Cloud 9 (2014 film)

Cloud 9
Genre	Sports Drama Romance Teen
Written by	Justin Ware Don D. Scott Katie Wech
Directed by	Paul Hoen
Starring	Dove Cameron Luke Benward Kiersey Clemons Mike C. Manning
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
Production
Producer(s)	Ashley Tisdale Jessica Rhodes Kirkland Tibbels Shaun White
Cinematography	Suki Medencevic ASC
Production company(s)	Salty Pictures, Inc Blondie Girl Productions
Distributor	Disney-ABC Domestic Television
Release
Original network	Disney Channel
Original release	January 17, 2014 (2014-01-17)

Cloud 9 is a 2014 sports drama television film directed by Paul Hoen and written by Justin Ware, Don D. Scott and Katie Wech. It stars Dove Cameron, Luke Benward, Kiersey Clemons and Mike C. Manning. The film is set in the world of competitive snowboarding. The first promo aired on November 29, 2013 during the premiere of "Good Luck Jessie: NYC Christmas". The film premiered on January 17, 2014 as a Disney Channel Original Movie. It was viewed by 4.96 million viewers during its original premiere.

Plot

Snowboarder Kayla Morgan (Dove Cameron), the best girl shredder in Summit Valley, competes in a snowboarding challenge and wins for the girls' division. With her Swift snowboarding teammate/boyfriend, Nick Swift (Mike Manning), who is also the son of team coach Sebastian Swift (Jeffrey Nordling), she trains as a part of the Swift Team to win the "Fire and Ice" snowboarding competition. A year ago, a viral video branding the famous, legendary snowboarder Will Cloud (Luke Benward) as an "epic failure" caused Will to end his snowboarding career. He wiped out attempting a move he created in Fire and Ice, called the Cloud 9, and almost died, allowing the Swifts to take the win. Now, Will works at his family's dog-kennel with his mom, Andrea (Amy Farrington). During a pre-Fire and Ice party for the Swifts, Sebastian Swift tells Nick that he needs to do whatever it takes to win Fire and Ice. After the party, Kayla, Nick, and their two other teammates find Will's sled that he left behind while taking a customer's dog for a walk. Kayla and Nick get on and ride the sled, however, Nick is unable to control it and apologizes to Kayla before falling out of the sled. Still riding, Kayla crashes into the mountain lodge sign, demolishing it and breaking the sled in the process. A security guard finds her and takes her home, and Kayla was abandoned by her teammates to take the blame. Will was informed that his sled was broken.

Her parents, Richard (Patrick Fabian) and Madeline, tell Kayla and Will that they will fix the sign, but Kayla has to work at the dog-kennel every day after school to pay for Will's sled unless she told them who else was there at the incident. She refuses, and she and Will argue about her presence at the kennel. In the midst of their talk, Will blatantly tells Kayla that even though she had won many medals, her board technique was rusty and she was only on the Swift team because her dad owned the resort and supplied the team with money.

After school, Kayla hurries into the kennel, hoping not to be spotted. While Will took a dog for a walk, Kayla fills the dogs' food bowls. She receives a message from Sebastian that she is kicked off the team because of her misconduct. Furious, she marches up to Nick and they have a serious discussion. He and the others knew about her dismissal from the team but wouldn't do anything about it. When Kayla presses further, Nick comes straight out with the truth he's been trying to avoid and explains that she can't win Fire and Ice, due to her faulty riding. She and her father argue about how he doesn't think Kayla's good enough to try to reach for the stars.

The next day, Kayla is seen mopping the floor and arrived at the kennel earlier than Will. When Will arrives, he is with his friends, Dink (Carlon Jeffery) and Sam (Andrew Caldwell). Sam had taken a nasty fall attempting a snowboarding move, and Will lectures Sam about following the exercises he recommended for him and figures out where Sam went wrong. Kayla realizes that Will truly does know what he is doing. Later, Will and his friends leave for some pizza, leaving Kayla in charge. After she locks one of the dogs, Donald, in his cage, Kayla gives another, Buford, a bath. Donald mischievously unlocks the cage and lets the other dogs out. She discovers their escape and chases them through town. Later, she talks to Nick again, and he decides it that they should break-up, thinking she is distracting him from the competition. When Kayla returns to the kennel with the dogs, she pleads to be fired, but Andrea refuses. Back at home, her friends try to comfort her and bring themselves to watch the viral video and see how Will got injured.

