Lake Placid | |
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Created by | David E. Kelley |
Original work | Lake Placid (1999) |
Owner | 20th Century Fox (1–2) Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2–6) |
Years | 1999–2018 |
Films and television | |
Film(s) |
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Lake Placid is a series of American natural horror comedy films created by David E. Kelley. Produced and distributed by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, the series began with Lake Placid (1999) directed by Steve Miner, and was followed by five television sequels, Lake Placid 2 (2007) by David Flores, Lake Placid 3 (2010) by Griff Furst, Lake Placid: The Final Chapter (2012) by Don Michael Paul, Lake Placid vs. Anaconda (2015) by A.B. Stone, being a crossover with the Anaconda series, and Lake Placid: Legacy (2018) by Darrell Roodt. Each installment revolves around the presence of giant, 30-foot-long man-eating crocodiles in the fictional location of Black Lake, Maine, and the efforts of various groups to capture or destroy the creatures. All of the films (except for Legacy) reference members of the fictitious Bickerman family.
During the production of the original film, Stan Winston Studios were hired to produce the 30 feet long animatronic crocodile, which was covered in a water-resistant urethane skin and functioned underwater using waterproofed hydraulics. [1] In 2014, following the re-release of the original film on Blu-ray, Daily Dead interviewed director Steve Miner about the production of the film. According to Miner: "The first thing I did when I got on board Lake Placid was send the script over to Stan. Stan went ahead and began building the main 18-20 foot croc out of pocket even before we had locked down our financing or anything like that. He may have spent close to a million dollars on him- it may not have been that much, but it was close. And that’s such a testament to Stan- I kept telling him that I didn’t even know if we were going to be making the darned movie, but he just kept moving ahead. What I didn’t know when I took on Lake Placid was that it had already been turned down by all the studios so when it came time to put the movie together, it was a little more challenging than I originally thought it was going to be. That’s when I brought in Mike Medavoy and he really got this movie done for us. We started making the rounds again and eventually Fox ended up picking up the movie the second time. Mike then brought these French investors over to Stan’s shop to see the crocodile in action and Stan finished that thing up just in the nick of time. It ended up working out so perfectly though because Stan had the croc working perfectly where his jaws would open and close, his eyes and head were able to move around and he could move the other parts and shake him like he was attacking something. That’s what ended up impressing the investors and it’s because of Stan that we were able to finance Lake Placid. Had it not been for him or for Mike, we wouldn’t be talking about it now". [2]
Film | U.S. release date | Director(s) | Screenwriter(s) | Producer(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Lake Placid | July 16, 1999 | Steve Miner | David E. Kelley | Peter Bogart, David E. Kelley & Michael Pressman |
Lake Placid 2 | April 28, 2007 | David Flores | Todd Hurvitz & Howie Miller | Phillip Roth & Jeffery Beach |
Lake Placid 3 | August 21, 2010 | Griff Furst | David Reed | |
Lake Placid: The Final Chapter | September 29, 2012 | Don Michael Paul | ||
Lake Placid vs. Anaconda | April 25, 2015 | A.B. Stone | Berkeley Anderson | |
Lake Placid: Legacy | May 28, 2018 | Darrell Roodt | Jeremy Smith, Matt Venables & Johnathon Lloyd Walker | Lance Samuels |
A group attempts to destroy a giant, 30-foot-long man-eating crocodile, which terrorizes Black Lake, Maine.
In the sequel to the feature film, man-eating crocodiles return to the lake as two males and one aggressive female crocodile, which is protecting her nest, wreak havoc on the locals.
A game warden moves his family to Lake Placid, once the site of deadly crocodile attacks. Locals assure him the crocs are gone, but his mischievous young son finds a few juvenile crocs and begins feeding them. They quickly grow into very big adults and start attacking the game warden's family and nearby town.
Reba the poacher is back, now an EPA agent. Black Lake is turned into a crocodile sanctuary surrounded by an electric fence. When the fence gets left open one night, a high-school field trip bus unknowingly enters the park. It's up to Reba and the sheriff to save the kids from becoming crocodile chow.
