| The Star | |
| Director: | Timothy Reckart |
| Producer: | Jenni Magee Cook |
| Screenplay: | Carlos Kotkin |
| Music: | John Paesano[1] |
| Editing: | Pam Ziegenhagen |
| Distributor: | Sony Pictures Releasing |
| Runtime: | 86 minutes[2] |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Budget: | $20 million |
| Gross: | $62.8 million[3] |
The Star is a 2017 American animated biblical comedy film produced by The Jim Henson Company. Sony Pictures Releasing was the distributor of the film and Timothy Reckart directed it. A screenplay written by Carlos Kotkin, and a story by Kotkin and Simon Moore, based on an original concept by Tom Sheridan. Inspired by the Nativity of Jesus, the film stars the voices of Steven Yeun, Gina Rodriguez, Zachary Levi, Keegan-Michael Key, Kelly Clarkson, Patricia Heaton, Kristin Chenoweth, Tracy Morgan, Tyler Perry, and Oprah Winfrey.
The Star was owned by Columbia Pictures, and released through its parental label Sony Pictures Releasing worldwide on November 17, 2017. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $62 million worldwide with a $20 million budget. It received a nomination for Best Original Song ("The Star" by Mariah Carey) at the 75th Golden Globe Awards but lost to "This Is Me".[4]
In "9 months B.C.", Mary is visited by an angel telling her she will bear the Messiah. A pygmy jerboa named Abby overhears and tells the other animals as a star begins glowing brightly in the night.
Six months later, a young donkey is tired of milling wheat and wishes to join a traveling royal caravan so that he may feel important. An older donkey helps him escape the miller who owns them, and the young donkey ends up with an injured ankle at the house of Joseph and Mary who have just celebrated their wedding. Mary takes the donkey in and names him Bo, and reveals to Joseph that she is pregnant, with Joseph accepting Mary's situation after praying to God. During this time, Bo and his dove friend Dave plot to escape despite Mary's kindness, but end up staying three more months.
Meanwhile, the three wise men and their camels, Felix, Cyrus, and Deborah, arrive at the home of King Herod. The wise men reveal their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, but when they reveal that it is actually for the "new King", he sends them on their way to meet him, but secretly sends his royal hunter and his two dogs, Thaddeus and Rufus, to find and kill the new King.
As Joseph and Mary leave Nazareth in order to head to Bethlehem, Bo and Dave try another escape, but are confronted by the dogs, who knew of the home by interrogating Abby. After learning that Joseph and Mary are not home, the hunter and his dogs leave to look for them. Feeling guilty, Bo decides to warn them with Dave joining him. Along the way, they meet a friendly sheep named Ruth who left her flock when she saw the star. They catch up to Joseph and Mary in time to warn them and hide them in a market place where the hunter ties up his dogs. Bo releases the cart Joseph and Mary were using to roll down and cause a chain reaction that knocks the hunter down a well. However, he creates severe damage to the market in the process, and Joseph, unaware of the danger, tells Bo off for his actions.
Upset with being rejected, Bo leaves and Dave follows until they arrive at the royal caravan. While happy to have found it, Bo realizes that he liked being with Mary and tells Dave, who admits that he is not upset and that he just wants Bo to be happy with his decision. Together, the two return and make up with Ruth, and then convince a frustrated Joseph to talk to Mary. Mary admits that it has been difficult for her and that she is scared of the importance of the baby, and they make up when Mary begins having contractions. They arrive at Bethlehem where Joseph is unable to find an inn for Mary. The miller, who just so happened to be there, kidnaps Bo with Dave and Ruth leaving to rescue him. The wise men arrive as well, but the camels, who are aware of Herod's plot, are left tied to a post.
Bo ends up in a stable where he meets a horse named Leah, a cow named Edith, and a goat named Zach. They reveal that they have not been able to sleep because the star's bright light has been shining through on their manger for 9 months. Realizing that this is where the baby is supposed to be, the animals help Bo escape and he catches up with Dave and Ruth while spotting the hunter and his dogs. Bo finds Joseph and Mary and gets them back to the stable while Dave runs into Cyrus, Felix, and Deborah and helps them escape their bonds. Ruth finds her flock, who had previously refused to follow her, and tries to convince them to help, but gets unexpected help from the angel who informs them and their shepherds that the Savior is coming. Bo manages to fight off Thaddeus and Rufus, but is outdone by the hunter. Suddenly, Ruth and her flock, the camels, and Dave arrive and dispatch them by having them hang from a cliff. The hunter lets his dogs fall, but they are saved by Bo while the hunter himself falls to his death.
