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Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010 film)

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Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Greg Heffley stands next to a shadow of himself on a wall.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byThor Freudenthal
Screenplay by
Based onDiary of a Wimpy Kid
by Jeff Kinney
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyJack N. Green
Edited byWendy Greene Bricmont
Music byTheodore Shapiro
Production
companies
Distributed by20th Century Fox[1]
Release date
  • March 19, 2010 (2010-03-19)
Running time
92 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$15 million[3]
Box office$76.2 million[4]

Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a 2010 American comedy film directed by Thor Freudenthal and based on Jeff Kinney's 2007 book of the same name.[5][6][7] The film stars Zachary Gordon, Robert Capron, Devon Bostick, Rachael Harris, Steve Zahn, and Chloë Grace Moretz.

20th Century Fox released the film theatrically in the United States on March 19, 2010, receiving mixed reviews from critics and grossing $76 million worldwide against a $15 million budget.

The film spawned a film franchise and was followed by three sequels: Rodrick Rules (2011), Dog Days (2012), and The Long Haul (2017).[8] An animated reboot of the same name was released in 2021, which was followed by two sequels of its own: a second adaptation of Rodrick Rules (2022) and Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas: Cabin Fever (2023). A book detailing the film's creation process, titled The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary, was released on March 16, 2010.

Plot

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Preteen Greg Heffley illustrates his daily life in a diary. He says he is writing in one for when he is "rich and famous", but is in middle school for now. Greg lives with his parents, Susan and Frank, his younger brother, Manny, and his older brother, Rodrick, who picks on Greg. On Greg’s first day of middle school, he quickly discovers the ups and downs, such as the missing stall doors in the boys' bathroom and the difficulties of obtaining a seat during lunch. During physical education, Greg and his best friend, Rowley Jefferson, escape from a game of Gladiator and meet Angie Steadman, a seventh-grader who isolates herself from the other students to "survive". They also notice a moldy piece of cheese on the basketball court. When Greg almost touches it, their friend, Chirag Gupta, tells them that whoever touches it gets “The Cheese Touch”, where they become a social outcast due to everyone being disgusted by that person because they touched the cheese, and that the only way to get rid of “The Cheese Touch” is to pass it on to someone else by touching them. Greg states his intention of becoming the most popular student in school, as well as earning a place in the school yearbook as a class favorite, only for several of his attempts to fail.

On Halloween, when Greg and Rowley go out trick-or-treating, a group of teenage boys drive by in a pickup truck, and spray a fire extinguisher at them. When Greg threatens to call the police, the boys chase him and Rowley to Greg's grandmother's house, but the latter two escape them after Greg accidentally damages their truck with a weed eater.

The boys join the Safety Patrol team at school in another effort to become popular and try out for a contest that offers a student a chance to become the cartoonist for the school paper. When Greg accidentally breaks Rowley's arm, during a dangerous game the duo invented, Rowley becomes extremely popular and wins the cartoonist contest, making Greg envious of him. During a Safety Patrol assignment, Greg walks kindergartners down a neighborhood street without Rowley, but panics when he encounters a truck identical to the teenagers' from Halloween and hides himself and the kids in a construction zone. He is then confronted by a neighbor who mistakes him for Rowley, having borrowed Rowley's coat, forcing him to abandon the kindergarteners and flee. To his bewilderment, Rowley is suspended from Safety Patrol, but Greg eventually confesses his guilt to him, foolishly offering it as a joke and saying that they could both learn "lessons" from the incident. Distraught and angered over Greg's mistreatment of him, Rowley ends their friendship. When the truth soon comes to light, Greg is fired from the service while Rowley is reinstated as captain and befriends their classmate, Collin, who replaces Greg as Rowley's best friend. Greg attempts to pursue popularity without Rowley, but those efforts also fail.

One day after school, Greg and Rowley confront each other in rage and a circle of students encourages them to fight. However, neither of them are good at fighting. The teenagers from Halloween arrive at the scene and force Rowley to eat part of the cheese after the other kids, except for Greg, are chased inside the school. They flee the scene when the school's physical education teacher, Coach Eduardo Malone, arrives, but when the other kids come back out and notice the cheese has been eaten, Greg takes the blame to save Rowley's reputation, and they reconcile. At the end of the school year, Greg and Rowley make the yearbook class favorites page as "Cutest Friends".

