''Hoot'' is a 2006 American

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

, based on

Carl Hiaasen Carl Hiaasen (; born March 12, 1953) is an American journalist and novelist. He began his career as a newspaper reporter and by the late 1970s had begun writing novels in his spare time, both for adults and for young-adult readers. Two of his no ...

's novel of the same name. It was written and directed by Wil Shriner, and produced by

New Line Cinema New Line Cinema is an American film production studio owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and is a film label of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye as an independent film distribution company; later becoming a film studio after ...

and

Walden Media Walden Media, LLC or Walden Media is an American film investor, distributor, and publishing company. Its films are based on children's literature, biographies or historical events, as well as documentaries and some original screenplays. The corpo ...

. The film stars Luke Wilson,

Logan Lerman Logan Wade Lerman (born January 19, 1992) is an American actor. He is known for playing the titular role in the fantasy-adventure ''Percy Jackson'' films. He appeared in commercials in the mid-1990s, before starring in the series ''Jack & Bobb ...

Brie Larson Brianne Sidonie Desaulniers (born October 1, 1989), known professionally as Brie Larson, is an American actress. Known for her supporting roles in comedies as a teenager, she has since expanded to leading roles in independent films and blockb ...

Tim Blake Nelson Timothy Blake Nelson (born May 11, 1964) is an American actor and playwright. Described as a "modern character actor", his roles include Delmar O'Donnell in '' O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' (2000), Gideon in '' Minority Report'' (2002), Dr. Pend ...

Neil Flynn Neil Richard Flynn (born November 13, 1960) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his roles as Janitor on '' Scrubs'' and Mike Heck in the ABC comedy series '' The Middle''. He has had notable appearances in television series ...

and

Robert Wagner Robert John Wagner Jr. (born February 10, 1930) is an American actor of stage, screen, and television. He is known for starring in the television shows '' It Takes a Thief'' (1968–1970), ''Switch'' (1975–1978), and '' Hart to Hart'' (1979� ...

. Filming took place from July to September 2005 in Florida, with additional shooting in California the following January. The film was released on May 5, 2006. ''Hoot'' was a

commercial failure Failure is the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, and may be viewed as the opposite of success. The criteria for failure depends on context, and may be relative to a particular observer or belief system. One ...

, and received mixed reviews from critics. The film is about a group of children trying to save a

burrowing owl The burrowing owl (''Athene cunicularia''), also called the shoco, is a small, long-legged owl found throughout open landscapes of North and South America. Burrowing owls can be found in grasslands, rangelands, agricultural areas, deserts, or an ...

habitat from destruction. Its habitat is located on the intended construction site of a pancake house. The developer of the project intends to proceed regardless of the environmental damage it would cause. ''Hoot'' features live burrowing owls and music by Jimmy Buffett. Buffett is also listed as a co-producer, and he played the role of Mr. Ryan, the science teacher.

Plot

Middle school student Roy A. Eberhardt and his parents have just moved to Coconut Cove,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

from

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

. Roy is mercilessly teased and bullied at his new school by Dana Matherson, until he accidentally breaks Matherson's nose while getting harassed on the school bus and struggling to get free. As a result, Roy gets suspended from riding the school bus for three days and must write Dana an apology letter as a punishment. Roy slowly becomes friends with Beatrice "The Bear" Leep and her stepbrother "Mullet Fingers". Meanwhile, an unknown person is found to be responsible for sabotaging a local construction site where a "Mother Paula's Pancake House" restaurant, overseen by corrupt regional manager Chuck Muckle, is about to be built. In order to catch the trespassers and prevent further vandalism, Officer David Delinko has parked his police car on the building site. Delinko falls asleep and an unknown prankster vandalizes the car by spray-painting its windows black. The next day at breakfast, Roy and his parents read about the spray-painted police car. The police chief then gives Delinko a small police scooter to replace the vandalized car. Soon, Roy learns that in order to build the pancake house, they must first kill the burrowing owls living on site. Mullet Fingers has been covertly pulling pranks to stop construction (including the tagging of Delinko's car), but Beatrice must take Roy into their confidence when he is badly bitten by guard dogs. Roy joins their crusade to save the endangered owls. Leroy "Curly" Branitt, the beleaguered construction foreman, is trying to keep the construction schedule going, despite the presence of the owls, because of daily abuse from Muckle over the phone, and later in person. The trio reveals to Delinko and the rest of the town that there are burrowing owls on the lot. They then manage to get everyone to be quiet long enough for the owls to emerge, and Delinko places Muckle in handcuffs. Kimberly, the actress who plays Mother Paula, offers Coconut Cove the site as an owl preserve in the interest of damage control and publicly fires Muckle. Roy's parents decide to stay in Florida. Officer Delinko finally gets promoted to detective and gets an unmarked patrol car (until he accidentally backs it off a fishing pier). Dana is sent off to military school, where he gets bullied by the drill sergeants. Muckle does community service for 90 days (then, after he is hit in the head and knocked unconscious by a falling coconut, the judge extends his sentence to 30 more days for lying down on the job). The land is donated and turned into an animal sanctuary so the owls can continue to live there. Curly and Kimberly leave Mother Paula's Pancake House to raise dogs, and Roy continues to be friends with Beatrice and Mullet Fingers.

