comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

Donald Petrie Donald Mark Petrie (born April 2, 1954) is an American film director and actor. Life and career Petrie was born in New York City, New York, the son of Dorothea (née Grundy), a television producer, actor, and novelist, and Daniel Petrie, a dir ...

Alfred Harvey Alfred Harvey (born Alfred Harvey Wiernikoff; October 6, 1913 – July 4, 1994), was the founder of comic book publisher Harvey Comics and the creator of the comic book characters Little Dot, Richie Rich (comics), Richie Rich, and Adam Awards (com ...

Warren Kremer Warren Kremer (June 26, 1921 – July 24, 2003)Warren Kremer
at the

. The film was distributed by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

under their

Warner Bros. Family Entertainment Warner can refer to: People * Warner (writer) * Warner (given name) * Warner (surname) Fictional characters * Yakko, Wakko, and Dot Warner, stars of the animated television series ''Animaniacs'' * Aaron Warner, a character in '' Shatter Me ...

label. The film stars

Macaulay Culkin Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin (born Macaulay Carson Culkin; ) is an American actor. Often regarded as one of the most successful child actors of the 1990s, he was placed 2nd on VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Kid-Stars". Culkin rose to prom ...

(in his final film as a child actor until he began work as an adult actor in 2003),

John Larroquette John Bernard Larroquette (; born November 25, 1947) is an American actor. He is known for his starring roles in the NBC military drama series '' Baa Baa Black Sheep'' (1976–1978), the NBC sitcom ''Night Court'' (1984–1992; for which he recei ...

,

Edward Herrmann Edward Kirk Herrmann (July 21, 1943 – December 31, 2014) was an American actor, director, and writer. He was perhaps best known for his portrayals of Franklin D. Roosevelt in both the miniseries '' Eleanor and Franklin'' (1976) and 1982 film ...

,

Jonathan Hyde Jonathan Stephen Geoffrey King (born 21 May 1948), known professionally as Jonathan "Nash" Hyde, is an Australian-English actor. Hyde is perhaps best known for roles as Herbert Arthur Runcible Cadbury in the 1994 comedy film '' Richie Rich'', Sa ...

, and

Christine Ebersole Christine Ebersole (born February 21, 1953) is an American actress and singer. She has appeared in film, television, and on stage. She starred in the Broadway musicals '' 42nd Street'' and ''Grey Gardens'', winning two Tony Awards. She has co-s ...

, while

Reggie Jackson Reginald Martinez Jackson (born May 18, 1946) is an American former professional baseball right fielder who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City / Oakland Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, and Cali ...

,

Claudia Schiffer Claudia Maria Schiffer (; born 25 August 1970) is a German model and actress based in the United Kingdom. She rose to fame in the 1990s as one of the world's most successful models, attaining supermodel status. In her early career, she was compa ...

, and

Ben Stein Benjamin Jeremy Stein (born November 25, 1944) is an American writer, lawyer, actor, comedian, and commentator on political and economic issues. He began his career as a speechwriter for U.S. presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford before ente ...

appear in cameo roles. Culkin's younger brother,

Rory Culkin Rory Hugh Culkin (born July 21, 1989) is an American actor who is known for his roles in ''Scream 4'', ''Lords of Chaos (film), Lords of Chaos'', ''You Can Count on Me'', ''Columbus (2017 film), Columbus'', and M. Night Shyamalan's ''Signs (2002 ...

, played the part of Young Richie Rich. In theaters, the film was shown with a

Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner are a duo of cartoon characters from the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of animated cartoons, first appearing in 1949 in the theatrical cartoon short ''Fast and Furry-ous''. In each episode, t ...

cartoon called ''

Chariots of Fur ''Chariots of Fur'' is a seven-minute '' Looney Tunes'' short released in 1994 by Warner Bros. It features Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner and was directed by Chuck Jones, who introduced the pair in 1949. As in other shorts of the Road Runner ...

