Megamind

Megamind is a 2010 American computer-animated superhero comedy film directed by Tom McGrath, produced by DreamWorks Animation, and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It features the voices of Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, David Cross, and Brad Pitt.[5] The film tells the story of Megamind, a highly intelligent alien supervillain who becomes depressed after finally defeating his nemesis Metro Man. He creates a new superhero from Metro Man's DNA, but must become a hero himself when the new "hero" becomes a much more dangerous villain than he ever was.

Megamind
Theatrical release poster
Directed byTom McGrath
Written by
  • Alan Schoolcraft
  • Brent Simons
Produced by
Starring
Edited byMichael Andrews
Music by
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • October 28, 2010 (2010-10-28) (Russia)
  • November 5, 2010 (2010-11-05) (United States)
Running time
96 minutes[3]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$130 million[4]
Box office$321.9 million[4]

Megamind premiered on October 28, 2010, in Russia, and was released in the United States in Digital 3D, IMAX 3D and 2D on November 5, 2010, and was met with generally positive reviews from critics.[6] The Rotten Tomatoes critical consensus calls it "a pleasant, if unspectacular, diversion".[6] With a budget of $130 million, the film grossed over $321 million worldwide,[4] becoming one of DreamWorks Animation's lowest-grossing CG animated films of the 2010s.[7]

It later spawned a franchise including three games and a short film, titled Megamind: The Button of Doom, was released on February 25, 2011, on the film's DVD and Blu-ray. An animated series, Megamind's Guide to Defending Your City, was announced in 2022 for Peacock.

Plot

Supervillain Megamind and his arch-nemesis, the superhero Metro Man, are both alien infants who were sent to Earth before their planets were sucked into a black hole. Though both arrive in Metro City at the same time, Metro Man is raised in a mansion, while Megamind is raised by prisoners. He eventually goes to the same school as Metro Man, who bullies him and receives praise from his classmates. Megamind then has an epiphany and claims his purpose as a villain, and gets himself expelled by using a blue paint bomb, thus setting off a rivalry between him and Metro Man. In the present, Megamind, aided by his fish-like companion Minion, frequently and unsuccessfully battles Metro Man for control of the city.

At the grand opening of the new Metro Man Museum, Megamind escapes his prison, kidnaps reporter Roxanne Ritchi, and lures Metro Man to an abandoned observatory to rescue her. Once there, Metro Man collapses, saying the copper-lined observatory roof weakens his powers; Megamind then blasts Metro Man with a sun-powered weapon, finding only a skeleton with his cape afterwards. With no one around to stop him, Megamind goes on a crime spree, taking over the city. However, he eventually becomes depressed and purposeless with no hero to fight.

Megamind decides to blow up the Metro Man museum to forget the hero, but sees Roxanne there and dehydrates the museum's curator, Bernard, into a small cube instead. Disguised as Bernard using hologram technology, Megamind talks to Roxanne, whose remarks inspire him to use Metro Man's DNA to create a new superhero to fight. Megamind perfects the formula, but accidentally injects it into Hal Stewart, Roxanne's dimwitted cameraman who is infatuated with her.

Disguising himself via hologram as Hal's "Space Dad", Megamind offers to train Hal to become a superhero. Hal, seeing this as a chance to get with Roxanne, accepts and takes on the name "Titan" (which he misspells as "Tighten"). Megamind also begins to date Roxanne in the guise of Bernard, and he and Minion have a falling out over Megamind's apparent lack of interest in committing further crimes. Roxanne rejects Titan when he comes to court her, and Titan later witnesses her on a date with "Bernard". After a heartbroken Titan leaves, Megamind's "Bernard" disguise fails, and Roxanne runs away from him.

Megamind arranges to fight Titan the next day, but Titan does not show up. Megamind soon learns Titan is using his powers on a crime spree. Titan offers to ally with Megamind, but Megamind deliberately reveals his disguises and deceptions, hoping to goad Titan into fighting. Angered and provoked, Titan savagely beats Megamind in a fight. Realizing that Titan has no interest in justice and means to kill him, Megamind traps Titan in a ball of copper. However, he is surprised when Titan easily breaks out. Megamind and Roxanne escape to Metro Man's old hideout, and discover that Metro Man is still alive, having faked his death to pursue his dream career as a musician. He refuses to help, but asserts that a hero will always rise to defeat evil.

