Roar (film)

Roar
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Noel Marshall
Written by	Noel Marshall
Produced by	Noel Marshall Tippi Hedren
Starring	Tippi Hedren Melanie Griffith Noel Marshall John Marshall Jerry Marshall Kyalo Mativo
Cinematography	Jan de Bont
Edited by	Jan de Bont Jerry Marshall
Music by	Terence P. Minogue
Production company	Film Consortium[1]
Distributed by	Filmways Pictures Alpha Films
Release date	October 30, 1981 (1981-10-30) (Sydney, Australia)
Running time	98 minutes[2]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$17 million
Box office	$2 million

Roar is a 1981 American adventure comedy film^[3][4] written and directed by Noel Marshall. Its plot follows Hank, a naturalist who lives on a nature preserve in Africa with lions, tigers, and other big cats. When his family visits him, they are instead confronted by the group of animals. The film stars Marshall as Hank, his real-life wife Tippi Hedren as his wife Madeleine, with Hedren's daughter Melanie Griffith and Marshall's sons John and Jerry Marshall in supporting roles.

In 1969, while Hedren was filming Satan's Harvest in Mozambique, she and Marshall had occasion to observe a pride of lions move into a recently vacated house, driven by increased poaching. They decided to make a film centered around that theme, with production starting when the first script was completed in 1970. They began bringing rescued big cats into their homes in California and living with them. Filming began in 1976; it was finished after five years. The film was fully completed after 11 years in production.

Roar was not initially released in North America. Instead, in 1981, Noel and John Marshall released it internationally. It was also acquired by Filmways Pictures and Alpha Films. Despite performing well in Germany and Japan, Roar was a box office failure, grossing $2 million worldwide against a $17 million budget. In 2015, 34 years after the film's original release, it was released in theaters in the United States by Drafthouse Films. Roar's message of protection for African wildlife as well as its animal interactions were praised by critics, but its plot, story, inconsistent tone, dialogue, and editing were criticized.

During production, the cast and crew members faced dangerous situations; seventy people, including the film's stars, were injured in attacks from the untrained animals on set. Flooding from a dam destroyed much of the set and equipment, dramatically increasing the film's budget. In 1983, Hedren founded the Roar Foundation and established the Shambala Preserve sanctuary, to house the animals appearing in the film. She also wrote a book, The Cats of Shambala (1985), about the events that took place during its production. The film has been described as "the most dangerous film ever made" and "the most expensive home movie ever made", and has gained a cult following.