'', and it was followed by the 1998

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...

sequel ''

Richie Rich's Christmas Wish ''Richie Rich's Christmas Wish'' (also known as ''Richie Rich 2'') is a 1998 direct-to-video American film based on the Harvey Comics cartoon character Richie Rich. It is a stand-alone sequel to the 1994 film '' Richie Rich'', starring David Gal ...

''.

Plot

Richard "Richie" Rich, Jr. is "the world's richest boy", the son of

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...

businessman and philanthropist, Richard Sr. Richie has only his loyal butler,

Herbert Cadbury Richard "Richie" $ Rich Jr. (often stylized as Ri¢hie Ri¢h) is a fictional character in the Harvey Comics universe. He debuted in ''Little Dot'' #1, cover-dated September 1953, and was created by Alfred Harvey and Warren Kremer. Dubbed "the poo ...

, the family's lead scientist Professor Keenbean, and his dog Dollar as companions and lacks any friends his own age. At a dedication to the reopening of the United Tool production plant, Richie encounters a group of sandlot kids playing

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

. Unfortunately, before he is able to talk to them, the overly-strict head of security, Ferguson, stops Richie and sharply pulls him away. Meanwhile, the greedy

CFO The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financi ...

of Rich Industries Lawrence Van Dough is plotting to steal the Rich financial fortune, believed to be stored in the Rich family vault. Van Dough, with the help of Ferguson, plots to blow up the plane carrying the Rich family to England. After a failed attempt on Richie's part to make friends with the sandlot kids, Cadbury makes a suggestion to Richie's mother Regina and arranges for Richie to stay home in Chicago for a weekend of fun with the sandlot kids. The kids were initially offered a bribe by Cadbury to come to the manor, but they end up having so much fun with Richie that they decline the offer when they leave. During the plane trip to England, the bomb Van Dough ordered planted is discovered by chance among the many presents they mean to deliver to the Queen. Upon realizing what it is, Richard is able to toss it out his window, but the bomb detonates while still near the plane, destroying part of the tail, sending their plane, ''Billion Dollar One,'' into the ocean. Richard and Regina survive the crash and float on a life raft. While initially upset that Richie wasn't on the plane, Van Dough is undeterred and, believing Richie's parents to be dead, assumes leadership of Rich Corporation, and proceeds to cut the many charitable contributions the Rich family were known for. This includes closing the recently reopened United Tool factory, which the parents of the sandlot kids relied upon for their income. This angers Richie, and so with the encouragement and assistance of Cadbury, he proceeds to the company headquarters and, as a living Rich family member, assumes the leadership position. Van Dough, however, sees this as a minor setback: as Richie is still underage, his ability to run the business is dependent on Cadbury as his legal guardian and business proxy. To rectify this, he has Cadbury framed for the Rich family's apparent murder when bomb parts are found in his room, and most of the Rich family's other loyal servants are fired ''

en masse Many words in the English vocabulary are of French origin, most coming from the Anglo-Norman spoken by the upper classes in England for several hundred years after the Norman Conquest, before the language settled into what became Modern Engli ...

'' by Van Dough's edict. To ensure he doesn't somehow get released, Van Dough plots to have Cadbury murdered in jail and make it look like a

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

. When Professor Keenbean eavesdrops on their conversation, he manages to sneak Richie out and enact a successful plan to help Cadbury escape from prison just as a hulking hitman arrives to murder Cadbury. Cadbury surprisingly, is able to knock out the hitman as he is extremely irritated due to his sensitive teeth. Cadbury and Richie then make their way to the house of Gloria, the only female member of the sandlot kids, where her mother Diane tends to Cadbury, and Richie uses Gloria's computer to hack into the Dadlink's mainframe at Rich Manor, which is a device created by Keenbean that Richard and Richie use to communicate from anywhere in the world. During this time, Van Dough finds out about Cadbury's escape and, with Ferguson's help, confronts Keenbean to the point where he reveals that the lock to the Rich family vault is

voice-activated Speaker recognition is the identification of a person from characteristics of voices. It is used to answer the question "Who is speaking?" The term voice recognition can refer to ''speaker recognition'' or speech recognition. Speaker verification ...

