40 Fun Facts About The War with Grandpa

Which two-time Oscar winner plays the grandfather in the 2020 film version of The War with Grandpa?

Robert De Niro filmed the comedy in 2017, but the collapse of its first distributor kept it off screens until 2020. He plays Ed, a recent widower talked into moving in with his daughter's family.

In The War with Grandpa, what do Peter and Grandpa do together on the day they take a break from fighting?

They go fishing for flounder on a boat on Long Island Sound, and Peter has a terrific time. The peace does not last: that same night he raids Grandpa's room again.

In The War with Grandpa, stealing which of Grandpa's belongings makes Peter so ashamed that he ends the war?

His false teeth are the last thing Peter takes. Seeing how sad and old Grandpa looks without them, Peter hands them back, says sorry and declares the war over.

In The War with Grandpa, Grandpa's first strike is to remove all the pieces from which of Peter's board games?

Monopoly is the game Peter and his friends sit down to play, only to find every piece gone. Grandpa calls the pieces prisoners of war and vows to hold them until the war is over.

In the 2020 film The War with Grandpa, which game do the grandfather and his friends play against Peter's gang?

Dodgeball pits the two generations against each other, with a store worker named Diane joining the older team. The match is called a tie after one of the older players hurts his jaw in the deciding round.

In The War with Grandpa, which state does the widowed Grandpa leave behind to move in with Peter's family?

Florida, and the city of Fort Lauderdale, had been Grandpa's home. After his wife died he grew lonely, so Peter's parents invited him to come and live with them.

At the end of The War with Grandpa, which part of the house does Grandpa turn into an apartment for himself?

The basement becomes Grandpa's own little apartment, which hands Peter his old room back. Grandpa comes up with the plan himself once the two of them finally talk honestly.

In The War with Grandpa, which name does Peter sign on the note declaring war that he leaves for Grandpa?

The Secret Warrior is how Peter signs his declaration, which also orders Grandpa not to tell Peter's parents. Grandpa simply does not reply, so Peter has to attack to get a reaction.

In The War with Grandpa, what does Grandpa do on a walk to show a stunned Peter that war is painful?

Grandpa slaps him across the face, then tells him that this is what war does: it hurts people. Peter hurries home angry and more determined to win, and Grandpa later regrets the blow.

Which Christopher Nolan thriller did the film The War with Grandpa knock off the top of the US box office?

Tenet finally lost the top spot when the family comedy opened to $3.6 million in October 2020. That small sum was enough to win a weekend in the middle of the pandemic.

In The War with Grandpa, what is the name of Peter's little sister, who breaks the news that Grandpa is moving in?

Jenny, short for Jennifer, learns of the plan first and insists that Peter's story should begin with her. She also wants Pac-Man and Wonder Woman in it.

In The War with Grandpa, which grade is ten-year-old Peter in when he writes down the story of his war?

Fifth grade is where Peter's teacher asks the class to write a true story. He keeps his chapters tiny because he likes reading books with short chapters himself.

In The War with Grandpa, where is Peter sent to sleep when Grandpa is given his bedroom?

The third-floor guest room feels spooky to Peter, who lies awake listening to noises he never heard downstairs. He had slept in his old room since he was a baby.

In The War with Grandpa, what is Peter's first attack after his written declaration of war gets no reply?

A 3 a.m. alarm, set on Grandpa's own clock, comes with a note saying room thieves do not deserve a good night's sleep. Grandpa walks straight to Peter's room to talk it over.

In The War with Grandpa, what does Peter steal in his second attack, only for Grandpa to find them in a closet?

His slippers vanish after dinner, along with a note boasting that Grandpa will not beat him. Peter had thought about a frog in the bed but feared the shock might be too much for Grandpa's heart.

In The War with Grandpa, which anniversary present from Grandpa's late wife does Peter steal and refuse to return?

His wristwatch marked forty years of marriage, so its theft pushes Grandpa to promise real retaliation. Peter returns it in a hurried swap when his sister nearly uncovers the war.

In The War with Grandpa, how does Grandpa sign the note he leaves in Peter's emptied board game box?

The Old Man is Grandpa's answer to Peter's own pen name. The trick works even better than planned: Peter and his two best friends end up annoyed with one another.

In The War with Grandpa, which piece of Peter's furniture does Grandpa fix after Peter's dad never gets around to it?

A rocking chair that Peter once saved from being thrown out has an arm that keeps popping loose. Grandpa mends it in the middle of the war, and Peter thanks him with a kiss on the forehead.

In The War with Grandpa, what does Peter borrow from his dad to write both his story and his declaration of war?

A typewriter belonging to his dad does both jobs, a reminder that the novel first appeared in 1984. The typed war note orders Grandpa not to tell Peter's parents.

Since his teacher will read The War with Grandpa, what does narrator Peter put in place of his friends' curses?

Invented words stand in whenever Billy and Steve swear, because Peter does not want his teacher reading the real thing. The outburst comes when the boys find their game sabotaged.

