Bedtime Stories (film)

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Bedtime Stories
Bedtime stories.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAdam Shankman
Screenplay byMatt Lopez
Tim Herlihy
Story byMatt Lopez
Produced byAdam Sandler
Andrew Gunn
Jack Giarraputo
Starring
CinematographyMichael Barrett
Edited byTom Costain
Music byRupert Gregson-Williams
Production
companies
Distributed byWalt Disney Studios
Motion Pictures
Release date
  • December 25, 2008 (2008-12-25)
Running time
99 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$80 million[1]
Box office$212.9 million[2]

Bedtime Stories is a 2008 American fantasy comedy film directed by Adam Shankman and written by Matt Lopez and Tim Herlihy. It stars Adam Sandler in his first appearance in a family-oriented film alongside Keri Russell, Jonathan Morgan Heit, Laura Ann Kesling, Guy Pearce, Aisha Tyler, Russell Brand, Richard Griffiths, Teresa Palmer, Lucy Lawless and Courteney Cox. Sandler's production company Happy Madison and Andrew Gunn's company Gunn Films co-produced the film with Walt Disney Pictures. The film was theatrically released on December 25, 2008 by Walt Disney Pictures. Despite receiving generally negative reviews from critics, it was a box office success after earning $212.9 million against an $80 million budget.

Plot[]

As a young child, Skeeter Bronson was raised by his father Martin "Marty" at the family business, the Sunny Vista Motel. Twenty-five years later, the motel has been bought and rebuilt into a bigger hotel by the hotel chain Nottingham Hotels, and was renamed the Sunny Vista Nottingham Hotel, due to Marty facing debt, bankruptcy, financial problems, financial issues, and lack of business, despite being a good hotelier. The hotel was purchased and currently owned by CEO, Barry Nottingham, who promised Marty to let Skeeter run the business if he showed promise. Despite this, Skeeter is now stuck as the hotel's repairman. Nottingham announces plans to close the old hotel in order to build a new hotel, named the Sunny Vista Mega Nottingham, and appoints another man, the snotty Kendall Duncan to become the new manager, simply because Duncan is dating his daughter, Violet.

Skeeter's sister Wendy asks him to watch her children, Patrick and Bobbi, because the school at which she is the principal is being closed and she is looking for a job in Arizona. The first night, Skeeter tells them a bedtime story, in which an underdog peasant is passed over for promotion. The children add that he gets a chance at the promotion, and that it starts raining gumballs.

The next day, the story miraculously comes true: Nottingham gives Skeeter a shot at the manager position, and on his way home, gumballs rain on Skeeter from a truck crash on an overpass. The next night, at the hotel, Skeeter tells another story in which he is given a Ferrari, but it doesn't come true. He saves Violet from an obnoxious paparazzi and spots a Ferrari car, but Violet drives away with it. Skeeter realizes that only the children's additions to the stories come true.

The night after that, Skeeter tells the children about a Greek chariot-riding stuntman, and the next day he ends up falling for his sister's friend and colleague Jill. On Skeeter’s last night with the children, he tells them a story in which he triumphs over Kendall, but the children add that someone kills him with a fireball. He learns from Kendall that the new Nottingham Hotel will be at the location of the closing school. Skeeter wins the manager position, but Nottingham fires him for his paranoid antics protecting himself from fire.

Skeeter manages to get the hotel moved to Santa Monica, and then with Jill is able to avert the demolition, saving the school. Some time later, Skeeter marries Jill and opens a motel named after his late father. Kendall and his accomplice Aspen are demoted to the motel's waiting staff. Violet marries Skeeter's best friend, hotel room service waiter Mickey, giving him control of the Nottingham Empire, becoming CEO, & the ninth richest man alive. In the meantime, Nottingham quits the hotel industry to become a school nurse and newlywed Skeeter and Jill have a baby.

Cast[]

Production[]

Director Adam Shankman describes Adam Sandler's character as "a sort of 'Cinderfella' character" and adds that "'He's like Han Solo ...'"[3] It was filmed on various locations in California, including in Thousand Oaks where Mr. Nottingham's palace is set.[4][5]

Music[]

Bedtime Stories
Film score by
Rupert Gregson-Williams
ReleasedDecember 23, 2008
GenreSoundtrack, film score
Length35:11
LabelWalt Disney

The score to Bedtime Stories was composed by Rupert Gregson-Williams, who recorded his score with the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Newman Scoring Stage at 20th Century Fox.[6] The song "Don't Stop Believin'" is played during the film and during the end credits.

