The Mask (franchise)

The Mask
The Mask
	The franchise logo
Created by	Michael Fallon; Mark Verheiden
Original work	The Mask (1994)
Owner	Warner Bros. Entertainment
Years	1994-2005
Based on	The Mask by Mike Richardson and Mark Badger
Films and television
Film(s)	The Mask; Son of the Mask (2005)
Animated series	The Mask: Animated Series
Games
Video game(s)	The Mask (1994)

The Mask is an American media franchise based on the comic book series of the same name by Dark Horse Comics. It revolves around a mask that gives various individuals cartoonish and god-like superpowers, the individuals are ultimately faced with the challenge of overcoming the obstacles and conflicts they create while wearing it.

The first film, The Mask, was released in 1994 after six years of development, with a stand-alone sequel, Son of the Mask, released in 2005. An animated series was also produced and ran for three seasons. The first film was widely successful, while the second film was critically panned and a box-office failure.

Background

In 1989, Mike Richardson and Todd Moyer, respectively the founder and Executive Vice President of Dark Horse Comics, first approached New Line Cinema about adapting the comic series The Mask into a film, after having seen other offers. The main character went through several transformations, and the project was stalled a couple of times.^[1]

With New Line Cinema initially intending for The Mask to start a new horror franchise, the company offered the job of directing the film to Charles Russell, known for directing such films.^[2] However, Russell found the violence of the comic to be off-putting, and wanted the film to be less grim and more fun than the source material.^[3]

Films

Film	U.S. release date	Director(s)	Screenwriter(s)	Story by	Producer(s)
The Mask	July 29, 1994	Chuck Russell	Mike Werb	Michael Fallon and Mark Verheiden	Bob Engelman
Son of the Mask	February 18, 2005	Lawrence Guterman	Lance Khazei	—	Erica Huggins and Scott Kroopf

The Mask (1994)

Unfortunate bank clerk Stanley Ipkiss (Jim Carrey) finds a magical mask that transforms him into a mischievous, good-hearted gangster with cartoon-like superpowers.

Son of the Mask (2005)

After Loki (Alan Cumming) is dispatched to Earth to retrieve the Mask, cartoonist Tim Avery (Jamie Kennedy) inadvertently uses it to conceive a child, who inherits its powers.

Television

Series	Season	Episodes	First released	Last released	Showrunner(s)	Network(s)
The Mask: Animated Series	3	54	August 12, 1995	August 30, 1997	Duane Capizzi	CBS

The Mask: Animated Series (1995–1997)

Stanley Ipkiss (voiced by Rob Paulsen) continues to use the magical mask to fight crime and the supervillains as the mischievous, cartoonish, good-hearted superhero known as the "Mask", while having fun and partying at the same time. In this continuity, Stanley still has the mask. He either pretended to throw it away, or Milo retrieved it from the river. As well, in this series, Stanley can use the mask during both day and night, whereas in the film, it only worked at night.

Cast and characters

Key

A ^V indicates the actor or actress lent only his or her voice for his or her film character.

Character	Films		Animated series
	The Mask	Son of the Mask	The Mask: Animated Series
	The Mask	Son of the Mask	Season 1	Season 2	Season 3
Stanley Ipkiss The Mask	Jim Carrey		Rob Paulsen^V
Dr. Arthur Neuman	Ben Stein		Ben Stein^V
Milo	Max		Frank Welker^V
Lt. Mitch Kellaway	Peter Riegert		Neil Ross^V
Detective Doyle	Jim Doughan		Jim Cummings^V
Charlie Schumaker	Richard Jeni		Mark L. Taylor^V
Peggy Brandt	Amy Yasbeck		Heidi Shannon^V
Mayor Mitchell "Mortimer" Tilton	Ivory Ocean		Kevin Michael Richardson^V
Dorian Tyrell The Mask	Peter Greene
Tina Carlyle	Cameron Diaz
Niko	Orestes Matacena
Loki God of Mischief		Alan Cumming
Tim Avery The Mask		Jamie Kennedy
Alvey Avery Son of the Mask		Ryan and Liam Falconer
		Joyce Kurtz^V
		Mona Marshall^V
		Mary Matilyn Mouser^V
		Neil Ross^V
Tonya Avery		Traylor Howard
Otis		Bear
		Bill Farmer^V
		Richard Steven Horvitz^V
Odin		Bob Hoskins
Daniel Moss		Steven Wright
Jorge		Kal Penn
Chad		Ryan Johnson
Betty		Magda Szubanski
Doctor Septimus Pretorius			Tim Curry

Additional crew and production details

Film	Crew/Detail
Film	Composer(s)	Cinematographer	Editor(s)	Production companies	Distributing company	Running time
The Mask	Randy Edelman	John R. Leonetti	Arthur Coburn	New Line Productions AFI Catalog of Feature Films Dark Horse Entertainment	New Line Cinema	101 minutes
Son of the Mask	Randy Edelman	Greg Gardiner	Malcolm Campbell, John Coniglio and Debra Neil Fisher	Radar Pictures Dark Horse Entertainment	New Line Cinema (United States) Warner Bros. Pictures (Germany)	94 minutes