The Wizard (1989 film)

Last updated

The Wizard
The wizard poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Todd Holland
Written byDavid Chisholm
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography Robert D. Yeoman
Edited byTom Finan
Music by J. Peter Robinson
Production
company
  • The Finnegan/Pinchuk Company
Distributed by Universal Pictures (North America)
Carolco Pictures (International)
Release date
  • December 15, 1989 (1989-12-15)
Running time
100 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$6 million [1]
Box office$14.3 million [2]

The Wizard is a 1989 American family film directed by Todd Holland (in his directorial debut), written by David Chisholm, and starring Fred Savage, Jenny Lewis, Beau Bridges, Christian Slater, and Luke Edwards. It was also Tobey Maguire's uncredited film debut. [3]

Contents

The film follows three children, the youngest of whom is emotionally withdrawn but gifted at playing video games, as they travel to California to compete in a video game tournament. Known for its extensive product placement of Nintendo material, it also officially introduced Super Mario Bros. 3 to North America. [4] Despite receiving generally negative reviews upon its initial release, the film has garnered a cult following. [5] [6]

Plot

Nine-year-old Jimmy Woods suffers from PTSD after his twin sister, Jennifer, drowned two years earlier. Prone to randomly wandering away from home, he perpetually carries around a lunchbox while frequently repeating the word "California".

Jennifer's death caused Jimmy's family to split: he lives with his mother Christine and stepfather Mr. Bateman while his older half-brothers Nick and Corey live with their father Sam. Exasperated by Jimmy's behavior, Christine and Mr. Bateman decide to commit Jimmy to an institution. Unwilling to allow it, Corey sneaks Jimmy out and they start traveling on foot for Los Angeles. Nick and Sam resolve to bring the boys back while competing with Mr. Putnam, a greedy bounty hunter hired by Mr. Bateman and Christine to find Jimmy.

At a bus station, Jimmy and Corey meet Haley Brooks, a teenager on her way home to Reno. When they discover that Jimmy is innately talented at playing video games, Haley informs Corey of "Video Armageddon", a gaming tournament being held at Universal Studios Hollywood, with a grand prize of $50,000. Corey sees the tournament as an opportunity to avert Jimmy's institutionalization by showcasing his talent, and Haley agrees to help take Jimmy there in return for a share of the winnings.

The trio hitchhike cross-country, using Jimmy’s skills to win bets on games. They eventually meet popular but snobbish gamer Lucas Barton, who demonstrates his ability to play Rad Racer with a Power Glove and informs Haley he will also be competing. Corey and Haley learn that Jimmy's lunchbox contains photos and mementos of Jennifer.

The trio arrive in Reno, gaining more money with help from Haley’s trucker friend Spankey whom Haley coaches to success at a casino’s craps table. Jimmy then begins training on arcade machines with help from the Nintendo Power Line. The children escape from Putnam to Haley's trailer where she reveals she wants her share of the prize money to help her father buy a proper house. Putnam finds Haley's trailer and captures Jimmy, but Haley summons several truckers who barricade Putnam on the road and rescue Jimmy.

After Spankey drives the children to the tournament, Jimmy enters and becomes a finalist after playing Ninja Gaiden . In between rounds, Putnam unsuccessfully reattempts to apprehend the children. Jimmy, Lucas, and third finalist Mora Grissom compete in the tournament's final round – they have 10 minutes to score as many points as possible in Super Mario Bros. 3 , a brand-new game not yet released in the United States. Cheered on by his family, Haley, and even Putnam, Jimmy wins at the last second, becoming the tournament champion and earning the cash prize.

As the entire family heads home, accompanied by Haley, Jimmy suddenly becomes restless upon spotting the Cabazon Dinosaurs, causing them to stop the car. They follow him inside, and Corey finds Jimmy looking at his photos of the family, one of which was taken at the tourist trap. They realize that Jimmy only sought closure where Jennifer was happy. Jimmy leaves his lunchbox at the site and the family resumes the car trip. Jimmy kisses Haley, who laughs along with Corey in the back of the truck as they ride off into the sunset.

