Jane Hoop Elementary: The Magic Ball (film)

Jane Hoop Elementary: The Magic Ball is a 2005 superhero film directed by Chris Weitz and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is based on the novel with the same name by Rita Christensen. The film, which is the fourth installment in the Jane Hoop Elementary film franchise, is written by Brian Clark and produced by Steven Spielberg, Derek Todd and Drake Jones. The story follows five young heroes (Danny, Rebecca, Alec, Cory and Jaquille) in their fourth year as superheroes discovering a very powerful object called The Magic Ball, which can use for anyone to make any wishes they want and Catwoman learns that she can use it to take over the world.

The film stars Blake Brown, Ben Linkin, Amy Tammie, Brandon Simpson and Bloom Dee as young children as superheroes. It is a sequel to Jane Hoop Elementary: Goldenman's Revenge and is followed by Jane Hoop Elementary: Morphin the Power.

The film, which was released on November 11, 2005, has the third biggest opening weekend for a Jane Hoop Elementary film at the weekend box office with $104.4 million behind The Final Rush - Part 2 ($165.5 million) and The Final Rush - Part 1 ($129.9 million). The film then earned just under $900 million worldwide which made it the second highest-grossing film of 2005 behind only Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It is also the sixth highest-grossing Hoop film into the franchise. It was also the third highest-grossing 2005 film in the U.S. grossing $290 million behind Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It is the second film into the franchise since Jane Hoop Elementary: Goldenman's Revenge for IMAX release. It is the sixth highest-grossing Jane Hoop Elementary installment to date.

The Magic Ball has became one of the best-reviewed film in the Hoop film series ever (until 2011 when being overtaken by the franchise's final installment, The Final Rush - Part 2), and was also nominated for many awards including the 2006 Kids Choice Awards for "Best Picture", but lost to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which is the first Harry Potter film to win the award. The Magic Ball is also nominated at the 2006 Academy Awards, but not for "Best Picture".

Plot
Danny Gorden has waken up from a nightmare that a young man named Howard Lukins being murdered by one of Catwoman's army with a magical The Magic Ball that crashes in the forest, Morphin the Power. He was out hunting with his wife Katie Ferguson-Lukins till she found his body and got murdered as well. The Magic Ball was one of the powerful weapon used for good and evil. Belle has begin her revenge when first appears following with Catwoman however, also when viewing with her about The Magic Ball, the most powerful weapon that she thinks that the Magic Ball could be used for evil. The weapon starts when giving Catwoman giving a evil idea. Catwoman plans to used it to source it's power to rule the world but first she must defeat The Jane Hoop gang.

The gang traveled to the lost Island-Forest Morphin the Power and Belle catchtes The Magic Ball. She and others escapes from the Forest heading back to Catwoman's base leaving the heroes and SWAT. They entered the Base and Catwoman wishes the Base to be destroyed, which causes destruction of their home base. For the meantime, Catwoman steals Jane Hoop Elementary's powers and kidnaps president of the United Sates George Bush. His family were joined by Jane Hoop Elementary to rescue him. After a couple of misperhaps for Catwoman playing around with the Magic Ball, she decides to head to her hometown Turbo of Catland to wishes the entire world to belong to her. Danny, Rebecca, Alec, Cory and Jaquille journeys on the sea to Turbo of Catland and stop Catwoman before it's too late.

As they start a journey, they got attacked by Catwoman's ocean monster. They bearly escape from it, but it returned throwing the ship to an deserted island, which appears to be Turbo of Catland. As they search for Catwoman, she is nowhere to be seen as they are too late to stop her. They than got attacked by Catwoman's army. As Alec wishes on them getting back to Cincinnati, the Magic Ball overhears it and activates the wishes leading the gang to return to Cincinnati.

The gang battles against Catwoman, where Catwoman frozes a member one-by-one. Rebecca gets killed rescuing Danny from a spear thrown by Shego. He's the only hope to conclude the battle to save the world giving more chances for his friends. Realizing how powerful Catwoman really is, Danny tricks Catwoman by arresting her. Danny saved the world and his friends where things return back the way it is.

Sometime later, Danny, Alec, Cory and Jaquille all welcomed back a well and alive Rebecca, celebrating their reunion of friendship.

Cast

 * See also: List of Jane Hoop Elementary cast members


 * Blake Brown as Danny Gorden, the protagonist and leader of the heroes.
 * Ben Linkin as Alec Gutzwiller, Danny's best friend and his sidekick of the heroes.
 * Amy Tammie as Rebecca Henry, Danny's other best friend, sidekick and only female of the heroes.
 * Brandon Simpson as Cory Berning, Danny's other best friend and backup for the heroes.
 * Bloom Dee as Jaquille Short, Danny's other best friend and backup for the heroes.
 * Barbara Blue as Naudia Gorden, Danny's cousin and mentor of the heroes.
 * Arthur Walters as Goldenman, Danny's godfather, mentor of the heroes and protector of the heroes' super abilities.
 * George Jones as James Watson, the mayor of Cincinnati and mentor of the heroes.
 * Natasha Richardson as Miss. Bella Watson, Mayor's wife and mentor of the heroes.
 * Brooke Timer as Dr. Catwoman, the enemy of Jane Hoop Elementary.
 * Rebecca Dee as Shego Dalma, Catwoman's best friend and assistant.
 * Stephen Johnson as Shadow the Monkeyman, Catwoman's other best friend and assistant.
 * Keira Knightley as Belle Lamar, a new member of Catwoman's side.

