Smallfoot (Centropolis Version)

Smallfoot is a 2003 American computer-animated epic fantasy action horror film produced by Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Centropolis Entertainment, and Cartoon Network Studios and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and Columbia Pictures. Based on the unpublished children's book Yeti Tracks by Sergio Pablos, the film was directed by Roland Emmerich, Tim Burton, and Jerry Bruckheimer and co-written by Dean Devlin and Karey Kirkpatrick, and stars the voices of Matthew Broderick, Dave Foley, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ian McShane, Craig Robinson, Sandy Duncan, Don Rickles, Annie Golden, Steve Vinovich, Tim Carry, Bill Hader and Jimmy Tatro. The plot follows a tribe of Himalayan Yeti who come across a human being, with each species thinking the other was just a myth.

Smallfoot was theatrically released in the United States on May 27, 2003. It received a mostly positive reception from critics and grossed over $214 million at the box office.

Plot
A village of Yetis lives in isolation on the top of a mountain in the Himalayas, above the clouds and hidden away from sight. Migo is a yeti who abides by the law of the ancient stones held by the Stonekeeper, the yetis' leader. Migo's father, Dorgle, projects himself through the air each morning to hit a gong with his head, as the yetis believe this wakes up the sun. While learning how to ring the gong, Migo is distracted by the Stonekeeper's daughter, Meechee, whom he has a crush on, and misses the gong, landing outside the village. There, Migo witnesses a plane crash and finds a "smallfoot" (human), whom the yetis believe is mythical. Migo runs back to inform the villagers, but his evil archrival Drake, a robotic yeti and Whiskers, a puffin both said to always get his way, similarly lacks proof, and Stonekeeper claims he is lying and banishes him from the village. Migo is suddenly visited by rejected yetis Gwangi, Kolka, and Fleem, who do not believe in the stones, and bring him to the Smallfoot Evidentiary Society (S.E.S.), which is led by Meechee. She convinces Migo to travel below the clouds despite the stones telling them that there is nothing underneath. After some hesitation, Migo agrees to go, When Drake and Whiskers demands Migo to snap the rope, Migo refuses and Drake snap his rope and Migo falls, where he discovers land.

Percy Patterson is a British human filmmaker of wildlife documentaries who has lost most of his viewership. He meets the pilot who saw Migo, and in an attempt to regain his fame, tries unsuccessfully to convince his assistant, Brenda, to dress up as a yeti for filming. Migo arrives and unknowingly scares Percy when trying to communicate with him. Yeti speech sounds like loud growls and roars to human ears, while human speech sounds like indecipherable tiny babbling and small squeaks to yeti ears. When Migo inadvertently terrifies Percy by his attempted communication, Percy attempts to shoot Migo with a tranquilizer dart. However the errant dart ends up hitting Percy, rendering him temporarily unconscious. Migo then decides to abduct the unconscious Percy by stuffing him into a sleeping bag that he straps to his chest for the return trip home.

During the long trek back up the mountain, Migo and Percy encounter a severe blizzard which blows them into a nearby cave. Migo discovers that Percy has frozen completely solid. He quickly lights a fire and ties Percy up over a fire to thaw him out and save his life. As Percy regains consciousness, he believes that Migo is trying to cook him alive. Percy breaks free from the rope and proceeds to film and upload a cell phone video of Migo while narrating that the yeti is threatening to eat him, before attempting to escape. While chasing after Percy, Migo's toe becomes ensnared in a bear trap and Percy takes pity on Migo by removing the trap and bandaging his wound. Realizing that the yeti is trying to communicate with him, but Migo eventually finds Drake, and finds out that Drake had to scribbles on her cave wall. Drake and Migo fight at each other, but the former ends up knocking Migo out and, thinking he won. however, Migo regains his confidence and fights Drake back by doing martial arts and initially defeats him. Percy agrees to go with Migo and they head back up the mountain overnight, where they reunite with the S.E.S. the next morning.