Cast

* Luke Wilson as Officer David Delinko, a police officer in Coconut Cove. *

as Roy A. Eberhardt, a boy who helps to save the burrowing owls. *

as Beatrice "The Bear" Leep, a girl that Roy befriends. *

as Leroy "Curly" Brannit, the construction foreman. *

as Mr. Eberhardt, Roy's father. *

as Mayor Grandy, the Mayor of Coconut Cove. *

Cody Linley Cody Martin Linley (born November 20, 1989) is an American actor and singer. He played a recurring role as Jake Ryan in the television series ''Hannah Montana'', and was a contestant on the seventh season of ''Dancing with the Stars'', in which ...

as Napoleon Bridger "Mullet Fingers" Leep, the stepbrother of Beatrice whom Roy befriends. *

Clark Gregg Robert Clark Gregg Jr. (born April 2, 1962) is an American actor, director, and screenwriter. He is best known for playing Agent Phil Coulson in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films ''Iron Man'' (2008), '' Iron Man 2'' (2010), ''Thor'' (2011), ' ...

as Chuck Muckle, the corrupt regional manager of "Mother Paula's Pancake House." *

Kiersten Warren Kiersten Nicolla Dale Warren is an American actress. Her best known roles include Alex Tabor on '' Saved by the Bell: The College Years'' and Nora Huntington on ''Desperate Housewives''. Life and career Warren is the mother of actress Misti Tra ...

as Mrs. Eberhardt, Roy's mother. *

Jessica Cauffiel Jessica Cauffiel (born March 30, 1976) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her roles as Margot in ''Legally Blonde'' (2001) and Tori in ''White Chicks'' (2004). She is also known as a scream queen for her roles in the slash ...

as Kimberly Lou Dixon, the actress who portrays the titular mascot of "Mother Paula's Pancake House." * Dean Collins as Garrett * Eric Phillips as Dana Matherson, a bully who picks on Roy. * Damaris Justamante as Mrs. Matherson, Dana's mother. * Jimmy Buffett as Mr. Ryan, the science teacher. * John Archie as Captain *

Robert Donner Robert Donner (April 27, 1931 – June 8, 2006) was an American television and film actor. Early life and career Donner was born in New York City and raised in New Jersey, Michigan and Texas. He spent four years in the United States Navy ...

as Kalor *

as Felix, Muckle's Assistant.

Production

The principal filming locations were in

Fort Lauderdale A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

and Lauderdale by the Sea, on Florida's Atlantic Coast, and the Gulf Coast hamlet of Boca Grande on

Gasparilla Island Gasparilla Island is a barrier island in southwest Florida, United States, straddling the border of Charlotte and Lee counties. Its largest town is Boca Grande, and it is the location of the Gasparilla Island State Park. The island has been an ...

.Hoot Movie Official website under "Production Notes"
Most of ''Hoot'' was shot in

between July 6, 2005, and September 2, 2005. Some new scenes were shot in Los Angeles on January 21, 2006. For example, the scene where Mullet Fingers leaps out of a tree after dropping a bulldozer seat was actually shot in Los Angeles. ''Hoot'' was shot during summer months, and the set did not escape Hurricane Katrina, which struck Southern Florida on August 25, 2005. Brie Larson and Cody Linley were moved from their beach-front hotel (Marriott Harbor Beach) to another hotel because of the storm.

Distribution

Theatrical release

and

pushed the film's initial release date of April 14, 2006 back to May 5, 2006, as only '' Mission: Impossible III'' and '' An American Haunting'' were opening wide that weekend. The gambit failed and ''Hoot'' opened at #10 at the U.S. and Canadian box office on 3,018 screens. The film's opening U.S. and Canadian box office was $3.4 million. ''Hoot'' held on at #10 for its second week then the movie broke a record set by ''

Gigli ''Gigli'' ( ) is a 2003 American romantic comedy crime film written and directed by Martin Brest and starring Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Justin Bartha, Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, and Lainie Kazan. Despite popular media giving attention a ...

'' for biggest drop in cinemas screening the film as it lost 2200 screens and came in at #19 on its third weekend. The film grossed $8,224,998 worldwide. In 2007, Walden Media's '' The Seeker'' nudged ''Hoot'' into second place in terms of 'biggest theatre drops'. ''Hoot'' topped ''The Seeker'' in reaching number one in the "worst super-saturated (3000 plus screens)" openings in the US and Canada until

The Rhythm Section ''The Rhythm Section'' is a 2020 action thriller film directed by Reed Morano and with a screenplay by Mark Burnell based on his novel of the same name. ''The Rhythm Section'' stars Blake Lively, Jude Law and Sterling K. Brown, and follows a gri ...

topped the record: ''Hoot'' opened in almost 42% of all screens. The film's production budget was $15 million, although the costs for such a wide opening would probably have made the film considerably more expensive to distribute than it was to produce – ''the cost of its prints would have been twice as much'' as the production budget, according to respected industry opinions. ''Hoot'' entered the collection of the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

(MOMA) in 2009.

