Lake Placid (film series)
Lake Placid is an American series of monster horror/comedy films created by David E. Kelley. Produced and distributed by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, the series began with Lake Placid (1999) directed by Steve Miner, and was followed by five television sequels, Lake Placid 2 (2007) directed by David Flores, Lake Placid 3 (2010) directed by Griff Furst, Lake Placid: The Final Chapter (2012) directed by Don Michael Paul, Lake Placid vs. Anaconda (2015) directed by A. B. Stone and being a crossover with the Anaconda series, and Lake Placid: Legacy (2018) directed by Darrell Roodt. Each installment revolves around the presence of giant, 30-foot-long man-eating crocodiles in the fictional location of Black Lake, Maine, and the efforts of various groups to capture or destroy the creatures. All of the films reference members of the fictitious "Bickerman" family.
| Lake Placid | |
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 Cover for the recent Blu-ray re-release of the original film. | |
| Created by | David E. Kelley |
| Original work | Lake Placid |
| Owned by | 20th Century Fox (1-2) Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2-6) |
| Films and television | |
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| Games | |
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Background
During the production of the original film, Stan Winston Studios were hired to produce the 30 feet long animatronic crocodile, which was covered in a water-resistant urethane skin and functioned underwater using waterproofed hydraulics.[1] In 2014, following the re-release of the original film on Blu-ray, Daily Dead interviewed director Steve Miner about the production of the film, with Miner stating; "The first thing I did when I got on board Lake Placid was send the script over to Stan. Stan went ahead and began building the main 18-20 foot croc out of pocket even before we had locked down our financing or anything like that. He may have spent close to a million dollars on him- it may not have been that much, but it was close. And that’s such a testament to Stan- I kept telling him that I didn’t even know if we were going to be making the darned movie, but he just kept moving ahead. What I didn’t know when I took on Lake Placid was that it had already been turned down by all the studios so when it came time to put the movie together, it was a little more challenging than I originally thought it was going to be. That’s when I brought in Mike Medavoy and he really got this movie done for us. We started making the rounds again and eventually Fox ended up picking up the movie the second time. Mike then brought these French investors over to Stan’s shop to see the crocodile in action and Stan finished that thing up just in the nick of time. It ended up working out so perfectly though because Stan had the croc working perfectly where his jaws would open and close, his eyes and head were able to move around and he could move the other parts and shake him like he was attacking something. That’s what ended up impressing the investors and it’s because of Stan that we were able to finance Lake Placid. Had it not been for him or for Mike, we wouldn’t be talking about it now."[2]
Films
Lake Placid (1999)
A group attempts to destroy a giant, 30-foot-long man-eating crocodile, which terrorizes Black Lake, Maine.
Lake Placid 2 (2007)
In the sequel to the feature film, man-eating crocodiles return to the lake as two males and one aggressive female crocodile, which is protecting her nest, wreak havoc on the locals.
Lake Placid 3 (2010)
A game warden moves his family to Lake Placid, once the site of deadly crocodile attacks. Locals assure him the crocs are gone, but his mischievous young son finds a few baby crocs and begins feeding them. They quickly grow into very big adults and start attacking the game warden's family and nearby town.
Lake Placid: The Final Chapter (2012)
Reba the poacher is back, now an EPA agent. Black Lake is turned into a crocodile sanctuary surrounded by an electric fence. When the fence gets left open one night, a high-school field trip bus unknowingly enters the park. It's up to Reba and the sheriff to save the kids from becoming crocodile chow.
Lake Placid vs. Anaconda (2015)
In Black Lake, Maine, an accident allows the two giant species, crocodiles and anacondas to be regenerated and they escape towards Clear Lake. Now, Reba teams up with Tully to find his daughter Bethany and a group of sorority girls in a deadly match between the two creatures.
Lake Placid: Legacy (2018)
A group of young explorers discover a secret area hidden from all maps and GPS devices. When they reach the center of the lake, they discover an abandoned facility that houses one of the largest and deadliest apex-predators known to man. Rather than a sequel, Legacy is considered to be a stand-alone film, not connected to the previous films and the only film in the series to not feature or reference the Bickerman family, declaring it a reboot.