Cast

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Main article: List of Diary of a Wimpy Kid characters

Production

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An adaptation of the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid novel was announced in 2008, with Thor Freudenthal signing on as director in December 2008.[9] In July 2009, Zachary Gordon was cast in the lead role of Greg Heffley. Rachael Harris also signed on for the role of Susan Heffley, Greg's mother.[10] In August 2009, Steve Zahn was cast as Frank Heffley, Greg's father.[11] In the same month, Devon Bostick and Robert Capron were cast as Rodrick Heffley and Rowley Jefferson, respectively. Filming began on August 12, 2009.[12]

Visual effects

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The mold for the Cheese was completely digital. Filmmakers left a real square of cheese outside for a few days inside a wire cage to keep animals out and sunlight in, and after this, a piece of cheese was made out of silicone and had mold effects added using CGI.[13]

The animated sequences were not 2D animated, but in fact made with 3D animation. The animated sequences were first animated in 3D, and then rendered in a rough sketch shader to make them look 2D.[13]

Release

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Tie-in book

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Main article: The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary

A tie-in book, written by Kinney, called The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary, was published on March 16, 2010, by Amulet Books (an imprint of Abrams Books). It includes film stills, storyboards, preliminary concept drawings and also behind-the-scenes information to humorously chronicle the making of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days. It also includes some new illustrations.[12][14]

Home media

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The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on August 3, 2010. The Blu-ray version features six pages from Rowley's diary, Diary of an Awesome, Friendly Kid. It was released on the streaming service Disney+ on November 12, 2019; its launch date.[15]

Reception

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Critical response

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Review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 55% based on 106 reviews and an average rating of 5.5/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Unlike its bestselling source material, Diary of a Wimpy Kid fails to place a likable protagonist at the center of its middle-school humor – and its underlying message is drowned out as a result."[16] It also holds a rating of 56 out of 100 at Metacritic, based on 26 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[17] Audience surveyed by CinemaScore gave this film an "A-."[18]

Roger Ebert gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four, writing "It's nimble, bright and funny. It doesn't dumb down. It doesn't patronize. It knows something about human nature."[19] Glenn Whipp of the Associated Press was less positive, saying, "In transferring the clean, precise humor of Kinney's illustrations and prose to the big-screen, the material loses just a bit of its charm."[20] At the Movies host David Stratton gave the film one star while co-host Margaret Pomeranz gave it half a star. Stratton called the film "tiresome" and said there was "nothing remotely interesting in Thor Freudenthal's direction or the screenplay." Pomeranz disliked the character of Greg Heffley, saying "I really thought he was unpleasant. I did not want to spend time with him. I could not wait for the end of this film."[21]

OregonLive.com gave the film a C+ grade, criticizing it for being "too often dull, unappealing and clumsy, hobbled by unnecessary changes and inventions that add no charm, energy or, truly, point."[22]

Box office

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Despite a lack of distinctive marketing, Diary of a Wimpy Kid drew a decent crowd, opening to $22.1 million on approximately 3,400 screens at 3,077 sites, in second place at the weekend box office behind Alice in Wonderland but beating out the heavily hyped The Bounty Hunter.[23] It was the biggest start ever for a non-animated, non-fantasy children's book adaptation. Diary of a Wimpy Kid grossed more in its first three days than other film adaptions to children's novels like How to Eat Fried Worms and Hoot grossed in their entire runs.[23] The film grossed $64,003,625 in North America and $11,696,873 in other territories for a worldwide total of $75,700,498.[24]

Accolades

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Year Award Category Recipients Result Ref.
2011 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards Favorite Movie Diary of a Wimpy Kid Nominated
Young Artist Awards Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actor Zachary Gordon Nominated [25]
Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actor Robert Capron Nominated
Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actor Alex Ferris Nominated
Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actress Laine MacNeil Nominated
Best Performance in a Feature Film - Young Ensemble Cast Zachary Gordon, Robert Capron, Devon Bostick, Chloë Grace Moretz, Laine MacNeil, Grayson Russell, Karan Brar, and Alex Ferris Won

Expanded franchise

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Sequels

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Main article: Diary of a Wimpy Kid (film series)

Three sequels were released in 2011, 2012 and 2017 respectively. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules was released on March 25, 2011. It was based on the second book in the series, Rodrick Rules. Zachary Gordon reprised his role in the film. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days was released on August 3, 2012, and is based on The Last Straw and Dog Days, including scenes from both books. An animated short film, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Class Clown, was released along with the DVD of Dog Days. A film based on The Long Haul was released in May 2017 and features a new cast starring Jason Drucker, Alicia Silverstone, and Tom Everett Scott, but received generally negative reviews.

