Please note: the original scheduled Movies My Fair Lady and Dumbo will play next week instead.
Only on Mushroom escape:
http://www.mushroomfm.com/escape
From this Saturday at 12am Eastern, that’s 4pm Saturday in NZ, 2pm in Sydney and 5am in the UK, and repeated every four hours throughout the day, it’s the described movies Grease from 1978, Xanadu from 1980 and the Gruffalo from 2009.
Grease is a 1978 American musical romantic comedy film based on the 1971 musical of the same name by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey.
Written by Bronte Woodard (adaptation by Allan Carr) and directed by Randal Kleiser in his theatrical feature film debut, the film depicts the lives of greaser Danny Zuko and Australian transfer student Sandy Olsson, who develop an attraction for each other during a summer romance.
The film stars John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John as Danny and Sandy.
Released on 16 June, 1978, Grease was successful both critically and commercially, becoming the highest-grossing musical film ever at the time.
Its soundtrack album ended 1978 as the second-best-selling album of the year in the United States, behind the soundtrack of the 1977 blockbuster Saturday Night Fever (which also starred Travolta) and earned an Oscar nomination for " Hopelessly Devoted to You" at the 51st Academy Awards.
In 2020, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Launching the franchise of the same name, a sequel, Grease 2, was released in 1982, starring Maxwell Caulfield and Michelle Pfeiffer as a newer class of greasers.
Few of the original cast members reprised their roles.
As of 2020, a Paramount+ series, Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, based on Grease, and a prequel, titled Summer Lovin', are in production.
Directed by: Randal Kleiser.
Screenplay by: Bronte Woodard.
Adaptation by: Allan Carr.
Based on: Grease: by : Jim Jacobs, and Warren Casey
Produced by: Robert Stigwood, and Allan Carr.
Starring: John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, Eve Arden, Frankie Avalon, Joan Blondell, Edd Byrnes, Sid Caesar, Alice Ghostley, Dody Goodman, and Sha Na Na.
Cinematography: Bill Butler.
Edited by John F. Burnett, and Robert Pergament.
Music by: Michael Gibson.
Production companies: Paramount Pictures, Allan Carr Productions, RSO Records, and Polydor Records.
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures.
Release date: 16 June 1978.
File Length: 110 minutes.
Country: United States.
Language: English.
Budget: $6 million.
Box office: $366.2 million.
Xanadu is a 1980 American musical fantasy film written by Richard Christian Danus and Marc Reid Rubel, and directed by Robert Greenwald.
It stars Olivia Newton-John, Michael Beck and Gene Kelly in his final film role.
The film features music by Newton-John, Electric Light Orchestra, Cliff Richard, and the Tubes.
The title is a reference to the nightclub in the film, which takes its name from Xanadu, the summer capital of Kublai Khan's Yuan Dynasty in China.
This city appears in Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, an 1816 poem that is quoted in the film.
A box office disappointment, Xanadu earned negative critical reviews and was an inspiration (along with Can't Stop the Music) for the creation of the Golden Raspberry Awards to recognize the worst films of the year.
Despite the lackluster performance of the film, the soundtrack album became a huge commercial success around the world, and was certified double platinum in the United States.
The song " Magic" was a U.S. number one hit for Newton-John, and the title track (by Newton-John and Electric Light Orchestra) reached number one in the United Kingdom and several other countries around the world.
The film has since become a cult classic for the way it mixes the storyline from an old-fashioned 1940s fantasy with modern aesthetics featuring late 1970s and early 1980s rock and pop music on the soundtrack as well as for fans of Newton-John.
Directed by: Robert Greenwald.
Written by: Richard Christian Danus, and Marc Reid Rubel.
Produced by: Lawrence Gordon.
Starring: Olivia Newton-John, Gene Kelly, and Michael Beck.
Cinematography: Victor J. Kemper.
Edited by: Dennis Virkler.
Music by: Barry De Vorzon, and Electric Light Orchestra.
Distributed by: Universal Pictures.
Release date: 8 August 1980.
File Length: 96 minutes.
Country: United States.
Language: English.
Budget: $20 million.
Box office: $23 million.
The Gruffalo is a 2009 short computer animated television film based on the 1999 picture book written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler.
Directed by Jakob Schuh and Max Lang, the film was produced by Michael Rose and Martin Pope of Magic Light Pictures, London, and Orange Eyes Limited, in association with the award-winning Studio Soi in Ludwigsburg, Germany, who developed and created the film.
The cast includes Helena Bonham Carter, Rob Brydon, Robbie Coltrane, James Corden, John Hurt and Tom Wilkinson.
9.8 million people watched the UK premiere on BBC One, Friday 25 December 2009 and the film went on to receive nominations for both an Academy Award and a BAFTA.
It was screened in US theaters, distributed by Kidtoon Films.
In December 2012, the film and its sequel The Gruffalo's Child premiered on television in the United States on PBS Kids Sprout, and in December 2017-2018, the film and its sequel premiered on television in the United States on PBS Kids.
Based on: The Gruffalo: by : Julia Donaldson.
Written by: Julia Donaldson, and Axel Scheffler.
Directed by: Max Lang., and Jakob Schuh.
Starring: Helena Bonham Carter, Rob Brydon, Robbie Coltrane, James Corden, John Hurt, and Tom Wilkinson.
Theme music composer: René Aubry.
Country of origin: United Kingdom, and Germany.
Original languages: English, and German.
Producers: Martin Pope, and Michael Rose.
Editor: Robin Sales.
File Length: 26 minutes.
Production companies: Magic Light Pictures, Orange Eyes, and Studio Soi.
Distributor: Magic Light Pictures.
Original network: BBC One and Nick Jr. (UK), and ZDF (Germany).
Original release: 25 December 2009.
Any questions, comments, or ideas for future described movies: e-mail me: anthony at mushroomfm dot com (e-mail address written that way to cut down on
spam)
Enjoy the movies,
Home of the Fun Guys!