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Contents Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith Page version status This is an accepted version of this page Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith is a 2005 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas. The sequel to Attack of the Clones (2002), it is the sixth film in the Star Wars film series, the third installment in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, and third chronological chapter of the "Skywalker Saga". The film stars Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher Lee, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, and Frank Oz. Revenge of the Sith is set three years after the onset of the Clone Wars, as established in Attack of the Clones, which depicts the rise of Darth Sidious and the Galactic Empire as well as Anakin Skywalker turning to the dark side of the Force, which will have wide-ranging consequences in the galaxy that lead to the extermination of the Jedi. Lucas began writing the script before production of Attack of the Clones ended, saying he wanted the end of the trilogy to be similar to a romantic tragedy, thus leading into Darth Vader's state at the beginning of the next film. Production of Revenge of the Sith started in June 2003, and filming took place in Australia, Thailand, Switzerland, China, Italy, and the United Kingdom. Revenge of the Sith premiered on May 16, 2005, at the Cannes Film Festival, and was theatrically released in the United States on May 19. The film received mostly positive reviews from critics, with praise for the mature themes, darker tone, emotional depth, soundtrack and action sequences, although some criticism was reserved towards Lucas's screenplay; many consider it the best installment of the prequel trilogy. It broke several box-office records during its opening week and earned $850 million worldwide during its initial run, making it the second-highest-grossing film in the Star Wars franchise at the time. It was the highest-grossing film in the U.S. and the second-highest-grossing film worldwide in 2005. It also holds the record for the highest opening-day gross on a Thursday, at $50 million. It was the last Star Wars film distributed by 20th Century Fox, although the company (and, by extension, the film) was acquired by Disney several years after it acquired Lucasfilm. It also serves as Lucas' most recent directorial credit. Plot Three years after the start of the Clone Wars,[a] Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and Knight Anakin Skywalker lead a mission to rescue Supreme Chancellor Palpatine from the cyborg Separatist commander General Grievous. After infiltrating Grievous's flagship in Coruscant's orbit, Obi-Wan and Anakin battle the Sith Lord Count Dooku, whom Anakin decapitates at Palpatine's insistence. Grievous escapes the damaged ship before Obi-Wan and Anakin crash-land it on Coruscant. Anakin reunites with his wife, Padmé Amidala, who tells him she is pregnant. Anakin has visions of Padmé dying in childbirth, similar to the vision he had of his mother before her death.[a] Palpatine appoints Anakin to the Jedi Council as his representative. Distrusting Palpatine, the Council agrees but refuses to make Anakin a Jedi Master. They instead instruct him to spy on Palpatine, diminishing Anakin's faith in the Jedi. Meanwhile, on Utapau, Grievous relocates the Separatist leaders to the volcanic planet Mustafar. Obi-Wan travels to Utapau, where he confronts and kills Grievous, while Yoda travels to the Wookiee planet of Kashyyyk to defend it from a Separatist attack. Meanwhile, Palpatine tempts Anakin with the dark side of the Force, promising that it can save Padmé's life. Anakin deduces that Palpatine is the Sith Lord behind the Clone Wars and reports his treachery to Mace Windu, who confronts and subdues Palpatine, leaving the latter disfigured. Desperate to save Padmé, Anakin prevents Windu from killing Palpatine by slicing off his right hand. Palpatine then sends Windu falling to his death. Despite being horrified by his actions, Anakin pledges himself to the Sith, and Palpatine knights him as Darth Vader. Palpatine issues Order 66, which commands the clone troopers to kill their commanding Jedi generals across the galaxy, while Vader and a battalion of clone troopers massacre the remaining Jedi in the Jedi Temple. Vader then travels to Mustafar to assassinate the Separatist leaders, while Palpatine denounces the Jedi as traitors to the Republic and declares himself Emperor before the Galactic Senate, transforming the Republic into the Galactic Empire. Obi-Wan and Yoda survive Order 66 and learn that Anakin has turned to the dark side. On Coruscant, Yoda instructs Obi-Wan to confront Vader while he faces Palpatine. Obi-Wan seeks out Padmé to discover Vader's whereabouts and reveals his treachery. Padmé travels to Mustafar—unaware that Obi-Wan has stowed aboard her ship—and pleads with Vader to abandon the dark side. When Obi-Wan emerges, an enraged Vader believes Padmé has betrayed him and strangles her. Obi-Wan and Vader engage in a lightsaber duel, which ends with Obi-Wan severing Vader's left arm and both legs. Vader is then burned alive by a nearby lava flow as Obi-Wan retrieves Vader's lightsaber and leaves him for dead. Meanwhile, Yoda battles Palpatine on Coruscant, culminating in a stalemate. Yoda flees with Senator Bail Organa and regroups with Obi-Wan and Padmé on the planetoid Polis Massa. Padmé gives birth to twins, whom she names Luke and Leia. She dies soon after, still believing there is good in Anakin. Palpatine recovers a barely alive Vader. On Coruscant, Vader's mutilated body is treated and encased in a black, armored life-support suit. When he asks about Padmé, Palpatine says Vader killed her out of rage, leaving Vader devastated. Obi-Wan and Yoda conceal the twins' birth from the Sith and retreat into exile until the Empire can be challenged. As Padmé's funeral is underway on Naboo, Palpatine and Vader supervise the construction of the Death Star.[b] Bail takes Leia to Alderaan to raise her as his daughter. Obi-Wan delivers Luke to his step-uncle and step-aunt, Owen and Beru Lars, on Tatooine. Obi-Wan settles nearby as a recluse while watching over young Luke. Cast Peter Mayhew, Ahmed Best, and Silas Carson reprise their roles as Chewbacca, Jar Jar Binks, and Nute Gunray and Ki-Adi-Mundi, respectively, from the previous films. Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse also make cameo appearances, reprising their roles as Owen and Beru Lars respectively from Attack of the Clones. Sound engineer Matthew Wood provides the voice of General Grievous, the fearsome cyborg commander of the Separatists' droid army, who had been trained in wielding a lightsaber by Count Dooku. Wood took over the role, after Gary Oldman was originally cast in the role, but had to drop out of the production due to scheduling conflicts; Oldman had completed some voice-over work. Temuera Morrison portrays Commander Cody and the rest of the clone troopers. Bruce Spence portrays Tion Medon, local administrator of Utapau. At Padmé's funeral on Naboo, Keisha Castle-Hughes briefly appears as Queen Apailana alongside Oliver Ford Davies reprising his role as Sio Bibble. Jeremy Bulloch (who played Boba Fett in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi) appears as Captain Colton, the pilot of the CR70 corvette Tantive III. Genevieve O'Reilly portrays senator Mon Mothma, though her speaking scene was ultimately cut.[e] Rohan Nichol portrays Captain Raymus Antilles. Wayne Pygram appears as a young Wilhuff Tarkin, and stunt coordinator Nick Gillard appears as a Jedi named Cin Drallig (his name spelled backward, without the 'k'). Editor Roger Barton's son Aidan Barton portrays Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa as infants. Director and Star Wars creator George Lucas has a cameo as Baron Papanoida, a blue-faced alien in attendance at the Coruscant opera house. Lucas' son Jett portrays Zett Jukassa, a young Jedi-in-training. One of Lucas' daughters, Amanda, appears as Terr Taneel, seen in a security hologram, while his other daughter Katie plays a blue-skinned Pantoran named Chi Eekway, visible when Palpatine arrives at the Senate after being saved by the Jedi and talking to Baron Papanoida at the opera house. Christian Simpson appeared as a stunt double for Hayden Christensen. Production George Lucas said he conceived the Star Wars saga's story in the form of a plot outline in 1973. However, he later clarified that, at the time of the saga's conception, he had not fully realized the details—only major plot points. The film's climactic duel has its basis in the Return of the Jedi novelization, in which Obi-Wan recounts his battle with Vader that ended with the latter falling "into a molten pit". Lucas began working on the screenplay for Episode III before the previous film, Attack of the Clones, was released, proposing to concept artists that the film would open with a montage of seven battles on seven planets. In The Secret History of Star Wars, Michael Kaminski surmises that Lucas found flaws with Anakin's fall to the dark side and radically reorganized the plot. For example, instead of opening the film with a montage of Clone War battles, Lucas decided to focus on Anakin, ending the first act with him killing Count Dooku, an action that signals his turn to the dark side. A significant number of fans speculated online about the episode title for the film with rumored titles including Rise of the Empire, The Creeping Fear (which was also named as the film's title on the official website on April Fool's 2004), and Birth of the Empire. Eventually, Revenge of the Sith also became a title guessed by fans that George Lucas would indirectly confirm. The title is a reference to Revenge of the Jedi, the original title of Return of the Jedi; Lucas changed the title scant weeks before the premiere of Return of the Jedi, declaring that a true Jedi could never seek revenge. Lucas had originally planned to include significantly more ties to the original trilogy, and wrote early drafts of the script in which a 10-year-old Han Solo appeared on Kashyyyk, but the role was not given to an actor or filmed with the actor playing the character in the scenes. He also wrote a scene in which Palpatine reveals to Anakin that he created him from midichlorians, and is thus his "father", a clear parallel to Vader's revelation to Luke in The Empire Strikes Back, but later scrapped this scene as well. Another planned scene by Lucas that was written during the early development of the film was a conversation between Master Yoda and the ghostly Qui-Gon Jinn, with Liam Neeson reprising his role as Jinn (he also hinted his possible appearance in the film). However, the scene was never filmed and Neeson was never recorded, although the scene was present in the film's novelization. After principal photography was complete in 2003, Lucas made significant changes to Anakin's character, rewriting his turn to the dark side. Lucas accomplished this through editing the principal footage and filming new scenes during pickups in London in 2004. In the previous versions, Anakin had several reasons for turning to the dark side, one of which was his sincere belief that the Jedi were plotting to take over the Republic. Although this is still intact in the finished film, by revising and refilming many scenes, Lucas emphasized Anakin's desire to save Padmé from death. Thus, in the version that made it to theaters, Anakin falls to the dark side primarily to save Padmé. For the Kashyyyk environment, the art department turned to the Star Wars Holiday Special for inspiration. Over a period of months, Lucas would approve hundreds of designs that would eventually appear in the film. He would later rewrite entire scenes and action sequences to correspond to certain designs he had chosen. The designs were then shipped to the pre-visualization department to create moving CGI versions known as animatics. Ben Burtt would edit these scenes with Lucas in order to pre-visualize what the film would look like before the scenes were filmed. The pre-visualization footage featured a basic raw CGI environment with equally unprocessed character models performing a scene, typically for action sequences. Steven Spielberg was brought in as a "guest director" for the film's climax, overseeing the pre-visualization of an unused version of the Utapau chase scene and making art-design suggestions for the Order 66 assassinations as well as the Mustafar duel.[f] The pre-visualization and art department designs were sent to the production department to begin building sets, props and costumes. Although the first scene filmed was the final scene to appear in the film (shot during the filming of Attack of the Clones in 2000),[g] the first bulk of principal photography on the film occurred from June 30, 2003, to September 17, 2003, with additional photography at Shepperton Studios in Surrey and Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire from August 2004 to January 31, 2005. The initial filming took place on sound stages at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney, although practical environments were shot as background footage later to be composited into the film. These included the limestone mountains depicting Kashyyyk, which were filmed in Phuket, Thailand. The production company was also fortunate enough to be shooting at the same time that Mount Etna erupted in Italy. Camera crews were sent to the location to shoot several angles of the volcano that were later spliced into the background of the animatics and the final film version of the planet Mustafar. While shooting key dramatic scenes, Lucas would often use an "A camera" and "B camera", or the "V technique", a process that involves shooting with two or more cameras at the same time in order to gain several angles of the same performance. Using the HD technology developed for the film, the filmmakers were able to send footage to the editors the same day it was shot, a process that would require a full 24 hours had it been shot on film. Footage featuring the planet Mustafar was given to editor Roger Barton, who was on location in Sydney cutting the climactic duel. Hayden Christensen said Lucas asked him "to bulk up and physically show the maturity that had taken place between the two films." The actor explained that he worked out with a trainer in Sydney for three months and ate "six meals a day and on every protein, weight gain supplement that man has created" to go from 160 lb (73 kg) to 185 lb (84 kg). Christopher Lee had to film all of his scenes in just two days since he needed to do his scheduled pick-up shots for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Christensen and Ewan McGregor began rehearsing their climactic lightsaber duel long before Lucas would shoot it. They trained extensively with stunt coordinator Nick Gillard to memorize and perform their duel together. As in the previous prequel film, McGregor and Christensen performed their own lightsaber fighting scenes without the use of stunt doubles. The speed at which Vader and Obi-Wan engage in their duel is mostly the speed at which it was filmed, although there are instances where single frames were removed to increase the velocity of particular strikes. An example of this occurs as Obi-Wan strikes down on Vader after applying an armlock in the duel's first half. Revenge of the Sith was the first Star Wars film in which Anakin Skywalker and the suited Darth Vader were played by the same actor in the same film. As Christensen recounted, it was originally intended to simply have a "tall guy" in the Darth Vader costume, but, after "begging and pleading", Christensen persuaded Lucas to have the Vader costume used in the film created specifically to fit him. The new costume featured shoe lifts and a muscle suit. It also required Christensen (who is 6 feet or 1.8 metres tall) to look through the helmet's mouthpiece. In 2004, Gary Oldman was originally approached to provide the voice of General Grievous; however, complications arose during contract negotiations after Oldman learned the film was to be made outside of the Screen Actors Guild, of which he is a member. He decided to drop out of the role rather than violate the union's rules. Matthew Wood, who voiced Grievous, disputed this story at Celebration III, held in Indianapolis. According to him, Oldman is a friend of producer Rick McCallum, and thus recorded an audition as a favor to him, but was not chosen. Wood, who was also the supervising sound editor, was in charge of the auditions and submitted his audition anonymously in the midst of 30 others, under the initials "A.S." for Alan Smithee. Days later, he received a phone call asking for the full name to the initials "A.S." The post-production department (handled by Industrial Light & Magic) began work during filming and continued until weeks before the film was released in 2005. Special effects were created using almost all formats, including model work, CGI and practical effects. The same department later composited all such work into the filmed scenes—both processes taking nearly two years to complete. Revenge of the Sith has 2,151 shots that use special effects, a world record. There was a miniature model of Mustafar that measured a length of 33 feet (10 m), a width of 18 feet (5.5 m) and a height of 7 feet (2.1 m), making it the largest scale model ever built for any film at the time. The film required 910 artists and 70,441 man-hours to create 49 seconds of footage for the Mustafar duel alone. Members of Hyperspace, the Official Star Wars Fan Club, received a special look into the production. Benefits included not only special articles, but they also received access to a webcam that transmitted a new image every 20 seconds during the time it was operating in Fox Studios Australia. Many times the stars, and Lucas himself, were spotted on the webcam. Lucas excised all scenes of a group of Senators, including Padmé, Bail Organa, and Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly), organizing an alliance to prevent Palpatine from usurping any more emergency powers. Though this is essentially the birth of the Rebel Alliance, the scenes were discarded to achieve more focus on Anakin's story. The scene where Yoda arrives on Dagobah to begin his self-imposed exile was also removed, but is featured as an extended scene in the DVD release, although McCallum stated he hoped Lucas would have added it to the new cut as part of a six-episode DVD box set. Bai Ling filmed minor scenes for the film playing a senator, but her role was cut during editing. She claimed this was because she appeared in a nude pictorial for the June 2005 issue of Playboy, whose appearance on newsstands coincided with the film's May release. Lucas denied this, stating that the cut had been made more than a year earlier, and that he had cut his own daughter's scenes as well. The bonus features show an additional removed scene in which Jedi Master Shaak Ti is killed by General Grievous in front of Obi-Wan and Anakin. The bonus features also show Obi-Wan and Anakin running through Grievous' ship, escaping droids through a fuel tunnel, and arguing over what R2-D2 is saying. The music was composed and conducted by John Williams, who has composed and conducted the score for every episode in the Star Wars saga, and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and London Voices in February 2005. Williams dropped out of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire so that he could compose the score for Revenge of the Sith, War of the Worlds, Memoirs of a Geisha and Munich. The film's soundtrack was released by Sony Pictures Classical Records on May 3, 2005, more than two weeks before the film's release. A music video titled A Hero Falls was created for the film's theme, "Battle of the Heroes", featuring footage from the film and was also available on the DVD. The soundtrack also came with a collectors' DVD hosted by McDiarmid, titled Star Wars: A Musical Journey, which features 16 music videos set to remastered selections of music from all six film scores, set chronologically through the saga. Themes and analysis Throughout Revenge of the Sith, Lucas refers to a wide range of films and other sources, drawing on political, military, and mythological motifs to enhance his story's impact. The most media coverage was likely given to an exchange between Anakin and Obi-Wan, leading to the aforementioned conflict: "If you're not with me, then you're my enemy", Anakin declares. Despite Lucas' insistence to the contrary, The Seattle Times concluded, "Without naming Bush or the Patriot Act, it's all unmistakable no matter what your own politics may be." Anakin's "If you are not with me, then you are my enemy" line is a reference to Bush's post-9/11 quote, "You are either with us, or against us". Anakin's line also mirrors a line from Ben-Hur; the titular character's former friend having been corrupted by the Roman Empire says, "You're either for me or against me.” Obi-Wan's response, "I will do what I must" mirrors Ben-Hur's response, "If that is the choice, then I am against you.” Different beliefs and different paths ultimately strain Ben-Hur and Messala's friendship and Obi-Wan and Anakin's brotherhood - forcing the hero and his friend who was once like a brother to become enemies. The Baptism scene from The Godfather is referenced in the Empire declaration scene, which is intercut with Anakin killing the Separatists. Additionally, the Darth Vader transformation plays homage to the classic 1931 horror film, Frankenstein. McDiarmid, Lucas, and others have also called Anakin's journey to the dark side Faustian in the sense of making a "pact with the devil" for short-term gain, with the fiery volcano planet Mustafar representing hell. Midway through the film, Lucas intercuts between Anakin and Padmé by themselves, thinking about one another in the Jedi Temple and their apartment, respectively, during sunset. The sequence is without dialogue and complemented by a moody, synthesized soundtrack. Lucas' coverage of the exterior cityscapes, skylines and interior isolation in the so-called "Ruminations" sequence is similar to the cinematography and mise-en-scène of Rosemary's Baby, a 1968 film in which a husband makes a literal pact with the devil. The film contains dramatic irony which connects the prequel trilogy to the original trilogy. Due to the original trilogy being released first, some of the audience had already seen what follows thus knowing what the future holds for the heroes which they cannot foresee nor predict at the time; Luke and Leia fighting for their late mother's cause in adulthood, Luke becoming a new hope for the galaxy, C-3PO and R2-D2's reunion with Obi-Wan and fighting alongside Anakin and Padme's children, Obi-Wan handing down Anakin's lightsaber to Luke, the destruction of the Death Star, the rebellion defeating the Empire and Anakin fulfilling the prophecy of The Chosen One through his final redemptive act of rescuing his son from the Emperor, bringing balance to the Force and ensuring the return of the Jedi. While the original trilogy adds dramatic irony to the film, Revenge of Sith adds new perspectives to several scenes in the previously released original trilogy (including Darth Vader's first appearance in A New Hope). Significantly, Anakin, Obi-Wan and the heroes now know something the audience knew from the previous films; Palpatine is really Darth Sidious, the phantom menace who has manipulated and orchestrated galactic events up to this point. Like with the previous films, Sidious remains undefeated but this time has achieved all of his objectives and plans for galactic domination. The audience knows that although Obi-Wan and Yoda have survived the Great Jedi Purge, they could only disappear and wait until the time comes for the next generation of Skywalkers to free the galaxy from Sidious and the Empire. Yoda once said to Anakin, "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger; anger leads to hate; hate leads to suffering." The film and its predecessors have proven Yoda's statement right. While The Phantom Menace establishes Anakin's Achilles heel (fear of losing people he cares for) which serves as the beginning of his path to the dark side, Revenge of the Sith significantly finishes that path with Anakin's suffering as Darth Vader. While Anakin takes his first fateful steps away from his loving mother to become a Jedi in The Phantom Menace, his new parental figure creates a metaphorical bridge for him to cross over to the dark side in Revenge of the Sith. Qui-Gon and Shmi Skywalker's deaths generate Anakin's desire for a parental figure however this desire would not allow him to see Palpatine's true nature nor realise that his "sympathy" has been false. There are several parallels between the film and the original trilogy particularly Return of the Jedi (being the last film of the original trilogy). While Revenge of the Sith ends with Anakin's fall and the mask being put on, Return of the Jedi ends with his redemption and the mask being removed representing his freedom. Anakin and Count Dooku's duel echoes Luke and Vader's duel on board the second Death Star and Palpatine witnesses those duels. While Anakin does not show mercy to Dooku, Luke's empathy and compassion motivates him to not kill his father. Both Anakin and Luke wear a glove over their mechanical hand and face a series of challenges in the third film of the prequel and original trilogies. However the latter displays resilience, learns from his father's experience and does not go down the same path. Both trilogies complete a young Skywalker's story arc and the following trilogy to both of them focus on a younger protagonist.