| St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold | |
|---|---|
 British release poster | |
| Directed by | Oliver Parker Barnaby Thompson |
| Written by | Piers Ashworth Nick Moorcroft |
| Based on | Characters byRonald Searle |
| Produced by | Oliver Parker Barnaby Thompson |
| Starring | Rupert Everett Colin Firth David Tennant Talulah Riley Jodie Whittaker Juno Temple Tamsin Egerton Toby Jones Celia Imrie Gemma Arterton |
| Cinematography | David Higgs |
| Edited by | Emma E. Hickox |
| Music by | Charlie Mole |
Production companies | Ealing Studios Fragile Films |
| Distributed by | Entertainment Film Distributors |
Release date |
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Running time | 106 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Box office | £7 million[1] |
St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold is a 2009 Britishadventurecomedy film directed byOliver Parker and Barnaby Thompson, both of whom directed theprevious film in the series.[2] It is the seventh in a long running series of films based on the works of cartoonistRonald Searle, and the second film produced since the franchise was rebooted in 2007.
Following the events of the first film, a new term begins at St. Trinian's with Annabelle Fritton appointed as the new Head Girl. Meanwhile, new student Roxy is introduced to the various school cliques—Chavs/Rude Girls, Emos, Posh Totties, and Geeks—along with two new groups, the Flammables and the Ecos. Roxy chooses not to join any of them.
Later, the girls catch Celia, a member of the eco sect, retrieving an old ring from the school's Fritton Archives. Celia explains that an unknown man telephoned her to retrieve it for him in exchange for £20,000. Seeking to get more, Annabelle demands £100,000 from the man when he calls back, only for him to refuse and threaten the girls for their greed. When the school's power is cut, the girls ask their headmistress, Camilla Fritton, Annabelle's aunt, about why the ring might be so valuable.
Camilla recognizes the ring as one of two created by a pirate ancestor of hers and Annabelle's in 1589, which, when united, reveal the path to a buried treasure hidden somewhere in the world. Shortly after this discovery, the school is attacked by masked men led by Sir Piers Pomfrey—a man of impeccable reputation and a descendant of the man robbed by Camilla's pirate ancestor—who steals the ring in a bid to find the treasure himself.
Seeking to stop him, the girls search for the second ring and find a clue left by another ancestor who located the second ring and left it in the archives. After a difficult time deciphering a clue they left, the girls find it to be hidden within a boys' school, leaving a group to infiltrate it in disguise and recover it. Seeking to recover the first ring, the girls learn that Piers is the leader of a secret society known as AD1, amasculinist brotherhood, and that Camilla's old flame and former head of education, Geoffrey Thwaites, knows about him and the society.
After tracking him down at a pub, Camilla convinces him to help them, whereupon she puts him through a course to help him overcome his need for drink, and assigns him to work undercover at AD1's hideout, with Annabelle calling in the former head girl Kelly, now anM.I.7 agent, to assist in the recovery of the ring. Despite the girls not finding it in the vault, Geoffrey spots it being worn by Piers and manages to steal it from him, returning it back to St. Trinian's.
Finding that the two rings bear longitude and latitude coordinates respectively on them, the girls find that the treasure is buried under theGlobe Theatre. After organising a flash mob to keep AD1 from pursuing them, after Piers learns they recovered the first ring, Camilla, Geoffrey, the school's bursar, Annabelle and a small group of the girls make it to the theatre, and while the girls head underneath the building, Camilla and Geoffrey pose as actors they knocked out to avoid raising any alarm.
Although the girls make it to the treasure's location within a secret room, they discover a chest within containing nothing more than a note from Pirate Fritton, who gave up being a pirate to write plays under the name ofWilliam Shakespeare, and that the treasure was the final play he wrote intended to reveal that "he" was a woman. Piers, managing to track them down, holds them at gunpoint and steals the play from them, revealing that his ancestors knew this fact and that he had always intended to find the play and destroy it. The girls watch as he flees the scene on his private boat.
Seeking to stop him, the girls take control of the reconstruction of theGolden Hind and sail it down the Thames, whereupon they attack Pier's boat, with Camilla recovering the play's script from him. The girls soon return to St. Trinian's for a wild party to celebrate their success, while Piers is exposed for being a sexist after AD1 is revealed to the media.
Principal photography started in July 2009, atEaling Studios and on location in various places in London, including the Globe Theatre and on (and in) the River Thames. The 'Old Boys School' was filmed atCharterhouse School inGodalming, Surrey and the boys choir was theGuildford Cathedral Choir.[3] On 16 August 2009, hundreds of extras, along with the main characters, filmed a mass dance scene in the style of aflash mob atLondon's Liverpool Street Station.
The manor house used as the girls school isKnebworth House in Hertfordshire.
It was announced at the 2008Cannes Film Festival thatSt Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold was to be released on 18 December 2009.[4]
It opened at #2 in the United Kingdom, just behindJames Cameron's 3D sci fi epicAvatar, with debut week end box office figures of £1,586,832.[5] As of 10 February 2010, the film has grossed a total of £7,019,714 in the United Kingdom, considerably lower than the first instalment's £12,280,529. It became the fourth biggest film of theChristmas season of 2009: ahead wereAlvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel,Guy Ritchie'sSherlock Holmes, andAvatar.
The film received overwhelmingly negative reviews. It holds a 14% "rotten" rating onRotten Tomatoes based on 21 reviews, with anaverage score of 3.55/10.[6]
Theregion 2 DVD of the film was released on 24 May 2010.[7] Aregion 1 DVD release occurred on 23 March 2011.