Mike Mitchell | |
---|---|
Born | October 18, 1970 53) Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S. | (age
Occupations |
|
Years active | 1993–present |
Mike Mitchell (born October 18, 1970) is an American film director, writer, producer, actor and animator. He has directed the films Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999), Surviving Christmas (2004), Sky High (2005), Shrek Forever After (2010), Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (2011), The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015), Trolls (2016), The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019), and Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024).
Mitchell was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the son of lawyer and former chairman of the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, Robert Mitchell and Julia Baker. According to his father, "Mitchell's gifts for artistic imagery were discovered early." He graduated from Putnam City North High School, and during this time was very much involved in the arts, then subsequently moved to Los Angeles to attend the California Institute of the Arts. During his time there, there was a demand for young animators, which led him into television.
Working for such filmmakers as Tim Burton and Spike Jonze, Mitchell became an illustrator. He has one older sister, Suzanne Mitchell Robertson.
He started his career as director for Matt O'Callaghan's The Itsy Bitsy Spider . He first gained critical attention when he co-wrote, produced and directed the short film Herd, which won several film festival awards, including the Spirit of Slamdance Award at the 1999 Slamdance Festival. That same year, he made his feature film directorial debut with the comedy Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo , starring Rob Schneider. He worked for various companies including Disney, DreamWorks, MTV, Nickelodeon, Universal and Sony.
He directed the films Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked , Surviving Christmas and Sky High . The first two received negative reviews, while the third has received positive reviews. In 2006, he joined DreamWorks Animation, and was a story artist for Shrek the Third and Creative Consultant for Kung Fu Panda . He later directed the movie Shrek Forever After and voiced the character Butterpants.
Mitchell's short film Frannie's Christmas was preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012. [1]
He also worked as a voice actor for Advisor Wedgie (known as "Nerd" for most of the film) in Monsters vs. Aliens , and Andy "Jack" Beanstalk in Puss in Boots . He also directed live action sequences on The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water . He not only works on movies but in television as well. He directed and wrote several episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants . Mitchell also directed the animated film The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part , which was released on February 8, 2019, to positive reviews. Mitchell will also direct Nightcrawlers, a supernatural action comedy, [2] a sequel to Sky High, [3] a live-action-animated adaptation of the book We're Not From Here, [4] and a live-action/animated adaptation of the song Puff, the Magic Dragon . [5]
On April 26, 2023, it was announced that Mitchell is set to direct the fourth installment in the Kung Fu Panda franchise, which was released on March 8, 2024. [6]
Sundance Film Festival: "Frannie's Christmas" (1993).
Aspen Shortsfest 1999: Won special recognition for "Herd" (1999).
Atlanta Film Festival 1999: Won Honorable Mention for Best Narrative Short: "Herd" (1999).
Birmingham Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival 1999: Won first prize for "Herd" (1999).
Slamdance Film Festival 1999: Won Spirt of Slamdance Award for "Herd" (1999).
HI Mom Film Festival 2000: Won first prize for "Herd" (1999).
Movieguide Award 2020: Won Best Movie for Families for "The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part" (2019) (with Trisha Gum).
