Casper the Friendly Ghost in film

The cartoon character, Casper the Friendly Ghost who appears in numerous cartoon shorts as well as Harvey Comics publication, has appeared in five films since his inception, most of which were either released in television or straight-to-video while only one was released theatrically. Many for the most part are unrelated to each other. Like in the comics and animated shorts, the films feature Casper, a ghost of a deceased child, who refused to frighten others and would like nothing more than to be friendly around the world, due to the nature of what he appears to be, it would often get him shunned by whoever he encounters, but along the way, he would find and befriend a certain someone he could identify himself with, and would often help that someone in need.

Created by Seymour Reit and Joe Oriolo, the character made his debut in three theatrical animated shorts in the mid to late 1940s from Noveltoons, and were released by Paramount Pictures and produced by Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios, then started a series of theatrical shorts from 1950 to 1959, right before Harvey Comics ended up buying the rights to the character.

After having numerous Casper cartoons released on home video by Universal Studios, a deal was made for a live-action feature produced by Amblin Entertainment with executive producer Steven Spielberg hiring Brad Silberling in his directional debut to direct Casper (1995). The film became a commercial success but was met with mixed reviews from critics. In the late 1990s, The Harvey Entertainment Company and Saban Entertainment brought the Casper film rights and produced two direct-to-video films released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with Casper: A Spirited Beginning (1997) and its sequel, Casper Meets Wendy (1998). Both films are highly regarded as prequels to 1995 film, despite not having the same storyline from the latter. The films were also critically panned by critics, which led Universal Studios to cancel further plans for a sequel to the theatrical film.

In the early 2000s, Harvey Entertainment returned once more along with Mainframe Entertainment (replacing Saban Entertainment) with a film released by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment entitled Casper's Haunted Christmas (2000). Unlike the previous three films, this was completely done in computer animation. This was also the last Casper film to be involved with Universal. In the mid-2000s, was the second computer-animated film made for television produced by Moonscoop and released by Classic Media titled Casper's Scare School (2006). The film eventually had its own spin-off series with the same title airing on Cartoon Network, released in 2009.

Films

Crew/detail	Films
Crew/detail	Casper (1995)	Casper: A Spirited Beginning (1997)	Casper Meets Wendy (1998)	Casper's Haunted Christmas (2000)	Casper's Scare School (2006)
Director(s)	Brad Silberling	Sean McNamara		Owen Hurley	Mark Gravas Ben Choo
Writer(s)	Sherri Stoner Deanna Oliver	Karey Kirkpatrick Jymn Magon Thomas Hart Thomas McCluskey (story) Rob Kerchner (story)	Jymn Magon	Ian Boothby Roger Fredericks	Andrew Nicholls Darrell Vickers
Producer(s)	Colin Wilson	Mike Elliott		Byron Vaughns	Evan Baily Ralph Guggenheim Sandra Walters
Editor(s)	Michael Kahn	John Walts John Gilbert	John Gilbert	Andrew Duncan	Daryl Davies
Cinematographer	Dean Cundey	Christian Sebaldt		—	—
Composer(s)	James Horner	Udi Harpaz		Robert Buckley	Magnus Fiennes
Production company(s)	Amblin Entertainment The Harvey Entertainment Company	The Harvey Entertainment Company Saban Entertainment		Mainframe Entertainment The Harvey Entertainment Company	Classic Media Kapow Pictures Alligator Planet
Distributor(s)	Universal Pictures	20th Century Fox Home Entertainment		Universal Studios Home Video The Harvey Entertainment Company	Genius Products
Running time	101 minutes	90 minutes	94 minutes	86 minutes	75 minutes
Release date	May 26, 1995	September 9, 1997	September 22, 1998	October 31, 2000	October 20, 2006

Theatrical film

Casper (1995)

