Megamind

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This article is about the superhero film. For the video game, see Megamind (video game). For the short film, see Megamind: The Button of Doom.

Megamind
Poster showing primary characters; from left to right: Metro Man, Minion, Megamind, Roxanne and Tighten
Theatrical release poster
Directed byTom McGrath
Written by
  • Alan Schoolcraft
  • Brent Simons
Produced by
Starring
Edited byMichael Andrews
Music by
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release date
  • October 28, 2010 (2010-10-28) (Russia)
  • November 5, 2010 (2010-11-05) (United States)
Running time
96 minutes[3]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$130 million[4]
Box office$321.9 million[4]

Megamind is a 2010 American computer-animated superhero comedy film directed by Tom McGrath, produced by DreamWorks Animation, and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It features the voices of Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, David Cross, and Brad Pitt.[5]

The film tells the story of Megamind, a highly intelligent alien supervillain who becomes depressed after defeating his nemesis Metro Man. He creates a new superhero from Metro Man's DNA, but must become a hero himself when the new "hero" becomes an even worse villain than he was.

Megamind premiered on October 28, 2010, in Russia, and was released in the United States in Digital 3D, IMAX 3D and 2D on November 5, 2010.[6] The Rotten Tomatoes critical consensus calls it "a pleasant, if unspectacular, diversion".[6] With a budget of $130 million, the film grossed over $321 million worldwide,[4] becoming one of DreamWorks Animation's lowest-grossing CG animated films of the 2010s.[7]

A short film, titled Megamind: The Button of Doom, was released on February 25, 2011, on the film's DVD and Blu-ray.

Plot[]

Supervillain Megamind and his arch-nemesis, the superhero Metro Man, were both infants that were sent to Earth by their dying planets. Though both arrived in Metro City at the same time, Metro Man was raised in a mansion, while Megamind was raised by prisoners. In the present, Megamind, aided by his fish-like companion Minion, frequently and unsuccessfully battles Metro Man for control of the city.

At the grand opening of the new Metro Man Museum, Megamind escapes his prison, kidnaps reporter Roxanne Ritchi, and lures Metro Man to an abandoned observatory to rescue her. Once there, Metro Man collapses, claiming the copper-lined observatory roof weakens his powers; Megamind then shoots (and apparently kills) Metro Man with a sun-powered weapon. With no one around to stop him, Megamind goes on a crime spree, taking over the city; however, he feels increasingly depressed and purposeless with no hero to fight.

Megamind decides to blow up the Metro Man museum to forget the hero, but sees Roxanne there and dehydrates the museum's curator, Bernard, into a small cube instead. Disguised as Bernard using hologram technology, Megamind talks to Roxanne, whose remarks inspire him to use Metro Man's DNA to create a new superhero to fight. Megamind perfects the formula, but accidentally injects it into Hal Stewart, Roxanne's dimwitted cameraman who has a crush on her.

Disguising himself via hologram as Hal's "Space Dad", Megamind offers to train Hal to become a superhero. Hal, seeing this as a chance to get with Roxanne, accepts and takes on the name "Titan" (though he misspells it "Tighten"). Megamind also begins to date Roxanne in the guise of Bernard, and he and Minion have a falling out over Megamind's apparent lack of interest in committing further crimes. Roxanne rejects Tighten when he comes to court her, and Tighten later witnesses her kissing "Bernard". After a heartbroken Tighten leaves, Megamind's "Bernard" disguise fails, and Roxanne harshly rejects him as well.

Megamind arranges to fight Tighten the next day, but Tighten does not show up. Megamind soon learns Tighten is using his powers on a crime spree. Tighten offers to ally with Megamind, but Megamind deliberately reveals his disguises and deceptions, hoping to goad Tighten into fighting. Angered, Tighten savagely beats Megamind. Realizing that Tighten has no interest in justice and means to murder him, Megamind traps Tighten in a ball of copper; however, he is surprised when Tighten easily breaks out. Megamind and Roxanne escape to Metro Man's old hideout, and discover that Metro Man is still alive, having faked his death to pursue his dream career as a musician. He refuses to help, but asserts that a hero will always rise to defeat evil.