by Richard and Regina. Richard manages to send out a distress code on his repaired Dadlink, but the signal is intercepted by Ferguson, who disconnects Richie's modem from the phone line and then informs Van Dough that Richie's parents are alive. Richie and Gloria rally the other sandlot kids to break back into Rich Manor. Van Dough manages to track Richard and Regina down and is eventually led to Mount Richmore, a gigantic mountainside-sculpture of the three Rich members' heads where the vault is located and forces them to open it. All the time assuming this was where the Rich family fortune was located, he is furious and outraged when he sees that the vault holds what the Rich family actually values most: precious mementos, keepsake treasures and family heirlooms. The vault contains no money at all, which is actually/realistically invested in banks, stocks, real estate, and insurance companies. Desperate to get the money, he attempts to shoot Richard and Regina, only for Richie to appear in the nick of time and interfere and is shot at instead, though the bullets prove harmless thanks to Keenbean's bulletproof spray. The Rich family manages to get away and the chase leads them down the side of the mountain, where they are under further attack by Ferguson and a rock-blasting laser that had originally been used to sculpt the mountain/vault. After a brief fight, Cadbury finally succeeds in disarming Ferguson and Van Dough is fired. Meanwhile, the sandlot kids use Keenbean's various inventions to incapacitate Van Dough's men. Days later, Richie plays baseball with his new friends for the United Tool team on the Rich Manor's yard, with Cadbury as team coach. He hits a home run that is picked up by Van Dough, who is gardening with Ferguson as part of their

work release In prison systems, work release programs allow a prisoner who is sufficiently trusted or can be sufficiently monitored to go outside the prison and work at a place of employment, returning to prison when their shift is complete. Some work release ...

and bitterly tosses the baseball into the fountain. Richard and Regina blissfully state that Richie really is the richest boy in the world now, as he has finally found the one thing that money can't buy: friends.

Cast

*

Macaulay Culkin Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin (born Macaulay Carson Culkin; ) is an American actor. Often regarded as one of the most successful child actors of the 1990s, he was placed 2nd on VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Kid-Stars". Culkin rose to prom ...

as Richie Rich **

Rory Culkin Rory Hugh Culkin (born July 21, 1989) is an American actor who is known for his roles in ''Scream 4'', ''Lords of Chaos (film), Lords of Chaos'', ''You Can Count on Me'', ''Columbus (2017 film), Columbus'', and M. Night Shyamalan's ''Signs (2002 ...

as Young Richie Rich ** Peter Lampley as Baby Richie Rich *

John Larroquette John Bernard Larroquette (; born November 25, 1947) is an American actor. He is known for his starring roles in the NBC military drama series '' Baa Baa Black Sheep'' (1976–1978), the NBC sitcom ''Night Court'' (1984–1992; for which he recei ...

as Laurence Van Dough - The greedy

CFO The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financi ...

of Rich Enterprises, who plots to steal the Rich family fortune. *

Edward Herrmann Edward Kirk Herrmann (July 21, 1943 – December 31, 2014) was an American actor, director, and writer. He was perhaps best known for his portrayals of Franklin D. Roosevelt in both the miniseries '' Eleanor and Franklin'' (1976) and 1982 film ...

as Richard Rich *

Christine Ebersole Christine Ebersole (born February 21, 1953) is an American actress and singer. She has appeared in film, television, and on stage. She starred in the Broadway musicals '' 42nd Street'' and ''Grey Gardens'', winning two Tony Awards. She has co-s ...

as Regina Rich *

Jonathan Hyde Jonathan Stephen Geoffrey King (born 21 May 1948), known professionally as Jonathan "Nash" Hyde, is an Australian-English actor. Hyde is perhaps best known for roles as Herbert Arthur Runcible Cadbury in the 1994 comedy film '' Richie Rich'', Sa ...