Cast

In addition, Tobey Maguire has his first film role, an uncredited part as Lucas's Goon at Video Armageddon. [7]

Production

During 1988, a shortage of ROM chips and the preparation of a version of Super Mario Bros. 2 for the west delayed several of Nintendo's game releases in North America. One such product was Super Mario Bros. 3. [8] The delay presented Nintendo with an opportunity to promote the game in a feature film. In 1989, Tom Pollack of Universal Studios approached Nintendo of America's marketing department about a video game film; inspired by Nintendo video game competitions, Pollack envisioned a video game version of Tommy for younger audiences. Nintendo licensed its products for inclusion in the film. During production, the filmmakers were granted approval from Nintendo regarding the script and portrayal of its games. [9] Super Mario Bros. 3 was one of the products shown in the film and was used in a final scene involving a video game competition. [9] [10] Despite the film touting itself as featuring the first public reveal of Super Mario Bros. 3, the game had already been released in Japan during the previous year, with U.S. magazines such as Electronic Gaming Monthly and GamePro having already covered the Japanese version. [11] [12] [13]

Filming took place between June 5 and July 25, 1989. [1] In a 2008 reunion, [14] as well in an interview in 2014, [15] Todd Holland revealed that the original cut of the film was 2.5 hours long and included an extended backstory for Jimmy and Corey.

In an interview with Retro Gamer , director Holland admitted that he had some issues with the final script: "I argued with the studio that we were shooting way too much footage – more than we could ever possibly use [...] I lost the argument and was told flat out by Universal to shoot the entire script". [10] According to Holland, the original cut of the film was over 2.5 hours long and that nearly an hour of footage needed to be deleted in order to make the film a suitable length for family viewing. The deleted material was finally released in 2020 on the collector's edition Blu-ray of the film. Most of the deleted footage comes from the original cut of the opening act which explores Corey's home life in more detail, including deliberately antagonizing his older brother, his mother's emotional issues surrounding Jimmy and her divide from her former family. Nick's alcoholism is also explored in more detail as well as additional clips from the road trip scenes. Trucker Spankey gets more screen time in the deleted scenes also, explaining his role in more detail, and there are more clips from the final Video Game Armageddon contest.

Music

Release

Box office

The Wizard debuted at No. 5, [16] earning $2,142,525 in the domestic box office. [17] At the end of its run, the film had grossed $14,278,900. [2] Based on an estimated $6 million budget, the film was a moderate box office success, after which it became a cult film. [1]

Critical reception

The film received negative reviews from critics. Multiple newspaper critics labeled it a feature-length commercial for Universal Studios Hollywood and Nintendo. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times called the film "a cynical exploitation film with a lot of commercial plugs" and "insanely overwritten and ineptly filmed". He later called it one of the worst films of 1989. [18] Washington Post staff writer Rita Kempley wrote that the movie was "tacky and moribund", plagiarizing heavily from the 1988 film Rain Man . [19] On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 27% score, based on 22 reviews, with an average rating of 4.5/10. [20] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 23 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". [21]

David Sheff, in the book Game Over (1993), called it "less a piece of art than a one-hundred-minute advertisement for Nintendo that millions of families paid to see" especially for Super Mario Bros. 3. [22] Levi Buchanan of IGN , in 2012, called it a "90-minute Super Mario Bros. 3 commercial". [23]

Despite the negative reviews, the film was still popular enough to achieve cult film status and to receive a reunion screening from Ain't It Cool News at the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz in Austin, Texas, on February 8, 2008. Director Holland and stars Savage and Edwards were in attendance to take questions from fans. [24]

Home media

The Wizard was released on VHS and LaserDisc three times, in 1990, in 1992, and in 1997. By 1993, The Wizard grossed $6 million in video rentals. [25]

It was first released on DVD in Region 2 on February 2, 2001 and finally in the US and Canada (Region 1) on August 22, 2006. [26] The Blu-ray version was released on May 15, 2018, [27] and a special edition Blu-ray was released by Shout! Factory on March 24, 2020, [28] with a new 4K remaster, audio commentary with director Todd Holland, never-before-seen deleted scenes, and more. [29]

Legacy

On September 6, 2016, Pax West 2016 concluded with a replica of the Super Mario Bros. 3 tournament from the film. [30]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shigeru Miyamoto</span> Japanese video game designer (born 1952)

Shigeru Miyamoto is a Japanese video game designer, producer and game director at Nintendo, where he serves as one of its representative directors as an executive since 2002. Widely regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential designers in video games, he is the creator of some of the most acclaimed and best-selling game franchises of all time, including Mario,The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, Star Fox and Pikmin. More than 1 billion copies of games featuring franchises created by Miyamoto have been sold.

