K9.5 (film)

K9.5 is a 2005 animated musical comedy film directed by D.A. Nichols and Abbey Thickson, and written by Al Lowenheim, Liz Herrick, and Margy Hillman, from a story by Nichols, Thickson, Herrick, Hillman, Cliff Ruby, and Elana Lesser. Based on the PlayStation game series of the same name by Lightspan, the film stars the television cast of Tracey Moore, Scott Menville, Alyson Court, Nicholas Guest, and Scott McNeil, with new characters voiced by Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell.

The film was released in the United States On December 2, 2005. This was the final film produced by NT Animation before its closure.

Plot
The K9.5 gang are performing for their big concert in Collierado, along with Kitty and Skip, but this villainous bulldog named Orville and his sidekick Hooch want to get the K9.5 gang for good as they plan to steal everything they need for their concert and vandalize them, causing the whole concert to be ruined. It's up to the K9.5 gang to stop Orville and Hooch, so that their concert could be a huge success!

Voice Cast
More coming soon!
 * Tracey Moore as Ella, the group manager, lead singer, and keyboardist of K9.5.
 * Scott Menville as Gershwyn, Ella's assistant, best friend, and rhythm guitarist of K9.5.
 * Alyson Court as Maxine, the drummer ofK9.5.
 * Nicholas Guest as Riff, the lead guitarist of K9.5.
 * Scott McNeil as Theo, the bass player of K9.5.
 * Kelly Sheridan as Kitty, an intern at K9.5's music studio.
 * Ian James Corlett as Skip, Kitty's assistant.
 * Kenan Thompson as Orville, the main antagonist
 * Kel Mitchell as Hooch, Orville's assistant and sidekick.
 * Vanessa Baden as Spyke, Orville and Hooch's younger sister.

Additional Voices

 * Keith Anthony
 * Stephen Apostolina
 * Sally Ann Brooks
 * June Christopher
 * David Cowgill
 * Wendy E. Cutler
 * Eddie Frierson
 * Elisa Gabrielli
 * Jackie Gonneau
 * Kerry M. Gutierrez
 * Bridget Hoffman
 * Rif Hutton
 * Anne Lockhart
 * Donna Lynn Leavy
 * Nicolette Little
 * Caitlin McKenna
 * Heidi Brook Myers
 * J. Lamont Pope
 * Michelle Ruff
 * Aaron Spann
 * Peter Renaday
 * Dennis Singletary
 * Pepper Sweeney
 * Fred Tatasciore
 * Claudette Wells
 * Lynnanne Zager

Development
Development of a K9.5 feature film began in early 2002, in a NT Animation conference meeting. The idea began when D.A. Nichols came up with a new idea for a feature film. When discussing about possible story ideas, Nichols began drawing concepts.

Casting
On April 6, 2003, it was confirmed that Tracey Moore, Scott Menville, Alyson Court, Nicholas Guest, and Scott McNeil, all of who worked on the television series, were set to reprise their roles.

Marketing
Sony Pictures' marketing campaign began a month before the film's release with the campaign focusing on the members of K9.5, their personalities, and the humor of the voice cast via media promotions. Tie-ins included McDonald's, Coca-Cola, L.S. Ayres, Chrysler, Pontiac, and Cingular Wireless.

Trailers
The teaser trailer was released on October 1, 2004, and was shown before Shark Tale, Friday Night Lights, Raise Your Voice, The Grudge, Saw, Computeropolis, The Polar Express, The Incredibles, National Treasure, The Spongebob Squarepants Movie, Christmas with the Kranks, Ocean's Twelve, Million Dollar Baby, and Lemony Snitcket's A Series of Unfortunate Events.

The first theatrical trailer was released on February 4, 2005, and was shown before Racing Stripes, Are We There Yet?, Boogeyman, Hitch, Pooh's Heffalump Movie, Because of Winn-Dixie, Constantine, Son of the Mask, The Pacifier, Robots, Ice Princess, Valiant, Sin City, M.I.S.S.I.O.N., A Lot like Love, and Kicking & Screaming.

TV spots aired between late November and early December 2005.

Release
K9.5 premiered at the El Capitan Theatre on November 18, 2005 and was theatrically released on December 2, 2005.

Home media
K9.5 was released on VHS, DVD, and PSP UMD on March 7, 2006 by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

On June 16, 2015, SPHE released a 10th Anniversary edition on Blu-ray featuring multiple covers color-coded to match the color of the shades each member wears. The colors included dark blue (Ella), navy blue (Gershwyn), red (Maxine), yellow (Riff), and green (Theo).

Box office
K9.5 grossed $73,286,113 in North America, and $66,589,141 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $139,875,254.

Critical response
K9.5 received mixed to positive reviews from critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 91% approval rating with an average rating of 7.7/10 based on 196 reviews. The site's consensus reads: "Based on the Lightspan series of the same name, K9.5 is visually creative, talented, and of course, rocking." Another review aggregator, Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 based on top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated a score of 76, based on 43 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an "A" on an A+ to F scale.

Soundtrack
The soundtrack, ''We Are the Dogs! K9.5: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, ''was released by Epic Records on November 29, 2005 on Audio CD and Compact Cassette. The first three tracks are songs from the games.

Track listing Edit
More coming soon!
 * 1) "We Are the Dogs!" - Tracey Moore, Scott Menville, Alyson Court, Nicholas Guest, and Scott McNeil
 * 2) "What You Can Dream" - Tracey Moore, Scott Menville, Alyson Court, Nicholas Guest, Scott McNeil
 * 3) "Stepping Out of My Dreams" - Tracey Moore and Scott Menville
 * 4) "I'm the Princess of Percussion" - Alyson Court
 * 5) "Poem of Music" - Scott McNeil
 * 6) "Xtreme (Riff's Song)" - Nicholas Guest
 * 7) "Little Green Bag" - George Baker Selection
 * 8) "What is Love" - Haddaway
 * 9) "Mr. Blue Sky" - Electric Light Orchestra
 * 10) "Holding Out for a Hero" - Frou Frou