Timeline-GA/Hop (film)

Theatrical release poster

***Hop*** is a 2011 American 3D live-action/computer-animated fantasy comedy film. Directed by Tim Hill and produced by Michele Imperato Stabile, Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall from a screenplay written by Brian Lynch and the writing team of Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, who also conceived the film's story, it stars James Marsden, Russell Brand, Kaley Cuoco, Hank Azaria, Gary Cole, Elizabeth Perkins, David Hasselhoff, Chelsea Handler, and Hugh Laurie. The film follows a young rabbit named E.B. who would rather drum in a band than succeed his father as the Easter Bunny, and befriends a human slacker named Fred O'Hare seeking a job.

Originally envisioned as a traditionally-animated film, the plans were switched to a live-action/CGI hybrid film. *Ice Age* character designer Peter de Sève designed the characters for the film. Christopher Lennertz composed the score. Rhythm & Hues Studios provided the visual effects and CGI animation. The film was produced by Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation, Relativity Media and The Kennedy/Marshall Company.

*Hop* premiered on March 15, 2011 in Los Angeles before it had its general theatrical release on April 1, 2011 in the United States by Sony Pictures Releasing. It received moderately positive reviews; praise was given towards the score, Marsden's performance, animation, voice cast and screenplay, though the plot, runtime and Tim Hill's directorial received some criticism. grossed $385 million against its $80-90 million budget, making it the eighth-highest-grossing film of 2011 behind *Rio*. A sequel was released in 2014.

## Plot

On Easter Island, a young rabbit named E.B. is intended to succeed his father as the Easter Bunny. Intimidated by the calling's demands and ignoring his father's orders, E.B. runs away to Hollywood to pursue his dream of becoming a drummer. In Van Nuys, E.B. is hit by Fred O'Hare, an out-of-work, job-hopping slacker who was driving to his sister Sam's boss's house to house-sit after his parents forced him to move out. Feigning injury, E.B. persuades Fred to take him in as he recovers, but when E.B. causes trouble, Fred attempts to release him in the wilderness. However, E.B. persuades Fred to let him stay, claiming to be the Easter Bunny, whom Fred had witnessed delivering eggs as a child and became infatuated with Easter ever since.

Meanwhile, E.B.'s father sends his royal guards, the Pink Berets, to search for him and bring him back. In Hollywood, E.B. sees the Berets closing in on him and hides inside a business where Fred is having a job interview. E.B. enjoys a successful recording session with The Blind Boys of Alabama as their substitute drummer, but ruins Fred's job interview. In the process, E.B. gets a tip about a possible audition for David Hasselhoff, and after performing for him, he invites him to perform on his show.

Afterwards, Fred attends his adoptive younger sister Alex's school Easter pageant with E.B. hiding in a satchel. E.B., believing that the Pink Berets have found him due to the three bunny suit shadows on a wall and disgusted by Alex's awful rendition of "Peter Cottontail", dashes out and disrupts the show, forcing Fred to fake being a ventriloquist's act with E.B. as his dummy, and the two upstage the show singing, "I Want Candy". Both Fred's father Henry and Alex are angry about the upstaging, but Fred is inspired to be the Easter Bunny himself. Although skeptical, E.B. agrees to train him and finds that Fred has some genuine talent for it.

Meanwhile, the Easter Bunny's second-in-command Carlos the Chick plots a coup d'état against him to take over Easter. Carlos inspires the chicks to uprise the bunnies and begins training to become the "Easter Chick". The next morning, as E.B. is about to go to Hasselhoff's show, he notices the Pink Berets and prepares a decoy to fake his death, leaving Fred behind. The Berets see the decoy and, horrified that Fred has apparently killed E.B., capture him and take him to Easter Island. Fred is confronted by E.B.'s father and Carlos, who seizes control of the Easter factory, tying up E.B.'s father and placing him and Fred to be boiled alive. Meanwhile, E.B. starts to feel guilty for leaving Fred, and is convinced by Hasselhoff on his show to go back and help his friend.

