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Elf (film)
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Elf (film)

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Elf is a 2003 American Christmas comedy film directed by Jon Favreau and written by David Berenbaum. It stars Will Ferrell as Buddy the Elf, a human raised by Santa's elves, who learns about his origins and heads to New York City to meet his biological father. James Caan, Zooey Deschanel, Mary Steenburgen, Ed Asner and Bob Newhart appear in supporting roles.

Film · TMDB

6.7

When young Buddy falls into Santa's gift sack on Christmas Eve, he's transported back to the North Pole and raised as a toy-making elf by Santa's helpers. But as he grows into adulthood, he can't shake the nagging feeling that he doesn't belong. Buddy vows to visit Manhattan and find his real dad, a workaholic.

Released: 2003-11-0797 minDir: Jon FavreauComedy, Family, FantasyBudget: $32.0MBox office: $229M

Cast

  • Will Ferrell as Buddy
  • James Caan as Walter
  • Bob Newhart as Papa Elf
  • Ed Asner as Santa
  • Mary Steenburgen as Emily
  • Zooey Deschanel as Jovie

Themes

  • elves
  • dwarf
  • holiday
  • adoption
  • santa claus
  • sarcasm
  • looking for birth parents
  • romance
  • fish out of water
  • orphan

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Ratings

IMDb

7.1/10

347,091 votes

Year
2003
Runtime
97 min
Genres
Adventure, Comedy, Family

via IMDb

Wikipedia views (30d)

27,827 total

via Wikimedia Pageviews API

Key facts

Directed by
Jon Favreau
Written by
David Berenbaum
Produced by
Jon Berg Todd Komarnicki Shauna Robertson
Starring
Will Ferrell James Caan Zooey Deschanel Mary Steenburgen Ed Asner Bob Newhart
Cinematography
Greg Gardiner
Edited by
Dan Lebental
Music by
John Debney
Production company
Guy Walks Into a Bar
Distributed by
New Line Cinema
Release date
November 7, 2003 ( 2003-11-07 )
Running time
97 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$33 million
Box office
$228.9 million

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of
film
Named after
elf
Country of origin
United States
Original language
English language
Director
Jon Favreau
Screenwriter
David Berenbaum
Cast member
Peter Dinklage
Composer
John Debney
Production company
Meet Dave
Narrative location
New York City
Filming location
Vancouver
Duration
97
FilmAffinity ID
887484
Distribution format
video on demand
Official website
www.elfmovie.com
Show 9 more facts
publication date
2003-11-07
title
Elf
distributed by
Netflix
box office
177874109
Commons category
Elf (film)
assessment
Bechdel test
set during recurring event
Christmas and holiday season
review score
66/100
capital cost
33000000
Sources (15)

via Wikidata · CC0

~17 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Elf is a 2003 American Christmas comedy film directed by Jon Favreau and written by David Berenbaum. It stars Will Ferrell as Buddy the Elf, a human raised by Santa's elves, who learns about his origins and heads to New York City to meet his biological father who doesn't know of his existence. James Caan, Zooey Deschanel, Mary Steenburgen, Ed Asner and Bob Newhart appear in supporting roles.

Elf was released in the United States on November 7, 2003, by New Line Cinema. It became a major critical and commercial success, grossing $228.9 million worldwide against a $33 million budget. Ferrell's performance as Buddy, in particular, was praised by critics. The film inspired the 2010 Broadway musical Elf: The Musical and NBC's 2014 stop motion animated television special Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas. It has been hailed by many as a modern classic and is often listed as one of the best Christmas films of all time.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Elf (film)” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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