Production
Paramount Pictures reported to release the fourth installment Jane Hoop Elementary: The Magic Ball into theaters. While they are working on releasing Goldenman's Revenge in theaters, they announced that the fourth film will be in works scheduling for either summer or fall 2005. Before Goldenman's Revenge was released on November 14, 2003, they confirmed the release date of The Magic Ball to November 11, 2005.

Chris Weitz was chosen to direct The Magic Ball after Francis Lawerence, director of Goldenman's Revenge, confirms that he won't be back as director for the fourth installment. Steven Spielberg, Drake Jones and Derek Todd will be returning as film produces, and Brian Clark will be back as a film writer. It is Spielberg's final time producing the Jane Hoop Elementary films.

Filming for The Magic Ball took place on November 12, 2004 and wrapped in March 2005. Pre-production for the film began on September 15, 2004, just two months before the beginning of filming.

Settings
The film is filmed in Cincinnati, Ohio for a main location including Jane Hoop Elementary Base and Catwoman's Base. Morphin the Power is filmed in Oakwood, Mississouri, and Catland is shot at the Hinchinbrook Island in Australia. Christensen got very excited that she wants the movie to go into different places in the real world like he characters has never been there before. Most of the scenes are being shot in green screen.

Jane Hoop Elementary: The Magic Ball is set in the year from summer 2005 to spring 2006, making Danny, Rebecca, Alec, Cory and Jaquille, now 12 years old, and in their final years of being pre-teens. The film took place yet another two years after the events of the last film, Jane Hoop Elementary: Goldenman's Revenge, which is set in 2003. Brooke Ashton, who designed costume from the previous films, has designed many costumes for the cast members.

Music
James Horner announces that he will compose the songs for the fourth film of the popular Jane Hoop Elementary film series, replacing Hans Zimmer, who composed the first three films. The soundtrack was released on November 8, 2005, three days before the film's theatrical release on November 11, 2005.

Marketing
The exclusive look for Jane Hoop Elementary: The Magic Ball was released on April 15, 2005. The film's trailer was released on April 29, 2005. It's full length new trailer debuts only in theaters during the premiere of War of the Worlds on June 29, 2005. It was not released online until July 1, 2005, two days later. The video game version of the film was released on November 9, 2005, two days ahead of the film's theatrical release. It was designed by EA Games. Like the predecessors, LEGO Designs for the film were released. The film cost $150 million to produce, making it the franchise's most expensive film yet, beating it's last film, Jane Hoop Elementary: Goldenman's Revenge, which earned $130 million to produce.

Theatrical release

 * ''Main article: Jane Hoop Elementary: The Magic Ball (video game)

Jane Hoop Elementary: The Magic Ball arrived in theaters worldwide in on November 11, 2005, two years after the release of Goldenman's Revenge, which was released on November 14, 2003. Nationwode, the film was released on November 9, 2005, two days before the North American release. The United States world premiere for the film took place in New York City on November 3, 2005. The United Kingdom premiere took place in London on October 24, 2005, almost a month before the theatrical release in the United Kingdom on November 10, 2005. Jane Hoop Elementary: The Magic Ball runs 155 minutes (2 hours and 35 minutes), the second longest film in the series, after The Cyber Escape (160 minutes, 2 hours and 40 minutes).

MPPA Rating
The Magic Ball is originally going to aim for a PG-13 rating for "domestic violence, and action sequences", but changed to a PG rating, to avoid scary sequences for children despite that film actors and actress are around 10 years old when they were filming the film. Weitz got kind off disappointed that The Magic Ball was the darkest book by far because of scary monsters, and he wants this movie to focus on teenagers. Instead, he will settle the film to pre-teens and teenagers. It would have been the first Jane Hoop Elementary film to have a PG-13 rating. It also had the same situation to the following film, Morphin the Power, in 2007 but also ended with a PG rating.

However in 2010, The Final Rush - Part 1 has gotten a PG-13, because Christensen says that characters has now grown up and are more mature now. She wants the final book to be PG-13 because of scary scenes that are not suitable for children and even stronger inappoperate cursing are used as well as "asshole" and "bitch". In 2011, the final film, The Final Rush - Part 2, was also rated PG-13, and was the second film in the franchise to get that rating.

