Kirby (2007 film)

Kirby is a 2007 computer-animated action-adventure film based on the franchise of the same name by HAL Laboratory. The film is directed by Tim Hill and produced by Shigeru Miyamoto based on a screenplay by Paul Higgins and a story by David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin. It is also the third film in the Nintendo Cinematic Universe (NCU). The film stars Maddie Blaustein as the lead role, with Jack Black, Dwayne Johnson, Maya Rudolph, and Chris Evans.

The film follows Kirby, a pink, spherical creature who has the ability to inhale objects and copy their abilities. He sets out on a mission to stop King Dedede's plans before his home, Dream Land, is destroyed. The film marked one of Maddie Blaustein's last voice roles in a film prior to her death in 2008.

Kirby premiered in Japan on July 23, 2007, and was theatrically released on November 21, 2007 by Universal Pictures, as part of Phase One of the NCU. Upon release, the film polarized critics; some praised the animation, voice cast (particularly Blaustein, Black and Johnson), faithfulness to the source material and musical score by Hans Zimmer, though some criticized the thin plot, runtime and storyline. It was a box office success, grossing $617 million against its budget of $101 million.

Plot
Kirby is a cheerful pink creature and has been known for being a hero in Dream Land. When he sees most of the food being stolen by King Dedede and the Waddle Dees, Kirby investigates to see if he can bring the food back to Dream Land.

While at Dedede's castle, he was trying to get his food back, but Dedede chases him and kicks him out from his castle. Kirby assumes that Dedede as his arch-nemesis, so he gains his inhale ability to copy any special powers. First, he turns into Fire Kirby to battle Whispy Woods. He quickly defeats it, leading him on his way to battle King Dedede in his castle. Kirby tries to end his battle by smashing Dedede, but Dedede apologizes to Kirby for stealing it and offers to join him in an adventure, to which he agrees. However, the skies in Planet Popstar has gone wrong as the Sun and Moon began to fight. A jester Marx visits the Planet Popstar and tells Kirby that the only way to stop the fight is to gather the power of the stars and use them to stop the fight. Kirby then accepts Marx's request, but King Dedede became suspicious of Marx's tricks.

Suddenly, Kirby and King Dedede both encounter the Halberd landing at Popstar and they were greeted by Meta Knight, who requests a superstar warrior for sword battle in his Halberd by midnight. He choses Kirby as he learns Kirby is the new superstar warrior in Planet Popstar. Before he starts fighting Kirby, he offers Kirby a sword, which Kirby picks up to become Sword Kirby. Meta Knight's mask broke after Kirby defeats Meta Knight in the sword duel, but he tells Kirby "they will meet again" before escaping with his Dimensional Cape. King Dedede then tells Kirby that Meta Knight will join the adventure later. Kirby also received the first power of the star. Meanwhile, Marx makes a plan to trick Kirby with his wish when Kirby reaches the Nova after Kirby gathers all the power stars.

While returning to Dream Land, the crops were being destroyed in Dream Land, King Dedede suspected Dyna Blade is the one that destroys the crops before Kirby goes out to stop her. He reached the Candy Mountain to find Dyna Blade. He sees pieces of crops that leads him the trails to reach Dyna Blade's nest (that was built on top of the Candy Mountain). He then sees Dyna Blade getting crops from Dream Land, and he proceeds to battle her. Dedede also came to help defeat Dyna Blade, but however, Kirby and King Dedede learn that she was trying to feed her chicks. Kirby takes care of the chicks. Dyna Blade thanks Kirby for taking care of her chicks before she flies away. Meta Knight then finally joins the adventure to save Planet Popstar.

After collecting the rest of the power stars, Kirby reaches into space to summon Nova and make a wish to stop Sun and Moon from fighting. However, before he can make a wish, Marx knocks Kirby off and makes his wish to dominate the Planet Popstar. After that, Marx transforms into his monster form that and he reveals to Kirby, Meta Knight, and King Dedede that he tricked the Sun and Moon to fight each other, and Kirby into falling for Marx's master plan to conquer Planet Popstar. This causes Kirby, Meta Knight, and King Dedede to battle Nova and later Marx. Kirby First, the three enter Nova. The three have no choice, but to destroy Nova's core, which led Nova to be injured. This infuriated Marx and he attempts to attack Kirby, Meta Knight, and King Dedede himself in the purple arena. He then captured Meta Knight and King Dedede with his vines. He tries to shoot lasers on all 3 warriors, but Kirby manages to defeat Marx in his Fighting form and sends him flying into Nova, destroying them both. Following the defeat of Marx and Nova, the Sun and Moon stopped fighting each other. Kirby, Meta Knight, and King Dedede went back to the Planet Popstar via Warp Star and they all were honored as heroes of the Planet Popstar.

Cast

 * Maddie Blaustein as Kirby

Development
Rumors about a possible Kirby film had circulated since the premiere of ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirby:_Right_Back_at_Ya! Kirby: Right Back at Ya!]'' in 2002. The first attempt at a film adaptation was in development at ClearWorld Entertainment in May 2003. However, the film did not materialize since the studio could not find a script that they liked.

