50 Fun Facts About Kindergarten Cop

Who directed Kindergarten Cop?

It was Reitman's second film with Schwarzenegger, and he later directed him again in Junior.

What is the name of Arnold Schwarzenegger's detective character in Kindergarten Cop?

Matrix, Slater and Tasker are his characters in Commando, Last Action Hero and True Lies.

Kimble goes undercover as a kindergarten teacher in which small Oregon town?

The town had already hosted The Goonies and Short Circuit, and would later host Free Willy.

Kindergarten Cop was the second collaboration between Reitman and Schwarzenegger. What was the first?

Twins co-star Danny DeVito was even considered for Kimble, until Reitman decided his height made the cop less believable.

Which two actors were initially approached to play Kimble before Schwarzenegger?

Danny DeVito was also considered, but the director felt his height would make the cop less believable.

Roughly how many children did Reitman and Michael Chinich audition for the pupils' roles?

One of the kids who auditioned and didn't get a part later became a very famous hobbit.

Which future Lord of the Rings star auditioned unsuccessfully for a role in Kimble's class?

Wood made his film debut that same year in Back to the Future Part II and Internal Affairs.

The film's fictional school exteriors were shot at which real Franklin Avenue school?

Universal painted murals, added playground equipment and a lawn, and shot mostly after school let out in June 1990 so pupils could be extras.

Where were the interior classroom scenes filmed?

The film's opening chase, by contrast, was shot in two shopping malls near Los Angeles.

The class picnic scene was filmed at Ecola State Park, near which Oregon coastal town?

The park is about 25 miles south of the main location; highway scenes were shot on U.S. Route 26 east of Seaside.

The film's opening scene was shot at Westfield MainPlace Mall and South Coast Plaza, both in which state?

Santa Ana and Costa Mesa stood in for Los Angeles before the production moved north to Oregon.

Who composed the score for Kindergarten Cop, including the widely reused theme "Rain Ride"?

Edelman scored several Reitman comedies, and his Kindergarten Cop themes have turned up in trailers, ads and even Disney's Mulan.

Which studio released Kindergarten Cop in North America on December 21, 1990?

It went on to gross more than $200 million worldwide, one of the biggest hits of the year.

Approximately how much did Kindergarten Cop gross worldwide?

That split as $91.4 million in North America and $101.5 million internationally.

In the week of January 8, 1991, Kindergarten Cop was second at the US box office behind which film?

Home Alone had opened in November and simply refused to leave the top spot for months.

What grade did audiences polled by CinemaScore give Kindergarten Cop?

Critics were less generous: Rotten Tomatoes has it at 54%, and its consensus calls the film too grim for kids and too cloying for adults.

How many stars did Roger Ebert award Kindergarten Cop?

Entertainment Weekly was harsher, giving it a C and predicting it wouldn't be a mega hit. It made over $200 million.

On April Fools' Day 2012, Kindergarten Cop was jokingly announced by which prestige video label?

The prank praised its "genre revisionist" mix of policier and family comedy; a real 4K release eventually came from Kino Lorber in 2024.

The film's school set was visual reference for Midwich Elementary in which horror video game?

The 1999 PlayStation game's fog-bound school is one of its most famous locations.

Which action star headlined the 2016 direct-to-video sequel, Kindergarten Cop 2?

Lundgren plays FBI agent Zack Reed hunting a witness-protection database on a missing flash drive; the film shot in British Columbia.

What animal does Kimble bring to class as the mascot, and which later bites the villain?

When a kid asks what happened to his dog, Kimble deadpans: "This is not a dog. This is a ferret."

After recovering from her illness, Kimble's partner O'Hara stays in town posing as what?

O'Hara was originally meant to be the substitute teacher; she gets sick, so the detective with no patience for kids takes the job.

What is the true identity of Joyce, the fellow teacher Kimble grows close to?

Kimble works it out himself from observing her and her son Dominic, who is really the drug lord's boy.

What is the name of the drug lord Kimble has pursued for years?

His mother Eleanor is his accomplice, poisoning the prosecution's key witness with tainted cocaine.

How does the case against Crisp collapse, getting him released?

Cindy, the witness, is poisoned by cocaine laced by Crisp's mother Eleanor.