Home media

DVD sales were more successful than the box office gross. The DVD was released on August 15, 2006, and sold 114,528 units, bringing in $2,058,068 in the opening weekend. A newer figure indicates that 703,786 units have been sold, translating to $10,972,266 in revenue.

Reception

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

the film has an approval rating of 26% based on reviews from 99 critics, with a consensus that "Lacking energy and humor, ''Hoot'' is a ho-hum story of eco-awareness that falls flat as a pancake." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, it has a score of 46%, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale. One of the most positive reviews came from the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

''s

Ty Burr Ty Burr (born August 17, 1957) is an American film critic, columnist, and author who currently writes a film and popular culture newsletter "Ty Burr's Watchlist" on Substack. Burr previously served as film critic at ''The Boston Globe'' for two ...

(3 stars out of 4), saying, "''Hoot'' tells kids they can make a difference in this world, and that's worth a hundred '' Ice Age 2s.''" ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...

''s Ruthe Stein gave the film a positive review (3 stars out of 4) and said, "...the film does nothing to dilute the save-the-Earth-and-every-creature-on-it message of Carl Hiaasen's ingeniously plotted award-winning children's book." Roger Ebert gave ''Hoot'' 1.5 stars (out of 4) and included ''Hoot'' in his 2007 book ''Your Movie Sucks'', where he says "'Hoot' has its heart in the right place, but I have been unable to locate its brain" and "... the kids (especially Mullet Fingers) are likeable but not remotely believable".

Michael Medved Michael Saul Medved (born October 3, 1948) is an American radio show host, author, political commentator, and film critic. His talk show, ''The Michael Medved Show'', is syndicated from his home station KTTH in Seattle. It is syndicated via G ...

panned ''Hoot'' (2 stars out of 4) saying that "...the lame plot centers around a greedy developer who wants to bulldoze a lot inhabited by rare burrowing owls" and "though I'd like to root for 'Hoot', its entertainment value is moot".

Accolades

, who played the lead role of Roy Eberhardt, won a

Young Artist Award The Young Artist Award (originally known as the Youth in Film Award) is an accolade presented by the Young Artist Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 1978 to honor excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young ...

for his performance in ''Hoot''. He received the nomination and win in early 2007 for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actor.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of ''Hoot'' (as appears on the accompanying soundtrack CD) has three elements: an original score, pop songs sung by a variety of artists, and pop songs (covers and originals) sung by Jimmy Buffett. The original score "Happy Ending" was composed by

Mac McAnally Lyman Corbitt McAnally Jr. (; born July 15, 1957), known professionally as Mac McAnally, is an American country music singer-songwriter, session musician, and record producer. In his career, he has recorded ten studio albums and eight singles. ...

Michael Utley Michael Edward Utley is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer for Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band. He is the musical director of the band. Born in Blytheville in Mississippi County, Arkansas, he graduated from the Univer ...

and Phil Marshall.

Track listing

* " Lovely Day" - Maroon 5 featuring

Bill Withers William Harrison Withers Jr. (July 4, 1938 – March 30, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He had several hits over a career spanning 18 years, including " Ain't No Sunshine" (1971), " Grandma's Hands" (1971), " Use Me" (197 ...

and Kori Withers * "Back of the Bus" - G Love and Special Sauce * "Let Your Spirit Fly" - Ry Cuming * " Coming Around" -

* "Funky Kingston" -

Toots & the Maytals The Maytals, known from 1972 to 2020 as Toots and the Maytals, are a Jamaican musical group, one of the best known ska and rocksteady vocal groups. The Maytals were formed in the early 1960s and were key figures in popularizing reggae music. ...

* "Florida" -

Mofro JJ Grey & Mofro (formerly Mofro) is an American Southern soul-rock band from Jacksonville, Florida. History Early career The early days of Mofro can be traced back to the mid-nineties when John Higginbotham aka "JJ Grey" and Daryl Hance signed ...

* "Barefootin'" - Jimmy Buffett and

Alan Jackson Alan Eugene Jackson (born October 17, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter. He is known for blending traditional honky-tonk and mainstream country pop sounds (for a style widely regarded as "neotraditional country"), as well as penning many ...

* " Floridays" - Jimmy Buffett * "Good Guys Win" - Jimmy Buffett * " Werewolves of London" - Jimmy Buffett * "

Wondering Where the Lions Are "Wondering Where the Lions Are" is a song written and performed by Bruce Cockburn. The track is from his 1979 album '' Dancing in the Dragon's Jaws''. Chart performance It was Cockburn's only Top 40 hit in the United States, peaking at No. 21 on ...

" - Jimmy Buffett

References

External links

* * * *
''Hoot'' at Walden Media
{{Portal bar, Film, United States, Florida, Environment 2005 films 2000s adventure comedy films American adventure comedy films 2000s teen comedy films American children's comedy films American coming-of-age films Environmental films Films about owls Films based on American novels Films produced by Frank Marshall Films set in Florida Films shot in Florida Films shot in Los Angeles New Line Cinema films The Kennedy/Marshall Company films Walden Media films 2005 directorial debut films 2005 comedy films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films