The yetis are confused by Percy's appearance, but happily embrace him and learn about his culture, much to Stonekeeper's dismay. Later, Stonekeeper takes Migo inside the palace and reveals the truth: yetis used to live below the clouds, but were forced into hiding by the vicious humans who mercilessly attacked them. To keep themselves safe, the yetis created the stones, and the clouds are actually steam made by the yetis' daily tasks to keep them hidden from the humans below. Meanwhile, Meechee is able to develop a rudimentary line of communication with Percy by referring to crude chalk drawings that Drake scribbles on her cave wall. In order to protect the yeti village, Migo agrees to continue Stonekeeper's lie by telling the yetis that Percy, who is now experiencing altitude sickness, is just a hairless wild yak. Stonekeeper takes Percy and locks him in an ice box, so Percy will be unable to alert other humans of the yetis' whereabouts. Migo later discovers that Meechee took Percy away to return him home, and jumps down the mountain with Gwangi and Kolka following suit.

Percy recovers and discovers that his video of Migo has generated significant public excitement, but then notices that Meechee has become distracted by the wonders of Kathmandu and accidentally causes a public disruption. Meechee is attacked by the police, but is rescued by Gwangi, Kolka and Migo. As Migo tries to explain to Meechee that humans are monsters, they see a mural depicting a yeti attacking people and realize that humans view them as monsters. The yetis try to make it back to the mountain, but are chased by a SWAT helicopter that Stonekeeper takes down using his stones. Migo attempts to divert the police away from the other yetis, when Percy arrives on his snowmobile and shoots Migo with a tranquilizer gun to protect him. The police capture Drake and Whiskers to forced a ship to the zoo.

Back at the village, inside the palace, Migo explains the truth to the yetis and apologizes for lying to them. He tells the others that even though humans may still be scared of the yetis, they should try to communicate with them. The yetis leave the village, and when Percy and Brenda notice them, they emerge from the crowd and stand up for the yetis. The rest of the humans slowly welcome the yetis and accept them into their lives.

in mid-credit scene, Drake and Whiskers is caged on the ship called "Misery", which transports to a zoo that both as slaves.

Cast

 * Matthew Broderick as Migo, a young male yeti who is determined to prove the existence of the Smallfoot.
 * Dave Folery as Percy Patterson, a British human filmmaker of wildlife documentaries trying to get back in the spotlight, who becomes Migo's Smallfoot best friend.
 * Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Meechee, a young female yeti, the Stonekeeper's daughter, Thorp's younger sister, the leader of S.E.S., and Migo's love interest.
 * Ian McShane as Stonekeeper, the condescending yeti chief and father of Thorp and Meechee.
 * Craig Robinson as Gwangi, a large purple male yeti who is part of the S.E.S.
 * Sandy Duncan as Kolka, a female yeti who is part of the S.E.S.
 * Don Rickles as Dorgle, a short male yeti who is the village gong ringer and Migo's widowed father.
 * Annie Golden as Brenda, Percy's morally conscious assistant, who does not believe in yetis until the end of the film.
 * Steve Vinovich as Fleem, a small male yeti who is part of the S.E.S.
 * Tim Carry as Drake, a white and dark-hearted robotic yeti, who wants to scribbles on her cave wall.
 * Bill Hader as Whiskers, a white and black puffin, who is the Drake's sidekick.
 * Jimmy Tatro as Thorp, a slow-witted male yeti who is the Stonekeeper's son and Meechee's older brother.
 * Tara Strong as Mama Bear, a himalayan brown bear Migo and Percy encounter in a cave while waiting out a blizzard. In the UK release, the part of Mama Bear was performed by Emma Bunton.
 * Jack Black as Garry, a paranoid male yeti.
 * Will Smith as Pilot, a human airplane pilot who crashes on the mountain and who Migo first meets.

