The Lorax | |
---|---|
Directed by | Chris Renauld Kyle Balda |
Produced by | Chris Meledandri Janet Healy |
Screenplay by | Ken Daurio Cinco Paul |
Based on | The Lorax by Dr. Seuss |
Starring | Zac Efron Danny DeVito Ed Helms Taylor Swift Rob Riggle Betty White Jenny Slate |
Music by | John Powell |
Editing by | Claire Dodgson Steven Liu Ken Schretzmann |
Studio | Illumination Entertainment |
Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date | March 2, 2012 |
Running time | 86 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $70 million |
Box office | $346,303,939 |
The Lorax is a 2012 American computer-animated musical comedy film based on Dr. Seuss' children's book of the same name. It was produced by Illumination Entertainment and was released by Universal Pictures on March 2, 2012, the 108th birthday of Seuss, and was the first Universal Pictures film to have the 100th Anniversary logo.
It is the second adaptation of the book, after the 1972 animated musical television special. It builds on the book by expanding the story of Ted, the boy who visits the Once-ler and was unnamed in the book and television special. The main cast includes Danny DeVito as the Lorax, Zac Efron as Ted, and Ed Helms as the Once-ler. New characters introduced in the film are Audrey, who is voiced by Taylor Swift, Aloysius O'Hare, voiced by Rob Riggle, and Grammy Norma, voiced by Betty White.
Plot
Theodore "Ted" Wiggins, an idealistic 12-year-old boy, lives in "Thneedville", a walled city that, aside from the citizens, is completely artificial: everything is made of plastic, metal, or synthetics. Ted sets out to find a real tree in order to impress Audrey, who Ted has a crush on. His energetic grandmother suggests he speak with the Once-ler about this, if he wishes to visit him, he must pay fifteen cents, a nail and a shell of great-great-great grandfather snail. When he sets off outside the city discovers that their city has been closed off from the outside world, which is a contaminated and empty wasteland. The Once-ler agrees to tell Ted about the trees if he listens to his story over multiple visits. Ted agrees, even after the mayor of Thneedville, Aloysius O'Hare, who is also the greedy proprietor of a bottled oxygen company, confronts the boy and pressures him to stay in town. Over the course of the film, Ted, with the encouragement of his grandmother, continues to sneak out of O'Hare's sight and learns more of the history of the trees.
Over the visits, the Once-ler recounts the story of how he departed his family to make his fortune. In a lush Truffula Tree forest, he met the Lorax. He is a grumpy yet charming orange creature who served as guardian of the land. At first, the Once-ler had a plan to chop down the trees. Eventually, he promised not to chop another tree down. The young businessman's Thneed invention soon became a major success and the Once-ler's family arrived to participate in the business. Keeping his promise at first, the Once-ler continued Thneed production by harvesting the tufts themselves in a sustainable manner. Unfortunately, his greedy and lazy relatives convinced him to resume logging as a more efficient gathering method. Breaking his promise, the Once-ler's deforestation spiraled into a mass overproduction. Flush with wealth, the Once-ler rationalised his short sighted needs into arrogant self-righteousness and the helpless protests of the Lorax could not stop him. The Once-ler polluted the sky, river and landscape, until finally the last Truffula Tree fell outside, and the Once-ler realised what he had done while making the region uninhabitable with his business's pollution. With that, the Once-ler was left ruined and abandoned by his own family and became a recluse with the creation and isolation of Ted's town that came under young Mr. O'Hare's control, giving him the plan to sell fresh air with the absence of trees. Eventually, the Lorax sends the animals away before departing himself into the sky, leaving a stonecut word: "Unless".
At the end of the story, the Once-ler understands the meaning behind the Lorax's last message, and gives Ted a gift of the last Truffula seed in hopes of planting it to regrow the forest. Ted's desire to impress Audrey is now a personal mission to remind his town of the importance of nature. O'Hare, determined not to have trees undercut his business, takes heavy-handed steps such as covering Audrey's nature paintings, closing off the door that Ted uses to see the Once-ler and forcibly searching Ted's room for the seed. Ted enlists his family and Audrey to help plant the seed, which has begun to germinate after coming into contact with water. O'Hare and his employees pursue the dissidents until they manage to elude him and reach the town center. Unfortunately, their attempt to plant the seed is interrupted by O'Hare who rallies the population to stop them. To convince them otherwise, Ted takes an earthmover and rams down a section of the city wall to reveal the environmental destruction outside. Horrified at the sight and inspired by Ted's conviction, the crowd defies O'Hare with his own henchmen expelling him from the town. The seed is planted, and Audrey kisses Ted on the cheek. Time passes and the land is starting to recover; the trees are regrowing, the animals are returning, and the redeemed Once-ler is happily reunited with the Lorax.