Year | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
1999 | Herd | Short Film, Also writer and producer |
Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo | ||
2004 | Surviving Christmas | |
2005 | Sky High | |
2010 | Shrek Forever After | |
2011 | Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked | |
2015 | The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water | Live-action sequences |
2016 | Trolls | |
2019 | The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part | |
2024 | Kung Fu Panda 4 | Also executive producer |
Year | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
1998 | Antz | Additional story artist |
2004 | Shrek 2 | |
2007 | Shrek the Third | |
2009 | Monsters vs. Aliens | Story artist |
2016 | Sausage Party | Additional storyboard artist |
Year | Title | Role |
---|---|---|
2001 | Monkeybone | Miss Hudlapp |
2009 | Monsters vs. Aliens | Advisor "Nerd" Wedgie |
2010 | Shrek Forever After | Tour Guide/Camp Ogre/Ogre Naysayer/Baba Witch/Melty Witch/Witch Guard #2/Butter Pants |
Megamind | Father in Crowd | |
2011 | Puss in Boots | Andy Beanstalk |
2014 | Penguins of Madagascar | Antarctic Penguin |
2016 | Kung Fu Panda 3 | Male Palace Goose / Smart Panda Villager |
Trolls | Darius, Vinny the Phone, Captain Starfunkle, Spider, Wedgie Bergen #1, Chad, Card | |
2019 | The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part | Sherry Scratchen-Post |
Actor
Year | Title | Role |
---|---|---|
1999 | Herd | Mailman |
Creative consultant
Special thanks
Executive producer
Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | Budget | Box Office |
---|---|---|---|---|
Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999) | 22%" [8] | 30% [9] | $17 million | $92.9 million |
Surviving Christmas (2004) | 7% [10] | 19% [11] | $45 million | $15.1 million |
Sky High (2005) | 73% [12] | 62% [13] | $35 million | $86.4 million |
Shrek Forever After (2010) | 57% [14] | 58% [15] | $135–165 million | $752.6 million |
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (2011) | 12% [16] | 24% [17] | $80 million | $342.7 million |
Trolls (2016) | 75% [18] | 55% [19] | $125 million | $346.9 million |
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019) | 84% [20] | 65% [21] | $99 million | $199.6 million |
Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024) | 70% [22] | 56% [23] | $85 million | $268 million |
A parody film or spoof film is a subgenre of comedy film that lampoons other film genres or films as pastiches, works created by imitation of the style of many different films reassembled together. Although the subgenre is often overlooked by critics, parody films are commonly profitable at the box office. Parody is related to satire, except that "parody is more often a representation of appreciation, while a satire is more often...pointing ...out the major flaws of an object through ridicule." J.M. Maher notes that the "difference is not always clear" and points out that "some films employ both techniques". Parody is found in a range of art and culture, including literature, music, theater, television, animation, and gaming.
Jacqueline Danell Obradors is an American actress. She has appeared in films such as Six Days, Seven Nights (1998), Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999), Tortilla Soup (2001), A Man Apart (2003) and Unstoppable (2004). She is also the voice of Audrey Rocio Ramirez in Atlantis: The Lost Empire. On television, Obradors is known for her role as Detective Rita Ortiz in the ABC crime drama series NYPD Blue (2001–2005).
Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo is a 1999 American sex comedy film directed by Mike Mitchell and written by Harris Goldberg and Rob Schneider. The film stars Schneider, William Forsythe, Eddie Griffin, and Arija Bareikis, with supporting roles by Oded Fehr, Gail O'Grady, Richard Riehle, Jacqueline Obradors, Big Boy, Amy Poehler, and Dina Platias. The film tells the story of a hapless fishtank cleaner who goes into business as a male prostitute in an attempt to earn enough money to repair damage he caused while house-sitting. It was the first film produced by Adam Sandler's production company Happy Madison Productions.
Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo is a 2005 American sex comedy film directed by Mike Bigelow from a screenplay by Rob Schneider, David Garrett, and Jason Wardand. The film is the sequel to Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999) and stars Schneider, Eddie Griffin, Til Schweiger, and Jeroen Krabbé. The plot involves male prostitute Deuce Bigalow visiting his former pimp T.J. in Amsterdam, and looking for a murderer who is killing the greatest "man-whores" of Europe.
Kung Fu Panda is a 2008 American animated martial arts comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The first installment in the Kung Fu Panda franchise, it was directed by John Stevenson and Mark Osborne, from a screenplay and story respectively written by the writing teams of Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, and Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris. The film stars the voices of Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Ian McShane, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, Randall Duk Kim, James Hong, Dan Fogler, Michael Clarke Duncan and Jackie Chan. The film, set in a version of ancient China populated by anthropomorphic animals, centers on a bumbling panda bear named Po (Black), a kung-fu enthusiast living in the Valley of Peace. When the savage snow leopard Tai Lung (McShane) is foretold to escape imprisonment and attack the Valley, Po is unwittingly named the "Dragon Warrior", a prophesied hero worthy of reading a scroll that has been intended to grant its reader limitless power.
