A sarcastic humanoid duck is pulled from his homeworld to Earth where he must stop an alien invasion with the help of a nerdy scientist and a struggling female rock singer.A sarcastic humanoid duck is pulled from his homeworld to Earth where he must stop an alien invasion with the help of a nerdy scientist and a struggling female rock singer.A sarcastic humanoid duck is pulled from his homeworld to Earth where he must stop an alien invasion with the help of a nerdy scientist and a struggling female rock singer.
- Awards
- 5 wins & 4 nominations
Chip Zien
- Howard T. Duck
- (voice)
Holly Robinson Peete
- K.C.
- (as Holly Robinson)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAccording to reports at the time of the movie's release, George Lucas had just built the $50-million Skywalker Ranch complex, and was counting on this film to get him back in the black. When it bombed, he was forced to start selling off assets to stay afloat. His friend Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple Computer, offered to help by buying Lucasfilm's newly-launched CGI animation division for a price well above market value. Lucas, in dire straits and thankful for the assistance, agreed. That division eventually became Pixar Animation Studios.
- GoofsPalm trees in Cleveland, Ohio.
- Quotes
[Together in bed, Beverly seducing Howard]
Howard T. Duck: [flustered] I've got a headache...
Beverly: And I've got the aspirin!
Howard T. Duck: Be gentle.
- Alternate versionsIn the UK two cuts totalling 46 secs were made to secure a PG rating. One is of Lea Thompson pulling a condom out of Howard's wallet, the other is of the bad guy sticking his tongue in a car cigarette lighter socket to recharge himself. The scene with the condom was left intact on the film's television premiere on the BBC. Although the cuts were fully restored in 2008 for the 12-rated Metrodome release the same company reissued the film later in the year with a PG certificate, and this release lost 52 secs of cuts to photo shots in a sex magazine and a scene where Howard works in a sleazy sauna parlour.
- ConnectionsEdited into Nostalgia Critic: Max Payne (2019)
- SoundtracksHunger City
Performed by Lea Thompson, Dominique Davalos, Liz Sagal, Holly Robinson Peete (as Holly Robinson)
Produced by Thomas Dolby
Written by Thomas Dolby and Allee Willis
Featured review
I was 16 years old when HOWARD THE DUCK made it to the screen in 1986, and I actually paid money to see it at my local theatre. (Judging from its famously-meager box office take, I was one of only a few dozen who did the same.) In the 20 years since, HOWARD has gone down in Hollywood history as one of the most expensive movie bombs EVER and it is generally looked down upon by "serious" film fans. I have to ask them: WHY? Howard the Duck KICKED ASS in 1986 and it still kicks ass today! It had everything: a talking duck for a hero, gigantic Dark Overlords from outer space, crashes, explosions, endless duck puns, remarkably decent special effects (most of which still hold up today), bad '80s synth-rock songs, and Lea Thompson at her most gorgeous in the role of Beverly Switzer, punk rocker and Duck-o-philiac. If it were not for this film I would not have developed my lifelong crush on Miss Thompson (which still persists to this day... if you watch her infamous tender love scene with Howard in which she's wearing only her underwear and you DON'T fall immediately in love with her, there's something seriously wrong with you!), nor would I say "Hey, there's Phil Blumburtt!" every time I see Tim Robbins in another movie. I'm sure the majority of the cast and crew involved with HOWARD would like to forget that the movie ever happened, but judging from the comments on this board, there are untold legions of bad-'80s-movie devotees out there like me who loved this movie then, still love it now, and are dying to own HOWARD THE DUCK on DVD. It absolutely astounds me, that with the amount of CRAP out there filling video store shelves, HOWARD has never achieved a DVD release. It's been 20 years, where's our 2-Disc 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition, Mister Lucas? I'm still getting by with my taped copy of HOWARD that I recorded off of HBO back in the '80s, and it's about due for a replacement! Seriously folks, don't believe the hype. HOWARD THE DUCK is worth seeing, and it's nowhere near as bad as you've heard. Trust me. MetalGeek has never lied to you before.
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Howard el pato
- Filming locations
- Petaluma, California, USA(Petaluma River is used for almost all waterway scenes, with takeoff from Western Avenue)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $37,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $16,295,774
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $5,070,136
- Aug 3, 1986
- Gross worldwide
- $37,962,774
- Runtime1 hour 50 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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