Star Fox 2 (film)

Star Fox 2 is a 2011 computer-animated adventure fantasy comedy action film co-written and directed by J. J. Abrams, produced by and starring Tom Cruise reprising his role as Fox McCloud, and written by Jon Hoeber, and Erich Hoeber. It is the eleventh film in the Nintendo Cinematic Universe (NCU), and the sequel to Star Fox (2008). It also stars Robert Downey Jr., Josh Gad, Vincent D'Onofrio, Paul Rudd, Carl Weathers, Johnny Depp, Ben Mendelssohn, Tobey Maguire, Tom Hanks, and Andy Serkis reprising their roles from the previous film. Scarlett Johansson, Tom Kenny, Rosemary Harris, and Ewan McGregor are also in the film's principal cast.

After the release of the first film, Abrams, Miyamoto, Starkey, Rapke, and Cruise agreed to produce its sequel. Principal photography commenced on November 14, 2009, and ended on July 22, 2010. Animal Logic designed computer-animated dinosaur and added them to the backdrop. The film was converted to 3D during its post-production stage.

It premiered at Pacific Theatres in Los Angeles, on May 5, 2011, and was released in the U.S. on May 13, 2011, and in Japan on May 28, 2011, as part of Phase Two in the NCU. The film was commercially successful, grossing over $982 million worldwide, becoming the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2011. Critics particularly praised Pine and Johannson's performances, and Abrams' direction.

Plot
Coming soon

Voice cast

 * Chris Pine as Fox McCloud (motion-capture)
 * Tom Cruise as Fox McCloud (voice)
 * Robert Downey Jr. as Falco Lombardi (motion-capture)
 * Chris Pratt as Falco Lombardi (voice)
 * Josh Gad as Slippy Toad (motion-capture)
 * Evan Peters as Slippy Toad (voice)
 * Woody Harrelson as Peppy Hare (motion-capture)
 * Vincent D'Onofrio as Peppy Hare (voice)


 * Scarlett Johansson as Krystal and Katt Monroe (motion-capture)
 * Ana de Armas as Krystal (voice)
 * Lily James as Katt Monroe (voice)


 * Paul Rudd as ROB 64 (motion-capture)
 * Bill Hader as ROB 64 (voice)
 * Carl Weathers as General Pepper (motion-capture)
 * Jeffrey Wright as General Pepper (voice)


 * Christopher Lloyd as King EarthWalker


 * Rosemary Harris as Queen EarthWalker


 * Tom Kenny as Prince Tricky


 * Ewan McGregor as Wolf O'Donnell (motion-capture)
 * Johnny Depp as Wolf O'Donnell (voice)
 * Ben Mendelsohn as Leon Powalski (motion-capture)
 * Tom Burke as Leon Powalski (voice)
 * Tobey Maguire as Panther Caroso (motion-capture)
 * Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Panther Caroso (voice)
 * Tom Hanks as Andrew Oikonny (motion capture)
 * Justin Roiland as Andrew Oikonny (voice)
 * Sylvester Stallone as General Scales

Development
In August 2008, it was reported that Paramount Pictures was interested in signing producers of the 2008 Star Fox, J. J. Abrams, Tom Cruise, Steve Starkey, Jack Rapke, and Shigeru Miyamoto for a sequel. In September, it was reported that these five producers had agreed to produce the film, with a script again written by Erich and Jon Hoeber (with the addition of Abrams). A preliminary script was said to be completed by Christmas 2008 for a 2009 release; they began writing the script originally intending to split the film into two parts.

By November 2008, a release date of June 29, 2010, was set, with Jon announcing he had begun working on the script with Erich and Abrams. Pre-production was set for December 2008, although Starkey said actual filming would probably begin during the spring or summer. Actor Robert Downey Jr. later said that these reports were untrue. Hoeber compared the sequel to The Island (2005).

Abrams, Cruise, and Miyamoto said that selecting a villain was difficult; according to Abrams, "the universe Nintendo created is so vast that it's hard to say one particular thing stands out". They also discussed the possibility of Sauria. The Hoebers said they had "broken" the story (created an outline); instead of a sequel, it will be a stand-alone film. Abrams admitted in January 2009 that there was still no script.

