Open Season (2006)

Boog, a domesticated 900lb. Grizzly bear, finds himself stranded in the woods 3 days before Open Season. Forced to rely on Elliot, a fast-talking mule deer, the two form an unlikely friendship and must quickly rally other forest animals if they are to form a rag-tag army against the hunters.
Open Season is a 2006 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Sony Pictures Animation as its debut film. It was directed by Roger Allers and Jill Culton and co-directed by Anthony Stacchi, from a screenplay by Nat Mauldin and the writing team of Steve Bencich and Ron J. Friedman, and a screen story by Culton and Stacchi, based on an original idea by Steve Moore and John B. Carls. The film stars the voices of Martin Lawrence, Ashton Kutcher, Gary Sinise, Debra Messing, Billy Connolly, Jon Favreau, Georgia Engel, Jane Krakowski, Gordon Tootoosis, and Patrick Warburton. Its plot follows Boog, a domesticated grizzly bear, who teams up with a one-antlered mule deer named Elliot and other woodland animals to defeat human hunters.
Open Season was released to theaters in the United States by Columbia Pictures under Sony Pictures Releasing on September 29, 2006. It has also been released in the IMAX 3D format. Despite receiving mixed reviews from both film critics and audiences, it was a box office success, earning $200.8 million on an $85 million budget. A video game for the film was released on multiple platforms. The film was followed by two direct-to-video sequels and one direct-to-video prequel: Open Season 2 (2008), Open Season 3 (2010), and Open Season: Scared Silly (2015). A 2D animated series Open Season: Call of Nature will be released in 2024.
== Plot ==
In the small town of Timberline, a grizzly bear named Boog enjoys a pampered life and spends his days as the star attraction of the town's nature show, while at night, he lives in the garage of park ranger Beth, who has raised Boog since he was a cub. One day, hunting fanatic Shaw drives into Timberline with a one-antlered deer named Elliot tied to the hood of his truck. Boog frees Elliot, who becomes convinced that they are friends, and that night, Elliot finds Boog and convinces him to sneak out, and the two end up raiding a convenience store. Eventually, Elliot runs away while Boog is caught by Gordy, the town's sheriff and Beth's best friend, who returns Boog to Beth and tells her that Boog's feral instincts may be emerging and it may be time to release Boog into the wild.
The next morning, Elliot is being chased by Shaw, and goes to Boog for help at the nature show. Boog tries to get rid of him, but the audience mistakes him for attacking Elliot and goes into a panic. Beth shoots them both with a tranquilizer gun just before Shaw fires his own gun, then flees before Gordy can arrest him, and taking Gordy's advice, Beth relocates Boog and Elliot into the Timberline National Forest two days before open season. They are relocated above the waterfalls, where they will be legally safe from hunters.
Boog is initially enraged to have lost his home, but lacking outdoor survival skills, he reluctantly takes Elliot as his guide to get him back home to reunite with Beth. They encounter unwelcoming forest animals, including a Scottish-accented squirrel named McSquizzy and his gang of fellow acorn-throwing squirrels, beaver Reilly and his construction worker team, and Elliot's estranged herd, led by Ian, and Giselle, a doe that Elliot has a crush on. Eventually, Boog and Elliot start to bond after realizing they are both outcasts, and Boog considers letting Elliot stay with him when they get back home.
The next day, Elliot attempts to lead Boog out of the forest, but it becomes evident he has no clue where they are going. The two are confronted by Shaw and accidentally destroy Reilly's dam trying to get away, causing a flash flood which sends the animals and Shaw plummeting down the waterfall into the hunting grounds. At first, everyone blames Boog for sending them into the hunting grounds, who then accuses Elliot of lying to him about knowing the way home. Elliot admits he thought that if Boog spent time with him, he would befriend him. Boog angrily storms off, but unwittingly ends up in Shaw's log cabin, where he is discovered by Shaw. Boog escapes to a nearby road leading back to Timberline. Realizing the danger the animals are in, Boog returns to the woods, reconciles with Elliot, and rallies the animals to defend themselves against the hunters. They scavenge supplies from an RV owned by a couple named Bob and Bobbie, who are looking for Bigfoot, while their pet dachshund Mr. Weenie joins the forest animals.
