Monster Trucks (2016)

A young man working at a small town junkyard discovers and befriends a creature which feeds on oil being sought by a fracking company.

Director:

Chris Wedge

Writers:

Derek Connolly (screenplay by), Matthew Robinson (story by)

Stars:

Lucas Till, Jane Levy, Thomas Lennon

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lucas Till	...	Tripp
Jane Levy	...	Meredith
Thomas Lennon	...	Jim Dowd
Barry Pepper	...	Sheriff Rick
Rob Lowe	...	Reece Tenneson
Danny Glover	...	Mr. Weathers
Amy Ryan	...	Cindy
Holt McCallany	...	Burke
Frank Whaley	...	Wade Coley
Aliyah O'Brien	...	Junior Scientist
Daniel Bacon	...	Technician
Faustino Di Bauda	...	Roughneck
Jedidiah Goodacre	...	Jake (Letterman Kid)
Samara Weaving	...	Brianne
Ruairi MacDonald	...	9th Grader

Storyline

In a small town, an oil company is drilling for oil. The geologist, Dowd, informs his boss, Tenneson that they detected what could be an ecosystem which could affect their drilling rights. But Tenneson tells them to go on and something happens. Something came out and Tenneson wants to keep it quiet by keeping what came out on ice. In the town, something's been taking the fuel tanks off vehicles, leaving a big hole. Tripp, who lives in the town is frustrated at his life, specifically not having a vehicle of his own. He works at a scrap yard and he's been working on restoring an old truck. One day he thinks he hears something and traps it in the storage pit. He calls the Sheriff who's his step-father, whom he doesn't like. And when he gets there, it's gone. Later he sets a trap for it and sees it's a slug like creature who feeds on oil. He would bond with it. Later a man from the oil company shows up at the yard and asks him about the thing he reported earlier. Tripp feigns it was ...

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Plot Keywords:

wilhelm scream | part computer animation | two word title | junkyard | teenage protagonist | 

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Taglines:

On January 13, meet Creech

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Genres:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for action, peril, brief scary images, and some rude humor

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jane Levy starred in Evil Dead (2013) and Samara Weaving starred in the first season of Ash Vs Evil Dead.

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Goofs

Tripp is strapped into the green truck with a double shouldered seat belt harness during the mountain road chase. When the truck is riding the edge of the cliff, Tripp ends up falling out of and hanging by the open door of the truck over the long drop to canyon floor, as if the double shouldered harness was never there. Later Tripp is safely strapped back in.

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Quotes

Reece Tenneson: [on Burke] He comes highly recommended.
Reece Tenneson: I'm not into hurting people
[nods to Burke]
Reece Tenneson: that's his job

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Connections

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Movie Flops of the Last Decade (2020)

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Soundtracks

Rumble & Sway
Written by Jamie N. Commons, Jayson DeZuzio (as Jayson De Zuzio) & Alek Grant
Performed by Jamie N. Commons
Courtesy of Kidinakorner / Interscope Records
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

Great film to watch with your sons.

Watched Monster trucks today with my five year old son and we both loved it. He was pretty much glued to the screen the entire time and he got a bit teary at the end! The film centres on a lad who spends all his spare time building a truck at a junkyard he helps out around, three undiscovered squid like creatures escape from a nearby oil drilling project. One of these finds his way into the truck and ends up powering it and of course the usual bad guys want it back story line evolves. Nothing new in terms of originality or plot, in fact it had so many plot holes it was ridiculous but it's a kids film. Actors did a good job and the monsters were likable. Quite a lot of action and humour too, it's never dull. Definitely a boys/male film I think in my opinion. a kind of a cross between "the legend of the waterhorse", "ET" and "Herbie" Recommended.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Canada USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 January 2017 (USA)

Also Known As:

Monster Trucks

Filming Locations:

Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$125,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$10,950,705, 15 January 2017

Gross USA:

$33,370,166

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$64,493,915

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon Movies, Disruption Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Atmos Dolby Digital DTS (DTS: X) Dolby Surround 7.1

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1