Global InformationAnimal House information
| National Lampoon's Animal House | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster by Rick Meyerowitz | |
| Directed by | John Landis |
| Written by |
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| Produced by |
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| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Charles Correll |
| Edited by | George Folsey Jr. |
| Music by | Elmer Bernstein |
Production company | Universal Pictures[1] |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures[1] |
Release date |
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Running time | 109 minutes[2] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3 million[3] |
| Box office | $141.6 million[4] |
National Lampoon's Animal House is a 1978 American comedy film directed by John Landis and written by Harold Ramis, Douglas Kenney and Chris Miller. It stars John Belushi, Tim Matheson, John Vernon, Verna Bloom, Thomas Hulce and Donald Sutherland. The film is about a trouble-making fraternity whose members challenge the authority of the dean of the fictional Faber College.
Produced by Matty Simmons of National Lampoon and Ivan Reitman for Universal Pictures, it was inspired by stories written by Miller and published in National Lampoon, which were based on Ramis' experience in the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity at Washington University in St. Louis, Miller's Alpha Delta Phi experiences at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, and producer Reitman's at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.
Of the younger lead actors, only the 28-year-old Belushi was an established star, but even he had not yet appeared in a film, having gained fame as an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, which was in its third season in the autumn of 1977. Several of the actors who were cast as college students, including Thomas Hulce, Karen Allen, and Kevin Bacon, were just beginning their film careers. Matheson, also cast as a student, was already a seasoned actor, having appeared in movies and television since the age of 13.
Filming took place at the University of Oregon[5] from October to December 1977. Following its initial release on July 28, 1978, Animal House received generally mixed reviews from critics, but Time and Roger Ebert proclaimed it one of the year's best. Filmed for only $3 million (equivalent to $14,014,286 in today's money) it garnered an estimated gross of more than $141 million ($658,671,429 in today's money) in the form of theatrical rentals and home video, not including merchandising, making it the highest grossing comedy film of its time.[4][6]
The film, along with 1977's The Kentucky Fried Movie, also directed by Landis, was largely responsible for defining and launching the gross-out film genre, which became one of Hollywood's staples.[7] Animal House is now regarded as one of the best comedy films of all time.[8][9][10][11]
In 2001, the United States Library of Congress deemed National Lampoon's Animal House "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry. It was No. 1 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies". It was No. 36 on AFI's "100 Years... 100 Laughs" list of the 100 best American comedies. In 2008, Empire magazine selected it as No. 279 of "The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time".
- ^ a b "ANIMAL HOUSE". American Film Institute. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
- ^ "NATIONAL LAMPOON'S ANIMAL HOUSE (AA)". British Board of Film Classification. August 29, 1978. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved August 29, 2015.
- ^ Lee, Grant (February 15, 1980). "Box-Office Power: 'Animal House' Earns Respect". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
boxofficewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Stone, Jason (August 15, 2018). "A campus visitors' guide to 'Animal House' ... then and now". Around the O.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
neumer2003was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
insidestorywas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "The 100 greatest comedies of all time". www.bbc.com. Retrieved March 6, 2023.
- ^ "The 100 funniest comedies of all time". Time Out Worldwide. Retrieved March 6, 2023.
- ^ "The 50 Best Comedies of All Time". Esquire. March 21, 2022. Retrieved March 6, 2023.
- ^ "The 100 Best Comedies of All Time". pastemagazine.com. April 13, 2018. Retrieved March 6, 2023.