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59-617: The film trilogy received mixed reviews, while its television film remake was poorly received. The original trilogy has acquired a cult classic status . In 1999 the Dexter Riley trilogy, along with a number of other Disney film series , were expanded as a franchise into the Walt Disney Parks attraction with elements included from each film. At Medfield College, a non-intellectual named Dexter Riley becomes brilliant overnight. Following an electrical accident that transfers

118-527: A multiple-camera setup , but are written to be easily broken up into individual 30- or 60-minute episodes for syndication . Many such movies relocate the cast of the show to an exotic overseas setting. However, although they may be advertised as movies, they are really simply extended episodes of television shows, such as the pilots and the finales of Star Trek: The Next Generation , Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager . Most of these are made and shown during sweeps period in order to attract

177-584: A 90-minute programming time slot (including commercials ), later expanded to two hours, and were usually broadcast as a weekly anthology television series (for example, the ABC Movie of the Week ). Many early television movies featured major stars, and some were accorded higher budgets than standard television series of the same length, including the major dramatic anthology programs which they came to replace. In 1996, 264 made-for-TV movies were made by five of

236-609: A different Passion Play in May 1903, The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ , in 32 parts, totaling 44 minutes. Defined by length, the first dramatic feature film was the Australian 60-minute film The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906). Similarly, the first European feature was the 90-minute film L'Enfant prodigue (France, 1907), although that was an unmodified record of a stage play; Europe's first feature adapted directly for

295-413: A donated computer memory into his brain, he gains the ability to learn any knowledge instantly and perfectly. After Riley gains fame and attention via television appearances, the dean of a competing university decides to ruin his reputation. At the same time, A. J. Arno, a secret technological crime boss with an upstanding public persona, pursues the student and his school because the computer he donated-that

354-417: A film which deals with abortion in three different decades (the 1950s, the 1970s and the 1990s) became a huge success, and was HBO 's highest rated film on record. If a network orders a two-hour television pilot for a proposed show, it will usually broadcast it as a television movie to recoup some of the costs even if the network chooses to not order the show to series. Often a successful series may spawn

413-419: A film's expenses would be lessened by filming using video , as the movies were contracted by television studios, these films were required to be shot on 35 mm film . Various techniques are often employed to "pad" television movies with low budgets and underdeveloped scripts, such as music video -style montages, flashbacks, or repeated footage, and extended periods of dramatic slow motion footage. However,

472-436: A laboratory accident, the contents of a computer's encyclopedia is transferred biochemically into the brain of Dexter Riley, a less-than-average college student. After his newly acquired genius he appears on a trivia show, competing between various universities. After acing the show's quiz, and acquiring all the points, another university finds out about how he attained his skills and does everything to discredit Dexter. In 1999,

531-531: A large television audience and boost viewership for a show. Crossover episodes containing a number of episodes of the characters of individual series interacting with characters across different shows (as has been done with the CSI , NCIS and Chicago franchises, along with between Murder, She Wrote and Magnum, P.I. , Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder , and Ally McBeal and The Practice ) also play as films, encouraging tune-in among all

590-505: A rape victim in the drama A Case of Rape (1974). My Sweet Charlie (1970) with Patty Duke and Al Freeman Jr. dealt with racial prejudice, and That Certain Summer (1972), starring Hal Holbrook and Martin Sheen , although controversial, was considered the first television movie to approach the subject of homosexuality in a non-threatening manner. If These Walls Could Talk ,

649-502: A series that contains a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Precursors of "television movies" include Talk Faster, Mister , which aired on WABD (now WNYW ) in New York City on December 18, 1944, and was produced by RKO Pictures , and the 1957 The Pied Piper of Hamelin , based on the poem by Robert Browning , and starring Van Johnson , one of the first filmed "family musicals" made directly for television . That film

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708-559: A spin-off from a TV series including The Incredible Hulk Returns , The Trial of the Incredible Hulk and The Death of the Incredible Hulk . Occasionally, television movies are used as sequels to successful theatrical films. For example, only the first film in The Parent Trap series was released theatrically. The Parent Trap II , III and Hawaiian Honeymoon were produced for television, and similarly,