<i>Mario Bros.</i> 1983 video game

Mario Bros. is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo as an arcade video game in 1983. It was designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Gunpei Yokoi, Nintendo's chief engineer. Italian twin brother plumbers Mario and Luigi exterminate creatures, like turtles (Koopas) and crabs emerging from the sewers by knocking them upside-down and kicking them away. The Famicom/Nintendo Entertainment System version is the first game produced by Intelligent Systems. It is part of the Mario franchise, but originally began as a spin-off from the Donkey Kong series.

<i>Super Mario Bros. 3</i> 1988 video game

Super Mario Bros. 3 is a 1988 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It was released for home consoles in Japan on October 23, 1988, in North America on February 12, 1990 and in Europe on August 29, 1991. It was developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development, led by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka.

<i>Super Mario World</i> 1990 video game

Super Mario World, known in Japanese marketing as Super Mario World: Super Mario Bros. 4, is a platform game developed by Nintendo EAD and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It was released in Japan in 1990, North America in 1991 and Europe and Australia in 1992. The player controls Mario on his quest to save Princess Peach and Dinosaur Land from the series' antagonist Bowser and the Koopalings. The gameplay is similar to that of earlier Super Mario games; players control Mario through a series of levels in which the goal is to reach the goalpost at the end.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luigi</span> Video game character

Luigi is a fictional character featured in video games and related media released by Nintendo. Created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Luigi is portrayed as the younger fraternal twin brother and sidekick of Mario. Defined by his kind-hearted, yet cowardly demeanor, Luigi appears in many games throughout the Mario franchise, oftentimes accompanying his brother.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mario</span> Video game character

Mario is a character created by the Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the star of the Mario franchise and the mascot of the Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario is an Italian plumber who resides in the Mushroom Kingdom with his younger twin brother, Luigi. Their adventures generally center on rescuing Princess Peach from the villain Bowser while using power-ups that give them different abilities.

<i>Super Mario Bros.</i> (film) 1993 science fantasy film

Super Mario Bros. is a 1993 fantasy adventure film based on Nintendo's Super Mario video game series. The first feature-length live-action film based on a video game, it was directed by the husband-and-wife team of Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel, written by Parker Bennett, Terry Runté, and Ed Solomon, and distributed by Buena Vista Pictures through Hollywood Pictures. It follows brothers Mario and Luigi Mario in their quest to rescue Princess Daisy from a dystopic parallel universe ruled by the ruthless President Koopa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gunpei Yokoi</span> Japanese video game designer (1941–1997)

Gunpei Yokoi, sometimes transliterated as Gumpei Yokoi, was a Japanese toy maker and video game designer. As a long-time Nintendo employee, he was best known as creator of the Game & Watch handheld system, inventor of the cross-shaped Control Pad, the original designer of the Game Boy, and producer of a few long-running and critically acclaimed video game franchises such as Metroid and Kid Icarus.

<i>The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!</i> 1989 American TV series

The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! is an American live-action/animated television series that aired from September 4 to December 1, 1989, in syndication. The series is based on the video games Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 2 by Nintendo, and is the first of three television series to be based upon the Mario video game series. The animation was provided by Sei Young Animation.

<i>Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach!</i> 1986 Japanese anime film

Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach!  is a 1986 Japanese animated adventure comedy film, based on the Super Mario Bros. (1985) video game. Directed by Masami Hata and produced by Masakatsu Suzuki and Tsunemasa Hatano, the plot centers on Mario and Luigi, who go on a quest to save Princess Peach from King Koopa.

Donkey Kong is a video game series and media franchise created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto for Nintendo. The franchise follows the adventures of Donkey Kong, a large, powerful gorilla. Donkey Kong series include the original arcade game trilogy by Nintendo R&D1; the Donkey Kong Country series by Rare and Retro Studios; and the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series by Nintendo Software Technology. Various studios have developed spin-offs in other genres such as racing and rhythm. The franchise also incorporates animation, printed media, a theme park, and merchandise.

