Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie

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Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie
Mystery Science Theater 3000 The Movie.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Jim Mallon
Screenplay by
Based on Mystery Science Theater 3000
by Joel Hodgson
Produced byJim Mallon
Starring
  • Michael J. Nelson
  • Trace Beaulieu
  • Kevin Murphy
  • Jim Mallon
CinematographyJeff Stonehouse
Edited by Bill Johnson
Music by Billy Barber
Production
company
Distributed by
Release date
  • April 19, 1996 (1996-04-19)
Running time
74 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
BudgetLess than $5 million [1]
Box office$1 million [2]

Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie is a 1996 American science fiction comedy film and a film adaptation of the television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 , [3] produced and set between the series' sixth and seventh seasons. It was distributed by Universal Pictures and Gramercy Pictures [2] and produced by Best Brains.

Contents

The filmmakers dub a new comic narrative over the 1955 sci-fi film This Island Earth , editing out approximately 30 minutes of the original film. [4]

Plot

The film opens with mad scientist Dr. Clayton Forrester, working from an underground laboratory, explaining the premise of the film (and associated series). Mike Nelson and the robots Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo, along with Gypsy, are aboard the Satellite of Love high in Earth's orbit, when Forrester forces them to watch the film This Island Earth to break their wills; as in the television series, Mike, Crow and Tom riff the film as it plays.

The film-riffing scenes are book-ended and interspersed with short, unrelated sketches:

Cast

[5]

Production

In 1994, a distribution deal with Paramount Pictures was in negotiations but fell through when the studio wanted to explore the characters' backstories instead of heckling on movies. Universal studio executives attended the series' "ConventioCon ExpoFest-O-Rama" in 1994, where the cast performed a live riff on This Island Earth, a Universal production. Universal Pictures agreed to distribute the film through Gramercy Pictures. The film was shot away from the Best Brains corporate headquarters and studio in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, at Energy Park Studios in St. Paul. [6]

Deleted scenes

Release

Box office

Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie was released on April 19, 1996 in only 26 theaters, grossing $206,328, a $7,935 per theater average. It went on to gross $1,007,306. [2]

Critical reception

The film received generally positive reviews from critics. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an 80% rating, based on 54 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The site's consensus states: "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie may be thin and uneven, but it's hilarious in enough of the right spots to do the show's big-screen transition justice." [10]

Home media

The film was released on VHS by MCA/Universal Home Video to rental outlets on October 1, 1996. The film was released for retail sales on April 8, 1997 on both VHS and Laserdisc formats. [11] MST3K: The Movie was released on DVD in 1998 by Image Entertainment, as a discount title with an MSRP of $14.99.

Universal re-released the DVD on May 6, 2008 through their Rogue Pictures subsidiary. The film is in anamorphic widescreen, and includes an upgraded Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, with English subtitles, a first for an MST3K DVD, and an alternate French language track that is noticeably different from the original English one, as many of the pop culture references that the show was famous for did not translate well overseas and had to be replaced. [12]

It was announced on June 7, 2013 that Shout! Factory would be releasing MST3K: The Movie on a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack Collector's Edition. This release included, for the first time, the deleted scenes from the film.

See also

Related Research Articles

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Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American science fiction comedy film review television series created by Joel Hodgson. The show premiered on KTMA-TV in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 24, 1988. It then moved to nationwide broadcast, first on The Comedy Channel/Comedy Central for seven seasons until its cancellation in 1996. Thereafter, it was picked up by The Sci-Fi Channel and aired for three more seasons until another cancellation in August 1999. A 60-episode syndication package titled The Mystery Science Theater Hour was produced in 1993 and broadcast on Comedy Central and syndicated to TV stations in 1995. In 2015, Hodgson led a crowdfunded revival of the series with 14 episodes in its eleventh season, first released on Netflix on April 14, 2017, with another six-episode season following on November 22, 2018. A second successful crowdfunding effort in 2021 will bring at least 13 additional episodes to be shown through the Gizmoplex, an online platform that Hodgson will develop for future MST3K works that launched in March 2022. As of 2022, 230 episodes and a feature film have been produced as well as three live tours.

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References

  1. Svetkey, Benjamin (February 23, 1996). "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie". Entertainment Weekly . Meredith Corporation . Retrieved February 7, 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie at Box Office Mojo
  3. Cable comedy troupe tries the big screen Review: "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie" is long on name, and pretty long on laughs, too, if you get past its slow set-up. : Baltimore Sun
  4. Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie: The Oral History|AV Club
  5. MUBI
  6. "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (1996) – Filming locations". Internet Movie Database . Amazon.com . Retrieved January 16, 2012.
  7. Love Theme From Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie on YouTube
  8. 1 2 Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (Blu-Ray). Shout! Factory. September 3, 2013.
  9. "MST3K FAQ -- Conventio-Cons!".
  10. "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie". Rotten Tomatoes . Flixster . Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  11. "Just Desserts". www.mst3ktemple.com. Archived from the original on December 13, 2001.
  12. Mystery Science Theater 3000 DVD Review-IGN