Dejected, Megamind puts himself back into prison. Tighten goes on a rampage, demanding to fight Megamind and threatening to kill Roxanne. Megamind realizes he must act, and reconciles with Minion. The two escape the prison and use holographic disguises to make Megamind appear as Metro Man, and Minion as Megamind, to frighten Tighten away and rescue Roxanne. However, Megamind's speech patterns give him away, and Tighten attacks Megamind and throws him high into the air (as shown in medias res at the start of the film). Dehydrating himself into a cube and landing safely in a fountain, Megamind rehydrates next to Tighten and manages to extract the DNA, reverting Tighten back to his human form. After Hal is arrested, Megamind and Roxanne begin a relationship, and the city celebrates Megamind as a hero. The museum is converted into one celebrating Megamind, and a disguised Metro Man cheers on his former foe at the grand opening ceremony.

In a mid-credits scene, the real Bernard is rehydrated when Minion does the laundry. Minion offers to help him forget all the troubles he has been through, and knocks him out with a Forget Me Stick.

Cast[]

Will Ferrell (in costume), Tina Fey and Jonah Hill at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con
  • Will Ferrell as Megamind, a blue-skinned, humanoid alien supervillain with a large cranium. He is a spoof of Lex Luthor, Brainiac and The Leader[8] while his "Space Dad" persona is a parody of both the physical resemblance of Jor-El as played by Marlon Brando in the 1978 film Superman and Brando's voice as Vito Corleone in The Godfather.[9] The DVD commentary notes that his costume and showmanship are purposely evocative of Alice Cooper.
  • Tina Fey as Roxanne Ritchi, a TV news reporter who becomes Megamind's love interest. She is a spoof of Lois Lane.[10]
  • Jonah Hill as Hal Stewart / Tighten,[11] Roxanne's hapless, dimwitted but nerdy cameraman who has unrequited feelings for her. His motivation throughout the film is to get her back to his apartment with him. Given powers by Megamind to become a superhero named Tighten (he misspells "Titan") he instead becomes a supervillain. The name Hal Stewart refers to Hal Jordan and John Stewart of the Green Lantern Corps.[12]
  • David Cross as Minion, a talking fish who has been Megamind's sidekick and best friend since childhood. His costume is evocative of Ro-Man from Robot Monster.
  • Brad Pitt as Metro Man, Megamind's former nemesis who would rather pursue a career in music. He is a spoof of Superman.[10] The DVD commentary notes that his costume and showmanship are purposely evocative of the late Elvis Presley.
  • J. K. Simmons as The Warden, the head of Metro City Prison.
  • Ben Stiller as Bernard, a museum curator whom Megamind impersonates to win Roxanne's affections.
  • Christopher Knights as Prison Guard
  • Tom McGrath as Lord Scott / Prison Guard
  • Jack Blessing as Newscaster
  • Justin Theroux as Megamind's Dad
  • Jessica Schulte as Megamind's Mom
  • Rob Corddry as Random Citizen

Production[]

Director Tom McGrath promoting the film at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International

The film was written by Alan J. Schoolcraft and Brent Simons.[13] It was first titled Master Mind, and then Oobermind.[14] It was suggested that Ben Stiller would be cast as Megamind,[15] and later Robert Downey Jr.[16] but Will Ferrell was ultimately given the role, due to "scheduling conflicts" for Downey.[5][17] Lara Breay and Denise Nolan Cascino were the film's producers, and Ben Stiller and Stuart Cornfeld were the executive producers.[14] Justin Theroux and Guillermo del Toro worked as creative consultants on the film. Del Toro only came on board three weeks before the end of production,[18] but went on to have a more substantial role in subsequent DreamWorks Animation films. The opening of the film, where Megamind is falling to his apparent death, was del Toro's idea.[19]

Music[]

Main article: Megamind: Music from the Motion Picture

Megamind: Music from the Motion Picture is a soundtrack to the film of the same name, composed by Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe, and released on November 2, 2010 by Lakeshore Records.[20][21]

Release[]

Megamind premiered on October 28, 2010 in Russia, and was theatrically released in the United States on November 5, 2010.[22] It was supposed to be released in Japan on March 12, 2011, but because of the earthquake and tsunami a day before, the Japanese release was cancelled.[23][24] Megamind was promoted at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International, with Tom McGrath, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, and Will Ferrell, who was dressed as Megamind.[25] It was released on both Blu-ray Disc and DVD on February 25, 2011, accompanied with an all-new short titled Megamind: The Button of Doom.[26] The Button of Doom also had its television premiere on Nickelodeon, which was aired on February 26, 2011. It was the seventh-best-selling DVD of 2011 with over 3 million units sold.[27] The film made a total of $70.4 million in DVD and Blu-ray sales.[28] As of November 2012, 5.6 million home entertainment units were sold worldwide.[29] The film was released on Blu-ray 3D in March 2011 exclusively as a part of Samsung 3D Starter Kits,[30] and on September 11, 2011, exclusively at Best Buy stores.[31] In 2014, the film's distribution rights were purchased by DreamWorks Animation from Paramount Pictures and transferred to 20th Century Fox;[32] the rights are now owned by Universal Pictures.