How does Crisp create a diversion at the school in the finale?

Two kids caught kissing during the evacuation think it's just another drill.

How does O'Hara finally stop Eleanor Crisp?

Eleanor had just hit O'Hara with her car and shot Kimble in the shoulder; O'Hara's line: "You're not so tough without your car, are you?"

How does the film end for Kimble?

O'Hara goes back to Los Angeles; Kimble kisses Joyce as the kids cheer.

Which pupil's tumor suggestion prompts Kimble's line "It's not a tumor!"?

Lowell is the class pessimist, also responsible for "Everyone dies, you know" and the warning that ferret bites give you rabies.

Which pupil informs Kimble that "Boys have a penis, and girls have a vagina"?

Kimble's reply is a sarcastic "Thanks for the tip."

What line does teacher-cop Kimble deliver after blasting a thug's sofa with a shotgun?

The exchange comes when he confronts an abusive father; the actual party is elsewhere in the film.

Which of these was one of the film's official taglines?

Another was "An undercover cop in a class by himself."

Who plays Kimble's partner, Detective Phoebe O'Hara?

Reed reunited with Schwarzenegger and Reitman four years later in Junior.

Which actress plays Joyce, the teacher hiding with her son from her drug-dealing husband?

1990 was her breakout year: she also starred in The Freshman and Awakenings.

Which actress, playing principal Miss Schlowski, was the first person to win an Oscar for a role of the opposite sex?

Hunt won Best Supporting Actress for playing the male photographer Billy Kwan in The Year of Living Dangerously.

Which actor, Kaz in Hardball and the bully in Three O'Clock High, plays the villain?

Tyson later worked repeatedly with the Farrelly brothers, including in There's Something About Mary.

Which actress, Oscar-nominated for Baby Doll (1956), plays Eleanor Crisp, 'an effective bitch on wheels'?

Baker filmed her scenes on location in the summer of 1990 and later appeared in David Fincher's The Game.

One of Kimble's pupils is played by a child actor best known as Gage Creed in which 1989 horror film?

Miko Hughes also played Aaron on Full House and appeared in Apollo 13 and Wes Craven's New Nightmare.

Which pupil in Kimble's class was played by Ross Malinger, Jonah in Sleepless in Seattle?

Malinger has since retired from acting and worked at car dealerships around Los Angeles.

The Spanish-speaking pupil Rosa was played, aged five, by which future Cloverfield and Supergirl star?

She was credited as Odette Yustman at the time.

Co-writers Herschel Weingrod and Timothy Harris also wrote Space Jam and which 1983 Eddie Murphy comedy?

The pair also wrote the 1988 Schwarzenegger–DeVito comedy, and Weingrod has a screenplay credit on Kindergarten Cop 2.

A 1996 Filipino action comedy starring Bong Revilla remade Kindergarten Cop under what title?

The title translates as "My Handsome Teacher".

Schwarzenegger said which animated series grew out of his wish to make a sequel to this film?

He told Jimmy Kimmel that the idea behind the show came from wanting to do a sequel.

Kimble is a narcotics detective with which city's police department before going undercover?

He has chased drug lord Cullen Crisp for years before the case sends him north to Oregon.

What does Kimble reveal about his own family life while bonding with Joyce and Dominic?

He later persuades Rachel to stay by admitting his ex-wife keeps him from his own boy.

Which actor did Ivan Reitman rule out as Kimble because his height would make him less believable?

Reitman went instead with DeVito's Twins co-star, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

What is the name of the murder witness whose testimony gets Crisp detained?

Her death from cocaine tainted by Crisp's mother Eleanor is what springs the drug lord free.

What approval rating does Kindergarten Cop hold on Rotten Tomatoes?

The site's consensus calls it 'too grim for children and too cloying for adults', though audiences gave it an A− CinemaScore.

The film's highway scenes were shot east of Seaside, Oregon, on which US highway?

Joyce and Dominic's house was a private home on Exchange Street in Astoria, 20 miles from the highway location.

Along with Herschel Weingrod and Timothy Harris, who is credited as a writer of Kindergarten Cop?

Weingrod and Harris were the duo behind Trading Places and Twins.