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Richie Rich (film)

Richie Rich is a 1994 American comedy film directed by Donald Petrie and based on the comic character of the same name created by Alfred Harvey and Warren Kremer. The film was distributed by Warner Bros. under their Warner Bros. Family Entertainment label. The film stars Macaulay Culkin (in his final film as a child actor until he began work as an adult actor in 2003), John Larroquette, Edward Herrmann, Jonathan Hyde, and Christine Ebersole, while Reggie Jackson, Claudia Schiffer, and Ben Stein appear in cameo roles. Culkin's younger brother, Rory Culkin, played the part of Young Richie Rich. In theaters, the film was shown with a Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner cartoon called Chariots of Fur, and was followed by the 1998 direct-to-video sequel Richie Rich's Christmas Wish.

Plot

Richard "Richie" Rich, Jr. is "the world's richest boy", living in Chicago with his billionaire parents Richard Sr. and Regina. Under the care of his loyal butler Herbert Cadbury, scientist Professor Keenbean, and his dog Dollar, Richie enjoys a luxurious but lonely life. At his father's reopening of the local United Tool factory, Richie sees union rep Diane Koscinski's daughter Gloria and her friends playing sandlot ball, and later tries to befriend them.

Lawrence Van Dough, the greedy CFO of Rich Industries, plots with head of security Ferguson to kill the Riches and steal their fortune, believed to be stored in the family's secret vault. As the Riches prepare to leave Chicago to visit Elizabeth II in England, Ferguson plants a bomb among their gifts for the Queen's birthday. Cadbury convinces Regina to let Richie stay home instead, and arranges for a day of fun with the sandlot kids, accompanied by Diane. Though initially bribed by Cadbury, the kids decline the money after genuinely having fun with Richie.

Flying the plane themselves, Richard and Regina discover the bomb just before it explodes, crashing the plane into the ocean. Stranded on a life raft, Richie's parents are presumed dead, and Van Dough takes control of Rich Industries. He attempts to close the factory, prompting Richie to assume leadership of the company himself, with Cadbury as his legal guardian and business proxy. Determined to seize the Riches' fortune, Van Dough has Cadbury framed for the bomb and arrested, and subsequently petitions successfully to take over as Richie's legal guardian. He then regains control of Rich Industries removing Richie as the company's leader, evicts the rest of the Rich family servants, and installs his own security team at Rich Manor to keep Richie prisoner.

Overhearing Van Dough's plan to have Cadbury killed in jail, Professor Keenbean warns Richie, who sneaks out and rescues Cadbury. They enlist the help of Gloria and Diane, while Van Dough and Ferguson threaten Keenbean into revealing that the family vault requires a voice-activated code from Richard and Regina. At sea, Richard manages to repair his "Dadlink", a device allowing Richie to track him anywhere in the world. Using Gloria's computer, Richie finds the Dadlink's signal, but Ferguson intercepts the coordinates and captures Richard and Regina.

Richie and Gloria rally the sandlot kids to break into Rich Manor with Cadbury and Diane, using Keenbean's inventions against Van Dough's men. Unfortunately Richie and Cadbury find out that the Dadlink reveals that Richard and Regina are in Richie's room, and Van Dough and Ferguson anticipated their arrival. Meanwhile one of Van Dough's men named Nash captures Diane, Gloria, Pee-Wee, Omar, and Tony outside. Van Dough forces Richard and Regina to take him to the vault, while Ferguson and Nash forces Richie, Cadbury, Diane, Gloria, Pee-Wee, Omar, and Tony into the molecular reorganizer. Ferguson and Nash's plan to turn them into bedpans was thwarted by Professor Keenbean thanks to him getting Nash stuck to his invention of Cementia on the steps, and knocking a blinded Ferguson out with help from his invention Robobee. Richie manages to take a bag of Keenbean's inventions to save Richard and Regina.

