The Mighty Ducks

Gordon Bombay, a lawyer in Minneapolis, is arrested for drink driving and sentenced to coach a youth hockey team. What he gets is District 5: no equipment and no ability. They lose 17-0 to their rivals, the Hawks. Stephen Herek directed, from a screenplay by Steven Brill. Emilio Estevez plays Bombay. It opened on 2 October 1992. The finish points back at Bombay's own childhood: Charlie Conway scores the championship goal from a penalty shot, the same shot Bombay missed years before. The reviews were mostly negative. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 27 percent; Roger Ebert gave it two stars and called it sweet and innocent. Audiences gave it an A on CinemaScore. The box office was strong: 50.8 million dollars on a 14 million budget. Its strangest legacy is outside cinema. On the back of the success, Disney founded a real NHL team in 1993 and named it after the film: the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. Two sequels followed, in 1994 and 1996. Who it is for: children and viewers who like nineties sports films. Who it is not for: anyone looking for originality. It follows every beat of the template in order and surprises nobody.