Kazaam
A 5,000-year-old genie grants three wishes from a boombox.
Kazaam is a 1996 American musical fantasy comedy film. Paul Michael Glaser directed it, and he also came up with the story, which Christian Ford and Roger Soffer turned into the screenplay. Shaquille O'Neal plays the title character, a genie who is 5,000 years old. He emerges from a magical boombox to give three wishes to a 12-year-old boy. The movie came out on July 17, 1996. It cost $20 million to make but earned only $18.9 million at the box office, which made it a financial disappointment. Critics gave it mostly negative reviews.
The plot follows a boy named Max Conner. After a wrecking ball destroys an abandoned building, a magic lamp falls onto a boombox. The genie inside, Kazaam, decides to live in the boombox. Max, dealing with bullies and a failed robbery attempt, hides in the building and accidentally frees Kazaam. The genie shows off his powers and then disappears. Max later learns his mother plans to marry a fireman named Travis O'Neil, and he resents this. He wants to find his real father. Kazaam pesters Max into making wishes. Max reunites with his father, Nick Matteo, a musical talent agent involved in shady business. Max makes his first wish, causing junk food to rain from the sky. He realizes he controls Kazaam until he uses his last two wishes. A nightclub owner named Malik wants to control Kazaam after seeing his abilities. Kazaam stays at Max's home, pretending to be a tutor. Max confides in him about his strained relationship with his father, and Kazaam raps about his own origins. Max tries to wish for his parents to get back together, but Kazaam cannot grant that wish. Later, Max sees his father attacked by Malik's hitmen over a stolen master tape. Max uses his second wish to create a replacement tape, which causes a rift between him and Kazaam. Nick confronts Max about the tape, and they separate. Malik kidnaps Max and Nick, steals the boombox, and sends Max down an elevator shaft. Malik tries to force Kazaam to obey him, but Kazaam breaks free, defeats Malik, and dunks him into a garbage disposal. Kazaam finds Max's lifeless body and regrets not granting his wish for a second chance with his father. In grief, Kazaam becomes a djinn, which gives him the power to bring Max back to life and grant his third wish: for his father to escape his criminal life. Kazaam saves Max from a burning building, and Travis rescues him.
Quick Facts
- Director
- Paul Michael Glaser
- Producer
- Paul Michael Glaser / Scott Kroopf / Bob Engelman
- Screenplay
- Christian Ford / Roger Soffer
- Starring
- Shaquille O'Neal / Francis Capra / Ally Walker / James Acheson
- Music
- Christopher Tyng
- Cinematography
- Charles Minsky
- Editing
- Tom McMurtry / Michael E. Polakow
- Studio
- Touchstone Pictures / Interscope Communications / PolyGram Filmed Entertainment
- Distributor
- Buena Vista Pictures Distribution / (North America) / PolyGram Filmed Entertainment / (International)
- Released
- 17 July 1996
- Runtime
- 94 minutes
- Country
- United States
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The film's origins began with director Paul Michael Glaser taking his son to the NBA All-Star game, when an acquaintance on Shaquille O'Neal's management team called and asked if his son would like to meet him. After saying yes, the acquaintance asked if Glaser knew of any film roles for Shaquille, to which Glaser replied, 'He should play a genie,' which laid the foundation for what would become Kazaam. Glaser took Kazaam to Warner Bros. as they had the Michael Jordan project Space Jam, and also went back to Interscope Communications. Glaser had to have a screenplay and a green light in ten and a half weeks, or he wouldn't be able to make the movie as Shaquille had to go back to basketball camp. The script was written in six and a half weeks with production commencing after ten before going into Turnaround where it was acquired by Disney.
Reader's Guide
Kazaam has been heavily panned by critics since its release. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 5% based on 38 reviews and an average rating of 3.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, 'Crafted from a mix of genre clichés, Kazaam doesn't know what kind of film it wants to be, and Shaq's larger-than-life charisma is stifled by rote filmmaking and an unimaginative story.' On Metacritic, the film has a score of 24 out of 100 based on 14 critics, indicating 'generally unfavorable reviews'. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave it a 'B+' grade. Roger Ebert gave the film 1.5 stars, writing that Shaq 'has already proven he can act... Here he shows he can be likable in a children's movie. What he does not show is good judgment in his choice of material.' Gene Siskel awarded it one star and described it as 'the kind of project someone probably told Shaq would sell to kids. It's marketing, not moviemaking.' Shaquille O'Neal's performance was considered poor and has since been referenced in a number of movies, including Scary Movie. In a 2012 interview with GQ magazine, O'Neal said: 'I was a medium-level juvenile delinquent from Newark who always dreamed about doing a movie. Someone said, "Hey, here's $7 million, come in and do this genie movie." What am I going to say, no? So I did it.' Many people falsely remember a similar 1990s film titled Shazaam, starring comedian and actor Sinbad as a genie, but no such film ever existed. Sinbad denied having ever starred in Shazaam on Twitter. One theory for the belief is that Sinbad wore a genie costume while introducing the 1977 film Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger on TNT in 1994.
Did You Know?
- The film was directed by Paul Michael Glaser, who conceived the idea after an acquaintance asked if he knew of any film roles for Shaquille O'Neal.
- The script was written in six and a half weeks to accommodate Shaquille O'Neal's basketball camp schedule.
- The film grossed $18.9 million against a $20 million budget, making it a box office disappointment.
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