767-424: A television movie sequel after ending its run. For example, Babylon 5: The Gathering launched the science fiction series Babylon 5 and is considered to be distinct from the show's regular run of one-hour episodes. Babylon 5 also has several made-for-TV movie sequels set within the same fictional continuity. The 2003 remake of Battlestar Galactica began as a two-part miniseries that later continued as

826-593: A weekly television program. Another example is the Showtime movie Sabrina, the Teenage Witch , which launched the sitcom of the same name that originally aired on ABC, and used the same actress ( Melissa Joan Hart ) for the lead role in both. The term "TV movie" is also frequently used as vehicles for "reunions" of long-departed series, as in Return to Mayberry and A Very Brady Christmas . They can also be

885-417: Is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network , in contrast to theatrical films made for initial showing in movie theaters , and direct-to-video films made for initial release on home video formats. In certain cases, such films may also be referred to and shown as a miniseries , which typically indicates a film that has been divided into multiple parts or

944-469: Is generally acknowledged to be See How They Run , which debuted on NBC on October 7, 1964. A previous film, The Killers , starring Lee Marvin and Ronald Reagan , was filmed as a TV-movie, although NBC decided it was too violent for television and it was released theatrically instead. The second film to be considered a television movie, Don Siegel 's The Hanged Man , was broadcast by NBC on November 18, 1964. These features originally filled

1003-421: Is now integrated into Riley's DNA-holds the records of his nefarious acts. Dexter Riley is a science student at Medfield College who accidentally invents a liquid capable of rendering objects and people invisible . As Dexter and his friends Debbie and Richard begin exploring their recent discovery, the product gains the unwanted attention of corrupt businessman A. J. Arno. Recently released from prison, Arno seeks

1062-585: Is the High School Musical series , which aired its first two films on the Disney Channel . The first television movie was so successful that a sequel was produced, High School Musical 2 , that debuted in August 2007 to 17.2 million viewers (this made it the highest-rated non-sports program in the history of basic cable and the highest-rated made-for-cable movie premiere on record). Due to

1121-558: The Honey, I Shrunk the Kids franchise, and Dr. Philip Brainard from Flubber . Walt Disney and Thomas Edison also make an appearance. The Dexter Riley film series takes place at Medfield College. The college is used as a primary location in two other Disney film franchises: The Shaggy Dog and the Flubber film series. Collectively, the three separate film series take place within

1180-622: The Midnight Run sequels have all been released as made-for-TV movies despite the first having a strong run in theaters. These types of films may be, and more commonly are, released direct-to-video ; there have been some films, such as The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning (a prequel to the film version of The Dukes of Hazzard ) and James A. Michener's Texas , which have been released near simultaneously on DVD and on television, but have never been released in theatres. Made-for-TV movie musicals have also become popular. One prime example

1239-520: The Jesse Stone CBS television movies, "broadcast networks aren't investing in made-for-TV movies anymore". The slack has been taken up by cable networks such as Hallmark Channel , Syfy , Lifetime and HBO, with productions such as Temple Grandin and Recount , often utilizing top creative talent. High-calibre limited programming which would have been formerly scheduled solely as a two-hour film or miniseries also has been re-adapted to

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1298-544: The Screen Actors Guild asserts that a feature's running time is 60 minutes or longer. The Centre National de la Cinématographie in France defines it as a 35 mm film longer than 1,600 metres (5,200 ft), which is exactly 58 minutes and 29 seconds for sound films . The term feature film came into use to refer to the main film presented in a cinema and the one which was promoted or advertised. The term

1357-442: The 1930s through the 1950s for short-term showings in movie theaters, usually as a double bill alongside a major studio release. Like made-for-TV movies, B movies were designed as a disposable product, had low production costs and featured second-tier actors. ABC 's Battlestar Galactica: Saga of a Star World premiered to an audience of over 60 million people on September 17, 1978. The most-watched television movie of all time

1416-470: The 1970s and 1980s before realizing that the proceeds from his first theatrical film, A Christmas Story (released in 1983), far exceeded anything he had ever done in television. Nonetheless, notable exceptions exist of high production quality and well-known casts and crews that even earned awards, such as The Diamond Fleece , a 1992 Canadian TV film directed by Al Waxman and starring Ben Cross , Kate Nelligan and Brian Dennehy . It earned Nelligan