Kayla asks Will to train her for Fire and Ice so she can really know snowboarding and work on her technique. She also offers to remodel the kennel to bring in more customers. Will denies that he still loves snowboarding and refuses to coach her. Infuriated, Kayla keeps trying to talk reason into him. He blatantly replies that she did not have a team to compete with, and so there would be no point in teaching her anyways. Kayla sees his old teammates and decided that they could be a team together. Kayla then notices the really famous shredder, Skye Sailor (Kiersey Clemons), and realizes the Swifts have replaced her with Skye. She tries to reason with Will again, telling him not only the Swifts replaced her, but they beat Will too and he hasn't snowboarded since. Will then agrees to train them.

At school, she tells her friends that Will will coach her and introduces them to Sam and Dink. She sees Nick and is incredulous when he silently 'what-upped' her. Spotting Skye, she points her out to her friends, who comfort her by reminding Kayla that Skye was wearing double studs, which was "so last season."

Later, Skye spots Kayla and offers to give her an autograph. Realizing this was the girl she replaced, she decided to make the autograph to 'Kayla, Everyone's favorite Daddy's girl.' Angrily, Kayla remarks that she will be the winner of Fire and Ice. Will frusturatedly tells Kayla that she has to prove that, and they started serious training. Kayla isn't doing great at the start, but she is later shown steadily improving and also working on the makeover for the dog care. At one point, Nick sees Kayla and Will together and he doesn't seem happy about it.

Will's mom is blown away at the makeover once it was finished. She notes that Will and Kayla made a great team and gave them the day off to relax and have fun. While Will is preoccupied, she thanks Kayla for bringing back "the old Will." After getting fro-yo, Kayla notices Tyson's Peak and comments on its scary appearance. Will says that it is and Kayla wonders if anyone ever snowboarded down the mountain. Will then tells Kayla the story of Tyson's Peak: how Tyson attempted to ride the mountain but his body was never found, but he was joking around. Will concludes that riding down the mountain is impossible, while Kayla argues that nothing is impossible . Kayla asks what their chances of winning Fire and Ice were, and Will tells her that although it was shaky, they are starting to look like a real threat. Kayla ventures even further, voicing her thoughts that Will should join their team. Taking note of how unsure he looked, she makes him promise to at least think about it. Later, Kayla and Will view the viral video apart, but couldn't stand watching it. The next morning, Kayla hears that her mother talked to Will's mom about her input at the kennel and her determination to become better at snowboarding, thus enlisting Will. She then hears her dad's comment that he doesn't want to see her fail and she had no chance against the Swifts. Sadly, she reminds herself that nothing is impossible.

Later, Kayla asks Will to teach her the Cloud 9, but they argue when Will says she is not ready. Will used the mountain as an example, saying you could have no fear going down it. He ventures to say that Kayla was not yet at that point. Determined to prove a point, Kayla takes a helicopter ride to the top of Tyson's peak and bravely snowboards down the mountain, unaware that she is being recorded on TV from the helicopter. But on the way down, she falls off a drop, with the snow ledge, which causes an avalanche, which buries her under the snow though by then, she has boarded all the way down Tyson's Peak. Will and Donald run to find her and eventually rescue her. Kayla admits that she boarded down the peak just to impress Will, so he would be willing to teach her the Cloud 9.

In school, Kayla finds out that Skye is already Nick's girlfriend, and she makes Will hold her hand to even up the score. Later, Dink and Sam learn that Will has joined the team. After, a few test runs after his long year off, Will stumbles and falls. He purposely pretends to be unconscious and scares them. The Swift team saw him snowboarding and when he took the fall, Nick says 'once an epic failure, always an epic failure.' Will finally agrees to teach Kayla the Cloud 9 and shows Kayla how to do the first part. While she attempts the Cloud 9, Nick and Skye sees. Nick seemed sympathetic when she fell and Skye notices. After a few failed attempts at the Cloud 9, Kayla leaves to refuel. Nick arrives and tells Will there's a strong chance Kayla will be injured doing the Cloud 9 just as Will was, and it would be Will's fault. Afterwards, Kayla made a few more attempts. Now into the night, Skye was watching her when Sebastian sees her attempts. Panicked, he asked Skye what she was doing and Skye said the Cloud 9. He didn't believe that she could pull it off but Skye counters him, saying not to count her out. Mad, he accused Skye that she told him she could beat her. Skye countered commenting that he lied because he had said she was a pampered princess with no talent. She went on how much better Kayla's doing, saying "That girl can ride". When Kayla wants to do another attempt, Will says she was hesitating and that he can't risk it her getting hurt. He accused her that it is really about winning Nick back. Kayla says she has had enough with people who don't believe in her. Will comes up and kisses her and he leaves. When Kayla heads home, Sebastian comes up and tells her that he wants her back on the team and she says yes, just because he saw her as a new improved weapon for the Swifts.