No.TitleLength
1."The Sunny Vista Motel"4:15
2."The Tale of Sir Fixalot"3:04
3."Raining Gumballs"1:16
4."The Fat Mouse"1:54
5."The Wild West Adventure"2:15
6."Rooftop Camp Out"2:34
7."The Legend of Skeetacus"1:57
8."Almost a Kiss"1:53
9."Space Odyssey"3:08
10."Skeeter's Pitch"3:17
11."At the Nottingham Broadway Mega Resort" (Performed by Guy Pearce)1:18
12."You're Supposed To Be the Good Guy"3:49
13."Motorcycle Rescue"3:26
14."Happily Ever After"1:07

Theatrical release[]

The film was released in the United States on December 25, 2008, in Poland on January 23, 2009 and in Sweden on February 20, 2009.

Reception[]

Critical response[]

Adam Sandler at Cannes in 2002

On Rotten Tomatoes Bedtime Stories has an approval rating of 26% based on 110 reviews, with an average rating of 4.39/10. The site's consensus states, "Though it may earn some chuckles from pre-teens, this kid-friendly Adam Sandler comedy is uneven, poorly paced, and lacks the requisite whimsy to truly work."[7] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 33 out of 100 based on 26 reviews, "generally unfavorable reviews".[8] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B+ on scale of A to F.[9]

Box office[]

Slashfilm predicted that Bedtime Stories would open #1 during the December 25–28, 2008 Christmas weekend due to its family appeal and the box office draw of Adam Sandler,[10] but it came at #3 grossing $38 million behind Marley & Me and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. However, during the standard 3-day weekend, it jumped ahead of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ranking #2 behind Marley & Me with $27.5 million.[11] As of February 2009, the film had grossed $110,101,975 in the United States and Canada and $102,772,467 in other countries, totaling $212,874,442 worldwide.

Home media release[]

The film was released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on April 7, 2009. The DVD was released as a single disc or a two-disc edition including behind-the-scenes featurette. Commercials advertising the discs feature background music recycled from the film Back to the Future Part III. As of November 1, 2009 the DVD has sold 2,835,662 copies generating $49,409,944 in sales revenue.[12]

Accolades[]

Australian Film Institute 2009
Award Category Nominee Result
AFI International Award Best Actor Guy Pearce Nominated
BMI Film & TV Awards 2009
Award Nominee Result
BMI Film Music Award Rupert Gregson-Williams Won
Kids' Choice Awards, USA 2009
Award Category Nominee Result
Blimp Award Favorite Movie
Favorite Movie Actor 		Adam Sandler Nominated
Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA 2009
Award Category Nominee Result
Golden Reel Award Best Sound Editing - Music in a Feature Film J.J. George (supervising music editor)
Kevin Crehan (music editor)
Tom Kramer (music editor) 		Nominated
Young Artist Awards 2009
Award Category Nominee Result
Young Artist Award Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actor Johntae Lipscomb Nominated

References[]

  1. ^ "Bedtime Stories (2008) - Financial Information". The Numbers.
  2. ^ "Bedtime Stories (2008)". Retrieved 2008-01-25.
  3. ^ As quoted in "First Look: Behind the scenes of Hollywood's biggest projects," Entertainment Weekly 1025 (December 12, 2008): 9.
  4. ^ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0960731/locations
  5. ^ https://aluxurylimo.wordpress.com/2017/02/13/best-movies-filmed-in-thousand-oaks/
  6. ^ Rupert Gregson-Williams scores Bedtime Stories. ScoringSessions.com. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
  7. ^ "Bedtime Stories (2008)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  8. ^ "Bedtime Stories". Metacritic. Retrieved November 23, 2019.
  9. ^ "Cinemascore". Archived from the original on 2018-12-20.
  10. ^ Box Office Tracking: Bedtime Stories Could Be The Biggest Christmas Day Opening of All-Time Archived 2009-01-22 at the Wayback Machine. /Film. Retrieved 2008-12-24.
  11. ^ Weekend Box Office Results for December 26–28, 2008. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  12. ^ Bedtime Stories - Box Office Data, Movie News, Cast Information. The Numbers. Retrieved 2010-10-26.

External links[]

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