The Addams Family (2019 film)

The Addams Family is a 2019 American 3D CGI-animated supernatural black comedy horror film directed by Conrad Vernon (which he co-produced with Alison O'Brien, Alex Schwartz and Gail Berman) and Greg Tiernan, written by Matt Lieberman and Pamela Pettler and based on the characters created by Charles Addams. The film is a reboot of the 1991 film of the same name and it features the voices of Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron, Chloë Grace Moretz, Finn Wolfhard, Nick Kroll, Snoop Dogg, Bette Midler, and Allison Janney. The film was theatrically released in the United States by United Artists Releasing and by Universal Pictures internationally on October 11, 2019. The film received mixed reviews from critics, holding a low 42% on Rotten Tomatoes, and has grossed $200.2 million on a $24 million budget.

A sequel is scheduled to be theatrically released on October 22, 2021 with Vernon and Tiernan returning to direct.

Plot
Gomez and Morticia Addams are chased away with the rest of the Addams clan during their wedding ceremony by an angry mob that disapproves of their macabre nature. Grandmama buys Uncle Fester time to evacuate Gomez, Morticia, and Thing. Gomez and Morticia decide to move from New York to New Jersey, a place "no one would be caught dead in." There, Gomez, Morticia, and Thing find their "perfect" home in an abandoned asylum on a hill. They meet Lurch, an escaped mental patient whom they hit when Thing was distracted driving the car, and immediately recruit him as their butler.

Thirteen years later, the Addams family continue to live their gloomy lives in isolation from the outside world. Gomez prepares his son Pugsley for his upcoming Mazurka, a rite of passage that every Addams family member takes. Morticia struggles to keep their daughter, Wednesday, from wanting to experience the world outside of the mansion after a balloon and confetti appear on their property, as the fog surrounding it begins to lift.

Elsewhere, reality TV host Margaux Needler, who is building a perfect planned community called "Assimilation" so her show will have a successful season finale, discovers the Addams family's household and becomes determined to rid the town of it when the family refuses to change. Wednesday then meets Margaux's neglected daughter Parker and convinces Morticia to let her attend junior high school. Pugsley struggles with the complicated traditions and pressure of his Mazurka, even with the guidance of Gomez and Uncle Fester. Grandmama arrives at the house for the event.

At school, Wednesday defends Parker and her twin friends Layla and Kayla from the school bully named Bethany and befriends them after she resurrects some dead frogs and commands them to attack Bethany. Later on, the two discuss their frustrations and change their dressing habits – Parker becomes more gothic and Wednesday dresses more colorfully – to the shock of both of their mothers. After an argument with Morticia, Wednesday decides to run away in secret and stay with Parker for a while, which Pugsley inadvertently tells Morticia.

Wednesday and Parker discover a secret room under Parker's house revealing that Margaux has planted hidden cameras in every house she designed in town and has been spreading rumors about the Addams family through social media, claiming that they are freaks. Margaux catches the two and locks them in the attic, but Wednesday breaks them out. Margaux rallies an angry mob to attack the mansion just as Cousin Itt and the entire Addams clan arrive for Pugsley's Mazurka. Even Grandmama's sister Sloom will be attending to judge the event.

During the Mazurka, Pugsley fails miserably in front of the whole family, but Gomez reassures him that he is an Addams nonetheless. The mob arrives flinging boulders, severely damaging the mansion and trapping the family inside. Pugsley uses his love of bombs and destruction to defend his family and manages to destroy the mob's trebuchet. Wednesday and Parker join in and help everyone out of the wreckage safely with help of the living tree Ichabod.

As Margaux tries to take control once more, her treachery is revealed to the people. They see that the Addams are not monsters, but a family, and Wednesday states that everyone is weird in their own unique way. Margaux's agent, Glenn, carries a message from the network stating that her show is now cancelled because Parker was live streaming the whole thing with her phone. As Fester comes up with a compromise to Margaux, Assimilation's civilians realize the error of their ways.

After they work together to rebuild the mansion, the Addams family and Assimilation's civilians live in peace. Margaux becomes Fester's business partner, selling homes to the other members of the Addams clan. Pugsley completes his Mazurka.

The film ends with an animated recreation of the intro of the 1964 TV show.

