# Because of Winn-Dixie (film)
*Because of Winn-Dixie* is a 2005 American family drama film directed by Wayne Wang, adapted from [Kate DiCamillo](https://www.edgepedia.org/kate-dicamillo)'s 2000 children's novel of the same name, about a lonely ten-year-old girl in small-town Florida whose adoption of a stray dog from a supermarket transforms her relationships with her father and her neighbors.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/63323-BECAUSE-OF-WINN-DIXIE) • [2](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/because-of-winn-dixie-2005) It was developed and produced by [Walden Media](https://www.edgepedia.org/walden-media) and distributed by Twentieth Century Fox.[3](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20050314/32112-moving-on-up.html)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | Los Angeles and New York openings on February 18, 2005; 106 minutes; rated PG[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/63323-BECAUSE-OF-WINN-DIXIE) |
| Source | Based on the novel *Because of Winn-Dixie* by Kate DiCamillo (Candlewick, 2000), a Newbery Honor book[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/63323-BECAUSE-OF-WINN-DIXIE) • [3](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20050314/32112-moving-on-up.html) |
| Principal cast | Jeff Daniels as the Preacher, AnnaSophia Robb as Opal, Cicely Tyson as Gloria, Dave Matthews as Otis, Eva Marie Saint as Miss Franny[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/63323-BECAUSE-OF-WINN-DIXIE) |
| Key crew | Screenplay Joan Singleton; music Rachel Portman; cinematography Karl Walter Lindenlaub; producers Trevor Albert and Joan Singleton[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/63323-BECAUSE-OF-WINN-DIXIE) |
| Box office | $13.2 million opening weekend; $26.8 million grossed as of March 6, 2005, on a modest budget[3](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20050314/32112-moving-on-up.html) |
| Critical scores | Metacritic Metascore 54 (mixed or average, 27 reviews); Rotten Tomatoes 55% from 119 critics, 63% audience score[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/because-of-winn-dixie/critic-reviews/) • [5](https://static.rottentomatoes.com/m/because_of_winndixie) |
| Filming | Shot in Louisiana; the production was finishing shooting in Thibodeaux, Louisiana, in late 2003[6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-nov-30-ca-popeye30-story.html) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Ten-year-old India "Opal" Buloni moves with her father, a preacher known simply as Preacher ([Jeff Daniels](https://www.edgepedia.org/jeff-daniels)), to the small town of Naomi, Florida, where they live in a rent-free mobile home and he leads a storefront church. Opal's mother left the family when Opal was three, and her father changes the subject whenever she asks about her.[2](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/because-of-winn-dixie-2005) • [7](https://decentfilms.com/reviews/becauseofwinndixie)
Sent to the [Winn-Dixie](https://www.edgepedia.org/winn-dixie) supermarket, Opal finds a stray dog wreaking havoc in the aisles, claims him to save him from the pound, and names him after the store. With the dog's help she befriends a series of isolated townspeople: Otis ([Dave Matthews](https://www.edgepedia.org/dave-matthews)), a shy ex-convict drifter working in a pet store; Gloria Dump ([Cicely Tyson](https://www.edgepedia.org/cicely-tyson)), a blind, reclusive woman the local children call a witch; and Miss Franny (Eva Marie Saint), the town librarian, who shares bittersweet candies that taste of sorrow. The friendships culminate in a party at Gloria's house, where a thunderstorm scares the dog away and the search for him brings the community, and Opal's relationship with her father, together.[2](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/because-of-winn-dixie-2005) • [7](https://decentfilms.com/reviews/becauseofwinndixie)
## Production
Walden Media, the company behind the film adaptations of *Holes* and *The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe*, developed and produced the film, with Wayne Wang directing and Twentieth Century Fox distributing.[3](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20050314/32112-moving-on-up.html) Joan Singleton wrote the screenplay and co-produced with Trevor Albert; Karl Walter Lindenlaub was the cinematographer, Donald Graham Burt the production designer, Deirdre Slevin the editor, and Rachel Portman composed the score.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/63323-BECAUSE-OF-WINN-DIXIE)