1475-405: The 1970s were a source of controversy, such as Linda Blair 's 1974 film Born Innocent and 1975's Sarah T. - Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic , as well as 1976's Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway and its 1977 sequel , Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn , which were vehicles for former Brady Bunch actress Eve Plumb . Another significant film was Elizabeth Montgomery 's portrayal of

1534-407: The 1993 Gemini Award for "Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series". Occasionally, a long-running television series is used as the basis for television movies that air during the show's run (as opposed to the above-mentioned "reunion specials"). Typically, such movies employ a filmed single-camera setup even if the television series is videotaped using

1593-558: The Candelabra (which featured established film actors Michael Douglas and Matt Damon in the lead roles) and a limited range of scene settings and camera setups. Even Spielberg's Duel , while having decent production values, features a very small cast (apart from Dennis Weaver, all other actors appearing in the film play smaller roles) and mostly outdoor shooting locations in the desert. The movies typically employ smaller crews, and rarely feature expensive special effects . Although

1652-524: The Corbett-Jeffries Fight and The Jeffries-Sharkey Fight (1899). Some consider the 100-minute The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight to be the first documentary feature film, but it is more accurately characterized as a sports program as it included the full unedited boxing match. In 1900, the documentary film Army Life was produced by Robert Paul . It was a programme of 33 short films, with a total running time of around 75 minutes, following

1711-710: The Manger to the Cross , Cleopatra (1912), Quo Vadis? (1913), Cabiria (1914) and The Birth of a Nation (1915). The notion of how long a feature film should be has varied according to time and place. According to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , the American Film Institute and the British Film Institute , a feature film runs for more than 40 minutes, while

1770-443: The Manger to the Cross , Cleopatra and Richard III (all 1912). Actor Frederick Warde starred in some of these adaptations. The first Asian feature was Japan 's The Life Story of Tasuke Shiobara (1912), the first Indian feature was Raja Harishchandra (1913), China 's first feature film was Zhang Shichuan's Nan Fu Nan Qi (1913), the first South American feature was Brazil 's O Crime dos Banhados (1913), and

1829-472: The U.S. and Japan alternated as leaders in the quantity of feature film production. Since 1971, the country with the highest feature output has been India, which produces a thousand films in more than twelve Indian languages each year. In 1927, Warner Bros. released the first feature-length film with sound, The Jazz Singer , whose audio track was recorded with a proprietary technology called Vitaphone . The film's success persuaded other studios to go to

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1888-596: The United States and Canada. The 1971 made-for-TV movie Brian's Song was also briefly released to theatres after its success on television, and was even remade in 2001. In some instances, television movies of the period had more explicit content included in the versions prepared to be exhibited theatrically in Europe. Examples of this include The Legend of Lizzie Borden , Helter Skelter , Prince of Bel Air and Spectre . Many television movies released in

1947-459: The United States and France, but were released in individual (short film) scenes. This left exhibitors the option of playing them alone, to view an incomplete combination of some films, or to run them all together as a short film series. Early features were mostly documentary-style films of noteworthy events. Some of the earliest feature-length productions were films of boxing matches, such as The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight (1897), Reproduction of

2006-614: The Wind . Digital Video (or DV) has quickly changed how most films are made. First used to create special effects and animated movies, digital cameras became more common on film sets in the late 1990s. In 2002, George Lucas ' Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones became the first major studio film shot primarily on digital video. The ability to instantly play back footage and quickly transfer footage to computers for editing helped to speed up post-production time. Digital film making

2065-422: The considerable expense of adding microphones to their sets, and scramble to start producing their own " talkies ". One of the next major advancements made in movie production was color film . Even before color was a possibility in movies, early film makers were interested in how color could enhance their stories. Early techniques included hand tinting : painting each frame by hand. Cheaper and more widely used

2124-422: The discovery, marketing the product to a cereal corporation. Competing cereal companies hire thugs, including A. J. Arno, to eliminate the new miracle product. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, a number of made-for-television remake films of classic Walt Disney Productions were produced and released as a part of The Magical World of Disney series. Among them was The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes . After

