Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie
Encyclopedia
Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie is a 2009 American made-for-television comedy-drama
Comedy-drama
Comedy-drama is a genre of theatre, film and television programs which combines humorous and serious content.-Theatre:Traditional western theatre, beginning with the ancient Greeks, was divided into comedy and tragedy...

 fantasy film
Fantasy film
Fantasy films are films with fantastic themes, usually involving magic, supernatural events, make-believe creatures, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered to be distinct from science fiction film and horror film, although the genres do overlap...

 based on the Disney Channel Original Series Wizards of Waverly Place
Wizards of Waverly Place
Wizards of Waverly Place is a Disney Channel Original Series that premiered on October 12, 2007. It won "Outstanding Children's Program" at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards in 2009...

. Filmed primarily in San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...

 in February and March 2009, the Disney Channel Original Movie premiered on August 28, 2009 on the Disney Channel
Disney Channel
Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...

 in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The film received 11.4 million viewers at its premiere, making it the second-most-viewed DCOM (Disney Channel Original Movie) premiere at that time, after High School Musical 2. It was also cable's No. 1 scripted telecast of 2009 in total viewers.

The film won the 2010 Primetime Emmy Award for Best Children Program. The film was directed by Lev L. Spiro
Lev L. Spiro
Lev L. Spiro is an American television and film director. In addition to multiple episodes of shows such as Weeds, Arrested Development, Ugly Betty, Gilmore Girls and The O.C., he directed the television films Minutemen and Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie.-Early life:Spiro earned dual...

, and premiered on Disney Channel
Disney Channel
Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...

 in the UK and Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 on October 23, 2009 as part of Wiz-Tober 2009. The film received generally positive reviews. The review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

 reported that 62% of RT Community gave the film positive reviews, based on 2693 reviews, with an average score of 7.2/10.

The full cast of the series starred in the film, although Jennifer Stone
Jennifer Stone
Jennifer Lindsay Stone is an American actress best known for playing Harper Finkle on the Disney Channel series Wizards of Waverly Place and Harriet Welsh in the Disney Channel film Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars.-Life:...

 only had a small role in the film. The DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 was released on December 15, 2009 as an Extended Edition. The film focuses on the Russo family taking a vacation to the Caribbean.

Plot

The entire Russo family—Alex (Selena Gomez
Selena Gomez
Selena Marie Gomez is an American actress and singer best known for portraying Alex Russo in the Emmy Award-winning Disney Channel television series Wizards of Waverly Place...

), Justin (David Henrie
David Henrie
David Clayton Henrie is an American actor, television writer, and producer. He is noted for playing Ted Mosby's future son on How I Met Your Mother, Justin Russo in Wizards of Waverly Place and Larry on That's So Raven...

), Max (Jake T. Austin
Jake T. Austin
Jake T. Austin is an American actor and voice actor. Beginning a career as a child actor at the age of seven, Austin is a five-time Young Artist Award nominee, best known for his role as Max Russo, the youngest of three wizards on the Disney Channel original series Wizards of Waverly Place, and as...

), and their parents Jerry (David DeLuise
David DeLuise
David Dominick DeLuise is an American actor and director.-Career:DeLuise was born in 1971 in Los Angeles, California. He is the youngest son of actor and comedian Dom DeLuise and actress Carol Arthur , and the brother of actor, writer, director Peter DeLuise and actor Michael DeLuise.His first...

) and Theresa (Maria Canals Barrera
Maria Canals Barrera
María Canals Barrera is an American actress, voice actress and singer. She is best known for her roles as Theresa Russo in Wizards of Waverly Place, Connie Torres in Camp Rock and Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam, and as the voice of Shayera Hol/Hawkgirl in Justice League and Justice League...

)—are preparing for a vacation to the Caribbean. Along the way they meet a street magician and former wizard (Steve Valentine
Steve Valentine
Steven John Valentine is a Scottish actor, singer and magician who has performed on stage and screen, but is best known for his role as the eccentric Nigel Townsend on NBC's crime drama Crossing Jordan...

) (who lost the full-wizard contest to his older brother) named Archie who wants to turn his girlfriend, Giselle, from a parrot back into a human by finding the Stone of Dreams, which has the power to grant any wish or reverse any spell. Jerry considers it crazy since many wizards have gone on the quest and never returned.

Later, after Alex was about to use a spell on her mother to convince her to let Alex hang out with a boy, she gets caught, grounded and forbidden to use magic. After a heated argument with Theresa, Alex, in a fit of rage, wishes that her parents had never met. The smuggled full-wizard wand and spell book, which Alex was holding at the time, grants her wish. As a result, Jerry and Theresa do not remember Justin, Alex, Max, or each other.