Production
The idea for the film came when Emmerich and Devlin were promoting their film Godzilla. A reporter asked Emmerich why he made a film with content like Godzilla if he did not believe in monster. Emmerich stated he was still fascinated by the idea of an Himalayan Yeti who come across a human being, with each species thinking the other was just a myth. Emmerich then turned to Devlin and said, "I think I have an idea for our next film."

The concept for Smallfoot was in development before directors Tim Burton and Jerry Bruckheimer joined the project in September 1999; he viewed an animatic in which Percy was a "ski bum type" with no motivation on his personality in the first drafts of the script and repetitive gag lines, and so they added more elements in his later revisions by giving arc and depth to his character. Emmerich, Burton, and Bruckheimer also said Meechee was undeveloped, and she was made head of the S.E.S. in rewrites.

On May 11, 2001, it was announced that the film was in-production with Matthew Broderick, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Sandy Duncan providing the lead voice roles. Steve Vinovich and Tim Carry was originally hired as a scratch vocal for the film four years before its release, however was later invited to join the cast and subsequently voiced Fleem and Drake in the final product. The film was animated by Sony Pictures Imageworks, who had also provided animation for the Paramount's The Ghost and the Darkness, and utilized Autodesk Maya for the animation process. Ryan O'Loughlin, a DreamWorks Animation veteran, was originally the film's director with Emmerich, but was replaced by Burton and Bruckheimer.

Release
While the film was still in post-production, Fox began a massive marketing campaign to help promote the film, beginning with the airing of a dramatic commercial during Super Bowl XXXVII, for which it paid $1.3 million. The film's subsequent success at the box office resulted in the trend of using Super Bowl air time to kick off the advertising campaign for potential blockbusters.

Warner Bros. and Sony entered into co-promotional deals with Apple Inc. The co-marketing project was dubbed "The Power to Save the World" campaign, in which the company used footage of David using his PowerBook laptop in their print and television advertisements. Trendmasters entered a merchandising deal with the film's producers to create a line of tie-in toys. In exchange for product placement, Warner Bros. and Sony also entered into co-promotional deals with Molson Coors Brewing Compan and Burger King.

The film was marketed with several taglines, including: "Behind every smallfoot. On May 27, we is a great myth lie" and "Migo take a good luck. It could be your last" and a series of posters in Los Angeles advertising the cast of the film with phrases such as "Mary Elizabeth Winstead is Meechee", turned into a minor Internet meme (in a short song by Gabriel Gundacker).

The film had its premiere in the United States on May 27, 2003.

Reception
Smallfoot was the highest-grossing film of 2003, beating other blockbusters of that year such as X2: X-Men United, Finding Nemo, The Haunted Mansion, and Brother Bear In the United States and Canada, it earned $104.3 million in its opening week, including $96.1 million during its five-day holiday opening, and $50.2 million during its opening weekend. All three figures broke records set by Spider-Man three years earlier. claimed all three records when it was released the following year. Smallfoot stayed in the number-one spot for three consecutive weeks and grossed $306,169,268 in the United States and Canada and $511,231,623 in other territories during its theatrical run. The combined worldwide total of $817,400,891 came second only to the worldwide earnings of Spider-Man as the highest of all time. The film grossed a record $10.5 million in its opening weekend in Germany. Box Office Mojo estimates that the film sold over 69.26 million tickets in the US and Canada.Hoping to capitalize on the film's success, several studios released large-scale action horror films, and the already rising interest in science fiction-related media was further increased by the film's popularity.

Television series
Smallfoot: The Animated Series is an computer-animated series produced by Warner Bros. Television Studios, Sony Pictures Television, Cartoon Network Studios, Centropolis Television, Jerry Bruckheimer Television. Sony Pictures Imageworks provides the animation.

Smallfoot: The Animated Series was premiered on July 3, 2004 and ended on September 6, 2008 on Cartoon Network.

Popular culture
Migo make cameo appearance in Cartoon Network's ''OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes special "Crossover Nexus"''. Migo is seen as both stone and watch cameo.