The Pink Panther (2006 film)

Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus recounts a soccer match between France and China: French coach Yves Gluant arrives wearing the priceless Pink Panther diamond ring, and embraces his girlfriend, pop star Xania. After France wins the game in sudden death, Gluant is killed by a poison dart, with the Pink Panther diamond nowhere to be found.

Eager to win the Légion d'honneur, Dreyfus promotes clumsy small-town policeman and "village idiot", Jacques Clouseau, to the rank of Inspector and assigns him to the Pink Panther case. Dreyfus assembles a secret team of top investigators to actually crack the case, allowing Clouseau to draw media attention as the public face of the investigation. Dreyfus assigns Gendarme Gilbert Ponton as Clouseau's assistant to keep Dreyfus informed of Clouseau's actions. Ponton befriends Clouseau, who falls in love with secretary Nicole Durant.

Bizu, a French player who blamed Gluant for “stealing away” Xania, is the prime murder suspect, but is shot in the head in the team's locker room. Gathering information at a casino, Clouseau encounters British Agent 006, Nigel Boswell, who foils a robbery by the "Gas Mask Bandits", using Clouseau's trench coat to hide his identity. Clouseau mistakenly receives credit for the deed and is nominated for the Légion d'honneur, much to Dreyfus's dismay.

Following Xania to New York City, Ponton insists that she is a suspect because Gluant cheated on her, but Clouseau decides Xania is innocent. In New York, Clouseau discovers his love for hamburgers. Gluant's poison is determined to have been derived from Chinese herbs, leading Dreyfus to conclude that the killer is a Chinese envoy, Dr. Pang.

Dreyfus has an officer swap Clouseau's bag with one full of weapons at the airport, setting off the metal detector, and Clouseau is mistakenly arrested because of his inability to pronounce 'hamburger' correctly (he tried to smuggle some hamburgers onto the flight back to Paris). Returning to France, Clouseau is vilified by the press, and Dreyfus strips him of his rank of Inspector. Dreyfus plots to publicly arrest Dr. Pang at the Presidential Ball, where Xania will perform.

Clouseau returns home and sees an article about his arrest online; deducing from a photograph of the arrest that Gluant and Bizu were killed by the same person who will target Xania next. Clouseau, Ponton, and Nicole hurry to the Élysée Palace and sneak into the Presidential Ball. While Dreyfus arrests Dr. Pang for Gluant's murder, Clouseau and Ponton save Xania's life by capturing her would-be assassin Yuri, the team trainer. Jealous of Gluant and feeling overlooked for the team's success, Yuri used his knowledge of Chinese herbs to kill him; Yuri had jabbed the poison dart unseen into Gluant's neck. Yuri killed Bizu for blackmailing him after overhearing Yuri's rants against Gluant, using Russian military tactics to target Bizu's occipital lobe. Yuri targeted Xania for ignoring him and dating Gluant.

Clouseau reveals that the Pink Panther was not stolen, but sewn into the lining of Xania's purse, which had belonged to Josephine Baker and which Xania was restoring; the photograph of Clouseau's arrest also showed an X-ray of the purse at airport security. Xania confesses that she received the diamond from Gluant as an engagement ring, which she worried could implicate her in his murder. Clouseau concludes that Xania is the ring's rightful owner, and Yuri is taken into custody.

For solving the case, Clouseau wins the Légion d'honneur. Leaving the ceremony with Ponton, Clouseau gets Dreyfus' suit caught in his car door, remaining oblivious to Dreyfus' screams as he is dragged behind the car. Visiting Dreyfus in the hospital with Ponton and Nicole, Clouseau accidentally releases the brake on Dreyfus' bed, which rolls through the hospital corridors and throws Dreyfus into the Seine.

• Steve Martin as Inspector Jacques Clouseau, a bumbling police officer from a small village in France.
• Kevin Kline as Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus, the head of the French police who is obsessed with winning the Medal of Honour.
• Jean Reno as Gendarme Gilbert Ponton, a capable police officer who is assigned to report to Dreyfus on Clouseau's actions.
• Emily Mortimer as Nicole Durant, a secretary and romance interest of Clouseau.
• Henry Czerny as Yuri, a Russian assassin and trainer of the French national football team.
• Kristin Chenoweth as Cherie, an employee of the French national football team.
• Roger Rees as Raymond Laroque, a wealthy casino owner and friend of Yves Gluant.
• Beyoncé as Xania, a famous pop star and girlfriend of Gluant.
• William Abadie as Bizu, a player on the French national football team
• Scott Adkins as Jacquard, another player on the French national football team
• Jean Dell as Justice Minister Clochard
• Anna Katarina as Agent Corbeille
• Jason Statham as Yves Gluant (uncredited), the head coach of the French national football team, whose murder is under investigation.
• Clive Owen as Nigel Boswell/Agent 006 (uncredited), an MI6 secret agent and parody of James Bond.
• Boris McGiver as Vainqueur (uncredited), the current head coach of the French national football team.

A re collaboration between Steve Martin and producer Robert Simonds, the successful teaming behind Cheaper by the Dozen, The Pink Panther had a production budget of US$80 million.[2] Filming began on May 10, 2004.[3]

The film was originally supposed to seek an August 5, 2005 release date, but was then pushed back to February 10, 2006, because of Sony. "With the recent acquisition of MGM, we wanted to give our marketing department the time and opportunity to launch this very important franchise," Sony Pictures Releasing president Rory Bruer said. "We've seen the movie, and we really love this film. It's a franchise we believe in and are really excited about, and Steve Martin is great as Clouseau."[4]

The Pink Panther was released for home viewing on June 13, 2006, and sold 693,588 DVD copies, worth $9,391,182. To date the film has sold 1,579,116 copies—$23,216,770 of consumer spending.[11]

David Newman was originally chosen to compose the score for the film, but was quickly replaced by Christophe Beck. He is credited with the film score which was released as the soundtrack album The Pink Panther about one month following the release of the film.[12] R&B singer, Beyoncé, who co-stars as Xania, performed two songs for the film, "A Woman Like Me" and #1 hit, "Check on It". The latter serves as the film's theme song aside from the Pink Panther theme by Henry Mancini.

Numerous other songs were used in small parts, but only Beck's original score was included on the soundtrack album.[12][13]

The sequel to this film, titled The Pink Panther 2, was released on February 6, 2009. It again features Steve Martin as Inspector Clouseau, Emily Mortimer as Nicole Durant, and Jean Reno as Gendarme Ponton, but was notable because Dreyfus was played by John Cleese instead of Kevin Kline. Beyoncé did not return for the sequel either.

The film features Clouseau and a "Dream Team" of the world's best detectives formed to catch the international mastermind thief El Tornado, who has stolen several valuable treasures, including the Shroud of Turin, the Pope's Ring and the Pink Panther diamond. The film grossed $75,946,615 at the box office.[14]

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