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Howard the Duck
Sign in to saveAlso known as Howard: A New Breed of Hero
1986 film directed by Willard Huyck
OverviewAI-generated
Howard the Duck is a 1986 American science fiction comedy film directed by Willard Huyck and written by Huyck and Gloria Katz. Produced by Lucasfilm and distributed by Universal Pictures, the movie features a cast including Tim Robbins, Jeffrey Jones, David Paymer, and Paul Guilfoyle. The screenplay was developed by Huyck and Katz, with George Lucas serving as both producer and executive producer. Ian Bryce also held a producing credit.
The film’s music was composed by John Barry and Danny Elfman, with Richard H. Kline handling cinematography. Principal photography took place in San Francisco, California. The runtime is 110 minutes. It was released on August 1, 1986, and December 18, 1986. The production had a budget of 37000000 and generated a revenue of 38000000.
Critical reception included several Golden Raspberry Award nominations and wins, including Worst Picture and Worst Screenplay. Audience ratings vary, with an average vote of 5.4 from 1121 votes on one platform and a rating of 4.8 from 54682 votes on another. The film is categorized as an action, adventure, and comedy.
Synthesized by Vinony from 40 facts across 4 sources: Wikidata, TMDb, IMDb, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
In the Vinony graph
Vinony's link graph records 544 inbound references to Howard the Duck, and connects out to Blu-ray Disc, Golden Raspberry Awards and Industrial Light & Magic.
It is catalogued under topics including 1980s science fiction comedy films, 1980s superhero comedy films and 1986 American films.
Vinony links it to 29 Wikipedia language editions.
Film · TMDB
5.4A scientific experiment unknowingly brings extraterrestrial life forms to the Earth through a laser beam. First is the cigar-smoking drake, Howard, from the duck's planet. A few kids try to keep him from the greedy scientists and help him back to his planet, but then a much less friendly being arrives through the beam...
Cast
- Lea Thompson as Beverly Switzler
- Jeffrey Jones as Dr. Walter Jenning
- Tim Robbins as Phil Blumburtt
- Ed Gale as Howard T. Duck
- Chip Zien as Howard T. Duck (voice)
- Tim Rose as Howard T. Duck
Themes
- duck
- superhero
- based on comic
- alternative reality
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Key facts
- Directed by
- Willard Huyck
- Written by
- Willard Huyck Gloria Katz
- Based on
- Howard the Duck , by Steve Gerber
- Produced by
- Gloria Katz
- Starring
- Lea Thompson Jeffrey Jones Tim Robbins
- Cinematography
- Richard H. Kline
- Edited by
- Michael Chandler Sidney Wolinsky
- Music by
- John Barry Sylvester Levay Songs: Thomas Dolby
- Production companies
- Lucasfilm , Marvel Comics Group
- Distributed by
- Universal Pictures
- Release date
- August 1, 1986 ( 1986-08-01 )
- Running time
- 111 minutes
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- Budget
- $30–37 million
- Box office
- $37.9 million
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- film
- Genre
- comedy film
- Country of origin
- United States
- Original language
- English language
- Director
- Willard Huyck
- Screenwriter
- Gloria Katz
- Voice actor
- Richard Kiley
- Composer
- John Barry
- Producer
- George Lucas
- Production company
- Lucasfilm
- Cinematographer
- Richard H. Kline
- Narrative location
- Ohio
- Filming location
- California
- Duration
- 110
- FilmAffinity ID
- 347573
- Performer
- John Barry
- Distribution format
- video on demand
- Official website
- lucasfilm.com/howard-the-duck
Show 11 more facts
- publication date
- 1986-12-18
- title
- Howard the Duck
- distributed by
- Universal Pictures
- executive producer
- George Lucas
- characters
- Howard the Duck
- after a work by
- Steve Gerber
- assessment
- Bechdel test
- set in environment
- fictional planet
- review score
- 28/100
- capital cost
- 37000000
- box office
- 37962774
Sources (13)
via Wikidata · CC0
~30 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Howard the Duck (released in the United Kingdom as Howard... A New Breed of Hero) is a 1986 American superhero comedy film directed by Willard Huyck and starring Lea Thompson, Jeffrey Jones and Tim Robbins. Based on the Marvel Comics character Howard the Duck, the film was produced by Gloria Katz and written by Huyck and Katz, with George Lucas as executive producer. The screenplay was originally intended to be an animated film, but the film adaptation became live-action because of a contractual obligation. While several TV adaptations of Marvel characters were aired, this was the first theatrical release since the Captain America serial of 1944.
Lucas proposed adapting the comic book following the production of American Graffiti (1973). After multiple production difficulties and mixed response to test screenings, Howard the Duck was released in theaters on August 1, 1986. Upon its release, the film was a critical and commercial failure and was criticized for its humor, performances, inconsistent tone, and appearance of the title character, though the effects and soundtrack were mostly praised. In the years since, it has been considered among the worst films ever made, but has also developed a cult following. It was nominated for seven Golden Raspberry Awards (winning four), and made about US $16.3 million domestically compared to its US $30–37 million budget.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Howard the Duck” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.