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Richie Rich (film)

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Richie Rich
Theatrical release poster
Directed byDonald Petrie
Screenplay byTom S. Parker
Jim Jennewein
Story byNeil Tolkin
Based onRichie Rich
by Alfred Harvey
Warren Kremer
Produced byJoel Silver
John Davis
Starring
CinematographyDon Burgess
Edited byMalcolm Campbell
Music byAlan Silvestri
Production
companies
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release date
  • December 21, 1994 (1994-12-21)
Running time
95 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$40 million
Box office$76 million

Richie Rich is a 1994 American children's adventure comedy film directed by Donald Petrie. The film is loosely based on the comic character of the same name created by Alfred Harvey and Warren Kremer. The film was distributed by Warner Bros. under their Warner Bros. Family Entertainment label. The film stars Macaulay Culkin (in his final film as a child actor until he began work as an adult in 2003), John Larroquette, Edward Herrmann, Jonathan Hyde, and Christine Ebersole, while Reggie Jackson, Claudia Schiffer, and Ben Stein appear in cameo roles. Culkin's younger brother, Rory Culkin, played the part of Young Richie Rich. In theaters, the film was shown with a Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner cartoon called Chariots of Fur, and was followed by the 1998 direct-to-video sequel Richie Rich's Christmas Wish.

Plot

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Richie Rich is "the world's richest boy", living in Chicago with his billionaire parents Richard Sr. and Regina. Under the care of his cheerfully loyal butler Herbert Cadbury, scientist Professor Keenbean and his dog Dollar, Richie enjoys a luxurious but lonely life. At his father's reopening of the local United Tool factory, Richie sees union rep Diane Koscinski's daughter Gloria and her friends playing sandlot ball, and later tries to befriend them.

Lawrence Van Dough, the greedy CFO of Rich Industries, plots with head of security Ferguson to kill the Riches and steal their fortune, believed to be stored in the family's secret vault. As the Riches prepare to leave Chicago to visit Elizabeth II in England, Ferguson plants a bomb among their gifts for the Queen's birthday. Cadbury convinces Regina to let Richie stay home instead, and arranges for a day of fun with the sandlot kids, accompanied by Diane, who has begun to take a shine to the stiffly-debonair but caringly-kind Cadbury. Though initially bribed by Cadbury to come and play with Richie, the kids decline the money after genuinely having fun with Richie.

Flying the plane themselves, Richard and Regina discover the bomb just before it explodes, crashing the plane into the ocean. Stranded on a life raft, Richie's parents are presumed dead, and Van Dough takes control of Rich Industries. He attempts to close the factory, prompting Richie to assume leadership of the company himself, with Cadbury as his legal guardian and business proxy. Determined to seize the Riches' fortune, Van Dough has Cadbury framed for the bomb and arrested, and subsequently petitions successfully to take over as Richie's legal guardian. He then regains control of Rich Industries removing Richie as the company's leader, evicts the rest of the Rich family servants, and installs his own security team at Rich Manor to keep Richie prisoner.

Overhearing Van Dough's plan to have Cadbury killed in jail, Professor Keenbean warns Richie, who sneaks out and rescues Cadbury. They enlist the help of Gloria and Diane, who develops romantic feelings for Cadbury, while Van Dough and Ferguson threaten Keenbean into revealing that the family vault requires a voice-activated code from Richard and Regina. At sea, Richard manages to repair his "Dadlink", a device allowing Richie to track him anywhere in the world. Using Gloria's computer, Richie finds the Dadlink's signal, but Ferguson intercepts the coordinates and kidnaps Richard and Regina.

Richie and Gloria rally the sandlot kids to break into Rich Manor with Cadbury and Diane, using Keenbean's inventions against Van Dough's men. Unfortunately Richie and Cadbury find out that the Dadlink reveals that Richard and Regina are in Richie's room, and Van Dough and Ferguson anticipated their arrival. Meanwhile one of Van Dough's men named Nash captures Diane, Gloria, Pee-Wee, Omar and Tony outside. Van Dough forces Richard and Regina to take him to the vault, while Ferguson and Nash force Richie, Cadbury, Diane, Gloria, Pee-Wee, Omar and Tony into the molecular reorganizer. Ferguson and Nash's plan to turn them into bedpans is thwarted by Professor Keenbean, who gets Nash stuck to his invention of Cementia on the steps and knocks a blinded Ferguson out with help from his invention Robobee. Richie takes a bag of Keenbean's inventions to save Richard and Regina.

Holding Richard and Regina at gunpoint, Van Dough is led to the vault hidden within "Mount Richmore", their gigantic mountainside family portrait that's in the process of being 3-D laser-carved into the rock. Once through the voice-activated doors, however, Van Dough is furious to discover that there are none of the family's financial assets inside the vault, but what the Riches actually value most: treasured family mementos and heirlooms. Richie confronts Van Dough, who shoots him, but the bullets prove harmless thanks to Keenbean's bulletproof spray. Van Dough pursues the Riches down the side of the mountain. The Rich Family comes under attack from carving-laser blasts shot by an infuriated Ferguson. Cadbury follows Ferguson and they fight; Ferguson clobbers Cadbury over the head, but Cadbury regains consciousness and takes out Ferguson by bashing him over the head with a concrete picture of Regina, saving the Rich family. Cadbury fires the laser at Van Dough, and Van Dough ends up hanging on upside down for dear life. Although Richard doesn't like firing staff, he allows Richie to fire Van Dough and Regina punches him in the face.

Days later, Richie plays baseball with Gloria and his new friends for the United Tool team in Rich Manor's yard, coached by Cadbury, who shares a kiss with Diane. Van Dough and Ferguson serve as the manor's gardeners as part of their work release, while Richard and Regina are overjoyed that their son has finally found something money can't buy: friends.

