Foodfight!


Foodfight! is a 2012 American animated adventure comedy film co-produced and directed by Lawrence Kasanoff, who wrote the screenplay with Brent Friedman, Rebecca Swanson and Sean Catherine Derek from a story Kasanoff conceived with Joshua Wexler. The film features the voices of Charlie Sheen, Wayne Brady, Hilary Duff, Eva Longoria, Larry Miller, and Christopher Lloyd. Foodfight! takes place in the "Marketropolis" supermarket, which, after closing time, transforms into a city inhabited by "Ikes", personifications of well-known food mascots. The story follows a cereal brand mascot, Dex Dogtective, who, along with his best friend Daredevil Dan, join forces with their fellow "Ikes" to fight against the forces of the evil Brand X, who threaten to take over the entire supermarket.
After raising tens of millions of dollars in funding, Foodfight! had a troubled and much-delayed production. The film was originally scheduled for a Christmas 2003 theatrical release; however, this failed to materialize, and later planned release dates in 2005 and 2007 were also missed. By September 2011, after the producers defaulted on a loan, creditors auctioned off the film's assets and all associated rights to Fireman's Fund Insurance Company.
In 2012, the film had a modest release, being direct-to-video in most territories. Its critical reception was overwhelmingly negative, with most criticism directed towards the animation, humor, story and excessive product placement. It has often been discussed as one of the worst films of all time.

Plot

When night falls at the supermarket Marketropolis, the store products' mascots come to life and interact with each other. Heroic cereal mascot Dex Dogtective is about to propose to his girlfriend Sunshine Goodness, a raisin mascot, but she goes missing just before he is able to do so.
Six months later, a Brand X representative named Mr. Clipboard arrives at Marketropolis and aggressively pushes Brand X's range of generic products to Leonard, the store's manager. In the world of the Ikes, the arrival of Lady X, the seductive Brand X detergent Ike, causes a commotion at Dex's club, the Copabanana.
Brand X products begin to replace previous products, which is mirrored in the Ikes' world with the deaths of several Ikes. After Dex's friend Daredevil Dan, a chocolate squirrel, disappears, Dex begins to investigate. After rebuffing Lady X's attempts to bring him to Brand X's side, Dex is locked in a dryer with Dan to be melted, but the two manage to escape. Dan and Dex find out that Brand X contains an addictive and toxic secret ingredient.
Dex and Dan attempt to initiate a product recall with Leonard's computer, but a Brand X Ike cuts power just as they send the message. Dex then rallies the citizens of Marketropolis to fight the armies of Brand X in a massive food fight. The citizens win the battle by using the supermarket's electricity.
Dex rescues Sunshine, who had been held hostage in the Brand X tower, and escapes with the help of Dan. Mr. Clipboard then enters the Ikes' world, but he is taken down by Dex, who discovers that he is a robot controlled by Lady X. Lady X reveals that she had previously been the hideous Ike of an unsuccessful brand of prunes, and had been stealing Sunshine's essence to create a new brand. Dex and Sunshine defeat her, reverting her to her original form. With Brand X defeated and a cure found that revives the killed Ikes, Dex and Sunshine finally get married.

Cast

Along with many licensed characters, the principal characters of the film are original characters.
Additional voices are provided by Melissa Disney, Jennifer Keith, Bob Bergen, Susan Silo, Daniel Bernhardt, Jeff Bennett, Stephen Stanton, James Arnold Taylor, and John Bloom.

Soundtrack

Foodfight! had an extensive soundtrack built mostly of cover versions of well-known contemporary songs and original songs sung by the characters' voice actors, provided by a variety of licensing companies. The film's end credits overlay soundtrack, an upbeat duet pop song titled "The Brightside" by Tif McMillin and Richard Page, was an original song.
"It's Our World"


"Tonight's the Nite"
  • Written by Neil Jason and J. Davis


"Dare The Day"
  • Performed by Wayne Brady
  • Written by Michael Lloyd and Greg O'Connor


"I Heard it Through the Grapevine"


"Wow!"
  • Performed by Good Grief featuring Shanna Crooks
  • Written by Keith Ridenour, Bud Tower, Douglas Shawe and Wayne Hood


"You Are My Sunshine"
"Honor is Ours"
  • Performed by The Swamp Daddys
  • Written by Keith Ridenour, Dean Madonia and Scott Avery


"Brand X"
  • Performed by Jeff Bennett
  • Written by Lawrence Kasanoff


"USDA"
  • Written by Lawrence Kasanoff


"Fire in the Skies"
  • Written by Janey Street, Charles English and Pam Wolfe


"The Brightside"
  • Performed by Tif McMillin and Richard Page
  • Written by Janey Street and Vince Melamed


"You Got Me Believing"


"Hava Nagilah"
  • Adapted by Michael Lloyd and John D'Andrea

    Production

Conception

Lawrence Kasanoff and a Threshold Entertainment employee, Joshua Wexler, created the concept in 1997. A $25 million joint investment into the project was made by Threshold and the Korean investment company Natural Image, with the producers expecting that foreign pre-sales and loans against the sales would provide the remaining portion of the budget. The estimated remainder was $50 million. Kasanoff also decided to produce and direct the film, despite having no prior experience in the animation field. Kasanoff had hoped that the movie would kickstart a franchise with similar scenarios including Arcade and Mascots.

Production setbacks

The film was created and produced by the digital effects shop at Threshold, located in Santa Monica, California in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. In December 2002, Kasanoff reported that hard drives containing most unfinished assets from the film had been stolen, in what he called an act of "industrial espionage" and "an incredibly complex crime". Kasanoff stated that an investigation, which involved the United States Secret Service, was unable to find the perpetrator. However, those who worked on the film did not recall this happening, with one assistant claiming that the original hard drives were saved and stored properly and believed that Kasanoff was simply not satisfied with them. A behind-the-scenes showreel Kasanoff put together to entice investors is the only significant surviving footage of the original incarnation of the film. The film was supposed to be computer-animated, with an exaggerated use of "squash and stretch" to resemble the Looney Tunes shorts, but after production resumed in 2004, Kasanoff changed it to a style more centered in motion capture, with the result being that "he and animators were speaking two different languages".
Kasanoff's haphazard micromanaging and misunderstanding of animation frustrated the crew, made more difficult due to his insistence of bringing his pet dogs into the studio, one of whom was difficult to maintain. Kasanoff also reportedly requested a nude 3D render of Lady X which he would admire during his off-time, and could not understand why animators trained exclusively in texturing could not work on other aspects of the film. As production progressed, several brands that had granted permission to appear in the film backed out, including Cheetos and M&M's. Allegedly, the latter was displeased with how the M&M characters were to be portrayed; the animators had mistakenly rendered the Green M&M, a female mascot, as male within the footage shown to company representatives.

Delays

established a distribution deal and the financing company StoryArk represented investors who gave $20 million in funding to Threshold in 2005 due to the Lionsgate deal, the celebrity voice actors, and the product tie-ins. A release date in 2005 was later announced, but missed. Another distribution deal was struck in 2007, but again, nothing came of it. Lionsgate had a negative reaction to the delays. The investors had grown impatient due to the film production company defaulting on its secured promissory note and the release dates that were not met.