Footloose (DVD)

Footloose is a 2011 American musical film co-written and directed by Craig Brewer. It is a remake of the 1984 film of the same name and stars Kenny Wormald, Julianne Hough, Miles Teller, Andie MacDowell and Dennis Quaid. The film follows a young man who moves from Boston to a small Southern town and protests the town s ban against dancing. Filming took place from September to November 2010 in Georgia. It was released in Australia and New Zealand on October 6, 2011, and in North America on October 14, 2011. It grossed $15.5 million in its opening weekend and $63 million worldwide from a $24 million budget.

Plot

After a long night of partying, an intoxicated Bobby Moore and his friends are killed when their car collides head-on with a truck on a bridge on their way home to the town of Bomont, Georgia. This prompts his father Shaw Moore, the Reverend of the town s church to persuade the city council to pass several draconian laws and ordinances, one of which bans all unsupervised dancing within city limits.

Three years later, Boston-raised teenager Ren McCormack moves to Bomont to live with his uncle Wes Warnicker, aunt Lulu, and cousins Sarah and Amy after his mother s death from leukemia and his father s desertion. Upon arrival, Ren befriends fellow Bomont High senior Willard Hewitt, who explains the ban on dancing.

He soon begins to be attracted to Shaw s rebellious daughter Ariel, who is dating dirt-track driver Chuck Cranston. After Chuck insults him, Ren ends up in a race involving buses and wins despite his inability to drive one and almost getting killed in it. Shaw mistrusts Ren and forbids Ariel from ever seeing him again. Ren and his classmates want to do away with the law and have a senior prom. Ren also teaches Willard how to dance.

After a while, Ariel begins to fall for Ren and dumps Chuck, resulting in a fight between them. Later in church, Shaw finds out about the incident and demands Ren s arrest, but Ariel tells him that he can t blame everything on Ren just like he did with Bobby. She then reveals that she lost her virginity, which prompts Shaw to beg for her to not talk like that in church, resulting in Ariel sarcastically asking Shaw if he will pass another law and says that it didn t stop her and Chuck from having sex. Shaw slaps her abruptly, which shocks Vi, Shaw s wife, and prompts Ariel to tearfully and angrily criticize his domineering ways and storm out. Shaw tries to apologize, but Vi stops him, telling him he has gone too far. Supporting the dancing movement, Vi explains to Shaw that he is not being good to Ariel and that he cannot be everyone s father, adding that dancing and music are not the problems.

Ren goes before the city council and reads several Bible verses that are given to him by Ariel, that describe how in ancient times people would dance to rejoice, exercise, celebrate or worship.

Despite the city council voting against him, an undaunted Ren convinces a cotton businessman in the neighboring town of Bayson to let the school have a prom in his mill due to the location being outside the city limits. Knowing that Shaw still has enough influence to pressure the parents not to let their teenagers come, Ren visits him one evening and the two strike up a conversation wherein they realize that they have a common ground; the loss of a loved one. After Shaw tells the story of Bobby, Ren describes his mother s death and states that even though they denied the motion to dismiss the law, they cannot stop the dance. He then respectfully asks Shaw if he can take Ariel, and Shaw agrees.

A few days before the prom, Shaw unexpectedly asks his congregation to pray for the high school students putting on the prom. The students (and many parents) prepare and decorate the mill for the prom.

Not long after Ren and Ariel arrive at the prom, Chuck and several of his friends arrive to instigate chaos. However, Ren, Willard, Ariel and her best friend Rusty Rodriguez subdue them. Ren goes inside the mill and exclaims Hey, I thought this was a party! Then he flings confetti into a shredding machine and yells, Let s dance! as everyone joins in dancing to the opening song Footloose .