Characters
Character Name | Character Portrait | Description | Portrayer | Color | |||||
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Ted Wiggi ns | An idealistic 12-year-old boy who wants to have a real tree to impress a girl named Audrey. He later planted the last truffula seed that was given by the Once-ler in Thneedville to regrow the trees. | Zack Efron | ¤ | ||||||
The Once-lerjknxcxnjfkgdj | Old Young |
A man who chopped down all the trees to produce thneeds and ended up regretting all he had done. He gave Ted the last Truffula seed in hopes of planting it to regrow the forest. He is an acquaintance friend of the Lorax. | Ed Helms | ¤ | |||||
The Lorax | A grumpy yet charming orange creature with a large moustache and the guardian of the forest. He is an acquaintance friend of the Once-ler. He felt dissappointed to the Once-ler of what he had done and later came back and told him that he have done good by regrowing the trees. | Danny DeVito | ¤ | ||||||
Audrey | She is Ted's love interest who really want to see a real tree. | Taylor Swift | ¤ | ||||||
Aloysius O'Hare | He is the mayor of Thneedville and head of the "O'Hare Air" company that supplies fresh air to Thneedville residents. He is against trees and wanted to destroy the last Truffula seed to stop Ted from regrowing the trees. | Rob Riggle | ¤ | ||||||
Grammy Norma | She is Ted's grandmother who helped him see the Once-ler. She used to see trees when she was young. | Betty White | ¤ | ||||||
Mrs. Wiggins | She is Ted's mother who loves disco. She helped Ted plant the last Truffula seed in the middle of Thneedville by getting Morty and Mcgurk out of Ted's spot. | Jenny Slate | ¤ | ||||||
Pipsqueak | A young charming bar-ba-loot who loves marshmallow. He used to like the Once-ler until the Once-ler chopped down all the trees. He then left the Truffula Valley along with the other creatures feeling disappointed at the Once-ler. | N/A | ¤ | ||||||
Lou | A funny fat bar-ba-loot who always want to eat. He left the Truffula Valley along with the other creatures feeling disappointed at the Once-ler. | N/A | ¤ | ||||||
The Trio | They're three humming-fish who always sing. They left the Truffula Valley along with the other creatures feeling dissapointed at the Once-ler. | N/A | ¤ | ||||||
Bomber | Bomber was a bulldog seen with a man. He was only in a brief appearance. He was just not speaking at all. He was like the Animals. They also can be mentioned in the book when the Once-ler's lawyer is here. | N/A | ¤ | ||||||
Melvin | Melvin was the Once-ler's mule who pulls the Once-ler Wagon. He, along with the other creatures, left the Truffula Valley feeling dissapointed at the Once-ler. | N/A | ¤ | ||||||
Bacon | Bacon was the pet fat plump pig of the Once'ler. He was just very briefly appeared when the man knocks at the door. He did not speak at all. | N/A | ¤ | ||||||
The Once-ler's Mother | She is the mother of the Once-ler, Chet and Brett. She used to belittle the Once-ler until he became successful. She is the one who convinced the Once-ler to chop down the trees. She then left him feeling dissapointed when he had nothing left. | Nasim Pedrad | ¤ | ||||||
Aunt Grizelda | She is the Once-ler, Chet and Brett's cruel aunt who cares only about money. She dislikes the Lorax and called him a giant, furry peanut. The Lorax was surprised when he knew that she is a woman. | Elmarie Wendel | ¤ | ||||||
Brett and Chet | They are the Once-ler's brothers. They are twins who lacks of intelligence. They helped chop down the trees. | Danny Cooksey | ¤ | ||||||
Uncle Ubb | He is the Once-ler's uncle who is also a worldy. He seemed to be under the Once-ler's mother. | Stephen Tobolowsky | ¤ | ||||||
Morty and Mcgurk | They are Mr. O'Hare's goons. They realized that it would be better to regrow the trees and sent Mr. O'hare away by using a device that flew him away. | N/A | ¤ | ||||||
Marketing Guys | A marketing guy who wants Mr. O'hare to advertise the O'Hare Air in a bottle. | Joel Swetow/Micheal Beattie | ¤ | ||||||
Barry | Barry is the tall headed resident of Thneedville with a blue shirt a red scarf and more. | N/A | ¤ | ||||||
Cy | Cy is the O'Hare Air delivery guy. | N/A | ¤ | ||||||
Machine | Fuck you. | N/A | ¤ | ||||||
Dan, Rose and Wesley | Dan and Rose supposed that the seed should be planted because their son Wesley kind of glows. They're residents of Thneedville. | N/A | ¤ | ||||||
