Casper the Friendly Ghost in film

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Casper the Friendly Ghost as he appears in Live-Action.

The fictional character, Casper the Friendly Ghost who was featured in Harvey Comics, has appeared in five films since his inception, with three being done in live-action mix with computer animation and two being done completely in computer animation, while only one was released theatrically and the rest were released in either television or straight-to-video. The films often feature Casper making a new friend.

The first live-action film entitled Casper was released in theaters in 1995 by Universal Studios and produced by Amblin Entertainment, with Brad Silberling as director and Steven Spielberg as executive producer. Unlike previous incarnations of the character, the film decided to give Casper a back-story explaining his tragic death, which also gives him more of an identity. This was also the only time where Casper was on screen as a human being. The film became a commercial success on release, but was met with mixed reviews from critics. Despite the film's success, there were talks in doing a sequel, but Amblin didn't produce one feeling that the general public wouldn't be invested, so in 1996 was the release of the spin-off animated series airing on Fox Kids which followed the events of the 1995 film. In the late 1990s, were the direct-to-video releases of Casper: A Spirited Beginning in 1997 and it's sequel, Casper Meets Wendy in 1998. They were produced by Saban Entertainment and released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. Both films were regarded as prequels to the 1995 film, but they completely ignored the story line that was presented the theatrical film and don't appeared to be in the same continuity. In 2000, Casper's Haunted Christmas was released by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, and unlike the previous three films, this was completely done in computer animation. In 2006, was the second computer animated film, this time made for television: Casper's Scare School which was produce by Moonscoop and released by Classic Media. The film eventually had its own spin-off series with the same title.

Films

Title Release Date Director(s) Writer(s) Producer(s) Editor(s) Composer(s) Distributor(s)
Casper May 26, 1995 Brad Silberling Sherri Stoner
Deanna Oliver
Colin Wilson
Executive producers:
Steven Spielberg
Michael Kahn James Horner Universal Pictures
Casper: A Spirited Beginning September 9, 1997 Sean McNamara Karey Kirkpatrick
Jymn Magon
Thomas Hart
Thomas McCluskey (story)
Rob Kerchner (story)
Mike Elliott John Walts
John Gilbert
Udi Harpaz 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Casper Meets Wendy September 22, 1998 Jymn Magon John Gilbert
Casper's Haunted Christmas October 31, 2000 Owen Hurley Ian Boothby
Roger Fredericks
Byron Vaughns Andrew Duncan Robert Buckley Universal Pictures Home Video
Casper's Scare School October 20, 2006 Mark Gravas
Ben Choo
Andrew Nicholls
Darrell Vickers
Evan Baily
Ralph Guggenheim
Sandra Walters
Daryl Davies Magnus Fiennes DreamWorks Classics

Live-Action films

Casper (1995)

<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>

With Steven Spielberg as executive producer of the film, he hired Brad Silberling to direct, making it Brad's first feature film as a director. The film stars Christina Ricci and Bill Pullman, with Malachi Pearson voicing in the title role. This film was set in Friendship, Maine and makes extensive use of computer-generated imagery to make the ghosts such as Casper and his uncles the Ghostly Trio come to life and have them interacted with the live actors. This was also the first film to feature a CGI character in a lead role.[1] The film gave Casper a back-story and is the only time that explains his death. In the film, Casper was a twelve-year-old boy living in Whipstaff Manor with his inventor father J.T. McFadden until he died from pneumonia after playing out in the cold until it was past nightfall. This was also the only film to have Casper on screen in his human form. The film opened at #1 over the Memorial Day weekend, grossing $16,840,385 over its first three days from 2,714 theaters, averaging $6,205 per theater. Over four days it grossed $22,091,975, averaging $8,140 per theater. It stayed at #1 in its second weekend, grossing another $13,409,610, and boosting its 10-day cume to $38,921,225.

Direct-to-Video films

Casper: A Spirited Beginning (1997)

<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>

With the success of Casper, Simon Wells co-wrote a screenplay for Casper 2, which he was set to direct, but was scraped when Amblin Entertainment cancelled it believing that a sequel wouldn't interest moviegoers, so in 1996 was the release of The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper airing on FOX Kids, following the events of the film. In 1997, The Harvey Entertainment Company and Saban Entertainment produced the direct-to-video film, Casper: A Spirited Beginning released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. The film was directed as a prequel to the 1995 film explaining how Casper became a ghost, but it completely ignored the storyline of 1995 film, with Casper dying on present day, no mention of Whipstaff Manor or his father J.T. McFadden and the Ghostly Trio not being directly related to him. While it being a direct-to-video film, the film has a list of an all star cast, such as Steve Guttenberg, Lori Loughlin, Rodney Dangerfield, Michael McKean, James Earl Jones, and Pauly Shore.

Casper Meets Wendy (1998)

<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>

After release of Casper: A Spirited Beginning, in 1998 Saban Entertainment returned once more with its sequel while being the second prequel to the 1995 feature film Casper. The film was entitled, Casper Meets Wendy. With Casper Meets Wendy, director Sean McNamara who also directed Casper: A Spirited Beginning wanted to reintroduced a character who was in the Casper comics and cartoon known as Wendy the Good Little Witch. The role of Wendy was given to Hilary Duff in her first feature when she was 11-years-old. The film won the Children’s Programming - Electronic Visual Effects award with Hilary Duff being nominated for a Young Artist Award.