Cast

• Kenny Wormald as Ren McCormack
• Julianne Hough as Ariel Moore
• Miles Teller as Willard Hewitt
• Andie MacDowell as Vi Moore
• Dennis Quaid as Reverend Shaw Moore
• Ser Darius Blain as Woody
• Ziah Colon as Rusty Rodriguez
• Patrick John Flueger as Chuck Cranston
• Ray McKinnon as Uncle Wes Warnicker
• Kim Dickens as Aunt Lulu Warnicker
• Mary-Charles Jones as Cousin Sarah Warnicker
• Maggie Elizabeth Jones as Cousin Amy Warnicker
• Josh Warren as Richard Rich Sawyer
• Jayson Warner Smith (uncredited) a Officer Herb

Production

Development

In October 2008, Kenny Ortega was announced as director but left the project a year later after differences with Paramount and the production budget. Peter Sollett was also hired to write the script. Dylan Sellers, Neil Meron and Craig Zadan served as producer; Zadan having produced the original Footloose. In 2010, Craig Brewer came on to re-write the script after Crawford and Ortega left the project and also served as director. The writer of the original film, Dean Pitchford, also co-wrote the screenplay. Amy Vincent served as cinematographer.

Casting

In July 2007, Zac Efron was cast as Ren McCormack, but he left the project in March 2009. Two months later, it was reported that Chace Crawford would replace Efron, but he later had to back out due to scheduling conflicts. Thomas Dekker was a top candidate for the role but on June 22, 2010, Entertainment Weekly reported that Kenny Wormald had secured the lead role as McCormack.

Former Dancing with the Stars ballroom-dance professional Julianne Hough was cast as Ariel. Amanda Bynes, Miley Cyrus, and Hayden Panettiere were considered for the part before Hough was cast. Dennis Quaid was cast as Reverend Shaw Moore, and Miles Teller was cast as Willard Hewitt. On August 24, 2010, Andie MacDowell joined the cast as Quaid s wife. During an interview on The Howard Stern Show, Kevin Bacon said he declined a cameo appearance in the film as he did not like the role he was offered: Ren McCormack s deadbeat dad. Though Bacon passed on the role, he gave Brewer his blessing.

Filming

While the original film has the fictional town of Bomont located in Utah, the remake instead places the town in Georgia. On a budget of $24 million, principal photography began in September 2010 in and around metro Atlanta, and wrapped two months later in November. A courtroom scene was shot at the Newton County Historic Courthouse in Covington, Georgia on September 17, 20 and 21. A family scene was filmed at the New Senoia Raceway in Senoia on October 1.

A scene taken from the original film, in which McCormack plays a game of chicken with his love interest s boyfriend, was filmed on the Chattahoochee River bridge on Franklin Parkway in downtown Franklin also in October. The home and church scene in the film were filmed in downtown Acworth. Production used the sanctuary of the Acworth Presbyterian Church and the house of the Mayor, Tommy Allegood.

Music

The original soundtrack was released by Atlantic Records and Warner Music Nashville on September 27, 2011. It includes eight new songs and four remakes of songs from the original film s soundtrack. Brewer said, I can promise Footloose fans that I will be true to the spirit of the original film. But I still gotta put my own Southern grit into it and kick it into 2011. Kenny Loggins Footloose was covered by Blake Shelton for the remake, which is an upbeat country version. The film opens with several teens dancing to Loggins original version of the song. Like the original film, the 2011 version also features Bang Your Head (Metal Health) by the heavy metal band Quiet Riot and Let s Hear It for the Boy by Deniece Williams.

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Artist	Length
1.	Footloose	Kenny Loggins Dean Pitchford	Blake Shelton	3:39
2.	Where The River Goes (Grammy-nominated)	Zac Brown Wyatt Durrette Drew Pearson Anne Preven	Zac Brown	3:39
3.	Little Lovin	Elisabeth Marius Angelo Petraglia	Lissie	4:30
4.	Holding Out for a Hero	Dean Pitchford Jim Steinman	Ella Mae Bowen	5:21
5.	Let s Hear It for the Boy	Dean Pitchford Tom Snow	Jana Kramer	4:10
6.	So Sorry Mama	Whitney Duncan Gordie Sampson John Shanks	Whitney Duncan	3:43
7.	Fake I.D.	John Rich John Shanks	Big & Rich featuring Gretchen Wilson	3:21
8.	Almost Paradise	Eric Carmen Dean Pitchford	Victoria Justice and Hunter Hayes	3:37
9.	Walkin Blues	R.L. Burnside	Cee Lo Green featuring Kenny Wayne Shepherd	3:48
10.	Magic in My Home	Jason Freeman	Jason Freeman	3:13
11.	Suicide Eyes	Michael Hobby Jaren Johnston William Satcher	A Thousand Horses	3:00
12.	Dance the Night Away	Lavell Crump Christopher Goodman Dean Pitchford Rhashida Stafford Bill Wolfer	David Banner	4:13
Total length:				44:14

Release and promotion

The film was originally scheduled for release in North America on April 1, 2011, but was moved to October 14, 2011. Footloose was released in Australia and New Zealand on October 6, 2011.

Paramount and HSN partnered for a 24-hour promotion on October 12, 2011. They sold clothing inspired by the film, such as women s red boots, denim, footwear and nail polish brands created by Vince Camuto and Steve Madden. To promote the film, Paramount sent the cast and director on a promotional tour in over a dozen cities.

Footloose was promoted on the October 11, 2011, episode of Dancing with the Stars. The episode featured film stars Kenny Wormald and Julianne Hough—a former champion on the show—dancing to the songs Holding Out for a Hero and Footloose from the film s soundtrack with Blake Shelton performing the song live. At the CMA Awards, Shelton was joined by original Footloose performer Kenny Loggins to sing the song. Many of Viacom owned channels, like MTV, Nickelodeon and CMT advertised and promoted the film.

Reception

Box office

Pre-release audience pollings predicted the film to take in $20 million its opening weekend. However, Paramount expected it to be closer to $15 million. Footloose opened in 3,549 theaters taking in $15.5 million and placing number two, behind Real Steel ($16.2 million) in its opening weekend. Exit polls indicated that the film appealed to 75 percent of females and 28 percent of the teen market. About 60 percent of the audience were over age 25 and 46 percent over age 35. The 20th highest grossing locations on Friday were in Salt Lake City, Oklahoma City, Knoxville, Kansas City, and San Antonio. The opening was lower than other recent dance films like, Save the Last Dance (2001, $23.4 million), Step Up (2006, $20.7 million), but it performed around the same as Step Up 3D (2010, $15.8 million) and You Got Served (2004, $16.1 million). The 1984 Footloose opened to $20 million when adjusted for ticket price inflation. In its second weekend the film held well, with a drop of 34 percent. It placed third and grossed an estimated $10.4 million.

In Australia, the film opened to $1.05 million and to $88,078 in New Zealand. Footloose has grossed $51.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $10.9 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $62 million. The 1984 Footloose grossed over $80 million worldwide.

Critical response

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 68% of 174 surveyed critics have given the film a positive review; the average rating is 6.0/10. The website s consensus is: While it hews closely to the 1984 original, Craig Brewer infuses his Footloose remake with toe-tapping energy and manages to keep the story fresh for a new generation. Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a score of 58 based on 35 reviews. CinemaScore polls reported that the average grade moviegoers gave the film was an A on an A+ to F scale.

Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly gave the film an A−. Praising the performance of Wormald, she said he handily owns the role for a new audience and closed her review saying, Guardians of the 80s flame will approve of the production s sincere respect for the original; church still matters, and so do Ariel s red cowboy boots. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times rated the film one and half stars out of four, calling it a film without wit, humor or purpose . Ebert further criticized the film for being too close to the 1984 original and Wormald s lack of charisma compared to Bacon.