[h] While The Phantom Menace establishes Anakin's Achilles heel (fear of losing people he cares for), Sidious manipulates it in Revenge of Sith and the film ends with Anakin's suffering (becoming a servant of the Dark Side and placed in the suit). While Revenge of the Sith ends with the formation of the Galactic Empire, Return of the Jedi ends with the Rebellion's victory over it. C-3PO has his last line in Revenge of Sith and first line in A New Hope on the same ship. Revenge of the Sith ends with Padme's death intercutting with her husband's "rebirth" as a cyborg. The third film of the prequel and original trilogies end with the death of one of Luke and Leia's parents. Anakin and Padme's legacies would have an impact on their children. Release The first trailer for Revenge of the Sith was released in theaters on November 5, 2004, with the premiere of The Incredibles. It was also attached to the screenings of The Polar Express, National Treasure, Alexander, Ocean's Twelve, Meet the Fockers and Flight of the Phoenix, among other films. At the same time, the trailer became available on the Internet. Just four months later, another Revenge of the Sith trailer was unveiled on March 10, 2005, debuting on Fox Network with The O.C.'s "The Mallpisode" during the second season (Lucas himself would appear in a later episode). The next day on March 11, the trailer then premiered in theaters with the theatrical release of Robots. On March 14, it would be released on the official Star Wars website. Prior to this, bootleg copies of the trailer were leaked everywhere, as the official trailer was in the subscriber section. The trailers were even attached to the DVD releases of Star Wars: Clone Wars. Three days later on March 17, 2005, George Lucas revealed a preview of the film at the ShoWest Convention in Las Vegas, saying "It's not like the old Star Wars. This one's a little bit emotional. We like to describe it as Titanic in space. It's a tearjerker." To promote the release of Revenge of the Sith, Burger King began selling cups and toys themed to the film for their kids meals at their restaurants. However, as with McDonald's Happy Meal promotion for Batman Returns in 1992, officials urged to recall the kids meal toys due to the film's PG-13 rating. While Cingular Wireless released commercials showing Chewbacca growling into a microphone for ringtones, Hasbro released a Darth Vader variation of Mr. Potato Head called "Darth Tater" across retail stores. Kellogg's would promote the film by premiering a new Star Wars cereal, which featured marshmallows shaped like droids and lightsabers. Also released were Lava Berry Explosion Pop-Tarts, as well as Keebler Lava Stripes cookies, a variation of the Fudge Stripes cookies. M&M's debuted a new dark chocolate flavor that came in either the Darth Mix and Jedi Mix, both of which contained multi-colored candies. Meanwhile, 7-Eleven rolled out a new Slurpee flavor to help coincide with the release of Revenge of the Sith. Known as the Darth Dew Slurpee, it featured grape-flavored Mountain Dew and was served in cups with Darth Vader's helmet and 3D images. Additionally, Pepsi would serve as a promotional partner for the film. Frito-Lay even released twisted Cheetos that had Darth Vader Dark and Yoda Green colors. Following the premiere of Lights, Motors, Action!: Extreme Stunt Show during the Happiest Celebration on Earth festival, Disney's Hollywood Studios (then known as Disney-MGM Studios) at Walt Disney World would host their annual Star Wars Weekends event to further coincide with the release of Revenge of the Sith, beginning on May 20, 2005 and ending four weeks later on June 12. Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith charity premieres took place in Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington D.C., Boston, Denver, Atlanta, San Francisco, and Miami on Thursday, May 12, 2005; and on May 13, 2005, there were two additional charity premiere screenings in George Lucas's hometown of Modesto, California. The official premiere was at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival (out of competition) on May 16. Its theatrical release in most other countries took place on May 19 to coincide with the 1999 release of The Phantom Menace (the 1977 release of A New Hope and the 1983 release of Return of the Jedi were also released on the same day and month, six years apart). The global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas claimed one week before the premiere that it may have cost the U.S. economy approximately US$627 million in lost productivity because of employees who took a day off or reported in sick. Grauman's Chinese Theatre, a traditional venue for the Star Wars films, did not show it. However, a line of people stood there for more than a month hoping to convince someone to change this. Most of them took advantage of an offer to see the film at a nearby cinema, ArcLight Cinemas (formerly the "Cinerama Dome"). On May 16, the Empire Cinema in London's Leicester Square hosted a day-long Star Wars marathon showing of all six films; an army of Imperial stormtroopers "guarded" the area, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra gave a free concert of Star Wars music. A copy of the film leaked onto peer-to-peer file sharing networks just hours after opening in theaters. The film was a time-stamped workprint, suggesting it may have come from within the industry rather than from someone who videotaped an advance screening. Eight people were later charged with copyright infringement and distributing material illegally. Documents filed by the Los Angeles District Attorney allege that a copy of the film was taken from an unnamed Californian post-production office by an employee, who later pleaded guilty to his charges. The illegal copy was passed among seven people until reaching an eighth party, who also pleaded guilty to uploading to an unnamed P2P network. Revenge of the Sith is the first Star Wars film to receive a PG-13 rating from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), officially for "sci-fi violence and some intense images", namely for the scene in which Darth Vader is set aflame by lava. Lucas had stated months before the MPAA's decision that he felt the film should receive a PG-13 rating, because of Anakin's final moments and the film's content being the darkest and most intense of all six films. Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper later opined that children would be able to handle the film as long as they had parental guidance. All previously released films in the series were rated PG.[i] Revenge of the Sith was released on DVD and VHS on October 31, 2005, in the United Kingdom and Ireland; on November 1, 2005, it was released in the United States and Canada on DVD; and on November 3, 2005, it was released in Australia. It was also released in most major territories on or near the same day. The DVD release consists of separate widescreen and pan and scan full-screen versions. This THX certified two-disc set contains one disc with the film and the other one with bonus features. The first disc features three randomized selected menus, which are Coruscant, Utapau and Mustafar. There is an Easter egg in the options menu. When the THX Optimizer is highlighted, the viewer can press 1-1-3-8. By doing this, a hip-hop music video (with the song "Don't Say Nuthin'" by The Roots off of their 2004 album, The Tipping Point) with Yoda and some clone troopers will play. The DVD includes a number of documentaries including a new full-length documentary as well as two featurettes, one which explores the prophecy of Anakin Skywalker as the Chosen One, the other looking at the film's stunts and a 15-part collection of web-documentaries from the official web site. Like the other DVD releases, included is an audio commentary track featuring Lucas, producer Rick McCallum, animation director Rob Coleman, and ILM visual effects supervisors John Knoll and Roger Guyett. Six deleted scenes were included with introductions from Lucas and McCallum. This release is notable because, due to marketing issues, it was the first Star Wars film never to be released on VHS in the United States. However, the film was released on VHS in Australia, the United Kingdom and other countries.[better source needed] The DVD was re-released in a prequel trilogy box set on November 4, 2008. The six Star Wars films were released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on Blu-ray on September 16, 2011, in three different editions. On April 7, 2015, Walt Disney Studios, 20th Century Fox, and Lucasfilm jointly announced the digital releases of the six released Star Wars films. Revenge of the Sith was released through the iTunes Store, Amazon Video, Vudu, Google Play, and Disney Movies Anywhere on April 10, 2015. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment reissued Revenge of the Sith on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital download on September 22, 2019. Additionally, all six films were available for 4K HDR and Dolby Atmos streaming on Disney+ upon the service's launch on November 12, 2019. This version of the film was released by Disney on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on March 31, 2020, whilst being re-released on Blu-ray and DVD. All 20th Century Fox Fanfare and logo sequences on the first six films have been restored following the completion of Disney's acquisition of that studio in 2019 having been removed for the initial digital releases, except for A New Hope, which Fox had retained all rights for prior to the sale of the studio to Disney. On September 28, 2010, it was announced that all six films in the series were to be stereo-converted to 3D. The films would be re-released in chronological order beginning with The Phantom Menace on February 10, 2012. Revenge of the Sith was originally scheduled to be re-released in 3D on October 11, 2013.[j] However, on January 28, 2013, Lucasfilm announced that it was postponing the 3D release of episodes II and III in order to "focus 100 percent of our efforts on Star Wars: The Force Awakens" and that further information about 3D release plans would be issued at a later date. The 3D release was ultimately cancelled due to Lucasfilm's focus on the Star Wars sequel trilogy. The premiere of the 3D version was shown on April 17, 2015, at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim. In February 2025, Lucasfilm announced a 20th-anniversary re-release of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. The re-release premiered in both American and worldwide theaters on April 25, 2025, by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures through the 20th Century Studios label. The film was screened in 4DX for the first time. This technology includes motion-enabled seating synchronized with various environmental effects, designed to enhance the viewing experience. In the U.S., the re-release would make $3.4 million in Thursday previews. The re-release opened in 2,775 theatres and earned $25.5 million during its first week; this ranked second at the domestic box office behind Sinners. It surpassed A Minecraft Movie and newcomers The Accountant 2 and Until Dawn with a worldwide opening of $43.2 million. On April 27, 2025, the re-release took the film's domestic lifetime box-office gross above the $400 million mark. Reception On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 79% based on 334 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "With Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, George Lucas brings his second Star Wars trilogy to a suitably thrilling and often poignant – if still a bit uneven – conclusion." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 68 out of 100, based on 40 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, the same score as the previous two films. Most critics have considered the film to be the best of the prequel trilogy. A. O. Scott of The New York Times concluded that it was "the best of the four episodes Mr. Lucas has directed", and equal to The Empire Strikes Back as "the richest and most challenging movie in the cycle". J.R. Jones, a Chicago Reader critic who disliked The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, gave it a score of three out of four, saying, "Lucas has woven into the action and effects a relatively thoughtful story about a young man meant for greatness but corrupted by his own fear and confusion, a story more Shakespearean than Arthurian". Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film a scoring of two out of four stars, saying, "Drink the Kool-Aid. Wear blinders. Cover your ears. Because that's the only way you can totally enjoy Revenge of the Sith". David Sterritt of The Christian Science Monitor gave it a B and said, "On the action-adventure level, it's a sure-fire delight for fans, a punchy entertainment for average sci-fi buffs, and a colorful rocket-ride for moviegoers who just want a good time on Saturday night". Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three-and-a-half out of four stars, writing "If [Lucas] got bogged down in solemnity and theory in Episode II: Attack of the Clones, the Force is in a jollier mood this time, and Revenge of the Sith is a great entertainment", but he noted that "the dialogue throughout the movie is once again its weakest point". Though many critics and fans viewed Revenge of the Sith as the strongest of the three prequels, some viewers thought it was more or less on par with the previous two episodes. Much of the criticism was directed towards the dialogue, particularly the film's romantic scenes; critics claimed this demonstrated Lucas's weakness as a writer of dialogue, a subject with which Lucas openly agreed when receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute. Some film critics and fans criticized Hayden Christensen's acting, calling it "wooden". Following a reappraisal of the prequel trilogy, a retrospective review by Time felt that Christensen's maligned performance was in part affected by the screenwriting. Some American conservatives criticized the film, claiming it had a liberal bias and was a commentary on the George W. Bush administration and Iraq War. Some websites went so far as to propose a boycott of the film. Lucas defended the film, stating that the film's storyline was written during the Vietnam War and was influenced by that conflict rather than the war in Iraq. Lucas also said "The parallels between Vietnam and what we're doing in Iraq now are unbelievable". Art critic Camille Paglia praised the film as an essential example of the modern digital art movement due to its "overwhelming operatic power and yes, seriousness", and arguing that its finale has "more inherent artistic value, emotional power, and global impact" than the work of some contemporary artists. During the late 2010s, the film amassed a cult following on social media among some young fans who were children when the film was released, using the film's dialogue to create Internet memes. In his 2019 memoirs, Anthony Daniels wrote his recollections of the film and praised Christensen and McGregor for their lightsaber duel in Revenge of Sith describing them as "marvellous." The film was released in 115 countries. Its worldwide gross eventually reached $849 million—making it the second-highest-grossing film of 2005, behind Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The film earned an estimated $16.91 million from 2,900 midnight screenings in North America upon its release. In total, it earned a record $50 million on its opening day, marking the record for the highest opening-day gross on a Thursday. It was surpassed the following year by Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, which earned $55.5 million on its opening day. With only the May 19 earnings, the film broke four box office records: midnight screenings gross (previously held by The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, $8 million), opening day gross (Spider-Man 2, with $40.4 million), single day gross (Shrek 2 with $44.8 million) and Thursday gross (The Matrix Reloaded with $37.5 million). Its single day and opening day gross records were later surpassed by Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest on July 7, 2006, when that movie grossed $55.5 million on its opening day, and its midnight screening gross was broken by The Dark Knight on July 18, 2008, with $18.5 million. Overall, Revenge of the Sith would go on to generate a total of $108.4 million during its three-day opening weekend, making it the second-highest of all time, after Spider-Man. It held the record for having the biggest opening weekend for any 20th Century Fox film for a decade until it was taken by Deadpool in 2016. The year prior, Minions had already surpassed Revenge of the Sith for having the largest opening weekend for a prequel. According to box office analysis sites, the film set American records for highest gross in a given number of days for each of its first 12 days of release except for the seventh and eighth, where the record is narrowly held by Spider-Man 2. Within three days, Revenge of the Sith surpassed Spider-Man for having the highest three-day gross of any film, scoring a total of $124.7 million. Upon opening, the film would reach the number one spot at the box office, beating out Monster-in-Law and Kicking & Screaming. On its fifth day, it became the highest-grossing film of 2005, replacing Hitch ($177.6 million). The film earned $158.5 million in its first four-day period, surpassing the previous four-day record held by The Matrix Reloaded ($134.3 million), and joining the latter film, Spider-Man, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as one of the only four films to make $100 million in their first three days. In eight days, it reached the $200 million mark (a record tied with Spider-Man 2) and by its 17th day, the film had passed $300 million (surpassing the record of 18 days of Shrek 2). It was eventually the third-fastest film (after Shrek 2 and Spider-Man) to reach $350 million. Revenge of the Sith earned a total of $55.2 million during its second weekend, making it the fourth-highest-grossing second weekend of all time, behind Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Spider-Man and Shrek 2. The film then earned $70 million in just four days, becoming the seventh-highest Memorial Day weekend gross of any film, trailing only behind Shrek 2, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, The Day After Tomorrow, Bruce Almighty, Pearl Harbor and Mission: Impossible 2. It topped the domestic box office for a total of two consecutive weekends before being overtaken by Madagascar and The Longest Yard (which were in their second weekend) in its third weekend, but it still outgrossed Cinderella Man, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Lords of Dogtown. The film wrapped up its run in American theaters on October 20, 2005, finishing with a total gross of $380,270,577. It ranks 29th in all-time domestic grosses and is the highest-grossing U.S. of 2005, out-grossing second-place The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by nearly $90 million. The film sold an estimated 59,324,600 tickets in the US. International grosses that exceeded $460 million include those Australia ($27.2 million), France and Algeria ($56.9 million), Germany ($47.3 million), Italy ($11.3 million), Japan ($82.7 million), Mexico ($15.3 million), South Korea ($10.3 million), Spain ($23.8 million), and the United Kingdom and Ireland ($72.8 million). The total worldwide opening of Revenge of the Sith for each country was $254 million, combined with $304 million from its four-day weekend. It would go on to hold this record for two years before Spider-Man 3 took it in 2007. Following the release of Revenge of the Sith—the completion of the original and prequel Star Wars series—on June 9, 2005, George Lucas was presented with the 33rd American Film Institute Lifetime Achievement Award. The institute honored his "astonishing contributions to the art and technology of filmmaking, as well as the impact of the epic Star Wars series". Despite being the prequel trilogy's best reviewed and received film, it received fewer award nominations than the previous films. It became the only Star Wars film not to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects; it was nominated for Best Makeup (Dave Elsey and Nikki Gooley), losing to The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It also won "Favorite Motion Picture" and "Favorite Dramatic Motion Picture" awards at the People's Choice Awards, "Hollywood Movie of the Year" award at the Hollywood Film Festival, Empire Awards for Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film and Scene of the Year (The birth of Vader), and the Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie – Action. As did every film of the original trilogy, the film won the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film. Williams also won Best Music. The film was nominated for ten Saturn Awards overall, including Best Director and Best Writing for Lucas, Best Actor for Christensen, Best Actress for Natalie Portman, and Best Supporting Actor for Ian McDiarmid. Of the three Star Wars prequels, the film received the fewest Golden Raspberry Awards nominations: only one, for Christensen as Worst Supporting Actor, which he won. (The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones received seven nominations each, with one and two wins, respectively.) It is the only Star Wars prequel not to receive a Razzie nomination for Worst Picture. Christensen further won the "Best Villain" award at the MTV Movie Awards. The film also received the fewest nominations (and no wins) at the 2005 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards: Worst Screenplay for a Film Grossing More Than $100M, and Worst On-Screen Couple (Christensen and Portman). Legacy Since its release, Comic Book Resources noted that Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith has been a cult classic to Generation Z. Other media The film's novelization was written by Matthew Stover. It has more dialogue than the film, and certain story elements were expanded upon in the novelization including Anakin and Palpatine's relationship and Palpatine's apprenticeship to Darth Plagueis. A video game based on the film was released on May 5, 2005, two weeks before the film. The game generally followed the film's storyline, integrating scenes from the film. However, many sections of the game featured scenes cut from the film, or entirely new scenes for the game. The style of the game was mostly lightsaber combat and fighting as Obi-Wan or Anakin. It also has a form of multiplayer mode, which includes both "VS" and "Cooperative" mode. In the first mode, two players fight with characters of their choice against each other in a lightsaber duel to the death. In the latter mode, two players team up to combat increasingly difficult waves of enemies. The 2008 animated film and subsequent television series fill the three-year gap between the events of Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. A number of plot threads initially developed for inclusion in Revenge of the Sith were instead incorporated into The Clone Wars. These include Boba Fett's revenge plot against Mace Windu for his father Jango's death, and the solving of the mystery behind deceased Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas which was introduced in Attack of the Clones. The final four episodes of the series take place concurrently with Revenge of the Sith. Several scenes from the film were recreated and expanded for these episodes in order to showcase the whereabouts of Anakin's former Padawan Ahsoka Tano during the events of the film, while also showing Anakin and Obi-Wan's whereabouts just prior to the film's opening scene. While Ahsoka was a major character in The Clone Wars, she is not referenced in Revenge of the Sith as the character had not yet been created at the time that the film was written. Several scenes from Revenge of the Sith were recreated in the first episode Aftermath. This episode also takes place concurrently with the film and the following episodes deal with the aftermath of Order 66 and the Clone Wars. The 2022 miniseries takes place ten years after Revenge of the Sith (and approximately nine years before A New Hope),[k] and features flashbacks taking place prior and during the events of the film, with some of the latter via archive footage. McGregor, Christensen, Earl Jones, Edgerton, Piesse, Smits, McDiarmid, and Daniels reprise their roles from the film. In 2010, a fandub of Revenge of the Sith was released titled Star War [sic] the Third Gathers: Backstroke of the West. The script used in the fandub originated from the English subtitles of a Mandarin Chinese bootleg DVD of the film that had been purchased by an American in Shanghai. The subtitles, almost entirely filled with errors and mistranslations, stemmed from a bootlegger first having listened to the film in English, writing down what they believed to have heard and occasionally making things up, which was then converted into Mandarin and back into English via inaccurate machine translation, resulting in nonsensical Chinglish. The dub became an Internet meme and a viral video and received praise from multiple news outlets. Patrick Shanley from The Hollywood Reporter described it as "a fan-made masterpiece", while Julia Alexander from Polygon called the dub "hilarious". Derrick Rossignol from Nerdist went so far as to say that the fandub was "way better" than the original film. Notes References Works cited External links |
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Contents List of 2009 box office number-one films in the United States This is a list of films which have placed number one at the weekend box office in the United States during 2009. Number-one films Highest-grossing films Highest-grossing films of 2009 by Calendar Gross See also References Chronology |
