| Luck | |
|---|---|
_poster.png) Official release poster | |
| Directed by | Peggy Holmes |
| Screenplay by | Kiel Murray |
| Story by |
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| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography |
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| Edited by | William J. Caparella |
| Music by | John Debney |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Apple TV+ |
Release date |
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Running time | 105 minutes[1] |
| Countries |
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| Language | English |
| Budget | $140 million+[2] |
Luck is a 2022 animatedfantasy comedy film directed byPeggy Holmes and co-directed by Javier Abad, from a screenplay written by Kiel Murray, and a story conceived by Murray and the writing team ofJonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, based on an original concept created by Rebeca Carrasco, Juan De Dios, and Julián Romero.[3] Produced bySkydance Animation, the film features the voices ofEva Noblezada,Simon Pegg,Jane Fonda,Whoopi Goldberg,Flula Borg,Lil Rel Howery,Colin O'Donoghue, andJohn Ratzenberger. Set in the Land of Luck, the story follows the unluckiest person, Sam Greenfield (Noblezada), as she must unite with a talking black cat named Bob (Pegg) to turn her luck around.
The project was announced in July 2017, shortly after Skydance Animation was formed on March 16, 2017, withParamount Pictures distributing as the schedule for March 2021.Alessandro Carloni signed on to direct the film from a script by Aibel and Berger. The film underwent many changes during production, such as rewrites, directors, and release dates, and Holmes was later announced as the new director in January 2020, replacing Carloni. Much of the main voice cast, including Noblezada and Pegg, signed on in January 2022, following the casting of Fonda and Goldberg in February and June 2021, respectively. Production was done remotely during theCOVID-19 pandemic.
Luck premiered inMadrid on August 2, 2022, and was released onApple TV+ and in select theaters in the United States on August 5.[4] The film received mixed reviews from critics.
Sam Greenfield, an orphaned young woman with a life plagued by misfortune, isforced out from herfoster home, much to the dismay of her younger friend and roommate Hazel, who is hoping to be adopted and not fostered soon. One night, after sharing food with a black cat, Sam finds a penny she hopes to give to Hazel for her collection of lucky items that may help her get adopted. The next day, Sam notices that the penny has made her luck improve. However, she loses the penny by inadvertently flushing it down a toilet.
While bemoaning her error, Sam encounters the cat again and says what happened, which causes the cat to berate her for losing the penny. Shocked that the cat could talk, Sam follows the cat through a portal to the Land of Luck, where creatures likeleprechauns create good luck for the people on Earth. The cat, named Bob, needs the penny for traveling purposes and will be banished if word gets out that he lost it. Bob and Sam make a deal to get another penny from the Penny depot for Hazel to use before returning it to Bob. Bob uses a button from Sam to pass off as a penny while she sneaks into the Land of Luck using clothes belonging to Bob's personal leprechaun, Gerry. Throughout the journey, Sam comes to learn that bad luck is managed underneath the Land of Luck.
Following a disaster at the Penny depot which causes Gerry to learn about Sam's identity, Gerry uses a drone to retrieve the missing penny on Earth. However, the drone gets lost in the In-Between, a space between the Good and Bad Luck lands. Sam and Bob go to the In-Between, which is managed by a unicorn named Jeff. Jeff manages the Bad Luck Apparat, a machine that keeps bad luck specks from sticking which feeds the Randomizer, another machine that sends both good and bad luck into Earth. Jeff reveals that he found the penny and has returned it to the depot. Undeterred, Sam decides to visit Babe, the dragon who manages the good luck, in hopes to get another penny. Babe tells Sam how better things would be if everyone had good luck before giving her a new penny. But Sam sacrifices her penny after Bob is caught for faking his travel penny to spare him from banishment.
Still wanting to help Hazel, Sam and Bob decide to temporarily shut down the Bad Luck Apparatus to prevent bad luck from going to the Randomizer and give Hazel the luck she needs to get adopted. However, the bad luck specks start to clog Jeff's machines and destroy the good luck and bad luck stones within the Randomizer, which itself brings bad luck to the Land of Luck and Earth. Seeing Hazel did not get adopted because of this, learning that Bob is actually an unlucky English cat and having been found out as a human, Sam sulks in remorse. Bob apologizes and says that Hazel is the luckiest girl for having Sam at her side. Sam realizes things can be fixed because she remembers seeing some good luck in Bad Luck land while on her way to the In-Between.
In Bad Luck, they find it in a tiki bar where the bartender, a root monster named Rootie, who is Bob's old friend, gives them a jar of good luck they have been using. They take it to Babe to forge new good and bad luck stones. However, while creating a bad luck stone, Babe makes two good luck stones, wanting to create a world with only good luck. Before she can place them, Sam tells Babe people need bad luck as much as good luck. Realizing her mistake, she allows Sam to place the bad luck stone, and good luck is restored to normal, where Sam sees Hazel getting adopted by a new family. Bob is offered to keep his job at the Land of Luck, but decides he wants to live with Sam.
One year later, on Earth, Hazel's family spends time with Sam and Bob, who have accepted their bad luck.
