D3: The Mighty Ducks

**D3: The Mighty Ducks** is a 1996 American sports-comedy film and second sequel to "The Mighty Ducks," directed by Robert Lieberman, which was released by Walt Disney Pictures on October 4, 1996.

## Plot

The Mighty Ducks are given a scholarships to attend Eden Hall, a prestigious prep school where they deal with the school's snobby varsity hockey team.

Meanwhile, Charlie Conway (Joshua Jackson) is having a hard time adapting to the new coach, Ted Orion (Jeffrey Nordling)'s disciplined style of coaching hockey, which later causes him to quit the team.

After the death of the team's mentor, Hans (Joss Ackland), Gordon Bombay (Emilio Estevez) returns where he encourages Charlie to return to the team and helps the Ducks maintain their scholarships.

## Cast

* Emilio Estevez as Gordon Bombay
* Jeffrey Nordling as Coach Ted Orion
* Joshua Jackson as Charlie Conway
* Elden Henson as Fulton Reed
* Shaun Weiss as Greg "The Goalie" Goldberg
* Vincent Larusso as Adam Banks
* Matt Doherty as Lester Averman
* Garette Ratliff Henson as Guy Germaine
* Marguerite Moreau as Connie Moreau
* Aaron Lohr as Dean Portman
* Colombe Jacobsen as Julie Gaffney
* Kenan Thompson as Russ Tyler
* Mike Vitar as Luis Mendoza
* Ty O'Neal as Dwayne Robertson
* Justin Wong as Ken Wu
* Michael Cudlitz as Cole
* Christopher Orr as Rick Riley
* Scott Whyte as Scott "Scooter" Holland
* Benjamin Salisbury as Josh
* David Selby as Dean Buckley
* Heidi Kling as Casey Conway
* Margot Finley as Linda
* Joss Ackland as Hans

## Production

Principal photography for "D3: The Mighty Ducks" began on June 22, 1995 and ended on August 11, 1995. Filming primarily took place in Minnesota.

The school scenes were filmed at Shattuck-St. Mary's School in Faribault, Minnesota and Cretin-Derham Hall High School in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The Eden Hall Academy ice rink was filmed at Columbia Arena in Fridley, Minnesota; the arena remained vacant from 2007 until it was demolished in September of 2015.

The original premise for the third film was going to be darker in tone and the main antagonists were originally going to be Bulgarians.

Despite being given top billing in the film, Emilio Estevez only had 20 minutes of screen time due to shooting the 1996 film, "The War at Home" and agreed to a smaller role in the film for free in exchange for Disney helping fund "The War at Home."

Emilio Estevez, Joshua Jackson, Elden Henson, Shaun Weiss, Matt Doherty, Garette Ratliff Henson, Marguerite Moreau and Vincent LaRusso are the only actors to appear in all three "Mighty Ducks" films.

In later interviews, Joshua Jackson admitted to having little to no interest in doing another "Mighty Ducks" film and that he was ready to move on to more adult roles.

Jackson said that he used a lot of that attitude in his portrayal of Charlie Conway in this film, as the script calls for Charlie to be more rebellious and moody, so he channeled his feelings at the time of doing another "Mighty Ducks" film through the role.

Michael Cudlitz (who played the role of Cole) is only 2 years younger than Emilio Estevez. He is older than most of the Mighty Ducks characters in the film by 12 to 15 years.

Scott Whyte (who starred in "D2: The Mighty Ducks" as Gunnar Stahl) plays the role of the goaltender, Scott in the film.

## Box Office

"D3: The Mighty Ducks" debuted at #4 at the box office, grossing $6,170,358 during its opening weekend. Overall, it grossed $22,955,097, making it the lowest-grossing film of the "Mighty Ducks" trilogy.

## Critical Reception

"D3: The Mighty Ducks" received negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds an approval rating of 20% based on 15 reviews with an average rating of 3.8\10.

John Anderson of the Los Angeles Times called it *"a self-reverential salute to Ducks"* while also saying that it was "*lazier*" than its predecessors. Steve Hedgpeth of the Newark Star Ledger wrote: *"Somebody put this stupid Disney franchise in Deep-Freeze."*

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times wrote that "D3: The Mighty Ducks" is *"a truly dreadful film, a lifeless, massive, childish exercise in failed comedy."*

Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune called the film *"dull, stupid, brainless, and dim-witted"* while the Austin Chronicle gave it a one-star rating, writing: "*Stick a fork in it; this series is done."*

Peter Stack from The San Francisco Chronicle wrote that "D3: The Mighty Ducks" struggles for laughs and *"even its familiar, heavily orchestrated showdown- on-ice between the Ducks and a rude rival is little more than a tedious rehash of puckish mayhem."*

Common Sense Media called "D3: The Mighty Ducks" a *"predictable sports comedy sequel"* that offers some life lessons.

## Awards

**The Stinkers Bad Movie Awards** (1996)

* Worst Sequel [*Nominated*]
* The Sequel Nobody Was Clamoring For [*Nominated*]