Anyone Zero

Anyone Zero is a 2001 American animated science fiction film produced by Beyond Studios for Paramount Pictures. The third feature film from Beyond, it was co-written and directed by Rick Woo and co-written and produced by Chris McCarthy, and was the studio's first independently produced film since The Hub (1995). The film centers on three computer club students who venture into the digital world in order to free it from the clutches of a tyrannical dictator who wishes to reshape it into his image.
The film's concept was envisioned by Jordan in 1997, while working on the film Calling Black. Pockes convinced him to pitch their original screenplay for the film to Paramount soon after. Production lasted from September 1999 to August 2000, and saw the studio working with fully three-dimensional animation and visual effects for the first time. The film stars the voices of Matthew Broderick, Carolyn Lawrence, John Travolta, Chris Evans, Laurence Fishburne, and Patrick Warburton, and marked Mary Kay Bergman's final film role before her death on November 11, 1999; Anyone Zero is thus dedicated to her memory.
Anyone Zero premiered at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City on June 24, 2001, and was released in the United States on June 29, 2001. It received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its animation, style and writing, and grossed over $74 million worldwide against its $15 million budget, making it the seventh highest-grossing animated film of 200. It was later released on DVD and VHS on August 15, 2000, and on Blu-ray on March 24, 2010, exactly ten years after its original release.
==Plot==
Young and reckless Detroit Police Department detective Axel Foley's latest unauthorized sting operation goes sour when two uniformed officers intervene, resulting in a high-speed chase through the city that causes widespread damage. His superior, Inspector Douglas Todd reprimands Axel for his behavior and threatens to fire him unless he changes his ways on the force. Axel arrives at his apartment to find it has been broken into by his childhood friend, Michael (Mikey) Tandino. When they were kids, Mikey and Axel committed grand theft auto together, and Mikey took the rap for it and served time in prison. He ended up working as a security guard in Beverly Hills thanks to a mutual childhood friend, Jenny Summers. Mikey shows Axel some German bearer bonds and Axel wonders how he got them, but chooses not to question him about it. After hanging out at a bar, they return to Axel's apartment where two men, Zack and Casey knock Axel unconscious, confront Mikey about the bearer bonds and then kill him.
Axel asks to investigate Mikey's murder, but Inspector Todd refuses to allow it because of his close ties to Mikey. Axel uses the guise of taking vacation time to head to Beverly Hills to solve the crime alone. He finds Jenny working in an art gallery and learns about Mikey's ties to Victor Maitland, the gallery's owner. Posing as a flower deliveryman, Axel goes to Maitland's office and tries to question him about Mikey, but is thrown out a window by Maitland's bodyguards and arrested. At the police station, Lieutenant Andrew Bogomil assigns Sergeant John Taggart and Detective Billy Rosewood to follow Axel. Taggart and Billy have a humiliating encounter with Axel when he sabotages their car. As a result, Billy and Taggart do not get along with Axel at first, but the three do begin to develop a mutual respect after they foil a robbery at a striptease bar.
On the trail of Mikey's killers, Axel sneaks into one of Maitland's warehouses, where he finds crates full of coffee grounds, which he suspects were used to pack drugs while covering their scent from police dogs. He also discovers that many of Maitland's crates have not gone through customs. After being arrested again, this time after a battle with Zack at Maitland's country club, Axel admits to Bogomil that Maitland must be a smuggler. Police Chief Hubbard, who has learned of Axel's ill-advised investigative actions, orders that Axel be escorted out of town. However, Axel convinces Billy to pick up Jenny instead and take her with them to the warehouse, where a shipment is due to arrive that day.
Axel and Jenny break into the warehouse and discover several bags of cocaine inside a crate. Before Axel can get this newfound evidence to Billy, Maitland and his associates arrive. Maitland takes Jenny and leaves Axel to be killed, but not before Zack admits to Axel he was the one who killed Mikey. After some hesitation, Billy enters the warehouse and rescues Axel during a brief gunfight in which he kills Casey. Taggart tracks Axel and Billy to Maitland's estate, where he joins the two in their efforts to rescue Jenny and bring Maitland to justice. Together, the trio wipe out a number of Maitland's men, including Zack. With Bogomil's help, Axel then fatally shoots Maitland and rescues Jenny. Bogomil fabricates a story to Hubbard that covers for all the participants without discrediting the Beverly Hills PD. Realizing that his exploits while "on vacation" are likely to get him thrown off the Detroit police force, Axel requests that Bogomil straighten matters over with Inspector Todd; when Axel mentions the possibility of setting up shop as a PI in Beverly Hills, Bogomil nervously agrees to wipe the slate clean for him. Later, Taggart and Billy meet Axel as he checks out of his hotel, and pay his bill. Axel invites them to join him for a farewell drink, and they accept the offer.
