Over One Dozen Behind The Scenes Photos or 10-year-old Lucas Nickle (Zach Tyler Eisen) can’t get a break.
Recently moved to a new city with his family, he hasn’t made a single friend. He gets nothing but grief from his teenage sister, Tiffany (Allison Mack), and not a whole lot of attention lately from his parents (Cheri Oteri and Larry Miller), who are busy planning their big anniversary weekend trip to Puerto Vallarta. Meanwhile, his loving but kinda kooky grandmother Mommo (Lily Tomlin) spends all her time trying to protect the family from those space aliens she’s been reading about in the grocery store magazines. To make matters worse, Lucas has become the number one target of neighborhood bully Steve, who never misses an opportunity to push him around. In turn, Lucas delights in destroying ant hills in his yard—venting his frustration on the defenseless mounds of dirt and their tiny inhabitants by kicking them, stomping them and squirting them with the garden hose. But, unbeknownst to Lucas, there is a whole world alive and busy just underneath his feet, and what he sees as “just a bunch of stupid ants” are actually members of a complex society, with names and relationships, responsibilities and emotions. They’re getting mighty tired of having their homes trampled by Lucas The Destroyer. And they are ready to fight back. The magic potion that Wizard Ant Zoc (Nicolas Cage) has long been working on is finally finished. One drop in Lucas’ gigantic human ear and he is instantly shrunken down to ant size and taken deep below the ant hill to stand trial. The Head of the Ant Council (Ricardo Montalban) proclaims Lucas guilty of crimes against the colony. Sentenced by the wise Ant Queen (Meryl Streep) to live among the ants and learn their ways to earn his freedom, Lucas finds himself in an incredible landscape suddenly teeming with life—and peril—that he never noticed or even imagined before, and embarks on the adventure of a lifetime. Against Zoc’s wishes, his kind-hearted girlfriend, Nurse Ant Hova (Julia Roberts), volunteers to mentor the miniaturized human boy. Hoping to teach Lucas the ways of the colony and help him find that one special talent he has to contribute, she soon has her hands full—all six of them—just keeping him away from trouble. With the help of her colony comrades, no-nonsense Forager Ant Kreela (Regina King) and garrulous Scout Ant Fugax (Bruce Campbell), Hova somehow manages to keep him out of the stomachs of greedy frogs and away from marauding wasps. Lucas’ developing ant skills are put to the test when he is called upon to help his new friends defend the colony against certain annihilation from the local exterminator—the greasy, growling Stan Beals (Paul Giamatti)—in an epic life-and-death struggle waged on the Nickles’ front lawn. In the process, he learns valuable lessons about friendship, compassion, teamwork and loyalty that will serve him for the rest of his life. He also gains the courage to stand up for himself no matter what the odds. From Academy Award-nominated filmmaker John A. Davis (Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius) and producers Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman (The Polar Express), comes the family adventure The Ant Bully, combining vivid state-of-the-art computer animation with a witty and heartwarming story for children of all ages. The Ant Bully, opening in theaters nationwide July 28, 2006, will simultaneously debut in select IMAX theaters as The Ant Bully: An IMAX 3D Experience. Digitally converting the film’s original 3D modeling into IMAX 3D, and featuring proprietary IMAX DMR® (Digital Re-mastering) technology, it offers moviegoers an additional and uniquely immersive perspective on Lucas’ adventures into this wondrous new world.