In The War with Grandpa, what was Grandpa's trade, a skill he puts to use again around the family home?

Building houses was Grandpa's working life, and no longer doing it is part of his sadness. Once the war wakes him up, he starts mending things all over Peter's home.

In The War with Grandpa, Peter's friend Billy compares the loss of Peter's bedroom to which famous attack?

Pearl Harbor is Billy's comparison, while brainy Steve reaches for the American Revolution instead. Both friends urge Peter to fight for what is his.

In The War with Grandpa, which American naval hero does a frightened Peter think of on his first night upstairs?

John Paul Jones, often called the father of the American Navy, comes to mind as Peter lies awake in the dark. With him comes an idea: Peter will fight to get his room back.

Awaiting Grandpa's revenge in The War with Grandpa, Peter compares his suspense to which figure of Greek legend?

Damocles sat beneath a sword hanging by a single hair, which is how Peter feels while Grandpa lets him stew. The waiting makes him so jumpy that he leaves a schoolbook at home.

In The War with Grandpa, what do Peter and Grandpa agree should have been held before anyone changed rooms?

A family conference that included Grandpa could have settled the room question before it turned into a war. Neither Peter nor Grandpa had any say in the original decision.

In The War with Grandpa, what does Peter's little sister perform on the night Grandpa and Dad play dominoes?

A ballet, made up on the spot, earns applause from everyone. The happy evening leaves Peter unsure whether he likes being at war with Grandpa at all.

In The War with Grandpa, which kind of warfare does Peter say he is waging when Grandpa demands an end to tricks?

Guerrilla is Peter's word for his sneak raids, and hearing it makes Grandpa laugh. He kisses Peter good night, which leaves Peter worried that his enemy is too nice to fight.

The 2020 film calls Peter's family the Deckers, but what is their surname in the novel The War with Grandpa?

Stokes is the family name Robert Kimmel Smith gave Peter in his 1984 novel. A sequel, The War with Grandma, co-written with Ann Dee Ellis, followed in 2021.

The 2020 film names him Ed, but what is Grandpa's first name in Robert Kimmel Smith's novel The War with Grandpa?

Jack is Grandpa's name on the page, where he is the father of Peter's mother, Sally. The film renamed him Ed Marino and opens with him causing a scene at a grocery store self-checkout.

Which children's book by The War with Grandpa author Robert Kimmel Smith grew from a story he told his young daughter?

Chocolate Fever, his first children's book, came out in 1972 and has sold more than two million copies. Its hero is a boy who loves chocolate more than anything else.

The War with Grandpa author Robert Kimmel Smith grew up near Ebbets Field in which New York borough?

Brooklyn was his birthplace in 1930, and the ballgames he walked to as a boy gave him a lifelong love of baseball. After marrying in 1954 he settled near Ebbets Field once more.

In which industry did The War with Grandpa author Robert Kimmel Smith work for over a decade before writing full time?

Advertising taught him to write to a deadline, and he rose from copywriter to running his own agency. He quit on New Year's Day 1970 to write full time.

Whose vow never to move out of a beloved bedroom gave Robert Kimmel Smith the idea for The War with Grandpa?

His son announced that he loved his room so much he would never live anywhere else. Smith, always hunting for a story, decided that a boy had to be thrown out of his room.

The War with Grandpa won the William Allen White Children's Book Award, voted on by schoolchildren in which state?

Kansas schoolchildren voted the novel their 1987 winner. It was one of eleven state children's-choice reading awards that the book collected.

Which actress plays Sally, Peter's mother and the grandfather's daughter, in the 2020 film The War with Grandpa?

Uma Thurman plays Sally, who persuades her widowed father to move in. Rob Riggle plays her husband Arthur, and Laura Marano plays their older daughter, Mia.

Which Oscar-winning actor plays Jerry, one of the grandfather's two close friends, in the film The War with Grandpa?

Christopher Walken plays Jerry, who ends up dressed as Santa at a birthday party. He is then launched from an ejector seat that Peter had rigged for his grandfather.

Which director of Alvin and the Chipmunks and Hop made the 2020 film version of The War with Grandpa?

Tim Hill also helped develop SpongeBob SquarePants for television. His SpongeBob feature, Sponge on the Run, came out in the same year as his grandpa comedy.

In The War with Grandpa, how does Grandpa finally retaliate on the school morning Peter barely makes roll call?

Grandpa hides his clothes and books all over the house, with socks under the bathroom sink and shoelaces on the kitchen counter. Peter reaches class just in time but forgets his lunch.

The closure of which studio, the original distributor, held up the release of the film The War with Grandpa?

The Weinstein Company collapsed before it could release the film, and the producers bought the rights back for $2.5 million. Other studios finally opened it in October 2020.

In which American city was the 2020 film version of The War with Grandpa shot over twelve weeks?

Atlanta hosted the shoot from May 2017, three years before audiences saw the result. The project began in 2013, when the producers' eight-year-old child brought them the book.