Dennis the Menace | |
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One-sheet poster
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Directed by | Nick Castle |
Produced by |
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Written by | John Hughes |
Based on |
Dennis the Menace by Hank Ketcham |
Starring | |
Music by | Jerry Goldsmith |
Cinematography | Thomas E. Ackerman |
Edited by | Alan Heim |
Production
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Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
Release date
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Running time
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96 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $35 million |
Box office | $117,270,765 |
Dennis the Menace (initially released in the United Kingdom as Dennis to avoid confusion with an identically named character) is a 1993 live-action American family film based on the Hank Ketcham comic strip of the same name. It, however, is not the first live-action Dennis the Menace film; that was Dennis the Menace: Dinosaur Hunter, which premiered on television in 1987.
The film was directed by Nick Castle, written and produced by John Hughes, and distributed by Warner Bros., which released it under its Family Entertainment banner. It concerns the misadventures of a mischievous child (Mason Gamble) with a cowlick and a grin who wreaks havoc on his next door neighbor, George Wilson (Walter Matthau), usually hangs out with his friends, Joey (Kellen Hathaway) and Margaret Wade (Amy Sakasitz), and is followed everywhere by his dog, Ruff. Jeannie Russell was the only member of the original television show's cast to appear in the film.
A direct-to-video sequel called Dennis the Menace Strikes Again was later released in 1998 without the cast from this film. It was also followed by a Saturday morning cartoon series called All-New Dennis the Menace.
Dennis Mitchell (Mason Gamble) is a five-year-old boy who lives with his parents in Evanston, Illinois. Henry (Robert Stanton) and Alice (Lea Thompson), and is the bane of next door neighbor, George Wilson (Walter Matthau). One morning, Mr. Wilson pretends to be asleep in order to avoid dealing with Dennis. Dennis enters his bedroom, only to find him asleep with by his prescription medication on his night stand, and assumes he's sick. To make him feel better, Dennis flings an aspirin into his mouth with a slingshot which causes him to gag and spit it out, as Dennis flees home.