41 Fun Facts About Monster House

Monster House opened the same weekend as which M. Night Shyamalan film?

Lady in the Water also opened on July 21, 2006, and the animated newcomer out-earned it that weekend, $22.2 million to $18 million.

Who directed Monster House, his feature directorial debut?

Gil Kenan, a recent UCLA film-school graduate, made his feature debut here after his stop-motion thesis short The Lark caught the producers' attention.

Which actor voices the grumpy old neighbor Mr. Nebbercracker in Monster House?

Steve Buscemi voices Nebbercracker, who collapses on his own lawn early on, leaving the boys convinced they have killed him until he comes back from the hospital.

Who voices D.J. Walters, the boy who spies on the house across the street?

Mitchel Musso voices D.J., the boy who finally destroys the house with dynamite; at the time he was also playing Oliver on Disney Channel's Hannah Montana.

What is D.J.'s best friend Chowder's real first name?

Charles is Chowder's real first name; it is he and D.J. who dash across the street and pull Jenny clear just before the house can swallow her.

Who voices Chowder in Monster House?

Sam Lerner voices Chowder and supplied his movements too, acting out each scene while wired to motion-capture sensors.

Which actress voices Jenny in Monster House?

Spencer Locke voices Jenny, the trio's quick thinker: she knows what a uvula does, and a pull on the house's makes it throw the children back out.

Who voices Zee, D.J.'s teenage babysitter, in Monster House?

Maggie Gyllenhaal voices Zee, who throws out her boyfriend Bones early on and has taken up with the gamer Skull by the closing credits.

What is Mr. Nebbercracker's first name?

Horace fakes cruelty toward the neighborhood children to keep them safe from what his house might do.

What is the name of Nebbercracker's late wife, whose spirit possesses the house?

Constance was Nebbercracker's wife, a carnival performer he rescued and married; after her death her spirit animates the house.

What was the freak-show billing of Nebbercracker's wife before he helped her escape?

'The Giantess' was an unwilling performer; Nebbercracker helped her flee and start a new life with him.

Which actress voices the house itself, Nebbercracker's wife?

Kathleen Turner had already voiced one iconic animated woman: Jessica Rabbit in Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Where does Reginald 'Skull' Skulinski, the kids' supernatural expert in Monster House, have his day job?

A pizza parlor employs Skull, though the kids find him lost in an arcade game he plays without even looking at the screen; by the epilogue he is dating Zee.

Which Napoleon Dynamite cast member voices Skull in Monster House?

Jon Heder, Napoleon Dynamite himself, voices Skull, who tells the kids the house can only be stopped by striking its heart.

Who voices Bones, Zee's rude boyfriend who gets swallowed by the house in Monster House?

Jason Lee was starring in My Name Is Earl at the time, and had voiced the villain Syndrome in The Incredibles two years earlier.

Which two comedians voice police officers Landers and Lister?

Kevin James voices Officer Landers and Nick Cannon voices Officer Lister; the house plays dead when they arrive, then swallows their cruiser.

The story of the animated film Monster House begins on the eve of which occasion?

Halloween: D.J. thinks he has outgrown trick-or-treating, then goes anyway with Chowder at the end.

In Monster House, what does Chowder lose on Nebbercracker's front lawn, setting the plot in motion?

A basketball: Nebbercracker confronts D.J. over it, faints, and is taken away by paramedics.

What childhood toy of Bones' had Nebbercracker confiscated years earlier?

Bones spots his old kite in the house's doorway, grabs for it, and is swallowed.

In Monster House, what do the kids decide is the heart of the living house?

The furnace is the house's heart: the kids plan to sedate the house with a dummy and then put the fire out, but the police interrupt.

What do the kids stuff inside their dummy to knock the house out?

They fill a homemade dummy with cold medicine to put the house to sleep, but the police arrive and spoil the plan.

What household fixture serves as the house's uvula?

The chandelier hangs in the house's throat like a uvula; yanking it makes the house gag and spit the kids back out onto the lawn.

What is Jenny doing when the boys rescue her from the house's front porch?

Selling candy for her school: once the boys pull her free it is Jenny who calls the police, though the house plays dead when the two officers arrive.

In Monster House, how did Nebbercracker's wife die while their house was being built?

Buried in wet cement: taunted by children, she fell into the unfinished basement and a concrete mixer emptied over her; her spirit then merged with the finished house.

Where do the kids lure the walking house for the final showdown?

They lead the house to a construction site, where Chowder battles it from an excavator and D.J. blows it up with dynamite.

What does the house use to lift itself off its foundation and give chase?

The house rips a pair of trees from its yard and walks on them, chasing the kids and Nebbercracker through the neighborhood.

Which two writers wrote the original Monster House script?

Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab wrote the original script; Harmon later told a seven-year-old fan the film had given nightmares that other writers changed his story, and that the result was 'dumb'.

Which two filmmakers served as executive producers on Monster House?

Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg executive-produced it through their ImageMovers and Amblin Entertainment banners, respectively.

Monster House's human characters used an animation technique pioneered on which earlier film?

The Polar Express (2004) pioneered the motion-capture process Monster House used, in which the cast acted out each scene while wired to sensors.

At the start of Monster House, what does Nebbercracker take from a little girl who strays onto his lawn?

A tricycle: Nebbercracker seizes it in the opening scene, and D.J., who has been watching from across the street, runs to tell his mother the old man 'took another tricycle'.

Monster House lost the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature to which film?

Happy Feet won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, beating Monster House and Cars; at the Golden Globes, Cars won instead.

Which Sony-owned studio label released Monster House in 2006?

Columbia Pictures released it through Sony, whose effects house Imageworks animated the film; made for about $75 million, it earned $73.7 million in North America alone.

Which film beat Monster House to number one on its opening weekend?

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest held the top spot in its third weekend; Monster House opened second with $22.2 million.

Which company published the Monster House video game in July 2006?

THQ, then the licensed-game specialist behind Pixar, Nickelodeon and WWE tie-ins, published it the week the film opened; the company went bankrupt in 2012.

In the Monster House video game, which rooms serve as save points?

Bathrooms are the game's safe rooms, where the player saves progress between fights with the house's animated furniture.

In the Monster House video game, what does Jenny use to attack enemies and break padlocks?

A slingshot is Jenny's ranged weapon; the game opens with the house swallowing the three children and splitting them up, so each fights through its rooms alone before they reunite.

What was the director's next film after Monster House?

City of Ember, from Jeanne DuPrau's novel, earned $17.9 million on a $55 million budget in 2008; he did not direct another feature until the 2015 Poltergeist remake.

What does D.J. use to watch Nebbercracker's house from his bedroom window?

A telescope: his mother scolds him for staying in his room all day staring at an old man through it, but D.J. insists something is wrong with the house.

Which two actors voice D.J.'s unnamed parents in Monster House?

Fred Willard and Catherine O'Hara, both Christopher Guest mockumentary regulars, voice D.J.'s parents, who leave him with the babysitter for the weekend.

Which Corpse Bride veteran did Monster House's director bring in to revise the script?

Pamela Pettler joined after the director read her Corpse Bride script; by his own account they rebuilt the screenplay at her house, adding the dead woman whose soul possesses the house.

Roughly how much did Monster House gross worldwide during its theatrical run?

Monster House grossed about $142 million worldwide, nearly double its production budget, with slightly more than half of it coming from North America.