Cast

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  • Macaulay Culkin as Richie Rich
    • Rory Culkin as Young Richie Rich
    • Peter Lampley as Baby Richie Rich
  • John Larroquette as Laurence Van Dough - the greedy CFO of Rich Enterprises, who plots to steal the Rich family fortune.
  • Edward Herrmann as Richard Rich Sr - the father of Richie.
  • Jonathan Hyde as Herbert Arthur Runcible Cadbury - the Rich family's trustworthy butler.
  • Christine Ebersole as Regina Rich - the mother of Richie.
  • Stephi Lineburg as Gloria Koscinski - the best friend of Richie.
  • Michael McShane as Professor Keenbean - a brilliant inventor who works for Rich Industries.
  • Mariangela Pino as Diane Koscinski - the mother of Gloria.
  • Chelcie Ross as Ferguson - the Rich family's rude and tough security chief, who plots with Van Dough to usurp the Rich empire.
  • Michael Maccarone as Tony
  • Joel Robinson as Omar
  • Jonathan Hilario as Pee Wee
  • Reggie Jackson as himself - Richie's private baseball coach.
  • Matt DeCaro as Dave Walter - the plant manager for United Tool.
  • Claudia Schiffer as herself - Richie's private aerobics instructor.
  • Ben Stein as Economics Teacher
  • Sean A. Tate as Reynolds
  • Joel Ellegant as Ellsworth
  • Justin Zaremby as Reginald
  • Eddie Bo Smith as Ambler

Production

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Photo of Biltmore Estate
Biltmore Estate, where many of the scenes were filmed.

Though set in Chicago, the house and grounds at which most of Richie Rich is filmed are those of the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. Some scenes, however, are filmed in Chicago, including a fencing scene filmed at DePaul University's Cortelyou Commons & the Ravenswood Manor neighborhood including the Francisco stop on the CTA Brown line. The roller coaster in the backyard is the former stand-up roller coaster Iron Wolf at Six Flags Great America. In contrast to the famous publication and animated series, a few characters are eliminated to accommodate the film: among them are Irona the robot maid.

Data East was one of few regular pinball companies that manufactured custom pinball games e.g. for the film Richie Rich. This pinball machine was based on The Who's Tommy Pinball Wizard machine.[1]

Reception

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The film has been met with mixed reception. A Los Angeles Times reviewer praised the actors' portrayal of characters in the film.[2] Roger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4 stars saying he was surprised how much he enjoyed it and said that though it was not the greatest film, he liked that it had style and did not go for cheap payoffs.[3] Richie Rich earned a Razzie Award nomination for Macaulay Culkin as Worst Actor for his performance in the film (also for Getting Even with Dad and The Pagemaster) but lost the award to Kevin Costner for Wyatt Earp.[4]

Richie Rich received a 26% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 23 reviews, with an average rating of 4.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "With Macaulay Culkin barely registering any emotion, Richie Rich feels disjointed and free of a sense of fun and wonderment."[5] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 49 out of 100 based on 17 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[6] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.[7]

The film grossed $38 million at the box office in the United States and Canada[8] and the same internationally[9] for a worldwide total of $76 million on a $40 million budget.[10][11] It was an even bigger home video success, with $125 million in VHS rentals[12] and, as of April 1997, $44.2 million in retail sales, the studio receiving 75%.[13]

Year-end lists

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Sequel

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Richie Rich's Christmas Wish is a 1998 direct-to-video sequel starring David Gallagher in the titular role.

References

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  1. ^ "Internet Pinball Machine Database: Data East 'Richie Rich'". Archived from the original on 9 October 2016. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  2. ^ Thomas, Kevin (1994-12-21). "MOVIE REVIEW: Culkin's 'Richie Rich': Comedy-Adventure With Heart". The Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2011-02-28. Retrieved 2010-12-31.
  3. ^ Ebert, Roger. "Richie Rich Movie Review & Film Summary (1994) - Roger Ebert". Archived from the original on 14 October 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  4. ^ "Razzie Awards". Internet Movie Database. 1995. Archived from the original on 2009-02-07. Retrieved 2022-07-27.
  5. ^ "Richie Rich". Rotten Tomatoes. 21 December 1994. Archived from the original on 24 May 2024. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  6. ^ "Richie Rich Reviews". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Archived from the original on May 2, 2023. Retrieved May 2, 2023.
  7. ^ "Home". CinemaScore. Retrieved 2022-09-19.
  8. ^ "Richie Rich | Boxofficemojo". Archived from the original on 2018-08-05. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
  9. ^ Klady, Leonard (February 19, 1996). "B.O. with a vengeance: $9.1 billion worldwide". Variety. p. 1.
  10. ^ Natale, Richard (1995-01-03). "New Year Box Office Starts Off With Bang Movies: At $15.5 million, 'Dumb' stole the show during the long holiday weekend. But many other movies filled the seats as well". The Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2012-01-30. Retrieved 2010-12-31.
  11. ^ "Richie Rich (1994) - Box Office Mojo". Archived from the original on 5 August 2018. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  12. ^ Harvey Capitalizes on Ghost, Rich Kid, Billboard
  13. ^ Matzer, Marla (1997-04-16). "Direct-to-Video Family Films Are Hitting Home". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2012-05-16. Retrieved 4 June 2011.
  14. ^ P. Means, Sean (January 1, 1995). "'Pulp and Circumstance' After the Rise of Quentin Tarantino, Hollywood Would Never Be the Same". The Salt Lake Tribune (Final ed.). p. E1.
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