In March 2017,Skydance Media formed a multi-year partnership withMadrid-based animation studioIlion Animation Studios, forming an animation division calledSkydance Animation.[8] In July, it announcedLuck would be distributed byParamount Pictures as the first of part of their deal with Skydance Media and was given a release date of March 19, 2021.[9][10]Alessandro Carloni signed on to direct the film, from a script byJonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger based on an original concept by Rebeca Carrasco, Juan De Dios and Julián Romero.[11][12] In April 2018,Paramount Animation entered into a partnership with Skydance Animation to produceLuck.[13] Skydance Animation hired formerPixar Animation Studios andWalt Disney Animation StudiosCCOJohn Lasseter in January 2019, as Head of Animation.[14][15]
Following Lasseter's hiring, Soria announced that Paramount Animation would no longer consult with Skydance Animation, though they did not already have a formal creative partnership.[16]Luck was still going to be released by Paramount Pictures without Paramount Animation[17] untilApple TV+ acquired the distribution rights to it in December 2020.[18]Apple Original Films would replace Paramount as a production company.[19] On January 14, 2020, Carloni was replaced byPeggy Holmes, who had previously directedSecret of the Wings (2012) andThe Pirate Fairy (2014) for Lasseter, as the film's director.[20] Kiel Murray, one of the screenwriters on Lasseter’sCars (2006) as well asCars 3 (2017), was also hired to rewrite the screenplay and turned it into a workplace fantasy comedy similar toMonsters, Inc., with Aibel and Berger still being credited for the story co-written by Murray.[21][6]
One of the core inspirations when researching the myths aboutluck is the main character Sam, having her in foster care to find her forever family.[22] The main inspiration for Sam and her unluckyness came from television shows such asI Love Lucy andThe Carol Burnett Show, along with other inspiration fromCharlie Chaplin,Buster Keaton andDonald O'Connor. In researching luck, workers at Skydance Animation discovered how obsessed people are with the concept, along with some interesting reversals, including how it became random by good and bad luck. For example, black cats are considered good luck in Scotland, which led them to create Bob. By the end of the film, he is revealed to be English as black cats are considered bad luck in England. The land of Luck was designed by production designer Fred Warner to explain both sides being put of a coin.[23]
In April 2019,Emma Thompson was hired to voice a character in the film, but left the project after Lasseter was hired.[24] In February 2021,Jane Fonda was cast as The Dragon,[6] and in June,Whoopi Goldberg was cast as The Captain.[7] Other cast members were announced in January 2022, includingEva Noblezada,Simon Pegg,Flula Borg,Lil Rel Howery,Colin O'Donoghue,John Ratzenberger and Adelynn Spoon.[5]
Animation was provided bySkydance Animation Madrid (formerly Ilion Animation Studios) and was also made in Los Angeles and Connecticut. Portions ofproduction were done remotely during theCOVID-19 pandemic.[25]
Tanya Donelly andMt. Joy were originally attached to compose the score for the film, while William J. Caparella served as lead editor.[26][better source needed] However, on November 15, 2021, it was announced that composerJohn Debney replaced them as composer.[27] Noblezada did a cover of "Lucky Star" with additional vocals by Alana Da Fonseca, for the film's soundtrack byMilan Records.[citation needed]
Luck was released toApple TV+ and in select theaters in the United States on August 5, 2022.[5][28] The film was originally set to be released in theaters on March 19, 2021 byParamount Pictures, but was delayed to February 18, 2022.[10][17][29] On May 8, 2020, Skydance Animation president Holly Edwards revealed that the rough cut would have test screenings late in the summer of 2020.[25] On December 16, 2020, Apple TV+ secured the distribution rights to the film, with it retaining the February date, before getting delayed to its current release date.[30][31][5]
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According toNielsen data gathered byPuck News' Julia Alexander,Luck was watched by 2.2 million Apple customers in the U.S. aged two years or older within the film's first week on Apple TV+.[32] In a July 2024 presentation to investors outlining the planned merger betweenSkydance Media andParamount Global, management claimed thatLuck was the "highest-performing original family film on Apple TV+".[33]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 49% of 98 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.3/10. The website's consensus reads: "Luck is inoffensive enough as an animated babysitter, but there are far more original—and entertaining—options for its target audience."[34]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 48 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[35]
Peter Bradshaw fromThe Guardian rated the film two stars out of five, describing the script as "utterly zingless and contorted" and writing, "Everything about this robotically made movie looks derivative and contrived; the videogame aesthetic is dull and the quirky high concept plays like a pound-shop knockoff ofInside Out andSoul."[36] John Anderson ofThe Wall Street Journal wrote, "The bigger problem is there are too many ideas, and fantastical solutions to manufactured problems, most of which feel as if they're being made up as the movie goes along."[37]IndieWire's David Ehrlich gave it a D+ grade, calling it "is a terrible idea for a movie, executed poorly, and by someone who used to know better. The best thing I can say about the finished product is that, unlike most forms of bad luck, this one is wonderfully easy to avoid altogether."[38]
The Sydney Morning Herald's Paul Byrnes gave the film 3/5 stars, writing, "It has lively physical humour and appealing characters. The Scottish cat is a laugh, and the overall voice cast is distinguished, with Jane Fonda and Whoopi Goldberg in significant roles... But at 106 minutes, it's at least 15 minutes too long, with a complicated story that should have been smoothed out in development."[39]The Daily Telegraph'sRobbie Collin gave it 4/5 stars, calling it "a funny, imaginative, beautifully rendered coming-of-age parable, with strong overtones ofMonsters, Inc. andInside Out."[40]
| Award | Date of Ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hollywood Music in Media Awards | November 16, 2022 | Original Score — Animated Film (Luck) | John Debney | Nominated | [41] |
| Annie Awards | February 25, 2023 | Outstanding Achievement for Character Design in an Animated Feature Production | Massimiliano Narciso | Nominated | [42] |
On March 17, 2023, in celebration ofSt. Patrick's Day, Apple TV+ released a short film titledBad Luck Spot!, directed by Matt Youngberg. It shows the Hazmat bunnies trying to get rid of a single bad luck crystal.[43]
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