With Steven Spielberg as executive producer of the film, he hired Brad Silberling to direct, making it Brad's first feature film as a director. The film stars Christina Ricci, Bill Pullman, Cathy Moriarty and Eric Idle, with voice talents of Joe Nipote, Joe Alaskey, Brad Garrett and Malachi Pearson in the title role. This film was set in Friendship, Maine and makes extensive use of computer-generated imagery to make the ghosts such as Casper and his uncles the Ghostly Trio come to life and have them interacted with the live actors. This was also the first film to feature a CGI character in a lead role.^[1] The film gave Casper a back-story and is the only time that explains his death. In the film, Casper was a twelve-year-old boy living in Whipstaff Manor with his inventor father J.T. McFadden until he died from pneumonia after playing out in the cold until it was past nightfall. This was also the only film to have Casper on screen in his human form. The film received mixed reviews and became a commercial success.

Cancelled sequel

Following the release of Casper, Simon Wells co-wrote a screenplay for Casper 2, in which he was set to direct. In July 2000, Universal Pictures cancelled the sequel due to the disappointing sales from the direct-to-video Casper films and the hesitation of Christina Ricci.^[2]^[3]

Saban Entertainment direct-to-video films (1997–1998)

Casper: A Spirited Beginning (1997)

In 1997, Harvey Entertainment Company and Saban Entertainment produced the direct-to-video film released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. The film was directed as a prequel to the 1995 film explaining how Casper became a ghost, but completely ignoring the storyline of 1995 film, with Casper dying on the present day, no mention of Whipstaff Manor or his father J.T. McFadden and the Ghostly Trio not being directly related to him. While it being a direct-to-video film, the film has a list of an all-star cast, such as Steve Guttenberg, Lori Loughlin, Rodney Dangerfield, Michael McKean, James Earl Jones, and Pauly Shore. The film was panned by critics.

Casper Meets Wendy (1998)

After the release of Casper: A Spirited Beginning, in 1998, Saban Entertainment returned once more with its sequel while being the second prequel to the 1995 feature film Casper. The film's director Sean McNamara, who also directed Casper: A Spirited Beginning, reintroduced a character who was in the Casper comics and cartoon known as Wendy the Good Little Witch. The role of Wendy was given to Hilary Duff in her first feature when she was 11 years old. The film also marks the second Casper film to co-star Cathy Moriarty, who played the villainess in the 1995 film. The film received mostly negative reviews from critics, but is considered to be a slight improvement over Casper: A Spirited Beginning. The film also won the Children's Programming – Electronic Visual Effects award with Hilary Duff being nominated for a Young Artist Award.

Animated films

Direct-to-video film

Casper's Haunted Christmas (2000)

In 2000, Harvey Entertainment Company returned once with Mainframe Entertainment to produce a film released by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. The film was all done in computer animation, as opposed to its live-action predecessors. The film was set in Christmas time with Casper and his uncles, the Ghostly Trio being forced by Kibosh to have Casper purposely scare someone on Christmas Eve or else he and his uncles will be sentenced to the dark for all eternity. The film also features Casper's cousin's Spooky the Tuff Little Ghost and Spooky's girlfriend Poil. Brendan Ryan Barrett who portrayed Casper's best friend, Chris Carson from Casper: A Spirited Beginning got to voice the titular character himself in the film.

Television film

Casper's Scare School (2006)

In 2006, Classic Media produced a made-for-television film based on the character. The film features Casper being sentenced to a school that will teach him how to scare others. In 2009, the film spawned a spin-off animated series with the same title.

Future

With Universal Pictures now owning the rights to Casper (with the exceptions of Casper Meets Wendy (owned by Disney through 20th Century Studios Home Entertainment), and cartoons Casper and the Angels, Casper's Halloween Special, and Casper's First Christmas (all owned by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution and Warner Bros. Animation through its former Hanna-Barbera Productions division)), there are plans to reboot the character in live-action again and have him return to the big screen as Steven Spielberg had mentioned that Casper will not return in the small screen like the last four films. In 2012, DreamWorks Animation acquired the rights to the character from Classic Media as well as all the other Harvey Comics characters.^[4]^[5] Later in 2016, NBCUniversal bought DreamWorks, so Universal's involvement with the Casper series could continue either with DreamWorks or Illumination rebooting the series.