In February 2009, Abrams said he had not decided whether or not he would direct, since he had not yet seen a script. DreamWorks Pictures then approached him, asking that the sequel be in 3D. Abrams said that the film would not be shot in 3D, but filmed in 2D and converted during post-production. He was also interested in filming in IMAX: "IMAX is my favorite format; I’m a huge fan." In April, Cruise tweeted that Starkey (with the Hoebers) planned to deliver the script in March 2009. Although the script was not finished on schedule, Paramount began financing pre-production; similar circumstances on the third Transformers film meant that Cruise would film the Star Fox sequel first. By April, Rapke said at WonderCon that the script's first draft had been completed. Abrams told MTV that when he finished his film, Star Trek, he would turn his full attention to the Star Fox sequel.

Although a script was completed, uncertainty regarding the extent of Abrams' involvement led to the film's being pushed back six months from its scheduled June 2010 release. Other factors which precluded the release, ending up pushing it further back were the high budget and overall difficulty of finding actors to fit the roles. In November, Abrams confirmed that his next project would be the sequel, noting that he would rather the film be good than ready by its scheduled release date. Josh Gad, who played Slippy Toad, said in an interview that he thought filming would begin during the latter part of the year. Abrams stated he would prioritize the film's story and characters over an early release date. In December, Abrams agreed to direct the film, with the cast from the previous film reprising their respective roles for a winter 2010 or summer 2011 release. In January 2010, Rapke said that location scouting was underway, and a comic book series (of which Miyamoto would be creative director) would "foreshadow" the film. The film was given a revised release date of 2011, and Macro Beltrami confirmed that he would return to write the score.

Casting
Cruise, Robert Downey Jr., Josh Gad, Woody Harrelson, Paul Rudd, Carl Weathers, and Andy Serkis reprised their previous performances as Fox McCloud, Falco Lombardi, Slippy Toad, Peppy Hare, ROB 64, General Pepper, and Andross. John Travolta make a brief cameo as James McCloud. Also returning for the film are Ben Mendelsohn, Tobey Maguire, and Tom Hanks as Leon Powalski, Panther Caroso, and Andrew Oikonny. Although Cruise has scheduling conflicts with Knight and Day and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, he recorded his lines in a closet at his home, though he was uncertain if he would appear in the final edit.

Filming
Principal photography commenced on February 3, 2010, with a scheduled release date of May 13, 2011. Cinematographer Dan Mindel shot the film using a combination of anamorphic 35mm film and 15 perforation IMAX cameras. About 30 minutes of the film is shot in the IMAX format, while some other scenes were also shot on 8 perforation 65mm. On May 24, 2010, images from the set surfaced of Ewan McGregor's character in a fight with Fox. Edgar Wright directed one shot in the film. Production ended on November 22, 2010.

Visual effects and animation
Star Fox 2 needed an enormous group of computers, and Animal Logic worked with IBM to build a server farm with sufficient processing potential. The film took four years to make. Ben Gunsberger, Lighting Supervisor and VFX Department Supervisor, says this was partly because they needed to build new infrastructure and tools. The server farm used IBM BladeCenter framework and BladeCenter HS20 blade servers, which are extremely dense separate computer units each with two Intel Xeon processors. Rendering took up 17 million CPU hours over a nine-month period. The animation is invested heavily in motion capture technology, with the action scenes acted out by stuntmen.

Character designer David Krentz, who also worked on Disney Animation's Dinosaur (2000), designed about 20 creatures for the film and worked with 5-6 palaeontologists. The characters were based on creatures found at fossil sites in Alaska and in Canada. Krentz initially designed the creatures in pencil then modeled them with the software ZBrush to send to animators. In addition, palaeontologists provided Animal Logic with technical drawings of dinosaur skeletons so animators could construct the skeletons virtually. The animators collaborated with the palaeontologists to validate the basic movements of the computer-animated dinosaurs. Software was used to overlay muscle to fit the movements. Animal Logic adapted the software Quill, which they used to animate penguin feathers in their work on Happy Feet (2006), into new software called RepTile to animate dinosaur skin and scales. It also added feathers for some dinosaurs, including the Troodon and the Hesperonychus. The color palette and feather pattern of a golden pheasant was used for the appearance of the Hesperonychus. The natural history unit archives were used to create a "behaviour matrix" that matched dinosaurs' anatomically correct gestures to their moods. Animal Logic ultimately created 800 animated shots for the film, which director Cook said was a low number for an animated film.

Music

 * Further information: Star Fox 2 (soundtrack) and Music of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Release
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Reception
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Sequels
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Transcripts
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