Richard the Stork

2017 Luxembourg film

Richard the Stork

Directed by| Toby Genkel [de]
Reza Memari
Written by| Reza Memari
Produced by| Kristine Knudsen
Emely Christians
Starring| Cooper Kramer
Edited by| Reza Memari
Music by| Eric Neveux

Production
companies

Den Siste Skilling
Knudsen & Streuber Medienmanufaktur
Mélusine Productions
Ulysses Filmproduktion
Walking The Dog

Distributed by| Lionsgate/Grindstone Entertainment Group (United States)
Global Screen (International)

Release dates

* February 12, 2017 (2017-02-12) (BIFF)
* May 5, 2017 (2017-05-05) (Norway)
* June 30, 2017 (2017-06-30) (United States)
* May 11, 2017 (2017-05-11) (Germany)
* February 7, 2018 (2018-02-07) (France)

Running time

| 85 minutes
Countries| Luxembourg
Belgium
Germany
Norway

Languages| German
English
Box office| $13.9 million[1]

Richard the Stork (Released in North America as A Stork's Journey, German: Überflieger — Kleine Vögel, großes Geklapper[2] and also known as Little Bird's Big Adventure) is a 2017 animated adventure film. It was directed by Toby Genkel [de] and Reza Memari.[3] Richard the Stork premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in Germany on February 12, 2017.[4][5][6] Animated movie was released for a limited time on Google Play on June 1, 2017.[7][8] It premiered in theaters in the United States on June 30, 2017.[9][10]

A sequel, Richard the Stork and the Mystery of the Great Jewel was released in April 2023.[11]

## Plot[edit]

Richard, an orphaned sparrow, is adopted and raised by a group of storks. But when they leave on their annual migration south for the winter, Richard, a little non-migrating bird, endeavors to embark on the long arduous journey to stay with his stork family that must reveal his true identity and leave him behind in the forest, since he would not survive the journey to Africa. Determined to prove he is a stork after all, Richard ventures south on his own, joined by an eccentric pygmy owl named Olga with an imaginary friend named Oleg and a narcissistic, disco-singing budgerigar named Kiki. Along their epic journey, they run into many obstacles, like deadly bats, internet-addicted pigeons, mafia crows and a thundering jumbo jet. When they finally find their way to Africa, it's up to Richard to rescue his stork brother Max from the clutches of a monstrous honey badger. The tiniest stork must learn to see himself as the greatest sparrow to unleash his true potential and be reunited with his family.

## Cast[edit]

* Cooper Kramer (original dub) and Drake Bell (Lionsgate dub) as Richard, an orphan tween house sparrow main protagonist,
* Shannon Conley (original dub) and Jane Lynch (Lionsgate dub) as Olga, a pygmy owl that was disliked by her family because of her large size.
* Marc Thompson as Kiki, a budgerigar who lives in an karaoke bar
* Erica Schroeder as Aurora, a female white stork, the adoptive mother of Richard.
* Jonathan Todd Ross as Claudius, a male white stork, Max's father
* Jason Griffith as Max, a young white stork, Claudius's son
* Michele Knotz (original dub) and Justine Ezarik (Lionsgate dub) as Social Media Pigeons

## Production[edit]

Studio Rakete in Hamburg, Germany and Studio 352 in Luxembourg created the storyboard. Studio Rakete was also responsible for the design of the main characters; Studio 352 designed the supporting characters. Most of the character animation was done by Bug AS in Norway. Lighting/shading, FX simulations and compositing of the final pictures was done by Walking the Dog from Belgium and Rise FX in Berlin. The movie was animated and rendered using Houdini with over 500 shots to be finished.[12][13]

## References[edit]

1. ^ "Box Ofiice: Richard the Stork". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
2. ^ "Richard the Stork - Überflieger – Kleine Vögel, großes Geklapper". Berlinale.de. Retrieved February 4, 2017.
3. ^ "Richard the Stork". Film Fund Luxembourg. Retrieved February 12, 2017.
4. ^ Milligan, Mercedes (February 9, 2017). "'Richard the Stork' Trailer Takes Flight for Berlinale". Animation Magazine. Retrieved February 12, 2017.
5. ^ "Programme - Berlinale". Berlinale.de. Retrieved February 4, 2017.
6. ^ "Richard The Stork (3D)". Global Screen. Archived from the original on February 5, 2017. Retrieved February 4, 2017.
7. ^ Mitchell, Robert (May 17, 2017). "Grindstone Entertainment Takes 'Richard the Stork' for North America". Variety.com. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
8. ^ "A Stork's Journey Exclusive Clip - Richard and Olga Meet Kiki". Kidzworld.com. May 31, 2017. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
9. ^ "A Stork's Journey Movie - On Google Play and Theaters". ABC Creative Learning. May 22, 2017. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
10. ^ Roxborough, Scott (May 19, 2017). "Cannes: Grindstone, Lionsgate and Google Take 'A Stork's Journey' for North America". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
11. ^ "Indie Sales Launches 'Richard the Stork 2' at AFM with Flock of Pre-Sales". 3 November 2022.
12. ^ "RISE | Visual Effects Studios".
13. ^ ""Richard the Stork" Making-of". December 2017.

## External links[edit]

Wikiquote has quotations related to A Stork’s Journey.

* Richard the Stork at IMDb
* Ulysses Filmproduktion

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