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Contents Spider-Man 3 Spider-Man 3 is a 2007 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. Produced by Columbia Pictures, Marvel Entertainment, and Laura Ziskin Productions, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it was directed by Sam Raimi from a screenplay he co-wrote with his brother Ivan and Alvin Sargent. It is the third installment in Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy (2002–2007), and the sequel to Spider-Man (2002) and Spider-Man 2 (2004). The film stars Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker / Spider-Man, alongside Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, Bryce Dallas Howard, James Cromwell, Rosemary Harris, and J. K. Simmons. It also marks the final acting appearance of Cliff Robertson before his retirement from acting in the same year and his subsequent death in 2011. Set a year after the events of Spider-Man 2, the film follows Peter Parker (Maguire) as he prepares for his future with Mary Jane Watson (Dunst), while facing multiple threats: Flint Marko (Church), Uncle Ben's true killer who becomes the Sandman after a freak accident; Harry Osborn (Franco), his former best friend who is now aware of Peter's identity and seeks to avenge his father; an extraterrestrial symbiote that increases his abilities but amplifies his anger and other negative traits; and Eddie Brock (Grace), a rival photographer who becomes the symbiote's second host Venom. Development of Spider-Man 3 began immediately after the successful release of Spider-Man 2 for a 2007 release. During preproduction, Raimi wanted two villains, Harry Osborn and Sandman. At the request of producer Avi Arad, he added Venom to the list, and the producers also requested the addition of Gwen Stacy. Principal photography for the film began in January 2006 and took place in Los Angeles and Cleveland before moving to New York City from May until July 2006. Additional pick-up shots were made after August and the film wrapped in October 2006. During post-production, Sony Pictures Imageworks created over 900 visual effects shots. Composer Danny Elfman, who had scored the previous installments, decided not to return due to creative differences and conflicts with Raimi during production of the previous film, so Christopher Young composed the score in Elfman's absence. With an estimated production budget of $258–350 million, the film was the most expensive film ever made at the time of its release. Spider-Man 3 premiered on April 16, 2007, in Tokyo, and was released in the United States in both conventional and IMAX theaters on May 4. The film grossed $895.9 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of the trilogy, the third-highest-grossing film of 2007 and the tenth-highest-grossing film of all time at the time of its release. It was also the highest-grossing Spider-Man film until it was surpassed by Spider-Man: Far From Home in 2019, and Raimi's highest-grossing film until Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022). Unlike the previous installments, Spider-Man 3 received mixed reviews from critics. A sequel, Spider-Man 4, was set to be released in 2011, followed by a Venom spin-off film along with a fifth and sixth installment, but all were canceled. Plot One year after Otto Octavius's sacrifice,[b] Peter Parker plans to propose to Mary Jane Watson, who has made her Broadway musical debut. In Central Park, a meteorite lands nearby during their date, from which an extraterrestrial symbiote oozes out and follows Peter to his apartment by attaching to his motorbike. Harry Osborn, knowing Peter is Spider-Man, seeks to avenge his father's death.[c] Using Norman's performance-enhancing gas and Green Goblin technology, he battles Peter to an eventual stalemate, developing partial amnesia after falling from his glider. Meanwhile, police pursue escaped convict Flint Marko, who visits his wife and sick daughter before fleeing. He falls into an experimental particle accelerator that fuses his body with the surrounding sand, granting him the ability to control and reform his body into sand, becoming Sandman. During a festival honoring Spider-Man for saving Gwen Stacy's life, Peter kisses her to please the crowd, angering Mary Jane. Marko then robs an armored truck and escapes after a duel with Spider-Man. Police captain George Stacy, Gwen's father, informs Peter and Aunt May that Marko is Uncle Ben's true killer; the initial suspect was simply Marko's accomplice. While waiting for Marko to emerge from hiding, the symbiote assimilates Peter's suit as he sleeps in it. Peter awakens atop a building, discovering that the symbiote has turned his suit black, enhanced his powers, and heightened his aggression. Peter battles Marko in a subway. Finding that water weakens him, Peter opens a pipe, turning Marko into mud and washing him away. Peter's new attitude alienates Mary Jane, who kisses Harry and departs regretfully. A hallucination of his father prompts Harry to recover from amnesia and force Mary Jane to break up with Peter. Later, Harry tells Peter that Mary Jane is dating him. Under the symbiote's influence, Peter fights Harry, spitefully claiming his father never loved him. As Peter leaves, Harry throws a pumpkin bomb, which Peter deflects, disfiguring Harry's face. At the Daily Bugle, Peter exposes rival photographer Eddie Brock, whose fake photos incriminate Spider-Man. Publisher J. Jonah Jameson, outraged at Brock's false photo and having to print a retraction, fires Brock and promotes Peter to staff photographer. Later, Peter brings Gwen to a jazz club where Mary Jane now works, hoping to make her jealous. Upon realizing Peter's true intentions, Gwen apologizes to Mary Jane and leaves. After assaulting the bouncers and accidentally hitting Mary Jane, Peter realizes that the symbiote is corrupting him. Retreating to a church bell tower and discovering that the sound of clanging metal weakens the creature, Peter removes the symbiote. Seeing the event from the pews below, Brock becomes the symbiote's new host and turns into Venom. Brock locates a still-living Marko and convinces him to join forces to kill Spider-Man. Brock kidnaps Mary Jane and holds her hostage from a web at a construction site, intending to kill her in revenge for Peter ruining him, while Marko keeps the police at bay. After a now-scarred Harry declines to help Peter, Harry's butler reveals that Norman's death was not Spider-Man's fault. While Brock and Marko nearly kill Peter, Harry arrives to help Peter and rescue Mary Jane. Peter and Harry subdue Marko, but Brock overpowers both. Brock attempts to impale Peter with Harry's glider, but Harry jumps in and is impaled instead. Remembering the symbiote's weakness, Peter assembles a perimeter of metal pipes to create a sonic attack, weakening it and allowing Peter to separate Brock from the symbiote. Peter activates a pumpkin bomb and throws it at the hostless symbiote. Having become addicted to its influence, Brock tries to save the symbiote, but both are killed. Marko explains that Ben's death was an accident that has haunted him and that everything he has done was to help his daughter. Peter forgives Marko, allowing him to escape. Harry reconciles with Peter before he dies from his injuries. After Harry's funeral, Peter visits Mary Jane at the jazz club, where they reconcile and share a dance. Cast Several actors reprise their roles from the previous films. Dylan Baker portrays Dr. Curt Connors, a college physics professor under whom Peter Parker studies, while Willem Dafoe portrays Norman Osborn / Green Goblin, Harry's late father, who returns as a hallucination to encourage his son to destroy Spider-Man, and Cliff Robertson appears as Ben Parker, Peter's deceased uncle in his final acting appearance before his retirement and death in 2011. Bill Nunn, Ted Raimi, Michael Papajohn, John Paxton, and Elizabeth Banks return as Joseph "Robbie" Robertson, a longtime employee at the Daily Bugle; Ted Hoffman, also a longtime employee of the Daily Bugle; Dennis "Spike" Carradine, the carjacker who was believed to have murdered Uncle Ben; Bernard Houseman, butler to the Osborn family; and Betty Brant, the receptionist at the Daily Bugle for J. Jonah Jameson, respectively. Elya Baskin additionally reprises his role as Mr. Ditkovitch, Peter's landlord while Mageina Tovah reprises her role as his daughter Ursula. Joe Manganiello reprises his role as Flash Thompson from the first film in a cameo appearance. Becky Ann Baker appears as Mrs. Stacy. Theresa Russell and Perla Haney-Jardine appear as Emma and Penny Marko, Sandman's wife and daughter respectively. Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee has a cameo in Spider-Man 3, as he did in the previous Spider-Man films, which he referred to as his "best cameo". Actor Bruce Campbell, who had cameo roles as a wrestling ring announcer in Spider-Man and as a snooty usher in Spider-Man 2, returns in Spider-Man 3 with a new cameo as a French maître d'. Originally his character, who helps Peter try to propose, was much more antagonistic. Composer Christopher Young appears in the film as a pianist at Mary Jane's theater when she is fired, while producer Grant Curtis cameoed as the driver of an armored car that Sandman attacks. Comedian Dean Edwards played one of the newspaper readers who badmouth Spider-Man. 75-year-old newscaster Hal Fishman appears as himself anchoring the saga of Mary Jane's kidnapping by Venom; he died just fourteen weeks after the movie opened. Actress Lucy Gordon appeared as newscaster Jennifer Dugan. Production "The most important thing Peter right now has to learn is that this whole concept of him as the avenger or him as the hero, he wears this red and blue outfit, with each criminal he brings to justice he's trying to pay down this debt of guilt he feels about the death of Uncle Ben. He considers himself a hero and a sinless person versus these villains that he nabs. We felt it would be a great thing for him to learn a little less black and white view of life and that he's not above these people." In March 2004, with Spider-Man 2 being released the coming June, Sony announced that Spider-Man 3 was already in development for a release in summer 2007. By the release of Spider-Man 2, a release date for Spider-Man 3 had been set for May 2, 2007 before production on the third film had begun. The date was later changed to May 4, 2007. In January 2005, Sony Pictures completed a seven-figure deal with screenwriter Alvin Sargent, who had penned Spider-Man 2, to script Spider-Man 3 with an option to script a fourth film. Immediately after Spider-Man 2's release, director Sam Raimi's brother Ivan wrote a treatment over two months, with Sam Raimi deciding to use the film to explore Peter learning that he is not a sinless vigilante, and that there also can be humanity in those he considers criminals. Harry Osborn was brought back because Raimi wanted to conclude his story line. Raimi felt that Harry would not follow his father's legacy, but would instead be "somewhere between." Sandman was introduced as an antagonist, as Raimi found him a visually fascinating character. While Sandman is a petty criminal in the comics, the screenwriters created a background of the character being Uncle Ben's killer to increase Peter's guilt over his death and challenge his simplistic perception of the event. Overall, Raimi described the film as being about Peter, Mary Jane, Harry, and the Sandman, with Peter's journey being one of forgiveness. Raimi wanted another villain, and Ben Kingsley was involved in negotiations to play the Vulture before the character was cut. Vulture was considered to be an accomplice of Flint Marko in the script. Producer Avi Arad convinced Raimi to include Venom, a character whose perceived "lack of humanity" had initially been criticized by Raimi. Venom's alter-ego, Eddie Brock, already had a minor role in the script. Arad felt the series had relied too much on Raimi's personal favorite Spider-Man villains, not characters that modern fans were actually interested in, so Raimi included Venom to please them, and even began to appreciate the character himself. The film's version of the character is an amalgamation of Venom stories. Edward Brock Jr., the human part of Venom, serves as a mirror to Peter Parker, with both characters having similar jobs and romantic interests. Brock's actions as a journalist in Spider-Man 3 also represent contemporary themes of paparazzi and tabloid journalism. The producers also suggested adding rival love interest Gwen Stacy, filling in an "other girl" type that Raimi had already created. With so many additions, Sargent soon found his script so complex that he considered splitting it into two films, but abandoned the idea when he could not create a successful intermediate climax. Camera crews spent 2 weeks from November 5–18, 2005 to film sequences that would involve intense visual effects so Sony Pictures Imageworks could begin work on the shots early in the project. The same steps had been taken for Spider-Man 2 to begin producing visual effects early for sequences involving the villain Doctor Octopus. Principal photography for Spider-Man 3 began on January 16, 2006, and wrapped in July 2006 after over 100 days of filming. The team filmed in Los Angeles until May 19, 2006. In spring 2006, film location manager Peter Martorano brought camera crews to Cleveland, Ohio, due to the Greater Cleveland Film Commission offering production space at the city's convention center at no cost. In Cleveland, they shot the battle between Spider-Man and Sandman in the armored car. Afterwards, the team moved to Manhattan, where filming took place at various locations, including One Chase Manhattan Plaza, from May 26, 2006, until July 1, 2006. Shooting placed a strain on Raimi, who often had to move between several units to complete the picture. Shooting was also difficult for cinematographer Bill Pope, as the symbiote Spider-Man, Venom, and the New Goblin were costumed in black during fight scenes taking place at night. For the breakdancing scene, Maguire at first did not want to dance, but relented after Pomerhn Derrick showed him some Fred Astaire dance moves. After August, pick-ups were conducted as Raimi sought to film more action scenes. The film then wrapped in October, although additional special effects shots were taken to finalize the production a month later. In early 2007, there were further pick-up shots regarding the resolution of Sandman's story, amounting to four different versions. John Dykstra, who won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects for his work on Spider-Man 2, declined to work on the third film as visual effects supervisor. Dykstra's colleague, Scott Stokdyk, took his place as supervisor, leading two hundred programmers at Sony Pictures Imageworks. This group designed specific computer programs that did not exist when Spider-Man 3 began production, creating nine hundred visual effects shots. In addition to the innovative visual effects for the film, Stokdyk created a miniature of a skyscraper section at 1:16 scale with New Deal Studios' Ian Hunter and David Sanger. Stokdyk chose to design the miniature instead of using computer-generated imagery (CGI) so damage done to the building could be portrayed realistically and timely without guesswork involving computer models. In addition to Sony Pictures Imageworks, Cafe FX provided visual effects for the crane disaster scene when Spider-Man rescues Gwen Stacy, as well as shots in the climactic battle. To understand the effects of sand for the Sandman, experiments were done with twelve types of sand, such as splashing, launching it at stuntmen, and pouring it over ledges. The results were mimicked on the computer to create the visual effects for Sandman. For scenes involving visual effects, Thomas Haden Church was super-imposed onto the screen, where computer-generated imagery was then applied. With sand as a possible hazard in scenes that buried actors, ground-up corn-cobs were used as a substitute instead. Because of its resemblance to the substance, sand from Arizona was used as the model for the CGI sand. In a fight where Spider-Man punches through Sandman's chest, amputee martial arts expert Baxter Humby took Maguire's place in filming the scene. Humby, whose right hand was amputated at birth, helped deliver the intended effect of punching through Sandman's chest. Producer Laura Ziskin said the visual effects budget alone was approximately 30% more than the previous film. Whereas the symbiote suit worn in the comics by Spider-Man was a plain black affair with a large white spider on the front and back, the design was changed for the film to become a black version of Spider-Man's traditional costume, complete with webbing motif. As a consequence of this, the suit Topher Grace wore as Venom also bore the webbing motif; as producer Grant Curtis noted, "it's the Spider-Man suit, but twisted and mangled in its own right." Additionally, the motif gave a sense of life to the symbiote, giving it the appearance of gripping onto the character's body. When animating the symbiote, Raimi did not want it to resemble a spider or an octopus, and to give it a sense of character. The CGI model is made of many separate strands. When animating Venom himself, animators observed footage of big cats such as lions and cheetahs for the character's agile movements. When interviewed at the film's Tokyo premiere on April 16, 2007, Grace said to Access Hollywood that despite liking how the film turned out, he expressed interest in having the rest of his scenes as both Eddie Brock and Venom being restored someday; later adding, "You know what? Spider-Man 3.5, or however they release it. You know, with the extra scenes". Following the release of the film, fan research compiled deleted scenes and archival footage, showing Adrian Lester in the role of Dr. Wallace, a molecular biologist working on a cure for Marko's daughter, and an alternate death scene for Venom attempting to reattach itself to Peter, who in turn would have destroyed the symbiote by pulling down a sling of steel rods and creating a sonic attack (although this was depicted in the film's novelization). Music Danny Elfman, the composer for the previous installments, chose not to return for the third installment of Spider-Man due to a strained relationship with Raimi. Elfman said that he had a "miserable experience" working with Raimi on Spider-Man 2 and could not comfortably adapt his music. Christopher Young was then announced to score Spider-Man 3 in Elfman's absence. Instead, Elfman chose to work on the 2006 live-action remake of Charlotte's Web. He later reunited with Raimi to compose the score for Oz the Great and Powerful (2013). According to Young, Sandman's theme uses "two contrabass saxophones, two contrabass clarinets, two contrabass bassoons and eight very low French horns" in order to sound "low, aggressive and heavy". Young described Venom's theme as "Vicious, my instructions on that one were that he's the devil personified. His theme is much more demonic sounding." Venom's theme uses eight French horns. Raimi approved the new themes during their first performance, but rejected the initial music to the birth of Sandman, finding it too monstrous and not tragic enough. Young had to recompose much of his score at a later stage, as the producers felt there were not enough themes from the previous films. Ultimately, new themes for the love story, Aunt May, and Mary Jane were dropped. Marketing On June 28, 2006, the first Spider-Man 3 teaser trailer premiered in theaters with Superman Returns. The first trailer was released in theaters on November 17, 2006, with the debut of Casino Royale and Happy Feet. This was followed by a second trailer, which was unveiled on March 9, 2007, being attached to the screenings of 300. The home video releases of Click and Monster House also contained trailers for Spider-Man 3. In New York City, the hometown of Spider-Man's fictional universe, tourist attractions arranged events and exhibits on April 30, 2007, to lead up to the release of Spider-Man 3. The unique campaign included a spider exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History, workshops on baby spider plants at the New York Botanical Garden, a Green Goblin mask-making workshop at the Children's Museum of Manhattan, and a scavenger hunt and bug show at the Central Park Zoo. Promotional tie-in partners include Burger King, 7-Eleven, General Mills, Kraft Foods, and Comcast. Hasbro, which holds the license for Marvel characters, released several toys to tie-in with the film. They include a deluxe spinning web blaster, along with several lines of action figures aimed at both children and collectors. Toys of the Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus from the first two films were rereleased to match the smaller scale of the new figures, as well as toys of the Lizard, the Scorpion, Kraven the Hunter, and Rhino in a style reminiscent of the films. Techno Source created interactive toys, including a "hand-held Battle Tronics device that straps to the inside of a player's wrist and mimics Spidey's web-slinging motions". Japanese Medicom Toy Corporation produced collectables, which Sideshow Collectibles distributed in the U.S. A prequel comic was released in June 2007 and another comic called Spider-Man 3: The Black, which expands the birth of Venom, was released in November 2007. Release Spider-Man 3 had its world premiere at Toho Cinemas Roppongi Hills in Tokyo on April 16, 2007. The film held its UK premiere on April 23, 2007, at the Odeon Leicester Square, and the U.S. premiere took place at the Tribeca Film Festival in Queens on April 30, 2007. Spider-Man 3 was commercially released in sixteen territories on May 1, 2007. The film was released in Japan on May 1, 2007, three days prior to the American commercial release, to coincide with Japan's Golden Week. Spider-Man 3 was also released in China on May 3, 2007, to circumvent market growth of unlicensed copies of the film. The studio's release of a film in China before its domestic release was a first for Sony Pictures Releasing International. By May 6, 2007, Spider-Man 3 had opened in 107 countries around the world. The film was commercially released in the United States on May 4, 2007, in a North American record total of 4,253 theaters, including fifty-three IMAX theaters. The record number of theaters was later beaten by Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, which was released in 4,362 theaters in the United States—109 more than Spider-Man 3. It was the ninth film to play in more than 4,000 theaters upon opening, just after Shrek 2, Spider-Man 2, Shark Tale, Madagascar, Mission: Impossible III, Over the Hedge, Superman Returns and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Tracking data a month before the U.S. release reflected over 90% awareness and over 20% first choice among moviegoers, statistics that estimated an opening weekend of over $100 million for Spider-Man 3. Online tickets for Spider-Man 3 were reported on April 23, 2007, to have been purchased at a faster rate—three times at Movietickets.com and four times at Fandango—than online ticket sales for Spider-Man 2. On May 2, 2007, Fandango reported the sales rate as six times greater than the rate for Spider-Man 2. The strong ticket sales caused theaters to add 3:00 AM showings following the May 4, 2007 midnight showing to accommodate the demand. The FX channel signed a five-year deal for the television rights to Spider-Man 3, which they began airing in 2009. The price was based on the film's box office performance, with an option for three opportunities for Sony to sell the rights to one or more other broadcast networks. In March 2024, Sony announced that all of their live-action Spider-Man films would be re-released in theaters as part of Columbia Pictures' 100th anniversary celebration. Spider-Man 3 was re-released on April 29, 2024. In June 2025, it was announced that Sony, in collaboration with Fathom Events, would be re-releasing the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy in theaters. Spider-Man 3 was re-released on September 28, 2025, and was then followed by an encore screening on October 5, 2025. Home media Spider-Man 3 was released on Region 4 DVD (anamorphic widescreen) in Australia on September 18, 2007. For Region 2 in the United Kingdom, the film was released on October 15, 2007. Spider-Man 3 was released on DVD in Region 1 territories on October 30, 2007. The film is available in one-disc and two-disc editions, on both standard and Blu-ray formats, as well as packages with the previous films and a Universal Media Disc release. Sam Raimi, Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Ziskin, Avi Arad, and Grant Curtis are among those who contributed to the audio commentaries. Sony announced plans to create "one of the largest" marketing campaigns in Hollywood for the October 30, 2007 release of the DVD. Beginning with a partnership with Papa John's, Sony printed close to 8.5 billion impressions for pizza boxes, television, radio, and online ads. Sony also worked with Pringles Potato Crisp, Blu Tack, Jolly Time Pop Corn, and Nutella. Sony's Vice President of Marketing, Jennifer Anderson, stated the studio spent approximately 15% to 25% of its marketing budget on digital ad campaigns; from this, Papa John's sent text messages to mobile phones with ads. Anderson stated that there would be three sweepstakes held for consumers, where they would be able to win prizes from Sony and its promotional partners. In the United States, the film grossed more than $125 million in DVD sales. It also grossed more than $43.76 million on DVD/Home Video Rentals in 11 weeks. However, the DVD sales' results of this film did not meet industry expectations. During its first week of release, it reached the top of the DVD sales chart, beating Transformers, Meet the Robinsons and License to Wed. It then fell to third place in its second week, behind Ratatouille and I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry. The film's DVD sales were limited due to Sony's decision to bundle the Blu-ray version of the film with its new PlayStation 3 game console and Blu-ray player. Nevertheless, it sold 130,000 Blu-ray units within its first week of release, surpassing Casino Royale for not only being Sony's best-selling Blu-ray title, but also having the highest first week sales on that format. Spider-Man 3 was included in The Spider-Man Legacy Collection which includes five major Spider-Man films in a 4K UHD Blu-Ray collection which was released on October 17, 2017. In April 2021, Disney and Sony Pictures reached a multi-year deal to let Sony's titles, including past Spider-Man franchises and Sony's Spider-Man Universe content to stream on Hulu and Disney+. A significant number of Sony titles began streaming on Hulu starting in June 2021. It includes films from 2022 onwards. While the deal only concerns the United States, titles from Sony Pictures begun to also be added to Disney+ in regions outside of the United States, as early as June 2022, starting with the majority of the Spider-Man films. Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy was released on Disney+ on April 21, 2023. In 2017, Sony released an "editor's cut" of Spider-Man 3 that coincided with the film's 10th anniversary, which was included in the Spider-Man Limited Edition Blu-ray collection released on June 13, 2017. The film features unused music from Christopher Young and is two minutes shorter than the theatrical cut. Some scenes are shifted around or have been completely removed, and the film includes 3 new scenes, 3 alternate climax sequences, and 1 extended scene. Spider-Man 3: Editor's Cut was later re-released with the Spider-Man Legacy Collection 4K Blu-ray Box Set. Reception Spider-Man 3 earned $336.5 million in North America and $554.3 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $890.9 million. Worldwide, it is the third-highest-grossing film of 2007, the highest-grossing film of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, and was the highest-grossing film distributed by Sony/Columbia until 2012's Skyfall. The film set a worldwide single-day record ($104 million) on its first Friday and broke its own record again on Saturday ($117.6 million). It also set a worldwide opening-weekend record with $381.7 million, beating Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005). Spider-Man 3 would hold that record until Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince took it in 2009. The film's IMAX screenings reached $20 million in 30 days, faster than any other 2D film remastered in the format. In North America, Spider-Man 3 is the 81st-highest-grossing film in North America, the third-highest-grossing film of the Spider-Man series, the third-highest-grossing film distributed by Sony/Columbia, and the highest-grossing 2007 film. The film sold an estimated 48,914,300 tickets. It was released in 4,252 theaters (about 10,300 screens) on Friday, May 4, 2007. This broke the previous record held by Shrek 2 (2004) for having the largest number of screenings. It set an opening- and single-day record with $59.8 million (both were first surpassed by The Dark Knight in 2008). This included $10 million from midnight showings. Spider-Man 3 then set an opening-weekend record with $151.1 million (first surpassed by The Dark Knight), a record for the weekend per-theater average with $35,540 per theater (first surpassed by Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert), and an IMAX opening-weekend record with $4.8 million (first surpassed by The Dark Knight). Spider-Man 3 would hold the record for having the highest opening weekend for any film featuring Spider-Man until it was surpassed by Captain America: Civil War less than a decade later in 2016. Then in 2022, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness dethroned Spider-Man 3 for having the largest opening weekend for a Sam Raimi film. The film set record Friday and Sunday grosses and achieved the largest cumulative gross through its second, third, and fourth day of release (all were first surpassed by The Dark Knight). It also set a record Saturday gross (surpassed by Marvel's The Avengers). When the film was released, Spider-Man 3 was ranked in first place at the box office, edging out Disturbia, The Invisible, Next, Fracture and Lucky You. For its second weekend, it declined by 61.5%, but still outgrossed 28 Weeks Later, Georgia Rule and Delta Farce with $58.1 million, the fourth-highest at the time. The film was then dethroned by Shrek the Third in its third weekend, dropping into second place and earning $29 million. Outside North America, it is the 23rd-highest-grossing film, the highest-grossing film of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, and the third-highest-grossing film distributed by Sony/Columbia. On its opening day (Tuesday, May 1, 2007), Spider-Man 3 grossed $29.2 million from 16 territories, an 86% increase from the intake of Spider-Man 2 on its first day of release. In 10 of the 16 territories, Spider-Man 3 set new opening-day records. In Germany, the film surpassed the opening day gross of Spider-Man 2. It also surpassed Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire's record for scoring the biggest opening day in France, earning $6.8 million. Spider-Man 3 had the third-highest opening of any film in Austria, after The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Its Japanese opening generated a total of $3.7 million, making it the country's highest Tuesday gross of any film, breaking the former record held by Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Meanwhile, in the UK, the film had the third-highest opening of any film in the country with $16.1 million, trailing only behind Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. During its six-day opening weekend (through its first Sunday), the film earned $230.5 million from 107 markets, finishing #1 in all of them. Spider-Man 3 set opening-weekend records in 29 markets however, many of these records were achieved thanks to its six-day opening, while previous record-holders in some countries opened over the traditional three-day weekend (traditional two-, four-, or five-day weekend in other countries). In India, it grossed $16.4 million and was the seventh-highest-grossing film of 2007 there. Russia and Ukraine both earned $7.4 million from 671 screens, dethroning The Da Vinci Code (2006). Moreover, five Asian countries had overturned a ten-year record that was held by The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997). As for South Korea, Spider-Man 3 crossed over The Matrix Reloaded (2003) for a local currency mark for a Hollywood release, as well as surpassing The Host (2006). In Japan, it earned a total of $26.5 million, taking the previous record held by The Matrix Reloaded. It was ranked in first place at the box office outside North America for three consecutive weekends. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Spider-Man 3 holds a 63% approval rating based on 263 reviews, with an average rating of 6.2/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Though there are more characters and plotlines, and the action sequences still dazzle, Spider-Man 3 nonetheless isn't quite as refined as the first two." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 59 out of 100 based on 40 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale. Manohla Dargis of The New York Times deplored the film's pacing as "mostly just plods" and said it lacked humor. Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a two out of four stars, feeling, "for every slam-bang action sequence, there are far too many sluggish scenes". David Edelstein of New York magazine misses the "centrifugal threat" of Alfred Molina's character, adding that "the three villains here don't add up to one Doc Ock" James Berardinelli felt Raimi "overreached his grasp" by allowing so many villains, specifically saying, "Venom is one bad guy too many". Roger Ebert, who gave Spider-Man 2 a positive review, gave the third film two out of four stars and thought Church never expressed how Sandman felt about his new powers, something Molina, as Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man 2, did "with a vengeance"; he said the film was "a mess," with too many villains, subplots, romantic misunderstandings, conversations and "street crowds looking high into the air and shouting 'oooh!' this way, then swiveling and shouting 'aaah!' that way". The New Yorker's Anthony Lane, who gave Spider-Man 2 a favorable review, gave the film a negative review, characterizing the film as a "shambles" which "makes the rules up as it goes along". Robert Wilonsky of Dallas Observer described the film as "overstuffed (three villains), overlong (at more than two hours and 20 minutes) and undercooked (plot points include amnesia and alien goo)." Roger Friedman of Fox News called the film a "4-star opera", noting that while long, there was plenty of humor and action. Andy Khouri of Comic Book Resources praised the film as "easily the most complex and deftly orchestrated superhero epic ever filmed ... despite the enormous amount of characters, action and sci-fi superhero plot going on in this film, Spider-Man 3 never feels weighted down, tedious or boring". Jonathan Ross, a big fan of the comic books, felt the film was the best of the trilogy. Richard Corliss of Time commended the filmmakers for their ability to "dramatize feelings of angst and personal betrayal worthy of an Ingmar Bergman film, and then to dress them up in gaudy comic-book colors". Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe, who gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, wrote that it was a well-made, fresh film, but would leave the viewer "overfulfilled". Jonathan Dean of Total Film felt the film's complex plot helped the film's pacing, in that, "it rarely feels disjointed or loose ... Spider-Man cements its shelf-life". IGN critic Todd Gilchrist felt that the film served as a satisfying conclusion to the series, and ultimately rated it with eight stars out of ten. Entertainment Weekly named the Sandman as the eighth best computer-generated film character. John Hartl of MSNBC gave Spider-Man 3 a positive review, but stated that it has some flaws such as having "too many storylines". His opinion is echoed by Houston Chronicle's Amy Biancolli who complained that "the script is busy with so many supporting characters and plot detours that the series' charming idiosyncrasy is sometimes lost in the noise". Jack Matthews of Daily News thought the film was too devoted to the "quiet conversations" of Peter and Mary Jane, but that fans would not be disappointed by the action. In a mixed review, Scott Foundas of LA Weekly stated that "the satirical jabs at celebrity culture smell like rotted leftovers from The Fantastic Four. The token ruminations on the tension between a superhero's public and private lives seem flown in from Bryan Singer's Superman Returns (to say nothing of Raimi's own, superior Darkman). Most egregious, though, is the way Raimi and the writers reduce Spider-Man 3 to the very sort of abject distinctions between virtue and sin that the series has heretofore studiously avoided." Finally, Sean Burns of Philadelphia Weekly felt that the director "substituted scope and scale for the warmth and wit that made those two previous pictures so memorable". Raimi himself would later call the film "awful" during a 2014 interview. In 2018, Arad accepted responsibility for pushing Raimi to include Venom in the film, and how the result had disappointed many fans of the character, saying "I think we learned that Venom is not a sideshow. In all fairness, I'll take the guilt because of what Sam Raimi used to say in all of these interviews feeling guilty that I forced him into it". In 2021, Raimi acknowledged that the negative internet reaction to Spider-Man 3 at the time felt "awful" and had been difficult for him to take, but when his agent told him that he was being considered by Marvel Studios to direct Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), although initially hesitant about doing another superhero film, he ultimately decided to take the role. Following its initial mixed reception, Spider-Man 3 gained widespread meme popularity on social media, becoming the subject of some fan reappraisal as well. Peter Parker's corrupted personality under the Venom symbiote has been nicknamed "Bully Maguire" or "Emo Peter Parker" and has helped increase the popularity of the film. During a Reddit AMA when promoting Babylon (2022), Maguire acknowledged the memes, finding it a "funny discovery." Several media outlets have re-evaluated Spider-Man 3 over the years since its 2007 release. Em Casalena of Screen Rant reassessed it as the fifth most underrated superhero film ever made. MovieWeb called it the best film that Raimi directed, while Paste ranked it the 63rd best superhero movie of all time. The character of Sandman has been particularly praised. Accolades Both the 35th Annie Awards and 61st British Academy Film Awards gave this movie one nomination, the former for Best Animated Effects and the latter for Best Special Visual Effects. Spider-Man 3 did not win any of the four Visual Effects Society Awards nominations it received. Dunst's and Maguire's performances earned them each one nomination from the National Movie Awards. Dunst also received another nomination for Favorite Movie Actress from the 2008 Kids' Choice Awards ceremony. The movie fared better at the Teen Choice Awards, amounting a total of seven nominations, varying from Choice Movie Villain (for Grace) to Choice Movie Dance (for Maguire) and Choice Movie Liplock (shared between Maguire and Dunst). Future In 2007, Spider-Man 4 entered development for release on May 6, 2011, with Raimi attached to direct with Maguire, Dunst and other cast members set to reprise their roles. Both a fourth and a fifth film were planned, and at one time, the idea of shooting the two sequels concurrently was under consideration. Raimi said in March 2009 that only the fourth film was in development at that time and that if there were fifth and sixth films, they would be a continuation of each other. Raimi said that he was unhappy with Spider-Man 3 and wanted Spider-Man 4 to be "the best of all of them and end on a very high note". James Vanderbilt was hired in October 2007 to pen the screenplay after initial reports in January 2007 that Sony Pictures was in contact with David Koepp, who wrote the first Spider-Man film. The script was subsequently rewritten by Pulitzer-winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire in November 2008 and rewritten again by Gary Ross in October 2009. Sony also engaged Vanderbilt to write scripts for Spider-Man 5 and Spider-Man 6. A spin-off featuring Spider-Man 3's version of the Venom character was also planned; this never materialized, though a Venom film featuring a different version of the character was eventually produced and released in 2018. In 2007, Raimi expressed interest in portraying the transformation of Dr. Curt Connors into his villainous alter ego, the Lizard, a villain who had been teased since Spider-Man 2; the character's actor Dylan Baker and producer Grant Curtis were also enthusiastic about the idea. By December 2009, John Malkovich was in negotiations to play Vulture and Anne Hathaway would play Felicia Hardy, though she would not have transformed into the Black Cat as in the comics but a new superpowered figure, the Vulturess. Raimi later clarified in a 2013 interview that Hathaway would have portrayed Black Cat if Spider-Man 4 had been made. In 2023, Hathaway stated if Spider-Man 4 got made she thinks she would have never been considered for Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises (2012). Sony Pictures announced in January 2010 that plans for Spider-Man 4 had been canceled due to Raimi's withdrawal from the project. Raimi reportedly ended his participation due to his doubt that he could meet the planned May 6, 2011 release date, while upholding the film creatively. Raimi purportedly went through four iterations of the script with different screenwriters and still "hated it". Raimi would later say that he couldn't get the script in time and that due to his fallings, he told Sony to go ahead with its reboot. Following the appearance of Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker in Spider-Man: No Way Home, a fan campaign started trending on Twitter under the name #MakeRaimiSpiderMan4, calling for Sony to make a fourth film in the Spider-Man series directed by Sam Raimi with Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst. Raimi later expressed interest in doing so in April 2022, noting that another sequel to his Spider-Man trilogy was possible after the introduction of the Multiverse in Spider-Man: No Way Home and his MCU film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022). He stated the next month that he had no plans to direct Spider-Man 4 but would do so if offered the opportunity to direct a story he approved of. By early 2026, Sam Raimi had announced that he had shut down any hopes for directing the fourth film. However Sam revised this statement that his take of Spider-Man 4 may happen someday but just didn't want to break up the success that Marvel Studios was having with the current franchise. A reboot of the series titled The Amazing Spider-Man was released on July 3, 2012, with Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker. A sequel, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, was released on May 2, 2014. Following the 2014 Sony Pictures hack, leaked information from the hack indicated that prior to the cancellation of future The Amazing Spider-Man films, Sony was in talks with Sam Raimi about having him direct Spider-Man vs. The Amazing Spider-Man, a multiversal crossover film featuring Garfield's Spider-Man encounter Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man (with Maguire reprising his role), as well as a new film trilogy starring Maguire (following Garfield's firing) as a middle-aged Spider-Man years after the events of Spider-Man 3; these plans were ultimately scrapped in favor of a Marvel Studios-produced reboot set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), beginning with Captain America: Civil War (2016), with Tom Holland cast as Spider-Man. Sam Raimi directed the Marvel Studios film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), which sparked renewed interest from fans in making his unproduced Spider-Man 4 a reality. Following the underwhelming critical and commercial reception of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Sony and Marvel Studios announced in February 2015 that a new iteration of Spider-Man would appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with the character debuting in Captain America: Civil War. As part of the agreement, Sony Pictures continued to finance, distribute, own and have final creative control of the Spider-Man films. Marvel Studios and Sony will explore opportunities to integrate other characters of the MCU into future Spider-Man films. Sony released a standalone film titled Spider-Man: Homecoming, produced by Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal, on July 7, 2017, with Tom Holland starring as the new Spider-Man. Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) continues the story arc of the MCU's iteration of Spider-Man in addition to using the multiverse to link the Marvel Studios films with Sony Pictures' preceding Spider-Man film franchises from Sam Raimi and Marc Webb. Maguire, Dafoe and Church all reprised their respective roles as Peter Parker / Spider-Man, Norman Osborn / Green Goblin and Flint Marko / Sandman from Spider-Man 3, appearing in supporting roles alongside other actors from previous films based on the characters outside the MCU's cast, including the Raimi trilogy's version of Otto Octavius / Doctor Octopus from Spider-Man 2, reprised by Alfred Molina. They are joined by Andrew Garfield, Jamie Foxx and Rhys Ifans, who reprise their respective roles as Peter Parker / Spider-Man, Maxwell Dillon / Electro and Curt Connors / Lizard from Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man films. Notes References Bibliography External links |
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Contents List of 2008 box office number-one films in the United States This is a list of films which have placed number one at the weekend box office in the United States during 2008. Number-one films Highest-grossing films Highest-grossing films of 2008 by Calendar Gross See also References Chronology |
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Contents Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace is a 1999 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas in his first directorial effort since the original Star Wars,[a] released in 1977. Produced by Lucasfilm Ltd. and distributed by 20th Century Fox,[b] it is the fourth film in the Star Wars film series, the first film of the prequel trilogy and the first chronological chapter of the "Skywalker Saga". The film stars Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd, Ahmed Best, Ian McDiarmid, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Pernilla August, and Frank Oz. It is set 32 years before the original trilogy, during the era of the Galactic Republic. The film follows Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi as they try to protect Padmé Amidala of Naboo in her mission to resolve an interplanetary trade dispute. They also confront the mysterious return of the Sith with the Force-sensitive young slave Anakin Skywalker joining their efforts. Following the release of Return of the Jedi (1983), talks of a follow-up were proposed, but Lucas was not motivated to return to the franchise. During the hiatus, the backstories he created for the characters, particularly Anakin's, sparked interest in him to develop a prequel trilogy during the 1990s. After he determined that computer-generated imagery (CGI) had advanced to the level he wanted for the prequel trilogy's visual effects, Lucas began writing The Phantom Menace in 1993, and production began in 1994. Filming started in June 1997—at locations at Leavesden Film Studios, at the Royal Palace of Caserta in Italy and the Tunisian desert—and ended in September. The Phantom Menace was released in theaters on May 19, 1999, almost 16 years after the premiere of Return of the Jedi. The film's premiere was extensively covered by media and was widely anticipated because of the large cultural following the Star Wars saga had cultivated. Upon its release, The Phantom Menace received mixed reviews from critics. While the visual effects and action sequences were praised, criticism was largely focused on its exposition and characters—particularly Jar Jar Binks. The film was a box-office success and broke numerous records. It grossed $924 million worldwide during its initial theatrical run, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1999, the second-highest-grossing film of all-time, and the third-highest in North America (behind Titanic and Star Wars), as well as the highest-grossing Star Wars film at the time (not factoring in inflation). The film has been re-released several times, including a 2012 3D reissue which brought its overall worldwide gross to over $1 billion. Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005) followed The Phantom Menace, rounding out the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Plot The Trade Federation has disrupted order in the Galactic Republic by blockading the planet Naboo in secret preparation for a full-scale invasion. The Republic's leader, Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum, dispatches Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi, to negotiate with Trade Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray. Darth Sidious, a Sith Lord and the Trade Federation's secret benefactor, orders the Viceroy to kill the Jedi and begin their invasion with an army of battle droids. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan escape and flee to Naboo. Amid the invasion, Qui-Gon rescues a bumbling Gungan outcast, Jar Jar Binks. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan fail to persuade the Gungan leader Boss Nass to aid the planet's surface dwellers but manage to obtain Jar Jar's guidance and underwater transport to Theed, the capital city of Naboo. After rescuing Queen Padmé Amidala, the group makes their escape from Naboo aboard her royal starship, intending to reach the Republic capital planet of Coruscant. The ship is damaged passing through the Federation blockade but spared from destruction by astromech droid R2-D2, and the group lands for repairs on the outlying desert planet of Tatooine, situated beyond the Republic's jurisdiction. Qui-Gon, Jar Jar, R2, and Padmé, disguised as one of her own handmaidens, visit the settlement of Mos Espa to purchase a new part for the hyperdrive. They encounter a junk dealer, Watto, and his nine-year-old slave Anakin Skywalker, a gifted pilot and engineer who has built a protocol droid, C-3PO. Qui-Gon senses a strong presence of the Force within Anakin and is convinced that he is the prophesied "Chosen One," who is destined to restore balance to the Force. With Watto refusing to accept payment in Republic currency, Qui-Gon wagers both the required hyperdrive part and Anakin's freedom on a podrace. Anakin wins the race and joins the group to be trained as a Jedi, leaving behind his mother, Shmi. En route to their starship, Qui-Gon is attacked by Darth Maul, Sidious's apprentice, who was sent to capture Amidala. After a brief lightsaber duel, Qui-Gon escapes on board the starship with the others. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan escort Padmé to Coruscant so she can plead her people's case to Valorum and the Galactic Senate. Qui-Gon asks the Jedi Council for permission to train Anakin as a Jedi, but the Council refuses, concerned that Anakin is vulnerable to the dark side of the Force due to his age. Undaunted, Qui-Gon vows to train Anakin anyway. Naboo's Senator Palpatine persuades Amidala to call for a vote of no confidence in Valorum to elect a more capable leader and to resolve the crisis. Though she successfully pushes for the vote, Amidala grows frustrated with the corruption in the Senate and decides to return to Naboo. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are ordered by the Jedi Council to accompany the queen and investigate the return of the Sith, whom they had believed to be extinct for more than a millennium. On Naboo, Padmé reveals herself as the queen before the Gungans and persuades them to join in an alliance against the Trade Federation. Jar Jar is promoted to general and joins his tribe in a battle against the droid army, while Padmé leads the search for Gunray in Theed. During a battle in a hangar, Anakin flees to a starfighter and accidentally triggers its autopilot, traveling to the battle against the Federation droid control ship, and inadvertently causes the control ship's destruction from within, which deactivates the droid army. Meanwhile, Darth Maul infiltrates the Theed Palace and engages Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan in a lightsaber duel. Maul mortally wounds Qui-Gon before being bisected by Obi-Wan and falling down a shaft. Before Qui-Gon dies, he asks Obi-Wan to train Anakin. The Republic arrests Gunray, and Palpatine is elected as Chancellor. Jedi Grand Master Yoda promotes Obi-Wan to the rank of Jedi Knight and reluctantly accepts Anakin as Obi-Wan's apprentice. That evening, at Qui-Gon's funeral, Yoda contemplates the likelihood of a second Sith Lord existing beyond Maul, given legends about Sith lords always having a master. The following day, a celebration of their victory on Naboo and the reconciliation of the Gungans and Naboo is held, where Padmé rewards Boss Nass with a peace-making trophy. Cast Additionally, Brian Blessed voiced Boss Nass, the leader of the Gungan tribe who allies with the Naboo surface dwellers; Andy Secombe voiced Watto, a junk dealer on Tatooine who owns Anakin and his mother as slaves; and Lewis MacLeod voiced Sebulba, an aggressive, scheming podracer who is Anakin's main rival at the Boonta Eve podrace. Greg Proops and Scott Capurro voiced Fode and Beed, respectively, the two-headed announcer of the Boonta Eve Race. Alan Ruscoe appears as Jedi Master Plo Koon and Neimoidian Daultay Dofine, commander of the Trade Federation's droid control ships. Ralph Brown plays Ric Olie, commander of the Naboo Royal Space Fighter Corps and chief pilot aboard Queen Amidala's starship, while Matthew Wood appears as the Twi'lek Bib Fortuna alongside a CGI Jabba the Hutt, who is voiced by Scott Schumann. Dominic West plays the role of Jerus Jannick a Naboo Palace Guard, Celia Imrie appears as a fighter pilot, and Sofia Coppola appears as Saché, one of Amidala's handmaidens. Christian Simpson appears as Lieutenant Gavyn Sykes. Lindsay Duncan voices TC-14, a protocol droid on the Federation ship. Sally Hawkins made her screen debut as an uncredited villager. Mark Hamill's son, Nathan makes a cameo appearance as one of the Royal Guards of Naboo. Production While writing the original Star Wars film (1977),[a] George Lucas decided the story was too vast to be covered in one film. He introduced a wider story arc that could be told in sequels if it became successful. He negotiated a contract that allowed him to make two sequels, and over time created an elaborate backstory to aid his writing process. While writing the second film, The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Lucas considered directions in which to take the story. In the original trilogy, Darth Vader was revealed to have been Anakin Skywalker, a once-powerful Jedi Knight, and a traitor to the Jedi Order. With this backstory in place, Lucas decided that the movies would work best as a trilogy. In the trilogy's final episode, Return of the Jedi (1983), Vader is redeemed through an act of sacrifice for Luke. Throughout the 1980s, Lucas said he had no desire to return to Star Wars and had canceled his sequel trilogy by the time of Return of the Jedi. However, because Lucas had developed most of the backstory, the idea of prequels continued to fascinate him. In the early 1990s, Star Wars saw a resurgence in popularity in the wake of Dark Horse's comic line and Timothy Zahn's trilogy of novels.