as Herbert Arthur Runcible Cadbury - The Rich family's trustworthy butler. *

Mike McShane Michael McShane is an American actor, singer, and improvisational comedian. He appeared on the original British television show '' Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' (1988–97) and went on to appear in films such as '' Tucker: The Man and His Dream ( ...

as Professor Keenbean - A brilliant inventor who works for Rich Industries. *

Chelcie Ross Chelcie Claude RossAccording to the State of California. ''California Birth Index, 1905-1995''. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. Searchable at http://www.familytreelegends.com/records ...

as Ferguson - The Rich family's rude and tough security chief, who plots with Van Dough to usurp the Rich empire. *

Mariangela Pino Mariangela Pino is an American actress. She is best known for her role as ''Diane Koscinski'' in the 1994 film '' Richie Rich'' and her recurring role as Marie Morton on the sitcom ''Home Improvement''. Early life and education Pino was born i ...

as Diane Koscinski * Stephi Lineburg as Gloria Koscinski * Michael Maccarone as Tony * Joel Robinson as Omar * Jonathan Hilario as Pee Wee *

Reggie Jackson Reginald Martinez Jackson (born May 18, 1946) is an American former professional baseball right fielder who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City / Oakland Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, and Cali ...

as Himself - Richie's private baseball coach. *

Matt DeCaro Matt DeCaro is an American film and stage actor. He is arguably best known for his role as Correctional Officer Roy Geary on the television series '' Prison Break''. Biography DeCaro has appeared in numerous American television series, includi ...

as Dave Walter - The plant manager for United Tool. *

Claudia Schiffer Claudia Maria Schiffer (; born 25 August 1970) is a German model and actress based in the United Kingdom. She rose to fame in the 1990s as one of the world's most successful models, attaining supermodel status. In her early career, she was compa ...

as Herself - Richie's private aerobics instructor. *

Ben Stein Benjamin Jeremy Stein (born November 25, 1944) is an American writer, lawyer, actor, comedian, and commentator on political and economic issues. He began his career as a speechwriter for U.S. presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford before ente ...

as Economics Teacher * Sean A. Tate as Reynolds * Joel Ellegant as Ellsworth * Justin Zaremby as Reginald * Eddie Bo Smith as Security Guard

Production

Biltmore Estate, Asheville, North Carolina

Though set in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, the house and grounds at which most of ''Richie Rich'' is filmed are those of the

Biltmore Estate Biltmore Estate is a historic house museum and tourist attraction in Asheville, North Carolina. Biltmore House (or Biltmore Mansion), the main residence, is a Châteauesque-style mansion built for George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 a ...

in

Asheville, North Carolina Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...

. Some scenes, however, are filmed in Chicago, including a fencing scene filmed at

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private, Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th-centu ...

's Cortelyou Commons. The

roller coaster A roller coaster, or rollercoaster, is a type of amusement ride that employs a form of elevated railroad track designed with tight turns, steep slopes, and sometimes inversions. Passengers ride along the track in open cars, and the rides are o ...

in the backyard is the former

stand-up roller coaster A stand-up roller coaster is a roller coaster designed to have the passengers stand through the course of the ride. History The first stand-up roller coasters in the world were originally built as sit-down roller coasters. Japanese manufacturer ...

Iron Wolf at

Six Flags Great America Six Flags Great America is a amusement park located in Gurnee, Illinois, within the northern Chicago metropolitan area. The amusement park originally opened as Marriott's Great America on May 29, 1976, as one of two theme parks built by the Ma ...

. In contrast to the famous publication and animated series, a few characters are eliminated to accommodate the movie: among them are Irona the robot maid.

Data East , also abbreviated as DECO, was a Japanese video game, pinball and electronic engineering company. The company was in operation from 1976 to 2003, and released 150 video game titles. Its main headquarters were located in Suginami, Tokyo. The Am ...

was one of few regular pinball companies that manufactured custom pinball games e.g. for the movie ''Richie Rich''. This pinball machine was based on ''

The Who's Tommy Pinball Wizard ''The Who's Tommy Pinball Wizard'' is a pinball machine based on the rock musical ''The Who's Tommy''. The machine features twenty-one songs from the musical sung by original Broadway cast members. The game was designed by Joe Kaminkow, Ed Cebu ...