The Super Mario Bros. theme, officially known as the "Ground Theme" is a musical theme originally heard in the first stage of the 1985 Nintendo Entertainment System video game Super Mario Bros. It was one of six themes composed for the game by Nintendo sound designer Koji Kondo, who found it to be the most difficult track to compose for it. The theme is set in the key of C major and features a swing rhythm with prominent use of syncopation. While the original theme is composed within the sound limitations of the NES's 8-bit hardware, in later installments with more powerful sound hardware, it is often scored as a calypso song led by steel drums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goomba</span> Super Mario character

The Goombas, known in Japan as Kuribō, and originally Little Goomba, are a fictional species from Nintendo's Mario franchise. They first appeared in the NES video game Super Mario Bros. as the first enemy players encounter, part of Bowser's Army. They have appeared outside video games, including in film and television. They are usually brownish with long black eyebrows, sharp upward fangs, tan torsos, dark brown feet, and are most commonly seen walking around aimlessly, often as an obstacle, in video games. They were included late in the development of Super Mario Bros. as a simple, easy-to-defeat enemy.

<i>Mario</i> (franchise) Video game franchise

Mario is a Japanese multimedia franchise created by Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto for video game company Nintendo which produces and publishes its installments. Starring the titular Italian plumber Mario, it is primarily a video game franchise, but has extended to other forms of media, including television series, comic books, a 1993 feature film, a 2023 animated film and theme park attractions. The series' first installment was 1983's Mario Bros., although Mario had made his first appearance in 1981's arcade game Donkey Kong, and had already been featured in several games of the Donkey Kong and Game & Watch series. The Mario games have been developed by a wide variety of developers including Nintendo, Hudson Soft, and AlphaDream. Mario games have been released almost exclusively for Nintendo's various video game consoles and handhelds, from the third generation onward.

<i>Super Mario Bros.</i> 1985 video game

Super Mario Bros. is a platform game developed and published in 1985 by Nintendo for the Famicom in Japan and for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in North America. It is the successor to the 1983 arcade game Mario Bros. and the first game in the Super Mario series. Following a US test market release for the NES, it was converted to international arcades on the Nintendo VS. System in early 1986. The NES version received a wide release in North America that year and in PAL regions in 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GrandPooBear</span> Video game streamer and speedrunner

David Hunt, known online as GrandPooBear, is an American video game streamer, speedrunner, and creator of Kaizo Super Mario levels. A Red Bull athlete, Hunt is primarily known for playing and creating levels for Super Mario Maker. He has also performed at various Games Done Quick events and TwitchCon, and has hosted his own in-person and virtual speedrunning events.