Reception[]

Box office[]

Megamind opened to $12.5 million on opening day, and earned $46 million over the three-day weekend, taking the No. 1 spot and averaged $11,668 from around 7,300 screens at 3,944 theaters. The opening was a bit higher than fellow DreamWorks Animation film How to Train Your Dragon, which earned $43.7 million back in March 2010. It was the fifth-highest opening for an animated feature in 2010. In its second weekend, it repeated at No. 1 and dropped 37% to $29.1 million for a $7,374 average from 3,949 theaters, and bringing its 10-day cumulative total to $88.8 million. On its third weekend, it fell 45% to $16 million and finished second to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, averaging $4,237 from 3,779 theaters. Over Thanksgiving weekend, it held well with just a 22% drop to $12.6 million and slid to third place behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Tangled (it earned $17,304,307 over the five-day Thanksgiving period). Following Thanksgiving, the film fell a sharp 61% in its fifth weekend to $4.9 million and finished in sixth place.

The film closed in theaters on February 24, 2011 (a day before it was released on DVD and Blu-ray), earning $148.4 million in North America, and $173.5 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $321.9 million.[4] The final gross was low for a DreamWorks Animation film, but was still signified a box office success because it had surpassed the production budget of $130 million. It is the sixth-highest-grossing animated film from 2010 worldwide, behind Toy Story 3 ($1.063 billion), Shrek Forever After ($753 million), Tangled ($591 million), Despicable Me ($543 million), and How to Train Your Dragon ($494 million), the highest-grossing film worldwide in both Ferrell's (until 2014's The Lego Movie) and Fey's careers,[33][34] as well as the fifth-highest-grossing computer-animated superhero film, behind Incredibles 2, The Incredibles, Big Hero 6 and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

Critical response[]

The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 72% based on 183 reviews, and an average rating of 6.70/10. The site's consensus states, "It regurgitates plot points from earlier animated efforts, and isn't quite as funny as it should be, but a top-shelf voice cast and strong visuals help make Megamind a pleasant, if unspectacular, diversion."[6] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 63 out of 100 based on reviews from 33 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[35] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[36]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars out of four, stating, "This set-up is bright and amusing, even if it does feel recycled from bits and pieces of such recent animated landmarks as The Incredibles with its superpowers and Despicable Me with its villain."[37] Stephen Holden, of The New York Times, positively wrote in his review, "Visually Megamind is immaculately sleek and gracefully enhanced by 3-D."[38] Entertainment Weekly reviewer Owen Gleiberman graded the film a B+ and wrote, "...too goofy-surreal to pack a lot of emotional punch, but it's antically light on its feet, with 3-D images that have a lustrous, gizmo-mad sci-fi clarity."[39] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone commented, "What this raucous 3D animated fun house lacks in originality (think bastard child of The Incredibles and Despicable Me) it makes up for in visual and vocal wit."[40] In a mixed review, Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Just as Megamind struggles to find his center, at times, so does the film."[41]

The main point of criticism was the film's perceived lack of originality. Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "You have seen all this before".[42] Justin Chang of Variety said: "Though enlivened by some moderately clever twists on the superhero-movie template, Megamind never shakes off a feeling of been-there-spoofed-that."[43] Claudia Puig of USA Today even asked: "Do we really need Megamind when Despicable Me is around?".[44]

Accolades[]

Award Category Name Result
38th Annie Awards[45] Animated Effects in an Animated Production Krzysztof Rostek Nominated
Character Animation in a Feature Production Mark Donald Nominated
Anthony Hodgson Nominated
Character Design in a Feature Production Timothy Lamb Nominated
Storyboarding in a Feature Production Catherine Yuh Rader Nominated
Writing in a Feature Production Alan Schoolcraft, Brent Simons Nominated
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards 2010[46] Best Animated Film Nominated
2011 Kids' Choice Awards[47] Favorite Buttkicker Will Ferrell Nominated
The National Movie Awards[48] Best Animated Movie Nominated
The Comedy Awards[49] Best Animated Comedy Movie Nominated

Other spin-offs[]

