History Of Coming Of Age Films

Sky high – (2005) is a superhero family movie directed by Mike Mitchell. The main characters are Michael Angarano who played “Will Stronghold” and Daniella Panabaker who played “Layla Williams”. The film is about a family of superheroes and the son is yet to get his power, and due to his parents being the best superheroes in the world he feels useless and not worthy to be in the family. Until he finally finds his powers while at high school and whilst his parents and all the other superhero parents are in danger and need help as they have been turned into infants making them helpless. This allows Will Stronghold to prove himself to his family and everyone else. The films budget was $35 million and made a total of $86.4 million in box office.

Talladega nights – (2006) is a comedy film directed by Adam McKay. The main characters are Will Ferrell who played “Ricky Bobby” and John C. Reilly who played “Cal Naughton”. The film is about two friends who have grown up together dreaming about becoming race car drivers and they eventually do, however Ricky Bobby has a bad car accident when he is in the US #1 position, causing him to be unable to drive aswell. His friend takes over his lifestyle and it's all about him trying to get it back. The films budget was $72.5 million and it made a total of $163 million in box office.

Superbad – (2007) is a teen comedy directed by Geeg Mottola. The main characters are Jonah Hill who played “Seth”, Michael Cera who played “Evan” and Christopher Mintz-Plasse who played “McLovin”. The film is about 3 friends who are at school and aren't very popular, so they try to get fake id so they can get alcohol for a party to impress some girls, however Seth and Evan think “McLovin” has been arrested so they have to get alchohol some other way. In the end they get to the party and “McLovin” is fine. The films budget was $20 million and made a total of $169.9 million in box office.

Step brothers – (2008) is a comedy film directed by Adam McKay. The main characters are will Ferrell who played “Brennan Huff” and John C. Reilly who played “Dale Doback”. The movie is about an older single mum and an older single dad who both get married and both have 40 year old sons living at home. The brothers originally don't like each other but realise they have a lot in common and come together for the sake of their parents.the films budget was $65 million and made a total of $128.1 million in box office.

Adventureland – (2009) is a teen comedy film directed by Greg Mottola. The main characters are Jesse Eisenberg who played “James Brennan” and Keisten Stewart who played “Emily Lewin”. The movie is about a boy who works for a theme park and falls in love with another one of the theme park staff. The films made a total of $17.2 million in box office.

Karate Kid – (2010) is a martial art film directed by Harald Zwart. The main characters are Jayden smith, who plays the “karate kid” and Jackie chan who plays the martial arts teacher. The film is based on a mother and son who move to China for work purposes, however the boy falls in love with a girl, which in turn gains him an enemy who is one of the best at Kung fu in China for their age, in the end Trey (karate kid) learns to control his emotions and beat everyone in the final Kung fu competition and gets the girl. The films budget was $40 million and it made a total of $360 million in box office.

Harry Potter: deathly hallows part 2  – (2011) is an family action film directed by David Yates. The main characters are Daniel Radcliffe, who plays Harry Potter, Rupert Grint, who plays Ron Weasley and Emma Watson, who plays Hermione Granger. The film is the last of 8 and is all about a boy who is a wizard and since a child has had an enemy who is feared by everyone, and this film mainly focuses on the end of the war between good and evil, and the end to “Voldemort”. The films budget was $250 million and it made a total of $1.34 billion in box office.

21 jump street – (2012) is an action comedy film directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. The main characters are Jonah hill, who plays “Doug” and changing Tatum, who plays “Brad”. The film is the first of two, but there may be more to come. It's based on two characters who initially whet to school together, where one bullied the other. A few years later they both tried to get into the police force where one was academical and one was physical so they came to gather to help each other pass the tests. After this they both were sent to jump street as they looked young enough to be in high school. During their process they managed to sniff out the drug suppliers and dealers as undercover students. The film budget was $42 million and made a total $201 million in box office.

Kickass 2 – (2013) is a superhero action comedy directed by Jeff Wadlow. The main characters are Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who plays kick-ass, Christopher mintz plasse, who plays “the motherfucker” and chloë Grace Moretz, who plays “hit girl”. The film is the second of two kick-ass films, and is based around the superhero “kick-ass” joining a team to fight against the villain “the motherfucker’s” team. However all of these heroes and villains aren't like normal ones as they are all just normal people who want to make the world a cleaner better place, or they just want to ruin things for fun. The films budget was $20 million and it made a total of $60 million in box office.

The Maze Runner – (2014) is a family action film directed by Wes Ball. The main characters are Dylan O’Brien, who plays “Thomas” and kaya Scodelario, who plays “Teresa”. The film is about a boy who gets put into a maze with people who have been their for up to 2 years, he tries to solve the maze with the others but doesn't abide by the rules causing more deaths but eventually getting some of them and himself out of the maze. He then finds out this has been a testy he whole time and that he was originally one of the people controlling the test. The films budget was $34 million and it made a total of $ 345.5 million in box office.

Insurgent – (2015) is a family action film directed by Robert Schwentke. The main characters are Shailene Woodley who played “ Trish” and Theo James who played “four”. The film is the second of two and is about a community that has 5 different regions, meaning everyone's mind belongs to a specific region. Those who don't are called divergent’s. This film is about two divergent’s called Trish and four who are on the run from the people trying to take over the community. The films budget was $85 million and made a total of $288 million in box office.

From this task i have learned that through the years many coming of age films follow a similar pattern and don’t change all that much, this is helpful for when i create my opening scene as i will already have a template for how it should be.