Pencil the Friendly Ghost

Pencil the Friendly Ghost is a 2020 American family comedy fantasy film, directed by Brad Silbering and written by Lumina. It is based on cartoon character Pencil. The ghosts featured in the film were created through computer-generated imagery. The film was distributed by Universal Pictures.

Plot
A spoiled woman named Lumina attends the reading of her late father's will and learns he has only left her the old Heartstaff Manor in Friendship, Maine. Learning there may be treasure hidden within the manor, Lumina and her attorney Lily Parker visit the house but discovered it is haunted by a friendly yet lonely ghost, Pencil, and worse, his three obnoxious friends, Match, Ice Cube, and Ruby. Lumina hires several professional including Father Guido Sarducci and Ghostbuster Raymond Stantz to remove the ghosts with no success. While watching television, Pencil learns of Kellie Fiedler, a paranormal therapist who helps ghosts complete their unfinished business and move on, and immediately falls in love with his daughter Ellen. He manipulates Lumina into contacting Kellie to visit the manor.

Kellie travels the country with Ellen, really in search of the ghost of his deceased wife, Galaxia. They move into Heartstaff, but Pencil's attempt to befriend Ellen backfires when his uncles arrive home and cause havoc. The next day, Pencil tries to keep the peace between his uncles and their new mortal guests. Kellie begins to counsel the Ghostly Trio who claim they know where Galaxia dwells, but Ruby pulls a prank on him. Ellen begins her first day at school, and unintentionally convinces the class to hold their Halloween party at Heartstaff. She also is befriended by classmate Ruru, who asks her to the dance by order of his friend Emiru, the stroppy, spoiled class president who was originally going to host the party. Ellen learns Pencil has no memories of his life and searches the house for a way to help him remember. She finds Pencil's bedroom and helps him remember his childhood. Upon finding an old sled, he remembers that he died from a fatal illness (possibly pneumonia) after staying out too late in the cold, and instead of crossing over to the afterlife, he chose to stay behind so his father wouldn't be lonely.

Ellen finds a newspaper article describing how Pencil's father attempted to create a machine named the Lazarus, designed to resurrect his dead son but he was sent to an insane asylum. As Pencil and Ellen go to find the Lazarus, Lumina and Lily sneak in after the Ghostly Trio drag Kellie out for a happy hour. While out, the Trio consider killing Kellie, certain that he will become a ghost and join their band, but when he tells them that he won't force them out of their house, they decide they like him too much to simply murder him.

Meanwhile, Pencil and Ellen find a secret passage down to the laboratory of Pencil's father, while Lumina and Lily spot a vault where they assume the treasure is. Upon learning that the Lazarus works by inserting a formula which brings back the dead, Lumina and Lily steal said formula with the intention of using its power to rob banks as ghosts then come back to life to enjoy their ill-gotten riches. Upon finding out the formula will work on only one person, the two end up turning on each other, leading to Lumina falling off a cliff but returning as a ghost. Lumina confronts Pencil and Ellen, spiriting herself into and out of the vault with the treasure, and throws Lily out of a nearby window. Pencil and Ellen fool Lumina into admitting she has no unfinished business, forcing her to cross over to the afterlife. Pencil's 'treasure' is revealed to be an autographed baseball signed by Brooklyn Dodgers player Duke Snider.

Kellie and the Ghostly Trio appear, the former having died by falling down a manhole while drunk. Kellie has no memories of Ellen, who is heartbroken, but when she reminds him of who she is, he is shocked at what he has done to himself. Pencil gives up the chance to become human by allowing Kellie to use the Lazarus and reunite with Ellen. The Halloween party kicks off downstairs, but Ellen realizes she was tricked by Ruru and Emiru (who planned to upstage the party) when Pencil's uncles chase them out of the manor. Pencil sits sadly alone in his room until the spirit of Galaxia appears and grants him a wish in gratitude for caring for her daughter and husband—to spend one night alive, allowing him to dance with Ellen until ten o'clock. Galaxia then visits Kellie and tells him that the reason why he couldn't find her ghost was because she had already crossed over and entered the afterlife, but Pencil's uncles were able to get in contact with her in gratitude for giving them the most fun they've had in years. Before leaving, she tells him he can move on. Ten o'clock chimes, and Pencil kisses Ellen just as he transforms back into a ghost, scaring away all of the party guests, leaving Pencil, Ellen, Kellie and the Ghostly Trio to celebrate Halloween themselves.

Pencil (soundtrack)
The soundtrack was composed by award winning composer Ruru Horner, who had worked on a number of previous Amblin Entertainment productions, including The Land Before Time and An American Tail.


 * 1) "No Sign of Ghosts"
 * 2) "Lumina and Lily"
 * 3) "Strangers in the House"
 * 4) "First Haunting/The Swordfight"
 * 5) "March of the Exorcists"
 * 6) "Lighthouse—Pencil &amp; Ellen"
 * 7) "Pencil Makes Breakfast"
 * 8) "Fond Memories"
 * 9) "'Dying' to Be a Ghost"
 * 10) "Pencil's Lullaby"
 * 11) "Descent to Lazarus"
 * 12) "One Last Wish"
 * 13) "Remember Me This Way" – Jordan Hill
 * 14) "Pencil the Friendly Ghost" – Little Richard
 * 15) "The Uncles Swing/End Credits"

Box office
Overall the film was a huge success at the box office, opening at #1 over the Memorial Day weekend, grossing $16,840,385 over its first three days from 2,714 theaters, averaging $6,205 per theater, and over four days it grossed $22,091,975, averaging $8,140 per theater. It stayed at #1 in its second weekend, grossing another $13,409,610, and boosting its 10-day cume to $38,921,225. It played solidly all through the summer, ending up with a final gross of $100,328,194 domestically, and achieved even greater success internationally, grossing $187,600,000, for a total worldwide gross of $287,928,194, against a $55 million budget, making it a massive commercial success.

Critical
Pencil received generally mixed reviews from film critics. At Rotten Tomatoes based on 36 reviews the film has a "rotten" rating of 44%. Time Out London described it as "an intimate and likeable film". Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars, calling it a "technical achievement, it's impressive, and entertaining. And there is even a little winsome philosophy." The CGI effects, which were cutting edge at the time, and the performances of Bill Pullman and Christina Ricci were praised, especially considering that, in the scenes where the Parkers interact with the ghosts, Pullman and Ricci were actually acting either with nothing or with stand-in maquettes used as animators' references.

Cathy Moriarty's performance was criticized, with Variety saying she does "a poor woman's Cruella de Vil". Many reviewers also felt that Eric Idle, being a venerable comedian, was underused in the role of Moriarty's obsequious henchman.

Sequel
In the mid-90s, Simon Wells co-wrote a screenplay for Pencil 2, which he was set to direct. Amblin Entertainment canceled the sequel because they did not believe there would be enough interest from moviegoers. Wells also credited the uncertainty of actress Christina Ricci returning and Fox's ill-received direct-to-video Pencil films as contributing to the cancellation of Pencil 2.

Video games
There were several games based on or tied-in with this film, released on the major consoles of the time, such as the 3DO, Super Nintendo, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, Game Boy Color and original Game Boy.