Cast and crew
Cast
| Character | Films | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Placid | Lake Placid 2 | Lake Placid 3 | Lake Placid: The Final Chapter |
Lake Placid vs. Anaconda |
Lake Placid: Legacy | ||
| 1999 | 2007 | 2010 | 2012 | 2015 | 2018 | ||
| Jack Wells | Bill Pullman | ||||||
| Kelly Scott | Bridget Fonda | ||||||
| Hector Cyr | Oliver Platt | ||||||
| Sheriff Hank Keough | Brendan Gleeson | ||||||
| Deputy Sharon Gare | Meredith Salenger | ||||||
| Sheriff James Riley | John Schneider | ||||||
| Emma Warner | Sarah Lafleur | ||||||
| Jack Struthers | Sam McMurray | ||||||
| Scott Riley | Chad Michael Collins | Flashback | |||||
| Kerri | Alicia Ziegler | Flashback | |||||
| Ahmad Andrews | Joe Holt | ||||||
| Thad Hyland | Ian Reed Kesler | ||||||
| Larry Willis | Justin Urich | ||||||
| Reba | Yancy Butler | ||||||
| Ellie | Kacey Clarke | ||||||
| Brett Willies | Mark Evans | ||||||
| Aaron Fitzgerald | Nils Hognestad | ||||||
| Tara Kendrick | Angelica Penn | ||||||
| Charlie Berman | Brian Landon | ||||||
| Sheriff Tony Willinger | Michael Ironside | ||||||
| Sheriff Theresa Giove | Elisabeth Röhm | ||||||
| Ryan Loflin | Paul Nicholls | ||||||
| Chloe Giove | Poppy Lee Friar | ||||||
| Max Loflin | Benedict Smith | ||||||
| Elaine Ford | Caroline Ford | ||||||
| Brittany Fanning | Scarlett Byrne | ||||||
| Drew | Daniel Black | ||||||
| Deputy Nermal | Jeff Stewart | ||||||
| Will "Tully" Tull | Corin Nemec | ||||||
| Bethany Tull | Skye Lourie | ||||||
| Sarah Murdoch | Annabel Wright | ||||||
| Beach | Stephen Billington | ||||||
| Tiffani Jones | Laura Dale | ||||||
| Margo | Ali Eagle | ||||||
| Deputy Ferguson | Oliver Walker | ||||||
| Jade | Katherine Barrell | ||||||
| Sam | Tim Rozon | ||||||
| Alice | Sai Bennett | ||||||
| Henderson | Joe Pantoliano | ||||||
| The Bickermans | |||||||
| Delores Bickerman | Betty White | Photograph | Mentioned | ||||
| Sadie Bickerman | Cloris Leachman | Flashback and photograph | Mentioned and photograph | ||||
| Nathan Bickerman | Colin Ferguson | Mentioned | |||||
| Susan Bickerman | Kirsty Mitchell | ||||||
| Connor Bickerman | Jordan Grehs | ||||||
| Jim Bickerman | Robert Englund | ||||||
Crew
| Role | Film | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Placid | Lake Placid 2 | Lake Placid 3 | Lake Placid: The Final Chapter |
Lake Placid vs. Anaconda | Lake Placid: Legacy | |
| 1999 | 2007 | 2010 | 2012 | 2015 | 2018 | |
| Director | Steve Miner | David Flores | Griff Furst | Don Michael Paul | A. B. Stone | Darrell Roodt |
| Producer(s) | David E. Kelley Michael Pressman Peter Bogart |
Jeffery Beach Phillip Roth |
Lance Samuels | |||
| Writer(s) | David E. Kelley | Todd Hurvitz Howie Miller |
David Reed | Screenplay by Berkeley Anderson |
Screenplay by Johnathon Lloyd Walker Story by Johnathon Lloyd Walker Matt Venables Jeremy Smith | |
| Composer | John Ottman | Nathan Furst | Frederik Wiedmann | Claude Foisy | James Matthes Andries Smit | |
| Editor | Paul Hirsch Marshall Harvey |
John Quinn | Matt Michael | John Quinn | Cameron Hallenbeck | Christopher Minns |
| Cinematographer | Daryn Okada | Lorenzo Senatore | Anton Bakarski | Martin Chichov | Ivo Peitchev | Trevor Calverley |
| Production companies | Phoenix Pictures | Sci-Fi Pictures | Stage 6 Films UFO International |
UFO International | UFO International Destination Films |
Destination Films Blue Ice Pictures Out of Africa Entertainment |
| Distributor | 20th Century Fox | 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment Sony Pictures Home Entertainment |
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment | |||
| Release date | July 16, 1999 | April 28, 2007 | August 21, 2010 | September 29, 2012 | April 25, 2015 | May 28, 2018 |
| Running time | 82 minutes | 88 minutes | 96 minutes | 90 minutes | 92 minutes | 93 minutes |
Reception
Critical and public response
| Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | CinemaScore |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Placid | 46% (93 reviews)[3] | 34 (25 reviews)[4] | C[5] |
| Lake Placid 2 | 14% (7 reviews)[6] | ||
Other media
Video games
Lake Placid: Croc Drop is an interactive game produced in 1999 to promote the film Lake Placid from the same year.[7]
Lake Placid 2: Croc Alley is an interactive game produced in 2007 to promote the film Lake Placid 2 from the same year.[8][9][10]
References
- https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/lake-placid-building-30-foot-animatronic-crocodile
- https://dailydead.com/stan-winston-week-celebrating-lake-placid-director-steve-miner-exclusive-photo-gallery/
- "Lake Placid (1999)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
- "Lake Placid Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
- "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com.
- "Lake Placid 2 (2007)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
- http://dinosaurdracula.com/blog/deadsites-lake-placid/
- http://www.gungames.net/game/lake-placid-2-croc-alley.html
- http://www.g9g.name/Lake_Placid_2_Croc_Alley.html
- http://www.gamesloon.com/free-action-1/bloody-games-32/lake-placid-2-croc-alley-2366.html
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