Cast

 * Oscar Isaac as Gomez Addams, Morticia's husband
 * Charlize Theron as Morticia Addams, Gomez's wife
 * Chloë Grace Moretz as Wednesday Addams, Gomez and Morticia's daughter
 * Finn Wolfhard as Pugsley Addams, Gomez and Morticia's son
 * Nick Kroll as Uncle Fester, Gomez's brother
 * Bette Midler as Grandmama Addams, Gomez and Fester's mother
 * Conrad Vernon as:
 * Lurch, the Addams Family's butler
 * A priest that presides over Gomez and Mortica's wedding
 * The spirit that haunts the abandoned asylum that Gomez and Morticia move into
 * Dr. Flambe, a devil-like relative of the Addams family
 * Snoop Dogg as Cousin Itt, Gomez and Fester's hairy cousin
 * Allison Janney as Margaux Needler, a sly and greedy reality TV show host and homemaking guru
 * Elsie Fisher as Parker Needler, Margaux's neglected and rebellious daughter who befriends Wednesday
 * Tituss Burgess as Glenn, Margaux's agent
 * Pom Klementieff as Layla and Kayla, twin girls who are Parker's friends
 * Chelsea Frei as Bethany, a girl who picks on Parker
 * Jenifer Lewis as Great Auntie Sloom, Grandmama's sister with a missing left eye
 * Martin Short as Grandpa Frump, Morticia's late father who Morticia contacts through a séance
 * Catherine O'Hara as Grandma Frump, Morticia's late mother who Morticia contacts through a séance
 * Aimee Garcia as Denise, a camera operator who works for Margaux
 * Scott Underwood as Mitch, a member of Margaux's film crew
 * Mikey Madison as Candi, a barista
 * Deven Green as Ms. Gravely
 * Maggie Wheeler as Trudy Pickering
 * Harland Williams as Norman Pickering
 * Williams also voices Ggerri

Production
In 2010, after Illumination Entertainment acquired the rights to The Addams Family comics, they began work on the film at Universal Pictures as a stop-motion animation directed by Tim Burton and produced by Chris Meledandri. After development stopped, however, in 2013, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures announced that they would produce the animated film based on The Addams Family comics, with Pamela Pettler then writing the screenplay. In June 2019, it was announced that Bron Creative is co-financing the film with MGM as part of a multi-picture co-financing agreement with the studio. In October 2017, it was announced that the film would be directed and produced by Conrad Vernon. Gail Berman, Alex Schwartz, and Alison O'Brien also produced the film, and Matt Lieberman wrote the finished screenplay, with story by credit for Lieberman, Rivinoja, and Vernon. The film was animated by Cinesite Studios, with Tabitha Shick overseeing it for MGM. In December 2017, it was reported that Oscar Isaac was in talks to voice the role of Gomez Addams in the film. In June 2018, Isaac was officially cast, alongside Charlize Theron, Allison Janney, Bette Midler, Chloë Grace Moretz, Finn Wolfhard and Nick Kroll. In July 2018, Aimee Garcia joined the voice cast, and in August 2018, Elsie Fisher was added as well. In November 2018, Catherine O'Hara and Martin Short were added as Morticia's parents, and in August 2019, Snoop Dogg, Tituss Burgess, and Jenifer Lewis joined as Cousin Itt, Glenn, and Great Auntie Sloom, respectively.

Music and soundtrack
Migos, Snoop Dogg and Karol G recorded a song for the film called "My Family" which was released on September 13, 2019 while Christina Aguilera released the song "Haunted Heart" from the film's soundtrack on September 27 2019. HeathisHuman created an updated version of the franchise's theme tune that plays at the film's ending.

Theatrical release
The film was theatrically released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer through United Artists Releasing in the United States on October 11, 2019 with Universal Pictures handling the international rights. It was previously set for October 18, 2019 before being moved up to October 11 2019 to avoid direct competition with Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.

Marketing
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer launched the film with a $150 million global promotion partner campaign, the largest outside their 007 franchise.

Box office
, The Addams Family has grossed $98.0 million in the United States and Canada and $102.5 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $200.5 million.

In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside Gemini Man and Jexi and was projected to gross $28–30 million from 4,007 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $9.7 million on its first day including $1.25 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $30.3 million, finishing second behind holdover Joker. It made $16.3 million in its second weekend, $12 million in its third and $8.2 million in its fourth, finishing fourth, third and sixth, respectively.

Critical response
On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 43% and an average rating of 5.23/10, based on 144 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "The Addams Family's starry voice cast and eye-catching animation aren't enough to outweigh its saccharine handling of the delightfully dark source material." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 46 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported children and parents gave it 4 and 3.5 out of 5 stars, respectively.

Sequel
Following the film's successful opening weekend, it was announced on October 15, 2019 that a sequel to the film was scheduled to be theatrically released on October 22, 2021. Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon will return to direct the film.