Alex, Max and Justin attempt to get a spell-book from Jerry by levitating it out of his pocket, but he catches it. Jerry is shown to still have his powers, since he never gave them up to marry Theresa. Jerry has a more carefree attitude with magic due to this change. Justin asks him "hypothetically" what would happen if a wizard wished that her parents never met. Jerry explains how they would gradually forget their past, and then disappear forever. He says it would take a miracle to fix it, whereupon Justin mentions the Stone of Dreams (La Piedra de los Sueños), which Jerry says would work too.

Justin and Alex set off to find the Stone of Dreams, guided by Archie. Along the way, Justin and Alex face many obstacles such as getting across a wide canyon, escaping death from quicksand, and getting across a narrow ledge. Meanwhile, Max stays at the resort to keep his parents from meeting other people. Over the course of the day, Max begins losing his memory. Realizing that something is wrong, Max asks Jerry to help him find Alex and Justin, and Jerry agrees after some persuasion. They are joined by Theresa, who believes them to simply be treasure hunting, but nonetheless proves useful, as she is the only one of them who can speak Spanish.

Eventually, Alex and Justin succeed in finding the Stone of Dreams, but Giselle steals the stone. The kids tell Theresa and Jerry their story. Theresa doesn't believe them because she thinks she would never forget her own children. While trying to figure out how to reverse the spell without the stone of dreams, Jerry mentions that if one of the kids was a full wizard, they might be able to cast a spell to reverse it. While preparing to begin the full-wizard contest, Max finally loses all memory of who he is and gets sucked into the vortex of non-existence. Theresa remembers him slightly, and realizes that they were telling the truth. Realizing they must work quickly, Alex and Justin are transported to an ancient battlefield, where the contest will be held. Jerry explains that they will only be allowed to use spells involving the four elements (water, earth, fire and air). The winner will become a full wizard, and the loser gets nothing while losing their powers forever. Alex and Justin engage in what turns out to be an intense battle, and Alex narrowly wins.

In trying to come up with a spell to fix everything, she turns to Justin for help. However, Justin has lost all his memory (despite the fact that he is older than Alex). Alex tells him that even though they pick on each other, she looks up to him and begs Justin not leave her here alone. Justin tells her that he'd never leave her and that even though he doesn't know her, he believes her, and wants to help, but he cannot and is sucked into the same vortex that Max was.

Meanwhile Theresa is back at the resort and sees that Giselle has returned to human form with the Stone of Dreams hanging by her neck. She wanted to leave Archie now that she was in human form. Archie manages to get the stone from Giselle, turns her back into a parrot, and gives the stone to Theresa. Theresa then wishes to be where Alex, Justin and Jerry are, at which point she is transported to the same battlefield and gives Alex the stone. Jerry tells Alex she can wish for her brothers to reappear and still keep her full wizard powers. However, Alex wishes that everything go back to the way it was before, and time rewinds back to the beginning of the argument between Alex and Theresa that started all the trouble, which is quickly stopped when Alex apologizes and accepts her punishments with grace. While Theresa and Jerry remember nothing about the ordeal, Alex, Justin, and Max do. Their parents are astonished by the change in the kids' attitude.

Cast

  • Selena Gomez
    Selena Gomez
    Selena Marie Gomez is an American actress and singer best known for portraying Alex Russo in the Emmy Award-winning Disney Channel television series Wizards of Waverly Place...

     as Alex Russo
    Alex Russo
    Alexandra Margarita "Alex" Russo is the main protagonist of the Disney Channel sitcom Wizards of Waverly Place, portrayed by Selena Gomez. As the middle child and only daughter, she is sly, outgoing, and sometimes rude to her family and friends. Alex usually underachieves when it comes to school...

  • David Henrie
    David Henrie
    David Clayton Henrie is an American actor, television writer, and producer. He is noted for playing Ted Mosby's future son on How I Met Your Mother, Justin Russo in Wizards of Waverly Place and Larry on That's So Raven...

     as Justin Russo
    Justin Russo (Wizards of Waverly Place)
    Justin Vincenzo Pepe Russo is a fictional character on the Disney Channel sitcom Wizards of Waverly Place, portrayed by David Henrie. He is typically the erudite and mature older brother who gets straight "A"s...