[c] Lucas saw that there was still a large audience for his idea of a prequel trilogy, and with the development of special effects generated with computer-generated imagery (CGI), Lucas considered returning to his saga and directing the film. In October 1993, it was announced in Variety and other sources that he would be making the prequels. Lucas began outlining the story; Anakin Skywalker rather than Obi-Wan Kenobi would be the protagonist, and the series would be a tragedy examining Darth Vader's origins. A relic of the original outline was that Anakin would, like his son, grow up on Tatooine. Lucas also began to change the prequels' timeline relative to the original series; instead of filling in the tangential history, they would form the beginning of a long story that started with Anakin's childhood and ended with his death. This was the final step toward turning the franchise into a saga. Lucas began writing the Star Wars prequel trilogy on November 1, 1994. The screenplay of Star Wars was adapted from Lucas's 15-page outline that was written in 1976, which he designed to help him keep track of the characters' backstories and events that occurred before the original trilogy. Anakin was first written as a twelve-year-old, but Lucas reduced his age to nine because he felt that the lower age would better fit the plot point of Anakin being affected by his mother's separation from him. Eventually, Anakin's younger age led Lucas to rewrite his participation in the movie's major scenes. The film's working title was The Beginning, with the title not being changed to The Phantom Menace until shortly before the film's completion. Lucas later revealed that the Phantom Menace title was a reference to Palpatine hiding his true identity as an evil Sith Lord behind the facade of a well-intentioned public servant. The larger budget and possibilities opened up by the use of digital effects made Lucas "think about a much grander, more epic scale—which is what I wanted Star Wars to be". The story ended with five simultaneous, ongoing plots, one leading to another. The central plot is Palpatine's intent to become Chancellor, which leads to the Trade Federation's attack on Naboo, the Jedi being sent there, Anakin being met along the way, and the rise of the Sith Lords. As with the original trilogy, Lucas intended The Phantom Menace to illustrate several themes throughout the narrative. Duality is a frequent theme; Amidala is a queen who passes as a handmaiden, Palpatine plays on both sides of the war, among others. "Balance" is frequently suggested; Anakin is supposedly "the one" chosen to bring balance to the Force—Lucas said, "Anakin needed to have a mother, Obi-Wan needed a Master, Darth Sidious needed an apprentice" as without interaction and dialogue, "you wouldn't have drama". In November 2015, Ron Howard confirmed that he, Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg were approached by Lucas to direct The Phantom Menace. All three approached directors told Lucas that he should direct the film, as they each found the project "too daunting." Before Lucas had started writing, his producing partner Rick McCallum was preparing for the film. McCallum stated that his experience with The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles led to many of his decisions on The Phantom Menace, such as long-term deals with actors and soundstages, the employment of recent graduates with no film experience, and the creation of sets and landscapes with digital technology. In April 1994, McCallum started searching for artists in art, architecture and design schools, and in mid-year he began location scouting with production designer Gavin Bocquet. Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) art director Doug Chiang impressed McCallum the most and was hired as the design director. Art development on the film began in January 1995. Within three to four months of Lucas beginning the writing process, Chiang and his design team started a two-year process of reviewing thousands of designs for the film. Chiang stated that Lucas intended Episode I to be stylistically different from the other Star Wars films; it would be "richer and more like a period piece, since it was the history leading up to A New Hope." The story takes place on three planets, some with varied environments such as the human and Gungan cities of Naboo and three buildings in Coruscant. With the exception of the Gungan city, which had an Art Nouveau-inspired visual, these locations would be given distinctive looks with some basis in the real world. The concept drawings of Ralph McQuarrie for the original trilogy served as the basis for Mos Espa—which was also inspired by old Tunisian hotels and buildings and had touches such as a marketplace to differentiate it from A New Hope's Mos Eisley—and Coruscant, in particular a metropolis design that became the basis for the Senate. Bocquet would later develop the work of Chiang's team and design the interiors, translating the concepts into construction blueprints with environments and architectural styles that had some basis in reality "to give the audience something to key into." Some elements were directly inspired by the original trilogy; Lucas described the battle droids as predecessors to the stormtroopers. Chiang uses that orientation to base the droids on the Imperial soldiers, only in the same style of stylized and elongated features seen in tribal African art. Terryl Whitlatch, who had a background on zoology and anatomy, was in charge of creature design. Many of the aliens are hybrids, combining features of real animals. At times, entire food chains were developed, even though only a small percentage of them would appear in the film. Whitlatch also designed detailed skeletons for the major characters and facial muscles on Jar Jar Binks as a reference for ILM's animators. Each creature would reflect its environment; those on Naboo were more beautiful because the planet is "lush and more animal-friendly", Tatooine has rough-looking creatures "with weather-beaten leathery skin to protect them from the harsh desert elements", and Coruscant has bipedal, human-looking aliens. The film made extensive use of the new technique of digital pre-visualization, using computers to essentially create 3-D animated storyboards. This was done for dozens of scenes in the film but was first and primarily used in the pod race sequence. Animatic supervisor David Dozoretz, also an ILM alum, worked on this sequence for nearly three years, and at one point had a 25-minute version of the race, although the film only included a 9-minute version. Stunt coordinator Nick Gillard was recruited to create a new Jedi fighting style for the prequel trilogy. Gillard likened the lightsaber battles to a chess game "with every move being a check". Because of their short-range weapons, Gillard thought that the Jedi would have had to develop a fighting style that merged every sword fighting style, such as kendo and other kenjutsu styles, with other swinging techniques, such as tennis swings and tree-chopping. While training Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor, Gillard wrote a sequence that lasted around 60 seconds and intended to be around five or six sequences per fight. Lucas later referred to the Jedi as "negotiators" rather than high-casualty soldiers. The preference of hand-to-hand combat was intended to give a spiritual and intellectual role to the Jedi. Because Gillard thought that the stunt jumps with the actors and stuntmen dangling from wires did not look realistic, air rams were used to propel them into the air instead. Lucas decided to make elaborate costumes, because the film's society was more sophisticated than the one depicted in the original trilogy. Designer Trisha Biggar and her team created over 1,000 costumes that were inspired by various cultures. Biggar worked closely with concept designer Iain McCaig to create a color palette for the inhabitants of each world: Tatooine followed A New Hope with sun-bleached sand colors, Coruscant had grays, browns and blacks, and Naboo had green and gold for humans while Gungans wore "a leathery look, like their skin". The Jedi costumes followed the tradition from the original film; Obi-Wan's costume was inspired by the costume that was worn by Guinness. Lucas said he and Biggar would look at the conceptual art to "translat[e] all of these designs into cloth and fabric and materials that would actually work and not look silly". Biggar also consulted Gillard to ensure that the costumes would accommodate action scenes, and consulted the creature department to find which fabrics "wouldn't wear too heavily" on the alien skins. A huge wardrobe department was set up at Leavesden Film Studios to create over 250 costumes for the main actors and 5,000 for the background ones. McCaig initially designed Darth Maul as a cross "between a ghost and a serial killer" after he was given a piece of the script where it stated "give me your worst nightmare", but when Lucas saw the design, it terrified him. He closed the book and told McCaig "give me your second worst nightmare". McCaig later based Darth Maul's design on Bozo the Clown. Nute Gunray's Thai accent was chosen after Lucas and McCallum listened to various languages to decide how the Neimoidians would speak. The character design of Watto was an amalgam of rejected ideas; his expressions were based on video footage of Secombe's voice acting, photographs of animation supervisor Rob Coleman imitating the character, and modeler Steve Alpin saying Watto's lines to a mirror. Lucas described Sebulba's design as "a spider crossed with an orangutan crossed with a sloth", with a camel-like face, and clothing inspired by medieval armor. After Samuel L. Jackson expressed interest in appearing in a Star Wars film, he was approached by casting director Robin Gurland to play Mace Windu. Tupac Shakur was also considered for the role of Mace Windu. Ray Park, a martial arts champion with experience in gymnastics and sword fighting, was originally a member of the stunt crew. Stunt coordinator Nick Gillard filmed Park to demonstrate his conception of the lightsaber battles. Lucas and McCallum were so impressed with the test tape that they gave Park the role of Maul. His voice was considered "too squeaky" and was dubbed over in post-production by Peter Serafinowicz. Keira Knightley's parents tried to convince her not to audition, but she still sought a role since she was a Star Wars fan. The casting was influenced by Knightley's remarkable similarity to Natalie Portman, with Knightley admitting their mothers could not tell them apart. Knightley was reported to have "cried every single day" due to finding the wardrobe uncomfortable. Over 3,000 actors auditioned for the role of Anakin Skywalker including Haley Joel Osment, Cameron Finley, Justin Berfield and Michael Angarano before Jake Lloyd was selected. Vinette Robinson auditioned for the role of Padmé Amidala. Benicio del Toro was initially cast as Darth Maul before later leaving the project when the character's lines were cut. Michael Jackson expressed interest in playing Jar Jar Binks, but he wanted to do it in prosthetic makeup while Lucas wanted to do it in CGI. Joseph Fiennes auditioned for the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi and nearly landed the part until Lucas's daughter rejected him upon meeting him during the second level of auditioning. According to McCaig, in the first draft of the script Neeson's character was originally named Obi-Wan Kenobi and McGregor's character was named Qui-Gon Jinn; with the young Qui-Gon taking on the name of Obi-Wan upon the elder Jedi's death, however, these roles were reversed late in filming. Silas Carson was cast as Nute Gunray because another actor was uncomfortable with the costumes used by the Trade Federation characters, which were hot, exerted a lot of pressure on the bearer, and took about 15 minutes to apply. Hugh Quarshie considered the part of Panaka as "a good career move" and a production that would be fun to make. Brian Blessed originally auditioned for the role of Sio Bibble, the Governor of Naboo, for which he was considered "too loud". Casting director Robin Gurland approached him to play Nass because it was a "bigger than life" character with "a kind of bravado". Blessed described Nass as a "reluctant hero". Sofia Coppola, daughter of Lucas' long-time friend and creative partner Francis Ford Coppola, considers Lucas as "like an uncle to me". As she prepared the script for her directorial debut The Virgin Suicides, Coppola heard Lucas would be making a new Star Wars film and asked him if she could accompany him during filming. Lucas offered Coppola a role in the royal entourage, which she accepted because it "seemed like a good vantage point to watch without getting in the way". Filming began on June 26, 1997, and ended on September 30 of that year, primarily taking place at Leavesden Film Studios in England. Leavesden was leased for a two and a half year period so the production company could leave the sets intact and return after principal photography had been completed. The forest scenes on Naboo were filmed at Cassiobury Park in Watford, Hertfordshire. Pick-ups were shot between August 1998 and February 1999 after Lucas screened a rough cut of the film for friends and colleagues in May 1998. Most of the action and stunts were filmed by Roger Christian's second unit, which worked alongside the main unit instead of afterwards because of the high number of shots to be completed daily. The Tunisian desert was again used for the Tatooine scenes; Mos Espa was built outside the city of Tozeur. On the night following the third day of shooting in Tozeur, an unexpected sandstorm destroyed many of the sets and props. The production was quickly rescheduled to allow for repairs and was able to leave Tunisia on the date originally planned. The Italian Caserta Palace was used as the interior of the Theed City Naboo Palace; it was used as a location for four days after it had been closed to visitors. Scenes with explosions were filmed on replica sets in Leavesden. A binder with the film's storyboards served as a reference for live-action filming, shots that would be filmed in front of a chroma key blue screen, and shots that would be composed using CGI. The sets were often built with the parts that would be required on screen; often they were built only up to the heights of the actors. Chroma key was extensively used for digital set extensions, backgrounds, or scenes that required cinematographer David Tattersall to seek powerful lamps to light the sets and visual effects supervisor John Knoll to develop software that would remove the blue reflection from shiny floors. Knoll, who remained on set through most of the production, worked closely with Tattersall to ensure that the shots were suitable to add effects later. The cameras were fitted with data capture models to provide technical data for the CGI artists. The Phantom Menace was the final Star Wars film to be shot mainly on 35mm film until The Force Awakens (2015). Some scenes, mostly of elements filmed by the special effects team, were shot on high definition digital video tapes to test the performance of digital recordings, which Lucas and McCallum considered the next logical step because of the amount of digitizing—an expensive process compared to recording directly on digital media—for the compositing of computer-generated effects. A couple of digitally shot scenes made it into the movie, one of them being of Qui-Gon taking a blood sample of Anakin Skywalker. Later prequel trilogy films Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005) would be shot using Sony CineAlta high-definition video cameras. Greg Proops and Scott Capurro were filmed wearing makeup and blue bodysuits so their heads could be joined in a computer-generated body. The visual effects crew did not like the original results and crafted Fode and Beed as an entirely computer generated alien. Because of the amount of visual effects produced, editing took two years; Paul Martin Smith started the process in England and focused on dialogue-heavy scenes. Ben Burtt—who was also the film's sound editor—was responsible for action sequences under Lucas's supervision. Non-linear editing systems played a large part in translating Lucas's vision; he constantly tweaked, revised and reworked shots and scenes. The final sound mix was added in March 1999, and the following month, the film was completed after the delivery of the remaining visual effects shots. "Writing the script was much more enjoyable this time around because I wasn't constrained by anything. You can't write one of these movies without knowing how you're going to accomplish it. With CG at my disposal, I knew I could do whatever I wanted". The film saw a breakthrough in computer generated effects. About 1,950 of the shots in The Phantom Menace have visual effects. The scene in which toxic gas is released on the Jedi is the only sequence with no digital alteration. The work was so extensive that three visual effects supervisors divided the workload among themselves—John Knoll supervised the on-set production and the podrace and space battle sequences, Dennis Muren supervised the underwater sequence and the ground battle, and Scott Squires, alongside teams assigned for miniature effects and character animation, worked on the lightsaber effects. Until the film's production, many special effects in the film industry were achieved using miniature models, matte paintings and on-set visual effects—although other films had made extensive use of CGI. Knoll previewed 3,500 storyboards for the film; Lucas accompanied him to explain factors of the shots that would be practical and those that would be created through visual effects. Knoll later said that on hearing the explanations of the storyboards, he did not know how to accomplish what he had seen. The result was a mixture of original techniques and the newest digital techniques to make it difficult for the viewer to guess which technique was being used. Knoll and his visual effects team wrote new computer software, including cloth simulators to allow a realistic depiction of the digital characters' clothing, to create certain shots. Another goal was to create computer-generated characters that could act seamlessly with live-action actors. While filming scenes with CGI characters, Lucas would block the characters using their corresponding voice actors on-set. The voice actors were then removed and the live-action actors would perform the same scene alone. A CGI character would later be added into the shot to complete the conversation. Lucas also used CGI to correct the physical presence of actors in certain scenes. Practical models were used when their visuals helped with miniature sceneries for backgrounds, set extensions and model vehicles that would be scanned to create the digital models or filmed to represent spaceships and podraces. Lucas, who had previously confronted problems with the props used to depict R2-D2, allowed ILM and the production's British special effects department to create their own versions of the robot. Nine R2-D2 models were created; one was for actor Kenny Baker to be dropped into, seven were built by ILM and featured two wheelchair motors capable of moving 440 pounds (200 kg), enabling it to run and be mostly used in stage sets, and the British studio produced a pneumatic R2-D2 that could shift from two to three legs and was mostly used in Tunisia because its motor drive system allowed it to drive over sand. Lucas originally planned to create many of the aliens with computer graphics, but those that would be more cost-effectively realized with masks and animatronics were created by Nick Dudman's creature effects team. These included the Neimoidians, background characters in Mos Espa, the Jedi Council, and the Galactic Senate. Dudman's team was told where the creatures would be required six months before principal photography begun, and they rushed the production. The Neimoidian suits, which were originally intended as digital characters, were delivered one day before they would be required on set. Dudman traveled to Skywalker Ranch to see the original creatures that could be reused, and read the script for a breakdown of scenes with practical creatures, leaving only the more outlandish designs to be created using CGI. To research for the podrace vehicles, the visual effects crew visited a jet aircraft junkyard outside Phoenix, Arizona and scavenged four Boeing 747 engines. Life-sized replicas of the engines were built and sent to Tunisia to provide reference in the film. Except for Jake Lloyd inside a hydraulically controlled cockpit and a few practical podracer models, the entire podracing scene—which the effects crew designed to be as "out of this world" as possible—is computer-generated. Lucas told the effects crew to take references from Formula 1 crashes, where the high kinetic energy leads the vehicles to spin and break into pieces upon impact, leading to the creation of dedicated plugins to shatter the pod engines. Themes and analysis Like previous Star Wars films, The Phantom Menace makes several references to historical events and films that George Lucas watched in his youth. The Star Wars films typically mix several concepts from different mythologies together, drawing heavily from the hero's journey, an archetypical template developed by comparative mythologist Joseph Campbell. The film also notably borrows from Ben-Hur (1959), including the podrace sequence, which mirrors the chariot race scene, the rivalry between Anakin and Sebulba, which mirrors that of Ben-Hur and his former friend turned enemy Messala and the end celebration scene closely resembles a Roman parade in Ben-Hur. There are many references to Christianity in the film, such as the appearance of Darth Maul, whose design draws heavily from traditional depictions of the devil, complete with red skin and horns. The Star Wars film cycle features a similar Christian narrative involving Anakin Skywalker; he is the "Chosen One"—the individual prophesied to bring balance to the Force—who was conceived of a virgin birth. However, unlike Jesus, Anakin will eventually fall from grace and seemingly fail to fulfill his destiny (until the prophecy comes true in Return of the Jedi). Japanese films such as Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress (1958) influenced the original Star Wars film; scholars say that The Phantom Menace was likewise influenced by Korean and Japanese culture. Film historians Geoff King and Tanya Krzywinska write, "The costume and make-up designs ... favour a mixture of the gothic and the oriental over anything very futuristic. The gothic is most strongly apparent in Darth Maul's demonic horns and the red and black make-up mask that borrows from the facial designs found in depictions of Japanese demons." King and Krzywinska say that "Qui-Gon's pony tail and Obi-Wan's position of apprentice further encourage a reading in terms of the Samurai tradition". They also say "Amidala, in keeping with her status and character, has a number of highly formal outfits ... to go with hair sculpted into a curve that frames make-up of a Japanese cast". The Jedi practice Zen-like meditation and martial arts, as did the ancient Japanese Samurai warriors. The name "Qui-Gon" adapts the term qigong, which refers to a Chinese discipline involving meditation and cultivation of the flow of the vital energy called "qi" for healing, health, and combat. The words qi (Chinese), gi (Korean), ki (Japanese), and the Indian term "Prana" all refer to the energy that is thought to flow through all living things, from the source of all qi (or power), which is "The Way" or "The Tao" in Chinese philosophy. In Taoist philosophy, from The Way, yin and yang—the opposing but complementary aspects of reality or nature—are born. Unlike Chinese philosophy, in which yin and yang are not moral qualities, the ancient Persian philosophy of Zurvanism taught that the dualism of dark and light forces are locked in an eternal battle while being two sides (or evolutes) of the same "Force", the force of time itself (Zurvan)—the prime mover. These elements derive primarily from Eastern and Iranian religions and myths. As with other Star Wars films, themes about family and hope are featured prominently. In the Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian episode "Legacy", Dave Filoni explains that the use of "Duel of the Fates" during the lightsaber duel between Darth Maul against Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan represents the fight for the fate of Anakin Skywalker. According to Filoni, Qui-Gon acts like a father figure towards Anakin because he feels he needs one after taking him from his mother, having realized that the Jedi shouldn't be opposed to love and care. In the end, Qui-Gon dies, and thus Anakin loses his father figure; Obi-Wan ultimately becomes his master to honor Qui-Gon's dying wish despite his initial contempt for him, and while he comes to eventually see him like a brother as shown in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, he doesn't act like a father, which coupled with the Jedi's indifference, seals Anakin's fate. The film contains dramatic irony which the following sequels would also connect with and gain from the original trilogy. Due to the original trilogy being released first, some of the audience had already seen what followed and knew some things the characters did not know; Palpatine's true nature as the main antagonist of the saga and Ben Kenobi mentioning the Clone Wars, the Great Jedi Purge, the fall of the Republic, the rise of the Empire and a bit about Anakin's backstory to Luke Skywalker. Although C-3PO's role is smaller in the film, the audience knows he would see R2-D2 again and that they would later play significant roles alongside Anakin's children in forthcoming galactic events. Other significant dramatic ironies include Darth Vader's breathing and The Imperial March being featured in the end credits; this reminds the audience that despite Anakin's portrayal as an innocent boy and Qui-Gon's belief he is The Chosen One, the following sequels would inevitably explore his transformation into the Sith Lord.