Information

Pete’s Dragon is a 2016 American fantasy adventure film directed by David Lowery, written by Lowery and Toby Halbrooks and produced by James Whittaker. The film is a live-action remake of Disney’s 1977 live-action/traditionally animated musical film of the same name, although the 2016 live-action film is not a musical. The film stars Bryce Dallas Howard, Oakes Fegley, Wes Bentley, Karl Urban, Oana Lawrence and Robert Redford. The film tells the story of an orphaned wild boy who befriends a dragon in the Pacific Northwest and the townspeople’s subsequent reactions to their discovery.

Pete’s Dragon premiered at the El Capitan Theater on August 8, 2016 and was released theatrically in the United States on August 12, 2016 by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The film received positive reviews from critics and grossed over $143 million worldwide against a $65 million production budget.

Details

In 1977, 5-year-old Pete Healy was on a road trip with his parents when their car nearly hit a deer and overturned. Pete’s parents are killed but he survives and is taken into the forest by a pack of wolves, then rescued by a large dragon with wings, green fur and yellow eyes. Pete and the dragon bond quickly; Pete named the dragon Elliot after the lost puppy character in his favorite book, and Elliot became protective of Pete.

Six years later in 1983, 11-year-old Pete saw a group of lumberjacks cutting down trees near his home. Natalie, the daughter of Jack, the moral site foreman, spots him and chases him. When she accidentally falls from a tree, her screams attract Jack and his girlfriend, park ranger Grace Meacham. Pete tries to escape, but Jack’s ruthless brother Gavin accidentally knocks him unconscious. Realizing that Pete has disappeared, Elliott stumbles around looking for him and ends up crashing into a tree near a lumber camp, Gavin organizes a hunting party to find him. Meanwhile, Pete wakes up in a local hospital; He escapes and tries to go back to the forest.

Gavin and his men search for Pete and Elliott’s treehouse, but as they try to search it, Elliott reveals himself and scares them. She follows them into town trying to find Pete. When she sees Pete settling down with Grace’s family, she leaves. Pete gives Grace a drawing of Eliot and she shows it to her father, Conrad, who says he discovered the same dragon as a young man. He advises her to trust Pete and find Elliot.

The next day, Pete, Grace, Natalie, and Conrad go to the forest to meet Elliot. A group of hunters led by Gavin surprise Elliot and shoot him with tranquilizer darts, then trap him in Jack’s warehouse. Before the authorities can examine the dragon, Pete and Natalie free him from his chains and escape in a lumber truck with Conrad.

Enraged, Gavin blocks a road on the bridge to stop them. When Elliott tries to fly, he crashes into the truck, destroying its brakes and sending it crashing through the barricade. Confused and scared, Elliott stands on the bridge and begins breathing fire into the lead truck driven by Grace and Jack. As the bridge begins to collapse in the intense heat, causing Grace and Jack’s truck to fall, Gavin abandons his attack and tries to save them from their deaths. Elliot rides out of the canyon with Grace and Jack safely on his back. As a firefighting helicopter approaches, Pete retreats into the woods with Elliott.

Pete begs Elliott to let him stay so he can protect him from his attackers, just as Elliott protected him. However, Elliot concludes that as long as they are together, Pete will always be in danger. He points to Pete’s book to encourage him to stay with Grace and Jack. Pete is reluctant, and worried for Elliott’s safety, but ultimately trusts the dragon’s judgment. After a very tearful embrace, Elliot returns to the mountains and Pete returns to live with Grace and Jack as his new family.

In later years, Grace and Jack married and adopted Pete as their son. Not only has Elliot slowly faded from the town’s memory, but Gavin has learned to be wiser and moved on from the experience. Pete and his family finally go on vacation and find that Elliot is finally reunited with his fellow dragons.

