Mary and Max

The acclaimed animation comedy drama film Mary and Max officially arrives in theaters on Thursday, April 9, 2009. Directed and written by Adam Elliot, this unique motion picture features production by Melanie Coombs, Paul Hardart, and Tom Hardart. Produced by Melodrama Pictures, Screen Australia, and Film Victoria in Australia, the feature runs for a runtime of 1h 32m (92 minutes) and carries a US age rating of NR.

The touching premise follows a tale of friendship between two unlikely pen pals: Mary, a lonely, eight-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max, a forty-four-year old, severely obese man living in New York. The English-language production also incorporates Yiddish dialogue and boasts a talented voice cast including Toni Collette as Mary and Philip Seymour Hoffman as Max, alongside Barry Humphries, Eric Bana, Bethany Whitmore, Renée Geyer, Ian 'Molly' Meldrum, John Flaus, Julie Forsyth, Christopher Massey, Oliver Marks, and Daisy Kocher.

Behind the scenes, the creative team includes composer Dale Cornelius and cinematographer Gerald Thompson. Built on a budget of $8,240,000, the project has achieved a user rating of 7.9/10 from 2351 votes on TMDB alongside a popularity score of 9.0827, eventually earning a box office revenue of $1,740,429. Regional release milestones include a United States Premiere on January 15, 2009, a United States Limited release on September 25, 2009, and a United States Physical release on June 15, 2010.

For viewers seeking where to watch the movie in the United States, streaming options include Philo, AMC Plus Apple TV channel, AMC+ Amazon Channel, AMC+ Roku Premium Channel, AMC+, and Sundance Now. Additionally, audiences can rent or buy the feature through Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, and Fandango At Home.

The thematic elements and keywords associated with the story touch upon topics like australia, chocolate, suicide attempt, approach, letter, birthmark, only child, bullying, friendship bracelet, pen pals, atheist, loneliness, stop motion, neighbor, and phone book. As audiences explore this stop motion creation, they can expect a deeply human narrative exploring connection and isolation across vast distances, encapsulated by the tagline sometimes perfect strangers make the best of friends.