[d] While the Battle of Naboo is seemingly a victory for the protagonists, what they do not know that the audience knows is that it is actually a step forward in Darth Sidious' plans for galactic domination. Although Obi-Wan has defeated Darth Maul, the true antagonist has not been revealed nor held to account for his actions. Maul's death robs Sidious of his assassin but the Sith master's survival means he is free to continue his facade as the benign politician, manipulate the galaxy's forthcoming events and pull the strings for his dark purposes.[e] The audience also knows (which Obi-Wan and the other heroes do not) that Sidious, being a patient long-term strategist would use Anakin as a tool to help him fulfil his objectives as well as playing a role in Anakin's turn to the dark side. After Qui-Gon's death, Anakin would seek out another father figure, Palpatine but would not know his true identity and nature until it is too late. The film significantly establishes Anakin's Achilles heel; fear of losing people he cares for. Sidious would later manipulate that fear in Revenge of the Sith. While Anakin is freed from slavery by a Jedi in the film, he becomes a slave of the Sith at the end of the prequel trilogy. While Anakin takes his first fateful steps away from his mother to become a Jedi in The Phantom Menace, he takes his final steps on a metaphorical bridge his new father figure creates in Revenge of the Sith to become the Sith Lord the audience already knows. The film shares several parallels with the original and sequel trilogies. While reflecting on the parallels between Anakin and Luke during The Beginning: The Making of Episode I, George Lucas said, "It's like poetry, sort of: they rhyme." Darth Sidious/Emperor Palpatine's first appearance in the prequel and original trilogies is via a hologram. His different roles as the phantom menace and Emperor are referenced in the opening crawl of The Rise of Skywalker.[f] Qui-Gon's relationship with Anakin mirrors Ben Kenobi's relationship with Luke. Both The Phantom Menace and A New Hope mark the beginning of a young Skywalker's journey to become a Jedi on the same planet, Tatooine. Although Anakin and Luke start off with the same ambition the former is hesitant about leaving his mother behind and does not want things to change. While the latter loses his aunt and uncle he is prepared to accept the changes he faces before moving forward on his path. So Luke inadvertently accepts his grandmother's lesson to Anakin about change bringing inevitable loss. At the end of Return of the Jedi, the redeemed Anakin finally accepts his late mother's lesson to him as a boy when he requests his helmet to be removed - knowing that his death can not be prevented. Obi-Wan's reaction to his master's death mirrors Luke's reaction to Ben Kenobi's death; both Obi-Wan and Luke witness their master/mentor fighting a Sith Apprentice of Sidious. Anakin, Luke and Rey lose their mentor in the first film of their respective trilogy and this impacts their journeys as they try to find their place in the galaxy. Anakin's destruction of the Droid Control Ship in the first film of the prequel trilogy echoes Luke's destruction of the Death Star in the first film of original trilogy. R2-D2 participates with a young Skywalker piloting a starfighter during the space battles in both The Phantom Menace and A New Hope. Both films end with a victory celebration however Sidious remains undefeated and the protagonists still have a series of forthcoming challenges to face; both Anakin and Luke struggle with the dark side but the latter displays resilience and is ultimately defined by the choices he makes (including his compassion for his father). Professor of Philosophy, John C. McDowell insists that the parallels are not limited to Anakin and Luke. He establishes parallels between Padme and Leia; both display courage and wisdom beyond their years and fight for justice. Both the Gungans and Ewoks help the heroes and courageously fight and triumph over a superior technological force. There is a bit of a resemblance between Maul's starship, Scimitar and Vader's TIE Advanced starfighter; their manufacturer is Sienar Fleet Systems (formerly known as Republic Sienar Systems during the Republic era and events of The Phantom Menace). Music As with previous Star Wars films, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace's score was composed and conducted by John Williams. He started composing the score in October 1998 and began recording the music with the London Voices and London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios on February 10, 1999. Williams decided to use electronic instruments such as synthesizers to enhance the sound and choral pieces to "capture the magical, mystical force that a regular orchestra might not have been able to provide", and create an atmosphere that was "more mysterious and mystical and less military" than those of the original trilogy. One of the most notable tracks is "Duel of the Fates", which uses the chorus to give a religious, temple-like feel to the epic lightsaber duel. The track was made into a music video. While composing Anakin's theme, Williams tried to reflect the innocence of his childhood and to foreshadow his transformation into Darth Vader by using slight suggestions of "The Imperial March" in the melody. The film's soundtrack was released by Sony Classical Records on May 4, 1999. The album made its broadcast premiere on C101.5 FM Mohawk College Radio's soundtrack program, Cinematic Sound, hosted by Erik Woods on May 1, 1999. This album featured the score, which Williams restructured as a listening experience; it is not presented in film order and omits many notable cues from the film because of the space restriction of the compact disc. A two-disc "Ultimate Edition" was released on November 14, 2000. The set features the entire score as it is heard in the film, including all of the edits and loops that were made for the sound mix. Marketing Lucasfilm spent US$20 million on the film's advertising campaign and made promotional licensing deals with Hasbro, Lego, Tricon Global Restaurants and PepsiCo. Lucasfilm also helped the Star Wars fan club to organize an event called Star Wars Celebration, which was held in Denver, Colorado, between April 30 and May 2, 1999. The first teaser trailer was released on selected screens accompanying Meet Joe Black on November 17, 1998,[g] and media reported that people were paying full admission at theaters to see the trailer. Other films that played this trailer included The Waterboy, The Siege and A Bug's Life. To keep fans from leaving before the movie was over, some theaters played the teaser an additional time after the film finished. The second trailer debuted on March 12, 1999, in front of Wing Commander's theatrical screenings. Again, many fans paid full theater admission to watch the new trailer. A bootlegged version of the preview was leaked to the Internet the same day. The next morning, the trailer was released on the film's official website and shortly afterwards the servers became overloaded. This trailer had over 1 million downloads within its first 24 hours of release, setting a record for the most downloaded trailer at the time. It would hold this record for a year until it was surpassed by The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) in April 2000. The theatrical trailer caused even more media attention because it was premiered in theaters and screened at the ShoWest Convention in Las Vegas, and was aired on Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood. The teaser poster, featuring Anakin with his shadow forming Darth Vader's silhouette, was released on November 10, 1998. After Lucas opted for a drawn theatrical poster, Drew Struzan, the artist responsible for the Special Edition posters, was commissioned to illustrate, and the poster was unveiled on March 11, 1999. Lucasfilm dictated that, contractually, Struzan's illustration was the only art the foreign distributors could use, and other than the text, it could not be modified in any way. The film also reused the Godzilla (1998) slogan on teaser posters. A novelization was written by Terry Brooks, who met with Lucas before writing the book and received his approval and guidance. It includes some scenes that are not in the film and foreshadows pending developments in the following two installments of the series. Additionally, a Scholastic junior novelization was written by Patricia C. Wrede. A four-issue comic book adaptation was written by Henry Gilroy and published by Dark Horse Comics. The film was again adapted as part of the all-ages Star Wars: The Prequel Trilogy – A Graphic Novel, released by Disney-Lucasfilm Press in 2017. A video game adaptation was released by LucasArts for the PlayStation and PC. The podracing tie-in game Star Wars Episode I: Racer was released for Nintendo 64, PC and other platforms. A pinball machine was created by WMS Industries. Release The release of the first new Star Wars film in 16 years was accompanied by a considerable amount of attention. According to The Wall Street Journal, so many workers announced plans to view the premiere that many companies closed on the opening day. Queue areas formed outside cinema theaters over a month before ticket sales began. More theater lines appeared when it was announced that cinemas were not allowed to sell tickets in advance until two weeks into the release. This was because of a fear that family theater-goers would be either unable to receive tickets or would be forced to pay higher prices for them. Instead, tickets were to be sold on a first-come-first-served basis. However, after meetings with the National Association of Theatre Owners, Lucasfilm agreed to allow advance ticket sales on May 12, 1999, provided there was a limit of 12 tickets per customer. As a result, some advance tickets were sold by scalpers at prices as high as US$100 apiece, which a distribution chief called "horrible" and said was exactly what they wanted to avoid. Daily Variety reported that theater owners received strict instructions from Lucasfilm that the film could only play in the cinema's largest auditorium for the first 8–12 weeks, no honor passes were allowed for the first eight weeks, and they were obliged to send their payments to distributor 20th Century Fox within seven days. Despite worries about the film being finished on time, two weeks before its theatrical release, Lucasfilm moved the release date from May 21 to 19, 1999. At the ShoWest Convention, Lucas said the change was intended to give the fans a "head start" by allowing them to view it during the week and allowing families to view it during weekends. Eleven charity premieres were staged across the United States on May 16, 1999; receipts from the Los Angeles event, where corporate packages were available for between US$5,000 and US$25,000; proceeds were donated to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Other charity premieres included the Dallas premiere for the Children's Medical Center, the Aubrey Fund for Pediatric Cancer Research at the Sloan-Kettering Hospital in New York, the Big Brother/Sister Association of the Philadelphia premiere, and the Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. A statement said that tickets were sold at US$500 apiece and that certain sections of the theaters were set aside for disadvantaged children. The film opened at 12:01 am on Wednesday, May 19, 1999, in 2,010 theaters in the United States and Canada. An additional 960 theaters screened the film later in the day. About 120 theaters showed the film continuously on opening day, including the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City and the Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. Foreshadowing his future conversion to digital cinematography, Lucas said the film would be released on four digital projectors (two in New York and two in Los Angeles) on June 18, 1999. Few film studios released films during the same week: DreamWorks and Universal Studios released The Love Letter on May 21 and Notting Hill on May 28, respectively. The Love Letter was a commercial failure but Notting Hill fared better and followed The Phantom Menace closely in second place. Employment consultant firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas estimated that 2.2 million full-time employees missed work to attend the film, resulting in a US$293 million loss of productivity. The film had its UK premiere as the Royal Film Performance, an event held in aid of the Film & TV Charity, on July 14, 1999, at the Odeon Leicester Square. This event was attended by Prince Charles and helped to raise £225,000 for the charity. The film was released on VHS on April 3, 2000, in the United Kingdom. It was released in North America a day later and in Japan and Brazil on April 8 in what was claimed as the tightest worldwide release for a home video. There were two versions of the film, which were a standard pan and scan version and a widescreen Collector's Edition version. In its first two days of availability in the United States, the regular version sold 4.5 million copies and the limited edition sold 500,000. A year later on June 19, 2001, it was announced that The Phantom Menace would become the first Star Wars film to be officially released on DVD, in a slightly extended cut from the theatrical releases. This THX certified two-disc DVD release debuted on October 16 of the same year. The first disc contains the film and the second disc contains special features. On the first disc, there are three randomized selected menus themed to the planets Naboo, Tatooine and Coruscant. There is an Easter egg located in the options menu. When the THX Optimizer is highlighted, the viewer can press 1-1-3-8. By doing this, some bloopers and DVD credits will be shown. The special features include seven deleted scenes completed specifically for the DVD, a commentary track featuring Lucas and producer Rick McCallum, and several documentaries—including a full-length documentary entitled The Beginning: Making Episode I. There are also DVD-ROM features, including trailers for Attack of the Clones (2002). Upon its DVD premiere on October 16, 2001, The Phantom Menace competed with other major DVD titles that were released that month, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and The Godfather trilogy. It became the fastest-selling DVD title of all time in the United States with 2.2 million copies being sold in its first week after release. This surpassed the previous record briefly held by The Mummy Returns (2001) two weeks prior, which sold 2 million copies within its first week. Less than a month later, The Phantom Menace's record for being the fastest-selling DVD was taken by Shrek (2001) when it sold 2.5 million copies in its first three days. The Phantom Menace was one of the only four films to sell over 2 million DVD copies during their first weeks of release at the time, with the others being The Mummy Returns, Shrek and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000). The film would overall earn $45 million from its first week DVD sales, more than the theatrical releases of From Hell, Riding in Cars with Boys, Training Day (all 2001) and other post-9/11 films. At the 5th Annual DVD awards, The Phantom Menace won four categories: Viewers' Choice Award, Best Menu Design, Best Authoring and Best Audio Presentation, with the latter award being tied with Pearl Harbor (2001). A fullscreen version of the DVD was released in 2002 to coincide with the home video release of Attack of the Clones. A two-pack DVD release in that format would premiere at the same time. The DVD version was re-released in a prequel trilogy box set on November 4, 2008. A LaserDisc version of The Phantom Menace was released in Japan on April 7, 2000, a year and a half before it was available on DVD in the U.S. The Star Wars films were released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on Blu-ray Disc on September 16, 2011; The Phantom Menace was restored to improve the picture quality and remove the magnification present on the previous DVD release, restoring approximately 8% of the picture to the frame. In the Blu-ray release of The Phantom Menace, the Yoda puppet was replaced with a CGI model, making it consistent with the other films of the prequel trilogy. On April 7, 2015, Walt Disney Studios, 20th Century Fox and Lucasfilm jointly announced the digital releases of the six released Star Wars films. The Phantom Menace was released through the iTunes Store, Amazon Video, Vudu, Google Play and Disney Movies Anywhere on April 10, 2015. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment reissued The Phantom Menace on Blu-ray, DVD and digital download on September 22, 2019. Additionally, all six films were made available for 4K HDR and Dolby Atmos streaming on Disney+ upon the service's launch on November 12, 2019. This version of the film was released by Disney on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray box set on March 31, 2020. On September 28, 2010, it was announced that all six films in the series would be stereo-converted to 3D. These would be re-released in episode order, beginning with The Phantom Menace, which was released to cinemas on February 10, 2012. Prime Focus Limited did the conversion under the supervision of ILM. However, the 3D re-releases of Episodes II–VI were postponed or canceled after Lucasfilm was bought by The Walt Disney Company, who decided to focus on the development of Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015). Lucas stated the 3D re-release was "just a conversion" of the film's 2011 Blu-ray release and no additional changes were made. Only a change to Anakin's magnetic wand during the podrace scene—its tip was sharpened to more accurately fit the original 2D photography to the new 3D image—was confirmed. General Mills and Brisk were promotional partners in North America for the 3D re-release but promotion was limited. The film was extensively promoted in Japan; promotional products were sold by 7-Eleven, Domino's Pizza, Pepsi and Gari-Gari Kun. Kellogg's promoted the film internationally, and French restaurant Quick launched three Star Wars-themed burgers. Lucasfilm also partnered with Variety, the Children's Charity to raise funds for children through the sale of a special edition badge. On February 10, 2024, it was announced that The Phantom Menace would be re-released by 20th Century Studios on May 3, 2024, for the film's 25th anniversary. The film's re-release announcement was accompanied by a new poster by artist Matt Ferguson. A preview for the TV series The Acolyte was shown after these screenings.[h] Reception Following an advance screening on Saturday, May 8, 1999, several newspapers broke an agreement with Fox and published reviews of the film on Sunday, May 9. In a front-page review, the Los Angeles Daily News gave it 3½ stars calling it "pretty good" overall and "outstanding in many parts". The New York Daily News was less positive, giving it 2½ stars. Variety also made its review by Todd McCarthy available on the Sunday with McCarthy calling it "the most widely anticipated and heavily hyped film of modern times" but said that the film "can scarcely help being a letdown on some levels, but it's too bad that it disappoints on so many" and that "it is neither captivating nor transporting, for it lacks any emotional pull, as well as the sense of wonder and awe that marks the best works of sci-fi/fantasy". On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 54% based on 289 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Burdened by exposition and populated with stock characters, The Phantom Menace gets the Star Wars prequels off to a bumpy—albeit visually dazzling—start." As of February 2025, the film is the second lowest-rated live-action film of the Star Wars series just ahead of The Rise of Skywalker (2019). On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 51 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale. Many aspects of the script and characters were criticized, especially that of Jar Jar Binks, who was regarded by many members of the older fan community as toyetic—a merchandising opportunity rather than a serious character. Ahmed Best had later said that he contemplated suicide after receiving backlash for his portrayal. Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times described Binks as "a major miscue, a comic-relief character who's frankly not funny". Drew Grant of Salon wrote, "Perhaps the absolute creative freedom director George Lucas enjoyed while dreaming up the flick's 'comic' relief—with no studio execs and not many an independently minded actor involved—is a path to the dark side." Conversely, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it three-and-a-half stars out of four and called it "an astonishing achievement in imaginative filmmaking" and said, "Lucas tells a good story." Ebert also wrote that, "If some of the characters are less than compelling, perhaps that's inevitable" because it is the opening film in the new trilogy. He concluded his review by saying that rather than Star Trek films, filmmakers could "[g]ive me transparent underwater cities and vast hollow senatorial spheres any day". Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "B" grade and complimented Liam Neeson's performance and the action scenes. In an Entertainment Weekly review for the DVD release, Marc Bernardin gave the film a "C−", calling it "haplessly plotted, horribly written, and juvenile". ReelViews' James Berardinelli wrote, "Looking at the big picture, in spite of all its flaws, The Phantom Menace is still among the best 'bang for a buck' fun that can be had in a movie theater," and said the film was a "distinct improvement" over Return of the Jedi. In 2024, Brian Lowry of CNN praised the film for its "duel of fates" between Darth Maul, Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan, the Emperor's long game of how the Sith were to outmaneuver the Jedi, and the digital effects. Andrew Johnston of Time Out New York wrote, "Let's face it: no film could ever match the expectations some have for Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Which isn't to say it's a disappointment: on the contrary, it's awesomely entertaining, provided you accept it on its own terms ... Like the original film, it's a Boy's Own adventure yarn with a corny but irresistible spiritual subtext. The effects and production design are stunning, but they always serve the story, not the other way around." Susan Wloszczyna of USA Today said that the film does "plenty right" and praised the characters Darth Maul and Watto. David Cornelius of efilmcritic.com said that the film's better moments "don't merely balance out the weaker ones—they topple them". Colin Kennedy of Empire magazine said that despite problems with pacing and writing, "there is still much pleasure to be had watching our full-blown Jedi guides in action". He praised the visuals and Liam Neeson's performance and said that the duel between Darth Maul and the Jedi is "the saga's very best lightsaber battle". Empire magazine ranked The Phantom Menace on its list of "500 Greatest Movies of All Time", while Entertainment Weekly and Comcast included the film on their lists of the worst movie sequels. James Berardinelli wrote, "The Phantom Menace was probably the most overhyped motion picture of the last decade (if not longer), and its reputation suffered as a result of its inability to satisfy unreasonable expectations." William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer agreed that the film's massive hype caused many of the negative reactions, saying, "it built expectations that can't possibly be matched and scuttled [the] element of storytelling surprise". He also said that the film was "well made and entertaining" and was much better than similar box office fare released around that year, such as The Mummy and The Matrix. Ewan McGregor said in 2002 that he was "slightly disappointed" that the film was "kind of flat" and believed the next film in the franchise would have "much more humor and...color." The introduction of midi-chlorians—microscopic organisms that mediate use of the Force—has been regarded as controversial. Some viewed it as a concept that negates the Force's spiritual quality. Film historian Daniel Dinello says, "Anathema to Star Wars fanatics who thought they reduced the Force to a kind of viral infection, midi-chlorians provide a biological interface, the link between physical bodies and spiritual energy." Religion expert John D. Caputo writes, "In the 'Gospel according to Lucas', a world is conjured up in which the intractable oppositions that have tormented religious thinkers for centuries are reconciled ... The gifts that the Jedi masters enjoy have a perfectly plausible scientific basis, even if its ways are mysterious: their bodily cells have a heavier than usual concentration of 'midi-chlorians'." There has been some controversy over whether several alien characters reflect racial stereotypes. For example, the oafish, slow-witted Jar Jar Binks has long droopy ears reminiscent of dreadlocks and spoke with what many perceived as a Caribbean patois reminiscent of Jamaican Creole. Andrew Howe rejects most such connections, arguing that only Jar Jar's accent links him to the Caribbean and no other factor. However, Nicholas Wanberg argues that linguistic analysis of Jar Jar's accent shows no common features with Caribbean English save those it also shares with American English, although he concedes that Jar Jar is constructed with tropes typical of ethnically stereotyped characters. Similarly, Drew Grant describes the character as "[s]ervile and cowardly ... a black minstrel-ish stereotype on par with Stepin Fetchit." Georgetown University professor of African-American studies Michael Eric Dyson says that the entire Gungan species seems suggestive of a primitive African tribe, with Boss Nass portrayed as "a fat, bumbling ... caricature of a stereotypical African tribal chieftain." The greedy and corrupt Neimoidians of the Trade Federation have been noted as resembling East Asian stereotypes, and the unprincipled trader Watto has been interpreted as a Jewish stereotype reminiscent of Charles Dickens' character Fagin. Lucas has denied all of these implications, instead criticizing the American media for using opinions from the Internet as a reliable source for news stories. Lucas added that it reflects more the racism of the commenters than it does the movie; however, animator Rob Coleman said ahead of the film's release that Watto's mannerisms were inspired by footage of Alec Guinness as Fagin in Oliver Twist. Even though it received mixed reviews, The Phantom Menace was a financial success, breaking many box office records in its debut, and beating out The Mummy by taking number 1. The film broke The Lost World: Jurassic Park's records for the largest single-day gross for taking more than $28 million in the opening day and fastest to gross $100 million in five days. Additionally, it grossed $64.8 million in its opening weekend, the second highest ever at the time, behind The Lost World: Jurassic Park. It also became the quickest film to reach the $200 million and $300 million marks, surpassing Independence Day (1996) and Titanic (1997), respectively. The Phantom Menace held both records before Spider-Man took them in 2002. It would go on to earn $105.7 million, making it the highest five-day Wednesday opening weekend of all time. The film had the biggest opening weekend for any 20th Century Fox film for two years until 2001 when it was taken by Planet of the Apes. Its opening day record was handed to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone two years later. 