Leslee Feldman is the Head of Casting at Amblin Partners and is the former Head of Casting at DreamWorks, the studio which produced such films as Shrek, The Prince of Egypt, Road to Perdition, Old School, and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, among others. Feldman's old DreamWorks position is currently held by her former colleague Christi Soper Hilt. This change came soon after NBCUniversal acquired DreamWorks in 2016.
Mark Randolph Osborne is an American film director, writer, producer and animator.
Disaster Movie is a 2008 American parody film written and directed by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer and produced by Peter Safran, Friedberg, and Seltzer. It stars Matt Lanter, Vanessa Minnillo, Gary "G Thang" Johnson, Crista Flanagan, Nicole Parker, Ike Barinholtz, Carmen Electra, Tony Cox, and Kim Kardashian in her feature film debut. It was released on August 29, 2008, by Lionsgate. The film is mainly a parody of the disaster film genre, although it also references many other films, TV shows, people, and pop culture events of the time.
Kung Fu Panda 2 is a 2011 American animated martial arts comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson and written by the writing team of Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, the film is the sequel to Kung Fu Panda (2008), and the second installment in the Kung Fu Panda franchise. It stars Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, James Hong and Jackie Chan reprising their roles from the first film, with Gary Oldman, Michelle Yeoh, Danny McBride, Dennis Haysbert, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Victor Garber voicing new characters. In the film, Po and his Furious Five allies travel to Gongmen City to stop the evil peacock Lord Shen from conquering China, while also rediscovering Po's forgotten past.
Kung Fu Panda is an American martial arts comedy media franchise that originally started in 2008 with the release of the animated film of the same name produced by DreamWorks Animation. Following the adventures of the titular Po Ping, a giant panda who is improbably chosen as the prophesied Dragon Warrior and becomes a master of kung fu, the franchise is set in a fantasy wuxia genre version of ancient China populated by anthropomorphic animals. Although everyone initially doubts him, including Po himself, he proves himself worthy as he strives to fulfill his destiny.
The fictional animated singing group Alvin and the Chipmunks created by Ross Bagdasarian have appeared in eight feature-length films since their debut.
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked is a 2011 American jukebox musical adventure comedy film directed by Mike Mitchell and written by the writing team of Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, based on the characters Alvin and the Chipmunks created by Ross Bagdasarian Sr. and the Chipettes created by Janice Karman. It is the third installment in the live-action Alvin and the Chipmunks film series following the 2009 film Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel and the first film. The film stars Jason Lee, David Cross and Jenny Slate. Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler, Jesse McCartney, Amy Poehler, Anna Faris and Christina Applegate return to voice the Chipmunks and the Chipettes, respectively. In the film, playing around while aboard a cruise ship, the Chipmunks and the Chipettes go overboard and end up marooned in a tropical island, where they discover their new turf is not as deserted as it seems.
Jonathan Robert Aibel and Glenn Todd Berger are American screenwriters and producers, who are best known for writing the Kung Fu Panda movies, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, Trolls, and its sequel Trolls World Tour.
Kung Fu Panda 3 is a 2016 animated martial arts comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation, China Film Group Corporation, Oriental DreamWorks and Zhong Ming You Ying Film, and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is the third installment in the Kung Fu Panda franchise and the sequel to Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011). The film was directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Alessandro Carloni and written by the writing team of Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger.
Kung Fu Panda 4 is a 2024 American animated martial arts comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Universal Pictures. It is the fourth installment in the Kung Fu Panda franchise and the sequel to Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016). The film was directed by Mike Mitchell, co-directed by Stephanie Ma Stine, written by Darren Lemke and the writing team of Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, and produced by Rebecca Huntley. It features Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, James Hong, Bryan Cranston, and Ian McShane reprising their roles from the previous films, with Awkwafina, Ke Huy Quan, Ronny Chieng, Lori Tan Chinn, and Viola Davis joining the cast as new characters. In the film, Po (Black), who must find and train his successor as the new Dragon Warrior, teams up with fox bandit Zhen (Awkwafina) to defeat the evil sorceress, the Chameleon (Davis), before she steals the kung-fu abilities of all masters in China.