Animated reboot and sequels

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Main article: Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2021 film)

An animated reboot directed by Swinton Scott was released on Disney+ on December 3, 2021. Unlike the other films, this was the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid film to be animated fully in computer-generated imagery and features Greg and the characters in colors. Originally set as an adaptation of Cabin Fever by Kinney, it was re-announced in 2018 as an animated series but switched to a CGI movie in 2019. It stars Brady Noon, Ethan William Childress, and Chris Diamantopoulos.[26]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Diary of a Wimpy Kid". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on January 27, 2021. Retrieved December 11, 2020.
  3. ^ "Movie Projector: No 'Bounty Hunter,' 'Repo Men' or 'Wimpy Kid' can upstage 'Alice' (updated)". Los Angeles Times. March 18, 2010. Archived from the original on August 9, 2012. Retrieved March 19, 2010. The modestly budgeted picture cost 20th Century Fox's movie label Fox 2000 only about $15 million to produce
  4. ^ "Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 13, 2013.
  5. ^ Breznican, Anthony (September 29, 2009). "First Look: 'Wimpy Kid' actor embraces being 'a likable jerk'". USA Today. Retrieved October 20, 2009.
  6. ^ McNary, Dave (August 3, 2009). "Steve Zahn to star in 'Wimpy Kid'". Variety. Retrieved October 20, 2009.
  7. ^ McCarron, Heather (October 12, 2009). "Nothing 'Wimpy' about local author's success". Milford Daily News. Archived from the original on October 15, 2009. Retrieved October 20, 2009.
  8. ^ Warner, Kara (July 29, 2016). "Diary of a Wimpy Kid Announces Its Brand New Leads for Fourth Film, The Long Haul". People. Retrieved August 11, 2017.
  9. ^ "Diary of a Wimpy Kid to be Directed by Freudenthal". ComingSoon.net. December 11, 2008. Retrieved August 14, 2024.
  10. ^ "Fox 2000 finds its 'Wimpy Kid'". The Hollywood Reporter. July 21, 2009. Retrieved August 14, 2024.
  11. ^ "Steve Zahn in the Diary Of A Wimpy Kid". Empire. April 8, 2009. Retrieved August 14, 2024.
  12. ^ a b "Jeff Kinney to make The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary".
  13. ^ a b The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary: How Greg went Hollywood. Jeff Kinney.
  14. ^ The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary, Book Details Retrieved August 11, 2017.
  15. ^ Alexander, Julia (October 14, 2019). "Disney+ launch lineup: Every movie and TV show available to stream on day one". The Verge. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
  16. ^ "Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  17. ^ "Diary of a Wimpy Kid Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
  18. ^ Serrao, Nivea (May 21, 2017). "Box office report: Alien: Covenant edges out Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 for No.1 spot". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 28, 2022. having earned a consistent A- on CinemaScore for the first three movies.
  19. ^ Ebert, Roger. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid review". Chicago Sun-Times.
  20. ^ Glenn Whipp (March 19, 2010). "Should you go see 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid'?". Christian Science Monitor. Associated Press.
  21. ^ David Stratton, Margaret Pomeranz (September 29, 2010). "29 September 2010". At the Movies. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. September 29, 2010.
  22. ^ "Review: 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' isn't 'Wimpy' enough". OregonLive.com. March 18, 2010. Retrieved March 18, 2022.
  23. ^ a b "Weekend Report: 'Alice' Tops Again, 'Diary', 'Bounty' Neck-and-Neck". Box Office Mojo. March 22, 2010. Retrieved October 18, 2012.
  24. ^ "Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010)". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved August 1, 2010.
  25. ^ "32nd Annual Young Artist Awards". YoungArtistAwards.org. Archived from the original on March 20, 2011. Retrieved March 31, 2011.
  26. ^ Milligan, Mercedes (September 2, 2021). "Animated 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' Movie Hits Disney+ in December". Animation Magazine. Retrieved September 8, 2021.
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