Variety s Rob Nelson wrote that the film failed to distinguished itself from the original and criticized Wormald and Hough s acting performances, saying, When the music stops, young Hough is saddled, like her co-star, with the impossible task of making 27-year-old verbiage sound fresh. Nelson wrote that Brewer s musical staging is subtly less theatrical than Ross , but it hardly constitutes a reinvention and that Brewer s film comes across as slightly milder than Ross , such as with Ariel s abuse by former boyfriend being toned down for 2011. Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter disliked how the dance numbers and action sequences were staged, shot and cut, saying, The visual clumsiness does not disguise that Wormald (a professional dancer since extreme youth), especially, but the others too, are very good dancers. But the compositions vary randomly between close-ups, awkward medium shots and general coverage that cuts together with no cumulative dynamic power. Orlando Sentinel s Roger Moore gave the film two and half out of four stars.

Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film doesn t have the emotional impact of the original, but it ups the energy level. He said that the film was not so much a remake as a renovation and said the remake is similar to the original in all the ways that count . The New York Times s A. O. Scott called the dance numbers woefully inadequate when compared with Glee, High School Musical and Step Up. For Wormald s performance he said, He has energy but no real magnetism, and while he may be in possession of what are technically known as moves , his dancing lacks sensuality and a sense of release. Scott gave Miles Teller a good review saying that he has a natural charisma that is both comic and kind of sexy . He described the music in the remake as better and more eclectic than the original, with some blues, country and vintage metal mixed in with the peppy dance tunes .

Home media

Paramount Home Entertainment released Footloose on DVD and Blu-ray on March 6, 2012.

Condition

New

Publisher

Par

Age Group

Adult

Rating MPA

Not Rated

Recording Studio

Par

Format

DVD

Amazon ASIN

B0002KQ6TW

UPC / EAN

097360534160

Year

2011

ReleaseDate

2011-10-14

RuntimeMins

113

RuntimeStr

1h 53min

Awards

Awards, 3 nominations

Directors

Craig Brewer

Writers

Dean Pitchford, Craig Brewer

Stars

Kenny Wormald, Julianne Hough, Dennis Quaid

Produced by

Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum, Timothy M. Bourne, Mark Bright, Jonathan Glickman, Neil Meron, Dylan Sellers, Brad Weston, Craig Zadan

Music by

Deborah Lurie

Cinematography by

Amy Vincent

Film Editing by

Billy Fox

Casting By

Laray Mayfield, Julie Schubert

Production Design by

Jon Gary Steele

Art Direction by

Chris Cornwell

Set Decoration by

Dena Roth

Costume Design by

Laura Jean Shannon

Makeup Department

Vivian Baker, Nikki Bell, Andrea C. Brotherton, Teresa Foshee, Sarah Mays, Emanuel Millar, Stephanie Ponder, Carol Rasheed, Duane Saylor, Jamie Taylor Smith, Shunika Terry, Linda Thompson, Bryan Whisnant

Production Management

Susan E. Novick

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director

G.A. Aguilar, Timothy Blockburger, Joe Camp III, Rosemary C. Cremona, Marty Eli Schwartz, Mollie Stallman, Xanthus Valan, Michele 'Shelley' Ziegler

Art Department

Bil Barnes, Cameron Beasley, Dwight Benjamin-Creel, Andi Crumbley, Kathleen Denson, Jeremy Farlow, Carol Francoso, Patrick Fuhrman, Seth Gardner, Shawn M. Gray, R. Barry Green, Mark S. Harbacheck, Lawrence Heap, John Hemphill, Patrick S. Johnson, Julie Kobsa, Sedrick Lakpa, Johnny Land, Konrad Lewis, Chloe Lipp, Sean Macomber, Walt Mikolwski, Justin O'Neal Miller, Ruth Mitchell, Jason Wayne Morgan, Mark Nave, Pat Oldknow, Taraja Ramsess, Katrina Rice, Kelly Richardson, Erin Santini, Trey Shaffer, Roland Spence, Ann Stacy, Linda Verzi, Christopher 'Woody' Wdowin, Jay Womer, Lisa Yeiser