'' machine.

Reception

The movie has been met with mixed reception. A

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

reviewer praised the actors' portrayal of characters in the film.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

gave the film 3 out of 4 stars saying he was surprised how much he enjoyed it and said that though it was not the greatest movie, he liked that it had style and did not go for cheap payoffs. ''Richie Rich'' earned a

Razzie Award The Golden Raspberry Awards (also known as the Razzies and Razzie Awards) is a parody award show honoring the worst of cinematic under-achievements. Co-founded by UCLA film graduates and film industry veterans John J. B. Wilson and Mo Murphy, ...

nomination for Macaulay Culkin as Worst Actor for his performance in the movie (also for ''

Getting Even with Dad ''Getting Even with Dad'' is a 1994 American comedy film starring Macaulay Culkin and Ted Danson. Plot Timmy Gleason is the estranged son of ex-con Ray Gleason and has been living with his aunt Kitty and her fiancée Wayne since the death of his ...

'' and ''

The Pagemaster ''The Pagemaster'' is a 1994 American live-action/animated fantasy adventure film starring Macaulay Culkin, Christopher Lloyd, Whoopi Goldberg, Patrick Stewart, Leonard Nimoy, Frank Welker, Ed Begley Jr., and Mel Harris. The film was produced b ...

'') but lost the award to

Kevin Costner Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American actor, producer, film director and musician. He has received various accolades, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Screen Actor ...

for ''

Wyatt Earp Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp (March 19, 1848 – January 13, 1929) was an American lawman and gambler in the American West, including Dodge City, Deadwood, and Tombstone. Earp took part in the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral, during which law ...

''. The movie received a 26% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

based on 23 reviews, with the sites critical consensus reading "With Macaulay Culkin barely registering any emotion, ''Richie Rich'' feels disjointed and free of a sense of fun and wonderment". Audiences polled by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...

gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale. The film grossed $38 million at the box office in the United States and Canada and the same internationally for a worldwide total of $76 million on a $40 million budget. It was an even bigger

home video Home video is prerecorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD, Blu-ray and streaming me ...

success, with $125 million in VHS rentals and, , $44.2 million in retail sales, the studio receiving 75%.

Year-end lists

* Fifth worst – Sean P. Means, ''

The Salt Lake Tribune ''The Salt Lake Tribune'' is a newspaper published in the city of Salt Lake City, Utah. The ''Tribune'' is owned by The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc., a non-profit corporation. The newspaper's motto is "Utah's Independent Voice Since 1871." History ...

''

Sequel

''

Richie Rich's Christmas Wish ''Richie Rich's Christmas Wish'' (also known as ''Richie Rich 2'') is a 1998 direct-to-video American film based on the Harvey Comics cartoon character Richie Rich. It is a stand-alone sequel to the 1994 film '' Richie Rich'', starring David Gal ...

'' is a 1998 direct-to-video sequel starring

David Gallagher David Lee Gallagher (born February 9, 1985) is an American actor and voice actor. Beginning a prolific career as a child actor and model at the age of two, Gallagher is a five-time Young Artist Award nominee and Teen Choice Award winner. He is b ...

in the titular role.

References

External links

* * *
Films Made in North Carolina - PDF
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richie Rich 1994 films 1994 children's films 1994 comedy films 1990s adventure comedy films 1990s children's adventure films 1990s children's comedy films American adventure comedy films American children's adventure films Bermuda Triangle in fiction Davis Entertainment films 1990s English-language films Films about children Films scored by Alan Silvestri Films based on Harvey Comics Films directed by Donald Petrie Films produced by Joel Silver Films produced by John Davis Films set in Chicago Films shot in North Carolina Films with screenplays by Jim Jennewein Films based on American comics Live-action films based on comics Richie Rich (comics) Richie Rich (film series) Silver Pictures films Warner Bros. films 1990s American films