Marie | Marie is a 3-year-old resident of Thneedville who wants to see a real tree. | N/A | ¤ | ||||||
Bulldozer | N/A | ¤ | |||||||
Baritone | Baritone is a man who was mentioned. He has muttonchops and a mustache. O'Hare called him when Ted Disturbed him when the Once'ler's story is almost finished up. He was only mentioned but he wasn't seen as good only seen in the book. He delivers many gifts if he wasn't feeling good. He can also drive his characterostanualytina. He was the citizen of Thneedville. | N/A | ¤ | ||||||
Bulkhead | |||||||||
Butterball | |||||||||
Alice | Milla Jovovich | ||||||||
Claire Redfield | Ali Larter | ||||||||
Jill Valentine | Sienna Guillory | ||||||||
Albert Wesker | Jason O'Mara Shawn Roberts | ||||||||
Carlos Olivera | Carlos was a U.B.C.F. operative who was involved and survived in the Raccoon City outbreak. He and L.J. joined Claire's convoy when the infection spread globally. When L.J. became undead, he bit Carlos which he realized that he'll become undead. In order for the convoy to enter the facility which was surrounded by zombies to take a helicopter, he drove a gasoline truck trough the zombies and exploded it, killing himself, before he and Alice admitted their feelings to each other. | Oded Fehr | |||||||
Rain Ocampo | Rain was a member of the Umbrella Commando Unit who secured the Hive. As they've entered the Hive, she was bitten several times. She was injected with the anti-virus by Alice but didn't work and resulted into becoming a zombie. She was shot by Matt when she attempted to attack him and died. | Michelle Rodriguez | |||||||
Matt Addison /
|
Matt was Lisa's brother. They were activists trying to expose Umbrella's illegal secret. He entered the Hive to search Lisa before he found out that she was already zombified. As he ecaped from the Hive, he was infected by a licker and programmed into Nemesis by the Umbrella scientists. | Eric Mabius | |||||||
Matt was now known as Nemesis. He was programmed to kill the S.T.A.R.S. members and combat Alice. He regained his memory from being lost when he was impaled by a jagged metal by alice. When helping Alice and the others, a helicopter that he shot down crashed onto him, killing him. | Matthew G. Taylor | ||||||||
Luther West | Luther was the leader of the survivors hiding in the Citadel Correctional Facility. He was able to escape the prison when it was raided by zombies. He was then recruited by Wesker to help Alice get out of the underwater Umbrella facility led by the Red Queen. As he, Alice and the others escaped from the facility, they were stopped by Jill and the bad clone of Rain which he got killed by the bad Rain. | Boris Kodjoe | |||||||
Ada Wong | Li Bingbing | ||||||||
Leon S. Kennedy | Johann Urb | ||||||||
Dr. Sam Isaacs | Dr. Sam Isaacs was an Umbrella Corporation scientist. It was him who experimented Alice and Matt after the incident in the Hive. He was then the one who programmed Alice. He was mutated into a tentacled creature when he was bitten by an enhanced zombie and injected himself a large quantities of the anti-virus. He and Alice were brought into a hallway where the laser appears while fighting and was sliced by the laser just like how One was sliced. | Iain Glen | |||||||
Barry Burton | Kevin Durand | ||||||||
Major Timothy Cain | Cain was a high-ranking employee of the Umbrella Corporation. He was the one who sealed Raccoon City. As he had gathered Alice and Nemesis together to fight to know who was stronger, Matt regained his memory and assaulted the Umbrella forces. Cain tried to escape before he was pulled off the helicopter by Alice. As he fell to the ground, he was slaughtered by a group of zombies. | Thomas Kretschmann | |||||||
Red Queen | Michaela Dicker Megan Charpentier Ave Merson-O'Brian (voice) | ||||||||
Bennett Sinclair | Kim Coates | ||||||||
Spence Parks | Spence was a security operative who worked alongside Alice and lived in the mansion in order to protect the location of the Hive. He was the one wo released the t-virus in the Hive that caused the infection of the people inside. He was killed by a licker. | James Purefoy | |||||||
James "One" Shade | One was the leader of the Umbrella special forces unit who secured the Hive. He was sliced into small cubic pieces by a laser that the Red Queen activated when he and his team was about to enter the Red Queen's chamber. | Colin Salmon | |||||||
