It’s Film Strip
Friday!
Wreck-It Ralph
Release Date November
14th, 2012
FUN FACTS:
Wreck-It Ralph is a 2012 American 3D
computer-animated family-comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios
and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 52nd animated feature in the
Walt Disney Animated Classics series. The film was directed by Rich Moore, who
is known for directing many episodes of The Simpsons and Futurama,
and the script was written by Jennifer Lee and Phil Johnston. Disney Chief
Creative Officer John Lasseter served as the executive producer. The film
features the voices of John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, and Jane
Lynch.
The film tells the story of the titular arcade game villain
who rebels against his role and dreams of becoming a hero. He travels between
games in the arcade, and ultimately must eliminate a dire threat that could
affect the entire arcade, and one that Ralph may have inadvertently started. Wreck-It
Ralph had its world premiere on October 29, 2012, and was released on
November 2, 2012 in the United States and Canada.
Plot
When Litwak's Arcade closes at night, the various video
game characters leave their normal in-game roles and are free to travel to
other games. Within the game Fix-It Felix, Jr., the characters celebrate
its titular hero but shun the game's villain character, Wreck-It Ralph. At a support
group for video game antagonists, Ralph reveals his desire to stop being the
bad guy. Back at home, Ralph finds the other characters celebrating their
game's 30th anniversary without inviting him. Felix reluctantly invites Ralph
to join them, but the others refuse to accept him, saying he would have to earn
a medal, just as Felix does in their game.
While visiting Tapper's, Ralph meets a soldier from the first-person
shooter Hero's Duty, who tells him the game's winner receives a medal.
Ralph enters the game and encounters Sergeant Calhoun, its no-nonsense leader.
Between game sessions, Ralph climbs the game's central beacon and collects the
medal, accidentally hatching a Cy-Bug, one of the game's enemies. The Cy-Bug
clings to Ralph as he stumbles into an escape pod that launches him out of the game.
Meanwhile, with Ralph missing, a girl reports to Litwak that Fix-It Felix,
Jr. is malfunctioning. Since broken games get unplugged, leaving their
characters homeless, Felix sets off to find Ralph.
Ralph crash-lands in Sugar Rush, a kart-racing
game. As he searches for his medal, he meets Vanellope von Schweetz, a glitchy
character who makes off with the medal, planning to use it to buy entry into an
after-hours race. King Candy and the other racers refuse to let Vanellope
participate, claiming that she is not really part of the game. Ralph helps
Vanellope build a kart. At her home, Diet Cola Mountain, he discovers that she
is a natural racer.
Back in Hero's Duty, Felix meets Calhoun, who
warns that the Cy-Bugs are capable of taking over any game they enter. As the
pair searches for Ralph and the Cy-Bug in Sugar Rush, they separate when
Felix, enamored with Calhoun, inadvertently reminds her of her previous
romantic relationship, which ended tragically. Calhoun finds hundreds of Cy-Bug
eggs underground, and Felix becomes imprisoned in King Candy's castle. King
Candy finds Ralph's medal and offers it to Ralph in exchange for keeping
Vanellope out of the race, claiming that allowing her would be disastrous for
both her and the game. Fearing for Vanellope's safety, Ralph wrecks the kart
and returns to his own game, but finds it deserted, as everyone has evacuated
in expectation that it will be unplugged in the morning. Ralph then notices
Vanellope's image on the Sugar Rush cabinet and realizes she is an
intended part of the game, not a glitch.
Ralph returns to Sugar Rush, finds Felix and
Vanellope, and asks Felix to fix the wrecked kart. As the race proceeds, the
hatched Cy-Bugs attack and Felix, Calhoun, and Ralph battle them. When
Vanellope catches up to King Candy, he reveals that he is actually Turbo—a
character from an old game who is notorious for having sabotaged a newer game,
causing both to be unplugged, and has since taken control of Sugar Rush.
Vanellope escapes from Turbo, who is consumed by a Cy-Bug. The group flees the
doomed game, but Vanellope cannot pass through the exit. Calhoun says the game
cannot be saved without a beacon to attract and kill the Cy-Bugs.
Ralph heads to Diet Cola Mountain, where he plans on
collapsing its Mentos stalactites into the cola at the bottom, causing a
blinding eruption that would attract the bugs. Before he can finish, Turbo,
merged with the Cy-Bug that had consumed him, carries him away. Ralph breaks
free and dives toward the mountain, hoping his impact will start the eruption.
