Chicken Little is a 2005 American animated science fiction comedy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation. It is loosely inspired by the European folk tale "Henny Penny", known in the United States as "Chicken Little". Disney had previously adapted the tale in a 1943 short film. The film follows Chicken Little who, after claiming the sky was "falling" and subsequently being ridiculed by his town, attempts to fix his reputation, only to discover an otherworldly revelation.
The film was directed by Mark Dindal and written by Steve Bencich, Ron J. Friedman, and Ron Anderson, and features Zach Braff as Chicken Little, with Joan Cusack, Dan Molina, Steve Zahn, Garry Marshall, Amy Sedaris, Mark Walton, and Don Knotts in supporting roles.
Chicken Little was animated in-house at Walt Disney Feature Animation's main headquarters in Burbank, California. It was Disney Animation's first fully computer-animated feature film.
Chicken Little premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood on October 30, 2005, and was released in the United States on November 4, by Walt Disney Pictures. It was the first mainstream theatrical release in Digital 3-D, with around 100 theaters worldwide fitted with new 3-D projectors to screen the film. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $314 million, becoming the second-highest-grossing animated film of 2005.
Plot
In the town of Oakey Oaks, "Chicken Little" Cluck rings the school bell and warns everyone to run for their lives. This sends the town into a panic. Eventually, the Head of the Fire Department calms him down enough to ask him what is going on. He explains that the sky is falling because a piece of it had fallen on his head when he was sitting under the big oak tree in the town square; however, he cannot find the piece. His widowed father, Buck "Ace" Cluck, who was once a high school baseball star, assumes that it was just an acorn that had fallen off the tree and had hit him on the head, making Chicken Little the laughingstock of the town.
A year later, Chicken Little has become infamous in the town for being prone to ruin everything accidentally. His only friends are other outcasts: Abby Mallard (nicknamed "The Ugly Duckling"), Runt (an enormous, but cowardly pig), and Fish Out of Water (who wears a helmet full of tap water to breathe). Chicken Little joins his school's baseball team to recover his reputation and his father's pride but is made last until the ninth inning of the last game. He hits the ball and makes it past first, second, and third bases but is met at home plate by the outfielders. He tries sliding onto the home plate but is touched by the ball. While it is presumed he lost the game, the umpire brushes away the dust to reveal Chicken Little's foot is touching home plate, thus declaring him safe and the game won; Chicken Little is hailed as a hero for winning the pennant.
Later that night back at home, Chicken Little is hit on the head yet again by the same "piece of the sky" — only to find out that it is actually a mysterious panel that blends into the background (which would thereby explain why he could not find it the first time). He calls his friends over to help figure out what it is.
When Fish pushes a button on the back of the hexagon, it flies into the sky, taking him with it. It turns out to be part of the camouflage of an invisible UFO piloted by two armored aliens. Chicken Little, Abby and Runt rescue Fish, and discover that the aliens are heading to Earth. The aliens soon attack the group, chasing them through a cornfield. They rush back to the school, where Chicken Little rings the bell to warn everyone, but the aliens escape, leaving an orange alien child behind. No one believes the story of the alien invasion and Chicken Little's reputation is ruined again. The next morning, he and his friends discover the orange alien named Kirby, and minutes later, a fleet of alien ships descend on the town and start what appears to be an invasion. The invasion, however, is actually a misunderstanding, as the two aliens are looking for their lost child and attack only out of concern. As the aliens rampage throughout Oakey Oaks, supposedly vaporizing everything in their path, Chicken Little realizes he must return Kirby to his parents to save the planet.
In the invasion, Buck, having regained his pride and trust in his son, defends him from the aliens until they get "vaporized." The aliens, however, are not actually vaporizing people but teleporting them aboard the UFO. It turns out the aliens were touring Earth and came across the town for its acorns. Their ship has a broken camo panel that fell and hit Chicken Little on the head twice before. After everything is explained, the apologetic aliens return everything to normal before departing to space with Kirby, and everyone is grateful for Chicken Little's efforts to save the town.
Another year later, Chicken Little, Buck, his friends and the citizens of Oakey Oaks watch an in-universe movie depicting a fanciful retelling of the events that transpired, portraying Chicken Little as an action hero also named "Ace".
