Kazaam
| Kazaam | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Paul Michael Glaser |
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| Screenplay by |
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| Story by | Paul Michael Glaser |
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| Music by | Christopher Tyng |
| Cinematography | Charles Minsky |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc. |
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Release date
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Running time
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94 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $20 million |
| Box office | $18.9 million |
Kazaam is a 1996 American musical fantasy comedy film directed by Paul Michael Glaser, written by Christian Ford and Roger Soffer based on a story by Glaser, and starring Shaquille O'Neal as the title character, a 5,000-year-old genie who appears from a magic boombox to grant a 12-year old boy three wishes.
The film was released on July 17, 1996, and was both a critical disaster and a box office bomb, barely grossing $19 million on its $20 million budget.
The film begins with a very big wrecking ball destroying an abandoned building. The impact knocks over a magic lamp inside of the building, causing it to land on a boombox. The genie inside decides to make residence inside the boombox from there on in.
Meanwhile, a 12-year old boy named Max (Francis Capra) goes to school. He greets his friend, Jake (portrayed by Jake Glaser, director Paul Michael Glaser's son), with a goofy face and is chastised by his teacher. Max is confronted by a gang of bullies, who hold him on the bathroom floor and spray paint his outline. The bullies chase Max through Brooklyn. Max is chased into the abandoned building, where he discovers the boombox and accidentally unleashes the genie inside. The genie, who introduces himself as Kazaam (Shaquille O'Neal), tells Max that he is now Max's genie and proves it to him by demonstrating his powers, which results in Kazaam disappearing off the face of the earth.
Max returns home to find that his mother is marrying a fireman named Travis. It is revealed that his mother lied to him about his real father's whereabouts, and that he is actually located in the city. Max set out to search for his father in the hopes of rekindling some sort of bond between them. He suddenly encounters Kazaam during his travels, who pesters Max into making a wish. Max eventually finds his father, only to learn that he is a musical talent agent who specializes in unauthorized music.
Max goes to his personal secret hideout and tells Kazaam about his father. They decide to have a bike race through Max's hideout, during which Kazaam shows off his powers. Kazaam finally convinces Max to make his first wish, which consists of junk food raining from the sky. While eating all of this, Max suddenly realizes that he owns Kazaam until he makes his last two wishes. Max and Kazaam go out to see Max's father again.
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Wikipedia