Air Bud
| Air Bud | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Charles Martin Smith |
| Produced by | Robert Vince Michael Strange William Vince |
| Written by | Paul Tamasy Aaron Mendelsohn |
| Based on |
Air Buddy by Kevin DiCicco |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Brahm Wenger |
| Cinematography | Mike Southon |
| Edited by | Alison Grace |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by |
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc. (USA) Warner Bros. Pictures (Worldwide) |
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Release date
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August 1, 1997 |
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Running time
|
100 minutes |
| Country | United States Canada |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3 million |
| Box office | $27,771,629 |
Air Bud is a 1997 American/Canadian family comedy-drama film that sparked the franchise centered on the real-life dog, Buddy, a Golden Retriever. The film was financially successful, grossing $4 million in its opening weekend and totaling $27.8 million in its run, against an estimated $3 million budget.
The film opens with an alcoholic abusive clown, Norm Snively, and his Golden Retriever Old Blue, doing a show at a child's birthday party. Due to Old Blue causing trouble at the birthday party and tossed out of the house with Norm, the latter angrily takes him in a kennel to a dog pound, until the kennel falls out of his truck. Old Blue is homeless until he meets 12-year-old Josh Framm. After the death of his father, a pilot who died in a plane crash during a test flight, Josh relocates with his mom Jackie and 2-year-old sister Andrea from Virginia to Fernfield, Washington. Due to heartbreak over his father's death, he is too shy to try out for his middle school's basketball team and to make any friends. He instead becomes the basketball team's manager, an awkward offer by Coach Barker which he accepts. He practices basketball by himself in a makeshift court that he sets up in an abandoned allotment, where he first meets Old Blue and renames him Buddy. Josh soon discovers that Buddy has the uncanny ability to play basketball, and decides to let Buddy come home with him.
Jackie agrees to let him keep Buddy until Christmas and she plans to send him to the pound if his rightful owner is not located; however, she sees how much Josh loves Buddy and how loyal he is. When Josh wakes up on Christmas and does not find Buddy in his room, he goes downstairs and finds him with a bow secured on his head. She gives Buddy to Josh as a present.
Following Christmas, Josh finds a tryout invitation in his locker, although he does not know how it got there. Puzzled on what to do, he further discovers Buddy's talent when he discovers that he can actually shoot a hoop. These facts together prompt Josh to follow through and try out and he gets a place on the team. At his first game, he befriends teammate Tom Stewart but earns the disdain of star player and team bully Larry Willingham. Meanwhile, Buddy leaves the backyard, goes to the school and shows up while the game is underway. He runs into the court, disrupts the game, and causes mayhem, but the audience loves him after he scores a basket.
After the game and once Buddy is caught by Josh, the former sees Coach Barker abusing Tom by violently pelting him with basketballs in an attempt to make him catch better. He leads Josh, Jackie, and the school principal Ms. Pepper to the scene. As a result, Coach Barker is fired and replaced by the school's kind-hearted engineer, Arthur Chaney, at Josh's suggestion. Buddy becomes the mascot of Josh's school's basketball team and begins appearing in their halftime shows. After the Timberwolves lose one game, the team has subsequent success and qualifies for the State Final.
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