On November 7th, 2003, the Christmas comedy film, "Elf", was released to theaters in the United States. The film stars Will Ferrell as Buddy the Elf, Zooey Deschanel as Jovie, James Caan as Walter Hobbs, and Ed Asner as Santa Claus. Filming began on December 9th, 2002, and ended on March 7th, 2003. Will Ferrell said in interviews later, that he suffered ill effects after eating too much sugar on set for the film. It was also said that the iconic scene in which Buddy screams, "SANTA!" when the Gimbel's manager says he is coming, was completely improvised. When released, the film became a major critical and commercial success, grossing over $220 million worldwide on a $33 million budget. The film was released on DVD and VHS on November 16th, 2004, and on Blu-Ray on October 28, 2008. An "Elf" musical opened at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on November 10th, 2010. Today, "Elf" is often considered one of the greatest Christmas movies of all time, and airs annually on live TV during the holiday season. In 2017, Fandango users rated "Elf" as the best Christmas film of the 21st century.
