Snow Day (film)
Snow Day is a 2000 American comedy film directed by Chris Koch, written by Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi, produced by Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies, and starring Chris Elliott, Mark Webber, Jean Smart, and Chevy Chase with supporting roles by Schuyler Fisk, Iggy Pop, Pam Grier, John Schneider, Zena Grey, Josh Peck, Jade Yorker, Emmanuelle Chriqui, and David Paetkau. The film premiered on January 29, 2000, and was theatrically released on February 11, 2000. It tells the story of a snow day occurring as a group of kids plan to thwart a snowplow driver so that  the snow day can occur for one more day as well as the film featuring other subplots occurring. This is the first of two films to star both Josh Peck and Zena Grey, the other being "Max Keeble's Big Move", released the following year. It was met with generally negative reviews, but was a box office success, and the soundtrack single "Another Dumb Blonde" became the biggest chart single of Hoku's career. It was released on home video on October 3, 2000, and re-released on September 26, 2017. A musical remake is currently in production for Paramount+ . Plot. The film focuses on a group of elementary school students in Syracuse, New York, led by Natalie Brandston (Zena Grey), who get a snow day, and try to keep their school snowed in and closed for a second day by stopping a snowplow driver (Chris Elliott) from plowing the streets. Meanwhile, Natalie's older brother, Hal (Mark Webber), tries to win the heart of popular high school girl Claire Bonner (Emmanuelle Chriqui), with the help of his best friend, Lane Leonard (Schuyler Fisk), who secretly harbors feelings for him. Also, their father, Tom (Chevy Chase), is a television meteorologist  who must face off against a rival, Chad Symmonz (John Schneider), in order to continue his career. Their workaholic mother, Laura (Jean Smart), is stuck at home with their mischievous brother, Randy. Eventually, Natalie and her friends, Wayne (Josh Peck) and Chet (Jade Yorker), take over the plow and "unplow" the streets (move all the snow back in the way). After endless love demonstrations (and being rescued by Natalie), Hal finds out he, in fact, loves Lane. He is even encouraged by Claire to go after her. Tom unmasks Chad on live TV, showing the viewers that he is fake , and winning back his status. Chad is arrested and Laura takes the day off from work to look after Randy. When Principal Weaver gets home, the kids bombard him with snowballs. Production. In February 1999, it was announced Nick and Paramount would team on "Snow Day". The film was filmed in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, as well as Edmonton and Calgary, Alberta. Much of the outdoor snow scenes were filmed at the Bonnie Doon Park in Edmonton, which had recently had a do-over and offered a natural setting in an urban location. It was originally set to be based on the  television series "The Adventures of Pete & Pete", but the idea was scrapped and it was rewritten as a stand-alone story. Reception. Box office. The film opened at number three at the North American box office, making 14.3 million in its first weekend, behind "The Beach" and "Scream 3", the latter of which was on its second week at the top spot. "Snow Day" was a box office success, earning $60,020,107 in its domestic run, and $62,464,731 worldwide. Critical response. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported the film holds an approval rating of 29% based on 66 reviews , with an average score of 4.26/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Weak assembly of characters and story lines made this movie forgettable and silly." Metacritic gives it a weighted average score of 34 out of 100, based on reviews from 22 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times called it "An uninspired assembly of characters and story lines that interrupt one another." Aside from the film itself Ebert also complained saying, "What a thoughtless place is  Hollywood, and what talent it must feel free to waste" noting that Pam Grier had been given another "lousy role" after her "wonderful performance" in "Jackie Brown". "Entertainment Weekly"s Owen Gleiberman wrote "Even "Snow Day"s winter wonderland looks fake," and gave it an F grade. Remake. On March 1, 2022, it was announced that a remake of the film had gone into production in Montreal. Reimagined as a musical, it will star Ky Baldwin, Jerry Trainor, Laura Bell Bundy, Rob Huebel, Michaela Russell, Shelby Simmons, and Fabi Aguirre. It is set to release on Paramount+ later in the year. Soundtrack . The film's soundtrack peaked at number 183 on the "Billboard" 200 chart. The following songs were included in the film but not featured on the soundtrack: