lot Music & iTunes. "Blackbird" by The Beatles is used as part of the plot at various points throughout the film.[17]

Release

The film premiered at the Miami Film Festival on March 12, 2017,[18][19] and was released in the United States on March 31, 2017, by 20th Century Fox.[5]

Box office

As of August 10, 2017, The Boss Baby has grossed $174.9 million in the United States and Canada and $322.6 million in other territories for a worldwide gross of $497.5 million.[3]

In North America, The Boss Baby opened alongside Ghost in the Shell and The Zookeeper's Wife, and was initially projected to gross around $30 million from 3,773 theaters in its opening weekend.[20] However, after grossing $1.5 million from Thursday night previews and $15.5 million on Friday, weekend projections were increased to $50 million. It ended up debuting to $50.2 million, finishing first at the box office.[21] It remained atop the box office in its second weekend, grossing $26.3 million.[22]

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, The Boss Baby has an approval rating of 51% based on 148 reviews, with an average rating of 5.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The Boss Baby's talented cast, glimmers of wit, and flashes of visual inventiveness can't make up for a thin premise and a disappointing willingness to settle for doody jokes."[23] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 50 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[24] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.[25]

Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times praised Baldwin and the adult humor, saying: "The contrast between the helpless-infant stage of life and corporate-speak is funny but fairly high-concept for a kiddie movie, and the plot grows denser as it goes along and the baby and Tim reluctantly join forces to stop a conspiracy by which puppies would corner all the love in the world."[26]

Home media

The Boss Baby was released on Digital HD on July 4, 2017, and was released on DVD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D and Ultra HD Blu-ray on July 25, 2017 by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. The releases also includes a new short film, The Boss Baby and Tim's Treasure Hunt Through Time.[27]

Sequel

In May 2017, Universal Pictures and DreamWorks announced a sequel is set to be released on March 26, 2021, with Alec Baldwin reprising his role.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "The Boss Baby". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved March 9, 2017.
  2. ↑ "The Boss Baby – PowerGrind". The Wrap. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
  3. 1 2 "The Boss Baby (2017)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved August 10, 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 Kit, Borys (September 30, 2014). "Alec Baldwin and Kevin Spacey to Voice Star in DreamWorks Animation's 'Boss Baby'". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 McClintock, Pamela (September 18, 2015). "Hugh Jackman's 'Greatest Showman on Earth' Pushed a Year to Christmas 2017". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
  6. 1 2 "Alec Baldwin Returns In ‘The Boss Baby 2’, Crawling To Theaters In 2021". Deadline.com. Retrieved May 25, 2017.
  7. ↑ Amderton, Ethan (July 21, 2016). "DreamWorks Animation’s ‘The Boss Baby’ Is Like an Animated ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ for Kids (Comic-Con 2016)". /Film. Retrieved October 28, 2016.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Kit, Borys (June 13, 2016). "Jimmy Kimmel, Lisa Kudrow, Patton Oswalt Join Voicecast of 'Boss Baby' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
  9. ↑ Hopewell, John; Mayorga, Emilio (June 16, 2016). "Annecy: Tom McGrath Unveils Alec Baldwin-Starrer ‘Boss Baby’". Variety. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
  10. ↑ Alexander, Bryan (October 17, 2016). "Sneak peek: Alec Baldwin is 'The Boss Baby'". USA Today. Retrieved October 17, 2016.
  11. ↑ "Dates Set for Madagascar 4, The Croods 2, Puss in Boots 2, Captain Underpants, and Hitman". comingsoon.net. June 12, 2014. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
  12. ↑ "'Kung Fu Panda 3' Moves Out of 2015 to Avoid 'Star Wars'". The Hollywood Reporter. December 11, 2014. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
  13. ↑ "DreamWorks Animation Cutting 500 Jobs; Dawn Taubin and Mark Zoradi Exiting". Variety. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  14. ↑ Robinson, Will (June 13, 2016). "Boss Baby: Jimmy Kimmel, Lisa Kudrow, Steve Buscemi added to voice cast". ew.com. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  15. ↑ "Release Schedule - New Dates & Changes". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on June 20, 2016. Retrieved June 20, 2016.
  16. ↑ King, Susan (March 29, 2017). "Miles Bakshi continues a family animation tradition with 'The Boss Baby'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 21, 2017.
  17. ↑ Wloszczyna, Susan (March 28, 2017). "Review - The Boss Baby". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved April 2, 2017.
  18. ↑ "The Boss Baby". Miami Film Festival. Retrieved March 18, 2017.
  19. ↑ Hazelton, John (March 12, 2017). "'The Boss Baby': Review". Screen Daily. Retrieved March 18, 2017.
  20. ↑ "‘Boss Baby,’ ‘Ghost in the Shell’ to Battle ‘Beauty and the Beast’ This Weekend". TheWrap. March 29, 2017.
  21. ↑ "‘Boss Baby’ Cleans ‘Beauty And The Beast’s Clock With $51M+ Opening; ‘Ghost’ Shell-Shocked At $20M+". Deadline.com. Retrieved April 2, 2017.
  22. ↑ "‘Boss Baby’ Crawls Ahead Of ‘Beauty’ With $26M+; ‘Smurfs’ Lost In 3rd With $14M". Deadline.com. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
  23. ↑ "The Boss Baby (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved April 5, 2017.
  24. ↑ "The Boss Baby reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
  25. ↑ "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  26. ↑ "Review: ‘The Boss Baby’ Puts Alec Baldwin in Diapers, Sort Of". The New York Times. March 30, 2017. Retrieved April 4, 2017.
  27. ↑ Milligan, Mercedes (May 24, 2017). "‘Boss Baby’ Gets Home Delivery in July". Animation Magazine. Retrieved May 25, 2017.
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