K-Mart | K-Mart was rescued by Claire's convoy sometime during the global outbreak and joined them. As the convoy has arrived to Alaska, they were ambushed by the Umbrella forces and took them aside from Claire. As she was rescued in Arcadia, she was again taken by the Umbrella forces led by Jill. | Spencer Locke | |||||||
Lloyd Jefferson "L.J." Wayne | Together with Alice, Jill, Carlos and Angela, L.J. was a survivor of the Raccoon City outbreak. He and Carlos joined Claire's convoy when the t-virus spread globally. During a raid on a motel, he was attacked and bitten by a zombie. As he turned into a zombie, he bit Carlos and Carlos shot him. | Mike Epps | |||||||
Chad Kaplan | Kaplan was the computer technician of the Umbrella special forces unit who secured the Hive. He was killed by a Licker when he, Alice, Matt and Rain were about to leave the Hive. | Martin Crewes | |||||||
Peyton Wells | Peyton was a S.T.A.R.S. police officer. He was Jill's partner who was also a S.T.A.R.S. police officer. They were both at the Raccoon City outbreak. During the outbreak, he was bitten and turned into a zombie after he was shot by Nemesis. | Raz Adotti | |||||||
Terri Morales | Terri was a news reporter of the "Raccoon 7". She joined Jill and Peyton during the Raccoon City outbreak. As they were offered by Dr. Ashford a way out in exchange for rescuing Angela in her school, they went to the school and Terri found a group of zombie intead and killed her. | Sandrine Holt | |||||||
Becky | Aryana Engineer | ||||||||
Angela Ashford | Angela was Charles' only child. She and her father was involved at the Raccoon City outbreak where her father got killed by Cain when Alice refused to fight Nemesis. She was able to escape from the city by the help of Jill, L.J. and Carlos. | Sophie Vavasseur | |||||||
Dr. Charles Ashford | Dr. Ashford, a wheelchair-bound scientist of the Umbrella, was responsible for the creation of the t-virus. He and his daughter Angela were involved at the Raccoon City outbreak where he was shot by Timothy Cain for Alice to agree to fight Nemesis. | Jared Harris | |||||||
Nicholai Ginovaef | Nicholai was Carlos' second-in-command. Nicholai, alongside Carlos and Yuri, was sent at the Raccoon City outbreak. He was killed by two zombified dogs at a school where he was supposed to rescue Angela. | Zack Ward | |||||||
J.D. Salinas | J.D. was a member of the Umbrella special force unit and Rain's closest friend. He was killed by a group of zombies. He later became zombie and bit Rain. Rain then shoot him in the head. | Pasquale Aleardi | |||||||
Betty | Betty was a member of Claire's convoy and served as a nurse. She was L.J.'s love interest. During the crows' raid when they got into the school bus, she locked herself inside the bus to prevent the crows from reaching the others and got pecked to death. | Ashanti | |||||||
Alexander Slater | Captain Slater was an Umbrella Corporation executive, serving as the second in command of the Umbrella Science Division and the North American laboratory. He was killed by the mutated Dr. Sam Isaacs when he attempted to execute him by the order of Wesker. | Matthew Marsden | |||||||
Yuri Loginova | Yuri was a commando of the Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Force. He was at Carlos' and Nicholai's team during the Raccoon City outbreak where he got bitten by a zombie. As he turned into a zombie, he bit Carlos and was shot by Nicholai. | Stefan Hayes | |||||||
Mikey | Mikey was a member of Claire's convoy and served as to oversee communication to other survivors. During the attack of the enhanced zombies to the convoy, he was killed by the zombies who feed on him. | Chris Egan | |||||||
Kim Yong | Kim Yong was among the refuge in the Citadel Correctional Facility. He was an intern for Bennett and continued to boss him around. When he was about to enter a tunnel leading out of the facility to escape, he was sliced by an axe by an executioner. | Norman Yeugh | |||||||
Angel Ortiz | Angel was among the refuge in the Citadel Correctional Facility. When Chris led them to a carrier that could be used to escape. Angel noticed that its engine was removed and told Bennett that it cannot be used. Frustrated, Bennett shot Angel in the head. | Sergio Peris-Mencheta | |||||||