Voice cast Zach Braff as "Chicken Little" Cluck, a young and diminutive rooster, who suffers from a reputation for being called crazy after causing a panic when he thought that the sky was falling. Joan Cusack as Abigail "Abby" Mallard (also known as the Ugly Duckling), a female duck (implied swan) with buck teeth. She is Chicken Little's best friend, and by the end, his girlfriend. Dan Molina as Fish Out of Water, a goldfish who wears a scuba helmet filled with water and lives on the surface. Steve Zahn as Runt of the Litter, a large pig who is much larger than the other children but is far smaller than the other members of his family. Garry Marshall as Buck "Ace" Cluck, Chicken Little's widower father and a former high school baseball star. Mark Mitchell would later voice the character in the Australian release. Amy Sedaris as Foxy Loxy, a mean fox who is a baseball star and the "hometown hero". She is also a tomboy and one of the "popular kids" at school. In the original fable, as well as the 1943 short film, Foxy is a male fox. Mark Walton as Goosey Loosey, a dimwitted goose and Foxy Loxy's best friend and henchwoman. Don Knotts as Turkey Lurkey, a turkey and the mayor of Oakey Oaks, who is friendly and sensible but not very bright. Sean Elmore, Matthew Josten, and Evan Dunn as Kirby Fred Willard as Melvin Catherine O'Hara as Tina Mark Dindal as Morkubine Porcupine and the Coach Patrick Stewart as Mr. Woolensworth Wallace Shawn as Principal Fetchit Patrick Warburton as Alien Cop Adam West as Ace - Hollywood Chicken Little Harry Shearer as Don Bowowser
Production Writing In September 2001, after the release of The Emperor's New Groove, director Mark Dindal and producer Randy Fullmer began to work on their next project for Disney, and came up with the idea for Chicken Little, with its title character envisioned as a paranoid female chicken with the voice of Holly Hunter that went to summer camp to reduce her anxiety, as well as repair her relationship with her father. At the summer camp, she would uncover a nefarious plot that her camp counselor, who was to be voiced by Penn Jillette, was planning against her hometown. "I have two daughters, so I immediately went to a father/daughter story," Dindal said. Dindal would later pitch his idea to former Disney Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner who demanded that Chicken Little be changed into a male because as Dindal recalled, "if you're a boy and you're short, you get picked on." However, Dindal later clarified that the decision was made, in part, due to market research stating, "I remember being told, 'Girls will go see a movie with a boy protagonist but boys won't see a movie with a girl protagonist, [...] That was the wisdom at the time, until Frozen comes out and makes $1 billion."
Despite initial reluctance, the team eventually agreed and made the gender swap. “After we switched it to a boy he seemed much happier with that choice and that direction,” Dindal said.
In January 2003, Thomas Schumacher resigned as president of Walt Disney Feature Animation and was replaced by David Stainton. However, Stainton’s first day at the studio also coincided with a test screening for Eisner.
Following the aforementioned test screening, Stainton was unimpressed with the original story and decided it needed a different approach.
Stainton said: "I was sitting there at the screening room watching it and I thought: 'Oh my God! What am I going to do?"' "This is the movie that's working? I honestly almost started to cry."
He told Dindal the script had to be revised, and during the next three months, it was rewritten into a tale of a boy trying to save his town from space aliens. Dindal also went back to a very early version of the story, which focused on Chicken Little and a group of misfit animals who lived on a farm in the middle of the country. On the weekend of the country fair, the prize animals went off to win their ribbons while the reject animals stayed behind. “Aliens touched down in that remote area to begin their conquest of earth and she and the other animals thwart that. And there was no evidence. Since it happened in a remote location, the world would never know.”
He combined the science fiction concept from this early idea with some of the characters from the summer camp story, into a new concept.
During the rewriting process, Dindal, along with three credited writers and nine others, threw out twenty-five scenes to improve the character development and add more emotional resonance with the parent-child relationship. Dindal stated that "It took us about 2½ years to pretty much get back to where we started... But in the course of that, the story got stronger, more emotional, and Amazing, too."
Casting When originally envisioned as a female character, Holly Hunter provided the voice for the title character for eight months, until it was decided for Chicken Little to be a male. Michael J. Fox, Dave Foley, D.B. Sweeney, Ben Stiller, Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Shia LaBeouf, Steve Martin, Jon Heder, Matthew Broderick, Jason Lee, Jack Black, Paul Walker, Robin Williams, James Marsden, Nathan Lane, Drake Bell, Josh Peck, Keanu Reeves and David Spade were all originally considered for the role. Against forty actors competing for the title role, Zach Braff auditioned. Dindal noted he "pitched his voice slightly to sound like a junior high kid. Right there, that was really unique — and then he had such great energy."
In April 2002, Variety reported that Sean Hayes was to voice a character named the Ugly Duckling, but the character was rewritten into a female. Now conceived as Abby Mallard, Jamie Donnelly, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jodie Foster, Laura Dern, Helen Hunt, Geena Davis, and Madonna were considered, but Joan Cusack (who had previously worked with Disney in Toy Story 2) won the role for her natural comedy. In December 2003, it was announced Braff and Cusack were cast, along with other cast members including Steve Zahn as Runt of the Litter, Dan Molina as Fish Out of Water, Amy Sedaris as Foxy Loxy, Don Knotts as Turkey Lurkey, Katie Finneran as Goosey Loosey, and Garry Marshall as Buck Cluck.
Halfway through production, however, Finneran ultimately left the project and was replaced by Disney storyboard artist Mark Walton.