Fun Facts About Ralph Breaks the Internet
It’s less than a month away before Ralph Breaks the Internet hits theaters, so we thought it would be fun to go back and look at Wreck-it Ralph, the 2012 Disney mega-hit.
Meet Ralph
Wreck-it Ralph is a villain in the game Fix-It Felix Jr., but it’s only a part he plays in the game. However, he is made fun of by the other characters simply because he’s doing his job. Wanting to be praised, Ralph decides to win a medal and try to earn the praise of everyone else. It doesn’t quite go as he plans and Ralph ends up missing from his game, which is now at risk for being labeled as malfunctioning.
Director Rich Moore once said this about the concept of the Wreck-it Ralph movie, “I love the idea of a very simple 8-bit video game character struggling with the complex question: “Isn’t there more to life than the role I’ve been assigned?” In his quest for the answer, we journey with our hero through three visually distinct video game worlds.”
Meet John C. Reilly
John portrays Wreck-it Ralph and started his movie career in something a little more dramatic, Brian De Palma’s 1989 war film Casualties of War. He’s also been in Days of Thunder (1990), What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), The River Wild (1994), Hard Eight (1996), Boogie Nights (1997), Magnolia (1999), and Chicago (2002). He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Chicago.
Photo Credit: JORDAN STRAUSS/INVISION/AP
Video Game Fun
There are many real-life video game references in Wreck-it Ralph including Halo, Call of Duty, Q*bert, Pac-Man, Frogger, BurgerTime, Lara Croft and Mario Brothers, among others. There are also many New York references too, including the design of Game Central Station being modeled after Grand Central Station in New York City.
Movies Take a Long Time to Develop
The concept for Wreck-it Ralph started in 1980, but it took 32 years to hit the big screen. In those 32 years, screenwriter Phil Johnston said that Ralph went through several incarnations, including “part cat, part baboon, part dog, part skunk, part weasel, tapir, pig, wild boar, one-forty-third ape.” Six years later, the not-so-long-awaited sequel is expected to be a blockbuster.
Speaking of Blockbuster
Wreck-It Ralph grossed $471.2 million worldwide, making it the fourth-highest-grossing 2012 animated film. It was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards that year, but lost to another Disney animated feature, Brave.
Paperman
Wreck-it Ralph started with the well-done Disney black-and-white short Paperman, which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 85th Academy Awards. Director John Kahrs conceived the short while he was traveling to and from New York City’s Grand Central Station, where he said that he was inspired by “the random connections you sometimes make with people” on these excursions.
Unique Animating
The film opens with an 8-bit Walt Disney Animation Studios logo and it is said that Wreck-It Ralph has 188 unique, individual characters, more than a typical Disney film which has between 40 and 60.
Virtual Reality Coming to Disney
Coming soon! Both Disney World and Disneyland will offer Ralph Breaks VR, a new adventure that immerses you in the world of internet and online gaming, just like Ralph!
Ralph Breaks the Internet will be out in theaters on November 21!