In Black Lake, Maine, an accident allows the two giant species, crocodiles and anacondas, to be regenerated and they escape towards Clear Lake. Now, Reba teams up with Tully to find his daughter Bethany and a group of sorority girls in a deadly match between the two creatures.
A group of young explorers discover a secret area hidden from all maps and GPS devices. When they reach the center of the lake, they discover an abandoned facility that houses one of the largest and deadliest apex-predators known to man.
Key
- An A indicates an appearance through archival footage.
- A dark gray cell indicates the character was not in the film.
Character | Films | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lake Placid | Lake Placid 2 | Lake Placid 3 | Lake Placid: The Final Chapter | Lake Placid vs. Anaconda | Lake Placid: Legacy | ||
1999 | 2007 | 2010 | 2012 | 2015 | 2018 | ||
Jack Wells | Bill Pullman | ||||||
Kelly Scott | Bridget Fonda | ||||||
Hector Cyr | Oliver Platt | ||||||
Sheriff Hank Keough | Brendan Gleeson | ||||||
Deputy Sharon Gare | Meredith Salenger | ||||||
Sheriff James Riley | John Schneider | ||||||
Emily "Emma" Warner | Sarah Lafleur | ||||||
Jack Struthers | Sam McMurray | ||||||
Scott Riley | Chad Michael Collins | Chad Michael Collins A | |||||
Kerri | Alicia Ziegler | Alicia Ziegler A | |||||
Ahmad Andrews | Joe Holt | ||||||
Thad Hyland | Ian Reed Kesler | ||||||
Larry Willis | Justin Urich | ||||||
Reba | Yancy Butler | ||||||
Ellie | Kacey Clarke | ||||||
Brett Willies | Mark Evans | ||||||
Aaron Fitzgerald | Nils Hognestad | ||||||
Tara Kendrick | Angelica Penn | ||||||
Charlie Berman | Brian Landon | ||||||
Sheriff Tony Willinger | Michael Ironside | ||||||
Sheriff Theresa Giove | Elisabeth Röhm | ||||||
Ryan Loflin | Paul Nicholls | ||||||
Chloe Giove | Poppy Lee Friar | ||||||
Max Loflin | Benedict Smith | ||||||
Elaine Ford | Caroline Ford | ||||||
Brittany Fanning | Scarlett Byrne | ||||||
Drew | Daniel Black | ||||||
Deputy Nermal | Jeff Stewart | ||||||
Will "Tully" Tull | Corin Nemec | ||||||
Bethany Tull | Skye Lourie | ||||||
Sarah Murdoch | Annabel Wright | ||||||
Beach | Stephen Billington | ||||||
Tiffani Jones | Laura Dale | ||||||
Margo | Ali Eagle | ||||||
Deputy Ferguson | Oliver Walker | ||||||
Jade | Katherine Barrell | ||||||
Sam | Tim Rozon | ||||||
Alice | Sai Bennett | ||||||
Henderson | Joe Pantoliano | ||||||
The Bickermans | |||||||
Delores Bickerman | Betty White | Betty White P | Mentioned | ||||
Sadie Bickerman | Cloris Leachman | Cloris Leachman A | |||||
Nathan Bickerman | Colin Ferguson | ||||||
Susan Bickerman | Kirsty Mitchell | ||||||
Connor Bickerman | Jordan Grehs | ||||||
Jim Bickerman | Robert Englund | ||||||
Role | Film | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lake Placid | Lake Placid 2 | Lake Placid 3 | Lake Placid: The Final Chapter | Lake Placid vs. Anaconda | Lake Placid: Legacy | |
1999 | 2007 | 2010 | 2012 | 2015 | 2018 | |
Composer | John Ottman | Nathan Furst | Frederik Wiedmann | Claude Foisy | James Matthes Andries Smit | |
Editor | Paul Hirsch Marshall Harvey | John Quinn | Matt Michael | John Quinn | Cameron Hallenbeck | Christopher Minns |
Cinematographer | Daryn Okada | Lorenzo Senatore | Anton Bakarski | Martin Chichov | Ivo Peitchev | Trevor Calverley |
Production companies | Phoenix Pictures | Sci-Fi Pictures | Stage 6 Films UFO International | UFO International | Destination Films UFO International | Destination Films Blue Ice Pictures Out of Africa Entertainment |
Distributor | 20th Century Fox | 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment Sony Pictures Home Entertainment | Sony Pictures Home Entertainment | |||
Running time | 82 minutes | 88 minutes | 96 minutes | 90 minutes | 92 minutes | 93 minutes |
Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | CinemaScore |
---|---|---|---|
Lake Placid | 47% (96 reviews) [3] | 34 (25 reviews) [4] | C [5] |
Lake Placid 2 | 11% (9 reviews) [6] | — | — |
Lake Placid 3 | — | — | — |
Lake Placid: The Final Chapter | — | — | — |
Lake Placid vs. Anaconda | — | — | — |
Lake Placid: Legacy | — | — | — |
Title | U.S. release date | Length | Composer(s) | Label |
---|---|---|---|---|
Lake Placid: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | July 27, 1999 | 47:00 | John Ottman | Varèse Sarabande |
Lake Placid 2: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | August 12, 2008 | 24:00 | Nathan Furst | Lakeshore Records |
Lake Placid: Croc Drop is an interactive game produced in 1999 to promote the film Lake Placid from the same year. [7]
Lake Placid 2: Croc Alley is an interactive game produced in 2007 to promote the film Lake Placid 2 from the same year. [8] [9] [10]
Lake Placid is a 1999 American comedy horror film directed by Steve Miner and written by David E. Kelley. It is the first installment in the Lake Placid film series and stars Bill Pullman, Bridget Fonda, Brendan Gleeson, Oliver Platt, Betty White, Meredith Salenger, and Mariska Hargitay. In the film, a giant crocodile terrorizes the fictional location of Black Lake, Maine, while a dysfunctional group of police and scientists attempt to capture or kill the beast.
Anaconda is a 1997 American adventure horror film directed by Luis Llosa and starring Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight, Eric Stoltz, Jonathan Hyde, and Owen Wilson. It focuses on a documentary film crew in the Amazon rainforest that is led by a snake hunter who is hunting down a giant, legendary green anaconda. The film received generally negative reviews, and became a cult classic. It was followed by a series of films.
Killer Croc is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Gerry Conway, Don Newton and Gene Colan, the character was introduced in Batman #357. He has become one of the most enduring enemies of the superhero Batman and belongs to the collective of adversaries that make up his rogues gallery.
Stanley Winston was an American television and film special make-up effects artist, best known for his work in the Terminator series, the first three Jurassic Park films, Aliens, The Thing, the first two Predator films, Inspector Gadget, Iron Man, and Edward Scissorhands. He won four Academy Awards for his work.
Amazon Adventure is a 1949 children's novel by the Canadian-American author Willard Price featuring his "Adventure" series characters, Hal and Roger Hunt. It depicts an expedition to the Amazon River to capture animals for their father's wildlife collection business. Initially published by John Day in the US, the UK edition was published two years later by Jonathan Cape.
Crocodile attacks on humans are common in places where large crocodilians are native and human populations live. It has been estimated that about 1,000 people are killed by crocodilians each year.
Crocodile is a 2000 American direct-to-video horror film directed by Tobe Hooper. The film involves a group of college students on a houseboat for spring break who stumble across a nest of eggs, and unknowingly enrage a large female Nile crocodile that stalks and kills them one by one. It was followed by Crocodile 2: Death Swamp, a film with no relation to the plot of the original beyond featuring the same individual giant crocodile and its sole offspring.
Rogue is a 2007 Australian independent horror film written, produced and directed by Greg McLean, about a group of tourists in Australia who fall prey to a giant, 25 ft (7.6 m) man-eating saltwater crocodile. It stars Michael Vartan, Sam Worthington and Radha Mitchell.