Otto | Otto was a member of Claire's convoy. He was the driver of the vehicle of the children which was the school bus. When the convoy was attacked by infected crows, the crows were able to get inside the bus pushing Otto outside and pecked into his death. | Joe Hursley | |||||||
White Queen | The White Queen was a state-of-the-art Artificial Intelligence in the Umbrella Corporation's North American laboratory. Unlike her sister, the Red Queen, she is a protective of the human race. After the battle between Alice and the infected Dr. Sam Isaacs, she was left active in the facility alone. | Madeline Carroll | |||||||
Crystal Waters | Crystal was among the survivors hiding in the Citadel Correctional Facility. When they were going to Arcadia, She, Alice and Chris first retrieve weapons from the armory, which was submerged underwater. As they reached the armory, a plaga undead appeared and dragged her underwater. | Kacey Barnfield | |||||||
Chase | Chase was a member of Claire's convoy. As he climbed at a replica of Eiffel Tower to watch the others search a gasoline, they were attacked by zombies which the zombies climbed after him and bit him. Chase decided to jump and take the zombies off the tower but he landed on a metal girder below himself and died. | Linden Ashby | |||||||
Sergei | Robin Kasyanov | ||||||||
Lisa Addison | She was a Matt's disguised employee sister of the Umbrella in an attempt to expose the Umbrella's illegal experimentation. She became zombie when Spence released the t-virus from the air conditioning system. She was stabbed by Alice when she attempted to bit Matt. | Heike Makatsch | |||||||
Olga Danilova | She was a field medic of the Umbrella commando unit that entered the Hive. Her head was sliced off her body by a laser at a hallway leading to the Red Queen's chamber. | Liz May Brice | |||||||
Alfonso Warner | Warner was a member of the Umbrella commando unit. He was one of the four who got killed by the laser in the hallway that the Red Queen released. | Marc Logan-Black | |||||||
Vance Drew | Drew was a member of the Umbrella commando unit. He was one of the four who got killed by the laser in the hallway that the Red Queen released. | Torsten Jerabek | |||||||
Captain Hederson | Henderson was the captain of the S.T.A.R.S.. During the outbreak in Raccoon City, he and the other S.T.A.R.S. members excluding Jill and Peyton were gathered together. As they were gathered, Nemesis attacked by shooting them, killing everybody. | Dave Nichols | |||||||
Tony | Ofilio Portillo | ||||||||
Ella Fontaine | Ella was an employee at the Hive. When the t-virus was spread by Spence, she was trapped in an elevator. While attempting to crawl out, she was decapitated when the Red Queen caused the elevator to ascend, with her head still outside of it. | Indra Ové | |||||||
Mr. Grey | Mr. Grey was an employee at the Hive. When Spence spread the t-virus, he and Ella Fontaine were trapped in an elevator. It is unknown how he died. | Ryan McCluskey | |||||||
Angus Mackenzie | Angus was a resident of Raccoon City. During the city's outbreak, he hid in a church where he was found by Jill, Peyton and Terri where they were attacked by a licker and killed him. | Geoffrey Pounsett | |||||||
Marla Maples | Marla was a resident of Raccoon City. During the city's outbreak, she was chased by a horde of zombies which she got bitten and saved by Carlos. As she knew that she was going to turn into a zombie, she commited suicide in order to prevent it. | Megan Fahlenbock | |||||||
Wendell | Wendell was among the survivors hiding in the Citadel Correctional Facility. He was incharge of watching Chris locked in a cell. When Alice arrived and was about to take a shower, she caught Wendell peeping her. As she madly ordered him to leave, he was dragged by a zombie into a hole and died. | Fulvio Cecere | |||||||
Dr. William Birkin | Jason Isaacs | ||||||||
Elizabeth Williams | Nick's girlfriend who is as reincarnation of Blake's wife. | Maggie Grace | |||||||
Nick Castle | A resident on Antonio Bay and Elizabeth's boyfriend. | Tom Welling | |||||||
Stevie Wayne | The radio DJ at the lighthouse on Antonio Bay. | Selma blair | |||||||
Andy Wayne | Stevie's only child who likes to hang out to the beach. | Cole Heppell | |||||||
Father Malone | A priest on Antonio Bay who is related to the founding father Patrick Malone. | Adrian Hough | |||||||
Spooner | A friend of Nick. | DeRay Davis | |||||||
