Where the Wild Things Are (2009)

Yearning for escape and adventure, a young boy runs away from home and sails to an island filled with creatures that take him in as their king.

Director:

Spike Jonze

Writers:

Spike Jonze (screenplay), Dave Eggers (screenplay)

Stars:

Max Records, Catherine O'Hara, Forest Whitaker

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 7 wins & 53 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Max Records	...	Max
Pepita Emmerichs	...	Claire
Max Pfeifer	...	Claire's Friend
Madeleine Greaves	...	Claire's Friend
Joshua Jay	...	Claire's Friend
Ryan Corr	...	Claire's Friend
Catherine Keener	...	Mom
Steve Mouzakis	...	Teacher
Mark Ruffalo	...	The Boyfriend
James Gandolfini	...	Carol (voice)
Vincent Crowley	...	Carol Suit Performer
Paul Dano	...	Alexander (voice)
Sonny Gerasimowicz	...	Alexander Suit Performer
Catherine O'Hara	...	Judith (voice)
Nick Farnell	...	Judith Suit Performer

Storyline

A young boy named Max has an active imagination, and he will throw fits if others don't go along with what he wants. Max - following an incident with Claire (his sister) and her friends, and following a tantrum which he throws as a result of his Mother paying more attention to her boyfriend than to him - runs away from home. Wearing his wolf costume at the time, Max not only runs away physically, but runs toward a world in his imagination. This world, an ocean away, is inhabited by large wild beasts, including one named Carol who is much like Max himself in temperament. Instead of eating Max like they normally would with creatures of his type, the wild things befriend Max after he proclaims himself a king who can magically solve all their problems.

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Plot Keywords:

based on children's book | creature | imagination | fantasy world | friendship | 

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Taglines:

I could eat you up, I love you so.

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Family | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for mild thematic elements, some adventure action and brief language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Warner Bros. [France]

Country:

Germany Australia USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 October 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Where the Wild Things Are: The IMAX Experience

Filming Locations:

Docklands Studios, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Box Office

Budget:

$100,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$32,695,407, 18 October 2009

Gross USA:

$77,233,467

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$100,086,793

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Legendary Entertainment, Village Roadshow Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Max Records' favorite scene in the original book, is when Max meets a sea monster. That scene is however not included in the film.

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Goofs

When we first see the wild things, they are seen in silhouette, and are shown to be speaking, yet their mouths don't move when their talking. This could be a way to save money of CGI, as the mouths were moved using computers, and they could assume that people wouldn't notice through the dark lighting.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Max: Hey, Claire. Wanna see something great?
Claire: [on the phone] Who else was there?
Max: It's an igloo! I made it.
Claire: Yeah, my brother.
Max: Hey, Claire!
Claire: I can't. We're supposed to go to my dad's that weekend.
Max: The snowplows left some snow across the street, and I dug a hole into it.
Claire: Go and play with your friends.

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Crazy Credits

The logos for Warner Bros., Legendary Pictures, and Village Roadshow Pictures are covered with Max's scribblings.

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Connections

Referenced in Palo Alto (2013)

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Soundtracks

We Love You So
(uncredited)
Performed by Carter Burwell

User Reviews

After Reading "Heads On And We Shoot", I fell in love with the film

When watching this movie, I convinced myself not to like it and to shame upon it for being dark and depressing, unlike Sendak's book which I grew up with. After reading "Heads On and We Shoot: The Making of Where the Wild Things Are" I fell in love with the movie. The amount (many years, in fact) of time that went into making this movie along with the minimal cast and crew diced in with some fresh and unique storytelling, neat cinematography, and a wonderful director who created bonds and friendships with almost everyone on set made this movie so enjoyable to watch again and again, although my family did not necessarily like the constant tidbits of awesome information that I spewed out throughout the film the third time I watched it.