Several video game tie-ins published by THQ were released on November 2, 2010 to coincide with the film's release. An Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 version is titled Megamind: Ultimate Showdown, while the Wii version is titled Megamind: Mega Team Unite and the PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS versions are both titled Megamind: The Blue Defender. All three versions of the game have been rated E10+ for fantasy violence by the ESRB.[50]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Megamind". American Film Institute. Retrieved October 26, 2016.
  2. ^ "Megamind (2010) - Financial Information". The Numbers. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
  3. ^ "Megamind (2D)". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved December 11, 2013.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d "Megamind". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved October 13, 2012.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b SuperHeroHype (August 16, 2009). "Ferrell, Pitt and Hill to voice Oobermind". Superhero Hype!. Retrieved August 18, 2009.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Megamind (2010)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  7. ^ Fritz, Ben (January 3, 2011). "'Megamind' less than a mega-success overseas". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 3, 2012.
  8. ^ Greydanus, Steven D. (November 11, 2010). "'Megamind' a Clever Spoof". National Catholic Register. Retrieved August 29, 2011.
  9. ^ Boucher, Geoff (November 7, 2010). "Will Ferrell channels Brando in 'Megamind'? 'Yes, I do, isn't that weird?'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b Wilkins, Alasdair (July 22, 2010). "Megamind asks the great superhero question: what if Lex Luthor killed Superman?". io9. Retrieved August 29, 2011.
  11. ^ ""Megamind" screenplay". Screenplay Explorer. December 3, 2010. Retrieved December 29, 2011.
  12. ^ Knolle, Sharon (June 17, 2011). "A Moviefone Salute to Guys Named Hal". Moviefone. Archived from the original on January 23, 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2011.
  13. ^ Alex Amelines (August 17, 2009). "DreamWorks reveals voice-cast for Oobermind". One Huge Eye. Retrieved August 18, 2009.
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b Skott Stotland (May 28, 2009). "Master Mind" becomes "Oobermind". Bam! Kapow!. Archived from the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved August 18, 2009.
  15. ^ Christopher Campbell (April 3, 2007). "Ben Stiller is a Master Mind". MovieFone. Archived from the original on March 10, 2011. Retrieved May 3, 2013.
  16. ^ Debruge, Peter (May 27, 2009). "DreamWorks animates its output". Variety. Retrieved May 21, 2014.
  17. ^ Will Ferrell Replaces Robert Downey Jr. in DreamWorks Animation’s OOBERMIND Retrieved May 3, 2013
  18. ^ Carnevale, Rob. "IndieLondon: Megamind - Tom McGrath interview". Your London Reviews. Retrieved March 23, 2012.
  19. ^ Eisenberg, Eric (November 3, 2010). "Exclusive Interview: Megamind Director Tom McGrath". CinemaBlend.com. Retrieved March 23, 2012.
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  24. ^ Segers, Frank (March 13, 2011). "Japan's Earthquake Pushes Down International Box Office 60% From Last Year". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 9, 2013. Although DreamWorks Animation’s Megamind had been listed on some overseas schedules as a March 12 opener in Japan, distributor Paramount said the film did not premier in the market on the weekend. Furthermore, said Andrew Cripps, president of Paramount Pictures Int’l., the 3D animation title --winding an overseas campaign begun in October of 2010 -- "will not release there."
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  26. ^ Calonge, Juan (January 4, 2011). "Megamind Blu-ray Announced". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved January 4, 2011.
  27. ^ Top-Selling DVDs of 2011 Retrieved May 3, 2013
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  42. ^ Phillips, Michael (November 4, 2010). "Heroes and villains: A wash of color can't perk up tired plot lines". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved August 29, 2012.
  43. ^ Chang, Justin (November 1, 2010). "Megamind". Variety. Retrieved August 29, 2012.
  44. ^ Puig, Claudia (November 6, 2010). "Villainous hero Megamind: Been there, animated that". USA Today. Retrieved August 29, 2012.
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  46. ^ "The 2010 WAFCA Award Winners". The Washington DC Area Film Critics Association. December 6, 2010. Retrieved September 23, 2012.
  47. ^ Nickelodeon (February 10, 2011). "Expect the Unexpected as Jack Black Hosts Nickelodeon's 2011 Kids' Choice Awards Airing Live From Los Angeles on Saturday, April 2, at 8pm ET". PR Newswire. Retrieved September 23, 2012.
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  49. ^ "Nominees". The Comedy Awards. Retrieved September 23, 2012.
  50. ^ DreamWorks' Megamind: The Video Games Archived November 11, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved December 8, 2010.

External links[]

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