Aliens in the Attic

Aliens in the Attic
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	John Schultz
Produced by	Barry Josephson
Written by	Mark Burton Adam F. Goldberg
Starring	Carter Jenkins Ashley Tisdale Austin Butler Robert Hoffman Kevin Nealon Doris Roberts Tim Meadows Voices: Josh Peck J. K. Simmons Kari Wahlgren Thomas Haden Church
Music by	John Debney
Cinematography	Don Burgess
Editing by	John Pace
Studio	Regency Enterprises
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	July 31, 2009 (2009-07-31)
Running time	107 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$45 million[1]
Box office	$57,881,056[1]

Aliens in the Attic is a 2009 American family science fiction comedy film produced by 20th Century Fox and Regency Enterprises and starring Carter Jenkins, Ashley Tisdale, Robert Hoffman, Henri Young, Regan Young and Austin Butler.^[2] The plot revolves around the children in the Pearson family having to defend their vacation house. The film was previously titled They Came from Upstairs, which is instead used as the film's tag line. A video game of the same name was released as well.

Plot

A meteor shower rockets through open space. Four glowing pods are seen hiding behind the meteor shower. Suddenly the meteor shower makes a hard right and heads towards a distant planet Earth.

In a Michigan suburb, Stuart Pearson (Kevin Nealon) and his wife Nina (Gillian Vigman) head a family that includes seven-year-old Hannah (Ashley Boettcher); 15-year-old techno-geek Tom (Carter Jenkins) and oldest sister Bethany (Ashley Tisdale), who's just returned from a secret outing with her boyfriend Ricky Dillman (Robert Hoffman). Deciding the family needs some good old-fashioned togetherness, Stuart takes them to a holiday home in the middle of nowhere. Joining them is Uncle Nate (Andy Richter), Nate's son Jake (Austin Butler), Nana Rose (Doris Roberts), and identical twins Art (Henri Young) and Lee (Regan Young). Ricky also arrives unexpectedly and talks his way into staying overnight.

That night dark storm clouds swirl around the house. Suddenly, the four glowing pods land on the roof. An alien crew emerges, made up of Skip (J. K. Simmons), the tough commander, Tazer (Thomas Haden Church), a muscle-bound dude armed to the teeth, Razor (Kari Wahlgren), a lethal female alien soldier, and Sparks (Josh Peck), a four-armed techie, who is the only non-threatening intruder. Since the aliens knocked over the satellite dish Ricky and Tom are sent to fix it. Ricky then reveals to Tom that he lied about everything so far, his car didn't break down, his parents don't own a lake house, he's a lot older than 18. Ricky is actually in college and is five years older than Bethany. They find the satellite is beyond repair. Investigating further they discover the aliens. Skip tries to lull Tom and Jake into a false sense of security, but fails. Ricky is captured and implanted with a mind control devise. The aliens, called "Zirkonians", via Ricky, lay claim to the planet (when asked why they didn't just say it themselves Skip responds, "This way is more fun.") Like a puppet/robot, Ricky grabs the boys - but Tom and Jake break free.

It isn't long before all five kids have seen the aliens. Tom takes charge and the kids discover the mind control device only works on grownups, giving them a fighting chance. They realize the have a responsibility to protect the adults by keeping the aliens' existence a secret. Left on their own, the kids create makeshift weapons, like a home made potato spud gun. They even obtain and learn to use the mind controller. They soon take control of Ricky and turn him against the aliens.

The adults remain oblivious and insist the youngsters go on a fishing expedition. Meanwhile, a Hannah and gentle tech Sparks become friends. Unlike his alien cohorts, Sparks hates battle; he just wants to return home to his family. As the aliens attack, the kids start to fight back. Meanwhile, Jake gets captured by the Zirkonians and is tied up and in the basement. Nana Rose comes under the control of the mind control device, which gives her super-human strength and agility. Under the control of the kids, she comes to their rescue and fights off Ricky, who is again under alien control. Nana gives Ricky a huge electric jolt, causing the alien plug to dislodge. Ricky then and there breaks up with Bethany because she talks about feelings and family too much.

The kids finally reveal to Bethany what's going on, and Sparks helps by making weapons for them. He also reveals the aliens want a device hidden under the basement which will make them grow giant. After rescuing Jake, the kids defeat Skip, Tazer and Razor, who flee on their teleporting machine. Sparks calls off the invasion and returns home. The rest of the vacation goes back to normal, except the kids grew closer to each other during their adventure. In the distance, Skip (apparently thrown clear when his ship left) appears, bent on revenge against the humans, but meets his demise when a crow flies by and carries Skip off to its nest to eat him.

During the credits, Bethany and Tom take revenge on Ricky by making him look like a fool in front of his new girlfriend, using the alien mind control device. Bethany comments "I am so keeping this".

