Furby (2024 fillm)

Furby is a 2024 American supernatural horror film directed by David Kirschner and written by Stephen Susco and David Kirschner based on the toyline of the same name about a 21 year old college student named Beth who receives a Furby for her birthday present by her best friend Madeline only for the furby to turn deadly and try to murder her and her friends and family the film was released theatrically by Universal Pictures on August 1 2024 to mixed reviews from critics for who praised it's campy premise but criticized it's lack of scares but was a box office success scoring $187 million on a modest budget of $11
== Plot ==
the plot of this film follows a 21 year old college student named Beth who asks Madeline to buy a headphone for her birthday when Madeline accidentally buys her a furby at first Beth is mad at this until she gradually accepts the furby despite the furby's creepy appearance until the furby grows murderous and tries to kill her her family and her family Beth and Madeline team up to try to kill the furby before it's too late
== Cast ==
Elsie Loveluck as Beth
Lily James as Madeline
Austin Butler as Kyle
Rachel Zegler as Abby
Jaden Martell as Sam 
Jacob Elordi as David
== Production ==
==== Writing and Development ====
Production on the film began when David Kirschner known for the Child's Play franchise suggested a horror film based off the Furby toys at first it was a Netflix movie before Netflix opted to not release it than David Kirschner sent it to Blumhouse who approved it and decided to develop it feeling the toy's creepy appearance was appropriate for horror story material they got Hasbro the owners of the toys to agree to co produce it while Universal Pictures was greenlit to distribute the film production began in 2019 
==== Cast ====
In November 2021 Elsie Loveluck was cast as the leading role followed by Lily James Austin Bustler Rachel Zegler Jaeden Martell and Jacob Elordi the next time
==== Filming ====
on a budget of $11 principal photography began in in June 2022 taking place in Los Angeles California and Vancouver Canada Filming was completed by by mid September the original intended R rating was dismissed and the film went under reshoots in post production in order to secure a PG-13 rating from the Motion Picture Association after the original cut was deemed too violent 
==== Visual Effects ====
Hasbro created a Furby animatronic exclusively for the movie the animatronic could do things normal furbies couldn't do for scenes the animatronic couldn't do stunts were used the practical effects were done by Jim Henson's Creature Shop who did the effects for Blumhouse's previous film Five Night's At Freddy's (2023) additionally CGI enhancements were used for the furby for things the stunt or animatronic couldn't do the CGI effects were done by WETA Digital
== Release ==
Furby was released theatrically by Universal Pictures on August 1 2024 it was originally scheduled to be released on July 19 2024 but was moved up to avoid competition with fellow Universal Pictures release Twisters 
==== Marketing ====
The teaser poster for the film was unveiled at the 2024 ComicCon the first trailer was released on May 14 2024 the film even before it's release became a viral meme thanks to it's premise which led to many comparing it to their creepy encounters with their Furbies this helped build buzz for the film's release additionally to promote the film furbies at shops would stare directly at people and say creepy quotes additionally and also to promote the film furbies would be hidden in certain places in movie theaters participants who stumbled in the certain place would be jump scared by the furby this went viral om the internet 
==== Home Media ====
Furby premiered on the streaming service Peacock on September 24 2024 the DVD and Blu Ray was released on October 13 2024 by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment with all formats receiving a unrated version 
== Reception ==
==== Box Office ====
Furby grossed $99 million in United States and Canada and $89 million in other territories, for a worldwide gross of $187 million. Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $78.8 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues. in the United States and Canada Furby was initially projected to gross $17–20 million from 3,509 theaters in its opening weekend it went on to debut to $30.4 million, finishing in second place at the box office behind holdover Twisters In its third and fourth weekends the film made $9.7 million and $6.4 million, finishing in third and fourth place, respectively 
== Critical Reception ==
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 48% with an average rating of 5/10 The website's consensus reads: ''This film is more entertaining than a horror film based on a children's toy has the right to be however people not familiar with the toy will find the film mediocre and unscary'' Metacritic which uses a weighted average assigned the film a score of 43 out of 100, based on 27 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. 
Lindsey Bahr of the Associated Press gave the film a positive review Ultimately Furby does a decent job with it's pack of scares it's no M3GAN but it has heart and life, which isn't too shabby for any film killer doll or not Roger Elbert's website gave the film a thumbs down explaining that although made with heart the film's lack of scares cause it to be a generally mediocre horror flick Variety's Guy Lodge said A campy funny and decently scary horror film based off cuddly dolls has the extent of pulling it's fanbase in 
Glenn Kenny of The New York Times panned the film stating ''in what should have been a fun family fantasy film is instead a cliched ''killer doll'' horror film in the vein of Annabelle and Child's Play with no scares the PG-13 rating also dilutes a lot of the scares'' 
== Future ==
When the film was a box office success Universal Pictures Blumhouse Productions and Hasbro Entertainment announced a sequel in development the sequel started production filming beginning in May 12 2025 
== Trivia ==
1: This is Hasro's third horror film after Oujia (2014) and Oujia: Origin of Evil (2016) both of which were also produced by Blumhouse Productions and distributed by Universal Pictures and the first to based on their kid's toys
2: The film was originally intended to be rated R before Hasbro made them cut it down to a PG-13
3: An unrated version was released on home media that includes the R rated scenes intact
4: This is third horror film to be based on children's media after The Banana Split's Movie (2019) and Winnie The Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023) and the first to be a major studio and wide theatrical release as it was produced by Blumhouse and Hasbro and distributed by Universal Pictures while The Banana Splits Movie was a direct to video release and Winnie The Pooh: Blood and Honey was a indie release additionally it's also the first to not be a slasher film instead being a supernatural horror flick instead additionally it's also the first to be rated PG-13 as The Banana Splits Movie was rated R and Winnie The Pooh: Blood and Honey was unrated
4: In the UK the BBFC classified the film a ''15'' the British equivalent of a moderate R rating in the US
5: It was revealed the film was originally a Netflix movie before the plan was scrapped and it ended up being a theatrical release by a major studio instead
6: The film became a viral meme due to it's premise and the idea of turning Furbies into a horror film
7: Some parents mistakenly brought their children to see it unaware it was a PG-13 rated horror film adaption of Furbies due to Furbies being a children's toy this resulted in some kids being terrifed and being forced to leave 
8: Similarly a trailer for this film accidentally played in front of Kung Fu Panda 4 a PG rated children's movie this resulted in some kids being scared and it was controversial due to a horror film trailer playing in front of a kid's movie
9: There were instances where the furby on the set of the film would malfunction 
10: this film is for some placed on the ''kids'' section on the streaming service SkyShowtime despite it being a PG-13 horror film 
11: while it received mixed reviews from critics it was received a lot better by audiences 
12: There were some controversy around the premise due to being a horror film based off a children's toy some soccermoms tried to get the film banned to failure
13: This is the first toy based film to be a horror film
14: In Australia the theatrical version is rated M meanwhile the unrated version is rated MA15+
Category:Horror
Category:Furby
Category:Movie
Category:2024 American films
Category:2024 American horror films
Category:Universal Pictures distributed films
Category:Blumhouse Productions films
Category:Hasbro Entertainment
Category:Horror films based on children's media
Category:Supernatural horror films
Category:Teen horror films
Category:Fanmade Movies
Category:Films with mixed reviews
Category:Furbies in film
Category:Films based on toys
Category:Horror films
Category:PG-13 Rated films
Category:PG-13 Rated horror films
Category:Films based on toy lines
Category:Toy films
Category:Universal Pictures films
Category:Blumhouse Productions
Category:Films directed by David Kirschner
Category:Films produced by Jason Blum
Category:Films written by Stephen Susco
Category:Films written by David Kirschner
Category:Films based on Furbies
Category:PG-13
Category:Films with unrated editions
Category:Supernatural
Category:Supernatural horror
Category:Universal Pictures
Category:Live action films
Category:Live Action
Category:BBFC 15-rated films
Category:PG-13 Films
Category:Hasbro
Category:Hasbro Entertainment films
Category:Hasbro Films
Category:M (Australia)
Category:MA15+ (Australia)
Category:Theatrical films