<i>The Super Mario Bros. Movie</i> 2023 animated film

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a 2023 animated adventure comedy film based on Nintendo's Mario video game franchise. Produced by Universal Pictures, Illumination, and Nintendo, and distributed by Universal, it was directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic and written by Matthew Fogel. The ensemble voice cast includes Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen, and Fred Armisen. The film features an origin story for the brothers Mario and Luigi, Italian-American plumbers who are separated after being transported to a fantasy world and become entangled in a battle between the Mushroom Kingdom, led by Princess Peach, and the Koopas, led by Bowser.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "The Wizard (1989) - Box office / business". Internet Movie Database . Archived from the original on January 4, 2017. Retrieved February 3, 2016.
  2. 1 2 "The Wizard (1989)". Box Office Mojo . Internet Movie Database. Archived from the original on February 4, 2016. Retrieved February 3, 2016.
  3. ↑ Weintraub, Steve 'Frosty' (September 15, 2015). "Tobey Maguire Talks 'Pawn Sacrifice' and Being an Extra in 'The Wizard'". Collider. Archived from the original on February 19, 2019. Retrieved February 19, 2019.
  4. ↑ "Gamecubicle.com Super Mario Sales data". Archived from the original on October 11, 2018. Retrieved October 9, 2007.
  5. ↑ Onanuga, Tola (April 7, 2014). "My guilty pleasure: The Wizard". The Guardian . Archived from the original on April 25, 2018. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  6. ↑ Matheson, Whitney (December 18, 2014). "FLASHBACK: Fred Savage & Jenny Lewis In Cult Classic 'The Wizard,' AKA 1989's Biggest Nintendo Ad". E!. Archived from the original on April 25, 2018. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  7. ↑ Mackie, Drew (December 18, 2014). "25 Years Later, Revel in the Nostalgia of The Wizard". People . Archived from the original on August 30, 2017.
  8. ↑ Sheff, David (1993). "Game Masters". Game Over: How Nintendo Zapped an American Industry, Captured Your Dollars, and Enslaved Your Children. Random House. p.  222. ISBN   978-0-679-40469-9.
  9. 1 2 Sheff, David (1993). "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas". Game Over: How Nintendo Zapped an American Industry, Captured Your Dollars, and Enslaved Your Children. Random House. pp.  190–191. ISBN   978-0-679-40469-9.
  10. 1 2 McFerran, Damien (April 2008). "The Making of The Wizard". Retro Gamer . No. 49. pp. 84–87. ISSN   1742-3155.
  11. ↑ Matti, Michele (November–December 1989). "NES Journal: The Wizard". Nintendo Power . No. 9. p. 90. ISSN   1041-9551.
  12. ↑ Semrad, Ed (August 1989). "International Outlook". Electronic Gaming Monthly . No. 2. pp. 44, 45. ISSN   1058-918X.
  13. ↑ The Eliminator (May 1989). "Overseas Prospects". GamePro . No. 1. pp. 40–42. ISSN   1042-8658.
  14. ↑ Stomp, Goomba (January 11, 2015). "How 'The Wizard' failed Nintendo". goombastomp.com. Archived from the original on November 14, 2016. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
  15. ↑ "Interview: The Wizard Director Todd Holland On Everyone's Favourite Nintendo Movie Turning 25". Nintendo Life . June 18, 2014. Archived from the original on June 19, 2014. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
  16. ↑ "Weekend Box Office". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on October 15, 2012. Retrieved June 13, 2012.
  17. ↑ "Weekend Box Office Results for December 15-17, 1989". Box Office Mojo . Internet Movie Database. December 18, 1989. Archived from the original on February 4, 2016. Retrieved February 3, 2016.
  18. ↑ "rogerebert.com". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on October 18, 2007. Retrieved September 7, 2007.
  19. ↑ "Washington Post". December 15, 1989. Archived from the original on November 27, 2017. Retrieved September 6, 2007.
  20. ↑ "The Wizard (1989)". Rotten Tomatoes . Flixster. Archived from the original on June 27, 2022. Retrieved August 6, 2022.
  21. ↑ "The Wizard (1989) reviews". Metacritic . CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on April 13, 2022. Retrieved April 4, 2020.
  22. ↑ Sheff, David (1994) [1993]. "A New Leader of the Club" (PDF). Game Over: How Nintendo Conquered the World . Vintage Books. p. 14. ISBN   978-0-307-80074-9. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 2, 2021. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
  23. ↑ Buchanan, Levi (June 14, 2012). "The 90-Minute Super Mario Bros. 3 Commercial - IGN". IGN . Archived from the original on December 15, 2008. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
  24. ↑ "A Weekend With The Wizard". 1Up.com. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved March 27, 2016.
  25. ↑ Kinder, Marsha (1993). Playing with Power in Movies, Television, and Video Games: From Muppet Babies to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. University of California Press. p. 12. ISBN   9780520077768.
  26. ↑ "The Wizard". DVD Talk. Archived from the original on July 8, 2017. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
  27. ↑ "The Wizard Blu-ray". Archived from the original on April 25, 2018. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  28. ↑ "The Wizard Collector's Edition Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. Archived from the original on November 15, 2019. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
  29. ↑ "Shout Factory: The Wizard Collector's Edition Detailed for Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. December 18, 2019. Archived from the original on December 19, 2019. Retrieved December 18, 2019.
  30. ↑ Ellis, Tim (September 6, 2016). "PAX West concludes with a real-life version of 'The Wizard' in Seattle". GeekWire. Archived from the original on September 7, 2016. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.