Annie (2014)

A foster kid, who lives with her mean foster mom, sees her life change when business tycoon and New York City mayoral candidate Will Stacks makes a thinly-veiled campaign move and takes her in.

Director:

Will Gluck

Writers:

Will Gluck (screenplay), Aline Brosh McKenna (screenplay)

Stars:

Quvenzhané Wallis, Cameron Diaz, Jamie Foxx

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 3 wins & 13 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jamie Foxx	...	Will Stacks
Quvenzhané Wallis	...	Annie
Rose Byrne	...	Grace
Bobby Cannavale	...	Guy
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje	...	Nash
David Zayas	...	Lou
Cameron Diaz	...	Hannigan
Zoe Margaret Colletti	...	Tessie
Nicolette Pierini	...	Mia
Eden Duncan-Smith	...	Isabella
Amanda Troya	...	Pepper
Dorian Missick	...	Annie's "Dad"
Tracie Thoms	...	Annie's "Mom"
Mike Birbiglia	...	Social Services Inspector
Stephanie Kurtzuba	...	Mrs. Kovacevic

Storyline

The 1977 Broadway musical returns to the big screen with this Overbrook Entertainment/Sony Pictures production surrounding a 10-year-old Harlem foster child (played by Beasts of the Southern Wild's Quvenzhané Wallis) taken in by a calculating billionaire (Jamie Foxx) who's campaigning to be mayor. Abandoned by her biological parents as a baby, Annie (Wallis) spends every moment of every day attempting to avoid the wrath of her cruel foster mother Miss Hannigan (Cameron Diaz). Thing start to look up for Annie, however, when she has a very public encounter with Will Stacks (Foxx), a local cell-phone mogul with mayoral ambitions. Stacks campaign isn't going too well until he meets Annie and invites her into his home at the suggestion of his trusted top assistant Grace (Rose Byrne) and his ambitious PR advisor Guy (Bobby Cannavale). Meanwhile, what was originally conceived as a PR stunt to win over skeptical voters becomes something much more personal when the jaded tycoon realizes his ...

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Plot Keywords:

cultural appropriation | forename as title | remake | twister the game | character name as title | 

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Taglines:

It's a Hard Knock Life

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Family | Musical

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for some mild language and rude humor

Did You Know?

Trivia

Annie was inspired by a comic; which was inspired by a very old poem written in 1885 by the famous poet James Whitcomb Riley; which went like this:

Little Orphant Annie's come to our house to stay, An' wash the cups an' saucers up, an' brush the crumbs away, An' shoo the chickens off the porch, an' dust the hearth, an' sweep, An' make the fire, an' bake the bread, an' earn her board-an'-keep; An' all us other childern, when the supper things is done, We set around the kitchen fire an' has the mostest fun A-list'nin' to the witch-tales 'at Annie tells about, An' the Gobble-uns 'at gits you Ef you Don't Watch Out.

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Goofs

When Annie drops off "DOH form number 43807-8" to the clerk at the government office, she also puts down $43.55 in change and bills. When she first puts it down, the bills are rolled up inside a small yellow elastic band parallel to the counter's edge, with the change away from Annie and towards the clerk. In the next shot the bills are vertical, the band is now a neon yellow shoelace, and the change is along the side of the rolled up bills. The clerk then removes the tie from around the bills (which is now again the original plastic band), and drops the money on the counter. She starts to drag the bills off the counter with a pencil, and in the reverse shot, as she drags the bills all the way off, all the change has disappeared.

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Quotes

[last lines]
Guy in Bar: Keep singing and dancing like that, there's no way he was ever gonna win.

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Crazy Credits

There is a very brief scene after the credits.

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Alternate Versions

When the movie is aired on BYUTV, the following is cut: All profanity, no matter how mild The "group home" subplot The scenes with Miss Hannigan and the Inspector Miss Hannigan flirting with Will Stacks Miss Hannigan's line about how Guy "got a little handsy".

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Connections

Referenced in Midnight Screenings: Annie/Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb/Top Five (2014)

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Soundtracks

Little Girls (2014 Film Version)
Original Music by Charles Strouse
Original Lyric by Martin Charnin
2014 Music and Lyric by Greg Kurstin, Sia (as Sia Furler) and Will Gluck
Produced by Greg Kurstin
Performed by Cameron Diaz

User Reviews

This rendition of Annie could have been so much better

It is unfortunate so much money (65 million) and so much talent (Quvenzhane Wallis, Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz) did not equal a better movie. A musical should have great singers; this did not. Foxx, the orphans and Quvenzhane were fine, but they were not great. Consider Dreamgirls, Hairspray, Fiddler on the Roof and Oklahoma. Along with the actors singing in character, there were powerful voices. No one in Annie was a standout musically.

Rose Byrne did her job in Damages, but not so much in this movie. The remainder of the cast was competent; they had their occasional moments.

This rendition of Annie was okay. But, with a few cast changes and voice lessons, it could have been so much better.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official Twitter

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 December 2014 (USA)

Also Known As:

Annie

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$65,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$15,861,939, 21 December 2014

Gross USA:

$85,911,262

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$136,853,506

Company Credits

Production Co:

Marcy Media, Olive Bridge Entertainment, Overbrook Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Datasat Dolby Digital Dolby Surround 7.1 Dolby Atmos

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1