All of the animals, who are now joined by Abby who assumed the danger to be ongoing, and the redeemed Thaddeus & Rufus, shepherds, and three wise men arrive to see baby Jesus. Bo realizes that he has been carrying the new King the whole time. Deborah predicts that this event will be remembered around the world for years to come (which Cyrus and Felix both declare that she's crazy). After that, Joseph buys Bo from the miller, and Bo, Dave, and Ruth help him and Mary raise Jesus.
The film's script was originally developed during the late 1990s by the Jim Henson Company, partially inspired by the success of the 1995 film Babe.[5] [6]
In September 2014, it was reported that DeVon Franklin would produce a faith-based film inspired by the Nativity story under his production company, Franklin Entertainment, in collaboration with Sony Pictures Animation. In April 2015, Variety reported that Timothy Reckart would direct the film in his directing debut. On August 5, 2015, it was announced that the film, then titled The Lamb, was given an official release date of December 8, 2017. On June 20, 2016, it was announced that Brian Henson and Lisa Henson from The Jim Henson Company would be executive producers for the film, now titled The Star, making it the first Henson-produced film for Sony since The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland in 1999.
In an interview with Animation Magazine, Reckart expressed that he felt encouraged to direct the film, as he felt that there was a lack of Christmas films centering on the Nativity of Jesus: "It felt like an opportunity to be part of a movie that has not been done before, that's really going to fill a void."[5]
The animation was produced by Cinesite Studios.[7] Animation work began in January 2017.
On January 5, 2017, it was reported that Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry would be in the film.[8] The rest of the cast was announced on January 19, 2017.
See main article: The Star (Mariah Carey song). The Star (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) was released on October 27, 2017, including contributions from Jessie James Decker, Jake Owen, Kelsea Ballerini, Zara Larsson, Casting Crowns, Kirk Franklin, Fifth Harmony, Yolanda Adams, Saving Forever and Mariah Carey. Pentatonix also contributes a bonus track to the digital release of the album.[9] The main single The Star, interpreted by Mariah Carey ranked at No. 6 on the Billboard US Holiday Digital Song Sales in 2017.[10] The song was nominated for the Best Original Song at the 75th Golden Globe Awards.[11]
In July 2016, the release date was set for November 10, 2017, but it was later pushed back to November 17, 2017.[12] The Star had its world premiere in Los Angeles at the Regency Village Theater on November 12, 2017.[13]
The first trailer was released on July 26, 2017.[14] On November 16, 2017, the official video for the song The Star, performed by Mariah Carey, was made available on her YouTube channel.[15]
The Star was released on digital on February 6, 2018, and on DVD and Blu-ray on February 20, 2018, by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.[16]
The Star has grossed $40.9 million in the United States and Canada, and $22 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $62.8 million, against a production budget of $20 million.[3]
In the United States and Canada, The Star was released alongside Justice League, Wonder and Roman J. Israel, Esq. and was projected to gross around $10 million from 2,800 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $2.8 million on its first day.[17] It ended up grossing $9.8 million in its opening weekend, finishing 6th at the box office.[18]
On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an average rating by critics of 42% based on 52 reviews, with an average rating of 4.94/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The Star may not leave audiences singing 'Hallelujah', but its offbeat yet sincere approach to the nativity story makes for acceptably diverting holiday viewing."[19] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 42 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[20] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[18]
The A.V. Clubs Ignatiy Vishnevetsky criticized The Star as a "rote cartoon feature" existing for purely commercial reasons: "...even the kid-friendliest, Sunday-school-iest kind of religious art can't spring from religion alone; it needs artistry, too. Otherwise, you end up with a generic product aimed at a market segment who'll buy anything as long as it seems sufficiently churchy."[21]
| Award | Category | Recipients | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Original Song | "The Star" | |
| Annie Awards[22] | Best Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production | Louie del Carmen | |
| Best Editorial in an Animated Feature Production | Pamela Ziegenhagen | ||
| Heartland Film Festival 2017[23] | Truly Moving Picture Award | Timothy Reckart | |
| Guild of Music Supervisors Awards[24] | Best Music Supervision for Film: Budgeted Under 25 Million Dollars | Spring Aspers and Ron Fair | |