It's been nearly five years since Pixar's Up came to the silver screen, and people still cannot seem to get enough of recreating that colorful little house with the outsized tassel of balloons. What gives? Some Up homes are high-flying publicity stunts, some of them actually fly, and a few have inspired lawsuits of the kind that brought instant fame to the home that inspired the film. Here now, a survey of what's quickly becoming an American tradition with as devoted a following as the Star Trek shrine.
↑ The best-looking example of Up construction came from Utah-based home builder Bangerter Homes, which in 2011 created a real-life replica of the home in Herriman, Utah (pictured up top). For a time it served as a focal point for local news spots and photogenic Pixar fanatics until it sold for $400K to a couple that fell in love with the powder-blue kitchen and planned on filling it with "Disney-inspired furniture" and "a large number of Up pieces."
Photo via My Modern Met
↑ Up fandom got way too real last month for one Santa Clara, Calif. couple, who painted their Victorian in Eastery colors as an ode to their daughters' favorite film, only to "draw neighbors' ire" for the whimsical paint job. One neighbor went as far as filing a lawsuit, claiming that the remodeling filled her yard with high levels of toxic lead. "It's not the color, it's absolutely not the color, it's about making sure that people follow safe procedures when they remodel their houses," said a member of the Old Quad Residents Association, making it sound an awful lot like this is indeed about the color.
↑ The second time a house went airborne via balloons was the work of North Carolina native Jonathan Trappe, who sent a tiny home soaring back in 2012 at the International Balloon Festival in central Mexico. According to Trappe, the project was just a stepping stone on the way to his ultimate, totally Up-worthy goal of making the 2,500-mile voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in a lifeboat held aloft by 365 balloons.
↑ So all Portland Lawyer Randal Acker had to do back in 2011 to turn his small abode into an Up house was attach a bunch of colorful balloons to the top, but he deserves honorable mention for fighting the man in the same fashion as the original development-surrounded storybook house that inspired the film. Which is currently set to be turned into a vacation rental, providing a veritable mecca for Up fans the world over. And why not? There certainly seems to be enough of them out there.
· All Up coverage [Curbed National]
· All TrendWatch posts [Curbed National]