2183-419: The first African feature was South Africa 's De Voortrekkers (1916). By 1915, over 600 feature films were produced annually in the United States. It is often incorrectly cited that The Birth of a Nation (1915) was the first American feature film. The most prolific year of U.S. feature production was 1921, with 682 releases; the lowest number of releases was in 1963, with 213. Between 1922 and 1970,

2242-556: The formula for criminal means before the students can even announce their discovery. Arno and his henchman plan to use the invisibility spray to rob a bank. Dexter Riley, who is studying science at Medfield College, decides to create a formula that will make humans stronger. After several unsuccessful attempts, a laboratory mishap combines his formula with a vitamin-rich breakfast cereal. He and his classmates discover that eating it briefly provides superhuman levels of strength and endurance. The greedy college dean attempts to take advantage of

2301-474: The invention of videotape . Many television networks were against film programming, fearing that it would loosen the network's arrangements with sponsors and affiliates by encouraging station managers to make independent deals with advertisers and film producers . Conversely, beginning in the 1950s episodes of American television series would be placed together and released as feature films in overseas cinemas. Television networks were in control of

2360-450: The less expensive digital 24p video format has made some quality improvements on the television movie market. Part of the reason for the lower budgets comes from the lack of revenue streams from them; whereas a theatrical film can make money from ticket sales, ancillary markets , and syndication, most television films lacked those revenue streams, and the films are seldom rerun . Raconteur Jean Shepherd produced several television films in

2419-562: The made-for-television movie". Network-made television movies in the United States have tended to be inexpensively-produced and perceived to be of low quality. Stylistically, these films often resemble single episodes of dramatic television series. Often, television films are made to "cash in" on the interest centering on stories currently prominent in the news, as the films based on the "Long Island Lolita" scandal involving Joey Buttafuoco and Amy Fisher were in 1993. The stories are written to reach periodic semi- cliffhangers coinciding with

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2478-672: The main, full-length film in a cinema program that included a short film and often a newsreel . Matinee programs, especially in the US and Canada, in general, also included cartoons , at least one weekly serial and, typically, a second feature-length film on weekends. The first narrative feature film was the 60-minute The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906, Australia). Other early feature films include Les Misérables (1909, U.S.), L'Inferno , Defence of Sevastopol , The Adventures of Pinocchio (1911), Oliver Twist (American version), Oliver Twist (British version), Richard III , From

2537-509: The most valuable prime time slots available for programming, so syndicators of independent television films had to settle for fewer television markets and less desirable time periods. This meant much smaller advertising revenues and license fees compared with network-supplied programming. The term "made-for-TV movie" was coined in the United States in the early 1960s as an incentive for movie audiences to stay home and watch what

2596-569: The network-scheduled times for the insertion of commercials , and are further managed to fill, but not exceed, the fixed running times allotted by the network to each movie "series". In the case of films made for cable channels, they may rely on common, repetitive tropes (Hallmark Channel, for example, is notorious for its formulaic holiday romances, while Lifetime movies are well known for their common use of damsel in distress storylines). The movies tend to rely on smaller casts, one such exception being those produced for premium cable , such as Behind

2655-478: The newer "limited series" format over a period of weeks (rather than the consecutive days usually defined by a miniseries) where a conclusion is assured; an example of such would be The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story , and these are most often seen on cable networks and streaming services such as Netflix . In a 1991 New York Times article, television critic John J. O'Connor wrote that "few artifacts of popular culture invite more condescension than

2714-430: The popularity of the first two films, the second HSM sequel, High School Musical 3: Senior Year , was released as a theatrical film in 2008 instead of airing on Disney Channel; High School Musical 3 became one of the highest-grossing movie musicals. Television movies traditionally were often broadcast by the major networks during sweeps season. Such offerings now are very rare; as Ken Tucker noted while reviewing

2773-484: The run up and aftermath of a nuclear war. The two are often compared on aspects such as realism. Another popular and critically acclaimed television movie was 1971's Duel , written by Richard Matheson , directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Dennis Weaver . Such was the quality and popularity of Duel that it was released to cinemas in Europe and Australia , and had a limited theatrical release to some venues in

2832-489: The same fictional universe. Additionally, the Merlin Jones film series take place at the in-universe sister-school, Midvale College, while The World's Greatest Athlete is set at the related academic school of Merrivale College. [REDACTED] Category Television film A television film , alternatively known as a television movie , made-for-TV film/movie , telefilm , telemovie or TV film/movie ,

2891-526: The screen , Les Misérables , came from France in 1909. The first Russian feature was Defence of Sevastopol in 1911. Early Italian features included L'Inferno (1911), Quo Vadis? , The Last Days of Pompeii (1913) and Cabiria (1914). The first UK features were the documentary With Our King and Queen Through India (1912), filmed in Kinemacolor and Oliver Twist (also 1912). The first American features were Oliver Twist , From

2950-470: The series crossed over to effectively create a multiple-hour plot that plays as a film when watched as a whole. Feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature ), also called a theatrical film , is a narrative film ( motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term feature film originally referred to

3009-413: The six largest American television networks at the time (CBS, NBC, Fox, ABC, and UPN ), averaging a 7.5 rating. By 2000, only 146 TV movies were made by those five networks, averaging a 5.4 rating, while the number of made-for-cable movies made annually in the U.S. doubled between 1990 and 2000. In several respects, television films resemble B movies , the low-budget films issued by major studios from

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3068-596: The theme of Journey into Imagination was changed and re-titled to include Figment . The ride features Dr. Nigel Channing, from Honey, I Shrunk the Audience! , who "hosts" an area known as the Imagination Institute . The story states that Channing's grandfather established the institute, while the area features references to Dean Higgins from the Dexter Riley films, as well as Wayne Szalinski from

3127-624: The training of British soldiers. Inauguration of the Australian Commonwealth (1901) ran for 35 minutes, "six times longer than any previous Australian film", and has been called "possibly the first feature-length documentary made in Australia". American company S. Lubin released a Passion Play titled Lubin's Passion Play in January 1903 in 31 parts, totaling about 60 minutes. The French company Pathé Frères released

3186-609: Was ABC 's The Day After , which premiered on November 20, 1983, to an estimated audience of 100 million people. The film depicted America after a nuclear war with the Soviet Union , and was the subject of much controversy and discussion at the time of its release due to its graphic nature and subject matter. The BBC 's 1984 television film Threads earned a similar reputation in the United Kingdom as it followed two families and workers of Sheffield City Council in

3245-548: Was toning : dying the film in a single color, used in many films in the 1920s. The film processing lab Technicolor developed the Three-Tone coloring technique that became the standard for color film. It was a complex, time consuming, and expensive process that many movie studios were not eager to try. One of the early adopters of the three-strip process was Disney . Some of the most notable films Technicolor processed with three-strip were The Wizard of Oz and Gone with

3304-510: Was given a big boost in 2005 when the Digital Cinema Initiative created a guide for manufacturers to create a universal standard, to make the technologies more compatible with each other and more user friendly. Shooting movies on digital also led to new technologies for distributing films. Titan A.E. , released in 2000, was the first feature film to be released for viewing over the internet. Digital distribution changed

3363-476: Was made in Technicolor , a first for television, which ordinarily used color processes originated by specific networks. Most "family musicals" of the time, such as Peter Pan , were not filmed but broadcast live and preserved on kinescope , a recording of a television program made by filming the picture from a video monitor – and the only (relatively inexpensive) method of recording a television program until

3422-553: Was promoted as the equivalent of a first-run theatrical film. Beginning in 1961 with NBC Saturday Night at the Movies , a prime time network showing of a television premiere of a major theatrical film release, the other networks soon copied the format, with each of the networks having several [Day of the Week] Night at the Movies showcases which led to a shortage of movie studio product. The first of these made-for-TV movies

3481-477: Was used to distinguish the longer film from the short films (referred to as shorts) typically presented before the main film, such as newsreels , serials , animated cartoons , live-action comedies and documentaries . There was no sudden increase in the running times of films to the present-day definitions of feature-length; the "featured" film on a film program in the early 1910s gradually expanded from two to three to four reels. Early features had been produced in

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