| Hop | |
|---|---|
_US_Poster.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Tim Hill |
| Screenplay by | |
| Story by |
|
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Peter Lyons Collister |
| Edited by |
|
| Music by | Christopher Lennertz |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures[1][3] |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 95 minutes[4] |
| Country | United States[1][2][3] |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $63 million[5][6] |
| Box office | $188.5 million[6] |
Hop is a 2011 Americanlive-action animatedEastercomedy film directed byTim Hill and written byBrian Lynch,Cinco Paul, and Ken Daurio. Produced byIllumination Entertainment, it starsJames Marsden,Kaley Cuoco,Gary Cole,Elizabeth Perkins,David Hasselhoff, andChelsea Handler, with the voices ofRussell Brand,Hank Azaria, andHugh Laurie. The film follows a young rabbit who would rather drum in a band than succeed his father as the Easter Bunny, and befriends a human slacker seeking a job.
Hop premiered atUniversal Studios Hollywood on March 27, 2011, and was theatrically released in the United States on April 1 byUniversal Pictures, and received mixed reviews from critics. It was a box-office success, grossing $188.5 million against a budget of $63 million.
OnEaster Island, a young rabbit named E.B. is intended to succeed his father as theEaster Bunny. Ignoring his father's orders, E.B. runs away toHollywood to pursue his dream of becoming a music drummer. InVan Nuys, E.B. is hit by Fred O'Hare, an out-of-work, job-hopping slacker who was driving to his sister Sam's boss's house to house-sit after his parents forced him to move out. Feigning injury, E.B. persuades Fred to take him in as he recovers, but when E.B. causes trouble, Fred attempts to release him in the wilderness. However, E.B. persuades Fred to let him stay, claiming to be the Easter Bunny, whom Fred had witnessed delivering eggs as a child, becoming infatuated with Easter ever since.
Meanwhile, E.B.'s father sends his royal guards, the Pink Berets, to search for him and bring him back. In Hollywood, E.B. sees the Berets closing in on him and hides inside a business where Fred is having a job interview. E.B. enjoys a successful recording session withThe 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 forDavid Hasselhoff, and after performing for him, he invites him to perform on his show.
Afterwards, Fred attends his adoptive younger sister Alex's school Easter pageant with E.B. hiding in a satchel. E.B., believing that the Pink Berets have found him due to the three bunny suit shadows on a wall and disgusted by Alex's awful rendition of "Peter Cottontail", dashes out and disrupts the show. Fred fakes being a ventriloquist with E.B. as his dummy, and the two upstage the show singing, "I Want Candy". Both Fred's father Henry and Alex are angry and upset about the upstaging, but Fred is inspired to be the Easter Bunny himself. Although skeptical, E.B. agrees to train him and finds that Fred has some genuine talent for it.
Meanwhile, the Easter Bunny's best friend andsecond-in-command Carlos the Chick secretly plots acoup d'état against him to take over Easter, inspiring the chicks to uprise against the bunnies, and begins training to become the "Easter Chick". The next morning, as E.B. is about to go to Hasselhoff's show, he notices the Pink Berets and prepares a decoy to fake his death, leaving Fred behind. The Berets see the decoy and, horrified that Fred has apparently killed E.B., capture him and take him to Easter Island. Fred is confronted by E.B.'s father and Carlos, who seizes control of the Easter factory, tying up E.B.'s father and placing him and Fred to be boiled alive. Meanwhile, E.B. starts to feel guilty for leaving Fred, and is convinced by Hasselhoff on his show to go back and help his friend.
E.B. races back to the factory to confront Carlos, but he is immobilized in gummy candy and tossed into the chocolate bunny carving line. E.B. survives by dodging the blades of the machine, while Fred eats through the black-licorice ropes, escaping with E.B's father. Carlos turns into a mutant chick-bunny hybrid due to the magic of the Egg of Destiny, and battles with E.B., defeating him easily due to his size. Carlos then tries to lead the Egg Sleigh out with one of his assistants Phil directing, but E.B. improvises a drum session that drives Phil to uncontrollably dance to the beat and provide the wrong signals, causing the sleigh to crash and subdue Carlos. E.B. and his father reconcile, and he and Fred are crowned co-Easter bunnies. Back at home, Fred reconciles with his father and his family, and then takes off with E.B.