Sound Department

Mark Agostino, Robert Althoff, Christopher Assells, Bobbi Banks, Ron Bedrosian, Zane D. Bruce, Michael P. Clark, Mary H. Ellis, Judah Getz, Paul Hackner, Greg Hedgepath, Daniel J. Leahy, Ryan Maguire, Christopher Mills, James Peterson, Drew Ponder, Mike Prestwood Smith, Joan Rowe, Mike Sansom, Danial Shimiaei, Frank Smathers, Greg Steele, Bartek Swiatek, Tami Treadwell, Gayle Wesley, David A. Whittaker, Greg Zimmerman, Shayna Brown

Special Effects by

David Fletcher, Morgan Guynes, Thomas Kittle, Brendan McHale, Matthew Scurry, Tim Walkey, Scott Willis

Visual Effects by

Jamie Baxter, Chris Ervin, Benjamin Hawkins, Elbert Irving IV, Roger Mocenigo, Darren Orr, Caleb Owens, Schuyler Pappas, Lauren Ritchie, Dottie Starling, Mike Uguccioni, Dan Walden, Cory Shaw

Stunts

Robert Brubaker, Daniel Brule, Bob Fisher, Reece Fleetwood, Dale Frye, John Gilbert, Cal Johnson, Curtis Lyons, Anderson Martin, Chris Morena, Jay Pearson, Lonnie R. Smith Jr., Brian Todd, Michele Waitman, Guss Williams, Daniel Brule, Bob Fisher, Reece Fleetwood, John Gilbert, Cal Johnson, Michele Waitman

Camera and Electrical Department

K.C. Bailey, Woody Bell, Patrick Borowiak, Warren Brace, Matthew C. Brookman, Michael Cambria, Patrick Capone, Pam Connor, Jeff W. Curtis, Keith Cutler, Juvonn Daves, Curtis Dubose, Seth Eltz, Ian Forsyth, Jeff Funderburk, Jeffrey Greeley, Mark Hadland, Daniel R. Haizlip, Adam Hinson, Matthew Horn, Scott Ippolito, Chris Jadick, Chris Jones, Denny Kortze, Mike Laird, Charles Laughon, Lane Leagans, Eric Leftridge, Erik Loveland, Matt Malloy, John McIntyre, Mark C. McManus, Christopher L. Miller, Matthew Austin Murray, Pat O'Mara, Cristiano Palermi, Robert Pearson, David Peirce, Sean Piper, Cory 'Grinder' Poucher, Christopher Prampin, Agnes Rodriguez, Michael Sannuti, Christian Satrazemis, Cameron Schwartz, Steve A. Stephenson, John R. Sutton, Greg Taylor, Randy Tharpe, German Valle, Bradley Everett Wilson, Randy Stewart

Casting Department

Daryl Eisenberg, Susan Fronsoe, Darcy Halsey, Richard Hempton, Anthony J. Kraus, Rose Locke, Bill Marinella, Sabyn Mayfield, Madeline O'Hara, Jimmy Shaw, Ann Wittenberg

Costume and Wardrobe Department

Valarie Benning Barney, English Benning, Shilla Benning, E. Dee Biddlecome, Anna Bourne, Sarah Downer, Kate Duke, Sonya Hooks, Jennifer Leigh-Scott, Elizabeth McEntire Williams, Iliana Sanchez, Tina Marie Sauls, Ken van Duyne, Joulles Wright, Karen Young

Editorial Department

Bob Fredrickson, Jeff Halsey, Paul Lavoie, John Nicolard, Jason Pelham, Scott Richter, Bill Schultz, Jennifer Scudder Trent, Jeff Stroot, Walter Volpatto, Harry Yoon, Harry Muller

Location Management

Scott Einbinder, Erin G. Fuller, Jennifer Griffin, Micah Haley, Caleb Hinshaw, Kyle Hinshaw, Ryan Schaetzle

