Kate & Chris (film)

Kate & Chris is a 2007 American computer-animated buddy fantasy action-adventure comedy film produced by Fox Animation Studios and Scholastic Entertainment, and based on Eric Stern's novels of the same name. The second animated feature in the Fox Animated Features canon, The film follows two teenagers, Kate and Chris, who hypnotizes their principal Mr. Watson into their own creation. It was directed by Rob Letterman and Mike Mitchell and produced by Chris Jenkins and stars an ensemble voice cast consisting of Mandy Moore, Elijah Wood, Jack Black, Zooey Deschanel, Justin Long, Steve Buscemi, and Will Ferrell

The film was released by 20th Century Fox on September 14, 2007, and was produced to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the first novel. It received generally positive reviews from critics and praised its animation, script, humor, score, visual style, and vocal performances, particularly of Moore, Wood, Black, Long, Buscemi, and Ferrell. The film earned a total of $577.8 million worldwide against a budget of $78 million. A sequel titled Kate & Chris: Back in Action was released on March 2, 2018.

Plot
Coming soon!

Cast

 * Mandy Moore as Kate Anderson, a smart, trustworthy, funny, and clever 17-year old girl
 * Elijah Wood as Chris McCallister,  a sarcastic, wise-cracking, arrogant, and somewhat bossy 16-year-old boy.
 * Justin Long as Chuck Stevens, a intelligent 14-year old boy.
 * Jack Black as Mikey the Crazy Kid, a 15-year old boy who has superpowers and have crazy adventures.
 * Steve Buscemi as Mr. Watson, the principal of Eastview High School.
 * Allison Janney as TBA
 * Zooey Deschanel as Eva Clark, a friend of Kate
 * Jeffrey Tambor as TBA
 * Zach Braff as TBA
 * Tom Kenny as TBA
 * Will Ferrell as Professor Dum-Dum
 * Joan Cusack as Jenny the Lunch Lady
 * Colleen O'Shaughnessey as a police officer
 * Dan Fogler as Mr. Warren
 * Additional voices are provided by
 * S. Scott Bullock
 * Rodger Bumpass
 * Dan Castellaneta
 * Susanne Blakeslee
 * Danny Mann
 * Bob Bergen
 * Jill Talley
 * Mike Bell
 * Laura Marano
 * Madison Davenport
 * Debi Derryberry
 * Laraine Newman
 * James Kevin Ward
 * Ariel Winter
 * Jessica Evans
 * Bill Farmer
 * Tara Strong
 * Zachary Gordon
 * Mickie McGowan

Production
Coming soon!

Music
The film's score was composed by John Powell and Mark Mothersbaugh. The soundtrack was released on September 7, 2007 by Varèse Sarabande.

Marketing
McFarlane Toys released a line of action figures and plushies based on the film, Nintendo produced a limited edition Kate & Chris-themed Nintendo DS, to coincide with the film's DVD release, and Windows Live Messenger presented their users with the opportunity to download a free animated and static content for use within their conversations.

Burger King promoted the film with a set of 5 kids' meal toys featuring the characters from the film.
 * The official teaser was released on June 23, 2006 and was shown in front of films such as Puppet Pals, BJ and Wally, Monster House, The Ant Bully, Barnyard, Everyone's Hero, and Open Season.


 * The first theatrical trailer was released on November 3, 2006 and was shown in front of films such as Flushed Away, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, Happy Feet, Jimmy & Sam 3000, Night at the Museum, Meet the Robinsons, Shrek the Third, and Surf's Up. 


 * The second theatrical trailer was released on June 29, 2007 and was shown in front of films such as Ratatouille, Transformers, Computeropolis 2, The Simpsons Movie, Underdog, Daddy Day Camp, and Mr. Bean's Holiday.

TV spots began to air between August and September of 2007.

A video game based on the film has been released for the Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable, PC and Nintendo DS on September 4, 2007.

Release
In the United States, it premiered on September 9, 2007, at the Mann Village Theatre, Westwood in Los Angeles, and 20th Century Fox released the film in the United States on September 14, 2007. The film's theatrical release was accompanied by a Ice Age short film No Time For Nuts.

The film was initially scheduled for release on June 22, 2007, but on October 15, 2006, but was pushed back to September 14, 2007.

A montage of "outtakes" were made and included in the end credits of the film starting on October 19, 2007.

Home media
Kate & Chris was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on February 8, 2008, and it includes a sneak preview of the 2008 Fox animated film Wild Forest, a gallery of concept art and posters, a 14-minute making-of documentary, DVD-ROM features, a 5.1 isolated sound effects track, trailers and TV spots, deleted scenes, and a THX optimizer on the DVD. It also included a 6-minute short film titled Kate & Chris Save Xmas, which takes place after the film.

It was later re-released on 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray, Blu-Ray 3D, and Digital HD on December 12, 2017 by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

As of September 16, 2018, the film is available to watch on Netflix.

Critical reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 89% based on 142 reviews, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "With a tidy plot, clean animation, and crazy humor that fits its source material snugly, Kate & Chris is entertainment that won't drive a wedge between family members. On Metacritic, it received a score of 64 out of 100, based on 75 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.

Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a gave a positive review saying, "Fox Animation's slapstick animated adaptation of the philosophically satiric book series... is a lot of laughs and boasts a much tighter story than most animated features."

Kyle Smith of the New York Post gave the film three out of four stars, saying that "Kate & Chris is not only a great kids movie, but it is an enthusiastic movie with perfect moments that live up to its plot as well as other Fox Animation hits like Puppet Pals and Ice Age."

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, saying "Kate & Chris is a truly touching and hilarious family adventure with a blast of humor and soundtrack, as well as a comical plot from the folks at Twentieth Century Fox Animation."

James Rocchi of MSN Movies gave the film a negative review,  "If it's even not as good as the Kate & Chris books, The film adaptation is a complete disaster to the book series for the fans. I don't even care if the animation is good and the characters have their usual selves from the books, it's just awful that Fox Animation should be shamed of themselves, while Richard Corliss of Time Magazine also gave a negative review and called it "insidious nonsense from Hollywood", and accused Hollywood of "trying to indoctrinate children".

Box office
Kate & Chris opened in 3,875 North American theaters on Friday, September 14, 2007, opening alongside The Brave One, Mr. Woodcock, and Dragon Wars. The film grossed $22.6 million on its first day, the biggest opening day for an animated film at the time, with $55.2 million in its first weekend, the best opening weekend ever for an animated film at that time, and it went on to be at No. 1 at the box office for the next two weekends. At the time, its opening weekend was the third-highest of all time in these regions.

The film was released in the United Kingdom on November 2, 2007, and topped the country's box office for the next two weekends, before being dethroned by American Gangster.