47 Fun Facts About Rise of the Guardians

In Rise of the Guardians, the Tooth Fairy is part human and part which bird?

Hummingbird. The design lets Tooth hover and dart while she directs her swarm of tiny helpers, who swap coins for teeth all over the world.

Rise of the Guardians opened in US theaters on the eve of which holiday?

Thanksgiving. It opened on Wednesday, November 21, 2012, at the start of the five-day holiday weekend, yet it finished only fourth with $32.3 million.

Rise of the Guardians director Peter Ramsey later co-directed which animated film?

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Guardians, Ramsey's first feature, lost its studio money, yet his next film as a director won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.

Whose book series The Guardians of Childhood inspired Rise of the Guardians?

William Joyce. The idea grew from a question his daughter Mary Katherine asked as a child about whether Santa Claus knew the other legends, and the film is dedicated to her.

Which musical did Rise of the Guardians screenwriter David Lindsay-Abaire write?

Shrek the Musical. He wrote the book and lyrics of DreamWorks' stage show, which opened in 2008, the year after his Pulitzer for Rabbit Hole, and the studio then hired him to script Guardians.

Who voices Jack Frost in Rise of the Guardians?

Chris Pine. He inherited the part: DreamWorks first announced another star as Jack in 2009, then unveiled Pine with the rest of the cast in 2011.

Which actor was first announced as Jack Frost in Rise of the Guardians but left the project?

Leonardo DiCaprio. DreamWorks announced the part in 2009 as his first animated feature role, but he dropped out and the studio named a new Jack in 2011.

Who voices the villain Pitch Black in Rise of the Guardians?

Jude Law. His Pitch spreads nightmares so that children stop believing in the Guardians, because their powers drain away as belief does.

Who voices Nicholas St. North, the Santa Claus of Rise of the Guardians?

Alec Baldwin. One review called him nearly unrecognizable as a tough, tattooed Santa who wields two swords one moment and plays with his workshop's toys the next.

Who voices Toothiana, the Tooth Fairy, in Rise of the Guardians?

Isla Fisher. Her Tooth is so obsessed with teeth that on meeting Jack she peers into his mouth and gushes that his sparkle like freshly fallen snow.

Who voices E. Aster Bunnymund, the Easter Bunny, in Rise of the Guardians?

Hugh Jackman. For once he used his native Australian accent, playing the Easter Bunny as a six-foot-one tai chi master and not a cuddly rabbit.

Which Guardian never speaks, communicating only through images conjured above the head?

Sandman. Sandy talks in pictures made of sand, and when he tries to explain things to Jack that way, Jack admits it isn't really helping.

In Rise of the Guardians, North is the Guardian of what?

Wonder. North tells Jack that every Guardian has a center they protect in children; his is wonder, which he says he was born seeing in everything.

What does Jack Frost discover his "center" to be?

Fun. He works it out while facing Pitch beside a frightened Jamie, then starts a snowball fight that leaves the children too busy laughing to be afraid.

Toothiana is the Guardian of what?

Memories. Tooth explains that baby teeth hold the most important memories of childhood, so she and her helpers keep them safe and bring them back when someone needs reminding.

Bunnymund is the Guardian of what?

Hope. Bunny says Easter is about new beginnings and hope, so when Pitch's Nightmares smash every egg before the hunt, children stop believing in him.

Who chooses Jack Frost to become a Guardian?

The Man in the Moon. He chose every Guardian, but he never told Jack why, so Jack bristles when he finally hears the answer from the others and not from him.

For about how long has Jack Frost been invisible to the world when the Guardians recruit him?

Three centuries. Jack has drifted unseen for 300 years, so when the Guardians claim him he snaps that he won't spend eternity cooped up thinking of new ways to bribe kids.

Besides the teeth, what does Pitch carry off when he raids Tooth's palace?

Her mini fairies. With the teeth and nearly all the fairies gone, children wake to find no coin, so the Guardians rush out to collect teeth themselves.

Who is Jamie Bennett in Rise of the Guardians?

The last child who still believes is Jamie, and when Jack makes it snow in his bedroom he also becomes the first person ever to see Jack Frost.

Where does Pitch break Jack's staff and throw him into a chasm?

Antarctica. Jack flees there in shame, and Pitch snaps the staff only after Jack hands it over to save a tiny hostage, a bargain Pitch breaks at once.

How did Jack Frost die as a mortal boy?

Saving his sister from a frozen pond: he got her off the cracking ice, fell through himself, and woke as Jack Frost in that very pond.

In Rise of the Guardians, Pitch's Nightmares take the form of which animals?

Horses. Pitch has learned to turn dreams into literal night-mares, a cavalry of shadowy black stallions that he says can smell fear.

What is Pitch's fate in Rise of the Guardians?

His Nightmares drag him to the underworld because, once the children stop fearing him, the only fear left for the Nightmares to smell is his own.