Vanellope in turn uses her glitching abilities to save Ralph. The eruption
starts and draws the Cy-Bugs to their destruction, including Turbo. Vanellope
crosses the finish line, restoring her memory and status as the game's lead
character while keeping her advantageous glitching ability. Felix and Ralph
return to their game in time for Litwak to see it still works, sparing it from
being unplugged. Felix marries Calhoun, and the characters of Fix-It Felix,
Jr. gain a new respect for Ralph.
Voice cast
- John C.
Reilly as Wreck-It Ralph, the villain of Fix-It Felix, Jr.
- Sarah
Silverman as Vanellope von Schweetz, a 9-year-old racer and glitch in Sugar
Rush.
- Jack
McBrayer as Fix-It Felix, Jr., the hero of Fix-It Felix, Jr.
- Jane
Lynch as Sergeant Tamora Jean Calhoun, the lead character of Hero's
Duty.
- Alan
Tudyk as King Candy/Turbo, the fake ruler of Sugar Rush who originally
came from a game called Turbo Time.
- Mindy
Kaling as Taffyta Muttonfudge, an accomplished racer in Sugar Rush
and Vanellope's nemesis.
- Joe Lo
Truglio as Markowski, a Soldier in Hero's Duty whom Ralph
impersonates.
- Ed
O'Neill as Mr. Litwak, owner of Litwak's Family Fun Center & Arcade.
- Dennis
Haysbert as General Hologram, a general in Hero's Duty.
- Edie
McClurg as Mary, a Nicelander who lives within the game Fix-It Felix,
Jr.
- Raymond
Persi as Mayor Gene, a Nicelander who lives within the game Fix-It
Felix, Jr., and a Zombie (based on Cyril from House of the Dead)
who attends the Bad-Anon support group.
- Jess
Harnell as Don, a Nicelander who lives within the game Fix-It Felix, Jr.
- Rachael
Harris as Deanna, a Nicelander who lives within the game Fix-It Felix,
Jr.
- Skylar
Astin as Roy, a Nicelander who lives within the game Fix-It Felix, Jr.
- Adam
Carolla as Wynnchel, a doughnut that is a member of the Sugar Rush
police station.
- Horatio
Sanz as Duncan, a doughnut that is a member of the Sugar Rush
police station.
- Maurice
LaMarche as Root Beer Tapper, the bartender from Tapper.
- Stefanie
Scott as Moppet Girl, a young arcade enthusiast.
- John
DiMaggio as Beard Papa, Sugar Rush security.
- Rich
Moore as Sour Bill, King Candy's henchman, and Zanief from Street Fighter.
- Katie
Lowes as Candlehead, a racer in Sugar Rush who works closely with
Taffyta and Rancis.
- Jamie Elman
as Rancis Fluggerbutter, a racer in Sugar Rush who works closely
with Taffyta and Candlehead.
- Josie
Trinidad as Jubileena Bing-Bing, a racer in Sugar Rush.
- Cymbre
Walk as Crumbelina DiCaramello, a racer in Sugar Rush.
- Brandon
Scott as Kohut, a soldier in Hero's Duty.
- Tim
Mertens as Dr. Brad Scott, a scientist and Sgt. Calhoun's fiancé in Hero's
Duty, who was eaten by Cy-Bugs.
- Kevin
Deters as Clyde from Pac-Man.
- Gerald C.
Rivers as M. Bison from Street Fighter.
- Martin
Jarvis as Satine, a devil-like villain who attends the Bad-Anon support
group.
- Brian
Kesinger as a Cyborg (based on Kano from Mortal Kombat) who attends
the Bad-Anon support group.
- Roger
Craig Smith as Sonic from Sonic the Hedgehog.
- Phil
Johnston as Surge Protector, Game Central Station security.
- Kyle
Hebert as Ryu from Street Fighter.
- Reuben
Langdon as Ken Masters from Street Fighter.
- Jamie
Sparer Roberts as Yuni from Dance Dance Revolution.
Video game cameos and references
In addition to the spoken roles, Wreck-It Ralph
contains a number of other video game references, including characters and
visual gags. At the video game villain meeting in addition to the above
characters include Bowser from the Mario series, Doctor Eggman from Sonic
the Hedgehog, and Neff from Altered Beast. Characters from Q*bert,
including Q*bert, Coily, Slick, Sam and Ugg, are shown as "homeless"
characters and later taken in by Ralph and Felix into their game. Scenes in
GameCentral and Tapper's bar include Chun-Li, Cammy and Blanka from Street
Fighter, Pac-Man, Blinky, Pinky, and Inky from Pac-Man, the Paperboy
from Paperboy, the two paddles and the ball from Pong, Dig Dug, a
Pooka, and a Fygar from Dig Dug, The Qix from Qix, and Frogger from Frogger.
