document_title: American Ninja Warrior

question_text: how much do you win if you win american ninja warrior

text: American Ninja Warrior

text: History

text: American Ninja Warrior succeeded G4's American Ninja Challenge as the qualifying route for Americans to enter Sasuke. Beginning with the fourth season in 2012, regional finalists and wild card competitors competed on a nearly identical Mount Midoriyama course in Las Vegas, Nevada, rather than traveling to Japan to compete on Sasuke.

text: Hosts and co-hosts

text: American Ninja Warrior was originally hosted by G4's American television personality Blair Herter, and actress and former television correspondent Alison Haislip. In the second season, American actor, comedian, and television host Matt Iseman joined the show, replacing Herter. Additionally, Jimmy Smith was brought in as a co-host, while Haislip was the sideline reporter. The panel remained the same throughout season three.

text: For season 4, skier Jonny Moseley was brought in as the new co-host, replacing Smith.[5] American journalist, sportscaster, and documentary filmmaker Angela Sun replaced Haislip.

text: For season 5, two newcomers were added. Sports analyst and former NFL football player Akbar Gbaja-Biamila replaced Moseley, while ESPN sportscaster and model Jenn Brown replaced Sun as sideline reporter.[6] The season five panel remained the same through the sixth season.

text: For season 7, CBS Sports reporter Kristine Leahy joined the show as the new sideline reporter, replacing Brown.[7] The roster stayed the same through season 9. The current panel consists of Iseman, Gbaja-Biamila, and Leahy.[8]

text: Timeline

text:
Season
Year
Host
Co-host
Sideline reporter

1
2009
Blair Herter
Alison Haislip
N/A

2
2010
Matt Iseman
Jimmy Smith
Alison Haislip

3
2011

4
2012
Jonny Moseley
Angela Sun

5
2013
Akbar Gbaja-Biamila
Jenn Brown

6
2014

7
2015
Kristine Leahy

8
2016

9
2017

text: Format

text: Potential contestants go through a rigorous series of steps before the possibility of becoming the next American Ninja Warrior. Over 3,500 athletes have attempted to conquer Mount Midoriyama and become an American Ninja Warrior since the series began in 2009.

text: Contestant eligibility

text: There are some requirements possible contestants have to meet before participating at a regional qualifier. Contestants must be legal residents of the US and be in decent physical shape. There is no upper age limit, but participants must be at least 21 years old. Contestants have to fill out a 20-page questionnaire and make a video about themselves.[9] The required length of the video has differed over the years. Submission video length requirements have varied from 2 to 8 minutes, depending on the season.[10][11] Producers select 100 applicants from each region to participate in their regional qualifiers. Producers also select 20 to 30 "walk-ons" who in some cases wait for weeks camping outside to get a chance on the course.[12] 1,000 people applied to compete in season one, 5,000 people in season 6,[13] 50,000 in season 7, and 70,000 in season 8.[12][14]

text: City qualifying

text: In each city, the competitors the producers have selected competing on a 6 - obstacle course in hopes of making it to the city finals. The top 30 finishers make it to the city finals. Also, in Season 9, the top 5 women make it. The first obstacle is the quintuple steps or the floating steps and is the same for the rest of the cities for that season. Then comes an obstacle that moves along tracks. Next is either a balance obstacle or an upper-body obstacle. The other type will be fourth. Fifth is usually a grip obstacle, and sixth is the Warped Wall. In Season 9, the balance or the grip obstacle is an obstacle previously found in Stage 1 of Mount Midoryama. The obstacles are given by the sideline reporter at the beginning of every episode.

text: City timeline

text:
City
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4
Season 5
Season 6
Season 7
Season 8
Season 9

Los Angeles, CA

Miami, FL

Dallas, TX

Denver, CO

Baltimore, MD

St. Louis, MO

Kansas City, MO

Houston, TX

Orlando, FL

Pittsburgh, PA

San Pedro, CA

Atlanta, GA

Indianapolis, IN

Oklahoma City, OK

Philadelphia, PA

San Antonio, TX

Daytona Beach, FL

Cleveland, OH

text: City finals

text: City finals courses are the follow-up to each city qualifying course. Qualifying and finals courses are filmed back-to-back, usually over two days. The top 15 finishers overall from each city finals course move on to compete in the National Finals. In addition, as of season 9, the top two women in each city finals are guaranteed to advance, even if they do not finish in the top 15. Small prizes ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 are awarded to first, second, and third finishers who complete the finals course.[15]

text: Mount Midoriyama

text: Mount Midoriyama is the finals course for American Ninja Warrior. Located on the Las Vegas strip, it consists of four stages, each containing various obstacles of increasing difficulty. Competitors must complete all of the 23 obstacles. Should they complete the first three stages, competitors will advance to Stage 4, where competitors attempt to climb the 75-foot rope climb, known as Mount Midoriyama, in 30 seconds or less.[16] Should a competitor achieve Total Victory, he or she receives a money prize of $500,000 from season 4 to season 6, and $1,000,000 from season 7. Beginning in season 8, if multiple competitors complete stage 4, the competitors split the prize money, although in prior years the fastest competitor would receive the full amount.[15]

text:
Stage 1 consists of obstacles that test the competitors' agility and speed. The first stage is timed, and only the competitors who successfully complete it within the time limit of 2:30 advance to Stage 2.
Stage 2 consists of obstacles that test the competitors' strength and speed. Competitors must complete challenges that strain their upper-body strength (such as the Salmon Ladder) without running out of time. Just as in the first stage, only the competitors who successfully finish within the time limit of 4:00 move on to Stage 3.
Stage 3 consists of obstacles that test the competitors' upper body and grip strength. It is the only stage in Mt. Midoriyama that has no time limit. Like Stages 1 and 2, only the competitors who successfully complete Stage 3 move on.
Stage 4 of Mt. Midoriyama is a 75-foot rope climb. Competitors must complete the rope climb and hit the buzzer in under 30 seconds.

text: Series overview and season synopses

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: Season 1 (2009)

text: The first season of American Ninja Warrior was held in Los Angeles, where hundreds of competitors came to challenge themselves against the course and qualify for a shot at making it to Japan to compete in Sasuke 23 later in the year. The special premiered on December 12, 2009, on G4 TV and was hosted by G4's Blair Herter and Alison Haislip. Notable competitors this season included freerunners Levi Meeuwenberg and Brian Orosco, mixed martial artist Jason "Mayhem" Miller, and Hollywood stuntman Rich King.

text: Out of the ten Americans who qualified to compete at Mount Midori in Japan, only Rich King, Levi Meeuwenberg and Brian Orosco successfully completed Stage 1. The majority of the American Ninja Warrior competitors ran out of time or failed the obstacles. Levi Meeuwenberg was the only American competitor to complete Stage 2. The sole American competitor on Stage 3, he fell on the "Shin-Cliffhanger", and his run came to an end.[17]

text: Season 2 (2010)

text: The second season premiered on December 8, 2010, on G4 and concluded on January 2, 2011. It began in Venice Beach, California, where 300 competitors took on the course. The 15 semi-finalists moved on to the "Ninja Warrior Boot Camp" in the remote California mountains, where they competed in a series of team challenges. Then the finalists moved on to compete in the season finale of American Ninja Warrior 2 as a part of Sasuke 26 at Mount Midori in Japan. No competitor made it beyond Stage 3.

text: Season 3 (2011)

text: The third season began airing on July 31, 2011, on G4 and concluded with the finale airing on August 22, 2011, as a two-hour primetime special on NBC.[18][19] Tryouts took place in May 2011 at Venice Beach, California. After the tryouts, the top 15 competitors competed in Ninja Warrior Boot Camp with the top 10 moving on to Japan for the finals of the competition as a part of Sasuke 27 and a chance at becoming the first American to conquer the course and win a $500,000 endorsement deal with K-Swiss. No competitors made it beyond Stage 3.

text: Season 4 (2012)

text: The fourth season of American Ninja Warrior began airing on May 20, 2012, on both G4 and NBC. There were six regional competitions held in three locations: Venice Beach (Southwest and Northwest), Dallas (Midwest and Midsouth), and Miami (Northeast and Southeast), that determined the 100 competitors to participate in the qualifying rounds. The winner of the ANW season 4 competition would receive $500,000 and the coveted "American Ninja Warrior" title. The season finale, held in Las Vegas, was the first time that Mount Midori was held on U.S. soil. Submission videos for American Ninja Warrior season 4 had been collected since January 25, 2012.[20]

text: The entire format was changed as well – regional qualifiers in different parts of the country were aired, and the Mt. Midori course was recreated just off the Las Vegas Strip for the national finals. The regional qualifiers would narrow down its selections down to 30 contestants who finished its qualifying course in the fastest time as well as the contestants who finished the furthest the fastest. Qualifying obstacles would include common Stage 1 obstacles such as the Quintuple steps and the Warped wall, but its contents would change from city to city. The 30 contestants were then cut in half in the regional finals where the course would extend to include common Stage 2 and Stage 3 obstacles such as the Salmon Ladder, Cliffhanger and Body Prop. The 90 contestants who qualified (including wild cards) earned tickets to Las Vegas to challenge Mt. Midori. Brent Steffensen was the first American to defeat the Ultimate Cliffhanger on Stage 3, and he made it the farthest that season, falling on the Hang Climb. He was the only competitor to reach Stage 3 in this competition.

text: Season 5 (2013)

text: The fifth season of American Ninja Warrior premiered on June 30, 2013, on G4 with subsequent shows airing on NBC and G4.[21] Notably, the sideboard advertising along the course listed Esquire Network as the broadcaster as the fifth season was to premiere after G4's transition to Esquire on April 22, 2013. The network switch was eventually delayed to September 23, 2013, and Esquire took over Style Network's channel space instead. Because of this, additional reruns of the season aired on Saturday nights on NBC through the summer to maintain ratings momentum due to G4's lame duck status, with ANW being their only new program since they wound down all their original programming in January 2013. The success of the NBC re-airings led to the series being considered for NBC's main summer schedule for the next season.

text: Regional competitions were held in Venice Beach, Baltimore, Miami, and Denver. Tryouts for the season began in February 2013[22] and ended with the last of the regional rounds taking place the following May.[23] The finale was once again held in Las Vegas. No one defeated Stage 3, but Brian Arnold fell on the last obstacle, the Flying Bar, making him the farthest-going American on the Mount Midori course since Kane Kosugi reached the final stage on Sasuke 8.

text: Season 6 (2014)

text: The sixth season of American Ninja Warrior premiered on May 26, 2014, on NBC with subsequent shows airing on Monday nights at 9:00 pm EST[24] and Tuesday nights at 8:00 pm EST on Esquire Network.[25] Regional competitions were held at Venice Beach, Dallas, St. Louis, Miami, and Denver. The season finale was again held in Las Vegas, the permanent home of the U.S. version of Mount Midori. Notable competitors this season included The Biggest Loser personal trainer Kim Lyons, U.S. Olympic gymnasts Jonathan Horton and Terin Humphrey, among others. Female competitor Kacy Catanzaro became the first female to make it up the "Warped Wall" in the Dallas Qualifiers. Later in the Dallas Finals, she became the first woman to complete that finals course, in 8 minutes, 59 seconds. Again, no competitor achieved "total victory". Kacy's run has over ten million views. Joe Moravsky, the "Weatherman", made it farther than anyone on Season 6, falling on the Hang Climb, where Brent Steffensen failed two years ago.

text: Season 7 (2015)

text: The seventh season of American Ninja Warrior premiered on NBC on May 25, 2015. This season's grand prize was increased from $500,000 to $1,000,000. Qualifying and finals courses were held in Venice Beach, Kansas City, Houston, Orlando, Pittsburgh, as well as a special military-only course in San Pedro. Stage 1 had a total of 38 finishers including Brent Steffensen and Dustin McKinney. In Stage 2, 30 of the 38 competitors failed. Only eight were remaining in Stage 3 including Drew Dreschel, Abel Gonzalez, Isaac Caldiero, Ian Dory, Jeremiah Morgan, Kevin Bull, Joe Moravsky and Geoff Britten. Only two competitors finished the course: Isaac Caldiero and Geoff Britten. It was the first time that any American had finished Stage 3. The season concluded with a victory: Geoff Britten was the first to complete Stage 4 with a second remaining; however, Isaac Caldiero achieved the Stage 4 rope climb in a faster time and was awarded the grand prize of $1,000,000 and the title of "American Ninja Warrior". Geoff Britten was the first Ninja to complete all six courses in a single season.

text: Season 8 (2016)

text: Season 8 of American Ninja Warrior began on June 1, 2016, on NBC, with encore episodes airing the following day on Esquire Network. Regional competitions were held in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Oklahoma City, and Philadelphia, with 28 new obstacles. Over 40 percent more women registered for season 8 compared to the previous season. Additionally, prize money for possible Stage 4 winners would now be split equally among competitors who complete the rope climb in under 30 seconds.[15]

text: In Philadelphia's city finals, no competitors completed the finals course, a first in American Ninja Warrior history. In Stage 1 of the National Finals, many veterans of the show such as Geoff Britten and Brent Steffensen were eliminated early, while Jessie Graff became the first woman to complete Stage 1, placing fifth.[26] Tyler Yamauchi became the shortest person ever to complete the Jumping Spider obstacle at 5'1". Only 17 competitors successfully completed Stage 1, the lowest in ANW history.[26] On Stage 2, all athletes were eliminated except Drew Drechsel and Daniel Gil. During Stage 3, both Drechsel and Gil could not complete the course. Gil fell on the Ultimate Cliffhanger, while Drechsel went the farthest, but fell on the Hang Climb. Contrary to season 7's multiple winners, no season 8 competitor was even able to complete Stage 3.

text: Season 9 (2017)

text: Season 9 of American Ninja Warrior began on June 12, 2017, on NBC; Esquire Network ended over-the-air operations fifteen days later on June 27, thus encore episodes shifted over to NBCSN on non-event nights with this season. The premiere was preceded by a special episode, "Celebrity Ninja Warrior" on May 25, 2017, the U.S. Red Nose Day, which was followed by a "USA vs. the World" special on June 4. New for season 9, the top five women in each city qualifying course qualified for the city finals course, and the top two women in each city finals qualified for national finals, regardless of their placement overall. Also this season, fans were given the opportunity to design their own obstacles through ANW Obstacle Design Challenge and seven fan-submitted obstacles have been featured on the show.

text: ANW Specials

text: USA vs. the World / Japan

text: USA vs. Japan (Las Vegas, January 2014)

text: During the season 5 finale of American Ninja Warrior, NBC announced that a special "USA vs. Japan" matchup would take place, the first-ever team competition in American Ninja Warrior's history.[27] The two-hour special premiered on January 13, 2014, at 8 pm EST on NBC and matched five Japanese Sasuke All-Stars and New Stars - heroes of the original Ninja Warrior - against five American stars representing American Ninja Warrior at the American reconstruction of the Mount Midoriyama course in Las Vegas. At stake was the United States vs. Japan championship; also branded as the first world championship for Sasuke/American Ninja Warrior, and a trophy to match. The special featured American Ninja Warrior's regular broadcasting crew: analysts Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbaja-Biamila along with sideline reporter Jenn Brown.

text: The teams faced off on each stage in turn, with each stage hosting its own round of five one-on-one matches and no competitor allowed to run the same stage twice. The first national team to win three matches out of five earned the point(s) for that stage. Stage One was worth one point, while Stage Two was worth two points and Stage Three was worth three. In the event of a 3-3 tie after the first three stages, the tiebreaker would be a one-off showdown where each country would pick one team member for a race to the top of the Final Stage.

text: The winners of the special were the Americans over Japan.

text: Final Score: Americans: 6, Japan: 0.

text: Rosters

text:
United States
Japan

Paul Kasemir ("Mr. Consistency")
Brent Steffensen (Mount Midoriyama veteran)
James McGrath ("The Beast")
3-time Midoriyama veteran
Travis Rosen ("The Tennessee Trader")
3-time Midoriyama veteran
Brian Arnold
Top finisher at ANW 5 (Flying Bar)

Shingo Yamamoto ("The Godfather")
All-Star, veteran of every Sasuke season
Yuuji Urushihara ("The Grand Champion")
New Star, two total victories in Sasuke
Ryo Matachi ("The Superfan")
New Star, reached Final Stage once
Hitoshi Kanno ("The Muscle")
New Star, reached Final Stage once
Kazuma Asa ("The Speed Demon")
New Star, Stage 1 world record holder (at the time.)

text: USA vs. the World (Las Vegas, September 2014)

text: During the Season 6 finale, NBC announced that another special entitled "USA vs. the World" matchup would take place in Las Vegas under a new format. On September 15, Team USA competed against a returning Team Japan, and a new team, Team Europe. This was the "Second Annual International Competition" that pitted top competitors from the United States American Ninja Warrior, Japan Ninja Warrior (Sasuke), and also European All Stars.[28] The three-hour special aired on September 15, 2014, on NBC with an encore airing September 16, 2014, on Esquire. The special once again was hosted by hosts Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbaja-Biamila as well as sideline reporter Jenn Brown.

text: The winners of the special were the Europeans, winning over America and Japan.

text: Rosters

text: Team rosters were revealed late summer 2014.[29]

text:
Team USA
Team Japan
Team Europe

Brian Arnold - 36, Brighton, CO - American athlete who has come short on the Stage 3 course.*
Elet Hall ("The Natural") - 24, Cavetown, MD - one of only two men to make it to Stage 3 in season 6.
Paul Kasemir ("Mr. Consistency") - 28, Longmont, CO - the M.V.P. of the team that defeated the Japanese two years ago.
Joe Moravsky ("The Weatherman") - 25, Sherman, CT - went further than anyone else in season 6.
Travis Rosen (The Tennessee Trader") - 40, Franklin, TN - A 2-time part of Team USA and captain of 2014's all-star group.

Hitoshi Kanno ("The Muscle") - 29, Kashiwa, Japan Reached Sasuke Final Stage, ten-time Sasuke veteran
Kazuma Asa ("The Speed Demon") - 32, Amagasaki, Japan - Stage 1 world record holder
Ryo Matachi - 25, Kawasaki, Japan - Reached Sasuke Final Stage
Yusuke Morimoto ("The SASUKE Kid") - 22, Tosa, Japan - Sasuke rising star, competing seven times, first competing at age 15
Shingo Yamamoto ("The Godfather"), - 40, Tokyo, Japan - Captain of Team Japan and only athlete to compete in all 32 seasons of Sasuke

Tim Shieff ("Livewire") - 26, London, England - Captain of Team Europe, world champion professional free runner, ANW veteran, competing on three seasons.
Sean McColl - 27, Chambery, France - Canadian professional World Champion rock climber and current overall climbing champion
Stefano Ghisolfi - 21, Turin, Italy - Professional World Cup rock climber, number one ranked Italian climber
Miska Sutela - 23, Oulu, Finland - Ninja Warrior superfan, has trained all over the world, including Japan, trained with the Sasuke All-Stars. Built 35 NW obstacles in his parent's backyard to train on.
Vadym Kuvakin - 29, Kherson, Ukraine - Former Olympic gymnast, current member of the Cirque du Soleil cast for "La Reve" in Las Vegas

text: Final Score: Europe: 10, USA: 9, Japan: 0

text: Highlights

text: Joe Moravsky beat Brent Steffenson's record (from ANW 4) for the fastest time in Stage 1, beating Steffenson's time of 1:14.53 with a time of 1:12.72. However, Tim Shieff beat Moravsky's time in a subsequent heat by finishing in 1:02.70 - the fastest time ever on Stage 1 in ANW history.

text: Travis Rosen achieved the fastest time by an American on Stage 2 with 1:48.00, but Sean McColl finished with a time of 1:46.51, the fastest of the season. All three Americans (Travis Rosen, Elet Hall, and Brian Arnold) completed Stage 2, with Sean McColl also completing it for Team Europe.

text: Yusuke Morimoto made ANW history by becoming the first athlete to ever finish Stage 3 with a time of 5:38.91. Stefano Ghisolfi also completed Stage 3 in the same heat, beating Morimoto's time finishing in 4:46.89. Ryo Matachi followed by becoming the third athlete to complete Stage 3 with a time of 5:04.67. In the last run of Stage 3, Brian Arnold became the second American athlete to complete the stage (after Kane Kosugi did it in Sasuke 8) with a time of 4:39.90, the fastest time of the four finishers. Arnold's finish moved USA into a tie with Team Europe, forcing a deciding tie-break on Stage 4.

text: For the first time in ANW history, the athletes competed on Stage 4. Travis Rosen was selected as the first competitor on ANW to attempt the final stage and he made it all the way up Midoriyama's 90-foot tower with a 77-foot rope with a time of 0:35.77. However, Sean McColl beat Rosen's time by 3/10th of a second (0:00.31), winning the competition for Team Europe as they became the World Champions of ANW. Rosen missed on his first attempt at hitting the buzzer at the end of the rope climb.

text: USA vs. the World II (Las Vegas, January 2016)

text: NBC announced that another USA vs. the World matchup would again take place in Las Vegas. It was the second such worldwide special to unite ANW alumni, Sasuke all-stars, and European competitors for the season 7 finale. The 3-hour special aired on January 31, 2016, on NBC. It was hosted by the current American Ninja Warrior hosts, Matt Iseman, Akbar Gbaja-Biamila, and co-host Kristine Leahy.[30]

text: The winners of the special were the Americans, winning over Europe and Japan.

text: Rosters

text: Team rosters were revealed in December 2015.[30]

text:
Team USA
Team Japan
Team Europe

Isaac Caldiero - 33, Las Vegas, NV - American athlete who won the $1 million prize for conquering Midoriyama the fastest in 2015.
Kevin Bull ("The Bull") - 31, Scotts Valley, CA - Famous for his inverted dismount on Cannonball Alley in season 6. Selected as the alternate.
Joe Moravsky ("The Weatherman")- 26, Sherman, CT - Completed every stage he's participated in except stage 3.
Geoff Britten* ("Popeye") - 37, First American ever to defeat Midoriyama and the first American Ninja Warrior.
Drew Drechsel - 26, Fairfield, CT - Only competitor in the competition to have made it to the third stage on both Sasuke and American Ninja Warrior.
Ian Dory - 25, Rock climber who made it to the Flying Bar in season 7.

Kenji Takahashi ("Kong") - 39, Kawagoe, Japan - Competitor who has only failed the Second Stage once in nine tries. Has made it to the Final Stage.
Masashi Hioki - 35, Chiba City, Japan - Has made it to the Third Stage twice.
Ryo Matachi - 26, Tokyo, Japan - Only competitor to be featured in all USA vs. The World competitions. Reached the Fourth Stage Twice. Third competitor to complete the Third stage on American soil.
Yusuke Morimoto - 23, Tosa, Japan - Returning from the previous USA vs. The World special. First competitor to complete the Third Stage on American soil. Reached Total Victory in Sasuke 31.
Tomohiro Kawaguchi ("Tomo") - 33, Tokyo, Japan - Has made it to the Final Stage once.

Tim Shieff ("Livewire") - 27, London, England - Returning from last year's USA vs. The World special.
Sean McColl - 28, Chambery, France - Returning from last year's USA vs. The World special.
Stefano Ghisolfi - 22, Turin, Italy - Returning from last year's USA vs. The World special.
Tim Champion - 20, Exeter, England - Made it to Stage 2 in Ninja Warrior UK
Alexander Mars - 28, Stockholm, Sweden - Winner of Swedish Ninja Warrior

text: Note: *Britten was unable to compete due to flu-like symptoms with a fever of 103 and was replaced by alternate Joe Moravsky who was standing by.

text: Highlights

text: On Stage 1, Drew Drechsel gets the fastest time of the season with a time of 1:18.61, beating Tim Shieff's time of 1:25.33.

text: On Stage 2, Sean McColl edged out both Drew Drechsel's time of 1:34.46, and Joe Moravsky's time of 1:23.69, beating them with a speedy time of 1:19.86, the fastest of the ANW season.

text: On Stage 3, in the last heat, Yusuke Morimoto was the only member of Team Japan to finish this stage with a time of 6:29.38. However, Sean McColl got a faster time with 5:42.25, putting Team Europe in the lead. Isaac Caldiero was the last to compete and needed the 3-point win in order to put Team USA on top. Caldiero brought his team to victory with an impressive time of 4:28.84, the fastest of the season.

text: Final Score: USA: 10, Europe: 9, Japan: 0

text: USA vs. The World III (June 2017)

text: The 3-hour special episode aired on June 4, 2017; it was unofficially the first episode of season 9. Once again, it was hosted by the current American Ninja Warrior hosts, Matt Iseman, Akbar Gbaja-Biamila, and co-host Kristine Leahy. This year, Team USA and Team Europe faced a new challenger; Team Latin America.

text: Highlights

text: Jessie Graff became the first woman in ANW history, and to compete and successfully finish, Stage 2 in Las Vegas. This was the POM Wonderful "Run of the Night".[31][32] She was also the first woman representing the United States in the USA vs. The World competition.[32] Josh Levin and Drew Drechsel both completed Stage 3, putting them on a list of only a handful of athletes to do so.

text:
Team USA
Team Europe
Team Latin America

Jessie Graff - 32, Calabasas, CA - Stuntwoman, first female athlete to ever compete in this competition.
Drew Drechsel ("Real Life Ninja") - 27, Fairfield, CT - Team Captain, Gym Owner, only competitor to have made it farther than anyone in both the national finals and the Sasuke 32 and 33.
Daniel Gil - 23, Houston, TX - ANW Trainer, one of the fastest competitors in ANW history.
Jake Murray - 29, Denver, CO - Wedding Photographer, one of the fastest competitors on Stage 1.
Brian Arnold - 38, Brighton, CO - Salesman, ANW Veteran; 3rd time in this competition.
Josh Levin - 22, Sunnyvale, CA - ANW Rookie, International Rock Climbing Champion.

Stefano Ghisolfi - 23, Turin, Italy - Top Professional Rock Climber in Europe.
Sean McColl - 28, Chambery, France - #1 Ranked Professional Rock Climber in the World.
Tim Shieff ("Livewire") - 28, London, England - Team Captain, holds the record for fastest time on Stage 1.
Djarke Tonnesen - 24, Copenhagen, Denmark - Graphic Design Student, former Gymnast. Made it to the finals on Denmark's Ninja Warrior.
Owen McKenzie ("The Stuff") - 32, London, England - Gas Engineer, ANW Rookie. Top finisher on Ninja Warrior UK.
Alexander Mars - 29, Stockholm, Sweden - Real Estate Manager, ultimate frisbee competitor, winner of Ninja Warrior Sweden.

Wid Eriksen - 26, Mexico City, Mexico - Acrobat, Freeruning competitor.
Diego Gonzalez - 26, Mexico City, Mexico, - Industrial Engineer, #1 Ranked Rock Climber in Mexico.
Santiago De Alba - 23, Mexico City, Mexico - Bouldering Champion of Mexico.
David Saikin - 29, Bariloche, Argentina - #1 Ranked Rock Climber in Argentina.
Karl Fow - 28, Caracas, Venezuela - Top Professional Freerunner in Venezuela.
Danee Marmolejo - 24, Mexico City, Mexico - Professional Stuntman, Freerunner.

text: Final Score: Team USA: 10, Team Europe: 7, Team Latin America: 1.

text: All-Stars

text: All Stars (May 2016)

text: On May 29, 2016, prior to the premiere of season eight, NBC aired a two-hour all-star special in which hosts Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbaja-Biamila chose their own all-star teams composed of three veterans, one rookie, and one woman. Teams competed on stages two, three, and four of the regular season finals course, Mt. Midoriyama, as well as competitions on a supersized course by testing their skills in competitions on the giant peg board, 40-foot Salmon Ladder, Flying Shelf Grab, Jump Hang, and concluded with a race to the top of the "Mega" Warped Wall.[33]

text: The all-star winners were Team Akbar who won the team competition, beating Team Matt 5-3. Additionally, competitor Joe Moravsky completed Stage 2 in a record time of 1:08:52.[34]

text: All Stars II (February 2017)

text: On February 20, 2017, NBC aired a second two-hour all-star special. Like the previous year's competition, ANW hosts Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbaja-Biamila chose their own all-star teams, this year composed of one veteran, one breakout star, and one woman. Team Matt featured Chris Wilczewski, Najee Richardson, and Jesse "Flex" Lebreck. Team Akbar featured Grant McCartney, Neil "Crazy" Craver, and Meagan Martin. Also, sideline interviewer Kristine Leahy got to pick her own team, which consisted of Jessie Graff, Flip Rodriguez, and Nicholas Coolridge. Teams competed as a relay race to finish sections of stages one, two, and three of the regular season finals course, Mt. Midoriyama. Next, was the skills competition on a supersized course where individual contestants tested their skills in competition on the 75-feet tall Endless Invisible Ladder, the 4-story high Super Salmon Ladder, Supersonic Shelf Grab, Striding Steps, and the Mega Wall, which is now 20 feet high.

text: The all-star winners were Team Kristine who won the team relay race competition, beating Team Matt and last year's champions Team Akbar. Their highlight of the night was completing Stage 3 in a record time of 5:30:62, making this the POM Wonderful Run of the Night.

text: Celebrity Ninja Warrior

text: NBC announced a special entitled "Celebrity Ninja Warrior for Red Nose Day" which aired on May 25, 2017. Celebrity Ninja Warrior featured celebrities competing on the American Ninja Warrior course while being coached by ANW favorites.[35] The course featured modified obstacles: Floating Steps, Cannonball Drop, Fly Wheels, Block Run, Battering Ram, and the Warped Wall. After completing the course, Stephen Amell, also completed the Salmon Ladder (which he performed in a scene on Arrow) and unsuccessfully attempted a new obstacle, the Swinging Pegboard; Amell's run was named the M&M's "Run of the Night."

text: For every obstacle the celebrities completed, M&M's and The Rockefeller Foundation pledged to donate $5,000 to Red Nose Day.

text:
Celebrities
Coaches

Stephen Amell
Kacy Catanzaro

Derek Hough
Daniel Gil

Erika Christensen
David "Flip" Rodriguez

Natalie Morales
Grant McCartney

Nikki Glaser
Jessie Graff

Jeff Dye
Meagan Martin

Mena Suvari
Natalie Duran

Nick Swisher
Drew Dreschel

Ashton Eaton
Kevin Bull

text: Team Ninja Warrior

text: On October 9, 2015, Esquire Network announced a spin-off of American Ninja Warrior which would feature 24 three-person teams (two men and one woman) of popular ANW alumni. The teams compete head-to-head against each other, running the course simultaneously, thus creating a new live duel dynamic. The two teams with the fastest times advance to the finale where one team will be crowned the winners and receive a cash prize. Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbaja-Biamila host alongside actor and journalist, Alex Curry.[36][37][38] The series is Esquire Network's most-watched program in the channel's history.[39]

text: On May 31, 2016, Esquire Network ordered a sixteen-episode second season that also included a five-episode special college edition that had college-aged competitors go head-to-head against rival schools.[39] On March 6, 2017, it was announced that Team Ninja Warrior will be moving to sibling cable channel USA Network as Esquire Network winds down its linear channel operations and relaunches as an online only service. The show's second season premiered proper on April 18.[40]

text: Reception

text: Awards and nominations

text:
Year
Award
Category
Nominee
Result
ref

2015
Kids' Choice Awards
Favorite Reality Show
American Ninja Warrior
Nominated
[41]

2016
People's Choice Awards
Favorite Competition TV Show
American Ninja Warrior
Nominated
[42]

Primetime Emmy Awards
Outstanding Reality-Competition Program
American Ninja Warrior
Nominated
[43]

2017
Kids' Choice Awards
Favorite Reality Show
American Ninja Warrior
Nominated

Primetime Emmy Awards
Outstanding Reality-Competition Program
American Ninja Warrior
Nominated
[44]

text: U.S. Nielsen ratings

text:
Season
Time slot (ET)
Episodes
Premiered
Ended
Network
TV season
Season averages
(Live + SD)
Most-watched episode (millions)

Date
Premiere viewers
(millions)
Date
Finale viewers
(millions)
Viewers (millions)
18–49 rating

1
Saturday 6:00 pm
8

December 12, 2009

N/A

December 19, 2009

N/A
G4
2009–10
N/A
N/A
N/A

2
Wednesday 8:00 pm
10

December 8, 2010

N/A

December 23, 2010

N/A
2010–11
N/A
N/A
N/A

3
Sunday 9:00 pm
10

July 31, 2011

N/A

August 22, 2011

N/A
2011
N/A
N/A
N/A

4
Monday 9:00 pm
9

May 20, 2012

6.20[45]

July 23, 2012

4.87[45]
NBC
G4
2012
5.11[45]
1.9[45]
6.78[45]

5
Monday 8:00 pm
12

July 1, 2013

3.07[46]

September 17, 2013

4.04[46]
2013
4.96[46]
1.6[46]
5.81[46]

6
Monday 9:00 pm
14

May 26, 2014

4.65[47]

September 15, 2014

5.21[47]
NBC
Esquire
2014
5.33[47]
1.8[47]
5.83[47]

7
Monday 8:00 pm
15

May 25, 2015

5.87[48]

September 14, 2015

6.17[48]
2015
6.54[48]
1.9[48]
7.32[48]

8
13

June 1, 2016

6.35[49]

September 12, 2016

5.88[49]
2016
6.28[49]
1.8[49]
7.01[49]

9
15

June 12, 2017

5.36[50]

September 18, 2017

5.96[51]
NBC
USA
2017
5.86[52]
1.4[52]
6.47[52]

text: International broadcasts

text: In Australia and New Zealand, the show is broadcast on SBS 2, TV3 and Four. On April 25, 2016, it was announced Canadian broadcaster CTV picked up American Ninja Warrior for its 2016 summer broadcast schedule.[53] In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the show is broadcast on Challenge. In Israel, the show is broadcast on Yes Action. In 2016 Croatian RTL started broadcasting the show. The show is also shown in Finland on Sub-TV. In the Netherlands the show was first broadcast in 2017 on SBS 6, where their own Ninja Warrior NL has been broadcast.


document_title: Monsters, Inc.

question_text: when did monsters inc come out on dvd

question_tokens: when did monsters inc come out on dvd

root

text: Monsters, Inc.

text: Plot[edit]

text: The city of Monstropolis in the monster world is powered by energy from the screams of human children. At the Monsters, Inc. factory, skilled monsters employed as "scarers" venture into the human world to scare children and harvest their screams, through doors that activate portals to the children's bedroom closets. It is considered dangerous work, as human children are believed to be "toxic". Energy production is falling because children are becoming less easily scared, and company chairman, Henry J. Waternoose, is determined to find a solution. James P. "Sulley" Sullivan is the organization's top scarer, but his chief rival Randall Boggs is close behind.

tag: p

text: One day, Sulley discovers that Randall has left a door activated on the scare floor and a small girl has entered the factory. After several failed attempts to put her back, Sulley conceals her and takes her out of the factory. He interrupts his best friend Mike Wazowski's date with his girlfriend, Celia, at a sushi restaurant, and chaos erupts when the child is discovered. Sulley and Mike manage to escape with the child before the Child Detection Agency (CDA) quarantines the restaurant. They soon discover that she is not really toxic after all; Sulley grows attached to her and calls her "Boo," while Mike is just anxious to be rid of her.

text: When they smuggle her back into the factory disguised as a baby monster in an attempt to send her home, Randall discovers her and tries to kidnap her, but he mistakenly kidnaps Mike instead. He straps Mike to a large machine called "The Scream Extractor," which he intends to use to revolutionize the scaring industry and solve the monster world's energy problems by forcefully extracting screams from kidnapped human children. Before Randall can use the machine on Mike, Sulley intervenes and reports Randall to Waternoose. Waternoose, secretly in league with Randall, instead exiles Mike and Sulley to the Himalayas. The two are taken in by a Yeti, who tells them about a nearby village which Sulley realizes he can use to return to the factory. Sulley prepares to leave, but Mike refuses to go with him. Meanwhile, Randall is preparing to use the Scream Extractor on Boo, but Sulley arrives and saves her. Randall and Sulley fight, and after Mike returns and the two reconcile, they overpower Randall, take Boo, and flee.

text: Randall pursues them to the door vault, and a wild chase ensues among the millions of doors as they move in and out of the storage vault on rails to the factory floor. Boo's laughter causes all the doors to activate, allowing the monsters to pass in and out of the human world. Randall attempts to kill Sulley, but Boo overcomes her fear and attacks him. Sulley and Mike trap Randall in the human world, where two residents at a trailer park mistake him for an alligator and beat him with a shovel. Sulley and Mike then trick Waternoose into revealing his plot with Randall, while Mike secretly records the entire conversation for the CDA to view. The CDA arrests Waternoose and it is revealed that Roz the monster in charge of paperwork is CDA No. 1 to which she orders Sulley and Mike to return Boo home and has her door shredded to prevent any more contact with her.

text: With the factory temporarily shut down, Sulley is named the new CEO of Monsters, Inc. Under his leadership, the energy crisis is solved by harvesting children's laughter instead of screams, as laughter has been found to be much more potent. Mike takes Sulley aside, revealing he has rebuilt Boo's door and only needs one final piece, which Sulley took as a memento. Sulley enters and joyfully reunites with Boo.

text: Voice cast[edit]

text:
John Goodman as James P. "Sulley" Sullivan, a large, furry blue monster with horns and purple spots. Even though Sulley excels at scaring children, he is a gentle giant by nature. At the film's beginning, Sulley has been the "Best Scarer" at Monsters, Inc. for several months running.
Billy Crystal as Michael "Mike" Wazowski, a short, round green monster with a single big eyeball and skinny limbs. Mike is Sulley's station runner and coach on the scare floor, and the two are close friends and roommates. Mike is charming and generally the more organized of the two, but is prone to neurotics and his ego sometimes leads him astray. He is dating Celia Mae, who calls him "Googly-Bear".
Mary Gibbs as Mary "Boo", a three-year-old[3][4][5] human girl who is unafraid of any monster except Randall, the scarer assigned to her door. She believes Sulley is a large cat and refers to him as "Kitty". In the film, one of Boo's drawings is covered with the name "Mary". The book based on the film gives Boo's "real" name as Mary Gibbs, the name of her voice actress who also happens to be the daughter of Rob Gibbs who worked as a story artist on the film.[6]
Steve Buscemi as Randall Boggs, a purple eight-legged lizard monster with a chameleon-like ability to change skin color and blend in completely with his surroundings. He is a snide and preening character who makes himself a rival to Sulley and Mike in scream collection.
James Coburn as Henry J. Waternoose III, an arthropodic monster with a crab-like lower body. Waternoose is the CEO of Monsters, Inc., a job passed down through his family for three generations. He acts as a mentor to Sulley, holding great faith in him as a scarer.
Jennifer Tilly as Celia Mae, a gorgon-like monster with one eye and tentacle-like legs. Celia is the receptionist for Monsters, Inc. and Mike's girlfriend.
Bob Peterson as Roz, a slug-like monster with a raspy voice reminiscent of Selma Diamond's who administrates for Scarefloor F where Sulley, Mike, and Randall work. At the end of the movie, it is revealed that Roz is "agent number 1" of the CDA, and has worked undercover at Monsters, Inc. for two and a half years.
John Ratzenberger as Yeti[7] aka. The Abominable Snowman,[8] a furry white monster who was banished to the Himalayas. He was inspired by the Abominable Snowman from the 1964 Rankin/Bass animated special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.[9]
Frank Oz as Jeff Fungus, Randall's red-skinned, three-eyed assistant. He is generally incompetent and is often bullied by Randall.
Dan Gerson as Smitty and Needleman, two goofy adolescent monsters with cracking voices who work as janitors and operate the Door Shredder when required. The pair of them idolize Sulley and are generally seen as a nuisance by Mike.
Steve Susskind as Jerry Slugworth, a red seven-fingered monster who manages Scare Floor F and is a good friend of Waternoose.
Bonnie Hunt as Ms. Flint, a female monster who trains new monsters to scare children.
Jeff Pidgeon as Thaddeus "Phlegm" Bile, a trainee scarer for Monsters, Inc.
Samuel Lord Black as George Sanderson, a chubby, oranged-furred monster with a sole horn on top of his head. A running gag throughout the film involves George repeatedly making contact with human artifacts (such as socks and the like which cling to his fur via static), prompting his scare coach to trigger "23–19" incidents with the CDA resulting in him mobbed, shaved bald, and sterilized. He is good friends with Pete "Claws" Ward.
Phil Proctor as Charlie, George's assistant with sea-green skin and tendrils for limbs. He is friends with George, Mike, and Sulley but is quick to call the CDA on his scarer at the drop of a hat.
Joe Ranft as Pete "Claws" Ward, a blue monster with razor-sharp claws and horrifying breath. He is very good friends with George Sanderson.

tag: ul

text: Production[edit]

text: Development[edit]

text: The idea for Monsters, Inc. was conceived in a lunch in 1994 attended by John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton and Joe Ranft during the production of Toy Story.[10] One of the ideas that came out of the brainstorming session was a film about monsters. "When we were making Toy Story", Docter said, "everybody came up to me and said 'Hey, I totally believed that my toys came to life when I left the room.' So when Disney asked us to do some more films, I wanted to tap into a childlike notion that was similar to that. I knew monsters were coming out of my closet when I was a kid. So I said, 'Hey, let's do a film about monsters.'"[11]

text: Docter began work on the film that would become Monsters, Inc. in 1996 while others focused on A Bug's Life (1998) and Toy Story 2 (1999). Its code name was Hidden City, named for Docter's favorite restaurant in Point Richmond.[12] By early-February 1997, Docter had drafted a treatment together with Harley Jessup, Jill Culton, and Jeff Pidgeon that bore some resemblance to the final film. Docter pitched the story to Disney with some initial artwork on February 4 that year. He and his story team left with some suggestions in hand and returned to pitch a refined version of the story on May 30. At this pitch meeting, longtime Disney animator Joe Grant – whose work stretched back to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) – suggested the title Monsters, Inc., a play on the title of a gangster film Murder, Inc.,[13] which stuck.[14] The film marks the first Pixar feature to not be directed by Lasseter instead being helmed by Docter, as well as Lee Unkrich and David Silverman who served as co-directors.[15]

text: Writing[edit]

text: The story line took on many forms during production.[16] His original idea featured a 30-year-old man dealing with monsters that he drew in a book as a child coming back to bother him as an adult. Each monster represented a fear he had, and conquering those fears caused the monsters eventually to disappear.[17]

text: After Docter scrapped the initial concept of a 30-year-old terrified of monsters, he decided on a buddy story between a monster and a child titled simply Monsters, in which the monster character of Sulley (known at this stage as Johnson) was an up-and-comer at his workplace, where the company's purpose was to scare children. Sulley's eventual sidekick, Mike Wazowski, had not yet been added.[16][18][18]

text: Between 1996 and 2000, the lead monster and child went through radical changes as the story evolved. As the story continued to develop, the child varied in age and gender. Ultimately, the story team decided that a girl would be the best counterpart for a furry, 8-foot-tall (96 in) co-star.[16] After a girl was settled upon, the character continued to undergo changes, at one point being from Ireland and at another time being an African-American character.[14] Originally the character of the little girl, known as Mary, became a fearless seven-year-old who has been toughened by years of teasing and pranks from four older brothers.[14] In stark contrast, Johnson is nervous about the possibility of losing his job after the boss at Monsters, Inc. announces a downsizing is on the way. He feels envious because another scarer, Ned (who later became Randall), is the company's top performer.[14] Through various drafts, Johnson's occupation went back-and-forth from being a scarer and from working in another area of the company such as a janitor or a refinery worker, until his final incarnation as the best scarer at Monsters, Inc.[14] Throughout development Pixar worried that having a main character whose main goal was to scare children would alienate audiences and make them not empathize with him. Docter would later describe that the team "bent over backwards trying to create a story that still had monsters " while still solving the problem,[15] A key moment came when the team decided "Okay, he's the BEST scarer there. He's the star quarterback" with Docter noting that before that moment "design after design, we really didn't know what he was about."[15] Disney noted to Pixar early on that they did not want the character to "look like a guy in a suit."[15] To this end Johnson was originally planned to have tentacles for feet; however, this caused many problems in early animation tests. The idea was later largely rejected, as it was thought that audiences would be distracted by the tentacles.[19] Mary's age also differed from draft to draft until the writers settled on the age of 3. "We found that the younger she was, the more dependent she was on Sulley", Docter said.[11]

text: Eventually Johnson was renamed Sullivan. The name was suggested by an animator who had attended Texas A&M University, inspired by one of Texas A&M's historic icons, Lawrence Sullivan Ross, nicknamed "Sulley" by students. Sullivan was also planned to wear glasses throughout the film. However, the creators found it a dangerous idea because the eyes were a perfectly readable and clear way of expressing a character's personality; thus, the idea was rejected.[19]

text: The idea of a monster buddy for the lead monster emerged at an April 6, 1998 "story summit" in Burbank with employees from Disney and Pixar. A term coined by Lasseter, a "story summit" was a crash exercise that would yield a finished story in only two days.[20] Such a character, the group agreed, would give the lead monster someone to talk to about his predicament. Development artist Ricky Nierva drew a concept sketch of a rounded, one-eyed monster as a concept for the character, and everyone was generally receptive to it.[11] Docter named the character Mike for the father of his friend Frank Oz, a director and Muppet performer.[14] Jeff Pidgeon and Jason Katz story-boarded a test in which Mike helps Sulley choose a tie for work, and Mike Wazowski soon became a vital character in the film.[11] Originally, Mike had no arms and had to use his legs as appendages; however, due to some technical difficulties, arms were soon added to him.[11]

text: Screenwriter Dan Gerson joined Pixar in 1999 and worked on the film with the filmmakers on a daily basis for almost two years. He considered it his first experience in writing a feature film. He explained, "I would sit with Pete [Docter] and David Silverman and we would talk about a scene and they would tell me what they were looking for. I would make some suggestions and then go off and write the sequence. We'd get together again and review it and then hand it off to a story artist. Here's where the collaborative process really kicked in. The board artist was not beholden to my work and could take liberties here and there. Sometimes, I would suggest an idea about making the joke work better visually. Once the scene moved on to animation, the animators would plus the material even further."[16]

text: Casting[edit]

text: Bill Murray was considered for the voice role of James P. "Sulley" Sullivan. He screen tested for the role and was interested, but when Pete Docter was unable to make contact with him, he took it as a "no".[21][22] The voice role of Sulley went to John Goodman, the longtime co-star of the comedy series Roseanne and a regular in the films of the Coen brothers. Goodman interpreted the character to himself as the monster equivalent of a National Football League player. "He's like a seasoned lineman in the tenth year of his career," he said at the time. "He is totally dedicated and a total pro."[23] Billy Crystal, having regretted turning down the part of Buzz Lightyear years prior, accepted that of Mike Wazowski, Sulley's one-eyed best friend and scare assistant.[24][25] The casting of Steve Buscemi as Randall, Sulley's rival, saw a reunion between himself and John Goodman; they had previously worked together on The Big Lebowski and Barton Fink.

text: Animation[edit]

text: In November 2000, early in the production of Monsters, Inc., Pixar packed up and moved for the second time since its Lucasfilm years.[23] The company's approximately 500 employees had become spread among three buildings, separated by a busy highway. The company moved from Point Richmond to a much bigger campus in Emeryville, co-designed by Lasseter and Steve Jobs.[23]

text: In production, Monsters Inc. differed from earlier Pixar features, as every main character in this movie had its own lead animator – John Kahrs on Sulley, Andrew Gordon on Mike, and Dave DeVan on Boo.[26] Kahrs found that the "bearlike quality" of Goodman's voice provided an exceptionally good fit with the character. He faced a difficult challenge, however, in dealing with Sulley's sheer mass; traditionally, animators conveyed a figure's heaviness by giving it a slower, more belabored movement, but Kahrs was concerned that such an approach to a central character would give the film a "sluggish" feel.[26] Like Goodman, Kahrs came to think of Sulley as a football player, one whose athleticism enabled him to move quickly in spite of his size. To help the animators with Sulley and other large monsters, Pixar arranged for Rodger Kram, a University of California, Berkeley expert on the locomotion of heavy mammals, to lecture on the subject.[26]

text: Adding to Sulley's lifelike appearance was an intense effort by the technical team to refine the rendering of fur. Other production houses had tackled realistic fur, most notably Rhythm & Hues in its 1993 polar bear commercials for Coca-Cola and in its talking animals' faces in the 1995 film Babe.[26] This film, however, required fur on a far larger scale. From the standpoint of Pixar's engineers, the quest for fur posed several significant challenges; one was to figure out how to animate a large numbers of hairs – 2,320,413 of them on Sulley – in a reasonably efficient way,[26] and another was to make sure that the hairs would cast shadows on other ones. Without self-shadowing, either fur or hair takes on an unrealistic flat-colored look (e.g., in Toy Story, the hair on Andy's toddler sister, as seen in that movie's opening sequence, is hair without self-shadowing).[26]

text: The first fur test allowed Sulley to run an obstacle course. Results were not satisfactory, as such objects would catch and stretch out the fur due to the extreme amount of motion. Another similar test was also unsuccessful, because, this time, the fur would go through the objects.[19]

text: Pixar then set up a Simulation department and created a new fur simulation program called Fizt (short for "physics tool").[27] After a shot with Sulley in it had been animated, this department took the data for that shot and added Sulley's fur. Fizt allowed the fur to react in a more natural way. Every time when Sulley would have to move, his fur would (automatically) react to his movements, thus taking the effects of wind and gravity into account as well. The Fizt program also controlled the movement of Boo's clothes, which provided another "breakthrough".[27] The deceptively simple-sounding task of animating cloth was also a challenge to animate thanks to those hundreds of creases and wrinkles that automatically occurred in the clothing when the wearer moved.[28] Also, this meant they would have to solve the complex problem of how to keep cloth untangled – in other words, to keep it from passing through itself when parts of it intersect.[29] Fizt applied the same system to Boo's clothes as to Sulley's fur. First of all, Boo would be animated shirtless; the Simulation department then used Fizt to apply the shirt over Boo's body, and every time she would move, her clothes also would react to her movements in a more natural manner.

text: To solve the problem of cloth-to-cloth collisions, Michael Kass, Pixar's senior scientist, was joined on Monsters, Inc. by David Baraff and Andrew Witkin and developed an algorithm they called "global intersection analysis" to handle the problem. The complexity of the shots in the film, including elaborate sets such as the door vault, required more computing power to render than any of Pixar's earlier efforts combined. The render farm in place for Monsters, Inc. was made up of 3500 Sun Microsystems processors, compared with 1400 for Toy Story 2 and only 200 for Toy Story.[29]

text: Release[edit]

text: The film premiered on October 28, 2001, at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California.[30] It was theatrically released on November 2, 2001 in the United States, in Australia on December 26, 2001, and in the United Kingdom on February 8, 2002.[31] The theatrical release was accompanied with the Pixar short animated film For the Birds.[32]

text: As with A Bug's Life and Toy Story 2, a montage of "outtakes" and a performance of a play based on a line from the film were made and included in the end credits of the film starting on December 7, 2001.[33]

text: After the success of the 3D re-release of The Lion King,[34] Disney and Pixar re-released Monsters, Inc. in 3D on December 19, 2012.[35]

text: Home media[edit]

text: Monsters, Inc. was released on VHS and DVD on September 17, 2002.[36] It was then released on Blu-ray on November 10, 2009,[37] and on Blu-ray 3D on February 19, 2013.[38]

text: Reception[edit]

text: Box office[edit]

text: Monsters, Inc. ranked number 1 at the box office on its opening weekend, grossing $62,577,067 in North America alone. The film had a small drop-off of 27.2% over its second weekend, earning another $45,551,028. In its third weekend, the film experienced a larger decline of 50.1%, placing itself in the second position just after Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. In its fourth weekend, however, there was an increase of 5.9%, making $24,055,001 that weekend for a combined total of over $525 million. As of May 2013, it is the eighth-biggest fourth weekend ever for a film.[39][40]

text: The film made $289,916,256 in North America, and $287,509,478 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $577,425,734.[2] The film is Pixar's ninth highest-grossing film worldwide and sixth in North America.[41] For a time, the film surpassed Toy Story 2 as the second highest-grossing animated film of all time, only behind 1994's The Lion King.[29]

text: In the U.K., Ireland, and Malta, it earned £37,264,502 ($53,335,579) in total, marking the sixth highest-grossing animated film of all time in the country and the thirty-second highest-grossing film of all time.[42] In Japan, although earning $4,471,902 during its opening and ranking second behind The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring for the weekend, it moved to first place on subsequent weekends due to exceptionally small decreases or even increases and dominated for six weeks at the box office. It finally reached $74,437,612, standing as 2001's third highest-grossing film and the third largest U.S. animated feature of all time in the country behind Toy Story 3 and Finding Nemo.[43]

text: Critical reception[edit]

text: Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 96% based on 192 reviews, with an average score of 8/10. The critical consensus was, "Clever, funny, and delightful to look at, Monsters, Inc. delivers another resounding example of how Pixar elevated the bar for modern all-ages animation."[44] Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated a score of 78 based on 34 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews."[45]

text: Charles Taylor from Salon.com stated, "[i]t's agreeable and often funny, and adults who take their kids to see it might be surprised to find themselves having a pretty good time."[46] Elvis Mitchell from The New York Times gave it a positive review, praising the film's use of "creative energy", saying "There hasn't been a film in years to use creative energy as efficiently as Monsters, Inc."[47] Although Mike Clark from USA Today thought the comedy was sometimes "more frenetic than inspired and viewer emotions are rarely touched to any notable degree," he also viewed the film as "visually inventive as its Pixar predecessors."[48]

text: ReelViews film critic James Berardinelli gave the film 3 1⁄2 stars out of 4 and wrote that the film was "one of those rare family films that parents can enjoy (rather than endure) along with their kids."[49] Roger Ebert from the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, calling it "cheerful, high-energy fun, and like the other Pixar movies, has a running supply of gags and references aimed at grownups."[50] Lisa Schwarzbaum from Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "B" grade and praised the film's animation, stating "Everything from Pixar Animation Studios – the snazzy, cutting-edge computer animation outfit – looks really, really terrific and unspools with a liberated, heppest-moms-and-dads-on-the-block iconoclasm."[51]

text: Accolades[edit]

text: Monsters, Inc. won the Academy Award for Best Original Song (Randy Newman, after fifteen previous nominations, for "If I Didn't Have You").[52] It was one of the first animated films to be nominated for Best Animated Feature (lost to Shrek).[52] It was also nominated for Best Original Score (lost to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring) and Best Sound Editing (lost to Pearl Harbor).[52] At the Kid's Choice Awards in 2002, it was nominated for "Favorite Voice in an Animated Movie" for Billy Crystal (who lost to Eddie Murphy in Shrek).[52]

text: Music[edit]

text:
Monsters, Inc.

Soundtrack album by Randy Newman

Released
October 23, 2001

Recorded
2000–2001

Genre
Score

Length
1:00:30

Label
Walt Disney

Randy Newman chronology

Meet the Parents
(2000)Meet the Parents2000
Monsters, Inc.
(2001)
Seabiscuit
(2003)Seabiscuit2003

Pixar soundtrack chronology

Toy Story 2
(1999) Toy Story 21999
Monsters, Inc.
(2001) Monsters, Inc.2001
Finding Nemo
(2003) Finding Nemo2003

tag: table

text:
Professional ratings

Review scores

Source
Rating

AllMusic
[53]

Empire
[54]

Filmtracks.com
[55]

Movie Wave
[56]

Soundtrack.net
[57]

text: Monsters Inc. was Randy Newman's fourth feature film collaboration with Pixar. The end credits song "If I Didn't Have You" was sung by John Goodman and Billy Crystal.[16]

text: The album was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score and a Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media.[52] The score lost both these awards to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, but after sixteen nominations, the song "If I Didn't Have You" finally won Newman his first Academy Award for Best Original Song.[52] It also won a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media.[52]

text: Track listing[edit]

text: All tracks written by Randy Newman.

text:
No.
Title
Length

1.
"If I Didn't Have You" (performed by Billy Crystal and John Goodman)
3:41

2.
"Monsters, Inc."
2:09

3.
"School"
1:38

4.
"Walk to Work"
3:29

5.
"Sulley and Mike"
1:57

6.
"Randall Appears"
0:49

7.
"Enter the Heroes"
1:03

8.
"The Scare Floor"
2:41

9.
"Oh, Celia!"
1:09

10.
"Boo's Adventures in Monstropolis"
6:23

11.
"Boo's Tired"
1:03

12.
"Putting Boo Back"
2:22

13.
"Boo Escapes"
0:52

14.
"Celia's Mad"
1:41

15.
"Boo Is a Cube"
2:19

16.
"Mike's in Trouble"
2:19

17.
"The Scream Extractor"
2:12

18.
"Sulley Scares Boo"
1:10

19.
"Exile"
2:17

20.
"Randall's Attack"
2:22

21.
"The Ride of the Doors"
5:08

22.
"Waternoose is Waiting"
3:14

23.
"Boo's Going Home"
3:34

24.
"Kitty"
1:20

25.
"If I Didn't Have You" (performed by Newman)
3:38

Total length:
1:00:30

text: Chart positions[edit]

text:
Chart (2001)
Peak
position

US Top Soundtracks (Billboard)[58]
25

text: Lawsuits[edit]

text: Shortly before the film's release, Pixar was sued by children's songwriter Lori Madrid of Wyoming, stating that the company had stolen her ideas from her 1997 poem "There's a Boy in My Closet."

text: Madrid mailed her poem to six publishers in October 1999, notably Chronicle Books, before turning it into a local stage musical in August 2001. After seeing the trailer for Monsters, Inc., Madrid concluded that Chronicle Books had passed her work to Pixar and that the film was based on her work.[60] In October 2001, she filed the suit against Chronicle Books, Pixar, and Disney in a federal court in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Her lawyer asked the court to issue a preliminary injunction, that would forbid Pixar and Disney from releasing the film while the suit was pending.

text: In a hearing on November 1, 2001 – the day before the film's scheduled release on 5,800 screens in 3,200 theaters across the country – the judge refused to issue the injunction. On June 26, 2002, he ruled that the film had nothing in common with the poem.[61]

text: In November 2002, Stanley Mouse filed a lawsuit, in which he alleged that the characters of Mike and Sulley were based on drawings of Excuse My Dust, a film that he had tried to sell to Hollywood in 1998.[62] The lawsuit also stated that a story artist from Pixar visited Mouse in 2000, and discussed Mouse's work with him.[62] A Disney spokeswoman responded, by saying that the characters in Monsters, Inc. were "developed independently by the Pixar and Walt Disney Pictures creative teams, and do not infringe on anyone's copyrights".[59] The case was ultimately settled under undisclosed terms.[63]

text: Prequel[edit]

text: A prequel, titled Monsters University, was released on June 21, 2013. John Goodman, Billy Crystal, and Steve Buscemi reprised their roles of Sulley, Mike, and Randall, while Dan Scanlon directed the film. The prequel's plot focuses on Sulley and Mike's studies at Monsters University, where they start off as rivals but soon become best friends.

text: Other media[edit]

text: An animated short, Mike's New Car, was made by Pixar in 2002 in which the two main characters have assorted misadventures with a car Mike has just bought. This film was not screened in theaters, but is included with all home video releases of Monsters, Inc., and on Pixar's Dedicated Shorts DVD.[64] In August 2002, a manga version of Monsters, Inc. was made by Hiromi Yamafuji and distributed in Kodansha's Comic Bon Bon magazine in Japan; the manga was published in English by Tokyopop until it went out of print.[65] A series of video games, including a multi-platform video game were created based on the film. The video games included Monsters, Inc., Monsters, Inc. Scream Team and Monsters, Inc. Scream Arena.[66] A game titled Monsters, Inc. Run was released on the App Store for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad on December 13, 2012.[67]

text: Feld Entertainment toured a Monsters, Inc. edition of their Walt Disney's World on Ice skating tour from 2003 to 2007.[68] Monsters, Inc. has inspired three attractions at Disney theme parks around the world. In 2006 Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! opened at Disneyland Resort's Disney California Adventure in Anaheim, California.[69] In 2007, Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor opened at Walt Disney World Resort's Magic Kingdom in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, replacing The Timekeeper. The show is improvisational in nature, and features the opportunity for Guests to interact with the monster comedians and submit jokes of their own via text message.[70] In 2009 Monsters, Inc. Ride & Go Seek opened at Tokyo Disney Resort's Tokyo Disneyland in Chiba, Japan.[71]

text: In 2009, Boom! Studios produced a Monsters Inc. comic book mini-series that ran for four issues. The storyline takes place after the movie and focuses on Sulley and Mike's daily struggles to operate Monsters Inc. on its new laughter-focused company policy. At the same time, their work is impeded by the revenge schemes of Randall and Waternoose, as well as a human child (indirectly revealed to be Sid Phillips from the Toy Story franchise) who has hijacked the company's closet door technology to commit a string of toy thefts throughout the human world.[72]

text: TV series[edit]

text: On November 9, 2017, while commenting the plans for a new Star Wars trilogy and live-action TV show, Disney CEO Bob Iger spoke about plans to develop TV spin-off shows of Monsters, Inc as well with Disney Channel's High School Musical and Marvel Entertainment's Marvel Cinematic Universe.[73] It was also confirmed that this announcement is just part of the plans that Disney has for the new streaming platform that they will launch in 2019 following their announcement to exit from Netflix.[74][75]


document_title: Golden Triangle (Cheshire)

question_text: where do the real housewives of cheshire live

text: Golden Triangle (Cheshire)

text: Coordinates: 53°18′47″N 2°15′36″W / 53.313°N 2.260°W / 53.313; -2.260

text: The Golden Triangle is an area of affluent towns and villages in Cheshire such as Wilmslow, Mottram St. Andrew and Alderley Edge. The exact three points of the triangle are the subject of local debate, but are generally considered to be Wilmslow, Alderley Edge and Prestbury. The area is noted for expensive houses, pleasant countryside, famous footballers, celebrities and entrepreneurs.[1]

text: Five of the ten most expensive roads in the North West have been identified as being in this area [2] with Withinlee Road in Prestbury said to be the most expensive street in Northern England - with prices on average over £1.5 million.[3]

text: The area and its rich businessmen were fictionalised in the drama series, Goldplated.[4] Much of the action in Howard Jacobson's novel "Shylock Is My Name" also takes place within the Golden Triangle. It is also the main basis for the reality TV show The Real Housewives of Cheshire.

text: Notable residents[edit]

text:
David Beckham
Victoria Beckham
Leanne Brown
Phil Bardsley
Tanya Bardsley
Eric Cantona
Peter Crouch
Rio Ferdinand
Tyson Fury
Alan Garner
David de Gea[5]
Simon Gregson
Antony Grey
Joe Hart
Noddy Holder
Oliver Hopkinson
Zlatan Ibrahimović
Phil Jones
Barbara Knox
Joleon Lescott
Federico Macheda
Juan Mata[5]
Sarah Millican
Fabrice Muamba
Bryan Robson
Cristiano Ronaldo
Wayne Rooney[5]
Michael Rother
David Silva
Yaya Touré
Alan Turing
Antonio Valencia
Ashley Ward
Dawn Ward
Dwight Yorke
Ashley Young
Magali Gorre
Dean Gorre