Gustave is a man-eating male Nile crocodile that roams the Ruzizi river and the northern shores of Lake Tanganyika in Burundi, Africa. Gustave is rumored to have killed as many as 200–300 people. Though the actual number of victims is difficult to verify, he has obtained mythical status and is greatly feared by people in the region.
Croc is a 2007 American made-for-television natural horror film produced by RHI Entertainment that premiered in Canada on the video-on-demand channel Movie Central On Demand in July 2007. It aired in the United States on the Sci Fi Channel on November 4, 2007. It is the 6th film in the Maneater Series produced under an agreement with Sci Fi. Filmed in Thailand, the film revolves around the efforts of the owner of a crocodile-farm, an animal welfare agent, and a hunter trying to kill a large saltwater crocodile that has begun killing people in the area.
Lake Placid 2 is a 2007 American made-for-television comedy horror film directed by David Flores. It is a sequel to Lake Placid (1999) and the second installment in the Lake Placid film series, telling the story of man-eating crocodiles who terrorize the local community. The film premiered on April 28, 2007 on the Sci-Fi Channel and was released direct to video on January 29, 2008.
Lake Placid 3 is a 2010 American made-for-television horror comedy film directed by Griff Furst. It is a sequel to Lake Placid 2 (2007) and the third installment in the Lake Placid film series. The film premiered on August 21, 2010, on Syfy, and was released to DVD later that year.
Mega Shark Versus Crocosaurus is a 2010 disaster horror film by The Asylum, released on December 21, 2010, in the United States. The film stars Jaleel White, Gary Stretch, Robert Picardo, Dylan Vox, Hannah Cowley and Sarah Lieving.
Lolong was the largest crocodile in captivity. He was a saltwater crocodile measured at 6.17 m, and weighed 1,075 kg (2,370 lb), making him one of the largest crocodiles ever measured from snout-to-tail.
Lake Placid: The Final Chapter is a 2012 American made-for-television action horror comedy film directed by Don Michael Paul, written by David Reed and stars Elisabeth Röhm, Yancy Butler, Paul Nicholls and Robert Englund. It is a sequel to Lake Placid 3 (2010) and the fourth installment in the Lake Placid film series, telling the story of killer crocodiles who terrorize the local community. The film premiered on September 29, 2012, by Syfy and was released on DVD on February 19, 2013. As the title suggests, it was originally intended to be the final installment in the series, but was followed by Lake Placid vs. Anaconda, a crossover with Anaconda film series in 2015.
Lake Placid vs. Anaconda is a 2015 American comedy horror television film directed by A.B. Stone, written by Berkeley Anderson and starring Corin Nemec, Yancy Butler and Robert Englund. The film premiered on April 25, 2015, on Syfy. It is a crossover between the Anaconda film series and Lake Placid film series, and the fifth installment in both their respective series. It is followed by Lake Placid: Legacy (2018) and Anaconda (2024).
Anaconda is an American horror film series created by Hans Bauer, Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr. Produced and distributed by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, the series began with Anaconda (1997) directed by Luis Llosa, and was followed by one theatrical stand-alone sequel, Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid (2004) directed by Dwight Little, and three television sequels, Anaconda 3: Offspring (2008), Anacondas: Trail of Blood (2009), both directed by Don E. FauntLeRoy, and Lake Placid vs. Anaconda (2015) directed by A.B. Stone and being a crossover with the Lake Placid film series. Along with a 2024 Chinese remake of the same name, Anaconda (2024) directed by Xiang Qui Liang and Xiang He Sheng. Each installment revolves around giant man-eating anacondas and the efforts of various groups of people to capture or destroy the creatures. The fictional plant known as the Blood Orchid and the company Wexel Hall Pharmaceuticals as well as the fictitious Murdoch family are repeatedly referenced in the films.
Lake Placid: Legacy is a 2018 American-South African made-for-television horror film directed by Darrell Roodt and stars Katherine Barrell, Tim Rozon, Sai Bennett and Joe Pantoliano, the film premiered on Syfy on May 28, 2018. It is the sixth installment in the Lake Placid film series. The film has its own story that tells the origin of how the crocodiles got to be in Lake Placid.