The Pink Panther (2006 film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Pink Panther
Pinkpanther mp.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byShawn Levy
Screenplay by
Story by
  • Len Blum
  • Michael Saltzman
Based on
Produced byRobert Simonds
Starring
CinematographyJonathan Brown
Edited by
Music by
Production
companies
Distributed bySony Pictures Releasing[2] (North America)
20th Century Fox (International)[2][3]
Release date
  • January 19, 2006 (2006-01-19) (Alpe d'Huez)
  • February 10, 2006 (2006-02-10) (United States)
Running time
93 minutes
CountryUnited States[1]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$80 million[2]
Box office$164.1 million[2]

The Pink Panther is a 2006 American comedy-mystery film and a remake of The Pink Panther franchise, marking the tenth installment in the series. It is also the first Pink Panther film to be released since Son of the Pink Panther released in 1993. In this film, Inspector Jacques Clouseau is assigned to solve the murder of a famous football coach and the theft of the famous Pink Panther diamond. The film was directed by Shawn Levy, stars Steve Martin as Clouseau and also co-stars Kevin Kline, Jean Reno, Emily Mortimer, and Beyoncé Knowles.

The film grossed $159 million worldwide. The Pink Panther was released theatrically on February 10, 2006, and was released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 13, 2006. A sequel was released on February 6, 2009.

Plot[]

At a soccer match between France and China, French coach Yves Gluant arrives wearing the priceless Pink Panther diamond ring and embraces his girlfriend, pop star Xania. After France wins in sudden death, Gluant is killed by a poison dart, with the Pink Panther nowhere to be found.

Eager to win the Légion d'honneur, Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus promotes clumsy policeman and village idiot Jacques Clouseau to the rank of inspector and assigns him to the case. While Clouseau draws the media's attention, Dreyfus assembles a secret team to actually crack the case and assigns Gendarme Gilbert Ponton to keep an eye on Clouseau. Clouseau befriends Ponton and falls in love with secretary Nicole Durant.

Bizu, a French player who blamed Gluant for "stealing away" Xania, is the prime murder suspect until he is shot in the head in the team's locker room. While gathering information at a casino, Clouseau meets MI6 agent Nigel Boswell, who foils a robbery while wearing Clouseau's trench coat; Clouseau mistakenly receives credit and is nominated for the Légion d'honneur.

After following Xania to New York City, Ponton insists she is a suspect because Gluant cheated on her, but Clouseau believes she is innocent, though her actions cause him to believe she knows more than she's letting on. The poison that killed Gluant is found to have been derived from Chinese herbs, leading Dreyfus to conclude that the killer is a Chinese envoy named Dr. Pang, whom Gluant had several dealings with. Dreyfus has Clouseau's bag swapped for one full of weapons at the airport, and Clouseau is arrested (due to his inability to pronounce "hamburger" correctly, having attempted to smuggle some onto the flight back) and vilified by the press on his return to France. Dreyfus demotes Clouseau and plots to publicly arrest Dr. Pang at the Presidential Ball, where Xania will perform.

Clouseau sees an article online about his arrest and deduces that Gluant and Bizu were killed by the same person. Realizing that Xania will be the killer's next target, Clouseau, Ponton and Nicole hurry to the Élysée Palace and sneak into the Presidential Ball. While Dreyfus errantly arrests Dr. Pang, Clouseau and Ponton save Xania's life by capturing her would-be assassin: Yuri, the French team's trainer. Jealous and feeling overlooked for the team's success, Yuri used his mandated knowledge of Chinese herbs to kill Gluant by jabbing the poison dart into his neck. He later killed Bizu, who long suspected that Yuri might try to kill Gluant attempted to blackmail him, by using his Russian training to target the player's occipital lobe, and then targeted Xania for ignoring him and dating Gluant.

Clouseau reveals that the Pink Panther was not stolen but instead sewn into the lining of Xania's purse; the photograph of Clouseau's arrest showed an X-ray of the purse at airport security. Xania confesses that Gluant gave her the diamond as an engagement ring just before the France-China match, but after his murder, she was worried the ring's presence on her would implicate her. Clouseau concludes that Xania is the ring's rightful owner, and Yuri is taken into custody.

Clouseau wins the Légion d'honneur. Dreyfus' suit gets caught in Clouseau's car door, causing Dreyfus to be dragged down the street as an oblivious Clouseau drives away. While visiting Dreyfus in the hospital, Clouseau accidentally releases the brake on Dreyfus' bed, which rolls through the hospital and throws the irate chief inspector into the Seine as he screams Clouseau's name.

Cast[]

  • Steve Martin as Inspector Jacques Clouseau, a bumbling police officer from a small village in France.
  • Kevin Kline as Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus, the head of the French police who is obsessed with winning the Medal of Honour.
  • Jean Reno as Gendarme Gilbert Ponton, a capable police officer who is assigned to report to Dreyfus on Clouseau's actions.
  • Emily Mortimer as Nicole Durant, a secretary and romance interest of Clouseau.
  • Henry Czerny as Yuri, a Russian assassin and trainer of the French national football team.
  • Kristin Chenoweth as Cherie, an American employee of the French national football team.
  • Roger Rees as Raymond Laroque, a wealthy casino owner and friend of Yves Gluant.
  • Beyoncé as Xania, a famous pop star and girlfriend of Gluant.
  • William Abadie as Bizu, a player on the French national football team
  • Scott Adkins as Jacquard, another player on the French national football team
  • Philip Goodwin as Deputy Chief Renard
  • Henri Garcin as President
  • Jean Dell as Justice Minister Clochard
  • Anna Katarina as Agent Corbeille
  • Jason Statham as Yves Gluant (uncredited), the head coach of the French national football team, whose murder is under investigation.
  • Clive Owen as Nigel Boswell/Agent 006 (uncredited), an MI6 secret agent and parody of James Bond.
  • Boris McGiver as Vainqueur (uncredited), the current head coach of the French national football team.