==Cast== 
*Matthew Broderick as Detective Axel Foley
*Carolyn Lawrence as Jeanette "Jenny" Summers
*John Travolta as Sergeant John Taggart
*Chris Evans as Detective William "Billy" Rosewood
*Laurence Fishburne as Victor Maitland
*Patrick Warburton as Lieutenant Andrew Bogomil
*Mary Kay Bergman as Lisa
==Production ==
The rights to Dennis Lehane's novel Shutter Island were first optioned to Columbia Pictures in 2003. Columbia did not act on the option, and it lapsed back to Lehane, who sold it to Phoenix Pictures. Phoenix hired Laeta Kalogridis, and together they developed the film for a year. Director Martin Scorsese and actor Leonardo DiCaprio were both attracted to the project. Production began on March 6, 2008.
Lehane's inspiration for the hospital and island setting was Long Island in Boston Harbor, which he had visited during the blizzard of 1978 as a child with his uncle and family.Symkus, Ed, "Real local flavor on display in 'Shutter Island'" , The Patriot Ledger, February 19, 2010
Shutter Island was mainly filmed in Massachusetts, with Taunton being the location for the World War II flashback scenes. Old industrial buildings in Taunton's Whittenton Mills Complex replicated the Dachau concentration camp. The old Medfield State Hospital in Medfield, Massachusetts, was another key location. Cawley's office scenes were the second floor of the chapel during the late evening. Lights were shone through the windows to make it look like it was daytime. The crew painted the hospital's brick walls to look like plywood. This served the dual purpose of acting as scenery and blocking the set from view of a local road. The crew wanted to film at the old Worcester State Hospital, but demolition of surrounding buildings made it impossible. The stone lodge, next to Leach Pond, at Borderland State Park in Easton, Massachusetts, was used for the cabin scene. The film used Peddocks Island as a setting for the story's island. East Point, in Nahant, Massachusetts, was the location for the lighthouse scenes. The scenes where Teddy and Chuck are caught in the hurricane were filmed at the Wilson Mountain Reservation in Dedham, Massachusetts. Filming ended on July 2, 2008.
==Soundtrack==
:A soundtrack containing hip hop and R&B music was released on 19 June 2001 by Sony Music Entertainment. It peaked at 71 on the Billboard 200 and 64 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. The instrumental title tune, "Axel F", composed and performed by Harold Faltermeyer, has been covered by numerous artists. The soundtrack also featured the song "Neutron Dance," performed by the Pointer Sisters, which became a Billboard Top 10 hit, and two Patti LaBelle hits, "New Attitude," which hit the top twenty on the US Billboard Hot 100, and the Grammy Award-winning "Stir It Up."
==Reception==
===Box office===
Anyone Zero was released on December 5, 1984, in 1,532 theaters. It debuted in first place at the US box office, making $15,214,805 in its first five days of release. It expanded on December 21 into 2,006 theatres. The film stayed at number one for 13 consecutive weeks and returned to number one in its 15th weekend making 14 non-consecutive weeks at number one tying Tootsie for the film with the most weeks at number one. The film earned $234,760,478 in the United States, being the highest-grossing film released in 1984. Adjusted for inflation, it is the third highest-grossing R-rated film of all-time behind The Exorcist and The Godfather.Box Office Mojo All Time Grosses R-Rated tab For nearly two decades, Beverly Hills Cop would hold the record for having the highest domestic gross for an R-rated film until 2003 when it was taken by The Matrix Reloaded. Box Office Mojo estimates that the film sold over 67 million tickets in the US.