In Rise of the Guardians, who really makes the toys in North's workshop?

The Yetis. Jack says he always thought the elves made the toys, and North whispers that they just let the elves believe that.

Who composed the score for Rise of the Guardians?

Alexandre Desplat. He conducted the London Symphony Orchestra himself at Abbey Road, then spun one of the score's main themes into the song heard over the end credits.

Which soprano sang "Still Dream" over the end credits of Rise of the Guardians?

Renée Fleming. The song was added as a tribute to the daughter of the books' author, who died at 18 during production, with lyrics by the film's screenwriter.

Which Stravinsky work is heard in Rise of the Guardians?

The Firebird Suite. It plays as North makes his entrance, one of only two pieces heard in the film that were not written for it.

Which famous cinematographer advised on the lighting of Rise of the Guardians?

Roger Deakins. He picked photographic references for the film's color keys and gave notes on contrast and depth of field, though he had to leave partway through to shoot a James Bond film.

Which weapons does the Easter Bunny throw in Rise of the Guardians?

Boomerangs. They suit a Bunny played as an Outback hero with a broad Australian accent, and at one point Tooth grabs one to hurl at Pitch herself.

Which filmmaker joined the books' author as an executive producer of Rise of the Guardians?

Guillermo del Toro. He acted as a sounding board and champion for the film's riskier ideas, and was delighted that a family film got away with a dark, moody, poetic opening.

Who cut 350 jobs after Rise of the Guardians flopped?

Jeffrey Katzenberg. The film took in about $300 million on a $145 million budget, yet the studio still booked a loss, and he told analysts that such a miss "really makes you rethink everything".

Pitch Black, the villain of Rise of the Guardians, is the film's version of which legendary figure?

The Boogeyman. Pitch is bitter that children now say there is no such thing as the Boogeyman, so he sets out to make them afraid of him again.

In Rise of the Guardians, which animal does Jack tease Bunnymund by calling him?

A kangaroo. The jab lands because of Bunny's Australian accent, and he snaps back that he is a bunny, the Easter Bunny, and that people believe in him.

Which James Bond film was among the three that outgrossed Rise of the Guardians on its opening weekend?

Skyfall. Guardians opened only fourth, behind the final Twilight film, Skyfall and Lincoln, all of which had already been in theaters for at least a week.

What grade did CinemaScore audiences give Rise of the Guardians?

A. The filmmakers wanted that strong grade and good word of mouth to earn them a sequel; instead the film ended up losing the studio money.

Rotten Tomatoes' consensus calls Rise of the Guardians a sort of which film "for the elementary school set"?

Avengers. Other critics made the same team-up comparison, but the consensus adds that the storytelling is "only so-so" beside the animation.

Rise of the Guardians lost the Golden Globe for animated feature to which 2012 film?

Brave. Pixar's film beat the four other nominees and then won the Oscar too, a race in which Guardians failed even to get a nomination.

In 2010 Rise of the Guardians left its November 2, 2012 date the same day which Pixar film took it?

Monsters University. The shuffle proved pointless: Pixar later moved its prequel to June 2013, and Disney's Wreck-It Ralph opened on November 2 in its place.

Which magical objects does North use to open portals in Rise of the Guardians?

Snow globes. The trick backfires when Jamie's toddler sister gets hold of one and pops up among the eggs in Bunny's Warren just before Easter.

In Rise of the Guardians, what color is the magic sand that brings children sweet dreams?

Gold. Pitch has learned to corrupt that golden sand into black nightmare sand, which is how he strikes down one of the Guardians midway through the film.

What is the name of the town where Jamie Bennett lives?

Burgess. It is also the village Jack wanders into right after he first wakes as Jack Frost, only to find that nobody there can see him.

Rise of the Guardians was the last DreamWorks Animation film released by which studio?

Paramount Pictures. DreamWorks Animation had signed with 20th Century Fox three months before Guardians opened, so its next film, The Croods, went out through Fox.

Which 1995 film did the Guardians' author work on as a concept artist?

Toy Story. He drew conceptual characters for Pixar's first feature years before studios came to him: Disney turned one of his books into Meet the Robinsons, and DreamWorks filmed his Guardians.

Months before Rise of the Guardians opened, the author of the Guardians books won an Oscar in which category?

Best Animated Short. He won for The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, yet Guardians, tipped that autumn as an Oscar contender, missed a nomination a year later.

In Rise of the Guardians, the Santa figure North speaks with which accent?

Russian. The film's Santa is a burly, tattooed warrior, and one reviewer quipped that the accent suits a workshop that sits so close to Russia.

In Rise of the Guardians, what is the name of Jamie's toddler sister, who wanders into Bunny's Warren?

Sophie. The Guardians panic at having a real child underfoot, and when Jack asks when they last spent time with one, North admits they have been too busy bringing joy to children.