Music Department

Anastasia Brown, Bryan Carrigan, Tim Davies, Rich Devletian, George Doering, George Duke, Chris Fogel, Stuart Hart, Abraham Libbos, Kevin McKeever, James Allen Roberson, Peter Rotter, Zack Ryan, Jason Ryterband, Peter Seibert, Casey Stone, Matthew Rush Sullivan, Deniece Williams, Jellybean Benítez, Denise Carver, Aron Pinsky

Script and Continuity Department

Luca Kouimelis, Mari Wilson

Transportation Department

Robert Brubaker, Arthur C. Chesser, Geoffrey Christopher, Terry 'KJ' Day, Derek James Gober, Jim Grantham, Alan Hilburn Jr., Pamela Hovies-Ivey, Jeffrey L. McLaughlin, Matt Neel, Robert Oxford, Windi Robinson, Vickie Raynor Robison, Wayne Short, Randy Southerland, Vanschaick Thomas, Thomas Van Schaick, Rob Verdery, David Carlton White

Additional Crew

Pamela Abdy, Wendy Altman-Cohen, Gaytra Arnold, Jp Author, Madison Grace Ballard, Wayne Barker, Paul Becker, Paul Bednarz, Stephanie Beman, Eddie Billue, Kathryn Boyd Brolin, Chris Burns, Kim Buttlar, Jim Cadenhead, Jennifer Caldwell, David Champion, Chip Clanton, Sarah Reagin Clemmensen, Eben Davidson, Allison Dillard, Neal Dodson, Erin Douglass, Heidi Falconer, Vincent Farrell, Molly Franken, Paradise Franklin, Will Freeman, Larry Gilbert, Terri Greening, Anna Marie Harrison, Ryan Horrigan, Melissa House, Heath Howard, Robert Jemian, Dondraico Johnson, Brendan Loughman, Brooke McBryde, Eara Merritt, Stewart Scott Mitchell, Lucas Moore, Taryn Nagle, Elizabeth Palmore, Noelle M. Pflum, Brandi Quinn, Angela Randazzo, Joshua Ravetch, Michael Riley, Crystle Roberson, Patrick Rofoli, Melissa Rosal, Mike Samuels, Tina Marie Sauls, Amanda Simon, Jamal Sims, Esther Sokolow, Mitch Spacone, Bob Swensen, Stan Swofford, Michael A. Templeton, Paul Tennis, Marlena Thomas, Natalie Thomas, Greg Tresan, Tom Tresemer, Beau Turpin, Mark Van Horne, Christian Vogeler, Brad Weston, Jessie Sasser White, Nick Corbett, Chynna Dulac, Greg Ferris, Chiabella James, Michael McKay, Jon Privett, Lisa Marie Thomas

Thanks

Martin Guigui, Herbert Ross

Genres

Comedy, Drama, Music

Companies

Paramount Pictures, Spyglass Entertainment, Dylan Sellers Productions

Countries

USA

Languages

English

ContentRating

PG-13

ImDbRating

5.8

ImDb Rating Votes

49897

Metacritic Rating

58

Short Description

Footloose is a 2011 American musical film co-written and directed by Craig Brewer. It is a remake of the 1984 film of the same name and stars Kenny Wormald, Julianne Hough, Miles Teller, Andie MacDowell and Dennis Quaid. The film follows a young man who moves from Boston to a small Southern town and protests the town s ban against dancing. Filming took place from September to November 2010 in Georgia. It was released in Australia and New Zealand on October 6, 2011, and in North America on October 14, 2011. It grossed $15.5 million in its opening weekend and $63 million worldwide from a $24 million budget.

Box Office Budget

$24,000,000 (estimated)

Box Office Opening Weekend USA

$15,556,113

Box Office Gross USA

$51,802,742

Box Office Cumulative Worldwide Gross

$63,543,328

Keywords

Disco ball,sweaty,male youth,line dancing,dance lesson