Dejected, Megamind goes back to prison while Titan goes on a rampage, demanding to fight Megamind and threatening to kill Roxanne. Megamind realizes he must act, and reconciles with Minion. The two escape the prison and use holographic disguises to make Megamind appear as Metro Man, and Minion as Megamind, to frighten Titan away and rescue Roxanne. However, Megamind's speech patterns give him away, and Titan attacks Megamind and throws him high into the air. Dehydrating himself into a cube and landing safely in a fountain, Megamind rehydrates next to Titan and manages to extract the DNA, reverting Titan back to his human form. After Hal is arrested, Megamind and Roxanne rekindle their relationship, and the city celebrates Megamind as a hero. The museum is converted into one celebrating Megamind, and a disguised Metro Man cheers for him at the grand opening ceremony.

Cast
Left to right: Will Ferrell (in costume), Tina Fey, and Jonah Hill at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con

Production
Director Tom McGrath promoting the film at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International

The film was written by Alan J. Schoolcraft and Brent Simons.[13] It was first titled Master Mind, and then Oobermind.[14] It was suggested that Ben Stiller would be cast as Megamind,[15] and later Robert Downey Jr.[16] but Will Ferrell was ultimately given the role, due to "scheduling conflicts" for Downey.[5][17] Lara Breay and Denise Nolan Cascino were the film's producers, and Ben Stiller and Stuart Cornfeld were the executive producers.[14] Justin Theroux and Guillermo del Toro worked as creative consultants on the film. Del Toro only came on board three weeks before the end of production,[18] but went on to have a more substantial role in subsequent DreamWorks Animation films. The opening of the film, where Megamind is falling to his apparent death, was del Toro's idea.[19]

Music
Main article: Megamind: Music from the Motion Picture

Megamind: Music from the Motion Picture is a soundtrack to the film of the same name, composed by Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe, and released on November 2, 2010, by Lakeshore Records.[20][21]

Release

Theatrical

Megamind premiered on October 28, 2010, in Russia, and was theatrically released in the United States on November 5, 2010.[22] It was supposed to be released in Japan on March 12, 2011, but because of the earthquake and tsunami a day before, the Japanese release was cancelled.[23][24]

Marketing

Megamind was promoted at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International, with Tom McGrath, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, and Will Ferrell, who was dressed as Megamind.[25]

Home media

It was released on both Blu-ray Disc and DVD on February 25, 2011, accompanied with an all-new short titled Megamind: The Button of Doom.[26] The Button of Doom also had its television premiere on Nickelodeon, which was aired on February 26, 2011. It was the seventh-best-selling DVD of 2011 with over 3 million units sold.[27] The film made a total of $70.4 million in DVD and Blu-ray sales.[28] As of November 2012, 5.6 million home entertainment units were sold worldwide.[29]

The film was released on Blu-ray 3D in March 2011 exclusively as a part of Samsung 3D Starter Kits,[30] and on September 11, 2011, exclusively at Best Buy stores.[31] In 2014, the film's distribution rights were purchased by DreamWorks Animation from Paramount Pictures and transferred to 20th Century Fox;[32] the rights are now owned by Universal Pictures.

Reception

Box office

Megamind opened to $12.5 million on opening day, and earned $46 million over the three-day weekend, taking the No. 1 spot, averaging $11,668 from around 7,300 screens at 3,944 theaters.[33] The opening was a bit higher than fellow DreamWorks Animation film How to Train Your Dragon, which earned $43.7 million back in March 2010.[34] It was the fifth-highest opening for an animated feature in 2010. In its second weekend, it repeated at No. 1 and dropped 37% to $29.1 million for a $7,374 average from 3,949 theaters, and bringing its 10-day cumulative total to $88.8 million.[35] On its third weekend, it fell 45% to $16 million and finished second to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, averaging $4,237 from 3,779 theaters.[36] Over Thanksgiving weekend, it held well with just a 22% drop to $12.6 million and slid to third place behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Tangled (it earned $17.3 million over the five-day Thanksgiving period).[37] Following Thanksgiving, the film fell a sharp 61% in its fifth weekend to $4.9 million and finished in sixth place.[38]

