M.I.S.S.I.O.N.

M.I.S.S.I.O.N. is a 2005 American computer-animated spy action-comedy film produced by Universal Feature Animation for Universal Pictures. The eighth animated feature in the Universal Animated Features canon, it was directed by Steve Samono and Ash Brannon from a screenplay by Michael Wildshill and Joe Stillman and a story by Samono, and stars the voices of Zach Tyler Eisen, Gary LeRoi Gray, Avril Lavigne, Stanley Tucci, Wally Kurth, and Patrick Warburton. The film follows middle school student Louis DeMinsky, who is recruited along with his fellow academic adepts Mort Soberman and Tiana Croson into a secret agency based underneath the school grounds. Their assignment is to battle an out-of-control geological terrorist organization who plans to use their technology to scramble the Earth's continents.

The film was released in the United States on July 1, 2005 and received positive reviews from critics. However, while grossing $293 million worldwide on its $78 million budget, the film underperformed at the box office, forcing a writedown of $57.3 million for Universal, but later found considerably larger success in home media, where it became the top-selling release of 2005.

Plot
A laser beam is shot from somewhere in space into a lake near the Michigan city of Heavesboro. Louis DeMinsky heads to the docks by skateboard to witness the event, but then rushes back at top speed as the beam causes an earthquake to split the city into fractions. He returns to his new hometown in Whitevale in time for his first day at Elstree Middle School.

More coming soon!

Voice cast

 * Zach Tyler Eisen as Louis DeMinsky, a 12-year-old "one-of-a-kind" student who is the main member of M.I.S.S.I.O.N.
 * Gary LeRoi Gray as Mort Soberman, the second-in-command member of M.I.S.S.I.O.N.
 * Avril Lavigne as Tiana Croson, the tomboyish third-in-command member of M.I.S.S.I.O.N. who masters martial arts.
 * Stanley Tucci as Clariborn Holmes, the commanding officer of M.I.S.S.I.O.N. and the former principal of Elstree Middle School.
 * Wally Kurth as Macksey Skee, the boss of the S.C.H.E.M.E. organization.
 * Patrick Warburton as Biggie-B, a member of the S.C.H.E.M.E. organization.
 * Caroline Dhavernas as Laura DeMinsky, Louis's 8-year-old sister.
 * Laraine Newman as Mrs. DeMinsky, Louis's mother.
 * Bob Bergen as Mr. DeMinsky, Louis's father.
 * Lauren Tom as Mrs. Teckleski, Louis's teacher.
 * Danny Mann as Wilbert Rluck, the current principal of Elstree Middle School.
 * Zack Shada as Johnathan.
 * Connor Price as Robby McRobbs.
 * Jim Anderson as News Reporter.
 * Thomas Derviom as Police Officer #1.
 * Michael Wildshill as Police Officer #2.
 * Amy McNeill as the English teacher.
 * John France as one of Skee's minions.
 * Steve Samono as Nick.
 * Ash Brannon as a security guard.

Additional voices

 * Carlos Alazraqui
 * Jack Angel
 * Susan Blu
 * Ash Brannon
 * Rodger Bumpass
 * Jane Carr
 * John Cygan
 * Jennifer Darling
 * Paul Eiding
 * Bill Farmer
 * Jessie Flower
 * Aaron Fors
 * Gary Hall
 * Jess Harnell
 * Sherry Lynn
 * Mickie McGowan
 * Alec Medlock
 * Phil Proctor
 * Jan Rabson
 * Daryl Sabara
 * Evan Sabara
 * Steve Samono
 * Mindy Sterling
 * Joe Stillman
 * Jim Ward

Production
Steve Samono first began working on the story for what became M.I.S.S.I.O.N. about 11 years prior to its release, then directed the film's development from 1997 to 2003. In August 1998, Universal Feature Animation announced the film as Agent Junior, as a traditionally animated feature scheduled for a 2002 release, which Samono described as a "James Bond-like" film that revolved around an entirely different concept. In May 2000, Agent Junior was pushed back to a holiday 2004 release in order to give Samono "more time to work on the story."

By June 2001, the film was retitled Operation School and it was announced that the film would be instead a computer animated feature film. In 2002, the film's title was changed once again, this time as M.I.S.S.I.O.N.. Production began in early 2003, and the release date was pushed back to summer 2005.

Marketing
Coinciding with the film's release, Burger King released eight toys in their Kids' Meals. A video game adaptation was released on the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, Game Boy Advance, and on the Nintendo DS.

Trailers

 * The official teaser was released on July 2, 2004, and was shown before Computeropolis, Team POWER, Thunderbirds, Solar Students, and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.


 * The first official theatrical trailer was released on November 5, 2004, and was shown before The Incredibles, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Zina and the Vivid Crew, Fat Albert, and Cupid Cooper.


 * The second theatrical trailer was released on March 4, 2005, and was shown before The Pacifier, Robots, Ice Princess, Tj's World: The Movie, and Madagascar.


 * TV spots began to air between June and July of 2005.

Home media
M.I.S.S.I.O.N. was released on VHS and DVD on December 13, 2005. Unlike its theatrical box office performance, the film performed better on home video, becoming the top-selling home video release of 2005.

The film was released on HD DVD on May 15, 2007 and on Blu-ray on July 22, 2008 and contained new features not included on the DVD. A 3D Blu-ray version was released on January 22, 2013.

Soundtrack
On June 28, 2005, the M.I.S.S.I.O.N.: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack soundtrack was released by Varèse Sarabande. Harry Gregson-Williams composed the film's score.

Track listing
Coming soon!

Gallery
Coming soon!

Critical reception
M.I.S.S.I.O.N. has a 84% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 7.5/10 based on 146 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "M.I.S.S.I.O.N. is flashing espionage satire complete with visual thrills, sly twists, and brisk pacing." Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a score of 76, indicating "generally favorable reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

Box office
M.I.S.S.I.O.N. earned $73,174,721 in the United States and $220,100,201 from international markets for a worldwide total of $293,274,922. Despite grossing $293.2 million over its $78 million budget, the film was deemed a box office failure due to high marketing costs of $250-$300 million and falling short of the break even point of $400 million. Co-director Ash Brannon attributed the film's underperformance to poor audience reactions and releasing it on the same day as War of the Worlds which was more hyped up.

M.I.S.S.I.O.N. opened on July 1, 2005 against Rebound and War of the Worlds. The film was projected to gross $75-$80 million from 3,654 theaters in its opening weekend. It made $1.2 million from Thursday night previews and $7.2 million on its opening day. Universal Feature Animation CEO Michael Wildshill called these results terribly disappointing and caused the studio to rearrange their management team. The film ended up grossing $19.1 million in its opening weekend debuting at No. 2 behind War of the Worlds. In its second weekend, the film declined by a huge margin of 64%, grossing $6.9 million and dropped to No. 6. The third weekend suffered a less severe drop declining by 11% and grossed $6.1 while remaining in sixth.

Main
To see the main transcript of the film, click here.

Trailers
To see the transcript for the trailers of the film, click here.