Tom Malone | The mayor on Antonio Bay and Father Malone's brother. | Kenneth Welsh | |||||||
Kathy Williams | Elizabeth's mother. | Sara Botsford | |||||||
Captain William Blake | The captain of the "Elizabeth Dane". | Rade Sherbedgia | |||||||
Machen | An old man who spends his days using his metal detector on the beach. | R. Nelson Brown | |||||||
Sean Castle | Nick's cousin. | Matthew Currie Holmes | |||||||
Uncle Hank | Alex Bruhanski | ||||||||
Mr. Latham | Robert Harper | ||||||||
Patrick Malone | One of the founding fathers of Antonio Bay. | Christian Bocher | |||||||
David Williams | One of the founding fathers of Antonio Bay. | Douglas Arthurs | |||||||
Richard Wayne | One of the founding fathers of Antonio Bay. | Yves Cameron | |||||||
Norman Castle | One of the founding fathers of Antonio Bay. | Charles Andre | |||||||
Blake's wife | Maggie Grace | ||||||||
Jennifer | Jennifer is a friend of Mandi, Sean and Spooner. | Meghan Heffern | |||||||
Mandi | Mandi is a friend of Jennifer, Sean and Spooner. | Sonja Bennett |
Reception
Critical response
The film received mixed reviews from critics, with criticism directed towards the film and its marketing as betraying the original message of the book. The film earned a "rotten" rating of 54% onRotten Tomatoes based on 145 reviews and an average rating of 6.1/10, with the critical consensus saying, "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax is cute and funny enough, but the moral simplicity of the book gets lost with the zany Hollywood production values." It also has a score of 46 on Metacritic based on 30 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
New York magazine film critic David Edelstein on NPR's All Things Considered strongly objected to the movie, arguing that the Hollywood animation and writing formulas washed out the spirit of the book. "This kind of studio 3-D feature animation is all wrong for the material," he wrote. Demonstrating the poor way the book's text was used in the movie—how modern cultural styles were pasted over the text—in this excerpt from the review, Edelstein shows Audrey describing the truffula trees to Ted:
- "the touch of their tufts was much softer than silk and they had the sweet smell of fresh butterfly milk" -- and (in the movie) Ted says, "Wow, what does that even mean?" and Audrey says, "I know, right?" So one of the only lines that is from the book, that does have Dr. Seuss' sublime whimsy, is basically made fun of, or at least, dragged down to Earth."
Some conservatives have criticized the film for having a strong environmentalist message. Lou Dobbs, the host of Lou Dobbs Tonight on the Fox Business Network, has criticized the film as being "insidious nonsense from Hollywood," and accused "Hollywood of trying to indoctrinate children."
The film also garnered some positive reviews, from critics such as Richard Roeper who called it a "solid piece of family entertainment". Roger Moore of the Pittsburgh Tribune called the film "a feast of bright, Seuss colors and wonderful Seuss design", and supported its environmentalist message.
Box office
The film has grossed $214,030,500 in North America, and $132,273,439 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $346,303,939.
The film topped the North American box office with $17.5 million on its opening day (Friday, March 2, 2012). During the weekend, it grossed $70.2 million, easily beating the other new nationwide release, Project X ($21 million), and all other films. This was the biggest opening for an Illumination Entertainment film, and for a feature film adaptation of a book by Dr. Seuss, as well as the second largest for an environmentalist film. It also scored the third-best debut for a film opening in March, and the eighth-best of all time for an animated film. The Lorax stayed at #1 the following weekend, dropping 45% to $38.8 million and beating all new nationwide releases, including Disney's John Carter (second place). On April 11, 2012, it became the first animated film, in nearly a year, to gross more than $200 million in North America, since Disney's Tangled.
On May 6, 2012, it surpassed Horton Hears a Who! to become the highest-grossing animated Dr. Seuss film, and the second overall just behind How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
See also
- Horton Hears a Who!
- The Cat in the Hat
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas