document_title: Beauty and the Beast (2017 film)

question_text: where does the new beauty and the beast take place

text: Beauty and the Beast (2017 film)

text: Plot[edit]

text: In Rococo-era France, an enchantress disguised as a beggar arrives at a ball and offers the host, a coldhearted prince, a rose for shelter. When he refuses, she transforms him into a beast and his servants into household objects, and erases the castle from the memories of their loved ones. She casts a spell on the rose and warns the prince that the curse will never lift unless he learns to love another, and earn their love in return, before the last petal falls.

text: Years later, in the village of Villeneuve, Belle dreams of adventure and brushes off advances from Gaston, an arrogant former soldier. Lost in the forest, Belle's father Maurice seeks refuge in the Beast's castle, but the Beast imprisons him for stealing a rose from his garden as a birthday gift to Belle. Belle ventures out in search for him and finds him locked in the castle dungeon. The Beast agrees to let her take Maurice's place.

text: Belle befriends the castle's servants, who treat her to a spectacular dinner. When she wanders into the forbidden west wing and finds the rose, the Beast, enraged, scares her into the woods. She is cornered by wolves, but the Beast rescues her and is injured in the process. As Belle nurses his wounds, a friendship develops between them. The Beast shows Belle a gift from the enchantress, a book that transports readers wherever they want. Belle uses it to visit her childhood home in Paris, where she discovers a plague doctor mask and realises that she and her father were forced to leave her mother's deathbed when her mother succumbed to the plague.

text: In Villeneuve, Gaston sees rescuing Belle as an opportunity to win her hand in marriage and agrees to help Maurice. When Maurice learns of his ulterior motive and rejects him, Gaston abandons him to the wolves. Maurice is rescued by the herb-wife Agathe, but when he tells the townsfolk of Gaston's crime, but is unable to provide solid evidence, Gaston convinces them to send Maurice to an insane asylum.

text: After sharing a romantic dance with the Beast, Belle discovers her father's predicament using a magic mirror. The Beast releases her to save Maurice, giving her the mirror to remember him with. At Villeneuve, Belle proves Maurice's sanity by revealing the Beast in the mirror to the townsfolk. Realizing that Belle loves the Beast, Gaston has her thrown into the asylum carriage with her father and rallies the villagers to follow him to the castle to slay the Beast. Maurice and Belle escape, and Belle rushes back to the castle.

text: During the battle, Gaston abandons his companion LeFou, who then sides with the servants to fend off the villagers. Gaston attacks the Beast in his tower, who is too depressed to fight back, but regains his will upon seeing Belle return. He overpowers Gaston but spares his life before reuniting with Belle. However, Gaston fatally shoots the Beast from a bridge, but it collapses when the castle crumbles, and he falls to his death. The Beast dies as the last petal falls and the servants become inanimate. When Belle tearfully professes her love to him, Agathe reveals herself as the enchantress and undoes the curse, repairing the crumbling castle and restoring the Beast's and servants' human forms and the villagers' memories. The Prince and Belle host a ball for the kingdom, where they dance happily.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Emma Watson as Belle, a beautiful and benevolent bibliophile who develops feelings for the Beast and begins to see the humanity within him.

Daisy Duczmal portrays an infant Belle.

Dan Stevens as The Prince / Beast, a cold-hearted prince who is transformed into a hideous beast and forced to earn back his humanity by learning to truly love and be loved in return.[9][10]

Adam Mitchell[3] portrays the younger version of the Prince.

Luke Evans as Gaston, a narcissistic and arrogant hunter and veteran of the French Royal Army who is willing to go as far as it takes to have Belle as his trophy wife.
Kevin Kline as Maurice, Belle's protective widowed father.[11]

Jolyon Coy portrays the young Maurice.

Josh Gad as LeFou, Gaston's flamboyant and long-suffering sidekick who bolsters his friend's ego but gets very little in return.[12]
Ewan McGregor as Lumière, the Beast's charismatic bouteiller who has been transformed into a candelabra.[13]
Stanley Tucci as Maestro Cadenza, the neurotic court composer and Madame de Garderobe's husband who has been transformed into a harpsichord.[14]
Audra McDonald as Madame de Garderobe, a world-renowned opera singer and Cadenza's wife who has been transformed into a wardrobe.[15]
Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Plumette, one of the castle maids and Lumière's lover who has been transformed into a feather duster.[16]
Ian McKellen as Cogsworth, the Beast's gruff but loyal majordomo and the head of the household staff who has been transformed into a mantel clock.[17]
Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts, the castle's motherly head housekeeper who has been transformed into a teapot.[11]
Hattie Morahan as Agathe, an impoverished hermit and resident of Villeneuve who, in reality, is the Enchantress responsible for cursing the Prince.[18] Morahan also narrates the prologue.

Rita Davies portrays the Enchantress in her beggar woman form.

Nathan Mack as Chip, Mrs. Potts' plucky son who has been transformed into a teacup.[19]
Adrian Schiller as Monsieur D'Arque, the sly warden of the local asylum who is bribed by Gaston to have Maurice institutionalized.[18]
Gerard Horan as Monsieur Jean Potts, an absent-minded potter and resident of Villeneuve who is later revealed to be Mrs. Potts' husband and Chip's father.
Haydn Gwynne as Clothilde, a fishmonger and resident of Villeneuve who is later revealed to be Cogsworth's wife.
Michael Jibson as the Tavern Keeper, the owner and keeper of Villeneuve's local tavern where Gaston and the village residents drink.
Ray Fearon as Père Robert, Villeneuve's local chaplain who encourages Belle to borrow the books in the chapel's meager library.
Sophie Reid, Rafaëlle Cohen, and Carla Nella as the Village Lasses, a trio of women who fawn over Gaston and have a jealousy for Belle.
Jimmy Johnston, Dean Street, and Alexis Loizon as Tom, Dick, and Stanley, a trio of men who serve as Gaston's henchmen.
Zoe Rainey as Belle's mother, Maurice's late wife who contracted the plague and died when Belle was an infant.
Clive Rowe as Cuisinier, the castle's head chef who has been transformed into a stove.
Gizmo as Frou-Frou, Maestro Cadenza's and Madame de Garderobe's pet Yorkshire Terrier who has been transformed into a footstool.
Thomas Padden as Chapeau, the Prince's valet who has been transformed into a coat rack.
Tom Turner[4] as The King, the Prince's father who, following his wife's death, raised his son to be just as selfish and arrogant as he was.
Harriet Jones as The Queen, the Prince's mother who died of an illness when he was a child.
Dale Branston as Baker, Villeneuve's residential baker.
Chris Andrew Mellon as Nasty Headmaster, the unnamed headmaster of an all boys school in Villeneuve that disapproves of Belle teaching a young girl how to read.
Vivian Parry as the Village Lass' Mother, an unnamed seamstress who is the mother of the Village Lasses.

text: Cast notes[edit]

text: ^ In the initial theatrical release, Mitchell was miscredited as Rudi Gooman in the cast, but listed under his real name in the soundtrack credits.[20]

text: ^ In the initial theatrical release, Turner is miscredited as Henry Garrett in the cast.[20]

text: Stephen Merchant also appeared in the film as Monsieur Toilette, a servant who was turned into a toilet. This character was cut from the film, but is featured in the deleted scenes.[21]

text: Production[edit]

text: Development[edit]

text: Previously, Disney had begun work on a film adaptation of the 1994 Broadway musical.[22][23] However, in a 2011 interview, composer Alan Menken stated the planned film version of the Beauty and the Beast stage musical "was canned".[24]

text: By April 2014, Walt Disney Pictures had already begun developing a new live-action version and remake of Beauty and the Beast after making other live-action fantasy films such as Alice in Wonderland, Maleficent, Cinderella and The Jungle Book.[25] In June 2014, Bill Condon was signed to direct the film from a script by Evan Spiliotopoulos.[26] Later in September of that same year, Stephen Chbosky (who had previously directed Watson in The Perks of Being a Wallflower) was hired to re-write the script.[27]

text: Before Condon was hired to direct the film, Disney approached him with a proposal to remake the film in a more radical way as Universal Studios had remade Snow White and the Huntsman (2012). Condon later explained that "after Frozen opened, the studio saw that there was this big international audience for an old-school-musical approach. But initially, they said, 'We're interested in a musical to a degree, but only half full of songs.' My interest was taking that film and doing it in this new medium—live-action—as a full-on musical movie. So I backed out for a minute, and they came back and said, 'No, no, no, we get it, let's pursue it that way.'"[28] Walt Disney Pictures president of production Sean Bailey credited Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan F. Horn with the decision to make the film as a musical: "We worked on this for five or six years, and for 18 months to two years, Beauty was a serious dramatic project, and the scripts were written to reflect that. It wasn't a musical at that time. But we just couldn't get it to click and it was Alan Horn who championed the idea of owning the Disney of it all. We realized there was a competitive advantage in the songs. What is wrong with making adults feel like kids again?"[29]

text: Casting[edit]

text: In January 2015, Emma Watson announced that she would be starring as Belle, the female lead.[30] Watson was the first choice of Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan F. Horn, as he had previously overseen Warner Bros. which released the eight Harry Potter films that co-starred Watson as Hermione Granger.[29] Two months later, Luke Evans and Dan Stevens were revealed to be in talks to play Gaston and the Beast respectively,[31][32] and Watson confirmed their casting the following day through tweets.[9][33] The rest of the principal cast, including Josh Gad, Emma Thompson, Kevin Kline, Audra McDonald, Ian McKellen, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ewan McGregor and Stanley Tucci were announced between March and April to play LeFou, Mrs. Potts, Maurice, Madame de Garderobe, Cogsworth, Plumette, Lumière and Cadenza, respectively.[12][11][15][17][16][13][14][34]

text: Susan Egan, who originated the role of Belle on Broadway, commented on the casting of Watson as "perfect".[35] Paige O'Hara, who voiced Belle in the original animated film and its sequels, offered to help Watson with her singing lessons.[36]

text: According to The Hollywood Reporter, Emma Watson was reportedly paid $3 million upfront, together with an agreement that her final take-home pay could rise as high as $15 million if the film generated gross box office income similar to Maleficent's $759 million worldwide gross.[37]

text: Filming[edit]

text: Principal photography on the film began at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, United Kingdom, on May 18, 2015.[11][38][39] Filming with the principal actors concluded on August 21.[40][41] Six days later, co-producer Jack Morrissey confirmed that the film had officially wrapped production.[42]

text: The Beast was portrayed with a “more traditional motion capture puppeteering for the body and the physical orientation", where actor Dan Stevens was "in a forty-pound gray suit on stilts for much of the film". The facial capture for the Beast was done separately in order to "communicate the subtleties of the human face" and "[capture the] thought that occurs to him" which gets "through [to] the eyes, which are the last human element in the Beast.” The castle servants who are transformed into household objects were created with CGI animation.[6]

text: Before the release of the film, Bill Condon refilmed one certain sequence in the "Days of the Sun" number, due to confusion among test audiences caused by actress Harriet Jones, who looked similar to Hattie Morahan, who portrayed Agathe. In the original version of the scene, it was Jones's character, the Prince's mother, who sings the first verse of the song, with Rudi Goodman playing the young Prince and Henry Garrett playing his father; but in the reshot version of the scene, the singing part is given to the Prince (now played by Adam Mitchell). The King was also recast to Tom Turner, although Harriet Jones was still the Queen, albeit with dark hair. Both Goodman and Garrett's names were mistakenly featured in the original theatrical release's credits, but was later corrected in home releases.[20]

text: Music[edit]

text: When released in 1991, Beauty and the Beast marked a turning point for Walt Disney Pictures by appealing to millions of fans with its Oscar-winning musical score by lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken. In Bill Condon's opinion, that original score was the key reason he agreed to direct a live-action version of the movie. "That score had more to reveal", he says, "You look at the songs and there's not a clunker in the group. In fact, Frank Rich described it as the best Broadway musical of 1991. The animated version was already darker and more modern than the previous Disney fairytales. Take that vision, put it into a new medium, make it a radical reinvention, something not just for the stage because it's not just being literal, now other elements come into play. It's not just having real actors do it".[43]

text: Condon initially prepared on only drawing inspiration from the original film, but he also planned to include most of the songs composed by Alan Menken, Howard Ashman and Tim Rice from the Broadway musical, with the intention of making the film as a "straight-forward, live-action, large-budget movie musical".[44] Menken returned to score the film's music, which features songs from the original film by him and Howard Ashman, plus new material written by Menken and Tim Rice.[45] Menken said the film will not include songs that were written for the Broadway musical and instead, created four new songs.[46] However, an instrumental version of the song "Home", which was written for the musical, is used during the scene where Belle first enters her room in the castle.[47]

text: On January 19, 2017, it was confirmed by both Disney and Céline Dion—singer of the original 1991 Beauty and the Beast duet song, with singer Peabo Bryson—that Dion would be performing one of the new original songs "How Does a Moment Last Forever" to play over the end titles.[48] She originally had doubts about whether or not to record the song due to the recent death of her husband and manager René Angélil, who had previously helped her secure the 1991 pop duet. While ultimately accepting the opportunity, she said: "[The] first Beauty and the Beast decision was made with my husband. Now I'm making decisions on my own. It's a little bit harder. I couldn't say yes right away, because I felt like I was kind of cheating in a way". She eventually felt compelled to record the song because of the impact Beauty and the Beast has had on her career. According to Dion, "I was at the beginning of my career, it put me on the map, it put me where I am today". Also, Josh Groban was announced to be performing the new original song "Evermore" on January 26, 2017.[49][50][51][52]

text: The 2017 film features a remake of the 1991 original song Beauty and the Beast recorded as a duet by Ariana Grande and John Legend.[53][54] Grande and Legend's updated version of the Beauty and the Beast title song is faithful to the original, Grammy-winning duet, performed by Céline Dion and Peabo Bryson for the 1991 Disney film.[55]

text: Emma Thompson also performed a rendition of "Beauty and the Beast", which was performed by Angela Lansbury in the original 1991 animated film release.[56]

text: Disney debuted the music video for Ariana Grande and John Legend's interpretation of the title song "Beauty and the Beast" on Freeform television network on March 5, 2017, and it has since attained over 100 million video views on the Vevo video-hosting service.[56]

text: Release[edit]

text: On March 16, 2015, Disney announced the film would be released in 3D on March 17, 2017.[11] The first official presentation of the film took place at Disney's three-day D23 Expo in August 2015.[57]

text: The world premiere of Beauty and the Beast took place on February 23, 2017, at Spencer House in London, United Kingdom;[58] and the film later premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California, on March 2, 2017. The stream was broadcast onto YouTube.

text: A sing along version of the film released in over 1,200 US theaters nationwide on April 7, 2017.[59] The United Kingdom received the same version on April 21, 2017.[citation needed]

text: Marketing[edit]

text: Disney spent around $140 million for marketing the film worldwide.[60] Following an announcement on May 22, 2016,[61] Disney premiered the first official teaser trailer on Good Morning America the next day.[62] In its first 24 hours, the teaser trailer reached 91.8 million views, which topped the number of views seen in that amount of time in history, including for the teasers for other films distributed by Disney such as Avengers: Age of Ultron, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Captain America: Civil War.[63] This record has since been broken by Thor: Ragnarok and It.[64] The first official teaser poster was released on July 7, 2016.[65] On November 2, 2016, Entertainment Weekly debuted the first official image on the cover of their magazine for the week along with nine new photos as well.[66][67] One week later, Emma Watson and Disney debuted a new poster for the film.[68] On November 14, 2016, the first theatrical trailer was released again on Good Morning America.[69] The trailer reached 127.6 million views in its first 24 hours, setting a new record as the trailer with the most views in one day, beating out Fifty Shades Darker.[70] This record has since been broken again by The Fate of the Furious.[71] A TV spot with Watson singing was shown during the 74th Golden Globe Awards.[72] Disney released the final trailer on January 30, 2017.[73]

text: Home media[edit]

text: Beauty and the Beast was released on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD on June 6, 2017.[74] The film debuted at No. 1 on the NPD VideoScan overall disc sales chart, with all other titles in the top 20, collectively, selling only 40% as many units as Beauty and the Beast.[75] The movie regained the top spot on the national home video sales charts during its third week of release.[76] The movie became available on Netflix on September 19, 2017.

text: Reception[edit]

text: Box office[edit]

text: Beauty and the Beast grossed $504 million in the United States and Canada and $759.4 million in other territories for a worldwide gross of $1.263 billion.[a] With a production budget of $160 million, it is the second-most expensive musical ever made; only Hello, Dolly! (1969) with a budget of $25 million ($165 million in 2016 dollars) cost more.[4] In just ten days, it became the highest-grossing live-action musical of all time, beating the nine-year-old record held by Mamma Mia!. It is currently the second-biggest musical ever overall, behind Disney's Frozen (2013).[78] Worldwide, the film proved to be a global phenomenon, earning a total of $357 million over its four-day opening weekend from 56 markets. Critics said the film was playing like superhero movies amongst women. It was the second biggest March global opening, behind only Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the thirteenth-biggest worldwide opening ever and the seventh-biggest for Disney.[79] This includes $21 million from IMAX plays on 1,026 screens, a new record for an IMAX PG title.[80] It surpassed the entire lifetime total of the original film in just six days.[81][82]

text: Beauty and the Beast is the 300th digitally remastered release in IMAX company's history, which began with the re-release of Apollo 13 in 2002. Its robust global debut helped push the company past $6 billion for the first time,[83] and led to analysts believing that the film had a shot of passing $1 billion worldwide from theatrical earnings.[84][85][86][87] On April 12, it passed the $1 billion threshold, becoming the first film of 2017, the fourteenth Disney film, and the twenty-ninth film overall to pass the mark. It became the first film since Rogue One (also a Disney property) in December 2016 to make over a billion dollars, and did so on its twenty-ninth day of release.[88][89][90] It is currently the highest-grossing film of 2017,[91] the highest-grossing March release,[92] the highest-grossing remake of all-time,[93] and the fifth-biggest Disney film.[94] Even after inflation adjusted, it is still ahead of the $425 million gross ($760 million in 2017 dollars) of the original film.[93]

text: North America[edit]

text: In the United States and Canada, Beauty and the Beast topped Fandango's pre-sales and became the fastest-selling family film in the company's history, topping the studio's own animated film Finding Dory released the previous year. Early tracking had the film grossing around $100 million in its opening weekend, with some publications predicting it could reach $130 million.[95][96][97] By the time the film's release was 10 days away, analysts raised projections to as high as $150 million.[98][99] It earned $16.3 million from Thursday previews night, marking the biggest of 2017 (breaking Logan's record), the biggest ever for a Disney live-action film (breaking Maleficent's record), the second biggest ever for both a G or PG-rated film (behind the sixth Harry Potter film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince which also starred Watson), and the third biggest ever in the month of March (behind Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and The Hunger Games).[100] An estimated 41% of the gross came from IMAX, 3D and premium large format screenings which began at 6 pm, while the rest—59%—came from regular 2D shows which began at 7 p.m.[101] The numbers were considered more impressive given that the film played during a school week.[102]

text: On its opening day, the film made $63.8 million from 4,210 theaters across 9,200 screens, marking the third biggest in the month of March, trailing behind Batman v Superman ($81.5 million) and The Hunger Games ($67 million).[103][104] It was also the biggest opening day ever for a film that wasn't PG-13, displacing the $58 million opening Wednesday of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Its opening day alone (which includes Thursday's previews) almost matched the entire opening weekend of previous Disney live-action films, Maleficent ($69.4 million) and Cinderella ($67.9 million).[105] Unlike all previous four Disney live-action films witnessing a hike on their second day, Saturday, Beauty and the Beast actually fell 2%, but nevertheless, the dip was paltry, and the grosses are so much bigger compared to the other titles.[83] Earning a total of $174.8 million on its opening weekend, it defied all expectations and went on to set numerous notable records.[106] This includes the biggest opening of the year as well as the biggest for the month of March and pre-summer/spring opening, beating Batman v Superman,[107][108] the biggest start ever for a PG title (also for a family film), surpassing Finding Dory,[109] the biggest debut of all time for a female-fueled film, ahead of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,[110] the biggest for a Disney live-action adaptation, ahead of Alice in Wonderland[110] and the biggest musical debut ever, supplanting Pitch Perfect 2. Furthermore, it is also Watson's highest-opening, beating Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 same with Emma Thompson, director Bill Condon's biggest debut ever ahead of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 and the biggest outside of summer, save for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, not accounting for inflation.[106]

text: It became the forty-third film to debut with over $100 million and the fifteenth film to open above $150 million. Its three-day opening alone surpassed the entire original North American run of the first film ($146 million; before the 3D re-release), instantly becoming the second-biggest film of the year, behind Logan ($184 million), and also the second-highest-grossing musical, behind Grease's $188 million cumulative gross in 1978.[111] Seventy percent of the total ticket sales came from 2D showings signifying that people who don't go to theaters frequently came out in bulk to watch the film. About 26% of the remaining tickets were for 3D. IMAX accounted for 7% ($12.5 million) of the total weekend's gross, setting a new record for a PG title, ahead of Alice in Wonderland ($12.1 million) while PLF repped 11% of the box office.[83] Seventy percent of the film's opening day demographic was female, dropping to 60% through the weekend.[110] According polling service PostTrak, about 84 percent of American parents who saw the film on its opening day said they would "definitely" recommend it for families.[112][113] The film's opening was credited to positive word of mouth from audiences, good reviews from critics, effective marketing which sold the title not just as a family film but also as a romantic drama, the cast's star power (especially Emma Watson), lack of competition, being the first family film since The Lego Batman Movie a month earlier, nostalgia, and the success and ubiquity of the first film and Disney's brand.[112][114]

text: On Monday, its fourth day of release, the film fell precipitously by 72% earning $13.5 million. The steep fall was due to a limited marketplace where only 11% K-12 and 15% colleges were off per ComScore. Nevertheless, it is the second-biggest March Monday, behind Batman v Superman ($15 million).[115] This was followed by the biggest March and pre-summer Tuesday with $17.8 million, a 32% increase from its previous day. The same day, the film passed $200 million in ticket sales.[116] It earned $228.6 million in the first week of release, the sixth-biggest seven-day gross of all time.[117] In its second weekend, the film continued to maintain the top positioning and fell gradually by 48% earning another $90.4 million to register the fourth-biggest second weekend of all time, and the third-biggest for Disney.[118] In terms of percentage drop, its 48% decline is the third-smallest drop for any film opening above $125 million (behind Finding Dory and The Force Awakens).[78] The hold was notable considering how the film was able to fend off three new wide releases: Power Rangers, Life, and CHiPs.[119] As a result, it passed the $300 million threshold becoming the first film of 2017 the pass said mark.[120] The film grossed $45.4 million in its third weekend, finally being overtaken for the top spot by newcomer The Boss Baby ($50.2 million).[121] On April 4, 2017, its nineteenth day of release, it passed the $400 million threshold becoming the first film of 2017 to do so.[122] By its fourth weekend, the film began was playing in 3,969 cinemas, a fall of 241 theaters from its previous weekend. Of those, approximately 1,200 cinemas were sing-along versions. It earned $26.3 million (-48%) and retained second place. By comparison, previous Disney films Moana (−8%) and Frozen (−2%) both witnessed mild percentage declines the weekend their sing-alone versions were released.[123] Its seventh weekend of release was in contemporaneous with another Emma Watson-starring new film The Circle.[124] That weekend, The Circle was number four, while Beauty and the Beast was at number six.[125] By May 28, the film had earned over $500 million in ticket sales becoming the first (and currently only) film of 2017, the third female-fueled film (after The Force Awakens and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story followed by Wonder Woman) and the eighth overall film in cinematic history to pass the mark.[126][127][128]

text: It has already become the biggest March release, dethroning The Hunger Games (2012),[129] the biggest musical film (both animated and live-action),[130] as well as the biggest film of 2017.[131]

text: Outside North America[edit]

text: Internationally, the film began playing on Thursday, March 16, 2017. Through Sunday, March 19, it had a total international opening of $182.3 million from 55 markets, 44 of which were major territories, far exceeding initial estimations of $100 million and opened at No. 1 in virtually all markets except Vietnam, Turkey, and India. Its launch is the second-biggest for the month of March, behind Batman v Superman ($256.5 million). In IMAX, it recorded the biggest debut for a PG title (although it carried varying certificate amongst different markets) with $8.5 million from 649 screens, the second-biggest for a PG title behind The Jungle Book.[132] In its second weekend, it fell just by 35% earning another $120.6 million and maintaining its first position hold. It added major markets like France and Australia.[133] It topped the international box office for three consecutive weekends[134] before finally being dethroned by Ghost in the Shell and The Boss Baby in its fourth weekend. Despite the fall, the film helped Disney push past the $1 billion thresold internationally for the first time in 2017.[135][90]

text: It scored the biggest opening day of the year in Hong Kong and the Philippines, the biggest March Thursday in Italy ($1 million, also the biggest Disney Thursday debut), the biggest March opening day in Austria, and the second-biggest in Germany ($1.1 million), Disney's biggest March in Denmark, the biggest Disney live-action debut in China ($12.6 million), the UK ($6.2 million), Mexico ($2.4 million) and Brazil ($1.8 million) and the third-biggest in South Korea with $1.2 million, behind only Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.[136][137] In terms of opening weekend, the largest debut came from China ($44.8 million), followed by the UK ($24.3 million), Korea ($11.8 million), Mexico ($11.8 million), Australia ($11.1 million), Brazil ($11 million), Germany ($10.7 million), France ($8.4 million), Italy ($7.6 million), Philippines ($6.3 million), Russia ($6 million) and Spain ($5.8 million).[132][133]

text: In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the film recorded the biggest opening ever for a PG-rated film, the biggest Disney live-action opening of all time, the biggest March opening weekend, the biggest opening for a musical (ahead of 2012's Les Misérables), the number one opening of 2017 to date and the fifth-biggest-ever overall with £19.7 million ($24.5 million) from 639 theatres and almost twice that of The Jungle Book (£9.9 million).[138] This included the second-biggest Saturday ever (£7.9 million), only behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens.[139] It witnessed a decline in its second weekend, earning £12.33 million ($15.4 million). Though the film was falling at a faster rate than The Jungle Book, it had already surpassed the said film and its second weekend is the third-biggest ever (behind the two James Bond films Skyfall (2012) and Spectre).[140][133] In India, despite facing heavy competitions from four new Hindi releases, two Tamils films and a Malayalam and a Punjabi release, the film managed to take an occupancy of 15% on its opening day, an impressive feat despite tremendous competitions.[141][142][143] It earned around ₹1.5 crore (US$230,000) nett on its opening day from an estimated 600 screens which is more than the three Hindi releases—Machine, Trapped, and Aa Gaya Hero—combined.[144] Disney reported a total of ₹9.26 crore (US$1.4 million) gross for its opening weekend there. It was ahead of all new releases and second overall behind Bollywood film Badrinath Ki Dulhania.[145][146][147] In Russia, despite receiving a restrictive 16 rating, the film managed to deliver a very successful opening with $6 million.[148]

text: In China, expectations were high for the film. The release date was announced on January 24, giving Disney and local distributor China Film Group Corporation ample time—around two months—to market the film nationwide. The release date was strategically chosen to coincide with White Day. Preliminary reports suggested that it could open to $40–60 million in its opening weekend. Largely driven by young women, its opening day pre-sales outpaced that of The Jungle Book.[149] The original film was, however, never widely popular in the country.[150] Although China has occasionally blocked gay-themed content from streaming video services, in this case, Chinese censors decided to leave the gay scene intact. According to local box office tracker Ent Group, the film grossed an estimated $12.1 million on its opening day (Friday), representing 70% of the total receipts. Including previews, it made a total of $14.5 million from 100,000 screenings, which is 43% of all screenings in the country.[151] It climbed to $18.5 million on Saturday (102,700 showings) for a three-day total of $42.6 million, securing 60% of the total marketplace. Disney on the other hand reported a different figure of $44.8 million.[152][153] Either ways, it recorded the second-biggest opening for a Disney live-action film,[150] with $3.4 million coming from 386 IMAX screens.[132] Japan—a huge Disney market—served as the film's final market and opened there on April 21.[133] It debuted with a better-than-expected $12.5 million on its opening weekend helping the film push past the $1.1 billion threshold. An estimated $1.1 million came from IMAX screenings, the fourth-biggest ever in the country.[154][155] The two-day gross was $9.7 million, outstripping Frozen's previous record of $9.5 million.[156] Due to positive reviews, good word-of-mouth and benefitting from the Golden Week, the film saw a 9% increase on its second weekend. The hold was strong enough to fend off newcomer The Fate of the Furious from securing the top spot. The total there is now over $98 million after seven weekends[157][158][159] and is the biggest film release of the year and, overall, the eleventh-biggest of all time.[160] It topped the box office there for eight consecutive weekends.[161][162]

text: The only markets where the film did not top the weekend charts were Vietnam (behind Kong: Skull Island), Turkey (with two local movies and Logan ahead) and India (where Badrinath Ki Dulhania retained No. 1).[132] It topped the box office for four straight weekends in Germany, Korea, Austria, Finland, Poland, Portugal, Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia, Switzerland and the UK (exclusive of previews).[135][163] In the Philippines, it emerged as the most successful commercial film of all time—both local and foreign—with over $13.5 million.[164] In just five weeks, the film became one of the top 10 highest-grossing film of all time in the United Kingdom and Ireland, ahead of all but one Harry Potter film (Deathly Hallows – Part 2) and all three The Lord of the Rings movies (which also starred Ian McKellen).[165] It is currently the eighth-biggest grosser with £70.1 million ($90 million), overtaking Mamma Mia! to become the biggest musical production ever there.[154][166] The biggest international earning markets following the UK are Japan ($108 million), China ($85.8 million), Brazil ($41.5 million), Korea ($37.5 million), and Australia ($35 million).[161] In Europe alone, the cumulative total is $267 million to become the second-highest-grossing film in the past year (behind Rogue One: A Star Wars Story).[154][157][167]

text: Critical response[edit]

text: Beauty and the Beast received generally positive reviews, with praise for the faithfulness to the original film with a few elements of the Broadway musical version, cast performances, visuals, Jacqueline Durran's costume designs, production design, Alan Menken's musical score and songs, though the designs of the Beast and the servants' household object forms received mixed reviews.[168][169] On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 71% based on 294 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "With an enchanting cast, beautifully crafted songs, and a painterly eye for detail, Beauty and the Beast offers a faithful yet fresh retelling that honors its beloved source material."[170] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 65 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[171] In CinemaScore polls, audiences gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[172][173]

text: Leslie Felperin of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "It's a Michelin-triple-starred master class in patisserie skills that transforms the cinematic equivalent of a sugar rush into a kind of crystal-meth-like narcotic high that lasts about two hours." Felperin also praised the performances of Watson and Kline as well the special effects, costume designs and the sets while commended the inclusion of Gad's character of LeFou as the first LGBT character in Disney.[174] Owen Gleiberman of Variety, in his positive review of the film, wrote: "It's a lovingly crafted movie, and in many ways a good one, but before that it's an enraptured piece of old-is-new nostalgia." Gleiberman compared Steven's character of the Beast to a royal version of the titular character in The Elephant Man and the 1946 version of the Beast in Jean Cocteau's original adaptation.[175] A. O. Scott of The New York Times praised the performances of both Watson and Stevens, and wrote: "It looks good, moves gracefully and leaves a clean and invigorating aftertaste. I almost didn't recognize the flavor: I think the name for it is joy."[176] Likewise, The Washington Post's Ann Hornaday complimented Watson's performance, describing it as "alert and solemn" while noting her singing ability as "serviceable enough to get the job done".[177] Richard Roeper of Chicago Sun-Times awarded the film three and a half stars, lauded the performances of Watson and Thompson which he drew a comparison to Paige O'Hara's and Angela Lansbury's performances in the 1991 animated version while appreciating the performances of the other cast and also pointing out on its usage of the combination of motion capture and CGI technology as a big advantage which he stated: "Almost overwhelmingly lavish, beautifully staged and performed with exquisite timing and grace by the outstanding cast".[178] Mike Ryan of Uproxx praised the cast, production design and the new songs while noting the film doesn't try anything different, saying: "There's certainly nothing that new about this version of Beauty and the Beast (well, except it isn't a cartoon anymore), but it's a good recreation of a classic animated film that should leave most die-hards satisfied."[179] In her A- review, Nancy Churnin of The Dallas Morning News praised the film's emotional and thematic depth, remarking: "There's an emotional authenticity in director Bill Condon's live-action Beauty and the Beast film that helps you rediscover Disney's beloved 1991 animated film and 1994 stage show in fresh, stirring ways."[180] James Berardinelli of ReelViews described the 2017 version as "enthralling".[181]

text: Brian Truitt of USA Today commended the performances of Evans, Gad, McGregor and Thompson alongside Condon's affinity with musicals, the production design, visual effects featured in some of the song numbers including new songs made by the composers Alan Menken and Tim Rice, particularly Evermore which he described the new song with a potential for an Academy Award for Best Original Song.[182] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone rated the film three out of four stars which he deemed it as an "exhilarating gift" while he remarked that "Beauty and the Beast does justice to Disney's animated classic, even if some of the magic is M.I.A (Missing in Action)."[183] Stephanie Zacharek of Time magazine gave a positive review with a description as "Wild, Vivid and Crazy-Beautiful" as she wrote "Nearly everything about Beauty and the Beast is larger than life, to the point that watching it can be a little overwhelming." and added that "it’s loaded with feeling, almost like a brash interpretive dance expressing the passion and elation little girls (and some boys, too) must have felt upon seeing the earlier version."[184] The San Francisco Chronicle's Mick LaSalle struck an affirmative tone, calling it one of the joys of 2017, stating that "Beauty and the Beast creates an air of enchantment from its first moments, one that lingers and builds and takes on qualities of warmth and generosity as it goes along" while referring the film as "beautiful" and also praised the film for its emotional and psychological tone as well Steven's motion capture performance.[185] Tim Robey of The Daily Telegraph gave the film four stars out of five and wrote that "It dazzles on this chocolate box of a picture that feels almost greedy yet to make this film work, down to a sugar-rush finale to grasp the nettle and make an out-an-out, bells-and-whistles musical" while he praised the performances of Watson, McKellen, Thompson, McGregor, Evans and Gad.[186] Mark Hughes of Forbes also similarly praised the film which he wrote that "it could revive the story in a faithful but entirely new and unique way elevating the material beyond expectations, establishing itself as a cinematic equal to the original" and also complimented the importance of undertaking a renowned yet problematic masterpiece as well addressing changes in the elements of the story while acknowledging the film's effectiveness in resonating to the audiences.[187]

text: Several critics regarded the film as inferior to its 1991 animated predecessor. David Sims of The Atlantic wrote that the 2017 film "feels particularly egregious, in part, because it’s so slavishly devoted to the original; every time it falls short of its predecessor (which is quite often), it’s hard not to notice".[188] Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune said that the 2017 film "takes our knowledge and our interest in the material for granted. It zips from one number to another, throwing a ton of frenetically edited eye candy at the screen, charmlessly." Phillips wrote that the film featured some "less conspicuously talented" performers who are "stuck doing karaoke, or motion-capture work of middling quality", though he praised Kline's performance as the "best, sweetest thing in the movie; he brings a sense of calm, droll authority".[189] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian praised Watson's performance and wrote that the film was "lit in that fascinatingly artificial honey-glow light, and it runs smoothly on rails—the kind of rails that bring in and out the stage sets for the lucrative Broadway touring version." In the same newspaper, Wendy Ide criticized the film as "ornate to the point of desperation" in its attempt to emulate the animated film.[190][191]

text: Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B-, writing that while the film looks "exceptionally great", he sensed that the new songs were "not transporting". He felt the film needed more life and depth, but praised Watson's and Steven's performances as the "film’s stronger elements".[192] Dana Schwartz of The New York Observer felt that some of the characters, such as Gaston and the Beast, had been watered down from the 1991 film, and that the additional backstory elements failed to "advance the plot or theme in any meaningful way" while adding considerable bloat. Schwartz considered the singing of the cast to be adequate but felt that their voices should have been dubbed over, especially for the complex songs.[193]

text: Accolades[edit]

text:
Award
Date of ceremony
Category
Recipient(s) and nominee(s)
Result
Ref.

MTV Movie & TV Awards
May 7, 2017
Movie of the Year
Beauty and the Beast
Won
[194]

Best Actor in a Movie
Emma Watson

Best Kiss
Emma Watson and Dan Stevens
Nominated

Best Duo
Josh Gad and Luke Evans

Golden Trailer Awards
June 6, 2017
Best Animation/Family
Beauty and the Beast
[195]

Best Original Score

Best Animation/Family TV Spot

Best Fantasy Adventure TV Spot

Teen Choice Awards
August 13, 2017
Choice Movie: Fantasy
Won
[196]
[197]

Choice Movie: Fantasy Actor
Dan Stevens
Nominated

Choice Movie: Fantasy Actress
Emma Watson
Won

Choice Movie Villain
Luke Evans

Choice Movie Ship
Emma Watson and Dan Stevens

Choice Liplock

Choice Scene Stealer
Josh Gad
Nominated

Choice Hissy Fit
Luke Evans

Dan Stevens

text: Controversies[edit]

text: Gay character[edit]

text: Controversy erupted after director Bill Condon said there was a "gay moment" in the film, when LeFou briefly waltzes with Stanley, one of Gaston's friends.[198] Afterwards in an interview with Vulture.com, Condon stated, "Can I just say, I’m sort of sick of this. Because you’ve seen the movie—it's such a tiny thing, and it’s been overblown." Condon also added that Beauty and the Beast features much more diversity than just the highly talked-about LeFou: "That was so important. We have interracial couples—this is a celebration of everybody's individuality, and that’s what’s exciting about it.”[199] GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis praised the move stating, "It is a small moment in the film, but it is a huge leap forward for the film industry."[200]

text: In Russia, Vitaly Milonov agitated the culture minister for banning the film,[201] but instead it was given a 16+ rating (children under the age of 16 can only be admitted to see it in theaters with accompanying adults).[202] Additionally, a theater in Henagar, Alabama did not screen the film because of the subplot.[203] In Malaysia, the Film Censorship Board insisted the "gay moment" scene be cut, prompting an indefinite postponement of its release by Disney, followed by their decision to withdraw it completely if it could not be released uncensored.[204][205][206] The studio moved the release date to March 30, to allow more time for Malaysia's censor board to make a decision on whether or not to release the film without changes.[207] The distributors and producers then submitted an appeal to the Film Appeal Committee of Malaysia, which allowed the film to be released without any cuts and a P13 rating on the grounds that the "gay element" was minor and did not affect the positive elements featured in the film.[208][209] In Kuwait, the movie was withdrawn from cinemas by National Cinema Company which owns most of the cinemas in the country. A board member of the company stated that the Ministry of Information's censorship department had requested it to stop its screening and edit it for things deemed offensive by it.[210]

text: There were also a number of boycotts against the film. A call to boycott on LifePetitions received over 129,000 signatures,[211] while the American Family Association featured a petition to boycott with the film, asking the public to help crowdfund a CGI version of Pilgrim's Progress instead.[212]

text: Belle and the Beast's relationship[edit]

text: Disney has sought to portray Belle as an empowered young woman,[213] but a debate questioning whether it is possible to fall in love with someone who is holding you prisoner, and whether this is a problematic theme, has resulted.[214] As was the case with the original animated film, one argument is that Belle suffers from Stockholm syndrome (a condition that causes hostages to develop a psychological alliance with their captors as a survival strategy during captivity). Emma Watson studied whether Belle is trapped in an abusive relationship with the Beast before signing on and concluded that she does not think the criticism fits this version of the folk tale.[215][216] Watson described Stockholm Syndrome as "where a prisoner will take on the characteristics of and fall in love with the captor. Belle actively argues and disagrees with [Beast] constantly. She has none of the characteristics of someone with Stockholm Syndrome because she keeps her independence, she keeps that freedom of thought", also adding that Belle defiantly "gives as good as she gets" before forming a friendship and romance with the Beast.[217]

text: Psychiatrist Frank Ochberg, who coined the term "Stockholm syndrome", said he does not think Belle exhibits the trauma symptoms of prisoners suffering from the syndrome because she does not go through a period of feeling that she is going to die.[218] Some therapists, while acknowledging that the pairing's relationship does not meet the clinical definition of Stockholm syndrome, argue that the relationship depicted is dysfunctional and abusive and does not model healthy romantic relationships for young viewers.[219][220] Constance Grady of Vox writes that Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont's Beauty and the Beast was a fairy tale originally written to prepare young girls in 18th-century France for arranged marriages, and that the power disparity is amplified in the Disney version.[221] Anna Menta of Elite Daily argued that the Beast does not apologize to Belle for imprisoning, hurting, or manipulating her, and his treatment of Belle is not painted as wrong.[222]

text: Notes[edit]

text: ^ Jump up to: a b Beauty and the Beast at Box Office Mojo. Retrieved August 14, 2017.

tag: ol


document_title: Dream On (Glee)

question_text: who sang i dreamed a dream on glee

question_tokens: who sang i dreamed a dream on glee

root

text: Dream On (Glee)

text: Plot[edit]

text: Bryan Ryan (Neil Patrick Harris), a former McKinley High glee club member, arrives as an auditor from the school board. He speaks to the glee club, asking everyone to write their biggest dream on a piece of paper. He then takes Artie's (Kevin McHale) paper and tosses it into the trash, making a point that their dreams will never come true. Having failed to realize his own dreams, he intends to cut the glee club. Glee club director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) convinces him that it is not too late to pursue his dreams and sings "Piano Man" with him. They both audition for the role of Jean Valjean in the local production of Les Misérables, singing "Dream On" as a duet. Bryan decides not to cut the glee club, and even presents them with new costumes and sheet music, but changes his mind when cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) announces that Will landed the lead role. Will gives up his role in Les Misérables to Bryan in order to save the glee club.

tag: p

text: Rachel (Lea Michele) confides in Jesse (Jonathan Groff) of her lifelong dream to discover the identity of her mother. While they are searching through boxes of records from her basement, Jesse takes a cassette tape from his jacket and pretends that it came from the box. The tape is labeled as a message from mother to daughter. Rachel refuses to listen to the tape, stating that she is not ready. Jesse later meets with Shelby Corcoran (Idina Menzel), the coach of Vocal Adrenaline, who reveals that she is Rachel's biological mother, but a contractual agreement with Rachel's two fathers prevents her from meeting with Rachel until Rachel is 18. Jesse reveals that though he had "befriended" Rachel just to get more acting practice, he had actually started liking her. She implores Jesse to convince Rachel to listen to the tape. Back at Rachel's house, Jesse starts the tape playing as Rachel enters her bedroom, then leaves her to listen to it. On the tape, Shelby sings "I Dreamed a Dream", leading to a duet with Rachel in a dream sequence, ending with Rachel back in her room in tears.

text: After Bryan's discouraging speech, Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz) retrieves Artie's paper from the trash and learns that his biggest dream is to become a dancer. Tina would like to dance with Artie, but he falls off his crutches when he tries to stand up from his wheelchair. Tina comforts Artie by showing him some of the latest research in spinal cord injury treatments. While waiting for Tina to buy pretzels at the mall, Artie fantasizes about being able to stand up from his wheelchair and dances to "The Safety Dance" in a flash mob dream sequence. He later asks guidance counsellor Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays) for advice on how to cope with the possibility of walking again in light of the new research, but is disappointed when Emma tells him that such treatments may not become available for a long time. Tina continues to offer to dance with him but he declines, insisting that she choose another partner but agreeing to sing during the dance. Tina chooses Mike (Harry Shum, Jr.) as her dance partner as Artie leads the glee club into "Dream a Little Dream of Me".

text: Production[edit]

text: "Dream On" was filmed in March 2010.[1] In October 2009, Michael Ausiello of Entertainment Weekly reported that 20th Century Fox, the studio behind Glee, had approached Joss Whedon about directing an episode during the show's first season. Series creator Ryan Murphy is a fan of Whedon's work, and praised the musical episode of his series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, commenting: "Joss directed one of the great musical episodes in the history of television on Buffy, so this is a great, if unexpected, fit. I'm thrilled he'll be loaning us his fantastic groundbreaking talent."[2] Whedon deemed Glee his favorite television show, but downplayed his influence over the episode. Asked by Ileane Rudolph of TV Guide whether the episode would feature songs from Buffy, or his 2008 musical Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, Whedon replied: "I would have to say a resonant 'no way.' The episode isn't about me. It's the next episode of Glee. Hopefully my hands will be invisible on the show."[1] Whedon felt that his job was to be anonymous: "to find the most compelling way to present a story without calling attention to himself." He acknowledged his proclivity for killing off fans' favorite characters, jesting that he planned to murder Principal Figgins (Iqbal Theba).[3]

text: Whedon feels the episode's title is pertinent to the storylines, explaining that the aim was to examine the desires at the core of the central characters, including Will's desire to perform, Rachel's desire to find her biological mother and Artie's desire to walk again. He stated: "I was really lucky because there's a real phonetic coherence of the episode that brought them all together on an emotional level. For me, it was just a question that they dovetailed and didn't feel random and you understood why these three stories were all in the same show."[4]

text: Kristin Dos Santos of E! Online commented on Whedon's tendency to work repeatedly with the same actors, and hoped that Dr. Horrible star Neil Patrick Harris might appear in the episode.[3] Four months later, in February 2010, Dos Santos reported that Harris had signed a contract to appear on Glee.[5] Murphy created a role especially for the actor, who received clearance from CBS to appear on Fox for the episode.[6] Ausiello reported that Harris would play Bryan Ryan, a former high school rival of glee club director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison), now a member of the Lima school board, intent on revenge for never having fulfilled his own potential by cutting the school arts program.[7] Morrison stated that Harris' character is two years older than Will, and "got all the girls and the good songs" during their high school days.[8]

text: Recurring characters who appear in "Dream On" are glee club members Santana Lopez (Naya Rivera), Brittany Pierce (Heather Morris), Mike Chang (Harry Shum, Jr.), Matt Rutherford (Dijon Talton) and Jesse St. James (Jonathan Groff), astronomy teacher Brenda Castle (Molly Shannon, appearing alongside her Kath & Kim co-star, John Michael Higgins), and Vocal Adrenaline coach Shelby Corcoran (Idina Menzel).[9] The episode features cover versions of seven songs. Will and Bryan duet on "Dream On" by Aerosmith,[10] and "Piano Man" by Billy Joel.[11] Bryan also sings "Daydream Believer" by The Monkees,[12] and a Les Misérables auditionee played by Wendy Worthington sings "Big Spender" from Sweet Charity.[13] Artie performs "The Safety Dance" by Men Without Hats and "Dream a Little Dream of Me" by The Mamas & the Papas, and Shelby and Rachel sing "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Misérables.[11] Each of the songs except "Piano Man", "Big Spender" and "Daydream Believer" were released as singles, available for digital download,[14] and "Dream On", "The Safety Dance" and "I Dreamed a Dream" are also included on the soundtrack album Glee: The Music, Volume 3 – Showstoppers.[15] "I Dreamed a Dream" charted at number 36 on the Irish Singles Chart.[16]

text: Reception[edit]

text: Ratings[edit]

text: In its original broadcast, "Dream On" was watched by 11.59 million American viewers and attained a 4.8/12 rating/share in the 18–49 demographic.[17] In the United Kingdom, the episode was watched by 1.54 million viewers and was the most-watched show of the week on the non-terrestrial channels.[18] In Canada, it was watched by 1.86 million viewers, making Glee the tenth most-viewed show of the week.[19] In Australia, Glee drew its highest-ever overnight audience with 1.30 million viewers, and won its timeslot in all key demographics.[20] Its consolidated ratings were adjusted up to 1.56 million, making "Dream On" the eleventh most-viewed program of the week.[21]

text: Critical response[edit]

text: The episode received generally positive reviews from critics. Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune deemed "Dream On" a "highly enjoyable", "emotionally satisfying" episode, and possibly her favorite since the pilot. Ryan praised Whedon's directing, writing that it is clear "Whedon really gets what this show is good at when it's working".[22] Lee Ferguson of CBC also called "Dream On" one of his favorite episodes of the season, commenting that: "NPH easily outperformed some of the other recent celebs (including Molly Shannon and Olivia Newton-John) who've stopped by the show", and hoped that his character would return in the future.[23]

text: CNN's Lisa Respers France praised both the Artie and Rachel storylines, and wrote that: "Harris' Bryan Ryan character had it all: timing, great singing and a crazy chemistry with Jane Lynch's character, Sue Sylvester."[24] James Poniewozik of Time deemed the episode "exceptional in ways that went beyond guest appearances", noting: "it was not just good compared with recent episodes, but entertaining, arresting and moving in an unqualified sense."[25] Bobby Hankinson of the Houston Chronicle called "Dream On": "one of the best episodes in one of the greatest freshman seasons in recent history",[26] while Gerrick D. Kennedy of the Los Angeles Times similarly deemed the episode one of the best of "an already stellar freshman season",[27] and Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club graded the episode "A" and called it "one of the two or three best Glee episodes ever. Hell, it might be THE best."[28]

text: Aly Semigran of MTV reviewed the episode's musical performances positively, calling "Piano Man" the series' "most realistic musical number" and writing that "nothing even came close to the amount of awesome" that was the "Dream On" duet. Semigran noted that McHale's songs "proved he was a force to be reckoned with", and called the "I Dreamed a Dream" duet "goosebump-inducing", observing: "Pretty sure that's what musical theater lovers' dreams are made of."[29] Raymund Flandez of The Wall Street Journal called Michele and Menzel's number "one of the most touching duets in the show so far", stating: "the vulnerability they both convey is stunning in its simplicity and perfection."[30] Entertainment Weekly's Tim Stack wrote that the "Piano Man" duet was so good he wished it had been released for download. He rated the songs performed "B+" through to "A" and called "Safety Dance" one of his favorite moments of the episode, deeming it a "joyous, huge performance—definitely one of the most elaborate numbers the show has done before."[31]

text: Blair Baldwin of Zap2it wrote that while the "Dream On" performance began perfectly, Harris "killed the song" with an "ear-wrenching" lead-in to the chorus. Baldwin also highlighted synchronization problems with the "Safety Dance" choreography, and wrote that Shum's dancing to "Dream a Little Dream" was "terrible" and "sloppy". Baldwin did enjoy the "I Dreamed a Dream" performance, and hoped for greater consistency in the future.[32] Eric Goldman of IGN rated the episode 7.7/10, writing that while he had expected the episode to be "freaking awesome", instead it was merely "okay". He felt that the musical numbers "failed to really resonate", and called Harris' character "amusing in theory" but ultimately "one-note" and lacking in impact, with a storyline that "fizzled out".[33] In December 2012, TV Guide named the "Safety Dance" rendition one of Glee's best performances.[34]

text: In August 2010, the 62nd Primetime Creative Emmys awarded Harris an Emmy (out of two total) [35] in the 'Best Guest Actor in a Comedy Series' category for his "Dream On" appearance and performance.


document_title: The Shield (professional wrestling)

question_text: who was the leader of the shield wwe

question_tokens: who was the leader of the shield wwe

text: The Shield (professional wrestling)

text: Characters[edit]

text: The Shield has from the beginning of their existence voiced their intentions to fight what they perceived as "injustice".[4] They were also known for their black ring attire (including protective vests) with each member having their own style,[27][28] their tendency to approach the ring through the live audience[29] and their trademark promos, which were recorded from a first-person perspective using a handheld camcorder.[30] They were a group which possessed excellent teamwork and a willingness to sacrifice themselves as an individual for the good of the team,[31][32] which achieved victories by overwhelming opponents with superior numbers after incapacitating their teammates.[33] The Shield referred to WWE as their "yard" during their speeches[34][35] and were nicknamed as "The Hounds of Justice".[27]

text: For their individual characters:

text:
Dean Ambrose – played the "de facto leader" and "mouthpiece" of the group.[36][37] Ambrose's role was described as being "the more vocal leader of the group" and was then tweaked to become more verbally arrogant in mid-2013.[38] WWE also described Ambrose's character as "slightly off" and "wild".[10]
Roman Reigns – was established by WWE as the "powerhouse" and "heavy hitter" of The Shield, as well as an "exceptional athlete".[10] Reigns was noted as the least talkative of The Shield members.[39] In mid-2013, Reigns' character was described as being tweaked to become extremely confident and a source of leadership with "quiet strength".[38]
Seth Rollins – was described as having a "chaotic" in-ring style.[10] In mid-2013, he was described as "the out-spoken, hot-head who will do crazy things" to help The Shield.[38] In 2014, Rollins gained the labels of "The Aerialist" and "The Architect" of The Shield.[40][41] While out of character, Rollins explained "The Architect" moniker as that he had a "cerebral approach" in coming "up with the blueprints" for their wrestling matches or storylines.[42]

tag: ul

text: While out of character, the group has credited trainer/producer Joey Mercury as a mentor.[43] The group were originally supposed to wear turtlenecks and carry riot shields, but changed their attire before their debut.[44] CM Punk later claimed to have come up with the idea of The Shield, which he proposed were to be his storyline protectors and consisting of Ambrose, Rollins and Kassius Ohno—Punk described "their guy", Reigns, replacing Ohno, who had been rejected by Triple H.[45] WWE Spanish announcer Marcelo Rodríguez had named the group for Ambrose, Reigns and Rollins "The Shield" on November 19, 2012, one day after the Survivor Series event.[46]

text: History[edit]

text: First run (2012–2014)[edit]

text: Mercenaries for CM Punk[edit]

text: The group debuted on November 18, 2012 at Survivor Series as a villainous group when the debuting Ambrose, Reigns, and the then reigning NXT Champion Seth Rollins interfered in the main event, a triple threat match between CM Punk, John Cena and Ryback for the WWE Championship, when they performed a powerbomb on Ryback through a broadcast table, allowing Punk to pin Cena to retain the title.[47] On the November 26 episode of Raw, the group identified themselves as "The Shield" and vowed to rally against "injustices".[4] Despite claiming that they were not working for either CM Punk or Paul Heyman, over the next few weeks on both Raw and SmackDown they would routinely emerge from the crowd to attack Punk's adversaries such as Ryback, The Miz and then WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan and Kane).[4][48] They also attacked Randy Orton after he defeated Brad Maddox, who was the referee who helped Punk defeat Ryback during their Hell in a Cell match at the previous Hell in a Cell event for the WWE Championship.[49] This led to The Shield's debut match at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on December 16, where they faced Ryback and Team Hell No in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match and emerged victorious.[50][51]

text: After TLC, despite continuing to attack Punk's and Maddox's adversaries such as Ric Flair,[52] Brodus Clay[53] and Sheamus,[54] The Shield soon expanded their ambushes to other wrestlers, such as Mick Foley,[30] Tommy Dreamer and Ricardo Rodriguez.[55] The Shield's attacks were also used to write off wrestlers from television via injury angles, such as Randy Orton and Sin Cara, who were already suffering from legitimate injuries.[56][57]

text: On the January 2, 2013 episode of NXT (which was taped on December 6, 2012),[58] The Shield made their first appearance in NXT, though Rollins and Reigns had already wrestled there before and Rollins was the inaugural NXT Champion.[59][60][61] Rollins defended his title against Corey Graves, but as Graves was about to win the match Ambrose and Reigns attacked him to cause a disqualification so that Rollins retained his title and The Shield then fended off the entire NXT locker room, but retreated from Big E Langston.[62] On the January 9 episode of NXT (which was taped on the same date as the previous episode), Rollins faced Langston in a no disqualifucation match for the title in which the NXT locker room neutralized the other Shield members and Langston defeated Rollins to win the NXT Championship.[63]

text: On the January 7 episode of Raw, The Shield once again aided CM Punk by attacking Ryback during his Tables, Ladders and Chairs match for the WWE Championship, which resulted in Punk retaining the title.[64] On the January 21 episode of Raw, The Shield performed a triple-powerbomb on The Rock, Punk's WWE Championship contender at the event, resulting in Mr. McMahon declaring that their interference in the title match would result in Punk being stripped of the title.[65] Four days later on SmackDown, Punk denied an alliance with The Shield before calling them out and informing them that he did not want them to interfere in his upcoming title match.[66] However, during Punk's title match at the Royal Rumble on January 27 a blackout occurred, The Rock was attacked by The Shield in the darkness and when the lights came back on he had been put through the announce table, leading to Punk pinning The Rock and retaining the title, only for the match to be immediately restarted by McMahon with The Rock winning the WWE Championship.[67] The following night on Raw it was revealed through footage played by McMahon that Punk's manager Paul Heyman had been paying The Shield and Brad Maddox to work for him all along.[68]

text: Undefeated streak[edit]

text: On the January 28 episode of Raw, The Shield attacked John Cena, as well as Sheamus and Ryback when they attempted to save Cena.[68] The next week on Raw, Maddox called out The Shield and revealed that he was the one who had given McMahon the footage showing that they were working for Heyman, thus prompting The Shield to attack Maddox until they were forced to retreat due to an attack by Cena, Ryback and Sheamus.[69] The Shield justified their attacks due to a "decade of injustice" caused by Cena creating an environment where any wrestler would not face consequences for his actions and whose mentality they felt had spread to other wrestlers like Ryback and Sheamus.[70] This set up a six-man tag team match on February 17 at Elimination Chamber,[71] which The Shield won.[72][73]

text: The Shield had their first Raw match the following night, when they defeated the team of Ryback, Sheamus and Chris Jericho.[74] Sheamus then formed an alliance with Randy Orton to battle The Shield, which prompted The Shield to inadvertently provoke Big Show into attacking them while attacking Orton on the March 1 episode of SmackDown.[75] This led to The Shield's first singles match on the March 11 episode of Raw, when Rollins faced Big Show and lost by disqualification as Ambrose and Reigns interfered and beat Big Show down.[76] Despite twice helping Orton and Sheamus to fend off The Shield, Big Show on both occasions turned on the duo immediately afterwards.[77] The Shield then challenged Orton and Sheamus to find a partner for a match with them at WrestleMania 29, which resulted in Big Show volunteering, but Orton and Sheamus chose Ryback as their partner.[78] Meanwhile, Mark Henry's distraction of Ryback resulted in The Shield conducting a successful assault on Ryback,[78] resulting in Ryback being inserted into a WrestleMania 29 match against Henry.[79] Without a partner, Orton and Sheamus eventually accepted Big Show's offer to take on a common enemy despite their mistrust of him.[80] On April 7 at WrestleMania 29, The Shield took advantage of their opponents' inability to work together to win in their WrestleMania debut.[81][82]

text: On the April 8 episode of Raw, The Shield attempted to attack The Undertaker, but were ultimately forced to retreat by Team Hell No.[83] This led The Shield to face the combination of The Brothers of Destruction and Team Hell No (Undertaker, Kane and Bryan), which The Shield defeated on the April 22 episode of Raw.[84] On the April 26 episode of SmackDown, Ambrose made his singles debut against The Undertaker and lost via submission, but after the match The Shield attacked Undertaker and performed a triple-powerbomb on him through the announce table.[85] On the April 29 episode of Raw, The Shield defeated Team Hell No and WWE Champion John Cena in a six-man tag team match with Reigns pinning Cena for the win.[86] Ambrose then started a feud with United States Champion Kofi Kingston after pinning him in a six-man tag team match also involving The Usos (Jey and Jimmy Uso).[87][88] On the May 13 episode of Raw, The Shield's undefeated streak in televised six-man tag team matches ended in a disqualification loss in an elimination match against Cena, Kane and Bryan: with Kane and Bryan eliminated, Cena pinned Rollins and then Reigns was disqualified, with Ambrose also being disqualified when Reigns and Rollins attacked Cena.[89]

text: All champions and Triple H's enforcers[edit]

text: On May 19 at Extreme Rules, Ambrose defeated Kofi Kingston to win the United States Championship while later that same night Rollins and Reigns defeated Team Hell No to also win the WWE Tag Team Championship.[90] Ambrose faced Kingston on the May 24 episode of SmackDown in a rematch and retained the title when Rollins and Reigns interfered, thus causing a disqualification.[91] Ambrose defeated Kingston in another rematch for the title on the May 27 episode of Raw and Rollins and Reigns retained the WWE Tag Team Championship in a rematch against Team Hell No.[92] On the June 14 episode of SmackDown, The Shield's unpinned/unsubmitted streak in televised six-man tag team matches came to an end at the hands of Team Hell No and Randy Orton, when Daniel Bryan submitted Rollins.[93][94] On June 16 at Payback, Ambrose defeated Kane via countout to retain the United States Championship while Rollins and Reigns successful defended their WWE Tag Team Championship by defeating Bryan and Orton.[95][96] The following night on Raw, Ambrose had a title rematch against Kane, and once again retained after Rollins and Reigns interfered and Ambrose was disqualified.[97]

text: After The Shield attacked Christian[98] and The Usos became the number one contenders to the WWE Tag Team Championship,[99] The Shield was defeated by them in a six-man tag match on the June 28 episode of SmackDown.[100] On July 14 during the Money in the Bank pre-show, Rollins and Reigns defeated The Usos to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship.[101] Later in the event, they interfered in Ambrose's World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank ladder match, but The Usos in turn attacked Reigns and Rollins and Ambrose failed to win the match.[102] The Shield then began a feud with Mark Henry[103] and they defeated Henry and The Usos in two six-man tag team matches,[104][105] but lost to the team of Henry, Big Show and Rob Van Dam.[106] Ambrose went on to retain the championship by disqualification against Van Dam during the SummerSlam kickoff show on August 18.[107]

text: The following night on the August 19 episode of Raw, The Shield began working for chief operating officer Triple H and they would aid WWE Champion and "the face of WWE" Randy Orton against his number one contender Daniel Bryan, while also attacking wrestlers like Big Show and Dolph Ziggler for speaking out against Triple H's regime.[108][109] At Night of Champions on September 15, The Shield enjoyed successful title defenses when Ambrose defeated Ziggler while Rollins and Reigns defeated The Prime Time Players (Darren Young and Titus O'Neil).[110] At Battleground on October 6, after being kayfabe fired, Cody Rhodes and Goldust earned their jobs back by beating Rollins and Reigns in a non-title match.[111] On the September 23 episode of Raw, The Shield lost an eleven-on-three handicap elimination match during which every member was pinned, this being Reigns' first, as The Usos, Ziggler and Bryan contributed to the pins.[112] On the October 14 episode of Raw, Rollins and Reigns faced the Rhodes brothers again in a no disqualification match and lost the WWE Tag Team Championship after Big Show attacked them during the match.[113] On the October 16 episode of Main Event, Ambrose successfully retained the title against Ziggler.[114] At Hell in a Cell on October 27, Rollins and Reigns lost a triple threat tag team match for the WWE Tag Team Championship against the Rhodes Brothers and The Usos, while Ambrose retained the championship despite a countout loss to Big E Langston.[115]

text: Cracks in The Shield[edit]

text: The first seeds of dissension were sown in The Shield (especially between Ambrose and Reigns) with Ambrose's boasting of being the only member left with a championship,[116] but from then on Ambrose was frequently pinned during The Shield's matches.[117][118] At Survivor Series on November 24, The Shield teamed with The Real Americans (Antonio Cesaro and Jack Swagger ) to defeat the team of Rey Mysterio, the Rhodes Brothers and The Usos in a Survivor Series elimination tag team match, with Ambrose being the first man eliminated, Rollins (with one elimination) the fourth man eliminated for his team and Reigns the sole survivor after eliminating four opponents.[119]

text: In late November, CM Punk's criticism of Triple H earned him an attack by The Shield,[120] but Punk tasted revenge at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on December 15 when he overcame The Shield in a handicap match, capitalizing on The Shield's lack of co-ordination after Ambrose received a spear from Reigns aimed for Punk, thus making him the only person to beat The Shield in a handicap match.[121] Punk documented in an out-of-character interview a year later on how he was constantly reminded to make Reigns look "really, really strong" in the match at TLC to the point that Punk requested to lose the match, which was rejected.[122]

text: Going into 2014, Punk's taunts increased tension between The Shield members[123] and Reigns emerged as the only Shield member to defeat Punk in a singles match, albeit with Ambrose's interference.[124] All three members of The Shield competed in the 2014 Royal Rumble match, during which Ambrose tried to eliminate Reigns, who retaliated by eliminating both Ambrose and Rollins.[125] Reigns eventually finished as runner-up in the match while setting a new record for most eliminations in a single Royal Rumble match with 12, with Ambrose and Rollins scoring three eliminations each and Rollins spending the second longest amount of time in the match after CM Punk.[126]

text: On the January 27 episode of Raw, The Shield faced the team of Daniel Bryan, John Cena and Sheamus in a six-man tag-team match in which the winning team would enter the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, but The Shield were denied that opportunity when The Wyatt Family attacked their opponents, causing The Shield to lose by disqualification.[127] The Shield vowed revenge, therefore a match was set up between The Shield and The Wyatt Family.[128] With both The Shield and The Wyatt Family being villainous teams, WWE positioned The Shield as the team the audience should root for on the February 10 episode of Raw, when The Shield was willing to engage in a confrontation while The Wyatt Family backed down.[129][130] Meanwhile on the February 10 episode of Raw, Ambrose's open challenge for the title was answered by Mark Henry, with Ambrose retaining by disqualification due to The Shield's interference[131] and Reigns continued his tension with Ambrose by defeating Henry without interference.[132] At Elimination Chamber on February 23, The Shield lost to The Wyatt Family as Ambrose and Bray Wyatt brawled into the crowd, but Wyatt later returned to the ring with no sign of Ambrose, which caused Rollins and Reigns to be outnumbered and overwhelmed.[133] On the March 3 episode of Raw, The Shield lost a rematch against The Wyatt Family when The Shield's poor teamwork led to Rollins walking out during the match, with Rollins claiming that he had enough of being the glue holding the group together.[134]

text: Rebellion against The Authority[edit]

text: On the March 7 episode of SmackDown, the members of The Shield met in the ring to clear the air on their disharmony and Rollins said that his actions achieved his purpose of getting Ambrose and Reigns to finally see eye-to-eye, which led Ambrose and Rollins hit each other and the trio ultimately reconciled.[135]

text: The Shield's next feud was against Kane, who was now acting as the Director of Operations for The Authority and had ordered The Shield to attack commentator Jerry Lawler on the March 17 episode of Raw, but The Shield attacked Kane instead, thus turning all of them into fan favorites (heroic characters).[136][137] In retaliation, Kane and The New Age Outlaws attacked The Shield on the March 21 episode of SmackDown while the group was already being double-teamed by Rybaxel (Curtis Axel and Ryback) and The Real Americans after an inconclusive fatal four-way tag team match meant to determine the contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championship.[138] The Shield got their revenge when they cost Rybaxel their match on the following Raw and attacked them before defeating The Real Americans on the same night, while immediately afterwards Kane and The New Age Outlaws challenged them to a match at WrestleMania XXX,[139] which The Shield won quickly and decisively.[140]

text: The following night on the post-WrestleMania episode of Raw, Kane inadvertently revealed that Triple H had masterminded the attack on The Shield on the previous month's SmackDown and as a result, when Triple H faced the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan in a title match after Bryan had already been attacked by Kane, Orton and Batista, The Shield interrupted the match to turn on Triple H, chasing the other wrestlers away to protect Bryan.[141] The Shield finally defeated The Wyatt Family in a six-man tag match on the April 8 episode of Main Event.[142] On the April 14 episode of Raw, Triple H forced The Shield to wrestle an 11-on-3 handicap match, which ended in a no contest and left The Shield outnumbered and beaten down before being further attacked by Triple H, Orton and Batista, who reformed the group Evolution.[143] Booked to wrestle another 11-on-3 handicap match on the April 25 episode of SmackDown, The Shield attacked and took out six of their opponents throughout SmackDown and defeated the remaining five in the handicap match.[144] On the May 2 episode of SmackDown, Ambrose retained the United States Championship in a fatal four-way match against Alberto Del Rio, Curtis Axel and Ryback.[145]

text: At Extreme Rules on May 4, The Shield defeated Evolution.[146] The next night on Raw, Ambrose was forced to defend the title in a 20-man battle royal with Rollins and Reigns not part of the match (they were outside the ring all through the match, but were not allowed to interfere) and—despite surviving until the final two—lost to Sheamus, thus ending Ambrose's record reign (under the WWE banner) with the United States Championship at 351 days.[147][148] A rematch between The Shield and Evolution was arranged for Payback on June 1, with a stipulation of being No Holds Barred and an elimination match, in which The Shield prevailed again over Evolution with no Shield member being eliminated.[149]

text: Rollins' betrayal and separation[edit]

text: On the June 2 episode of Raw following Payback, Triple H announced his intention to continue Evolution's feud with The Shield, but Batista quit WWE for a second time, officially ending Evolution's feud with The Shield.[150] Later that night with The Shield in the ring, Triple H's "plan B" for destroying The Shield turned out to be Rollins suddenly attacking Ambrose and Reigns with a steel chair, signalling Rollins' official departure from the group and re-alignment with The Authority while also turning back into a villain in the process.[23] On the June 9 episode of Raw, Rollins described his betrayal as severing a business relationship and that he had destroyed "his own creation" to further his own interests, while Ambrose and Reigns (still labelled as The Shield)[151] addressed Rollins' betrayal with the former describing Rollins as a "cancer" in The Shield, while the latter said Rollins "committed the most unforgivable sin".[152] Later that night, Ambrose and Reigns had what would be their final match as The Shield, teaming up with John Cena to defeat The Wyatt Family.[153]

text: While Ambrose and Reigns did not fall out with each other, they did begin to take separate paths as Ambrose declared his intentions to take revenge on Rollins, while Reigns set his sights on the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.[153] While the duo were still referred to as The Shield on the June 13 episode of SmackDown,[154] Ambrose debuted new theme music while no longer wearing The Shield's attire and entering the ring through the traditional entrance on the June 16 episode of Raw,[6][155] while Reigns largely retained The Shield's ring attire and theme music as well as continuing to enter the ring through the live audience, which indicated that Ambrose and Reigns were now working on their own and that The Shield had quietly disbanded.[156][157][158] On the June 24 episode of Main Event, Reigns confirmed that he was on his own and no longer with The Shield, thus confirming that The Shield had dissolved.[159]

text: Second run (2017–present)[edit]

text: Ambrose and Rollins reunion[edit]

text: Throughout July 2017, Ambrose and Rollins teased a potential and partial Shield reunion for several weeks, but Ambrose continuously declined Rollins' offer to reunite, primarily due to trust issues from Rollins' betrayal three years prior.[160][161][162]

text: On the July 31 episode of Raw, Rollins was confronted by Raw Tag Team Champions Cesaro and Sheamus and later won a match against Sheamus after which Cesaro and Sheamus attacked Rollins before Ambrose came down to make the save, though in the backstage Ambrose told Rollins that he would not help him if Rollins got outnumbered again.[163] The following week on Raw, after Rollins lost a rematch against Sheamus and was once again attacked after the match, Ambrose did not help him and later that night defeated Cesaro only to be subsequently attacked by the duo before being saved by Rollins, leading Ambrose to displayed signs of trust by offering a fist bump, but Rollins ultimately declined.[164][165] This led the two to argue in the ring on the August 14 episode of Raw, which culminated in Ambrose and Rollins brawling with each other only to fight off Cesaro and Sheamus and performing a fist bump to a loud ovation.[166] Raw General Manager Kurt Angle scheduled a match between Cesaro and Sheamus and Ambrose and Rollins for the Raw Tag Team Championship at SummerSlam on August 20,[167] which Ambrose and Rollins won.[26][168] This also made Ambrose the first member of the group to become a Triple Crown and Grand Slam champion.[169]

text: At No Mercy on September 24, Ambrose and Rollins made their first successful title defense in a rematch against Cesaro and Sheamus.[170]

text: Full Shield reunion[edit]

text: On the September 25 episode of Raw, Reigns was the guest on Miz TV for his victory over John Cena at No Mercy.[171] The Miz took jabs at The Shield and claimed that if he and The Miztourage (Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel) were together back when The Shield were, they would have beaten them and after some more arguing a match between the two was scheduled which Reigns won, only to be attacked by The Miz and The Miztourage after the match.[172] The following week on Raw, Reigns was given an Intercontinental Championship match against Miz, but Cesaro and Sheamus got involved in the match and the three mocked Reigns by performing The Shield's triple powerbomb on him, with the show ending on Reigns being approached backstage by Ambrose and Rollins.[173] On the October 9 episode of Raw, Miz opened the show with Cesaro and Sheamus, but they were interrupted by the officially reunited Shield, who attacked Cesaro and Sheamus and then performed the triple powerbomb on The Miz, leding to a six-man tag team Tables, Ladders and Chairs match between The Shield and the team of Cesaro, The Miz and Sheamus for TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs.[174] Later that same night, The Shield attacked Braun Strowman after Strowman's match against Matt Hardy and they performed a triple powerbombe on Strowman through the announce table, leading The Miz to request that Strowman should be added to the match, which Angle reluctantly agreed.[7] On the October 16 episode of Raw, all three members of the newly reformed Shield brought back their original attire, theme song and entrance and during the night Ambrose and Rollins retained the Raw Tag Team Championship against Cesaro and Sheamus while Reigns lost a steel cage match to Strowman, allowing a fifth member to be added to The Miz's team after Kane made his return by tearing through the ring and attacking Reigns.[175] The Miz then announced Kane as the fifth member for their team while Reigns was pulled out of the match on October 20 over an illness concern and Angle himself would take his place.[176]

text: At the event on October 22, Ambrose, Rollins and Angle, all dressed in The Shield's ring attire, would go on to win the match after performing a triple powerbomb on The Miz.[177] Due to Reigns illness, he was replaced by Triple H (who also wore the full Shield outfit) during the United Kingdom tour early in November tour as Reigns was still not medically cleared.[178] Ambrose and Rollins were due to face SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos in a non-title interbrand match at Survivor Series,[179] but they lost the title back to Cesaro and Sheamus after SmackDown's The New Day appeared and caused a distraction on the November 6 episode of Raw,[180] thus ending their reign at 78 days.[181] Reigns returned the following week on Raw and The Shield challenged The New Day to a match at Survivor Series on November 19,[182] which they won.[183] Later that same night on Raw, The Shield defeated Cesaro, The Miz and Sheamus in their first official match as a trio since their break up in 2014. [184] On the November 20 episode of Raw, Reigns won the Intercontinental Championship by defeating The Miz following an outside distraction by the other Shield members,[185] making him the second member of The Shield (after Ambrose) to become a Triple Crown and Grand Slam champion.[186]

text: Legacy[edit]

text: For the remainder of 2014, Ambrose and Rollins feuded with each other due to Rollins' betrayal and alliance with the Authority, whereas Reigns was quickly inserted into world title contention while John Cena and Ambrose had a short alliance against the likes of the Authority[187][188] Ambrose and Rollins' prolonged feud won Pro Wrestling Illustrated's Feud of the Year award for 2014.[189] At the end of the year, Pro Wrestling Torch writer Shawn Valentino labelled The Shield as a "three-headed dragon" and the seventh top WWE story of the year and he wrote that The Shield "was one of the coolest acts in wrestling in recent years, and most fans believed they were broken up prematurely", adding that "each member of The Shield has made their mark, and they all look like they will be big stars in the future".[190] All three former Shield members main evented a WWE pay-per-view event as a singles competitor within four months of the group's dissolution.[191][192] In addition, Rollins won the 2014 Money in the Bank ladder match[193] and subsequently cashed in his contract to become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion during the main event of WrestleMania 31,[194] while Reigns won the 2015 Royal Rumble match[195] and competed for the world title in the same main event of Rollins' cash in.[196]

text: Despite no longer formally operating as a team, Ambrose and Reigns continued to infrequently work together and maintained an on-screen friendship following The Shield's split.[197][198] On the January 9, 2015 episode of SmackDown, Reigns was about to be put into a handicap match against Rollins and Big Show until Ambrose came to the aid of Reigns and helped defeat them, with the two continuously helping each other against The Authority thereafter.[199] On the May 4 episode of Raw, Ambrose defeated Rollins and (as per pre-stipulation by the Director of Operations Kane) gained his first opportunity for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, being added to the title match at Payback on May 17 and making it a fatal four-way match, also including Reigns and Randy Orton,[200] with the latter being pinned by Rollins.[201] During the match, Ambrose, Reigns and Rollins briefly worked together to perform their signature triple powerbomb on Orton.[202] On May 31, Ambrose faced Rollins at Elimination Chamber, which saw Reigns' involvement after multiple interference by The Authority on Rollins' behalf to help Ambrose, who won by disqualification after Rollins pushed the referee in Ambrose's way as he tried to catch the standing Rollins with his signature diving elbow drop.[203] Despite the win, Ambrose did not gain the championship, but he still took the championship belt with him and challenged Rollins in a ladder match at Money in the Bank on June 14, which he would go on to lose.[204]

text: After Rollins suffered legit multiple knee injuries (he tore the ACL, MCL and medial meniscus in his knee while attempting to execute a sunset flip powerbomb) at a live event in Dublin, Ireland on November 4, a tournament was set up to crown a new champion.[205] The tournament began on the November 9 episode of Raw, involving 16 wrestlers and with the final match scheduled for Survivor Series to determine the new champion, while Reigns became the number one contender after winning a fatal four-way match on the October 26 episode of Raw,[206] which led Triple H trying to persuade Reigns into joining The Authority (by doing so, Reigns would have automatically been placed in the championship match), but he refused, thus requiring him to compete in the tournament.[207] On the November 16 episode of Raw, Ambrose, Reigns, Alberto Del Rio and Kevin Owens advanced to the semifinals, setting up Reigns–Del Rio and Owens–Ambrose in the semifinals at the event.[208] At Survivor Series on November 22, Ambrose and Reigns won their respective matches and went on to face each other in the main event, in which Reigns defeated Ambrose to win the vacant title only to lose it five minutes, fifteen seconds later to Sheamus, who cashed in his Money in the Bank contract.[209]

text: Nearing the end of 2015, Ambrose won the Intercontinental Championship for the first time after defeating Kevin Owens at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on December 13,[210] while Reigns regained the WWE World Heavyweight Championship after defeating Sheamus on Raw the night after.[211] Reigns lost the WWE World Heavyweight Championship to the returning Triple H after being eliminated at the 2016 Royal Rumble event on January 24 while Ambrose also competed in the Royal Rumble match and was the runner-up, being eliminated last by Triple H.[212] At Fastlane on February 21, Ambrose and Reigns faced each other in a triple threat match also involving Brock Lesnar to face Triple H at WrestleMania 32 for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and when it looked like Ambrose was going to win Reigns hit a spear and came out victorious.[213] On April 3, Reigns defeated Triple H to win the title for a third time.[214]

text: After Reigns successfully defended the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against AJ Styles at Extreme Rules on May 22, Rollins returned from injury and attacked Reigns to immediately set his sights on the title he never lost.[215] All three members of The Shield briefly reunited on the June 13 episode of Raw, when Ambrose hosted his Ambrose Asylum segment with Rollins and Reigns as guests in a lead up to their respective matches at Money in the Bank: Ambrose in the Money in the Bank ladder match, Reigns and Rollins in the main event for the championship.[216] At the event on June 19, Ambrose won the Money in the Bank ladder match and Rollins would go on to regain the title in the main event only to lose the title to Ambrose after he successfully cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase, thus all of the former Shield members were world champion on the same night.[217] As a result of the 2016 WWE draft on July 19, Ambrose was drafted to SmackDown while Rollins and Reigns were drafted to Raw, thus ending any possibility of a reunion.[218] All three members of The Shield competed in a triple threat match for the renamed WWE Championship at Battleground on July 24,[219][220] in which Ambrose came out victorious by pinning Reigns in a clean finish.[221]

text: The Shield members briefly reunited once again (this time with all three men as fan favorites) at Survivor Series on November 20 during its traditional 5-on-5 Survivor Series elimination match, with Rollins and Reigns on Team Raw and Ambrose on Team SmackDown, when all three members executed their signature triple powerbomb on Ambrose's rival AJ Styles after Ambrose turned on his team to attack Styles.[222] In December 2016, they appeared together at Tribute to the Troops during a backstage segment with The Club (AJ Styles, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows) and The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods).[223] In April 2017, Ambrose moved to the Raw brand as a result of the Superstar Shake-up, with Rollins and Reigns also staying on Raw.[224] Ambrose and Rollins would eventually reunite in July and won the Raw Tag Team Championship in August (making Ambrose the first member to complete the Triple Crown and Grand Slam), with Reigns also reuniting in October[7] and winning Intercontinential Championship for the first time in November, thus making two out of the three members of the group both a Triple Crown and Grand Slam champions.[186]

text: In wrestling[edit]

text:
Triple team finishing moves

Triple powerbomb, sometimes through a table[225]

Double team finishing moves

Backbreaker rack (Reigns) and diving knee drop (Rollins) combination[226]
Double powerbomb (Rollins or Reigns and Ambrose or Rollins)[citation needed]
Turnbuckle powerbomb (Rollins) followed by a spear (Reigns)[101]
King's Landing (Rollins) followed by Dirty Deeds (Ambrose)[227]

Double team signature moves

Bow and arrow stretch (Ambrose) and diving knee drop (Rollins) combination[228]
Reigns Irish whips Rollins into a running forearm smash to the cornered opponent followed by Rollins Irish whipping the opponent into a leaping clothesline from Reigns[229]
Running front dropkick (Ambrose) to an opponent against the ropes followed by a running single leg dropkick (Rollins)[citation needed]
Stereo suicide dives (Ambrose and Rollins)[230][231]

Ambrose's finishing moves

Dirty Deeds[232] (Headlock driver or a snap double underhook DDT)[233][234][note 1]

Reigns' finishing moves

Spear[235]

Rollins' finishing moves

Blackout/Peace of Mind[236] (Running stomp to the head of a bent-over opponent)[237][238][239]
Diving or a springboard high knee[240]
King's Landing/Ripcord Knee[241][242] (Wrist lock transitioned into a short-arm high knee) – 2017–present

Nicknames

"The Hounds of Justice"[27]

Entrance themes

"Special Op" by Jim Johnston (November 18, 2012 – June 16, 2014; October 9, 2017 – present)[243]

text: Championships and accomplishments[edit]

text:
Pro Wrestling Illustrated

Tag Team of the Year (2013) – Rollins and Reigns[244]
Ranked Ambrose No. 26 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2013[245]
Ranked Rollins No. 35 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2013[245]
Ranked Reigns No. 39 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2013[245]

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Most Improved (2013) – Reigns[246]
Tag Team of the Year (2013) – Rollins and Reigns[246]

text:
WWE

WWE Intercontinental Championship (1 time, current) – Reigns[247]
WWE Raw Tag Team Championship[note 2] (2 times) – Rollins and Reigns (1), Rollins and Ambrose (1)[248][note 3]
WWE United States Championship (1 time) – Ambrose[249]
Triple Crown Championship – Ambrose (27th), Reigns (28th)[186]
Grand Slam Championship – Ambrose (8th), Reigns (9th)[186]
Slammy Awards (5 times)[250]

Breakout Star of the Year (2013)[251]
Faction of the Year (2013, 2014)[251][252]
Trending Now (Hashtag) of the Year (2013) – #BelieveInTheShield[251]
"What a Maneuver" of the Year (2013) – Reigns' spear[251]

WWE NXT

NXT Championship (1 time) – Rollins[253]