Cast

• Henri Young as Art Pearson
• Regan Young as Lee Pearson
• J.K Simmons as Skips
• Thomas Haden Church as Razor
• Kari Wahlgren as Tazer
• Carter Jenkins as Tom Pearson
• Austin Butler as Jake Pearson
• Ashley Boettcher as Hannah Pearson
• Ashley Tisdale as Bethany Pearson
• Josh Peck as Sparks
• Robert Hofman as Ricky Dillman
• Kevin Nealon as Stuart Pearson
• Doris Roberts as Nana Pearson
• Tim Meadows as Sheriff Doug Armstrong
• Gillian Vigman as Nina Pearson
• Andy Richter as Nathan Pearson
• Malese Jow as Annie
• Megan Parker as Brooke

Production

Development

The script was written by Mark Burton and Adam F. Goldberg. The film is co-financed by Fox and Regency while being distributed by Fox.^[2][3] Fox snapped up the script in March 2006.^[3] Marc Resteghini was overseeing for Fox while Kara Francis Smith shepherds for Regency. Barry Josephson was confirmed as the main producer while Thor Freudenthal was hired to direct principal production.^[4] The principal production began in March, 2007.^[4] The film was originally titled They Came from Upstairs but later changed to Aliens in the Attic while the first title is instead used as the film's tag line.^[3] Ashley Tisdale's involvement in the film was confirmed in January 2008 as she was cast as Bethany Pearson.^[2] Robert Hoffman, Carter Jenkins and Austin Butler were later cast in the film. Doris Roberts was signed on to the film in February 2008.^[5] MTV confirmed that Josh Peck joined the cast as the voice of the alien Sparks.^[6] John Debney composed the original score for the film. Tisdale recorded a song titled "Switch" for the film, which is also included in her second album, Guilty Pleasure. The original motion picture soundtrack was released on August 18, 2009.^[7]

Filming

Principal photography began at the end of January 2008 in Auckland, New Zealand.^[2][8] Auckland-based production company New Upstairs Productions said filming would run for 30–40 days from January 28 to April 18, 2008 with no filming in weekends.^[9] The film was set in a rambling old villa transported from Remuera to a farm in North Auckland. The main set was an old manor and they spent $700,000 restoring the house.^[9] The main shooting ended in mid-March 2008.^[10] Tisdale, Butler and Jenkins went back to the set to shoot last-minutes scenes for the film on April 2009.^[11]

Release

The film was released on July 30, 2009, in Russia and Malaysia; July 31, 2009 in United States, Canada, and Bulgaria; August 12 in the United Kingdom; September 3, 2009 in Australia. The film's original release date was in January 2009 but it was pushed back for unknown reasons.^[12] The UK release also coincided with a charity auction for Save The Children which teamed up with eBay and 20th Century Fox where various celebrities, including several actors from the movie, sold items from their attics to raise money for the charity.^[13]

Critical reception

The film has received mixed to negative reviews from critics; the film holds a 31% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 71 reviews, with the consensus stating "Inoffensive and kid-friendly, this mundane family comedy is light on imagination."^[14] Metacritic gives the film a score of 42 based on 10 reviews.^[15]

Entertainment Weekly described the film as "a pointless and harmless family adventure that doesn't mentally assault the 12-and-over set and looks like a lot of fun",^[16] while San Francisco Chronicle has described the movie as being unoriginal and crowd pleasing.^[17]

Variety stated the film doubtless would appeal primarily to a more narrow demographic of tweens and pre-teens and despite Tisdale's presence, it’s difficult to imagine many ticket buyers between the ages of 12 and 18^[18] while The New York Times described Jenkins and Butler as the actors with more personality and Hoffman as the actor who provides the film’s occasional funny moments.^[19]

The Los Angeles Times said the film is "an enjoyable kid-friendly film but not an out-of-this-world classic" and also mentioned the film belonged to Hoffman^[20] and Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter said the director John Schultz played everything for laughs and earns a more than a few but tech effects deliver a fair number of those laughs and described the film as an "amusing family comedy".^[21] Radio Times gave the film a three out of five stars rating, saying that the film is "a thrilling children's yarn with enough pop-culture references to hold grown-ups' interest".^[22]

The Dove Foundation praised the film, saying it is "one of those movies that you find to be better than anticipated" and also said the film draws on realism in family dynamics.^[23] Lara Martin of Digital Spy described the film as a "kid-friendly mix of Men In Black crossed with Gremlins with a healthy dose of Home Alone-style violence" and also mentioned that one of the biggest disappointments in the movie is the lack of screen time given to Tisdale, billed as one of the leading actors and concluded saying it seems "a bizarre and sad waste of her obvious comedic talent".^[24] However, The Miami Herald gave a mixed to negative review, saying the film is a "children's movie mix of live-action and animation, it has a few positive messages, a few laughs and a few comic throwdowns".^[25]

Box office

In the US, the film was distributed by 3,106 theaters, but grossed a disappointing $2.9 million on its first day, and $8 million its opening weekend, resulting in #5 in the box office.^[1] The film has grossed the equivalent of US $1.3 million in Russia, US $10 million in United Kingdom, and a total of US$57 million worldwide total.^[1][26]

Awards and nominations

• 2009 Teen Choice Awards
  • Movie Star: Female - Ashley Tisdale (Nomination)^[27]

• 2010 Young Artist Awards
  • Young Ensemble Cast: Megan Parker, Henri Young, Regan Young, Austin Robert Butler, Carter Jenkins (Nomination)^[28]

Home media

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 3, 2009.

Video game

A video game based on the film was released August 4, 2009, developed by Revistronic and published by Playlogic. The game features the storyline of the film and is available for Wii, PlayStation 2 Nintendo DS and Windows PC. The game also offers players two different gameplay perspectives depending upon which video game platform player choose.^[29] For Wii, Nintendo DS PlayStation 2 and Windows PC player, the game allows player to play as Art Lee Tom Hannah Jake Bethany and The Four Alien Exploers featuring 15 levels.

References

External links

• Official website
• Aliens in the Attic at the Internet Movie Database
• Aliens in the Attic at AllRovi
• Aliens in the Attic at Box Office Mojo
• Aliens in the Attic at Rotten Tomatoes
• Aliens in the Attic at Metacritic