D3: The Mighty Ducks

D3: The Mighty Ducks
D3: The Mighty Ducks
	File:D3 mighty ducks.jpg D3: The Mighty Ducks DVD cover
Directed by	Robert Lieberman
Written by	Steven Brill; Jim Burnstein; Kenneth Johnson
Produced by	Jon Avnet; Jordan Kerner
Starring	Emilio Estevez; Joshua Jackson; Jeffrey Nordling
Music by	J.A.C. Redford
Distributed by	Buena Vista Distribution
Release dates	October 4, 1996
Running time	104 min.
Language	English

D3: The Mighty Ducks also known as The Mighty Ducks 3 is the third film in The Mighty Ducks trilogy and the second theatrical sequel to The Mighty Ducks, and first to D2: The Mighty Ducks. produced by Avnet-Kerner Productions and Walt Disney Pictures, distributed by Buena Vista Distribution, and originally released to movie theatres on October 4, 1996.

While the film did not see the box office numbers that the first two movies saw, it was still considered a financial success due to its relatively low budget. However, the movie has become popular on home video and DVD.

Plot synopsis

With this installment, the series shifts focus from Coach Gordon Bombay to his protége, Charlie Conway (Joshua Jackson). Charlie and his teammates are awarded junior varsity hockey scholarships to the Eden Hall Academy, a prestigious Minnesota prep school that Bombay once attended. Charlie is reluctant to take the leadership of a new coach and asks Bombay to stay, however Gordon is again coaching the United States in the Junior Goodwill Games and says he will return. The Ducks arrival is met with hostility from the varsity team, which mainly consists of players from rich families whose younger siblings were not accepted to the academy to make room for the Ducks. The team has an icy relationship with Bombay's hand-picked successor, Ted Orion (Jeffrey Nordling), who does not share Bombay's lighthearted approach to coaching. Orion makes several changes to the team, including starting Julie Gaffney in goal over Greg Goldberg, based on Julie's superior play in tryouts, moving star player Adam Banks onto the varsity team, directing the team to play a defensive-minded system, banning the team's pregame "quack" chant, and refusing to designate Charlie as team captain.

These events, combined with Charlie's own growing pains typical of his coming adolescent years and the residual anger from what he regards as abandonment by Gordon, isolate him from his teammates and his family, as he is unwilling to accept Orion's stricter coaching methods.

Charlie finally becomes fed up with Orion, whom he considers a washed-up former professional player, and leaves the team with Fulton Reed. Venting to Hans, his and Gordon's mentor, Charlie becomes further upset and walks off in a huff after Hans appears to take Orion's side. The elderly Scandinavian dies later that evening.

Gordon joins the Ducks at Hans' funeral. Charlie, feeling guilty over his tantrum with Hans earlier, spots Bombay and tries to leave the cemetery quietly. Gordon shows up at his house the following day and takes Charlie back to the school, where he reveals that Orion was once a player for the Minnesota North Stars, but stayed in Minnesota when the North Stars moved to Dallas in order to take care of his paraplegic daughter. He also tells Charlie that he told Ted of Charlie's superior playing abilities and that they would learn something from each other. Touched by the fact that his former coach felt so highly of him, a tearful Charlie agrees to rejoin the team.

Charlie arrives on the bus, much to Orion's surprise. Impressed by Charlie's change in attitude, Orion welcomes him back and after Charlie demonstrates Orion's philosophy of "two-way hockey", Orion renames Charlie as team captain.

With Bombay's help, they stop an attempt led by the varsity team captain's father to remove the Ducks from Eden Hall, just in time for the JV-Varsity Showdown. When approached by the dean to inform him that he can start anew with a team of his choice, Orion refuses, saying he's satisfied with the team he has. The attempt almost succeeds until Bombay threatens a lawsuit against the school. The scholarships are reinstated and the Ducks are allowed to continue at Eden Hall until the end of the year.

Thanks in large part to the work of Charlie and the last-minute arrival of Fulton Reed's "Bash Brother," Dean Portman, who had not come to Eden Hall with the rest of the Ducks, the Ducks win on a shorthanded goal in the final seconds of the game from unlikely scorer Goldberg, who had switched positions from goalie to defenseman. Following the victory, Bombay is seen briefly by Charlie, while in an embrace with Orion. Knowing that his prodigy is in good hands at last, a satisfied Bombay leaves the arena alone.

The nickname of the Eden Hall athletic teams is then changed from Warriors to Mighty Ducks, the result of a petition that was started by Charlie's new girlfriend, Linda (Margot Finley), and helped by Bombay's influence.

Sequel

In 2004 there were plans to make a Mighty Ducks 4. The plot was to follow Charlie Conway getting arrested and sentenced to community service and coaching a pee wee hockey team. Charlie then calls Gordon Bombay for help. As of 2008, there have been no further announcements as to when the movie will be made.

Jordan Kerner has expressed interest in doing a fourth movie, and in an interview ^{[citation needed]} in 2006 he said that the plotline for “The Mighty Ducks 4” will have a lot to do with today’s generation preferring to stay inside and play video games or search the internet rather than get out there and play a sport. He believes there is an opportunity to take some of the characters like “Goldberg and Averman and bring them back, and we can revisit that, if we had a fresh story to tell. And that’s what we’re working on”.

Trivia

Although Emilio Estevez gets top billing for the film, he is only featured in a couple scenes.
At one point in the movie, Charlie says, "They named a pro team after us," referring to then-Walt Disney Company owned NHL team, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, who were named after the movie.
While much debate stemmed from Coach Orion's refusal to allow Charlie to be the team captain, in the previous installment an announcer clearly called Adam Banks the captain during their first game versus Iceland (Charlie was injured and passed the captain's "C" onto Banks for that game).
Many actors from past Mighty Ducks movies acted in different roles in D3. One example includes the goalie for the varsity team in D3 who also portrayed the captain of the Iceland team in D2: The Mighty Ducks.
The Ducks only play three games through the whole movie.
The school name "Eden Hall" was likely formed as a combination of the real life Minnesota high schools, Eden Prairie and Cretin-Derham Hall.
Most of the filming took place at Shattuck-St. Mary's in Faribault, Minnesota which has a nationally known hockey program.
In one scene, it is revealed that Coach Bombay was on the debate team while in high school as he walks Eden Hall's hallways with Charlie.
In all three movies, the Ducks have faced teams with at least their primary colors as black (Hawks: Black, Blue, White, Iceland: Black, Blue, White, Warriors: Black, Red, White)

External links

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