Cast and characters

Character	Theatrical film	Saban Entertainment direct-to-video films		Animated direct-to-video film	Television film
	Casper	Casper: A Spirited Beginning	Casper Meets Wendy	Casper's Haunted Christmas	Casper's Scare School
	1995	1997	1998	2000	2006
Ghosts
Casper The Friendly Ghost	Malachi Pearson Devon Sawa (human form)	Jeremy Foley		Brendan Ryan Barrett	Devon Werkheiser
Stretch Stinkie Fatso The Ghostly Trio	Joe Nipote	Jim Ward		Scott McNeil	Dan Castellaneta
	Joe Alaskey	Bill Farmer		Terry Klassen	John DiMaggio
	Brad Garrett	Jess Harnell		Graeme Kingston	Billy West
Kibosh		James Earl Jones		Colin Murdock	Kevin Michael Richardson
Snivel		Pauly Shore		Lee Tockar
Spooky The Tuff Little Ghost				Samuel Vincent
Poil				Tabitha St. Germain
Aunt Spitzy					Phyllis Diller
Other mystical beings
Amelia Harvey	Amy Brenneman
Wendy The Good Little Witch			Hilary Duff
Gert Gabby Fanny The Witch Sisters			Cathy Moriarty
			Shelley Duvall
			Teri Garr
Desmond Spellman			George Hamilton
Jules & Vincent			Richard Moll
Jules & Vincent			Vincent Schiavelli
The Oracle			Pauly Shore
Ra					Kendré Berry
Mantha					Christy Carlson Romano
Thatch					Matthew Underwood
Alder & Dash					Jim Belushi
Alder & Dash					Bob Saget
Cappy					Maurice LaMarche
Beaky					Kevin McDonald
Wolfie					Pat Fraley
Bell and Murray "The Ancle"					Captain & Tennille
Humans
Kathleen "Kat" Harvey	Christina Ricci
Dr. James Harvey	Bill Pullman
Carrigan Crittenden	Cathy Moriarty
Paul "Dibs" Plutzker	Eric Idle
Vic Dephillippi	Garette Ratliff Henson
Amber Whitmire	Jessica Wesson
Chris Carson		Brendan Ryan Barrett
Tim Carson		Steve Guttenberg
Sheila Fistergraff		Lori Loughlin
Mayor Hunt		Rodney Dangerfield
Bill Case		Michael McKean
Jennifer		Shannon Chandler
Brock Lee		Steven Hartman
Danny		Logan Robbins
Leon		D'Juan Watts
Josh Jackman			Blake Foster
Logan			Logan Robbins
Holly Jollimore				Tegan Moss
Carol Jollimore				Kathleen Barr
Noel Jollimore				Scott McNeil
Jimmy Bradly					Brett Delbuono

Ben Stein has made a cameo appearance in all three of the live-action films. In Casper he portrayed a lawyer to the late father of the film's antagonist Carrigan Crittenden presenting the will her father gave her to Whipstaff. In Casper: A Spirited Beginning he portrayed a Grocer whom Casper innocently approached causing him to run in fear. In Casper Meets Wendy he portrayed a guest at the dance party where there was a scene with him talking to the human whom Fatso processed, and another scene where he asked one of the witches in disguise: Gert (another character portrayed by Moriarty) for a dance, but she scold him. While not being credited in the film, rumors have stated that he is a lawyer which could mean that he is the same character from the original film, but it is unclear.

Casper Van Dien has made two cameo appearances in the Saban-produced films. In Casper: A Spirited Beginning he portrayed as one of the bystanders in defending the Applegate Mansion. In Casper Meets Wendy he portrayed as a hunk at the dance party the three witches fall heads over heels for causing him to flee leaving only his leather jacket behind.