Cast And Cartoon Characters

Bryce Dallas Howard as Grace Meacham, a forest ranger and Jack’s girlfriend.
Oakes Fegley as Pete Healy, a young orphan who lives in the forest with a dragon named Elliot.
Levi Alexander as 5-year-old Pete
Wes Bentley as Jack Magary, a widowed lumber mill owner who is Natalie’s father, Gavin’s brother and Grace’s boyfriend.
Karl Urban as Gavin Magary, a hunter and lumberjack who is Jack’s brother and Natalie’s uncle.
Oona Laurence as Natalie Magary, Jack’s daughter and Gavin’s niece.
Robert Redford as Conrad Meacham, Grace’s father who has been telling stories about the dragon.
Isiah Whitlock Jr. as Sheriff Gene Dentler
Marcus Henderson as Woodrow, a lumberjack and one of Gavin’s men.
Aaron Jackson as Abner, a lumberjack and one of Gavin’s men.
Phil Grieve as Bobby, a lumberjack and one of Gavin’s men.
Jim McLarty as Ranger Wentworth
Ian Harcourt as Deputy West
Steve Barr as Deputy Smalls
John Kassir as the vocal effects for Elliot

Box Office

Pitt’s Dragon made $76.2 million in North America and $67.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $143.7 million, against a $65 million budget.

In the United States and Canada, Pete’s Dragon opened on August 12, 2016 across 3,702 theaters, including 2,884 in 3D, and 150 premium large-format screens as well as 57 D-Boxes and 16 Dolby Cinema sites. It was estimated to earn $20–25 million in its first weekend. The film didn’t preview Thursday night, and made $7 million on its first day, Friday. In its opening weekend, it grossed $21.5 million, ranking third at the box office behind Suicide Squad and Sausage Party. The opening is reminiscent of Disney’s July release The BFG , which also drew strong reviews to deliver $18.7 million in its first three days over the weekend, as did Cinderella , Maleficent , Oz the Great and Powerful , The Jungle Book and Alice in Wonderland . However, many box office critics didn’t care about the opening numbers given the film’s modest budget, and the fact that the film is nowhere near as well known as those films’ respective source material. Disney distribution chief Dave Hollis is optimistic that the film will be profitable, saying, “People coming out of theaters are loving it, and their advocacy will help us have a nice, solid run.” Forbes noted that the film received stellar reviews and no box office draw other than other Disney “live-action fairy tales”. Its second weekend fell just 47.2%, grossing $11.3 million. In its third weekend, it fell just 35%, grossing $7.3 million. The following weekend, Pete’s Dragon fell just 14.7%, grossing $6.5 million and falling to fourth place.

Outside of North America, Pete’s Dragon has received a sporadic release pattern. Released day-by-day with the US premiere in 12 markets (about 30% of foreign markets), including the United Kingdom, Italy and Russia. It earned a total of $5.3 million, representing the largest take in Russia ($1.5 million), Italy ($1.4 million) and the U.K. ($1.1 million). Moreover, it also opened in France ($1.8 million). It was only a 1% drop in U.K. attendance in its second weekend. It expanded to Germany the following weekend and continued its roll out to Australia, Mexico, Brazil and Korea throughout September, and finally to Japan on December 23, 2016.

About

Directed by	David Lowery
Screenplay by	·         David Lowery ·         Toby Halbrooks
Based on	Pete’s Dragon by Malcolm Marmorstein
Produced by	James Whitaker
Starring	·         Bryce Dallas Howard ·         Oakes Fegley ·         Wes Bentley ·         Karl Urban ·         Oona Laurence ·         Robert Redford
Cinematography	Bojan Bazelli
Edited by	Lisa Zeno Churgin
Music by	Daniel Hart
Production companies	·         Walt Disney Pictures ·         Whitaker Entertainment
Distributed by	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Release dates	·         August 8, 2016 (El Capitan Theatre) ·         August 12, 2016 (United States)
Running time	103 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$65 million
Box office	$143.7 million[

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