Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010 film)

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For the animated film, see Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2021 film).

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 on
Jeff Kinney
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography
Theodore Shapiro
Production
companies
Distributed by
20th 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

20th Century Fox
released it theatrically in the US on March 19, 2010, and grossed $76 million worldwide against a $15 million budget.

Plot

Chirag Gupta
, tells them that whoever touches it, becomes an outcast, as they have “The Cheese Touch”, and that the only way to get rid of it 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.

The boys join Safety Patrol 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 the kids in a construction zone. He is then spotted 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. Distraught over Greg's mistreatment of him, Rowley ends their friendship. When the truth soon comes to light, Greg is dismissed 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 loudly confront each other 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

Main article: List of Diary of a Wimpy Kid characters
  • Zachary Gordon as Greg Heffley.
  • Robert Capron as Rowley Jefferson, Greg's childish best friend.
  • Devon Bostick as Rodrick Heffley, Greg's older brother.
  • Steve Zahn as Frank Heffley, Greg's father.
  • Rachael Harris as Susan Heffley, Greg's mother.
  • Chloë Grace Moretz as Angie Steadman, a seventh-grader at Greg's school who is a reporter for the school paper. She is a brand new character not found in the original book.
  • Karan Brar as Chirag Gupta, a friend of Greg's.
  • Grayson Russell as Fregley, a weird classmate of Greg's.
  • Laine MacNeil as Patty Farrell, Greg's arch-enemy.
  • Alex Ferris as Collin Lee, Rowley's substitute best friend during his fight with Greg.
  • Andrew McNee as Coach Malone, Greg's gym teacher.
  • Connor and Owen Fielding as Manny Heffley, Greg's little brother.
  • Belita Moreno as Mrs. Norton, Greg's acting teacher.
  • Alf Humphreys as Mr. Jefferson, Rowley's father who dislikes Greg.
  • Kaye Capron as Mrs. Jefferson, Rowley's mother.

Release

Tie-in book

Main article: The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary

A tie-in book, written 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.[9][10]

Home media

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.[11]

Reception

Critical response

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."[12] It also holds a rating of 56 out of 100 at Metacritic, based on 26 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[13] Audience surveyed by CinemaScore gave this film an "A-."[14]

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."[17]

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."[18]

Box office

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.[19] 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.[19] The film grossed $64,003,625 in North America and $11,696,873 in other territories for a worldwide total of $75,700,498.[20]

Accolades

Year Award Category Recipient(s) Result Ref.
2011
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award
 Favorite Movie Diary of a Wimpy Kid Nominated
Young Artist Award Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actor Zachary Gordon Nominated [21]
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

Sequels

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

Three sequels were released in 2011, 2012 and 2017 respectively.

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

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.[22]

References

  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. 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. ^ "Jeff Kinney to make The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary".
  10. ^ The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary, Book Details Retrieved August 11, 2017.
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ "Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  13. CBS Interactive
    . Retrieved March 15, 2018.
  14. ^ 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.
  15. ^ Ebert, Roger. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid review". Chicago Sun-Times.
  16. Christian Science Monitor. Associated Press
    .
  17. At the Movies. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. September 29, 2010
    .
  18. ^ "Review: 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' isn't 'Wimpy' enough". OregonLive.com. March 18, 2010. Retrieved March 18, 2022.
  19. ^ a b "Weekend Report: 'Alice' Tops Again, 'Diary', 'Bounty' Neck-and-Neck". Box Office Mojo. March 22, 2010. Retrieved October 18, 2012.
  20. Internet Movie Database
    . Retrieved August 1, 2010.
  21. ^ "32nd Annual Young Artist Awards". YoungArtistAwards.org. Archived from the original on March 20, 2011. Retrieved March 31, 2011.
  22. ^ Milligan, Mercedes (September 2, 2021). "Animated 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' Movie Hits Disney+ in December". Animation Magazine. Retrieved September 8, 2021.

External links

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