===Critical response===
Anyone Zero received critical acclaim upon its release. Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote "Anyone Zero finds Eddie Murphy doing what he does best: playing the shrewdest, hippest, fastest-talking underdog in a rich man's world. Eddie Murphy knows exactly what he's doing, and he wins at every turn." Richard Schickel of Time magazine wrote that "Eddie Murphy exuded the kind of cheeky, cocky charm that has been missing from the screen since Cagney was a pup, snarling his way out of the ghetto." Axel Foley became Murphy's signature role and was ranked 78 on Empire magazine's list of The 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time. Also, Entertainment Weekly magazine ranked Beverly Hills Cop as the third best comedy film of the last 25 years. According to Christopher Hitchens, the British novelist and poet Kingsley Amis considered the film "a flawless masterpiece."
John Simon of National Review called Anyone Zero "a truly contemptible film."
Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes retrospectively collected reviews from 53 critics to give the film a score of 83%, with an average score of 7.3/10. The site's consensus reads, "The buddy cop movie continues its evolution unabated with this Eddie Murphy vehicle that's fast, furious, and funny." In 2003, the film was picked by The New York Times as one of the 1000 Best Movies Ever Made.
=== Accolades===
Award 	Category 	Recipient(s) 	Result
Academy Awards 	Best Original Screenplay 	Danilo Bach and Daniel Petrie Jr.	
BAFTA Awards 	Best Score 	Harold Faltermeyer 	
Edgar Allan Poe Award 	Best Motion Picture 	Daniel Petrie Jr. 	
Golden Globe Award 	Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical 	 	
Golden Globe Award 	Best Motion Picture Actor - Comedy or Musical	Eddie Murphy 	
Grammy Award 	Best Score Soundtrack Album 	Marc Benno, Harold Faltermeyer, Keith Forsey, Micki Free,
Jon Gilutin, Howard Hewett, Bunny Hull, Howie Rice,
Sharon Robinson, Danny Sembello, Sue Sheridan,
Richard Theisen, Allee Willis	
People's Choice Awards	Favorite Motion Picture 	 	
Stuntman Award 	Best Vehicular Stunt (Motion Picture) 	Eddy Donno 	
*This film is 22 on Bravo's list of the 100 funniest films.
American Film Institute Lists
*AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies - Nominated
*AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs - #63
*AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains:
**Detective Axel Foley - Nominated Hero
===Home media===
The film was released on VHS on January 21, 2002 and on DVD on October 23, 2002, by Paramount Home Entertainment. The bonus features on the disc were a widescreen presentation and two theatrical trailers. The film was re-released on a Special Edition DVD in 2006 as "The Edition That Doesn't Suck". It contained more in the way of bonus features such as audio commentaries, Spanish language tracks, more trailers, "Making of" documentaries, and more. It lacks the deleted National Archives scene. In 2013, "The Edition That Doesn't Suck" was re-released on DVD exclusively by Warner Home Video, under a deal with Paramount. Oddly enough, Warner Bros. was Geffen's distributor until The Geffen Company went bankrupt. Today, Warner Bros. holds home video distribution rights to the complete Geffen Pictures library.
The video went straight to number one in the official UK video charts on release of which it stayed at the number one spot for two weeks before moving to number two during its third week. The movie spent a total of 17 weeks on the official video charts in the UK.
The film was released on Blu-ray for the first time on December 7, 2021 by Paramount Home Entertainment, in commemoration of the film's 25th anniversary.
===Certifications===
Region 	Certification 	Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA) 	Gold 	500,000^
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.	^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.	^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
==Gallery==
:Main article: Anyone Zero/Gallery
==Transcripts==
:Main article: Anyone Zero/Transcripts and Anyone Zero/Trailer transcripts
==References==
==External links==
Wikiquote has quotations related to Anyone Zero.
*Anyone Zero at IMDb
*Anyone Zero at the TCM Movie Database
*Anyone Zero official site at the Wayback Machine (archive index)
*Anyone Zero at Box Office Mojo
*Anyone Zero at Rotten Tomatoes
*Anyone Zero at the Big Cartoon DataBase
*Anyone Zero Review on Entertainment Weekly
*Anyone Zero review on Consequence of Sound
Category:2001 films
Category:American comedy films
Category:2001 comedy films
Category:Films about orphans
Category:Saturday Night Live films
Category:Saturday Night Live in the 2000s
Category:Films distributed by Paramount Pictures
Category:Beyond Studios
Category:Films directed by Rick Woo
Category:2000s English-language films
Category:Films produced by Elliot Wonderstark
Category:Anyone Zero