Additionally, Mario is mentioned in dialog.
Additional references are based on sight gags. King Candy
uses the Konami code to access the programming of Sugar Rush. Throughout
GameCentral is graffiti stating that "Aerith lives", referencing the
character of Aerith Gainsborough from Final Fantasy VII.
Production
The film, under the working title of High Score,
has been in development at Disney in various forms since the late 1980s. It was
put back into active development in the late 1990s under the name Joe Jump,
and then later in the mid 2000s as Reboot Ralph.
John Lasseter, the head of Walt Disney Animation Studios
and executive producer of the film, describes Wreck-It Ralph as "an
8-bit video game bad guy who travels the length of the arcade to prove that
he’s a good guy." In a manner similar to Who Framed Roger Rabbit
and the Toy Story films, Wreck-It Ralph featured cameo
appearances by a number of licensed video game characters. For example, one
scene from the film's first theatrical trailer shows Ralph attending a support
group for the arcade's various villain characters, including Clyde the orange
ghost from Pac-Man, Doctor Eggman from Sonic the Hedgehog, and Bowser
from Super Mario Bros. Rich Moore, the film's director, had determined
that for a film about a video game world to feel authentic, "it had to
have real characters from real games in it".
Before production, characters were added to the story
either in places they would make sense to appear, or as cameos from a list of
characters suggested by the film's creative team, without consideration if they
would legally be able to use the characters. The company then sought out the
copyright holders' permissions to use the characters, as well as working with
these companies to assure their characters were being represented
authentically. The producers could not devise a reason to incorporate the
popular character Mario into the film, with director Rich Moore debunking a
rumor that Mario and his brother character Luigi were not included due to
Nintendo requesting too high a licensing fee, stating that the rumor grew out
of a joke John C. Reilly made at Comic-Con. Dr. Wily from Mega Man was
going to appear, but was cut from the final version of the film. Overall, there
are about 188 individual character models in the movie as a result of these
cameo inclusions.
The film introduced Disney's new bidirectional reflection
distribution functions, a lighting system distinct from previous technology,
with more realistic reflections on surfaces. To research the Sugar Rush
segment of the film, the visual development group traveled to trade fair ISM
Cologne, a See's Candy factory, and other manufacturing facilities. The group
also brought in food photographers, to demonstrate techniques to make food
appear appealing. Special effects, including from "smoke or dust",
looks distinct in each of the segments.
Release
The film was originally scheduled for a release on March
22, 2013, but it was later changed to November 2, 2012 due to it being ahead of
schedule. The theatrical release was accompanied by Disney's animated short
film Paperman.
Marketing
The first trailer for Wreck-It Ralph was released
on June 6, 2012, debuting with Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted and Rock
of Ages. This also coincided with the 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo, a
major video game industry event; Disney had constructed a mock aged arcade
cabinet for the fictional Fix-It Felix, Jr. game on display on the show
floor. Disney also released a browser-based Flash-based version of the Fix-It
Felix, Jr. game as well as an iOS version, with online unity-based versions
of Sugar Rush and Hero's Duty. A second trailer for the film was
released on September 12, 2012, coinciding with Finding Nemo 3D and Frankenweenie.
Reception
Critical reception
Wreck-It Ralph received generally favorable reviews
from critics. The film review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports that
86% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 114 reviews, with
an average score of 7.5/10. The site's consensus reads: "Equally
entertaining for both kids and parents old enough to catch the references, Wreck-It
Ralph is a clever, colorful adventure built on familiar themes and joyful
nostalgia." Another review aggregator, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized
rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated a score of 73
based on 33 reviews, or "Generally favorable." The film earned an
"A" from audiences polled by CinemaScore.