Home Media
The film was released on DVD in North America on April 28, 2006, United Kingdom on April 24, 2006 and Australia on April 20, 2006. It was available in one- and two-disc editions, as well as part of an 8-disc boxset that includes all four films to date.[19] Both the widescreen and full-screen versions of the DVD.[20] It was rereleased on December 19, 2006, to release a sneak peek for Jane Hoop Elementary: Morphin the Power. In the United States, the first four Jane Hoop Elementary films were released on HD DVD and Blu-ray disc on December 18, 2007 especially the following film. The film sold over $219,151,501 copies, the second best-selling DVD of 2006 behind The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The Ultimate edition along with Jane Hoop Elementary: Goldenman's Revenge was released on March 29, 2011.

Box office
The film played in 3,852 theaters and a couple of IMAX theaters worldwide on November 11, 2005, where it enjoyed breaking box office records. After grabbing $39 million on it's opening day, it made $104.4 million during it's opening weekend. That's, at the time of it's release, the fourth biggest opening weekend in history after Spider-Man ($114.8 million), Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith ($108.4 million) and Shrek 2 ($108 million), as well as the second biggest 2005 opening behind Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. It was, however, the franchise's best opening weekend ever (until The Final Rush: Part 1 was released in 2010, later by The Final Rush - Part 2 in 2011) and the first one to open around $100 million in it's first weekend. It set a new opening weekend record for any films released this month, beating Goldenman's Revenge ($95.2 million). It held the record for four years until 2009 when The Twilight Saga: New Moon, also released in November, made $142.8 million in it's opening weekend, currently now broken by The Hunger Games: Catching Fire in 2013 with $158.1 million.

The Magic Ball made $895 million worldwide which made it 2005's second highest-grossing film behind Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which also made it the eighth highest-grossing film of all-time, and the second highest-grossing film in the franchise behind Jane Hoop Elementary: The First. It was also the year's third highest-grossing film in the U.S. with $290 million domestically behind Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and the second highest-grossing film at the non-American box office with $605 million closely behind Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ($606.8 million), thus the film surprised The Revenge of the Sith ($468.4 million) and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe ($453.3 million). The Magic Ball is also the sixth highest-grossing film in the Jane Hoop Elementary franchise behind The First, both parts of The Final Rush, Morphin the Power and Turbo of Catland.

Critical reception
The Magic Ball become one of the franchise's best reviewed film ever. Like the last films, it also gained very positive reviews, with most of them calling it the darkest Jane Hoop Elementary film yet, due to the cast members, who played the characters in the film, from the films have grown into pre-teens. It ranked a fresh 92% from Rotten Tomatoes, making it the highest rating Hoop film to date. It hold the record for nearly six years until Jane Hoop Elementary: The Final Rush - Part 2 set a new franchise record, which earned 95%, also from Rotten Tomatoes, and also gained positive reviews. The Magic Ball than ranked 81% from Metacritics, making it the fourth most reviewed film on the chart for the franchise, behind The Final Rush - Part 2, The Cyber Escape and Goldenman's Revenge. And finally, Yahoo! Movies scored the film a positive B+ grade, a better score from the first two film; The Cyber Escape and Goldenman's Revenge. The First scored an A.

The New York Daily News has praised by the film for the both its humor and on its Fantasy world.[3] The young child actors has praised on demonstrating a "fantastic range of subtle emotions", particularly with Blake Brown whom sexual described for delivering as a "primital and nuanced of sailing performance" The new cast were also to praised: was to described as "amazing"; Keira Knightley's make scenes as Belle Lamar to described as "awesome"; and Arthur Walters played Goldenman as entered for his second time that described "as a good person".[3]

Hollywood Reporter gave the film a positive review, calling it "darker than ever, with intense action sequences, featuring monsters and supernatural creatures." Jane Hoop Elementary: The Magic Ball ranked #1 for being the most anticipated film of 2005, beating Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith. The Magic Ball director Chris Weitz praises the film as one of his best worked he has ever directed. He praises on the film's storyline, acting and background and he describes all of them as a beautiful work that makes this as big as a rock.

The Magic Ball also met with negative reviews and one of them is the film's MPPA rating due to the film's darker tone form the first three films. The film was criticized about the film's tone praising that most scenes are too scary for children, and should have kept the PG-13 rating, instead of a PG rating, despite many parents fear of their children being involved watching violence.

Accolades
On March 5, 2006, the film was nominated at the 78th Academy Awards for "Best Visual Effect" lost to King Kong. On April 1, 2006, the film was nominated at the 2006 Kids' Choice Awards for "Favorite Movie" losing to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the first ever Harry Potter film to do so. It was the second Hoop film in the franchise not to win the award (first being Jane Hoop Elementary: Goldenman's Revenge). On August 20, 2006, The Magic Ball won two awards at the Teen Choice Awards for "Choice Movie — Action" and "Choice Movie - Sci-Fi". 

List of awards and nominations 

Sequel
The fifth installment, Morphin the Power, was released nearly two years after the release of the previous film on July 4, 2007.