Holding Richard and Regina at gunpoint, Van Dough is led to the vault hidden within "Mount Richmore", their gigantic mountainside family portrait. Inside, he is furious and outraged to discover no money (which is actually in multiple banks, the stock market, real estate, and insurance companies), but what the Riches actually value most: treasured family mementos and heirlooms. Richie confronts Van Dough, who shoots him, but the bullets prove harmless thanks to Keenbean's bulletproof spray. Van Dough pursues the Riches down the side of the mountain. The Rich Family gets under attack by lasers shot from an angry Ferguson. Cadbury follows Ferguson and they had a bad fight which Ferguson manages to win at first, but Cadbury manages to regain consciousness and takes out Ferguson on the head with a concrete picture of Regina, keeping the Rich family safe. Cadbury fires a laser at Van Dough, and Van Dough was hanging on upside down for dear life. Although Richard doesn't like firing staff, he allows Richie to fire Van Dough and Regina punches him in the face.

Days later, Richie plays baseball with Gloria and his new friends for the United Tool team on Rich Manor's yard, coached by Cadbury, who shares a kiss with Diane. Van Dough and Ferguson serve as the manor's gardeners as part of their work release, while Richard and Regina are overjoyed that Richie has finally found what money cannot buy: friends.

Cast

Macaulay Culkin as Richie Rich
- Rory Culkin as Young Richie Rich
- Peter Lampley as Baby Richie Rich
John Larroquette as Laurence Van Dough - the greedy CFO of Rich Enterprises, who plots to steal the Rich family fortune.
Edward Herrmann as Richard Rich Sr - the father of Richie.
Jonathan Hyde as Herbert Arthur Runcible Cadbury - the Rich family's trustworthy butler.
Christine Ebersole as Regina Rich - the mother of Richie.
Stephi Lineburg as Gloria Koscinski - the best friend of Richie.
Michael McShane as Professor Keenbean - a brilliant inventor who works for Rich Industries.
Mariangela Pino as Diane Koscinski - the mother of Gloria.
Chelcie Ross as Ferguson - the Rich family's rude and tough security chief, who plots with Van Dough to usurp the Rich empire.
Michael Maccarone as Tony
Joel Robinson as Omar
Jonathan Hilario as Pee Wee
Reggie Jackson as himself - Richie's private baseball coach.
Matt DeCaro as Dave Walter - the plant manager for United Tool.
Claudia Schiffer as herself - Richie's private aerobics instructor.
Ben Stein as Economics Teacher
Sean A. Tate as Reynolds
Joel Ellegant as Ellsworth
Justin Zaremby as Reginald
Eddie Bo Smith as Ambler

Production

Though set in Chicago, the house and grounds at which most of Richie Rich is filmed are those of the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. Some scenes, however, are filmed in Chicago, including a fencing scene filmed at DePaul University's Cortelyou Commons & the Ravenswood Manor neighborhood including the Francisco stop on the CTA Brown line. The roller coaster in the backyard is the former stand-up roller coaster Iron Wolf at Six Flags Great America. In contrast to the famous publication and animated series, a few characters are eliminated to accommodate the film: among them are Irona the robot maid.

Data East was one of few regular pinball companies that manufactured custom pinball games e.g. for the film Richie Rich. This pinball machine was based on The Who's Tommy Pinball Wizard machine.

Reception

The film has been met with mixed reception. A Los Angeles Times reviewer praised the actors' portrayal of characters in the film. Roger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4 stars saying he was surprised how much he enjoyed it and said that though it was not the greatest film, he liked that it had style and did not go for cheap payoffs. Richie Rich earned a Razzie Award nomination for Macaulay Culkin as Worst Actor for his performance in the film (also for Getting Even with Dad and The Pagemaster) but lost the award to Kevin Costner for Wyatt Earp.

Richie Rich received a 26% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 23 reviews, with an average rating of 4.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "With Macaulay Culkin barely registering any emotion, Richie Rich feels disjointed and free of a sense of fun and wonderment." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 49 out of 100 based on 17 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.

The film grossed $38 million at the box office in the United States and Canada and the same internationally for a worldwide total of $76 million on a $40 million budget. It was an even bigger home video success, with $125 million in VHS rentals and, as of April 1997, $44.2 million in retail sales, the studio receiving 75%.