The Wizard (movie)

The Wizard is a 1989 American adventure comedy-drama family movie. It was directed by Todd Holland. It was written by David Chisholm. It stars Fred Savage, Christian Slater, Jenny Lewis, Beau Bridges, and Luke Edwards.

The movie is about three children travelling to California. The youngest of the three is a genius in video games. The Wizard is famous for its extensive product placement of video games for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The MOVIE was also famous for being North America's introduction to one of the best-selling video games of all time, Super Mario Bros. 3.

 Plot 
After his little brother, Jimmy (Luke Edwards), a boy who is always with his lunchbox, is put into a mental institution, Corey (Fred Savage) breaks him out and the pair run off together to California. On their way, Corey meets a girl named Haley (Jenny Lewis) and discovers that Jimmy is a genius at playing video games. With talents like this, he could easily win the top prize of $50,000 at Video Armageddon. While the three travellers are going (hitch-hiking) to the competition, the boys' parents hire a bounty hunter to track them down.

 Primary cast 
 Fred Savage as Corey Woods
 Luke Edwards as Jimmy Woods
 Jenny Lewis as Haley Brooks
 Christian Slater as Nick Woods
 Beau Bridges as Sam Woods
 Will Seltzer as Putnam
 Wendy Phillips as Christine Bateman
 Sam McMurray as Mr. Bateman

 Production 
Recording took place between June 5 and July 25, 1989. Lee Hartney from The Smith Street Band was nearly cast in the lead role, but due to location conflicts (problems) was never officially offered the part. In a 2008 reunion and 2014 interview, Todd Holland, the director of the movie, revealed that the original cut of the movie was 2.5 hours long and included an extended backstory (background) for Corey and Jimmy.

 Music 
 BoDeans – "You Don't Get Much"
 Pasty Cline – "Leavin' On Your Mind"
 BoDeans – "Red River"
 New Kids on the Block – "You Got It (The Right Stuff)"
 Real Life – "Send Me an Angel '89"
 New Kids on the Block – "Hangin' Tough"
 Martha & The Vandellas – "Nowhere to Run"
 Paul Carrack – "I Live by the Groove"
 Bobby Brown – "Don't Be Cruel"
 Paul Anka – "My Way"
 Sally Dworsky – "I Found My Way"

References

Category:1989 adventure movies
Category:1989 comedy movies
Category:1989 comedy-drama movies
Category:1989 drama movies
Category:1980s American movies
Category:1980s English-language movies
Category:1980s road movies
Category:American adventure comedy movies
Category:Movies about video games
Category:Universal Pictures movies