December 21, 2016 (France)
January 13, 2017 (United States)
Monster Trucks is a 2016 American live-action animated monster comedy film produced by Paramount Animation, Nickelodeon Movies and Disruption Entertainment for Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Chris Wedge, in both his live-action directorial debut and first directorial effort outside of his own company Blue Sky Studios, and written by Derek Connolly, from a story by Matthew Robinson, Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger. The film stars Lucas Till, Jane Levy, Amy Ryan, Rob Lowe, Danny Glover, Barry Pepper, Thomas Lennon, and Holt McCallany, and follows Tripp Coley, a young junkyard employee who finds a subterranean creature living in his truck.
The film was first released on December 21, 2016 in France, then on January 13, 2017 in the United States. It received mixed reviews from critics and was considered by analysts to be a box-office bomb, grossing $64.5 million worldwide against a $125 million budget.
Storyline
Terravex Oil is in the midst of a fracking operation in North Dakota, overseen by CEO Reece Tenneson and geologist Jim Dowd. The operation releases a trio of squid-like creatures from underground and destroys the drilling rig. Two are captured by Terravex, but one of them escapes. Meanwhile, high school senior Tripp Coley has taken up a job at a junkyard, where he builds a pickup truck in hopes of being able to leave his town, but the truck lacks a working drivetrain. One night, Tripp encounters the escaped creature in the junkyard and captures it, but the creature escapes before he can seek authorities.
The next day, Tripp discovers that the creature feeds on oil and has taken shelter in the hood of his truck. He befriends him, names him Creech, and promises to help him get home. Tripp modifies the truck to give Creech more control as a makeshift engine. The truck acts as a 'wheelchair' for Creech to operate. Meanwhile, Tenneson is still concerned about the incident at the drilling rig, since similar experiments have revealed the existence of other creatures. He decides to protect the company's image by drilling poison into a hole leading to the underwater tunnels, and by sending hired mercenary Burke to kill their captured creatures, to the objection of Dowd, as he finds the monsters have significant intelligence and emotions as well as a hive mind intelligence that allows both of the captured specimens to learn what was taught to one.
Tripp and his classmate Meredith, whom he has told about Creech, seek help from his estranged father Wade, but Wade sells Tripp out to Burke. Tripp and Meredith escape in the truck with Creech and are chased by Burke and his team along with Rick, the local sheriff and Tripp's stepfather. They escape by jumping over a MRL local with an EMD MP15DC lead train, and camping at a hunting cabin.
When Creech gets the sense something bad will happen to the other creatures, he heads to Terravex headquarters where they are being held captive. Tripp and Meredith follow Creech. When they arrive, they find Creech's parents, but are attacked by Terravex workers. Creech is captured, and Tripp and Meredith are taken to Tenneson.
Dowd decides to help Tripp and Meredith rescue the creatures. They acquire two more trucks and modify the trucks for Creech's parents to control. Dowd helps the group by stealing the Terravex truck on which Creech's parents are loaded. At the dealership, the creatures take control of the modified trucks, and the group make their escape up the mountain leading to the tunnels.
Terravex gives chase up the mountain and the group escapes. On the way, Rick helps Tripp and the group escape from Burke, preventing Burke from ramming them off the road and later stealing a large truck to block the road to prevent further pursuit. After realizing the poison has been inserted, Tripp gets into a head-on battle with Burke, who attempts to push him into the drilling hole, but it ends when Tripp and Creech overturn Burke's truck, destroying the poison machine and apparently killing Burke when his truck is thrown into the equipment. Creech saves Tripp from drowning before he and his parents depart back home where the others of their kind are, and Terravex is exposed by the group for the experimentation that was harming the creatures' habitat. Tenneson is arrested for his crimes, Tripp and Rick grow closer and rebuild a V8 engine for the truck, and Tripp and Meredith begin a relationship.
Sound Effects Used
- Hollywoodedge, Crash Metal Shatter PE110101
- Hollywoodedge, Crowd Med Shock PE961301/Crowd Reaction Shock PE142501
- Hollywoodedge, Glass Crash Sustaine PE112901
- Hollywoodedge, Metal Wronks Heavy FS016802
- Hollywoodedge, Wood Door OCKnob Ratt PE180201
- SKYWALKER CONCRETE BREAKING SOUNDS
- SKYWALKER, CRACK - ROCK OR EARTH CRACKING
- Sound Ideas, SIREN - SIREN, POLICE, AMBULANCE, FIRE TRUCK 01
- Wilhelm Scream