  • Jake T. Austin
    Jake T. Austin
    Jake T. Austin is an American actor and voice actor. Beginning a career as a child actor at the age of seven, Austin is a five-time Young Artist Award nominee, best known for his role as Max Russo, the youngest of three wizards on the Disney Channel original series Wizards of Waverly Place, and as...

     as Max Russo
    Max Russo
    Maximilian Alanzo Ernesto "Max" Russo is a fictional character on the Disney Channel sitcom Wizards of Waverly Place, portrayed by Jake T. Austin...

  • Maria Canals-Barrera as Theresa Russo
  • David DeLuise
    David DeLuise
    David Dominick DeLuise is an American actor and director.-Career:DeLuise was born in 1971 in Los Angeles, California. He is the youngest son of actor and comedian Dom DeLuise and actress Carol Arthur , and the brother of actor, writer, director Peter DeLuise and actor Michael DeLuise.His first...

     as Jerry Russo
  • Jennifer Stone
    Jennifer Stone
    Jennifer Lindsay Stone is an American actress best known for playing Harper Finkle on the Disney Channel series Wizards of Waverly Place and Harriet Welsh in the Disney Channel film Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars.-Life:...

     as Harper Finkle
  • Steve Valentine
    Steve Valentine
    Steven John Valentine is a Scottish actor, singer and magician who has performed on stage and screen, but is best known for his role as the eccentric Nigel Townsend on NBC's crime drama Crossing Jordan...

     as Archie
  • Jennifer Alden as Giselle
  • Xavier Enrique Torres
    Xavier Enrique Torres
    Xavier Torres is an actor from San Juan, Puerto Rico.In 2006 he got his first opportunity to enter the Anglo-Saxon market with a starring role in the Lifetime Television Network movie Break In...

     as Javier
  • Johnathan Dwayne
    Johnathan Dwayne
    Johnatan Dwayne is a musician, composer, and artist who introduced the musical concept of art rock into Puerto Rico.-Early years:...

     as Activities director
  • Jazmín Caratini as Bartender
  • Marise Alvarez as Greeter
  • Bettina Mercado as Woman in Village #1
  • Veraalba Santa as Woman in Village #2
  • Gabriela Alejandra Rosario as Village Girl

Casting

The full cast of the Disney Channel Original Series Wizards of Waverly Place
Wizards of Waverly Place
Wizards of Waverly Place is a Disney Channel Original Series that premiered on October 12, 2007. It won "Outstanding Children's Program" at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards in 2009...

starred in the film. However, Jennifer Stone
Jennifer Stone
Jennifer Lindsay Stone is an American actress best known for playing Harper Finkle on the Disney Channel series Wizards of Waverly Place and Harriet Welsh in the Disney Channel film Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars.-Life:...

 as Harper Finkle only made appearances at the beginning of the film, and did not star.

Filming

Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie was filmed primarily in San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...

 in February and March 2009. Hotel scenes were shot at the Caribe Hilton in San Juan. The subway scene where we see the train from the platform was shot in Toronto, despite the series being based in New York. The ancient battlefield where Alex and Justin were competing is Ford Monostor in Komárom, Hungary.

Promotion

Selena Gomez recorded a "Magic" cover for the film that is featured on the soundtrack
Wizards of Waverly Place (soundtrack)
- Bonus content :Bonus content for the physical CD for Wizards of Waverly Place includes exclusive behind-the-scenes interviews with Gomez and also the new music video for "Magic".-International Release:...

 for the film and television show
Wizards of Waverly Place
Wizards of Waverly Place is a Disney Channel Original Series that premiered on October 12, 2007. It won "Outstanding Children's Program" at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards in 2009...

. A sneak peek of the film aired during the conclusion of the four-part "Wizards vs. Vampires" event on Disney Channel on August 8, 2009 and on Family Channel during the week of August 24, 2009. The What's What Edition of the film premiered on October 24, 2009 on Disney Channel.

Disney Channel Original Movie extras

The DCOM extras of the film aired on Disney Channel
Disney Channel
Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...

 before the premiering of the film. It shows behind the scenes features of the movie and interviews of the cast. A total of 4 DCOM extras premiered on Disney Channel.

Release

The film premiered on Disney Channel
Disney Channel
Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...

 as a Disney Channel Original Movie on August 28, 2009. The film premiered in the UK and Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 on October 23, 2009 as part of Wiz-Tober 2009. The film premiered in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 on October 11, 2009 as part of Magoctubre 2009 in Spain.

Reception

The film received generally positive reviews. The review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

 reported that 62% of RT Community gave the film positive reviews, based on 2693 reviews, with an average score of 7.2/10.