The film was finishing production in Thibodeaux, Louisiana, when the Los Angeles Times profiled it in November 2003.[6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-nov-30-ca-popeye30-story.html) Dave Matthews, cast as the musician Otis, wrote the song "Butterfly," which his character sings to Opal in the story; Matthews and the filmmakers were undecided at that point about whether to record a produced version for the end credits and build the marketing around it.[6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-nov-30-ca-popeye30-story.html)
DiCamillo, who wrote the novel during what she called the "worst winter on record in Minnesota" while homesick for her home state of Florida and longing for a dog, attended filming and praised the adaptation. "Wayne Wang, the director of *Because of Winn-Dixie* the movie, understood the book and transferred as much of the feeling of the book onto film as humanly possible," she said, adding that she cried while watching Matthews play a song for Opal on set.[8](https://www.adlit.org/video/kate-dicamillo-why-she-created-because-winn-dixie)
## Reception
The film opened on February 18, 2005, to mostly warm reviews, earning $13.2 million in its opening weekend and $26.8 million by March 6.[3](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20050314/32112-moving-on-up.html) On Metacritic it holds a Metascore of 54, labeled mixed or average, from 27 critic reviews; individual scores ranged from 88 (Premiere) and 83 ([Entertainment Weekly](https://www.edgepedia.org/entertainment-weekly)) down to negative notices.[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/because-of-winn-dixie/critic-reviews/) Rotten Tomatoes records 55% on the Tomatometer from 119 reviews and 63% from more than 25,000 audience ratings, with the critics consensus calling it "an old-fashioned, if bland, adaptation of Kate DiCamillo's novel."[5](https://static.rottentomatoes.com/m/because_of_winndixie)
**Critical views diverged on fidelity.** The Los Angeles Times argued the film was so faithful to the book that it "squeeze[d] the life out of it," flattening the novel's episodic storytelling into a dreary tale.[9](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-feb-18-et-dixie18-story.html) Roger Ebert, the longtime [Chicago Sun-Times](https://www.edgepedia.org/chicago-sun-times) film critic, called it a film "dead in the water" aimed firmly at middle school and below, and compared it unfavorably to *My Dog Skip* (2000).[2](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/because-of-winn-dixie-2005) By contrast, the family-film review site Decent Films gave it a B+ and judged it true to its source material, praising its imagination sequences and its accessible treatment of broken families and alcoholism.[7](https://decentfilms.com/reviews/becauseofwinndixie) Entertainment Weekly's Lisa Schwarzbaum credited the film, like the book, with wisdom that is "nothing condescendingly lesson-like."[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/because-of-winn-dixie/critic-reviews/)
## Tie-in publishing
In December 2004, ahead of the release, Candlewick Press printed 500,000 copies of a movie tie-in edition of the paperback, 100,000 copies of *The Official Movie Scrapbook*, and produced a Winn-Dixie plush dog. The novel itself had sold 250,000 hardcover copies, with the 2001 paperback reprint topping a million copies by the time of the film.[3](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20050314/32112-moving-on-up.html)
## References
1. [Because of Winn-Dixie (2005), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/63323-BECAUSE-OF-WINN-DIXIE)
2. [Tame 'Winn-Dixie' is one dog film to skip, Roger Ebert, rogerebert.com (February 17, 2005)](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/because-of-winn-dixie-2005)
3. [Moving on Up, Publishers Weekly (March 14, 2005)](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20050314/32112-moving-on-up.html)
4. [Because of Winn-Dixie Critic Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/because-of-winn-dixie/critic-reviews/)
5. [Because of Winn-Dixie, Rotten Tomatoes](https://static.rottentomatoes.com/m/because_of_winndixie)
6. [Singer's in the market for 'Winn-Dixie' film, Los Angeles Times (November 30, 2003)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-nov-30-ca-popeye30-story.html)
7. [Because of Winn-Dixie (2005), Decent Films](https://decentfilms.com/reviews/becauseofwinndixie)
8. [Kate DiCamillo on why she created "Because of Winn-Dixie", AdLit](https://www.adlit.org/video/kate-dicamillo-why-she-created-because-winn-dixie)
9. ['Winn-Dixie' is all stories and no bite, Los Angeles Times (February 18, 2005)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-feb-18-et-dixie18-story.html)
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