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film
3 out of 4 stars and wrote, "More than in most animated films, the art
design and color palette of Wreck-It Ralph permit unlimited sets,
costumes and rules, giving the movie tireless originality and different
behavior in every different cyber world." A.O. Scott of the The New
York Times wrote, "The movie invites a measure of cynicism - which it
proceeds to obliterate with a 93-minute blast of color, noise, ingenuity and
fun." Peter Debruge of Variety acclaimed the film, stating,
"With plenty to appeal to boys and girls, old and young, Walt Disney
Animation Studios has a high-scoring hit on its hands in this brilliantly
conceived, gorgeously executed toon, earning bonus points for backing nostalgia
with genuine emotion." Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times said,
"The movie's subversive sensibility and old-school/new-school feel are a
total kick," while Justin Lowe of The Hollywood Reporter wrote,
"With a mix of retro eye-candy for grown-ups and a thrilling, approachable
storyline for the tykes, the film casts a wide and beguiling net."
Conversely, Christopher Orr of The Atlantic found it "overplotted
and underdeveloped."
Box office
As of November 25, 2012, Wreck-It Ralph has
grossed an estimated $149,278,699 in North America, and $41,200,000 in other
countries, for a worldwide total of $190,478,699.
In
North America, the film debuted with $13.5 million, an above-average opening
day gross for an animated film released in November. During its opening
weekend, the film topped the box office with $49 million, marking the largest
debut for Walt Disney Animation Studios, ahead of Tangled's opening
($48.8 million).
Soundtrack
The film's score was composed by Henry Jackman. The
Japanese idol group AKB48 performed the film's ending theme, "Sugar Rush"
for the worldwide release. The soundtrack also features original songs by Skrillex,
Owl City and Buckner & Garcia.
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Wreck-It
Ralph
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Film score
by Henry Jackman
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Released
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October 30, 2012
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Genre
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Film score
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Length
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70:36
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Label
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Walt Disney
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Walt Disney
Animation Studios chronology
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Henry
Jackman chronology
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Track listing
All
music composed by Henry Jackman (except 1–6).|
No.
|
Title
|
Artist
|
Length
|
|
|
1.
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"When Can I
See You Again?"
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Owl City
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3:38
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|
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2.
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"Wreck-It,
Wreck-It Ralph"
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Buckner &
Garcia
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2:59
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3.
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"Celebration"
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Kool & the
Gang
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3:40
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4.
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"Sugar Rush"
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AKB48
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3:14
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5.
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"Bug Hunt (Noisia
Remix)"
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Skrillex
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7:04
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6.
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"Shut Up
and Drive"
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Rihanna
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3:32
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|
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7.
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"Wreck-It
Ralph"
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1:33
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8.
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"Life in
the Arcade"
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0:43
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9.
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"Jumping
Ship"
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1:06
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10.
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"Rocket
Fiasco"
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5:48
|
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11.
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"Vanellope
von Schweetz"
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2:57
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12.
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"Royal
Raceway"
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3:23
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13.
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"Cupcake
Breakout"
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1:12
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14.
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"Candy
Vandals"
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1:39
|
||
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15.
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"Turbo
Flashback"
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1:42
|
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16.
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"Laffy
Taffies"
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1:35
|
||
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17.
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"One Minute
to Win It"
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1:17
|
||
|
18.
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"Vanellope's
Hideout"
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2:33
|
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19.
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"Messing
with the Program"
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1:20
|
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20.
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"King
Candy"
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2:11
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21.
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"Broken-Karted"
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2:49
|
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22.
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"Out of the
Penthouse, Off to the Race"
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2:51
|
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23.
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"Sugar Rush
Showdown"
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4:15
|
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24.
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"You're My
Hero"
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4:16
|
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25.
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"Arcade
Finale"
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3:19
|
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Total length:
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70:36
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Video games
In addition to the Flash version of the Fix-It Felix
Jr. game, Disney released a tie-in game based on the film for the Wii, Nintendo
3DS and Nintendo DS. The arcade style side-scrolling game was produced in
collaboration between Disney Interactive and Activision and serves as a
"story extension" to the film. Players may play as Wreck-It Ralph or
Fix-It Felix, causing damage as well as repairing where necessary. Game levels
are based on the locations in the film, like the Fix-It Felix Jr., Hero's
Duty and Sugar Rush games. It was released in conjunction with the
film's release, in November 2012. In October 2012, Disney released fully
playable browser-based versions of the Hero's Duty and Sugar Rush
games on the new official film site. A game was also released as an app for the
iPhone, iPod and iPad, as well as for Android systems. Ralph also appears in Sega's
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed as a playable guest character.
Sequel
In an interview on October 25, 2012, director Rich Moore
said that he and Disney have ideas about a sequel that would bring the
characters up to date and explore online gaming and console gaming.