The cast in order of production notes listing:[7]
The animated characters were designed byPeter de Sève.[17]
TheCGI animation and visual effects for the film were produced by Los Angeles-basedRhythm & Hues Studios (R&H).[18] Ray Chen was the visual effects supervisor, and Andy Arnett was the animation director.[19] Rhythm & Hues looked at the actions of real rabbits for some scenes. Arnett said, "One of the things that can happen with these faces is that if you don't put a lot of detail into the entire face, their mouths and cheeks can look kind of stiff. So it was important to us to be able to get a lot of flexibility in the face to make them feel alive and fleshy."[19]
The easter egg factory involved Rhythm & Hues completing 250 computer-generated shots. Chen notes, "It's almost like a little full CG film inside the big film. The biggest challenge there was actually designing the factory. It originally had more of an underground feel with roots and rocks before we settled on something that looked more cathedral-like."[19]
| Hop (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Soundtrack album by | ||||
| Released | March 29, 2011 (2011-03-29) | |||
| Recorded | 2010 | |||
| Studio | Eastwood Scoring Stage,Warner Bros. Studios Burbank | |||
| Genre | Film score | |||
| Length | 54:40 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Producer |
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| Christopher Lennertz chronology | ||||
| ||||
Hop (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the complete soundtrack album for the film. The entire score was composed by award-winning composerChristopher Lennertz, who had previously composed the score forAlvin and the Chipmunks, another film directed byTim Hill. The album was released on March 29, 2011, byBack Lot Music andVarèse Sarabande Records.
A 35th track, titled "The Pink Berets", is included in the soundtrack. Christopher Lennertz wrote the song with Ali Theodore, Bryan Spitzer, Jordan Yaeger, and Julian Michael Davis. The Deekompressors performed the song. Australian pop singerCody Simpson performed a cover ofthe Strangeloves' 1965 standard "I Want Candy" for the film (withBow Wow Wow's 1982 version previously being featured in some trailers for the film).
The Japanese dub features an exclusive theme song called "Hug Tomo" byNot Yet.[20][21]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Prologue / Easter Island" | 2:07 |
| 2. | "Candy Factory" | 3:07 |
| 3. | "Young Fred Gets A Visit" | 2:53 |
| 4. | "O'Hare's Intervention" | 1:04 |
| 5. | "Don't Want To Be The Easter Bunny" | 1:34 |
| 6. | "The Accident" | 1:47 |
| 7. | "Lament" | 0:33 |
| 8. | "In The Garage" | 1:19 |
| 9. | "Carlos Reports" | 1:50 |
| 10. | "Summon The Pink Berets" | 1:12 |
| 11. | "Pooping Jellybeans" | 0:52 |
| 12. | "Fred Remembers" | 0:29 |
| 13. | "Late For Interview" | 1:20 |
| 14. | "EB Escapes" | 1:17 |
| 15. | "Fred's Tour" | 1:11 |
| 16. | "Got The Blues" | 0:43 |
| 17. | "Dad Misses His Son" | 1:48 |
| 18. | "Back To The Mansion" | 0:42 |
| 19. | "Sam's Visit" | 2:40 |
| 20. | "The Hoff" | 0:27 |
| 21. | "Fathers Just Don't Get It" | 0:42 |
| 22. | "Fred's Realization" | 0:37 |
| 23. | "Be The Bunny" | 3:24 |
| 24. | "Pink Berets Take Fred" | 1:04 |
| 25. | "Back To Easter Island" | 2:40 |
| 26. | ""Coup De Tat"" | 0:52 |
| 27. | "Oh, The Guilt" | 0:45 |
| 28. | "Easter Moon Rises" | 1:52 |
| 29. | "Carlos Takes Control" | 2:23 |
| 30. | "Transformation" | 2:04 |
| 31. | "Air Traffic Control" | 1:24 |
| 32. | "Reunion / Proclamation" | 2:27 |
| 33. | "Brunch" | 0:56 |
| 34. | "The Big Finale" | 1:56 |
| 35. | "The Pink Berets" | 2:23 |
| Total length: | 54:40 | |