Ratings

The film garnered 11.4 million viewers on its premiere night, making it cable's No. 1 scripted telecast of 2009 and Disney Channel
Disney Channel
Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...

's second most-viewed film premiere after High School Musical 2. On its second night, the film's second showing received 5.8 million viewers. The next day, the film's third showing got 4.3 million viewers, and its fourth showing received 4.7 million viewers.
When the film premiered in the UK, as part of Wiz-tober, the film received 1.0 million viewers, which made it the 7th most watched program on multi-channel viewing for that week, and the second highest views watched on Disney Channel UK.

What's What Edition

The "What's What Edition" of the film premiered on October 24, 2009 on Disney Channel
Disney Channel
Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...

, part of a Wizards of Waverly Place
Wizards of Waverly Place
Wizards of Waverly Place is a Disney Channel Original Series that premiered on October 12, 2007. It won "Outstanding Children's Program" at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards in 2009...

marathon. The "What's What Edition" features exclusive behind the scenes information on the film during the presentation.

Soundtrack

In an interview with Disney Channel
Disney Channel
Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...

's commercial-segment, Disney 365, Selena Gomez
Selena Gomez
Selena Marie Gomez is an American actress and singer best known for portraying Alex Russo in the Emmy Award-winning Disney Channel television series Wizards of Waverly Place...

 discussed her interpretations of the songs on the soundtrack saying: "'Disappear' is more of a romantic song. It's basically talking about how a girl likes a guy and they [she] don't want him to disappear, and then 'Magical' is about casting a spell on a guy and this song, 'Magic', ties in to Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie". Although recorded for an episode, "Make it Happen" doesn't appear on the album, for an unknown reason. The album includes songs from and inspired by the TV series and Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie.
"Magic" by Selena Gomez is a digital single on the iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...

. The song was released on July 21, 2009 as part of the Radio Disney iTunes Pass. "Magic" premiered on Radio Disney
Radio Disney
Radio Disney is a radio network based in Burbank, California and headquartered out of the Disney Channel headquarters on West Alameda Ave., from where it has been based since November 2008. Prior to that, the network was based in Dallas, Texas...

 and a music video to Disney Channel
Disney Channel
Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...

 on July 24. The song's music video has Gomez singing into a microphone with bright and flamboyant background, as well as including clips from Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie. "Magic" debuted at no. 61 in the Billboard Hot 100 with 42,000 downloads.

Home video release

The film was released on DVD in the United States and Canada on December 15, 2009 as an "Extended Edition", which also came with a replica of the Stone of Dreams in a necklace. The film is in English, French and Spanish, and has subtitles in the same languages. The film was also released on DVD in Australia on December 15, 2009, in Germany and France on December 2, 2009, and in the United Kingdom on February 22, 2010. The film has not been released on Blu-ray disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...

.

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Result
2010 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards
62nd Primetime Emmy Awards
The 62nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, took place on August 29, 2010, at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California beginning at 5:00 p.m. PDT...

Outstanding Children's Program
Image Awards Outstanding Children's Program
Golden Reel Award
Golden Reel Award
Golden Reel Award may refer to:* Golden Reel Award , presented by the Genie Awards to high-grossing Canadian films...

Best Sound Editing

Marketing

The film's first teaser trailer of the was released on Disney Channel
Disney Channel
Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...

 on June 17, 2009. The full-length trailer was released on June 26, 2009, during the premiere of Selena Gomez
Selena Gomez
Selena Marie Gomez is an American actress and singer best known for portraying Alex Russo in the Emmy Award-winning Disney Channel television series Wizards of Waverly Place...

's other Disney Channel Original Movie, Princess Protection Program
Princess Protection Program
Princess Protection Program is a 2009 Disney Channel Original Movie that premiered on June 26, 2009 in the United States and winner of the Teen Choice Awards 2009 for Choice Summer TV Show...

.

Proposed sequel

In June 2010, production of a second film was announced. Dan Berendsen
Daniel Berendsen
Daniel Berendsen is an American producer, and screenwriter, best known as the co-writer of Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam, and the writer of Hannah Montana: The Movie and Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie....

 was to return as script writer for the film. Since that announcement, no other updates were made about the sequel. On April 25, 2011, Selena Gomez
Selena Gomez
Selena Marie Gomez is an American actress and singer best known for portraying Alex Russo in the Emmy Award-winning Disney Channel television series Wizards of Waverly Place...

 confirmed in an interview that the proposed sequel would not be filmed.

See also


External links

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