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The Air Bud film series (also known as Disney Buddies) was an American film franchise based on a sports-playing Golden Retriever named Buddy, portrayed by Air Buddy. The franchise began in 1997 with the theatrical release of Air Bud, followed by the theatrical release of Air Bud: Golden Receiver in 1998. Following the box office failure of Golden Receiver, the rest of the films in the series were released in direct-to-video form. The Air Buddies or Disney Buddies spin-off series began in 2006 with the release of Air Buddies and it focuses on the adventures of Buddy's talking Golden Retriever puppies. The franchise features fourteen films (five of which were in the Air Bud series and seven in the Air Buddies series), in addition to two Christmas spin-offs of the Air Buddies series.

Disney Buddies is one of the top direct-to-DVD franchises, just behind Disney Fairies at $300 million, with the first 12 films grossing $220 million by March 2014.

History

Kevin DiCicco's Golden Retriever Buddy was featured on "America's Funniest Home Videos" and David Letterman's "Stupid Pet Tricks". He then (in 1991), approached the independent production company Keystone Entertainment to produce Air Bud, a film based on Buddy. He also formed his production company, Air Bud Productions, that year. Disney's Miramax was brought on as the distribution company. Keystone indicated that no sequel was planned. The film did well in the home video market.

By April 1998, DiCicco and Robert Vince, the film's producer at Keystone, had a falling out, as Keystone and Vince had gone forward with a sequel, Air Bud: Golden Receiver, without DiCicco, who also claimed he wasn't paid anything for the first film and that he owns the Air Bud rights (based on the name of this production company name).

DiCicco bred three offspring of Buddy and trained them for sports like Buddy. The puppies were signed to an endorsement deal by DiCicco for Milk-Bone dog biscuits for puppies. He intended to make his own sequel, Air Bud: The Next Generation, which was scheduled to start production in the fall of 1999, with its concept being a "cross between Ferris Bueller and Home Alone".

Disney and William Morris Agency were sued in December 2011 over the Santa Paws films being unauthorized copies of a 1991 script for Santa Paws: The Story of Santa's Dog.

Film series

1. Air Bud (1997) – Josh meets an abused Golden Retriever and finds out that he can play basketball.
2. Air Bud: Golden Receiver (1998) – Josh's Golden Retriever learns to play American football.
3. Air Bud: World Pup (2000) – Josh discovers that Buddy's ballplaying skills apply to soccer.
4. Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch (2002) – Buddy makes the baseball team and becomes a star player.
5. Air Bud: Spikes Back (2003) – Buddy tackles volleyball.

Spin-offs

Air Buddies series

The Air Buddies films were all direct-to-video releases and are considered spin-offs of the original series, focusing on Buddy's puppies.

6. Air Buddies (2006) – Buddy and Molly's offspring work together to help each other while attempting to rescue their parents.
7. Snow Buddies (2008) – The offspring of Buddy and Molly go on an Alaskan adventure.
8. Space Buddies (2009) – The Buddies tag along for a school field trip to the space museum and accidentally walk aboard a rocket ship.
9. Santa Buddies (2009) – The Buddies team up with Puppy Paws, the son of Santa Paws, to end the melting of a magical icicle threatening Christmas Eve.
11. Spooky Buddies (2011) – The Buddies are in a new adventure when Halloween hits Fernfield.
12. Treasure Buddies (2012) – The Buddies find themselves on an Indiana Jones style adventure.
14. Super Buddies (2013) – After acquiring rings that grant them superpowers, the Buddies must use them to stop a villainous alien dictator.

Santa Paws films

The Santa Paws films were produced as prequels to Santa Buddies.

10. The Search for Santa Paws (2010) – When Santa is in trouble, Paws has to save Christmas with the help of some friends.
13. Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups (2012) – When the Christmas spirit begins to disappear, Mrs. Claus and the Santa Pups must race to save Christmas around the world.

Recurring cast and characters

This section includes characters who will appear or have appeared in more than two films in the series.

• An empty grey cell indicates the character was not in the film, or that the character's official presence has not yet been confirmed.
•   indicates a voice-only role.

• Note: A dark gray cell indicates the character does not appear in the film.

Crew

See also

• Gus (1976 film)
• MVP: Most Valuable Primate (2000 film)

References

1. ^ Wolk, Josh (April 3, 1998). "Air Bud". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
2. ^ Finley, Adam (February 24, 2006). "Air Bud is Coming Back". AOL Moviefone. Archived from the original on June 12, 2012. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
3. Strowbridge, C.S. (August 26, 2013). "DVD and Blu-ray Releases for August 27th, 2013 - The Numbers". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
4. McClintock, Pamela (April 3, 2014). "How Tinker Bell Became Disney's Stealthy $300 Million Franchise". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
5. Goodridge, Mike (February 20, 2002). "Miramax gets in family way with Keystone". Screen Daily. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
6. ^ Gardner, Eriq (December 23, 2011). "Lawsuit Claims Disney Ripped Off Films About Santa Claus' Dog". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
7. "Air Bud (1997)". Yahoo! Movies. Yahoo! Movies. Archived from the original on July 22, 2010. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
8. "Air Bud: Golden Receiver". Fandango. Fandango. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
9. "Air Bud: World Pup Plot Summary and Details". AOL Moviefone. AOL Moviefone. Archived from the original on April 4, 2012. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
10. Buzz McClain (2008). "Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 31, 2008. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
11. Tyner, Adam (June 24, 2003). "Air Bud Spikes Back". DVD Talk. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
12. Kho, Nancy (December 20, 2010). "Snow Buddies". Common Sense Media. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
13. Orange, B. Alan (February 6, 2009). "Space Buddies DVD". MovieWeb. Archived from the original on September 29, 2012. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
14. "TREASURE BUDDIES Straight to DVD Feature". Association of Canadian Film Craftspeople. Retrieved October 1, 2011.
15. Katz, Josh (November 4, 2011). "Treasure Buddies Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved November 11, 2011.
16. Herman, Joly (November 23, 2010). "The Search for Santa Paws". Common Sense Media. Retrieved May 11, 2011.

External links

• Disney Buddies official website

• Air Bud (series)
• Film series introduced in 1997
• Walt Disney Studios (division) franchises
• Disney direct-to-video films
• Films about dogs
• Films about animals playing sports