E.B. races back to the factory, confronting Carlos, but is immobilized in gummy candy and tossed into the chocolate bunny carving line. E.B. survives by dodging the blades of the machine, while Fred eats through the black-licorice ropes, escaping with E.B’s father. Carlos turns into a chick-bunny hybrid due to the magic of The Egg of Destiny, and battles with E.B., defeating him easily due to his size. Carlos then tries to lead the Egg Sleigh out with his sidekick Phil directing, but E.B. improvises a drum session that drives Phil to uncontrollably dance to the beat and provide the wrong signals, causing the sleigh to crash and subdue Carlos. E.B. and his father reconcile, and he and Fred are crowned co-Easter bunnies, while Carlos is forced to pull the Egg Sleigh.

In a post credits scene, Fred is seen delivering an Easter basket to a Chinese lady who appeared in a previous scene. When E.B. asked what the lady said, Fred explained in Mandarin that the reason why it is difficult to deliver Easter baskets in China is because of talking rabbits being intimidating to Chinese guests. E.B. is surprised that Fred can speak Chinese.

## Cast

### Live-action

* James Marsden as Frederick "Fred" O'Hare, an out of work slacker who is trying to find work.
	+ Coleton Ray as Young Fred.
* Kaley Cuoco as Samantha "Sam" O'Hare, Fred's sister.
* Gary Cole as Henry O'Hare, Fred's father.
* Elizabeth Perkins as Bonnie O'Hare, Fred's mother.
* Tiffany Espensen as Alexandra "Alex" O'Hare, Fred's adoptive younger sister.
* David Hasselhoff as Himself, a talent show host.
* Chelsea Handler as Mrs. Beck, a video game company representative and Fred's interviewer.
* Dustin Ybarra as Cody
* Russell Brand as a "Hoff Knows Talent" production assistant.

### Voices

* Russell Brand as E.B., a rabbit who dreams of becoming a drummer rather than following his father's footsteps to be the next Easter Bunny.
	+ Django Marsh as Young E.B.
* Hank Azaria as Carlos, a Spanish-accented chick who schemes to take over Easter Island.
	+ Azaria also voices Phil, Carlos' sidekick.
* Hugh Laurie as Mr. Bunny (credited as "E.B.'s Dad"), E.B.'s father who is the current Easter Bunny.
* Hugh Hefner as Voice at Playboy Mansion.
* Alyson Stoner, Candi Milo and Grey Griffin as the Pink Berets, the Easter Bunny's loyal guards who set off to capture E.B. after he goes missing.

## Production

### Development

*Hop* was originally envisioned as a traditionally-animated film, set to be made at 20th Century Fox Animation. Plans were shifted over to Columbia Pictures, with Sony Pictures Animation attached to the project. The film was later envisioned as a live-action/CGI hybrid film, which made it Sony Pictures Animation's first live-action project. *Alvin and the Chipmunks* director Tim Hill was signed to direct the film. Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, the screenwriting duo who previously wrote the screenplay for *Horton Hears a Who!* (2008), were signed to write the screenplay with Brian Lynch. Paul and Daurio also conceived the film's story. Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall produced the film through their Kennedy/Marshall Company alongside Michele Imperato Stabile.

### Casting

Originally having his voice provided by Ewan McGregor, Russell Brand was hired to voice E.B., and Hank Azaria was hired to voice Carlos. Originally to have a Southern American accent, casting director Avy Kaufman envisioned Carlos' voice to be leaning toward a more Spanish accent. Hugh Laurie voiced Mr. Bunny, E.B.'s father. James Marsden was cast as Fred O'Hare, an out-of-work slacker in need of a job. Kaley Cuoco was casted as Samantha O'Hare, Fred's sister, while Gary Cole and Elizabeth Perkins were casted as Henry O'Hare and Bonnie O'Hare respectively. Tiffany Espensen was later cast as Alexandra O'Hare, Fred's adoptive younger sister.

