The Mighty Ducks (movies)

The Mighty Ducks often alludes to a trilogy of movies released in the 1990s written by Steven Brill, who also created the characters.

Plot Synopses

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Mighty Ducks, The (1992)

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DirectorStephen Herek

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ScreenplaySteven Brill (written by)

Related Topics:
Screenplay - Steven Brill

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ProducerJon Avnet, Jordan Kerner

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Release DateOctober 2, 1992

Related Topics:
October 2 - 1992

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MPAA ratingPG

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Color/B&WColor

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Aspect ratio1.85 : 1

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Runtime100 minutes,

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Alternate TitlesChampions (US), Mighty Ducks Are The Champions (UK)

Related Topics:
US - UK

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D2: The Mighty Ducks (1994)

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DirectorSam Weisman

Related Topics:
Director - Sam Weisman

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ScreenplaySteven Brill (characters) (written by)

Related Topics:
Screenplay - Steven Brill

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ProducerJon Avnet, Jordan Kerner

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Release DateMarch 25, 1994

Related Topics:
March 25 - 1994

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MPAA ratingPG

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Color/B&WColor

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Aspect ratio1.85 : 1

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Runtime106 minutes

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Alternate TitlesThe Mighty Ducks 2

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D3: The Mighty Ducks (1996)

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DirectorSam Weisman

Related Topics:
Director - Sam Weisman

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ScreenplaySteven Brill (characters) (screenplay), Kenneth Johnson (story), Jim Burnstein (screenplay, and) (story, and)

Related Topics:
Screenplay - Steven Brill

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ProducerJon Avnet, Jordan Kerner

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Release DateOctober 4, 1996

Related Topics:
October 4 - 1996

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MPAA ratingPG

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Color/B&WColor

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Runtime104 minutes

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The Mighty Ducks

After being charged with drunk driving, a lawyer named Gordon Bombay (played by Emilio Estevez) is sentenced to community service, coaching hockey, a sport he claimed to hate. There, he meets the District 5 peewee hockey team, a team of perennial losers who finish at the bottom of the league standings year after year, and are shut out at every game by at least five goals. However, the players learn that Bombay was once a player for the Hawks, a perennial champion team, but left hockey because the embarrassment ensued by failing to make a penalty shot that ultimately cost him a peewee championship. With the help of Coach Bombay, and a desperately needed infusion of cash and equipment, the players learn the fundamentals of the game. Soon enough, the District 5 team (now christened the Ducks, after Bombay's employer) start winning games and manage to make the playoffs, eventually reaching the finals. Bombay faces the team he grew up playing for, led by the same coach that coached him. Fittingly, the game was won by a penalty shot by Charlie.

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D2: The Mighty Ducks

Inspired by his own players, Bombay decides to try out in the minor leagues. After an injury, he is offered a chance to coach a team representing the United States in the Junior Goodwill Games. For this, he reunites his Ducks and introduces them to five new players from across the country to form Team USA. However, the lure of celebrity becomes a distraction to both Bombay and the players, and reality kicks in when they lose against Team Iceland in an embarrassing defeat. Frustrated, Bombay drives his players even harder, yet Team USA continues to suffer, until they come across a street hockey team who teaches them how to play like "the real team USA". (Here, a sixth player emerges, Russ Tyler, who earlier mocked Team USA during its matches.) Bombay realizes that the most important thing was to have fun. After a change in attitude, the Ducks redeem themselves by working up the playoffs ladder to once again meet Team Iceland in the finals. The game was decided by a shootout, and the Ducks won by their two goaltenders. Julie "The Cat" Gaffney made an amazing glove save on Iceland star Gunner Stall's slapshot on the final shot of the shootout. Stall was known for going glove side, which was Gaffney's strength, this is why Coach Bombay replaced Goldberg with Gaffney. After the shot nobody knew where the puck went until Gaffney flipped the puck up in her glove to show she had made the save, Team USA/The Mighty Ducks immediately stormed the ice to celebrate.

Related Topics:
United States - Goodwill Games

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D3: The Mighty Ducks

The movie shifts focus from Bombay to his protége, Charlie Conway (played by Joshua Jackson). Charlie and his teammates are awarded a scholarship to Eden Hall Academy, a prestigious school where Bombay attended. However, their arrival is met with hostility from the varsity team (mainly consisting of white players who are members of rich families), as well as Bombay's hand-picked successor, coach Ted Orion (played by Jeffrey Nordling), whose emphasis on defensive two-way hockey irks Charlie considerably. Not wanting to be on a team led by Orion, who he believes to be a washed-up former professional player, Charlie leaves the team, but rejoins as he learns the truth about Orion from Bombay: Orion was once a player for the Minnesota North Stars, but stayed in Minnesota when the North Stars moved to Dallas, in order to take care of his paraplegic daughter. Charlie and Orion quickly bonded in time for the Junior-Varsity Showdown, and thanks in large part to the work of Charlie, the Ducks win from a shorthanded goal scored in the dying seconds of the game from unlikely goal scorer Goldberg.

Related Topics:
Joshua Jackson - Jeffrey Nordling - Minnesota North Stars - Paraplegic

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Common threads

All three films cast an opposing hockey team that represents the various obstacles to the team. This team mainly consists of large players of a single ethnic background, of which the Ducks, a team with smaller players of different races and genders, must overcome. In the end to each movie, the Ducks prevail over them by a single goal.

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Many of the goals that the Ducks score are artistic or gimmicky in nature. This is also known as Duck "trickery." One of their gimmicks is the Flying V, which involves all five skaters skating down the ice in much the same manner as a flock of geese, and the puck being under the control of the player at the head of the V.

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The Mighty Ducks 4

The fourth installment in the Mighty Ducks series was announced on September 4, 2004. According to Disney Adventures magazine, the fourth film will revolve around an adult Charlie Conway, who is forced to coach a youth hockey team and enlists the help of his former coach.

Related Topics:
September 4 - 2004 - Disney Adventures

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