We Bought A Zoo (DVD)

We Bought a Zoo is a 2011 American family comedy-drama film loosely based on the 2008 memoir of the same name by Benjamin Mee. It was co-written and directed by Cameron Crowe and stars Matt Damon as widowed father Benjamin Mee, who purchases a dilapidated zoo with his family and takes on the challenge of preparing the zoo for its reopening to the public. The film also stars Scarlett Johansson, Maggie Elizabeth Jones, Thomas Haden Church, Patrick Fugit, Elle Fanning, Colin Ford, and John Michael Higgins.

We Bought A Zoo was released in the United States on December 21, 2011 by 20th Century Fox. The film earned $120.1 million on a $50 million budget. We Bought a Zoo was released on DVD and Blu-ray on April 3, 2012 by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. Dartmoor Zoological Park (originally Dartmoor Wildlife Park), on which the film is based, is a 33-acre zoological garden located near the village of Sparkwell, Devon, England.

Plot

Benjamin Mee has been grieving the loss of his wife, Katherine, for seven months. When his 14-year-old son Dylan is expelled from school, Benjamin realizes that the family s current situation is not working, they are all grieving, and everything around them reminds them of Katherine. Bejnamin decides to make a fresh start, starting with a new home.

He tours many homes with his 7-year-old daughter, Rosie, and their realtor, Mr. Stevens, but find none to their liking until Rosie sees a listing for a large old house. Mr. Stevens tries to dissuade them from considering it, but as they tour the grounds, Benjamin declares that it s perfect . Stevens explains that if they want the house, then they must also buy the zoo on the property which closed several years before. Benjamin, seeing Rosie playing happily with the peacocks, resolves to buy the zoo.

Dylan, frustrated by the idea of moving away from his friends, retreats into his art. Benjamin s brother, Duncan, tries to discourage him from the purchase, but he buys it anyway.

The zoo staff, led by head keeper Kelly Foster, start making renovations to reopen the zoo to the public. When Kelly asks Benjamin why he bought the zoo despite knowing nothing about zoo management, he simply responds, Why not? Meanwhile, Dylan is very unhappy and misses his friends, causing him to retreat further into his art. He is soon befriended by Kelly s 13-year-old homeschooled cousin, Lily, who develops a crush on him.

Walter Ferris, a strict USDA inspector, arrives for a surprise visit and makes a list of repairs that would cost over $100,000. Benjamin cannot afford the repairs and gossip spreads that he will probably sell the zoo. The staff s morale sinks, fearing the property will be sold to a buyer that will close it down. Dylan is overjoyed when Lily tells him the rumor about his family leaving, which hurts her feelings.

Benjamin learns that Katherine bequeathed him an investment account with instructions to use the money wisely while listening to his heart. Duncan advises him to walk away and start over with the money, but Benjamin decides to use the money for the repairs.

Dylan, unhappy about having to stay, confronts his father and they have a heated argument. They reconcile the next morning and Dylan admits he misses Lily. Benjamin tells Dylan his favorite motto: that you only need 20 seconds of courage for something great to happen. Benjamin realizes that instead of trying to start over by forgetting his wife, he should accept that she will always be a part of him. Dylan, following his father s advice, confesses his love to Lily, and she forgives him.

Prior to the zoo s grand opening, the facility passes a stringent inspection by Ferris, who grudgingly wishes them good luck. They learn that the worst rainstorm in 100 years may wash out the zoo s grand opening. Fortunately, the weather clears by the morning of the grand opening, but they are disappointed when it appears that no one is visiting.

Dylan discovers that a fallen tree has blocked the access road with a large crowd of visitors waiting behind it. The staff help everyone climb over the tree, and the attendance is so high that they run out of tickets. Benjamin and Kelly set out to find more and end up face to face in a shed, where Kelly admits that she has a crush on Benjamin and they kiss.

Benjamin takes Dylan and Rosie to the restaurant where he met Katherine. He tells them the story of how he worked up the nerve to approach her table with 20 seconds of insane courage. He visualizes her at the table, and asks why such an amazing woman would talk to someone like him. She responds, Why not?

Cast

• Matt Damon as Benjamin Mee, the father of Dylan and Rosie Mee, the owner of the zoo and the love interest of Kelly Foster, who is trying to restart his life after the death of his first wife, Katherine.
• Scarlett Johansson as Kelly Foster, the 28-year-old lead long-time zookeeper at Rosemoor Animal Park who is Benjamin s love interest and is a mother figure to Dylan and Rosie.
• Thomas Haden Church as Duncan Mee, Benjamin s older brother and an accountant and Dylan and Rosie s uncle
• Colin Ford as Dylan Mee, Benjamin s 14-year-old son, who is initially drawn to Lily and eventually develops feelings for her and has a strained and rough relationship with his father.
• Maggie Elizabeth Jones as Rosie Mee, Benjamin s 7-year-old daughter and Dylan s younger sister, who is very curious about all of the animals in the zoo and thinks living at a zoo is a grand adventure.
• Elle Fanning as Lily Miska, the 13-year old home-schooled cousin of Kelly and worker at the zoo s restaurant who lives within the zoo. Although she is too young to legally work, she is paid under the table out of her cousin s salary. She likes Dylan, who is at first unaware of this fact.
• Patrick Fugit as Robin Jones; the zoo s craftsman and Crystal the Monkey s owner.
• John Michael Higgins as Walter Walt Ferris, a strict zoo inspector who earns the dislike of many people, especially Peter MacCreedy.
• Angus Macfadyen as Peter MacCreedy, the carpenter of the zoo who had made many innovative enclosures for the zoo, and he claims that his ideas were stolen by Walter Ferris. Because of this, he has a huge and violent grudge against Walter.
• Carla Gallo as Rhonda Blair, the secretary and bookkeeper of the zoo.
• J. B. Smoove as Mr. Stevens, the Mee family s real estate agent.
• Stéphanie Szostak as Katherine Mee, the deceased wife of Benjamin Mee and mother of Dylan and Rosie Mee.
• Desi Lydic as Shea Seger, a woman with an obvious crush on Benjamin who always brings him lasagna.
• Peter Riegert as Delbert McGinty, Benjamin s boss before he starts over .
• Michael Panes as the principal of Dylan and Rosie s school.
• Dustin Ybarra as Nathan
• Kym Whitley as Eve the Home Depot Clerk.
• Crystal the Monkey as Herself.
• Bart / Tank the Bear as Buster, a grizzly bear.
• Taylor Cerza as Zoo Patron (credited as Taylor Victoria)

Production

The zoo scenes were filmed at Greenfield Ranch in Hidden Valley, Thousand Oaks, California, where a zoo was erected for the filming.

Development

In May 2010, Cameron Crowe agreed to direct the 20th Century Fox adaptation of Benjamin Mee s memoir We Bought a Zoo. He then began rewriting the film s script, which was originally written by Aline Brosh McKenna. This was the first narrative film that was directed by Crowe since the 2005 film Elizabethtown. The film was released on December 21, 2011.

Casting

Crowe traveled to the set of the film True Grit to persuade actor Matt Damon to take on the role of the lead character in the film. Crowe also presented a script of the film, a CD of songs that Crowe burned himself of live versions of classic songs, and a copy of the 1983 film Local Hero, with instructions to not just read the script and make a decision . Damon was persuaded to play the role after he was moved by the music and found that Local Hero was a masterpiece . As for Crowe himself, he had already decided on Damon halfway through their meeting, though the distributor Fox still had a shortlist of candidates to play this role.

Soundtrack

In August 2011, it was announced that Icelandic musician Jón Þór Jónsi Birgisson, the lead singer of the band Sigur Rós, would be composing the music scores for We Bought a Zoo. Director Crowe described the choice as only natural , since Jónsi has been a part of the making of We Bought A Zoo from the very beginning .

The song Gathering Stories was on the shortlist of 39 songs that have a chance of being nominated for Best Original Song Oscar at the 84th Academy Awards. This song was co-written by Jonsi Birgisson and Cameron Crowe.

While the official CD release of the movie soundtrack only includes music by Jón Þór Jónsi Birgisson and Sigur Rós, the complete soundtrack of the film included a variety of artists.

Track listing

No.	Title	Artist(s)	Length
1.	Why Not?	Jónsi	4:49
2.	Ævin Endar	Jónsi	3:32
3.	Boy Lilikoi	Jónsi	4:29
4.	Sun	Jónsi	1:50
5.	Brambles	Jónsi	2:24
6.	Sinking Friendships	Jónsi	4:42
7.	We Bought a Zoo	Jónsi	4:21
8.	Hoppípolla	Sigur Rós	4:30
9.	Snærisendar	Jónsi	2:43
10.	Sink Ships	Jónsi	2:21
11.	Go Do	Jónsi	4:41
12.	Whole Made of Pieces	Jónsi	2:47
13.	Humming	Jónsi	2:33
14.	First Day	Jónsi	1:40
15.	Gathering Stories	Jónsi	3:56
Total length:			51:12

Film tracks not on album

• Don t Come Around Here No More – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
• Do It Clean – Echo & the Bunnymen
• Airline to Heaven – Wilco
• Don t Be Shy – Cat Stevens
• Living with the Law – Chris Whitley
• Last Medicine Dance – Mike McCready
• Buckets of Rain – Bob Dylan
• I m Open – Eddie Vedder
• No Soy Del Valle – Quantic Presenta Flowering Inferno
• Like I Told You – Acetone
• Ashley Collective – Mike McCready
• For a Few Dollars More – The Upsetters
• Hunger Strike – Temple of the Dog
• Mariachi El Bronx – Mariachi El Bronx
• Haleakala Sunset – CKsquared
• Cinnamon Girl (live) – Neil Young
• Holocene – Bon Iver
• Throwing Arrows – Mike McCready
• Work to Do – The Isley Brothers
• All Your Love (I Miss Loving) – Otis Rush
• I Think It s Going to Rain Today – Randy Newman

Reception

Box office

We Bought a Zoo grossed a total of $2,984,875 on its opening day in the U.S. box office, making it the sixth highest-grossing film that weekend. It subsequently earned $14,604,645 in its first four days of screening. Overall, the film grossed $75,624,550 in North America and $37,764,426 internationally for a worldwide total of $113,388,976. It is one of only twelve feature films to be released in over 3,000 theaters and still improve on its box office performance in its second weekend, increasing 41.4% from $9,360,434 to $13,238,241.

Critical response

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 65% based on 172 reviews, with an average rating of 6.20/10. The website s critical consensus reads, We Bought a Zoo is a transparently cloying effort by director Cameron Crowe, but Matt Damon makes for a sympathetic central character. On Metacritic the film has a score of 58 out of 100, based on 40 critics, indicating mixed or average reviews .

Roger Ebert, reviewing for the Chicago Sun-Times, awarded the film two and a half out of four stars, describing the film as too much formula and not enough human interest . He added that the film s pieces go together too easily, the plot is too inevitable, and we feel little real energy between the players . However, he praised Damon, who he said makes a sturdy and likable Benjamin Mee . The New York Times reviewer Manohla Dargis criticized Crowe s direction, writing that it makes the escalating tension between Benjamin and Dylan the story s soft center, while keeping the brutality of illness and death... safely off-screen . She also noted that the film uses classic movie logic , specifically pointing out the way that Benjamin quits his job and that he doesn t agonize about how he ll keep his children housed, fed and clothed . On the other hand, Dargis wrote that you may not buy his happy endings, but it s a seductive ideal when all of God s creatures, great and small, buxom and blond, exist in such harmony.

The Hollywood Reporter commented that the film has heart, humanity and a warmly empathetic central performance from Matt Damon , although it doesn t dodge the potholes of earnest sentimentality and at times overplays the whimsy ; ultimately concluding that Cameron Crowe s film has some rough edges, but it ultimately delivers thanks to Matt Damon s moving performance.

Home media

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released We Bought a Zoo on DVD and Blu-ray on April 3, 2012.

Accolades

List of awards and nominations
Year	Award	Category	Recipient(s) and nominee(s)	Result	Ref
2011	Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards	Best Live Action Family Film	We Bought a Zoo	Nominated
	Satellite Award	Best Original Song	Jónsi, Cameron Crowe – Gathering Stories	Nominated
2012	BMI Award	Film Music Award	Jónsi	Won
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Movie: Drama	We Bought a Zoo	Nominated
		Choice Movie Actor: Drama	Matt Damon	Nominated
		Choice Movie Actress: Drama	Scarlett Johansson	Nominated
	Young Artist Award	Best Performance in a Feature Film - Supporting Young Actor	Colin Ford	Nominated
		Best Performance in a Feature Film - Young Actress Ten and Under	Maggie Elizabeth Jones	Nominated

Differences between the movie and real life

The movie s plot and actual events differ. The real Benjamin Mee is British. The story was adapted for an American audience and Mee approved the changes. The actual zoo Mee bought is Dartmoor Zoological Park, located in Devon, England. The fictional zoo in the film is called Rosemoor Wildlife Park and is located in California.

In real life, Benjamin s wife, Katherine, died after they had already bought the zoo and moved in. In the film, Benjamin bought the zoo after her death. In real life, Benjamin s father had died and his mother needed to move; the farm cost the same price as his parents house, and his mother came too. Benjamin and his family made a specific and informed decision to buy a zoo. In the film, it occurred as a result of finding a house they liked.

Instead of an escaping grizzly bear, as portrayed by the film, it was a jaguar called Sovereign that had escaped. Benjamin s children were also younger (aged four and six respectively) than the children in the film.

In the film, the zoo was much easier to buy. In real life, it took almost two years to buy. Benjamin s first offer to buy the zoo was rejected due to his lack of experience in the zoological world. Finally, the real zoo opened on Saturday July 7, 2007. The movie moved that event up to the same date in 2010. This later date fell on a Wednesday, but was identified in the script as the original Saturday.

Legacy

The longtime gag-feud between Matt Damon and Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel continued at the 89th Academy Awards ceremony, where Kimmel jokingly mocked Damon s performance in the movie.

Condition

New

Age Group

Adult

Format

DVD

Actor

Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson

Publisher

20Th Century Fox

Brand

20Th Century Fox

Rating MPA

Pg

Recording Studio

20Th Century Fox

Amazon ASIN

B007RZHNUG

UPC / EAN

024543805380

Size

7.5" x 5.25" x .50"

Year

2011

ReleaseDate

2011-12-23

RuntimeMins

124

RuntimeStr

2h 4min

Awards

Awards, 1 win & 8 nominations

Directors

Cameron Crowe

Writers

Aline Brosh McKenna, Cameron Crowe, Benjamin Mee

Stars

Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Thomas Haden Church

Produced by

Cameron Crowe, Paul Deason, Marc R. Gordon, Jeffrey Harlacker, Ilona Herzberg, Michelle Panek, Aldric La auli Porter, Julie Yorn, Rick Yorn

Music by

Jon Thor Birgisson

Cinematography by

Rodrigo Prieto

Film Editing by

Mark Livolsi

Casting By

Gail Levin

Production Design by

Clay A. Griffith

Art Direction by

Peter Borck, Domenic Silvestri

Set Decoration by

Wayne Shepherd

Costume Design by

Deborah L. Scott

Makeup Department

Allan A. Apone, Jeri Baker, Christine Beveridge, Becky Cotton, Michelle Denering, Melvone Farrell, Kay Georgiou, Barry R. Koper, Barbara Olvera, Heba Thorisdottir, Laine Trzinski, K. Troy Zestos, Garry Allyn, Elena Arroy, Marc Boyle, Gloria Conrad, Brad Look, Lisa Rocco, Sherilyn Stetz, Teresa Vest, Isabella Wiley

Production Management

Paul Deason, Angela Heald, Jeffrey Harlacker

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director

Paula Case, Gary Romolo Fiorelli, Thomas Robinson Harper, Christophe Le Chanu, John Nasraway, Aldric La auli Porter, Joe Roddey, Steven E. Simon

Art Department

Jacob Alsbrook, Marco Arcipreste, Andrea Babineau, P. Scott Bailey, Pedro Barquin, Richard J. Bell, James Davidson Bennett, Michael Bomar, Mike Bomar, Bobby Brayman, Emma Johnston Burton, Nelson Bush, Clint Carney, Gary Clause, Chad Austin Cole, Mark Comperry, Robert Cook, Skip Crank, Shannon Curfman, Vincent D Aquino, Michael D Imperio, Kristen Davenport, Kristen Davenport, William H. De Silva III, Marc Martin Del Campo, Shawn Fasulkey, John Foster, Jeff Goldberg, M. Marcos Gonzalez, Michael Marcos Gonzalez, Adrian Gorton, Dathan Graham, Jeff Scott Hall, Jason Dock Harrell, Ann Harris, Glen E. Hawbecker, Alex Hillkurtz, Mark Hitchler, David Howland, Patrick Janicke, Daniel R. Jennings, Martha Johnston, John Paul J.P. Jones, Richard W. Jones, Mark Kudra, Pete Lakoff, Mark Lopez, Josh Lusby, John Hammer Maxwell, Pete Peanut Medina, Gary Metzen, Charlie Montoya, Bryce Moore, Stan M. Olexiewicz, Samuel Pactol, Frank Piercy, William Proctor, Edmond Scott Ratliff, Steve Rice, Paul Roberts, Rich Robinson, Dana Rosen, David Saltzman, Clint Schultz, Eric Smith, Harlan Spatz, Angela Stauffer, Dennis Steere, Mike Torino, Naomi Treuherz, Mike Villarino, Anthony Vitagliano, Drew Watson, Gerald Willard, Peter Youds, Chris Zimmerman, Chris Carriveau, Shannon Curfman, Brook Mansbridge, Jamie Rama, Bruce G. Smith, Crystle Torvinen, Kurt Verbaarschott, Nic Weethee, Frank White, Mark Woodworth II

Sound Department

Maurizio Armato, James Ashwill, Ron Bartlett, Derek Casari, Blake Collins, Blake R. Cornett, Don Coufal, John T. Cucci, Susan Dawes, Mark DeSimone, Richard Duarte, Tim Gomillion, John Guentner, Doug Hemphill, Warren Hendriks, Jeffrey A. Humphreys, Mildred Iatrou, R.J. Kizer, Jonathan Klein, Sebastien Lacheray, Ai-Ling Lee, Skip Longfellow, David Lucarelli, Helen Luttrell, John Murray, Rob Nokes, Dan O Connell, Erin Michael Rettig, Charleen Richards, Thomas W. Small, William Stein, Paul Stula, Craig Weintraub, Jeff Wexler, Beauxregard Neylen, Pepe Pleguezuelos, John Soukup

Special Effects by

Terry Chapman, Burt Dalton, Albert Delgado, Dale Ettema, Chris Jones, Donald Myers, Michael Roundy, Ryan Roundy

Visual Effects by

Patrick Clancey, Christina Graff, Paul Graff, Mahesh Kannan, Joshua LaCross, Adam Matis, Judy McClain, Luke McDonald, Laurie Resnick, Brian Sales, Sasikumar, Gregory S. Scribner, Christina Spring, Mike Spring, Carl Stern, Matthew Trivan, Kay Vaughn, Magdalena Wolf, Richard Alonso, Anthony Fung, Rachel Faith Hanson, Thomas Mathai, Saravanan Sala, Doug Spilatro

Stunts

Riley Harper, Thomas Robinson Harper, Christopher Leps, Allan Padelford, Doug Seus, Jed Seus, Christopher Leps, Chris O Hara

Camera and Electrical Department

Grant Babbitt, Justin Babin, Craig Bauer, Mateo Bourdieu, Richard Boyle, Steve Brewer, Darwin Montana Browne, Steven D. Castaneda, Alejandro J. Castillo, Larry Cha, Jonathan Clark, Chris Conahan, Doug Cowden, Andrew Crankshaw, Charles Crivier, Christopher Crivier, Donald D. Davidson, Kenny Davis, Joseph Dianda, Anthony Erlandson, Mathias Fain, Matt Floyd, Lauren Gadd, Adam Geary, Jerardo Gomez, Chris Gordon, Scott Graves, Jerry Gregoricka, Lisa Guerriero, Chris Haarhoff, Joey Haddad, Dan Hawking, Lukas Hencei, Brad Leidholdt, Chris Leidholdt, Jim Leidholdt, Tom Lembcke, Jay Levy, Greg Lopez, Gary Martinez, Eduardo Enrique Mayén, William J. McDevitt, Scott McGeo, Matthew Thomas Moles, Dan Moore, Luis Moreno, Patrick Murguia, Francine Natale, David H. Neale, Domenic Pacino, Mike Pickel, Neal Preston, Raman Rao, Aaron Richards, Michael Rideau, Tony Rivetti, Joel A. Ruiz, Dylan Rush, Jason Santelli, Jose Santiago, Patrick Sheetz, Brad Shield, Chris Slaney, Tony Sommo, Fred Troeskin, Zoran Veselic, Taylor Vohs, Roger Wall, Michael Woodside, Randy Woodside, Paul Zecchini, Steve Zvorsky, Jonathan Keogh, Benjamin Kilmer, Lorna Leslie, Johnathon R. Martin, Byron McCulloch, Chris Salamone, Michael J. Schwartz

Casting Department

Jeremy Gordon, Barbara Harris, Rich King, Cody Bayne, Doug Ritzenthaler, Alexander Zahn

Costume and Wardrobe Department

Phyllis Corcoran-Woods, Emily Egge, Brandon M. Kelly, Beth Koenigsberg, Lisa Lovaas, Hana Scott-Suhrstedt, Barnaby Smith, Ivory Stanton, Jack Taggart, Laura Wolford, Deborah Zimmerman, Kohl V. Bladen, Bren Cook, Sarah Holden, Lori Stilson

Editorial Department

David Bilow, George Chavez, Kenny Dodson, Rob Doolittle, Roland Eisinger, Ben Estrada, Jermaine R. Gill, Brian Han, Joe Hutshing, Élodie Ichter, Lara Khachooni, William Kruzykowski, Ken Lebre, Yvan Lucas, Philippe Majdalani, David Matusek, Tim Maxwell, Christopher McDonald, Devon Miller, Jason Miller, Loan Phan, Tom Reiser

Location Management

Lori A. Balton, Chris Baugh, Michael Betz, Justin Duncan, Ryan Neary, Trey Neely, Casey O Connor

Music Department

Tom Brown, Greg Dennen, Joel Iwataki, Carlton Kaller, Christopher Kaller, Robert Kraft, Tim Lauber, Lucia Micarelli, Shinnosuke Miyazawa, Rebecca Morellato, Nico Muhly, Olafur Bjorn Olafsson, Alex Somers, Denis St. Amand, Tom Steel, Gina Zimmitti, Thomas Cavanaugh, Vincent Cirilli, Danielle Diego, Ellen Ginsburg, Mark Graham, Victor Pesavento, Mauricio Yazigi

Script and Continuity Department

Rhonda Hyde, Ana Maria Quintana, Ana Garrido

Transportation Department

Skip Fairlee, Ron Kunecke, Dave Robling, Tony Mouradian, Tom Sweeney, Dean Winton

Additional Crew

Mike Alexander, David Arnott, Grant Babbitt, Anthony Baldino, Chantelle Barry, Morgan Bateman, Mikaila Baumel, Roger Berard, Diane Branagan, Jim Brockett, Judith M. Brown, Bettina Browne Weld, Doug Burch, Kanan J. Capshaw, Kellye Carnahan, Michael Carter, Cathy Cavadini, Kevin Collins, Nicky Craft, Vicki Davis, Matilda de Cagny, Wendy DeColto, Adam Dornbusch, Melinda Eichberg, Casey Eller, Erin Engman, Nigel Faulkner, Peggy Flood, Mark Forbes, Aaron Fors, Jacqueline Garcia, Elan Garfias, Laura Gary, Keith Gaudin, Lori Grandinetti, Thomas L. Gunderson, Barbara Harris, Robert Hatfield, Angela Heald, Elizabeth Heller, Taylar Hender, Andre Hernandez, Alison Hoberman, Mathilde Hovsepian, Jossara Jinaro, Eric Johnson, Ben Jordan, Kevin Kinzer, Maxim Knight, Daamen J. Krall, Cindy Lasher, Jeff Lee, Jerry Lee, Andy Lemoine, Amanda Luce, Larry Madrid, Stuart Magruder, Stephen Wayne Mallett, Jeremy Maxwell, Tim Maxwell, Michael Medina, David Michie, Daniel Edward Mora, Bárbara Morelos-Zaragoza, Michael D. Morris, Kristi Mujica, Vivianne Nacif, Brian Nailing, Levi Nunez, Colin J. O Hara, Justin Oberman, Larry Payne, Chris Pollard, Charlie Portillo, David Randolph, Noreen Reardon, Michelle Roca, Jeff Rodgers, Santos P. Rodriguez, Kevin Roy, C.J. Sebastian, Doug Seus, Jed Seus, Lynne Seus, Jet Shaw, Erin Shelley, Helen Sideris, Jonathan Siebel, Travis Siniard, Alison R. Smith, Cody Smith, Scott J. Smith, Greg SmithAldridge, Julieann Snow, Danielle Soibelman, David Sousa, Tony Suffredini, Ron Tansingco, Jeff Taylor, Ryan Toal, Lee Tucker, Eric Unger, Kyle Wallace, Zack Wallace, Kaitlyn Weber, Andreana Weiner, Eric Weld, Ben White, Tim Williams, Anita Wischhusen, Frank D. Woodward, Michelle Woodward, Alex L. Worman, Ted Yonenaka, Ryan Young, Freedom Bridgewater, Johnny Cicco, Kimberly Cooper, Adam Cuthbert, D.R. Farquharson, Enrique Garcia, Matt Goldstein, Alison Goser, Brandon Gutierrez, Curtis Harrison, Traci Richelle Harrison, Jack E. Herman, Brandon Koppel, Richard McDonough, Katie McGinley, Justin Mickelson, Lucas Moore, Zack Neuman, Jon Torgerson, Mark J. Woods

Thanks

Thomas R. Baker

Genres

Comedy, Drama, Family

Companies

Twentieth Century Fox, LBI Entertainment, Vinyl Films

Countries

USA

Languages

English, Spanish

ContentRating

PG

ImDbRating

7.1

ImDb Rating Votes

144443

Metacritic Rating

58

Short Description

We Bought a Zoo is a 2011 American family comedy-drama film loosely based on the 2008 memoir of the same name by Benjamin Mee. It was co-written and directed by Cameron Crowe and stars Matt Damon as widowed father Benjamin Mee, who purchases a dilapidated zoo with his family and takes on the challenge of preparing the zoo for its reopening to the public. The film also stars Scarlett Johansson, Maggie Elizabeth Jones, Thomas Haden Church, Patrick Fugit, Elle Fanning, Colin Ford, and John Michael Higgins.

We Bought A Zoo was released in the United States on December 21, 2011 by 20th Century Fox. The film earned $120.1 million on a $50 million budget. We Bought a Zoo was released on DVD and Blu-ray on April 3, 2012 by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. Dartmoor Zoological Park (originally Dartmoor Wildlife Park), on which the film is based, is a 33-acre zoological garden located near the village of Sparkwell, Devon, England.

Box Office Budget

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Box Office Opening Weekend USA

$9,360,434

Box Office Gross USA

$75,624,550

Box Office Cumulative Worldwide Gross

$120,081,841

Keywords

Based on true story,zoo,inspection,family relationships,brother sister relationship