Casper's Haunted Christmas (2000)

<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>

In 2000, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment released, Casper's Haunted Christmas. This film was all done in computer animation, as opposed to its live-action predecessors. The film was set in Christmas time with Casper and his uncles; the Ghostly Trio being forced by Kibosh to have Casper purposely scare someone on Christmas Eve or else he and his uncles will be sentence to The Dark for all eternity. The film also features Casper's cousin's Spooky the Tuff Little Ghost and Spooky's girlfriend Poil. Brendan Ryan Barrett who portrayed Casper's best friend, Chris Carson from Casper: A Spirited Beginning got to voice the titular character himself in this film.

Television film

Casper's Scare School (2006)

<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>

In 2006, was the released of Casper's Scare School which features Casper being sentenced to a school that will teach him how to scare others. In 2009, the film eventually had a spin-off animated series with the same title.

Cancellation

Casper 2

Simon Wells co wrote a screenplay and was set to direct the sequel for the 1995 film Casper, but Ambiln cancel it feeling that the standard movie goer wouldn't be invested in a sequel, and actress Christina Ricci claim that she wouldn't return. As a result, was the release of the animated spin-off/sequel to the film and the as well as the two direct-to-video prequels that are unrelated to the film.

Future

With Classic Media owning the rights to Casper, there are plans to reboot the character in live-action again, and have him return to the big screen as Steven Spielberg had mention that Casper will not return in the small screen like the last four movies. In 2012, Dreamworks has brought the rights to the character from Classic Media as well as all the other Harvey Comics characters, and is set to reboot him, somewhere down in the future.[2][3]

Cast and Characters

Character Casper (1995) Direct-to-Video films TV film
Casper: A Spirited Beginning (1997) Casper Meets Wendy (1998) Casper's Haunted Christmas (2000) Casper's Scare School (2006)
Casper McFadden
The Friendly Ghost
Malachi Pearson
Devon Sawa (human)
Jeremy Foley Brendan Ryan Barrett Devon Werkheiser
Stretch McFadden Joe Nipote Jim Ward Scott McNeil Dan Castellaneta
Stinkie McFadden Joe Alaskey Bill Farmer Terry Klassen John DiMaggio
Fatso McFadden Brad Garrett Jess Harnell Graeme Kingston Billy West
Kibosh   James Earl Jones   Colin Murdock Kevin Michael Richardson
Snivel   Pauly Shore   Lee Tockar  
Kathleen "Kat" Harvey Christina Ricci  
Dr. James Harvey Bill Pullman  
Carrigan Crittenden Cathy Moriarty  
Paul "Dibs" Plutzker Eric Idle  
Amelia Harvey Amy Brenneman  
Vic Dephillippi Garette Ratliff Henson  
Amber Whitmire Jessica Wesson  
Chris Carson   Brendan Ryan Barrett  
Tim Carson   Steve Guttenberg  
Sheila Fistergraff   Lori Loughlin  
Mayor Hunt   Rodney Dangerfield  
Bill Case   Michael McKean  
Jennifer   Shannon Chandler  
Brock Lee   Steven Hartman  
Danny   Logan Robbins  
Leon   D'Juan Watts  
Wendy
The Good Little Witch
  Hilary Duff  
Gert   Cathy Moriarty  
Gabby   Shelley Duvall  
Fanny   Teri Garr  
Desmond Spellman   George Hamilton  
Jules   Richard Moll  
Vincent   Vincent Schiavelli  
The Oracle   Pauly Shore  
Josh Jackman   Blake Foster  
Logan   Logan Robbins  
Spooky
The Tuff Little Ghost
  Samuel Vincent  
Poil   Tabitha St. Germain  
Holly Jollimore   Tegan Moss  
Carol Jollimore   Kathleen Barr  
Noel Jollimore   Scott McNeil  
Ra   Kendré Berry
Mantha   Christy Carlson Romano
Thatch   Matthew Underwood
Jimmy Bradly   Brett Delbuono
Alder   Jim Belushi
Dash   Bob Saget
Cappy   Maurice LaMarche
Beaky   Kevin McDonald
Wolfie   Pat Fraley
Aunt Spitzy   Phyllis Diller
Bell and Murray "The Ancle"   Captain & Tennille

Reception

Box office performance

Film Release date Box office revenue Box office ranking Budget Reference
Domestic Foreign Worldwide All time domestic All time worldwide
Casper May 26, 1995 $100,328,194 $187,600,000 $287,928,194 #617 #380 $55 million [4]

Critical and public response

Film Rotten Tomatoes Metacritic CinemaScore
Casper 44% (36 reviews)[5] N/A A[6]
Casper: A Spirited Beginning 0% (5 reviews)[7] N/A N/A
Casper Meets Wendy 20% (5 reviews)[8] N/A N/A
Casper's Haunted Christmas 39% (2 reviews)[9] N/A N/A
Casper's Scare School 60% (1 reviews)[10] N/A N/A

See also

References

  1. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. http://www.cityam.com/article/dreamworks-buys-studio-owner-casper-and-lassie-155m
  3. http://uproxx.com/filmdrunk/dreamworks-acquired-classic-media-will-reboot-our-childhoods/
  4. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.