Magic Tree House (2018 Disney film)

The Magic Tree House Movie
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Chris A. Bailey Rob Renzetti Viki Anderson
Produced by	Audrey Wells Stephen Swofford Mary Pope Osborne Will Osborne Jinko Gotoh
Written by	Roger S. H. Schulman Alexa Junge Mary Pope Osborne Will Osborne Jenny Laird Chris A. Bailey Rob Renzetti Viki Anderson
Based on	Magic Tree House by Mary Pope Osborne
Starring	Owen Laramore Lulu Wilson Kathy Najimy Danny DeVito Antonio Banderas Hiroyuki Sanada Adèle Exarchopoulos Jackie Chan Lupita Nyong'o Judi Dench
Music by	Hans Zimmer John Powell
Edited by	Pam Ziegenhagen H. Lee Peterson William J. Caparella
Production companies	Walt Disney Pictures Dice Productions
Distributed by	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Release date	October 10, 2018
Running time	110 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$200 million
Box office	$1.340 billion

Magic Tree House is a 2018 American animated musical adventure film produced by Dice Productions and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by Chris A. Bailey, Rob Renzetti, and Viki Anderson, it is loosely based on the book series of the same name by Mary Pope Osborne. The film features the voices of Owen Laramore (in his film debut), Lulu Wilson, Kathy Najimy, Danny DeVito, Antonio Banderas, Hiroyuki Sanada, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Jackie Chan, Lupita Nyong'o, and Judi Dench. In the film, Jack and Annie (Laramore and Wilson), who are to become Master Librarians, must, with the help of Morgan la Ley (Najimy) the wise-yet-eccentric wizard Merlin (DeVito), unite people from the world's different countries against certain doom plotted by a tyrannical overlord (Banderas) who plots to unite them under his evil rule.

Magic Tree House saw a theatrical release on October 10, 2018 in the United States. It was Dice's film released during Audrey Wells' lifetime before her death. The film received acclaim from critics and audiences for its story, animation, songs, voice acting (particularly Laramore, Wilson, Najimy, and DeVito), respect for global cultures, and its faithfulness to the source material. It was also commercially successful, grossing $1.340 billion worldwide against its $200 million production budget. It is the third highest-grossing film of 2018, the highest-grossing animated film of 2018, the eighth animated film to pass $1 billion, the fourth highest-grossing animated film of all time, and Dice's highest-grossing non-Vanellope & Friends film (until surpassed by Kenya Kes Remington in 2025), as well as its highest-grossing film, until Vanellope & Friends: Time Travel surpassed it in 2019. At the 91st Academy Awards, it was nominated for Best Picture, Best Original Song (for "the musical number Harmony Takes Voices"), and Best Animated Feature; It was also the fourth fully animated film in history to be nominated for Best Picture, after Beauty and the Beast, Up, and Toy Story 3. A sequel, Magic Tree House 2, was released on October 18, 2024.

Plot

In Frog Creek Woods, Pennsylvania, Jack (Owen Laramore) surprises his younger sister Annie (Lulu Wilson) with a book for her ninth birthday. Later, they visit the Magic Tree House. Morgan la Fey (Kathy Najimy) assigns them to a mission to bring her three power orbs. Jack and Annie point at the China book and wish to go there, making the tree house spin faster and faster until everything becomes absolutely still.

Jack and Annie enter a cave, where they retrieve the first Orb and spot someone they learn is an overlord named Zigness (Anthony LaPaglia), who plots the get the orbs and rule over China. Jack and Annie arrive at Kretschmann's (Danny DeVito) valley on Mount Lu, where they grab the second orb and unintentionally ends up in the midst of a tournament that demonstrates the one destined to defeat Zigness. To the astonishment of everyone present, Annie and Jack most of all, Kretschmann's mentor and friend Nepcar (Dick Van Dyke) proclaims the two kids as the chosen martial arts warriors.

Initially believing Nepcar's decision to be an accident, Kretschmann tries to dispose of Jack and Annie with a training regime. Jack and Annie successfully overcome the regime, which impresses Kretschmann, Phillip (BD Wong), Kyle (Masi Oka), and Asia (Sandra Oh). That night, Asia tells Jack and Annie that Zigness was found by Krestschmann as an infant and showed talent in martial arts as he grew older. However, when Nepcar denied him the three Orbs, he betrayed Kretschmann and tried to take the first Orb by force. Though Nepcar was able to stop him, Zigness' betrayal caused Kretschmann to become cold and distant.

Meanwhile, Kretschmann's adviser, a Chinese sparrowhawk named Bazahr informs him that Zigness has escaped from jail. In a pep talk, Nepcar encourages a horrified Kretschmann to keep believing in Jack, then passes on to the heavens and evaporates into a stream of peach blossoms. After successfully training Jack and Annie, Kretschmann decides Jack and Annie are ready to receive a scroll, but its blank, reflective surfaces does not reveal any powerful secrets. Believing the scroll to be useless, Kretschmann orders, Jack, Annie, and the ninjas to evacuate everyone in the village while he faces Zigness alone, even after Jack and Annie confess that the three Orbs were to make them Master Librarians.

Jack and Annie prepare to head back to the Magic Tree House, they learn that the true message of the scroll is believing in yourself. They return to Mount Lu, only to find Kretschmann injured and defeated by Zigness. Zigness, greedy for power and unable to understand the scroll's message, attacks Jack and Annie. Jack and Annie trounce their adversary with their martial arts skills and use the Wuxi Finger Hold to vanquish Zigness. With Zigness defeated and the three orbs collected, Kretschmann, Nepcar, Asia, Phillip, and Kyle praise Jack and Annie as true masters, and allow them to leave in the Magic Tree House.

Back in Frog Creek Woods, Jack and Annie leave the three orbs out for Morgan, hold hands, and head home. The next morning, Jack and Annie meet up with Morgan at the Frog Creek Woods Library and become Master Librarians.

Cast

• Owen Laramore as Jack, a ten-and-a-half-year-old boy and Annie's older brother.
• Lulu Wilson as Annie, a nine-year-old girl and Jack's younger sister
• Kathy Najimy as Morgan la Fey, the owner of the Magic Tree House.
• Danny DeVito as Merlin the Magician, a magician.
• Antonio Banderas as Overlord Zigness, an aggressive and zealous overlord who aims to unite the world under his rule.
• Hiroyuki Sanada as Ken'ichi, a go-kart racer from Japan.
• Adèle Exarchopoulos as Léa, an artist from Paris.
• Jackie Chan as Sensei Xiaoming, a karateka from China.
• Lupita Nyong'o as Nomalonga, a kora-player from African
• Judi Dench as Meryl, an elderly umbrella-flyer from London.
• Lombardo Boyar as de la Ricardo, a mariachi musician from Mexico.
• Bianca Comparato as Bruna, a samba dancer from Brazil.
• Enrico Brignano as Silvio, a spaghetti chef from Italy.
• Bindi Irwin as Darla, a outback zookeeper from Australia.

Box office

In the United States, Magic Tree House was released alongside The Happytime Murders and A.X.L., and was projected to gross $134 million in its opening weekend; in that opening weekend, it grossed $570 million, including $17 million from Thursday night previews, among the highest for an animated film. It grossed $590 million in the United States and Canada, and $750 million in other territories, marking the record for the fastest animated film to pass the $1 billion mark, marking it in just 14 days, until Vanellope & Friends: Time Travel took over in 2019. It ended its theatrical run on January 17, 2019, having to have grossed $1.336 billion worldwide, and, produced on a $200 million budget, it was a commercial success at the box office, exceeding Osbourne's expectations and impressing Disney.

Critical response

Magic Tree House received universal acclaim from critics. The film holds a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 240 reviews. The consensus reads, "Led by a well-chosen cast including newcomer Owen Laramore and Lulu Wilson, Magic Tree House retains the spirit of Mary Pope Osborne's best-selling series while simultaneously proving itself among Disney and Dice's best animated films". On Metacritic, the film has a score of 97 out of 100 based on 50 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "A+" on an A+ to F scale.