| Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase | |
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.png) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Katt Shea |
| Written by |
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| Based on | |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Edd Lukas |
| Edited by | Richard Nord |
| Music by | |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 89 minutes[2] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $17 million |
| Box office | $623,088 |
Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase is a 2019 Americanteenmysterycomedy film, based on the bookThe Hidden Staircase byCarolyn Keene. It was directed byKatt Shea, with a screenplay byNina Fiore and John Herrera, and served as areboot of theNancy Drew film series.[3] The movie, produced byA Very Good Production and Red 56 and distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures, starsSophia Lillis in the role of amateur detectiveNancy Drew, as she investigates a haunted house. It also starsZoe Renee, Mackenzie Graham,Laura Slade Wiggins,Sam Trammell, andLinda Lavin in supporting roles. The same book had been adapted for afilm of the same title in 1939.
Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase was released in the United States on March 15, 2019, by Warner Bros. Pictures.[4][5][6] The film received positive reviews from critics, despite being abox-office bomb.
After her mother's death, 16-year-old sleuthNancy Drew and her fatherCarson relocate fromChicago to rural River Heights. While Nancy struggles to fit in, Carson is active in local politics, fighting the development of a train line through the town. A local thug named Willie Wharton threatens Nancy one night to try to scare her father into backing down.
A bully named Derek Barnes edits a video of Nancy's friend Bess to embarrass her. To get back at him, Nancy rigs his shower at the gym which dyes his whole body blue in front of all the girls at the gym. Nancy embarrasses him in front of everyone and he runs out with his shirt off. While performing community service as punishment for the prank, Nancy meets Flora, an elderly woman needing help with an apparent haunting in her home. Excited by the mystery, Nancy stays overnight at Flora's home, along with Flora's niece Helen (who is also Derek's girlfriend). That night, strange things begin to happen, with lights going out and then exploding, cabinet doors and drawers opening, and a cloaked figure appearing and warning Nancy to give up her mystery.
The next day, Nancy believes that someone broke in and tried scaring them out. Nancy and Helen investigate, and they find a secret passage that leads outside, revealing how the "ghost" entered the house. The secret passage also contains props the intruder used to simulate a haunting, such as a rigged fuse box to manipulate the lights in the house. The rest of the strange phenomenon is explained by a rig that emits concentratednutmeg through the house's air conditioning, which triggers dangerous hallucinations.
Later, Nancy realizes her father, who is staying out of town on a business trip, has not checked in with her or her aunt Hannah recently. She calls her father's friend Nate, who tells her that Carson's meeting is at a campsite and reception must be spotty. Nancy is not convinced, as Carson had told her he would be staying at a hotel.
Worried that something has happened to him, Nancy and Helen head to Carson's hotel. They discover that he never checked out, and his cell phone is still in his room. Security footage from the previous night reveals Carson was ambushed and kidnapped by Wharton. Nancy's friends Bess and George find out that Wharton is also the man who bought the nutmeg used at Flora's house, and Nancy realizes Carson is being kept in the secret passage there. She and Helen head to Flora's house, where they discover Wharton and Nate holding Carson and Flora hostage. It is revealed that Wharton and Nate were working together to sabotage the anti-train movement, and that they intended to force Flora to sell her house so the line could be built through her property. When Nancy's investigation proved that the house was not haunted, they were forced to use other means to secure the land. Nancy and Helen work together to save Carson and Flora from their captors, who are then arrested by the police.
The next day at school, Nancy, George, and Bess welcome Helen into their circle of friends, and together they plan their next adventure at theLilac Inn.
On April 20, 2018, it was reported thatSophia Lillis would star in the film adaptation ofNancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase, which would be produced byEllen DeGeneres, Jeff Kleeman, and Chip Diggins forWarner Bros. Pictures.[7] Wendy S. Williams served as executive producer.[8] In June, other casting was announced which included Zoe Renee as George, Mackenzie Graham as Bess,Laura Slade Wiggins as Helen,Sam Trammell as Carson,Linda Lavin as Flora, andAndrea Anders as Hannah, along with Jay DeVon Johnson, Andrew Matthew Welch, Jon Briddell, Josh Daugherty, Evan Castelloe, and Jesse C. Boyd.[9]Principal photography on the film took place that same month inMonroe,Georgia.[9]
The score of the film was composed bySherri Chung.[1]Emily Bear composed and sings the songs "More than Just a Girl" and "Daylight".[10]
On January 18, 2019, DeGeneres announced exclusively that the film would be released in theaters on March 15; she also debuted a trailer.[4][5][6] On February 19, 2019, Warner Bros. Pictures released a short clip from the film.[11] In addition, DeGeneres interviewed Lillis onher talk show to promote the film.[12]
As of August 2020,Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase grossed $623,088 at the box office, and a further $322,939 with home video sales.[13]
OnRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 76%, based on 25 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10. The website's consensus reads, "Elevated by a well-cast Sophia Lillis,Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase leads audiences into a genially entertaining new take on the venerable character."[14] OnMetacritic, the film has a score of 55 out of 100, based on reviews from 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[15]
Peter Debruge ofVariety praised the "consistently clever script" saying it "isn't nearly as interested in the mystery as it is in Nancy Drew herself, or in the circle of characters and relationships that surround her. And that’s the smart way to approach such a case, since the movie was clearly intended to be more than a one-off." He also praises Lillis for her performance and says she is "the freshest thing to happen to Nancy Drew in decades, making it clear that casting was the solution that has so often eluded this series in its jump from page to screen in the past."[16]
Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase was nominated forBest DVD or Blu-ray Release at the45th Saturn Awards.[17]