At the Fire and Ice competition, Kayla arrives wearing a Swift Jacket, making the Hot Doggers (Kayla's team) think she gave up on them. Kayla reveals she was only pulling a trick and was only wearing it to return the equipment she was instructed to give back earlier, saying that teal was "so last season", making it clear that she has officially dumped the Swift team for what they did, and the Hot Doggers was where she belonged, despite warnings of regret from Sebastian. When Fire and Ice begins, Will starts out very well, with Nick close behind. In Run 2, Nick starts to show power and wins the Men's title, making Kayla the only chance the Hot Doggers have left against the Swift team. Kayla does very well in Run 1, and so does Skye, but Kayla is in the lead. Skye pulled off an awesome routine in Run 2 and Kayla can only beat her with at least an almost perfect score. Right before her round in Run 2, Richard apologizes to Kayla for not believing in her and hopes that she will win. Sebastian sees this and considers it a distraction from winning. Nick protests that a parent supporting their kid is not a bad thing. Nick then tells Kayla that he followed his father's orders to kick Kayla off the team as Sebastian before did not believe in her. Nick tells his father that this was his dream, not Nick's. Kayla and Will were unsure if she was going to perform the Cloud 9, but after what Nick told her, she is now furious at Sebastian and more determined than ever to beat the Swifts and decides she will do it. With an awesome performance, she successfully lands the Cloud 9, scoring perfect 10 points from all the judges, winning her first "real" trophy, and making the Hot Doggers overall winners of Fire and Ice. Pia, Linds, Richard, Madeline, Nick, and even Skye applaud her, as well as Sebastian, who now regrets his decision to dump her from his team. Will, Dink, and Sam cheer for Kayla and place her on top of their shoulders for winning the competition, who then, celebrates her victory.

Cast

• Dove Cameron as Kayla Morgan
• Luke Benward as Will Cloud
• Mike C. Manning as Nick Swift
• Kiersey Clemons as Skye Sailor
• Amy Farrington as Andrea Cloud
• Patrick Fabian as Richard Morgan
• Carlon Jeffery as Dink
• Andrew Caldwell as Sam
• Dillon Lane as Burke Brighton
• Colton Tran as Mike Lamb
• Victoria Moroles as Pia
• Tatum Chiniquy as Linds (does not speak)
• Jeffrey Nordling as Sebastian Swift

Songs

• Dove Cameron and Luke Benward - Cloud 9
• Nikki Flores and Don Benjamin - Across the Sky
• The PCH Crew - Never Too Late (Feat. Mayru)
• Krankheadz - I Want It All
• Superchick - One Girl Revolution

Broadcast

The movie premiered on January 17, 2014 along with the series premiere of I Didn't Do It and a special preview of Win, Lose, or Draw.

International release

The film originally premiered on January 17, 2014 on Disney Channel and Family Channel. It premiered on February 20, 2014 on Disney Channel (Israel), on February 28, 2014 on Disney Channel (UK and Ireland), on March 23, 2014 on Disney Channel (Southeast Asia), and in mid-2014 on Disney Channel (Australia and New Zealand). Other Disney Channel networks premiered it throughout March and April, with Russia airing it March 1, Italy on March 8, the Eastern European networks on March 15, Spain, Scandinavia and the Netherlands on April 11, France on April 22, and Brazil on May 11. It will premiere on 28 June in Australia and on 26 June on Disney Channel (Southern Africa). The movie premiered in Germany in April on Disney Cinemagic.

External links

• Cloud 9 at IMDb
• Official website