Monkey Kingdom
Monkey Kingdom is a 2015 American nature documentary film directed and produced by Mark Linfield and Alastair Fothergill and narrated by Tina Fey. The documentary is about a family of monkeys living in ancient ruins founded in the jungles of Polonnaruwa in Sri Lanka. The film was released by Disneynature on April 17, 2015, the eighth nature documentary released under that label.
Plot
Maya is a toque macaque who was born at the bottom of the tree of her home. Even though she is a lowborn, the troupe's Alpha male, Rajah keeps a close eye on her, and considers Maya to be his property.One day, after escaping from a Leopard attack, a handsome male monkey named Kumar catches Maya's gaze from just outside of the troupe's territory. As Maya is in estrus, she and Kumar discretely mate, but are caught by Rajah, who knows that he has been duped. Kumar is chased away by Rajah and his sub-alpha male guards. Five months later, Maya gives birth to her son, Kip. With Kumar gone, Maya is left to raise, feed and care for her new son alone. As Monsoon season arrives, Maya and Kip are left outside in the rain, while the higher born enjoy shelter in the more preferable locations.
Maya, however, is nothing if not scrappy. During a time of food scarcity after termite season ends, Maya takes Kip and leads the other lowborn Macaques to a lily pond, where they forage and even dive to procure the nutritious seed pods of the lotus lily. The narrator points out that the higher born would not even recognize the lotus lily pond as a possible food source. As Maya and her fellow lowborn submerge and emerge with seed pods, they are unknowingly being stalked by a monitor lizard. Maya, Kip and the lowborn watch in horror as one of their own is captured and eaten by the monitor lizard.
Maya, with Kip clinging to her, then finds a catapillar patch and begins gorging on the highly nutritious caterpillars. When the trio of highborn, known as The Sisterhood, discover that Maya has not given them priority over this high protein, high value food source, the punishment from The Sisterhood is swift and severe. Maya is beaten mercilessly by the trio, who then kidnap her son, Kip, and take him far from Maya.
After some time, The Sisterhood lose interest in Kip and abandon him, leaving him vulnerable, scared and alone in the woods. Toque macaque mothers and their infants bond and learn to recognize each other's voices at birth. Maya searches for hours for her lost child, frequently calling out to him vocally, until finally, the two are reunited, bringing the traumatic separation to a happy end.
The next day, Maya leads the Lowborn far from their home into a neighboring city, where they find copious food. They raid a home full of food intended for a birthday party that's to occur later that afternoon. With the humans away and oblivious to the macaque's break-in, Maya and her cohorts gorge on birthday cake, bread, fruit and all other manner of food. During the actual raid, Kip remains safe with another lowborn, just outside of the home that his mother has raided. The lowborn return to their home in the forest at Castle Rock, and they fall asleep with an unfamiliar sensation; full stomachs.
As the sun rises the next day, Maya awakens to what must at first seem like a dream. She rubs her eyes and does a double take as she sees Kip's father, Kumar, lurking just outside of the troupe's territory boundary. Having met with such a hasty exit with his last visit, Kumar is much wiser and more careful this time. He pays his dues, so to speak, gently and gradually introducing himself into the troupe. He first befriends the young macaques, playing and wrestling with them. He next befriends Rajah's body guards, and puts in lots of time grooming and building social bonds. Kumar is showing sure signs of being a natural born leader. His acceptance into the troupe is made certain when, during Jackfruit season, the troupe's Alpha, Rajah, shares Jackfruit with Kumar.
Kumar is given an opportunity to further ingratiate himself with the troupe and prove his loyalty to Rajah when an outside troupe, led by Lex, comes to invade Castle Rock and take it is their own territory. Despite putting up a good fight, Rajah, Kumar, The Sisterhood, Maya, Kip and the entire troupe lose the battle and are displaced and homeless.
Now homeless and in very unfamiliar circumstances, it is the highborn who follow and wait their turn as Maya leads the homeless troupe back to the city, where abundant food, shelter and opportunity await. Our troupe spends quite a bit of time in the city, rebuilding their strength, filling their bellies, and sleeping high on utility poles, but they never lose their desire to return to their home, Castle Rock, and reclaim it as their own.
After they've regathered their strength, the troupe begins the long journey back through the forest toward Castle Rock. On this trip, however, it is Maya who leads, with Kumar right by her side and Kip close-by. The Sisterhood and the former Alpha, Rajah bring up the rear, having been dealt a healthy dose of humility during the last many days. As the troupe approaches Castle Rock, it is Kumar who leads the attack, supported by Rajah and crew.
The "home team" manages to take back their home, chasing Lex and the invaders far into the forest. As the dust settles, however, we see that it is Maya, and not the Sisterhood, who now sits high in the tree. With Kip clinging to her chest and Kumar by her side, Maya has managed to do the seemingly impossible; she's changed her ranking in a hierarchy that had once predestined her to live at the bottom of the tree, surviving only on the scraps of those higher up the tree. In so doing, she has secured a bright future for herself, her son, Kip, and her soon to be born baby daughter.
With Kumar now the Alpha of the troupe, Rajah assumes his place as one of Kumar's militia. He still attends diligently to The Sisterhood, but he seems so have lost their support and affection.
Cast
Monkey Kingdoms major toque macaque characters consist of lead female Maya, her newborn son Kip, the troupe's alpha male Raja, a trio of high status females called The Sisterhood, Grandpa, an elderly but once-fierce male, and Kumar, a newcomer wishing entrance to the monkey tribe.The film is narrated by Tina Fey.
Production
Monkey Kingdom is the eighth film by Disneynature, the independent film label of Walt Disney Studios. It was released in the United States on April 17 and internationally on April 23 to coincide with Earth Day. A portion of box office receipts was donated to Conservation International.The film is directed and produced by Mark Linfield and Alastair Fothergill, who previously co-directed Disneynature's first release, Earth, as well as Chimpanzee. Fothergill also co-directed African Cats and Bears. Dr. Wolfgang Dittus was the scientific consultant and has been studying the macaque monkeys of Sri Lanka for nearly 50 years. His and Jane Goodall’s study at Gombe are the longest running studies of wild primates. For the film, Dittus helped select the monkey characters and decipher their behavior. The film was scored by British composer Harry Gregson-Williams, and was shot using Sony F65 cameras.
Release
Monkey Kingdom was released on April 17, 2015. The first official trailer for the film was released on April 18, 2014, featuring the song "Team" by Lorde and attached theatrically with Bears.Home media
Monkey Kingdom was released on Blu-Ray + DVD + Digital HD combo pack on September 15, 2015.Box office
In North America, it opened simultaneously with and Unfriended on April 17, 2015, across 2,012 theaters, which is the widest release for a Disneynature film, earning $1.5 million. Through its opening weekend it earned $4.58 million, coming at eighth place at the box office, which is the lowest debut for a Disneynature film behind 2014's Bears.The movie begun its international rollout on April 17 in Ecuador, the same day as the US release. The movie debuted in 6th place, earning $17,573 from 18 screens. The movie dropped in its second week to 10th place, dropping -35% and earning $11,382. In its third week, the movie rose to fifth place but dropped -77% to finish with $2,644 from 13 screens.
As of June 22, 2015, the film grossed $16,272,000.