The film closed in theaters on February 24, 2011 (a day before it was released on DVD and Blu-ray), earning $148.4 million in North America, and $173.5 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $321.9 million.[4] It is the sixth-highest-grossing animated film from 2010 worldwide, behind Toy Story 3 ($1.063 billion), Shrek Forever After ($753 million), Tangled ($591 million), Despicable Me ($543 million), and How to Train Your Dragon ($494 million), the highest-grossing film worldwide in both Ferrell's (until 2014's The Lego Movie) and Fey's careers,[39][40] as well as the fifth-highest-grossing computer-animated superhero film, behind Incredibles 2, The Incredibles, Big Hero 6 and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 72% based on 183 reviews and an average rating of 6.7/10. The site's consensus states, "It regurgitates plot points from earlier animated efforts, and isn't quite as funny as it should be, but a top-shelf voice cast and strong visuals help make Megamind a pleasant, if unspectacular, diversion."[6] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 63 out of 100 based on reviews from 33 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[41] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[42]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars out of four, stating, "This set-up is bright and amusing, even if it does feel recycled from bits and pieces of such recent animated landmarks as The Incredibles with its superpowers and Despicable Me with its villain."[43] Stephen Holden, of The New York Times, positively wrote in his review, "Visually Megamind is immaculately sleek and gracefully enhanced by 3-D."[44] Entertainment Weekly reviewer Owen Gleiberman graded the film a B+ and wrote, "...too goofy-surreal to pack a lot of emotional punch, but it's antically light on its feet, with 3-D images that have a lustrous, gizmo-mad sci-fi clarity."[45] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone commented, "What this raucous 3D animated fun house lacks in originality (think bastard child of The Incredibles and Despicable Me) it makes up for in visual and vocal wit."[46] Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Just as Megamind struggles to find his center, at times, so does the film."[47]

The main point of criticism was the film's perceived lack of originality. Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "You have seen all this before".[48] Justin Chang of Variety said: "Though enlivened by some moderately clever twists on the superhero-movie template, Megamind never shakes off a feeling of been-there-spoofed-that."[49] Claudia Puig of USA Today even asked: "Do we really need Megamind when Despicable Me is around?".[50]

Accolades
Award Category Name Result
38th Annie Awards[51] Animated Effects in an Animated Production Krzysztof Rostek Nominated
Character Animation in a Feature Production Mark Donald Nominated
Anthony Hodgson Nominated
Character Design in a Feature Production Timothy Lamb Nominated
Storyboarding in a Feature Production Catherine Yuh Rader Nominated
Writing in a Feature Production Alan Schoolcraft, Brent Simons Nominated
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards 2010[52] Best Animated Film Nominated
2011 Kids' Choice Awards[53] Favorite Buttkicker Will Ferrell Nominated
The National Movie Awards[54] Best Animated Movie Nominated
The Comedy Awards[55] Best Animated Comedy Movie Nominated

Video games

Several video game tie-ins published by THQ were released on November 2, 2010, to coincide with the film's release. An Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 version is titled Megamind: Ultimate Showdown, while the Wii version is titled Megamind: Mega Team Unite and the PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS versions are both titled Megamind: The Blue Defender.

Television series

On February 11, 2022, it was announced that Peacock had ordered a CG animated series from DreamWorks Animation Television serving as a follow up to the film, titled Megamind’s Guide To Defending Your City. As of March 26, 2022, the cast and format have not been revealed. The series will chronicle the new hero's quest to become a social media influencer and a true superhero. The original writers of the film, Alan Schoolcraft and Brent Simons, are signed on as executive producers with Celebrity Deathmatch creator Eric Fogel. JD Ryznar will be co-executive producer and story editor.[56]

References
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  2. "Megamind (2010)". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
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