The first two films have had other celebrity cameos. In Casper, there was Don Novello reprising his role as Father Guido Sarducci from Saturday Night Live as well as Dan Aykroyd reprising his role as Ghostbuster Raymond "Ray" Stantz. Clint Eastwood, Rodney Dangerfield, Mel Gibson and the Crypt Keeper all appeared in Dr. James Harvey's reflection. Steven Spielberg was also supposed to appear in the reflection, but was cut out. In Casper: A Spirited Beginning, there was Brian Doyle-Murray portraying the head construction worker Foreman Dave who was one of the witnesses petrified of the Ghostly Trio, Debi Mazar (who was uncredited in the film) portraying Tim Carson's secretary assistant Angie, and Sherman Hemsley portraying a store owner who was unintentionally saved by Casper when he was being robbed.

Reception

Box office performance

Film	Release date	Box office revenue			Box office ranking		Budget	Reference
Film	Release date	Domestic	Foreign	Worldwide	All time domestic	All time worldwide	Budget	Reference
Casper	May 26, 1995	$100,328,194	$187,600,000	$287,928,194	#617	#380	$55 million	^[6]

Critical and public response

Film	Rotten Tomatoes	Metacritic	CinemaScore^[7]
Casper	51% (41 reviews)^[8]	—	A
Casper: A Spirited Beginning	0% (5 reviews)^[9]	—	—
Casper Meets Wendy	17% (6 reviews)^[10]	—	—
Casper's Haunted Christmas	38% (2 reviews)^[11]	—	—
Casper's Scare School	50% (1 reviews)^[12]	—	—

References

^ "History of Animation". Computer Science. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
^ Duke, Paul (July 12, 2000). "Wells sets 'Time' with WB, D'Works". Variety. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
^ Mink, Sammy (March 10, 2014). "{TB EXCLUSIVE} CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST SET TO FLY BACK INTO PRODUCTION!". The Tracking Board. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
^ Titcomb, James (24 July 2012). "Dreamworks buys studio owner of Casper and Lassie for $155m". CityAM.
^ "DreamWorks Acquired Classic Media, Will Reboot Our Childhoods". Uproxx. 27 July 2012.
^ "Casper (1995)", Box Office Mojo, retrieved October 17, 2015
^ "CinemaScore". CinemaScore. Archived from the original on April 13, 2022. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
^ "Casper". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
^ "Casper: A Spirited Beginning". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
^ "Casper Meets Wendy". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
^ "Casper's Haunted Christmas". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
^ "Casper's Scare School". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 9 January 2016.

[1] "History of Animation". Computer Science. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2015.

[2] Duke, Paul (July 12, 2000). "Wells sets 'Time' with WB, D'Works". Variety. Retrieved November 12, 2018.

[3] Mink, Sammy (March 10, 2014). "{TB EXCLUSIVE} CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST SET TO FLY BACK INTO PRODUCTION!". The Tracking Board. Retrieved November 12, 2018.

[4] Titcomb, James (24 July 2012). "Dreamworks buys studio owner of Casper and Lassie for $155m". CityAM.

[5] "DreamWorks Acquired Classic Media, Will Reboot Our Childhoods". Uproxx. 27 July 2012.

[6] "Casper (1995)", Box Office Mojo, retrieved October 17, 2015

[CinemaScore-7] "CinemaScore". CinemaScore. Archived from the original on April 13, 2022. Retrieved April 15, 2022.

[rotbat-8] "Casper". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 15 October 2015.

[9] "Casper: A Spirited Beginning". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 9 January 2016.

[10] "Casper Meets Wendy". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 9 January 2016.

[11] "Casper's Haunted Christmas". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 9 January 2016.

[12] "Casper's Scare School". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 9 January 2016.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]