of technician Pat Tanner, who fell while riding a motorized hoist used to lift scenery on the sound stage at Sony Pictures in Culver City. Tanner's death led to a change in motion picture safety rules on IATSE union film sets to prevent similar accidents. Reception Critical response On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a score of 71% based on reviews from 24 critics, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The site's consensus states: "The Indian in the Cupboard gussies up its classic source material in modern effects without losing sight of the timeless themes at the heart of the story." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 58 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale. Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times applauded the film for its themes of trust and cooperation, writing that it "is intent on teaching lessons [...] with a welcome lack of pretension". In a review for The New York Times, Janet Maslin praised Scardino's acting, but felt that the impact of his role was lessened by the film's use of close-ups. She also criticized the minor status of the character of Omri's mother: "Really wasted here is Lindsay Crouse, who [...] never says much more than 'Boys, time for bed. Roger Ebert of RogerEbert.com reviewed the film negatively, describing it as "not exhilarating or exciting or funny in the ways that E.T. was", and predicted that children would find the story "depressing". Box office The movie debuted at number six at the North American box office.The film made only $35 million against a production budget of $45 million. See also List of films featuring miniature people List of films featuring the Twin Towers References External links "Animated Indians: Critique and Contradiction in Commodified Children's Culture" by Pauline Turner Strong discusses Pocahontas and The Indian in the Cupboard 1990s American films 1990s English-language films 1990s fantasy drama films 1995 films 1995 drama films American children's drama films American children's fantasy films American fantasy drama films Columbia Pictures films Films about children Films about families Films about friendship Films about magic Films about Native Americans Films about sentient toys Films about toys Films based on British novels Films based on children's books Films based on fantasy novels Films directed by