On August 10, 2003, a computer-animated feature film based on the Kirby series was announced by Sony Pictures and Nintendo. Steven Dean Moore was announced to write and direct, with Aaden Chase and John A. Davis producing. Moore said, "One of the biggest questions in Nintendo history we've gotten in the last few years is "Are you going to make a Kirby movie?" As in matter of fact, yes, we are. When I came up with this new idea, I just could not stop thinking about it. I was so excited about it that I knew we had to make this movie—and I wanted to direct it myself."

The initial script of Kirby, written by David Fincher, was bought by Sony Pictures Classics for a reported sum of $450,000 in November 2003. The script was written for a year, but it was thought to be unsuitable for Sony Pictures because it was "a racier PG-13-rated movie", inspired by the comedy movies in the 1980s and 1990s such as Coming to America and Dr. Dolittle. The first draft of the script had Kirby being mistaken for a citizen when he arrives in New York City. The film was initially scheduled to be released in 2006 with Rob Marshall as director but he withdrew due to "creative differences" between the producers and him. In June 2004, director Sam Raimi was set to direct the film but he left soon after, later working with Sony and Marvel on the Spider-Man trilogy. Adam Shankman became the film's director in August 2004, while Bob Schooley, Aaron Sorkin and Mark McCorkle were hired by Nintendo to rewrite the script once again. At the time, Nintendo considered offering the role of Kirby to Kate Hudson or Reese Witherspoon. However, the project did not take off.

On November 8, 2004, Variety reported that Tim Hill had been hired as director and Aaron Sorkin had returned to the project to write a new version of the script. Zemeckis worked with Sorkin on the script to combine the main plot of Kirby with the idea of a "action homage" to Sony's heritage. He created visual storyboard printouts that covered the story of Kirby from beginning to end, which filled an entire floor of a production building. After Hill showed them to Tom Rothman, the chairman of Sony Pictures, he received the green light for the project and a budget of $85 million. Hill began designing the world of Dream Land and storyboarding the movie before a cast was chosen to play the characters.

The film uses two aspect ratios; it begins in 1:85:1 when the Columbia Pictures and Nintendo logos are shown, and then switches to a 4:3 aspect ratio for the first animated sequence. The film switches back to 1:85:1 when it becomes live-action and never switches back, even for the remainder of the animated sequences. When this movie was aired on televised networks, the beginning of the movie (minus the logo and opening credits) was shown in the pillarboxed 4:3 aspect ratio; the remainder of the movie was shown in the 16:9 aspect ratio when it becomes live-action. Hill oversaw the direction of both the live-action and animation sequences, which were being produced at the same time. Kirby took almost two years to complete. The animation took about a year to finish while the live-action scenes, which commenced filming on location in New York City during the summer of 2006 and were completed during the animation process, were shot in 72 days.

Theatrical
Kirby had its world premiere on May 28, 2007 in Broadway at New York City. It was commercially released in theaters in the United States on June 1, 2007, and in Japan on June 23.

Home media
Kirby was released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on October 9, 2007, in the United States. The film was also collected in a 10-disc box set titled "Nintendo Cinematic Universe: Phase One – The Beginning" which includes all of the Phase One films in the Nintendo Cinematic Universe, was released on June 22, 2010.

Box office
Kirby earned $8 million on the day of its release in the United States, placing at #1. It was also placed at #1 on Thanksgiving Day, earning $6.7 million to bring its two-day total to $14.6 million. The film grossed $14.4 million on the following day, bringing its total haul to $29.0 million placing ahead of other contenders. Kirby made $34.4 million on the Friday-Sunday period in 3,730 theaters for a per location average of $9,472 and $49.1 million over the five-day Father's Day holiday in 3,730 theaters for a per location average of $13,153. Its earnings over the five-day holiday exceeded projections by $7 million. Ranking as the second-highest Father's Day opening after Mulan, which earned $80.1 million over the five-day holiday in 1998, Kirby is the first film to open at #1 on the Father's Day frame in the 21st century.

On its opening weekend, the film opened in first place, earning $26.2 million alongside The Condeemed, The Invisible, Jindabyne, Kickin' It Old School and Next. On its second weekend, it rose to second place, earning nearly $26.6 million behind Spider-Man 3, grossing a further $16.4 million at 3,730 locations for a per theater average of $4,397. It dropped to #2 in its third weekend, with a gross of $10.7 million in 3,520 theaters for a per theater average of $3,042. It finished its fourth weekend at #4 with a gross of $5.5 million in 3,066 locations for a per theater average of $1,804. Kirby earned a gross of $127.8 million in the United States and Canada as well as a total of $340.5 million worldwide. It was the 15th highest-grossing film worldwide released in 2007.

Critical reception
Kirby received mixed to average reviews by critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 62% based on 116 reviews and an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Kirby was always the odd one in the shed. It decided to go down an overused path of real world breaching and did a good job at it.". On Metacritic, the film has a score of 67 out of 100 based on 33 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.

Sequels
Coming soon

Transcripts
Coming soon