Universal teamed up with 92 major companies to promoteHop, includingHoliday Inn,Krispy Kreme,Lindt,Kraft Foods,The Hershey Company,Build-A-Bear Workshop,Comcast (which acquired Universal's parent companyNBCUniversal two months before the film was released),Kodak,Hallmark,HMV, andBurger King. A large range of licensed merchandise was released in connection with the film, including toys, stuffed animals, many sorts of candy, T-shirts, cookie decorating kits, baked goods and other products fromKraft Foods. Some items were available exclusively atWalmart stores.[22] The premiere ofHop took place atUniversal Studios Hollywood on March 27, 2011.[23]
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Atie-in video game was released for theNintendo DS alongside the film.[24][25] On March 29, 2011, a crossover game betweenHop andDoodle Jump was released on theApp Store foriOS devices.[26][27] As part ofDoodle Jump'sin-app purchases, a new level can be selected through naming atHop'sgame over screen.[28]
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment releasedHop onDVD andBlu-ray on March 23, 2012.[29] Physical copies include featurettes and games,[30] with a short filmPhil's Dance Party.[31]
Starting in April 2011, characters from the film would appear atUniversal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Hollywood for shows and meet and greets to help promote the film.
The film would get its own unit inUniversal's Superstar Parade at Universal Studios Florida in May 2012, before it would be replaced by aSecret Life of Pets-themed unit in November 2016.
Hop earned $108.1 million in the United States and Canada and $80.4 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $188.5 million.[6] It was the 39th-highest-grossing film of 2011.[32] To date,Hop is the lowest-grossing film released by Illumination.[33]
In the United States and Canada,Hop was released on April 1, 2011.[5] It earned $11.5 million on its first day. The film debuted earning $38 million across 3,579 theaters.[34] Its second weekend earnings dropped by 42 percent[35] to $21.7 million,[36] and followed by another $11.1 million the third weekend.[37]Hop left theaters by August 19, 2011, making it the year's 25th-highest-grossing film.[38]
Hop received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for the animation, music, and performances from the cast, particularly Marsden,[39][40] and criticism for its humor, pacing and script.[39][40][41][42] Thereview aggregation websiteRotten Tomatoes reported that out of 137 critic reviews, 25% of them were positive, with an average rating of 4.3/10. The site's consensus states: "It's impressively animated, butHop's script is so uninspired that not even James Marsden's frantic mugging can give it any bounce."[43]Metacritic assigned the film aweighted average score of 41 out of 100, based on 23 reviews, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[44] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[35]
The subplot involving Carlos the Easter Chick was considered to be insensitive toMexican Americans by one reviewer.[45][46] Peter Debruge ofVariety called it "hilariously un-PC".[9]Philip French ofThe Guardian wrote: "It's a combination of the worst movies about trouble in Santa Claus's north pole toy factory and a version ofCharlie and the Chocolate Factory lethally laced with sugar."[47] Also writing forThe Guardian,Peter Bradshaw gave it one star out of four and called it a "soulless and depressing film, with plasticky production design."[48]
Hop was nominated in two categories at the 2011Golden Trailer Awards: "Battle For Easter" (Cimarron Entertainment) for Best Animation/Family and "Carrot Quiz" (Mojo) for Best Animation/Family TV Spot.[49] Character animator Andrew Arnett was nominated forOutstanding Achievement for Character Animation in a Live Action Production at the39th Annie Awards.[50] At theGolden Reel Awards 2011, the film received a nomination forOutstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Feature Underscore.[51][52]
Quotations related toHop at Wikiquote
