Ri¢hie Ri¢h (1994)
12-month trend
12-month trend
Monthly article views
2025-09 to 2026-08
The world's richest boy must find true friendship when a greedy corporate executive plots to steal his family's fortune.
The story
Richard "Richie" Rich Jr. is "the world's richest boy," living a luxurious but lonely life in Chicago with his billionaire parents. While trying to befriend some local kids, a greedy CFO named Laurence Van Dough plots to steal the family fortune. When a bomb intended for the Queen's birthday causes a plane crash that leaves Richie's parents presumed dead, Van Dough takes control of Rich Industries. He frames Richie's loyal butler, Cadbury, and attempts to keep Richie prisoner, forcing the young boy to assume leadership of the company and find a way to reclaim his family's legacy.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Richard "Richie" Rich Jr. is "the world's richest boy," living in Chicago with his billionaire parents. While trying to befriend some local kids, a greedy CFO named Laurence Van Dough plots to steal the family fortune. When a bomb intended for the Queen's birthday causes a plane crash that leaves Richie's parents presumed dead, Van Dough takes control of Rich Industries. He frames Richie's loyal butler, Cadbury, and attempts to keep Richie prisoner. Richie, warned by Professor Keenbean, rescues Cadbury and enlists the help of his new friends to break into Rich Manor. They discover the family vault contains only treasured mementos, not money. After a confrontation where Richie survives a non-lethal shooting thanks to Keenbean's spray, Van Dough is fired. Richie eventually finds happiness playing baseball with his new friends, realizing that friendship is more valuable than wealth.
- Original title
- Ri¢hie Ri¢h
- First release year
- 1994
- Runtime (minutes)
- 94
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Donald Petrie
- Writers
- Tom S. Parker · screenplay; Jim Jennewein · screenplay; Neil Tolkin · story
- Cast and characters
- Macaulay Culkin · Richard "Richie" Rich Jr.; John Larroquette · Laurence Van Dough; Edward Herrmann · Richard Rich Sr.; Jonathan Hyde · Herbert Arthur Runcible Cadbury; Christine Ebersole · Regina Rich; Stephi Lineburg · Gloria Koscinski; Michael McShane · Professor Keenbean; Mariangela Pino · Diane Koscinski
- Genres
- adventure; comedy; children's
- Themes
- friendship; wealth vs. happiness; family
- Tone and mood
- adventure; comedy; whimsical
- Premise and plot tags
- based on comic; rich boy; corporate takeover; rescue mission
- Source material / true-story basis
- comic character created by Alfred Harvey and Warren Kremer
- Franchise connections
- Richie Rich
- Reception
- The film received mixed-to-negative reviews, with a 26% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 49/100 on Metacritic. It was a commercial success, grossing $76 million on a $40 million budget.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 26% · review count: 23; Metacritic · score: 49 · scale: 100 · review count: 17
- Awards and nominations
- Razzie Award · Worst Actor · Nomination; YoungStar Award · Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Comedy Film · Nomination
- Production trivia
- The film was shown with a Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner cartoon called Chariots of Fur.; Data East manufactured a custom pinball game for the film based on The Who's Tommy Pinball Wizard machine.; The roller coaster in the backyard is the former stand-up roller coaster Iron Wolf at Six Flags Great America.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
Your lists
Loading your lists…