Production[]

A re collaboration between Steve Martin and producer Robert Simonds, the successful teaming behind Cheaper by the Dozen, The Pink Panther had a production budget of US$80 million.[2] Filming began on May 10, 2004.[4]

The film was originally supposed to seek an August 5, 2005 release date, but was then pushed back to February 10, 2006, after Sony expressed dissatisfaction with the film's raunchy tone. It was heavily edited and key scenes were re-shot in an effort to create a more family-friendly feature. "With the recent acquisition of MGM, we wanted to give our marketing department the time and opportunity to launch this very important franchise," Sony Pictures Releasing president Rory Bruer said. "We've seen the movie, and we really love this film. It's a franchise we believe in and are really excited about, and Steve Martin is great as Clouseau."[5]

Reception[]

Critical response[]

On Rotten Tomatoes, The Pink Panther has an approval rating of 21% based on 143 reviews and an average rating of 4.11/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Though Steve Martin is game, the particulars of the Inspector Clouseau character elude him in this middling update."[6] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 38 out of 100 based on 35 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[7]

The film was nominated for two Razzies in 2006, one in the category "Worst Remake or Rip-off", and one in the category "Worst Supporting Actress" for Kristin Chenoweth.[8] At the 2006 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, the film received four nominations: "Worst Actor" (Martin), "Worst Song" (Check on It), and "Worst Fake Accent (Male)" (both Martin and Kline).

Box office[]

The film grossed $164.1 million against a budget of $80 million. The Pink Panther is the highest-grossing film in the Pink Panther franchise.[9]

The Pink Panther opened at No.1 in the United States, grossing $20.2 million from 3,477 theaters, and took in an additional $20.9 million over the four day Presidents Day weekend the following weekend.[10] The film closed in theatres on April 16, having grossed $82.2 million in its ten weeks of release. Overseas, the film took $76.6 million. United States screenings made up 51.8% of box office takings, with international viewings responsible for 48.2%.[2] In the United Kingdom, the film was released on March 17, 2006, and topped the country's box office that weekend.[11]

Home media[]

The Pink Panther was released for home viewing on June 13, 2006, and sold 693,588 DVD copies, worth $9,391,182. To date the film has sold 1,579,116 copies—$23,216,770 of consumer spending.[12]

Music[]

David Newman was originally chosen to compose the score for the film, but was quickly replaced by Christophe Beck. He is credited with the film score which was released as the soundtrack album The Pink Panther about one month following the release of the film.[13] R&B singer, Beyoncé, who co-stars as Xania, performed two songs for the film, "A Woman Like Me" and #1 hit, "Check on It". The latter serves as the film's theme song aside from the Pink Panther theme by Henry Mancini.

Numerous other songs were used in small parts, but only Beck's original score was included on the soundtrack album.[13][14]

Sequel[]

Main article: The Pink Panther 2

The sequel to this film, titled The Pink Panther 2, was released on February 6, 2009. It again features Steve Martin as Inspector Clouseau, Emily Mortimer as Nicole Durant, and Jean Reno as Gendarme Ponton, but was notable because Dreyfus was played by John Cleese instead of Kevin Kline. Beyoncé did not return for the sequel either.

The film features Clouseau and a "Dream Team" of the world's best detectives formed to catch the international mastermind thief El Tornado, who has stolen several valuable treasures, including the Shroud of Turin, the Pope's Ring and the Pink Panther diamond. The film grossed $75,946,615 at the box office.[15]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c "The Pink Panther". American Film Institute. Retrieved October 30, 2016.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f "The Pink Panther (2006)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved December 26, 2011.
  3. ^ "The Pink Panther (2005)". BBFC. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  4. ^ "Columbia Music Video Set to Release New Beyonce DVD/CD: Live at Wembley" (Press release). Columbia Records. April 23, 2004. Retrieved December 26, 2011.
  5. ^ "'Pink Panther' delayed to 2006". CNN. Reuters. 7 June 2005. Archived from the original on June 9, 2005. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  6. ^ "The Pink Panther (2006)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
  7. ^ "The Pink Panther". Metacritic. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  8. ^ "Razzie Voters Get Back to BASICs In Picking the Berry Worst of 2006". January 22, 2007. Archived from the original on February 2, 2007. Retrieved January 22, 2007.
  9. ^ "The Pink Panther". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved December 26, 2011.
  10. ^ "The Pink Panther (2006)". Box Office Mojo.
  11. ^ "Weekend box office 17th March 2006 - 19th March 2006". www.25thframe.co.uk. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
  12. ^ "The Pink Panther - DVD Sales". The Numbers (Nash Information Services). Retrieved December 26, 2011.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b Beck, C. (2003). The Pink Panther CD. Studio City: Varese Sarabande.
  14. ^ Shuman, I., Simonds, R., Trench, T. (Producers), & Levy, S. (Director). (2006). The Pink Panther. Los Angeles, CA: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
  15. ^ "The Pink Panther 2". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved October 24, 2015.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""