The next day, Boog leads a revolution against the hunters, ending with them running away after McSquizzy blows up their trucks with a large propane tank. Shaw returns for a final showdown with Boog, but before he can shoot Boog, Elliot throws himself in front of Boog and takes the shot, prompting Boog to furiously attack Shaw and tie him up with his own gun. Afterwards, Boog discovers that Elliot survived, only losing his other antler. The forest animals thank Boog for his help and take out their vengeance on Shaw by smothering him with honey and pillow feathers, sending him fleeing into the woods and arrested for his crimes by Gordy, which makes Open Season illegal. Beth later returns in a helicopter to take Boog back home, but, having learned to appreciate his new home, he decides to stay in the forest with Beth's blessing.
== Production ==
The ideas for Open Season came from cartoonist Steve Moore, who is known for his comic strip In the Bleachers. Moore and producer John Carls submitted the story to Sony in June 2002, and the film immediately went into development. On February 29, 2004, Sony Pictures Animation announced the beginning of the production on Open Season, its first CGI animated film.
The film location was inspired by the towns of Sun Valley, Idaho and McCall, Idaho, and the Sawtooth National Forest. References to the Lawn Lake, Colorado, Dam flood, Longs Peak, and other points of interest in the area are depicted in the film.
The rendering services used were Hewlett-Packard and Alias Maya.
The Sony animation team developed a digital tool called shapers that allowed the animators to reshape the character models into stronger poses and silhouettes and subtle distortions such as squash, stretch, and smears, typical of traditional, hand drawn animation.
To choose the voice cast, Culton blindly listened to audition tapes, unknowingly picking Lawrence and Kutcher for the lead roles. Their ability to improvise significantly contributed to the creative process. "They really became meshed with the characters", said Culton. Until the film's premiere, Lawrence and Kutcher never met during production.
== Release ==
Open Season was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and UMD Video on January 30, 2007. It includes an animated short called Boog and Elliot's Midnight Bun Run. The film was later released to 3D Blu-ray on November 16, 2010.
== Trivia ==
* Ashton Kutcher and Martin Lawrence never met during the making of this movie.
* All the cellular phones featured in the movie are Sony Ericssons.
* Boog's fur is comprised of over 1.6 million hairs. Surprisingly, Elliot has more - 3.5 million. As his fur is shorter, more hair was required to cover him.
* Sony Pictures Animation's first theatrical movie.
* The Sony Animation technicians developed a new tool called Shapers that permitted the animators to reshape the character models, allowing for stronger poses and silhouettes and subtle distortions (squash and stretch, smears, et cetera) typical of traditional, hand-drawn animation.
* This movie spent three and a half years in the making. This is also the only movie in the Open Season franchise that has not been in production for only two years.
* Columbia Pictures' third computer animated movie, after Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) and Monster House (2006).
* The fourteenth computer animated film to be rated PG by the MPAA after Antz (1998), Dinosaur (2000), Shrek (2001), Ice Age (2002), Shark Tale (2004), The Incredibles (2004), Robots (2005), Madagascar (2005), Hoodwinked (2005), Over the Hedge (2006), Monster House (2006), The Ant Bully (2006), and Barnyard (2006).
* Keith Ferguson's seventh theatrically released animated movie of 2006 after Curious George (2006), Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006), The Wild (2006), Over the Hedge (2006), Cars (2006), and Barnyard (2006).
* David Spade Was Considered To Voice Elliot.
=== References or Mentions in CHACE! Media ===
* Surf's Up (2007): Mikey Abromovitz says, "I feel a little light headed."
=== References from CHACE! Media ===
* Madagascar (2005): Boog has to find his way back home while not being adjusted to living in the wild.
== Gallery ==
Open Season/Gallery
Category:2006
Category:2000s
Category:Animation
Category:Animated Films
Category:Columbia Pictures
Category:Sony Pictures Animations
Category:Open Season
Category:Paul Westerberg
Category:Ramin Djawadi
Category:Sony Pictures
Category:Adventure
Category:Comedy
Category:Films set in Forests
Category:Films set in Oregon
Category:Films about Animals
Category:Films set in the Western United States
Category:Films about Nature
Category:Films about Bears
Category:Films about Deer
Category:Films about Hunting