### Filming

Principal photography commenced on Easter Island, with the main filming taking place in Los Angeles.

### Animation, visual effects and design

Peter de Sève, the lead character designer for the *Ice Age* franchise, was hired to design the characters for *Hop*, which included E.B. and Carlos. The visual effects and CGI animation services were produced by Los Angeles-based Rhythm & Hues Studios.

## Music

### Producer

Christopher Lennertz · DeeTown

Originally to be composed by James Newton Howard and John Powell, they both left the project on their own accord due to other projects they were working on. Eventually, Christopher Lennertz signed to compose the score.

## Release

### Promotion and marketing

Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation teamed up with 92 major companies to promote *Hop*, including Holiday Inn, Krispy Kreme, Lindt, Kraft Foods, The Hershey Company, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Comcast, Kodak, Hallmark, HMV, and Burger King. A large range of licensed merchandise was released in connection with the film, including toys, stuffed animals, many sorts of candy, T-shirts, cookie decorating kits, baked goods and other products from Kraft Foods. Some items were available exclusively at Walmart stores. The premiere of *Hop* took place in Los Angeles on March 15, 2011.

### Video game

*Main article: Hop (video game)*
A video game based on the film was released on April 1, 2011 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii and the Nintendo DS.

### Home media

*Hop* was released on Digital on May 8, 2011, and was released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on June 12, 2011 by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

## Reception

### Box office

*Hop* opened on April 1, 2011 alongside *Source Code*, *The King's Speech* and *Insidious* with $48.1 million at the box office. The film dropped 11% in its third week of projections, making $21.2 million. Entering July, *Hop* was overshadowed by *The Smurfs* on the 29th. Concluding on November 25, 2011, *Hop* grossed $149 million in the United States and Canada, and $236 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $385 million against its $80-90 million budget.

### Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 62% of 159 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.35/10. The website's consensus reads: "*Hop* is another one of your typical satirical movies, but James Marsden's performance being on full display with E.B. is something to take into account for, even though it can drag." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 61 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore assigned the film an average grade "A" on its A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert of the *Chicago Sun-Times* gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four, writing: "*Hop* is merely enjoyable by the skin of the teeth with Russell Brand's energetic performance of E.B." He gave praise for the screenplay, writing: "As this is from the same writers of other family comedy hits such as *Horton Hears a Who!* and *Despicable Me*, it is a nice step away from Blue Sky and Illumination." He also gave praise for the musical score by Christopher Lennertz, stating: "Moving away from the action films he may be known for, like *The Revenge of Kitty Galore*, Christopher Lennertz steps back into the fantasy genre of films with the score that can easily make anyone feel happy." Despite his praise, he gave criticism for the directorial by Tim Hill, writing: "Tim Hill -- who had a breakthrough with *Alvin and the Chipmunks*, another live-action/CGI hybrid film -- makes another directorial effort with this movie. It's not the greatest, and it could've been done a lot better."

### Accolades

*Hop* was nominated for Favorite Movie at the 2012 Kids' Choice Awards, but lost to *Alvin and the Chipmunks III: Chipwrecked*. Russell Brand, however, won the Award for Favorite Movie Actor. Character animator Andrew Arnett won the Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Character Animation in a Live Action Production at the 39th Annie Awards.

## Sequel

*Main article: Hop 2: Easter Extravaganza!*
A sequel, titled *Hop 2: Easter Extravaganza!* was released on April 18, 2014. It reprises most of the cast, and introduces John Goodman as the sequel's main villain, Jasper. Brad Peyton directed the film. In the film, E.B. the Easter Bunny -- now in his 30s -- manages an Easter factory on Easter Island with co-Easter Bunny and friend Fred O'Hare, and spreads joy to children across the town. However, a mischievous rabbit named Jasper steals E.B.'s magical golden egg, causing chaos across the country. E.B., Fred, and a group of unlikely allies embark on an adventure to retrieve the egg and restore stability.