4 years later in 2003, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King surpassed The Phantom Menace for having the largest Wednesday gross, as well as the highest five-day Wednesday opening weekend. During its second weekend, The Phantom Menace made $51.3 million, making it the highest-grossing second weekend at the time, surpassing Jurassic Park (1993). The film would hold this record until it was surpassed a year later by How the Grinch Stole Christmas. In total, the film stayed at the top of the box office for three weeks until it was overtaken by Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me during its fourth weekend. The Phantom Menace was 1999's most successful film, staying in the Top 10 until August 5 (11 weeks total), earning $431.1 million in the United States and Canada. Box Office Mojo estimates that the film sold over 84.8 million tickets in the US in its initial theatrical run. The film set an opening record in Japan, grossing $12.2 million in its first two days from 403 screens. In the UK, the film also set an opening record with £9.5 million in its opening weekend (including previews), surpassing Men in Black (1997). It would go on to hold this record for a few months until it was taken by Toy Story 2 in early 2000. The Phantom Menace also grossed a record $11 million in its opening weekend in Germany. Outside the United States and Canada, the film grossed over $10 million in Australia ($25.9 million), Brazil ($10.4 million), France and Algeria ($43 million), Germany ($53.9 million), Italy ($12.9 million), Japan ($109.9 million), Mexico ($12 million), Spain ($25 million), and the United Kingdom and Ireland ($81.9 million). Its overseas total was $493.2 million, taking its worldwide total to $924.3 million. At that time, the film was the third-highest-grossing film in North America behind Titanic and Star Wars (1977), and the second-highest-grossing film worldwide behind Titanic without adjusting for inflation of ticket prices. After its 3D re-release in 2012, the worldwide box office gross exceeded $1 billion, making it the first Star Wars film and the 11th film in history—excluding inflation—to do so. Although in the intervening years, the film had lost some of its rankings in the lists of highest-grossing films, the 3D re-release returned it to the worldwide all-time Top 10 for several months. In North America, its revenues overtook those of the original Star Wars as the saga's highest-grossing film when not adjusting for inflation of ticket prices, and is the tenth-highest-grossing film in North America as of August 2017[update]. In North America, its ranking on the Adjusted for Ticket Price Inflation list climbed to 16th place—one place behind Return of the Jedi. The 3D re-release, which premiered in February 2012, earned $43 million—$22.5 million of which was in North America—worldwide. The 3D re-release earned US$102,727,119 worldwide—including $43.5 million in North America—and has increased the film's overall box office takings to $474.5 million domestically, and $552.5 million in other territories. The 25th anniversary re-release debuted in second place at the U.S. and Canadian box office behind The Fall Guy with $8.8 million and grossed an additional $6.4 million internationally, bringing its weekend total to $14.5 million worldwide. The Phantom Menace received three nominations at the 72nd Academy Awards: Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Visual Effects and Best Sound (Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson, Shawn Murphy and John Midgley); all three awards went to The Matrix. The film won Saturn Awards for Best Costumes and Best Special Effects, the MTV Movie Award for Best Action Scene, and a Young Artist Award for Jake Lloyd's performance. It was also nominated for—among others—the BAFTAs for Visual Effects and Sound, and the Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media. However, the film did receive seven Golden Raspberry Award (Razzie) nominations for Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, Worst Supporting Actor (Jake Lloyd as Anakin), Worst Supporting Actress (Sofia Coppola as Saché), Worst Screen Couple (Jake Lloyd and Natalie Portman), and Jar Jar Binks actor Ahmed Best won the Worst Supporting Actor category. Legacy A month after the film's release, "Weird Al" Yankovic released the parody song and music video "The Saga Begins", in which he interprets the film's plot from Obi-Wan's point of view to the tune of Don McLean's "American Pie"; this was included as a bonus feature on a 2011 Star Wars Blu-ray. June 1999 also had South Park parodying Jar Jar Binks in the episode "Jakovasaurs", which had the townspeople of South Park getting annoyed at extraterrestrials who spoke and behaved similarly to Jar Jar to reflect the hatred writers Matt Stone and Trey Parker had for the character. The film is known for starting the Lego Star Wars toyline, which has become one of Lego's most successful licensed brands. Darth Maul's lightsaber-fighting style served as the inspiration for the 2003 viral video Star Wars Kid. Maul, who appears to die in The Phantom Menace, was resurrected for the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and he also appears in Star Wars Rebels and in Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018).[i] Maul will return in an upcoming animated television series, Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord.[j] In 2012, IGN named Maul the 16th-greatest Star Wars character. A similar weapon to his dual-bladed lightsaber appears in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019). Qui-Gon Jinn did not physically appear in Attack of the Clones however archival recordings of Liam Neeson appear as a disembodied ghostly voice heard by Anakin through the Force as he was slaughtering the Tusken Raiders. Despite his death during the Battle of Naboo, he returned as a Force ghost in Star Wars: Clone Wars,[k] Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022). Some footage of The Phantom Menace can be seen in a recap of the prequel trilogy at the beginning of Obi-Wan Kenobi Part I. Qui-Gon also appeared as a Jedi Padawan as well as Jedi Master in Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi. Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor and Samuel L. Jackson made vocal cameos as Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Mace Windu respectively in The Rise of Skywalker. Following the reappraisal of the prequel trilogy, Ahmed Best has continued his association with his character and the franchise. He voiced a Sith Lord version of Jar Jar in Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy (2024-2025). Best previously voiced Jar Jar in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. On 11 October 2025, it was announced that he and Marc Guggenheim would co-write a Marvel Comics issue, Jar Jar Binks #1 featuring Jar Jar and another character Best portrayed - Jedi Master Kelleran Beq.[l] Following his portrayal of Jedi Master Kelleran Beq in The Mandalorian season 3, Best discussed the possibility of playing Jar Jar again saying, “I would never say never. I don’t feel like Jar Jar’s story was ever closed”. A sequel, Attack of the Clones, was released in 2002. The story continues a decade later with Anakin grown to adulthood, played by Hayden Christensen. A second sequel, Revenge of the Sith, was released in 2005 and culminates with Anakin's transformation into Darth Vader. “I was impressed the prequels had their own identity”. Since the release of The Phantom Menace, many people who have worked on the Star Wars films and viewers have defended the prequel trilogy. Ewan McGregor said that he found it difficult dealing with the criticism saying, "For it to come out and get knocked so hard was personally quite difficult to deal with". He also said that his opinion of the prequels improved as he met fans who grew up with them and "realized how important our films have been to them", stating that critics "just wanted to feel like they were seven or eight again, and they didn't get that," and defending how George Lucas attempted to do something different rather than just "make another three Star Wars films that felt like the original ones". Such a point of view was reflected by Richard Newby of The Hollywood Reporter, on the 20th anniversary of The Phantom Menace, who acknowledged that "the film didn't live up to the lofty expectations that many fans of the original trilogy held for 16 years", but that the fan backlash never changed his own appreciation of the film, that he first saw as a child and even as Newby started to notice the film's flaws as he grew up, "they expanded the Star Wars universe in a way that kept me interested." Hayden Christensen, who plays Anakin Skywalker in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, reflected that by going back to the character as a child in The Phantom Menace, "George Lucas subverted our expectations and understanding of this character" and made it a good starting point for Anakin's character development throughout the trilogy. In a 2018 Saturday Night Live comedy rap video, Natalie Portman dresses up as Queen Amidala and threatens an interviewer who tries to mock the prequels. Anthony Daniels, who has portrayed C-3PO in the Skywalker saga, one anthology film, one animated film, radio series and numerous television shows, said in his memoirs that following a reappraisal of the prequel trilogy that "the years have been kinder to this, the first Prequel. Many, who were young at the time, still hold it, and Jar Jar Binks as their dearest memory of the Saga." He also said that Darth Maul remains one of his favourite characters in the saga - despite his limited appearance in the film. In a 1999 interview for Star Wars Insider, he said that he "enjoyed [the film] immensely". In a 2019 article, Daniels defended Ahmed Best praising him for his humour, intelligence and energy and saying that the criticism he faced "was beyond cruel." Many members of the prequel production team have defended the character of Jar Jar Binks and its portrayer Ahmed Best. In an interview with Andy Cohen, Liam Neeson said that he was proud of his involvement with the film, and expressed how he was distressed at the backlash at Best, "one of the funniest and most talented guys [he's] ever worked with." Visual effects supervisor John Knoll reflected that "George took a lot of the criticism pretty harshly", down to reducing Jar Jar's role in the following two movies, and that he was happy to see Best received with a standing ovation at the 2019 Star Wars Celebration Chicago. Animation director Rob Coleman said that twenty years later he still has younger people coming up to him and telling him that Jar Jar is their favorite character, and digital model designer Jean Bolte, who cited Jar Jar Binks as one of her favorite characters to work with alongside Sebulba and Yoda, added that "seeing and hearing the fans so interested in which one was our contribution…. It really completely changed my point of view about being privileged to have had anything to do with these films." During the Celebration, George Lucas named Jar Jar as his favourite character and praised Best saying, "Ahmed, you did a fantastic job. It was very, very hard." Best himself said he was moved by the newfound appreciation and support he received during The Phantom Menace 20th anniversary panel (at Star Wars Celebration) - given the previous backlash, adding that it was possible because for the ones who saw the movie as children, "the prequels, that's theirs, and they defend the prequels. So I see the same thing. I see the resurgence of The Phantom Menace." He cited the audience (the film was aimed for) reaching adulthood and their perspective as some of the reasons for the newfound appreciation for The Phantom Menace. See also Notes References Works cited External links |
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Contents The Hunger Games: Catching Fire The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is a 2013 American dystopian action film directed by Francis Lawrence from a screenplay by Simon Beaufoy and Michael deBruyn, based on the 2009 novel Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. The sequel to The Hunger Games (2012), it is the second installment in The Hunger Games film series. The film stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, and Donald Sutherland. In the film, Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Hutcherson) become targets of the Capitol after their victory in the Games inspires uprisings in Panem. Lionsgate announced a sequel film based on Collins' second Hunger Games novel in 2012, with Gary Ross initially set to return as director; Ross was replaced with Lawrence that May, while deBruyn completed several rewrites to Beaufoy's screenplay. The main cast was confirmed by September 2012 and principal photography began later that month, lasting until March 2013. Filming locations included Georgia, Hawaii, and New Jersey. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire premiered at the Odeon Leicester Square in London on November 11, 2013, and was released in the United States on November 22, by Lionsgate. It received critical acclaim, with praise for Lawrence's performance, action sequences, musical score, screenplay, visual effects, emotional depth, and themes, with many considering it to be the best film in the series. The film grossed $865 million, making it the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2013, the highest-grossing film featuring a female lead since The Exorcist (1973), the highest-grossing Lionsgate film, and the highest grossing film of the series. It also set the box office records for the biggest November opening weekend and the biggest Thanksgiving period box-office total at the time. Among its accolades, the film was nominated for the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Action Film and a Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film. For her performance, Lawrence was nominated for the Empire Award, Broadcast Film Critics Association Award, and Saturn Award for Best Actress. The soundtrack's lead single, "Atlas" by Coldplay, was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media and for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. The film was followed by its third and final installment in a two-part sequel: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 in 2014 and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 in 2015. Plot Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark have settled into a life of material comfort but emotional unease back in District 12 following their joint victory in the 74th Hunger Games.[a] Katniss was traumatized from the Games and remains emotionally distant from Peeta. President Snow visits Katniss and reveals that her defiance in the Games has inspired revolts across Panem. To suppress the rebellion, he demands that she and Peeta feign love during the Victory Tour in order to convince the districts that their planned double suicide was an act of romantic love, not of defiance against the Capitol. Snow threatens to destroy District 12 and kill their families and friends if they refuse. Katniss agrees, but her and Peeta's Victory Tour speeches inadvertently only lead to further unrest across the districts. The two publicly announce their engagement to persuade Panem's citizens of their love, but President Snow remains unconvinced. Upon returning home, Katniss witnesses the brutality of the Capitol's Peacekeepers. Katniss' best friend, Gale Hawthorne, is publicly whipped for trying to intervene in their beating of civilians, leading to a violent confrontation that results in Katniss, Peeta and Haymitch's involvement. The 75th Hunger Games, the third Quarter Quell, is announced with a twist: tributes will be chosen from the existing pool of victors. As the only living female victor from District 12, Katniss must compete. At the Reaping, Haymitch's name is drawn, but Peeta volunteers for him. To disrupt the Games, Peeta lies during his pre-Games interview, claiming he and Katniss are married and expecting a child, causing an uproar among the Capitol's citizens and demands to cancel the Games. Ordered by Snow, Katniss wears a wedding dress for her interview, which Cinna designs to shift into a Mockingjay symbol, which has become a symbol of defiance against the Capitol. Just before Katniss enters the arena, Cinna is brutally beaten in front of her, before he is later killed for altering the dress. In the Games, Katniss and Peeta ally with Finnick Odair and Mags from District 4. They face deadly poisonous fog at night; when Peeta is injured, the elderly Mags sacrifices herself so they can escape. They also battle mutated mandrills, during which the female victor from District 6 sacrifices herself to save Peeta's life. Fleeing to a central beach, the group unites with Beetee and Wiress from District 3, and Johanna Mason, the female victor from District 7. Wiress discovers the arena is designed like a clock, with dangers recurring at intervals. The Careers suddenly ambush the group. Katniss and Johanna kill Gloss and Cashmere, the victors from District 1, but Wiress is killed in the encounter. Beetee plans to lure the remaining Careers to the beach and electrocute them with lightning. The group prepares the trap by laying a wire from a tree—which is hit with lightning every 12 hours—to the shore. When District 2 victors Brutus and Enobaria arrive, Johanna incapacitates Katniss, removes the tracker from her arm, and flees. Katniss discovers an unconscious Beetee, seemingly electrocuted by the arena's force field. Hearing a cannon (signaling Brutus's death) and unable to find Peeta, Katniss nearly attacks Finnick, suspecting betrayal. He reminds her of the real enemy. Katniss attaches the wire to an arrow which she shoots into the arena's roof just as lightning strikes; the electricity destroys the arena's force field, blows a hole in the roof, and shuts down the arena's systems, but also knocks Katniss unconscious, and she is rescued by a hovercraft. Katniss wakes in the hovercraft with Haymitch, Finnick, an unconscious Beetee, and Head Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee. Haymitch reveals they are headed to District 13, which not only still exists but is the headquarters of a full-scale rebellion that erupted during the Games. He explains that Heavensbee and several of the tributes were part of a rebel plan to rescue her, but the Capitol captured Peeta and Johanna. Enraged by Haymitch's failure to save Peeta, Katniss attacks him before she is sedated. She later wakes in District 13 with Gale, who assures her that her family is safe, but tells her the Capitol has destroyed District 12. Cast Production Lionsgate announced that a film adaptation of Catching Fire would be released as The Hunger Games: Catching Fire on November 22, 2013, as a sequel to the film adaptation of The Hunger Games, with principal photography to take place in September 2012. Simon Beaufoy was hired to write the script for the film and wrote two drafts before leaving after Gary Ross, director of The Hunger Games decided not to direct the sequel. The shooting timeframe was co-ordinated between Lionsgate and 20th Century Fox, in order to allow time for Jennifer Lawrence to shoot X-Men: Days of Future Past, the sequel to Fox's X-Men: First Class, in January 2013. On April 10, 2012, it was announced that Gary Ross, director of The Hunger Games, would not return due to a 'tight' and 'fitted' schedule. Ross cited the lack of time he had for directing and writing the film in the three and a half months after the release of the first film as the reason for leaving the franchise, hence his decision to move on to direct Free State of Jones. Bennett Miller, Joe Cornish, Francis Lawrence and Juan Antonio Bayona were all being considered to direct the new film. On April 19, 2012, it was announced that Francis Lawrence was offered the director position for the film. Lionsgate officially announced Francis Lawrence as the director for Catching Fire on May 3, 2012. Two days later, it was reported that Michael Arndt (Toy Story 3, Little Miss Sunshine) was in talks to re-write the script for Catching Fire. On May 24, 2012, the film was renamed The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Arndt was confirmed as the new writer of the script. Arndt was paid $400,000 a week for re-writing the script. Producer Nina Jacobson hired Scott Frank to rewrite the script when the film was weeks away from production. Jacobsen described the process of Frank's rewrite as “laying down new train track while conducting the moving train at the same time.” According to sources, the adaptation needed to be done filming by December 2012 to fit Jennifer Lawrence's schedule. When X-Men: Days of Future Past lost its original director and shooting for the film was delayed till April 2013, Jennifer Lawrence was no longer needed to be filming in January 2013 and the shooting timeframe for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire was extended to March (including several breaks due to the holidays and awards season). The film featured sequences filmed in the IMAX format. In July 2012, it was announced that Jena Malone would portray Johanna Mason, that Amanda Plummer would portray Wiress, and that Philip Seymour Hoffman would portray Plutarch Heavensbee. Following this, in August 2012, it was announced that Lynn Cohen had been cast as Mags. Before Cohen was cast as Mags, Melissa Leo was considered for the role; she would later said that was disappointed that she didn't get the role. Alan Ritchson was cast as Gloss on August 9, Sam Claflin as Finnick Odair on August 22, and Jeffrey Wright as Beetee on September 7. Tony Shalhoub was reported to be the frontrunner for the role of Beetee. Grant Gustin auditioned for the role of Finnick Odair. Garrett Hedlund was offered the role, but he passed on it as he was working on On the Road. Taylor Kitsch and Armie Hammer were reported to be the frontrunner for the role of Finnick, with Kitsch later stating that it wasn't going to happen. Lawrence, Hutcherson and Hemsworth all dyed their hair for the movie once again. Lawrence went back into archery training in order to get in shape for the role while the supporting cast undertook training in preparation for the arena scenes. Production officially began on September 10, 2012, with shooting concluding for some of the cast on December 21, 2012. After the Christmas break, filming resumed for two weeks in mid January for some of the main cast and was placed on hold for awards season. Principal photography resumed and concluded in March 2013. Shooting first took place in and around metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia and then moved to Hawaii, to shoot the arena scenes. The cast and crew were on a busy schedule, working 14-hour days and six days a week. In an interview with MTV, Josh Hutcherson confirmed scenes in the film would use IMAX cameras by stating, "They're shooting, I think, all the stuff in the arena is going to be IMAX". Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth were in Ringwood, New Jersey shooting District 12 scenes involving snow for the beginning of the film on January 31 and February 1. Jennifer Lawrence confirmed that she would fly out to Hawaii on February 25, the day after she won the Academy Award for Best Actress at the 85th Academy Awards due to her performance in Silver Linings Playbook to shoot for the final 9 days along with Claflin and Hutcherson. In late March, filming occurred in the Universal Studios backlot and was kept extremely secretive. Witnesses reported towers and fences on set. None of the main cast were believed to have been on set. Reshoots were scheduled for April 13 in Atlanta. With the base camp set up at Executive Park off North Druid Hills Road, filming also occurred at the Goat Farm Arts Center. Francis Lawrence has estimated an hour of the film would be devoted to Arena scenes, and said that cameras would be mounted to avoid the shaky-cam look from the first film. In an IMAX featurette, Francis Lawrence also confirmed that scenes taking place in the Arena were shot on IMAX cameras to distinguish them from scenes external to the Arena. Ritchson originally shot Gloss' death scene as him getting one of Katniss' arrows to the face upon slitting Wiress' throat, but the filmmakers later decided during post-production that it was "too gruesome", so they edited Katniss' arrow to strike Gloss' chest instead despite Gloss' head moving as initially intended. Approximately 50 minutes of the film's footage was shot in the IMAX format, through the use of three IMAX 15 perf/65mm film cameras. Sarah Burton, creative director at Alexander McQueen, gave pieces of McQueen's collection to costume designer Trish Summerville. Summerville collaborated with Indonesian designer Tex Saverio when designing Katniss' wedding dress for the Quarter Quell interviews. Music British singer Ed Sheeran recorded three songs for the soundtrack, but Lionsgate declined the offer. On May 14, 2013, Alexandra Patsavas was listed in the credits as music supervisor, replacing T Bone Burnett from the first film. Coldplay were announced as the first official artist to be featured on the Catching Fire soundtrack album, with the song "Atlas", released worldwide on September 6, 2013. Christina Aguilera announced that her song, "We Remain", would be part of the official soundtrack of the film. Other artists featured on the soundtrack include Of Monsters and Men with "Silhouettes", Sia featuring The Weeknd & Diplo with "Elastic Heart", The National with "Lean", The Weeknd with "Devil May Cry", Imagine Dragons with "Who We Are", Lorde with "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", The Lumineers with "Gale Song", Ellie Goulding with "Mirror", Patti Smith with "Capitol Letter", Santigold with "Shooting Arrows at the Sky", Mikky Ekko with "Place for Us", Phantogram with "Lights", and Antony and the Johnsons with "Angel on Fire". In October 2012, composer James Newton Howard confirmed that he would return to score the film. The score album was released on November 25, 2013. All songs written and composed by James Newton Howard, except "We're a Team" (co-written by Coldplay band members: Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion, and Chris Martin). Release On November 16, 2012, the first teaser trailer was released with The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 and revealed the official logo and tagline for the film. Lionsgate announced a sweepstakes competition where 12 fans would have their name listed in the film's credits. On January 11, 2013, Entertainment Weekly released a 2013 Preview edition of their magazine, with the first look of Lawrence as Katniss and Claflin as Finnick on the cover as well as several stills showcasing scenes from the film. On February 22, both Hitfix and the official Facebook page debuted two viral posters of the Victory Tour featuring Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss) and Josh Hutcherson (Peeta). On January 28, 2013, CapitolCouture.PN, a promotional site for the film's fashion and culture, opened and could only be unlocked with a passcode. Once in, a picture of a blue chair appeared and told readers to check back on March 4. On March 4, 2013, the site began to release portraits of the various characters. Alongside the announcement of the teaser trailer premiering at the 2013 MTV Movie Awards, Lionsgate revealed a new website called TheHungerGamesExplorer. On April 10, the website was updated and fans had to tweet using the hashtag #HungerGamesExplorer to unlock new stills from the movie. A still could be unlocked every day leading up to April 14, 2013, the teaser trailer's release date. The teaser trailer thus debuted at the 2013 MTV Movie Awards on April 14, presented by Liam Hemsworth, and the trailer was posted on TheHungerGamesExplorer and YouTube after the ceremony. "Beyond Fire" by T.T.L. was played as the trailer music. An exclusive new trailer debuted at San Diego Comic-Con on July 20, 2013, also being released online on that day. Walmart released the first TV spot on their Facebook page on October 14, featuring Coldplay's song, "Atlas". On October 27, 2013, during the fifth inning of Game 4 of the 2013 World Series, the final trailer was released. Three days later, on October 30, 2013, a new IMAX poster for the film debuted. The film premiered at the Odeon Leicester Square theater in London on November 11, 2013. The film was later released on November 22, 2013, in the United States in conventional and IMAX theaters. The film was also shown in the 4DX format in selected international territories. It features motion-enhanced seating, wind, water sprays, strobe lightning, and scent-based special effects. The film was released in 4,165 theaters in the United States and Canada alone. The Blu-ray/DVD release date for the film in the United States was March 7, 2014. The entire Hunger Games series was released on 4K UHD Blu-ray on November 8, 2016. Actresses Lynn Cohen and Stephanie Leigh Schlund, who played Mags and Cashmere in the film, respectively, promoted the DVD and Blu-ray versions of the film with an appearance at the March 7, 2014 midnight release of the product at the Walmart in Secaucus, New Jersey. As of March 16, 2014, Catching Fire has sold 2,073,719 DVDs along with 2,186,430 Blu-ray discs for $35.4 million and $43.8 million, respectively, totaling $79.4 million of revenue within two weeks of release. Reception The Hunger Games: Catching Fire earned $424.7 million in North America and $440.3 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $865 million. Worldwide, it is the highest-grossing film of The Hunger Games series, the highest-grossing film distributed by Lionsgate and the fifth-highest-grossing 2013 film. In North America, Catching Fire is the 30th-highest-grossing film, the highest-grossing film of The Hunger Games series, the highest-grossing film distributed by Lionsgate and the highest-grossing 2013 film. Box Office Mojo estimates that the film sold more than 50 million tickets in the United States and Canada. It became the first 2-D film since The Dark Knight (2008), as well as the first film with a female lead since The Exorcist (1973), to top the yearly box office. It is also the top-selling film in Fandango history, surpassing previous record-holder Avatar. The film earned $25.3 million during Thursday late-night showings. It topped the box office on its opening day with $71.0 million (including Thursday late-night showings), which is higher than its predecessor's opening-day gross ($67.3 million) and is also the seventh largest single-day and opening-day gross. During its opening weekend, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire claimed first place with $158.1 million, opening higher than its predecessor ($152.5 million). This was the sixth-highest-grossing opening weekend, the second-highest-grossing opening weekend of 2013 behind Iron Man 3 ($174.1 million), and the highest-grossing opening weekend in November, breaking the record set by The Twilight Saga: New Moon ($142.9 million) in 2009. The film held the November weekend record for nine years until it was topped in 2022 by Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ($181.3 million). It was in first place for two consecutive weekends. The film also broke the following records: the biggest Friday for a film in its second weekend, the largest three-day ($74.2 million) and largest five-day ($109.9 million) Thanksgiving gross. The latter two records would be held until 2019 when they were both surpassed by Frozen II. The film achieved the fifth-highest-grossing opening week (Friday-to-Thursday), the third-highest non-opening Wednesday and the fourth-largest second weekend. Outside North America, it is the highest-grossing film of The Hunger Games series, the highest-grossing film released by Lionsgate and the seventh-highest-grossing 2013 film. On its first weekend, it was only released in Brazil (November 15, 2013), where it grossed $2.4 million on its opening day and $5.26 million for the weekend. On the following Wednesday and Thursday, it opened in 42 more territories, bringing its total to $32 million in a week. The film opened in 63 other territories and earned $138.4 million during the weekend ($146.6 million including its first week in Brazil). Its three largest openings occurred in the UK, Ireland and Malta ($19.8 million), China ($13.0 million) and Germany ($12.9 million). In total earnings, its largest countries are the UK, Ireland and Malta ($55.5 million), Germany ($43.4 million) and Australia ($34.3 million). On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 90% based on 292 reviews, with a rating average of 7.6/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Smart, smoothly directed, and enriched with a deeper exploration of the franchise's thought-provoking themes, Catching Fire proves a thoroughly compelling second installment in the Hunger Games series." It was the highest rated science fiction/fantasy movie of the year on the website. Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 76 out of 100 based on 49 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". According to polls conducted during the opening weekend by CinemaScore, audiences gave the film an average rating of "A" on an A+ to F scale. The Hollywood Reporter said that the film has received "generally positive reviews" and CNN reported that reviews were "overwhelmingly positive" but noted that "an overarching complaint" was that it "runs needlessly long ... and the screenplay and direction do occasionally fall short." Entertainment Weekly said the consensus was that the sequel is "a more-confident, more-polished movie that delves deeper into Panem's political conflict". It also reported, "Critics are impressed that [Lawrence] commits to Katniss just as much as she would a complex David O. Russell character." Writing for The Village Voice, Stephanie Zacharek praised Jennifer Lawrence's performance, writing that the actress is "both on fire and in the process of becoming, and it’s magnificent to watch." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film 3.5 stars out of four and said, "Pop-culture escapism can be thrilling when dished out by experts. Katniss is a character worth a handful of sequels. And Lawrence lights up the screen. You'll follow her anywhere." He also commended supporting actors Sam Claflin and Jena Malone. Reviewing on Roger Ebert's website, Susan Wloszczyna of USA Today awarded the film three out of four stars, praising the acting of Jeffrey Wright, Amanda Plummer and Jena Malone and referring to the challenges of the arena as "visually intriguing." Wloszczyna writes: "...the one truly fresh invention—and the one that matters most—is Katniss herself. With each on-screen chapter, the poor girl from District 12 continues to fulfill her destiny as an inspiration and a rebel fighter." Ian Nathan of Empire gave the film 4 stars out of 5 and noted that it was even better than the first film. He praised director Lawrence for "taking a more muscular approach" and "sensibly downplaying" the love triangle, noting that "neither [Peeta nor Gale], quite frankly, are fit to lay a pinky on [Katniss'] quiver". One fault he did find was in Philip Seymour Hoffman's "surprisingly ineffective performance". A negative review came from Sophie Monks Kaufman of Little White Lies, who praised Lawrence's performance but criticized the "dilution of the ingredients that made The Hunger Games so gripping." She also found fault with the "lumbering" plot, the "hamminess" of President Snow and Plutarch Heavensbee and the "lackluster and unconvincing script culled from a dramatically difficult book". David Denby of The New Yorker argued that the premise "doesn't make a lot of sense". He praised the "impressive" first act and Jennifer Lawrence, for "project[ing] the kind of strength that Katharine Hepburn had when she was young." Denby found the second act "attenuated and rhythmless" and criticised the "incoherent" finale that "will send the audience scurrying back to the book to find out what’s supposed to be going on". In July 2025, it was one of the films voted for the "Readers' Choice" edition of The New York Times' list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century," finishing at number 256. Sequels In July 2012, Lionsgate announced that two films based on the final book in The Hunger Games trilogy, Mockingjay, were scheduled to be released. The first film, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, was released on November 21, 2014, while the second film, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, was released on November 20, 2015. Principal photography on the two-part film began on September 23, 2013, in Atlanta and concluded on June 20, 2014, in Berlin, Germany. Notes References External links |
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Contents List of 2019 box office number-one films in the United States This is a list of films which placed number one at the weekend box office for the year 2019. Number-one films Highest-grossing films Highest-grossing films of 2019 by Calendar Gross See also References Chronology |
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Contents List of 2017 box office number-one films in the United States This is a list of films which placed number one at the weekend box office for the year 2017. Number-one films Highest-grossing films Highest-grossing films of 2017 by Calendar Gross See also References Chronology |
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Contents Spider-Man: No Way Home Spider-Man: No Way Home is a 2021 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. Produced by Columbia Pictures, Marvel Studios, and Pascal Pictures, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it is the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), and the 27th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was directed by Jon Watts, written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, and stars Tom Holland as Peter Parker / Spider-Man alongside Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jacob Batalon, Jon Favreau, Jamie Foxx, Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Benedict Wong, Tony Revolori, Marisa Tomei, Andrew Garfield, and Tobey Maguire. In the film, Peter asks Dr. Stephen Strange (Cumberbatch) to use magic to make his identity as Spider-Man a secret again after it was revealed to the world at the end of Far From Home. When the spell goes wrong due to Peter's actions, the multiverse is broken open and several visitors from alternate realities are brought into Peter's universe. A third MCU Spider-Man film was planned during the production of Homecoming in 2017. Negotiations between Sony and Marvel Studios to alter their deal—in which they produce the Spider-Man films together—ended with Marvel Studios leaving the project in August 2019, but a negative fan reaction led to a new deal between the companies a month later. Watts, McKenna, Sommers, and Holland were set to return, and filming took place from October 2020 to March 2021 in New York City and Atlanta. No Way Home serves as a crossover between the MCU and the previous Spider-Man films directed by Sam Raimi and Marc Webb. Several actors reprise their roles from those films, including previous Spider-Man actors Maguire and Garfield. The pair's involvement was the subject of wide speculation and numerous leaks despite Sony, Marvel, and the cast's efforts to conceal their involvement until the film's release. Spider-Man: No Way Home premiered at the Fox Village Theater in Westwood, Los Angeles, on December 13, 2021, and was theatrically released in the United States on December 17, as part of Phase Four of the MCU. The film received positive reviews from critics and grossed $1.921 billion worldwide, surpassing its predecessor as the highest-grossing film released by Sony Pictures. It became the highest-grossing film of 2021, the sixth-highest-grossing film at the time of its release, the highest-grossing Spider-Man film, and set several other box office records, including those for films released during the COVID-19 pandemic. The film received a nomination for Best Visual Effects at the 94th Academy Awards, among numerous other accolades. An extended version of the film, subtitled The More Fun Stuff Version, had a global theatrical release in September 2022. An additional film trilogy with Holland is planned, beginning with Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which is scheduled for release in July 2026. Plot After Quentin Beck frames Peter Parker for his murder and reveals that Peter is Spider-Man,[a] the Department of Damage Control arrests Peter; his girlfriend, Michelle "MJ" Jones-Watson; his best friend, Ned Leeds; and his aunt, May Parker. Lawyer Matt Murdock gets Peter's charges dropped, but the group grapples with negative publicity. After Peter's, MJ's, and Ned's MIT applications are rejected, Peter goes to the New York Sanctum to ask Dr. Stephen Strange for help. Strange starts casting a spell that would make everyone forget Peter is Spider-Man, but it is corrupted when Peter repeatedly requests alterations to let his loved ones retain their memories. Strange contains the corrupted spell. At Strange's suggestion, Peter tries to convince an MIT administrator to reconsider MJ's and Ned's applications. He is attacked by Otto Octavius, who rips nanotechnology from Peter's Iron Spider suit. This bonds with Octavius's mechanical tentacles and allows Peter to control them. As Norman Osborn arrives and attacks, Strange teleports Peter back to the Sanctum and locks Octavius in a cell next to Curt Connors. Strange explains that the corrupted spell summoned people from other universes within the multiverse who know Spider-Man's identity. He orders Peter, MJ, and Ned to find and capture the others; they locate and retrieve Max Dillon and Flint Marko at a military research facility. Osborn reclaims control of himself from his split Green Goblin personality and destroys the Goblin mask. He gets help from May until Peter retrieves him. While discussing their battles with Spider-Man, Osborn, Octavius, and Dillon realize they were pulled from their universes just before their deaths.[b] Strange prepares to reverse the contained spell and send the villains back to their respective universes, but Peter argues that they should first help each villain to possibly change their fates upon their return. When Strange refuses, Peter steals the spell, traps Strange in the Mirror Dimension, and takes the villains to Happy Hogan's apartment. He uses Stark Industries technology to cure Octavius. Before Peter can cure anyone else, the Goblin persona retakes control of Osborn. The Goblin convinces the other villains to betray Peter and fatally wounds May as Dillon, Marko, and Connors escape; before she dies, May tells Peter that "with great power, there must also come great responsibility". Ned discovers that he can create portals using Strange's sling ring, which he and MJ use to try to locate Peter. They instead find "Peter-Two" and "Peter-Three", alternate versions of Peter who were also summoned from the villains' universes by Strange's spell. The group finds this universe's Peter ("Peter-One"), who is mourning May and ready to send the villains home to die. The alternate Peters share stories of losing Uncle Ben[c] and Gwen Stacy[d] and encourage Peter-One to fight in May's honor. The three Peters develop cures for the villains and lure them to the Statue of Liberty. Peter-One and Peter-Two cure Connors and Marko while Octavius helps cure Dillon. Ned accidentally frees Strange from the Mirror Dimension. The Goblin unleashes the contained spell, breaking the barriers between universes and pulling in countless others who know Peter's identity. Strange attempts to hold them off while an enraged Peter-One tries to kill the Goblin. Peter-Two stops him and Peter-Three helps Peter-One inject the Goblin with his cure, restoring Osborn's sanity. Peter-One realizes that the only way to protect the multiverse is to erase himself from everyone's memory and requests Strange do so while promising MJ and Ned that he will find them and remind them who he is. Strange reluctantly casts the spell, and everyone returns to their respective universes—including Eddie Brock,[e] who unknowingly leaves behind a piece of the Venom symbiote. Two weeks later, Peter visits MJ to reintroduce himself to her and Ned, but decides against it. While mourning at May's grave, he has a conversation with an unknowing Hogan and is inspired to carry on, making a new Spider-Man suit and resuming his vigilantism. Cast Rhys Ifans reprises his role as Dr. Curt Connors / Lizard, an Oscorp scientist from Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) who transformed into a large reptilian monster while trying to regrow his missing arm. Thomas Haden Church reprises his role as Flint Marko / Sandman, a small-time thief from Spider-Man 3 who received an ability to transform into sand. Both Ifans and Church returned to voice the characters, though footage at the end of the film when they revert to their human forms was archival footage from The Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man 3, respectively. Watts served as a stand-in for Church on-set by providing motion-capture reference to the uncredited body double who physically replaced Church in the role. Charlie Cox reprises his role as Matt Murdock from Marvel Television's Netflix series, and Tom Hardy reprises his roles as Eddie Brock / Venom from Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU) in an uncredited cameo appearance in the mid-credits scene. Reprising their roles from previous MCU Spider-Man films are Angourie Rice as Betty Brant, Peter's classmate and Ned's ex-girlfriend; Hannibal Buress as Coach Wilson, Midtown School of Science and Technology's gym teacher; Martin Starr as Roger Harrington, Peter's academic decathlon teacher; J. B. Smoove as Julius Dell, Peter's teacher; J. K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson, the host of The Daily Bugle; and Gary Weeks as Department of Damage Control (DODC) agent Foster. Jake Gyllenhaal appears as Quentin Beck / Mysterio via archival footage from Far From Home. Also appearing in the film are Paula Newsome as an MIT administrator, Arian Moayed as DODC agent Cleary, Mary Rivera as Ned's grandmother, and Cristo Fernández as a bartender serving Brock. Tom Holland's brother Harry Holland was set to make a cameo as a thief, but his scenes were cut from the original theatrical release. Lexi Rabe, who portrayed Stark's daughter Morgan in the film Avengers: Endgame (2019), also had an appearance that was not included in the theatrical release. Production During production on the film Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), two sequels were being planned by Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures. In June 2017, star Tom Holland explained that each film would take place during a different year of high school for Peter Parker / Spider-Man, with the third being set during the character's senior year. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige noted in July 2019 that the third film would feature "a Peter Parker story that has never been done before on film" due to the ending of the second film, Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), which publicly reveals that Peter is Spider-Man. Development on third and fourth MCU Spider-Man films had begun by August 2019, with Sony hoping Holland and director Jon Watts would return for both; Holland was contracted to return for one more film, while Watts had completed his two-film deal and would need to sign on for any more films. By then, Marvel Studios and its parent company The Walt Disney Studios had spent several months discussing expanding their deal with Sony. The existing deal had Marvel and Feige produce the Spider-Man films for Sony and receive 5% of their revenue. Sony wanted to expand the deal to include more films while keeping the same terms of the original agreement. Disney expressed concern with Feige's workload producing the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) franchise already and asked for a 25–50% stake in any future films Feige produced for Sony. Unable to come to an agreement, Sony announced that it would be moving forward on the next Spider-Man film without Feige or Marvel's involvement. Their statement acknowledged that this could change in the future, thanked Feige for his work on the first two films, and said they appreciated "the path [Feige] has helped put us on, which we will continue." Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers were writing the screenplay for the third film by the time of Sony's announcement, after also doing so for Far From Home, but Watts was receiving offers to direct large films for other studios instead of returning to the franchise, including potentially working on a different property for Marvel Studios and Feige. In September 2019, Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman Tony Vinciquerra said that "for the moment the door is closed" on Spider-Man returning to the MCU and confirmed that the character would be integrated with Sony's own shared universe—Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU)—moving forward. Responding to backlash from fans following the announcement, Vinciquerra added that "the Marvel people are terrific people, we have great respect for them, but on the other hand we have some pretty terrific people of our own. [Feige] didn't do all the work ... we're pretty capable of doing what we have to do here." However, after this fan reaction continued at Disney's biennial convention D23, and at the urging of Holland who personally spoke to Disney CEO Bob Iger and Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group chairman Tom Rothman, the companies returned to negotiations. Sony and Disney announced a new agreement at the end of September which would allow Marvel Studios and Feige to produce another MCU Spider-Man film for Sony with Amy Pascal, scheduled for July 16, 2021. Disney was reportedly co-financing 25% of the film in exchange for 25% of its profits, while retaining the character's merchandising rights. Feige said he was "thrilled" that the character would remain in the MCU and said "all of us at Marvel Studios are very excited that we get to keep working" on the franchise. The agreement also allowed Holland's Spider-Man to appear in a future Marvel Studios film as well as crossing over to Sony's own shared universe, with the latter interaction described as "a 'call and answer' between the two franchises as they acknowledge details between the two in what would loosely be described as a shared detailed universe". Sony described their previous films with Marvel Studios as a "great collaboration", and said "our mutual desire to continue was equal to that of the many fans." At the time of the new agreement, Watts was in final negotiations to direct the film. Discussing the new deal in early October, Iger attributed it to the efforts of Holland as well as the fan response to the end of the original deal. He felt that both Sony and Disney had initially forgotten that "there are other people who actually matter" while they were negotiating. Rothman said the deal was a "win-win-win. A win for Sony, a win for Disney, a win for the fans." He felt the initial reports on the negotiations did not necessarily line up with the actual discussions that were taking place, and said the final deal would have eventuated without the reports and fan discourse. By the middle of the month, Zendaya was confirmed to be reprising her role as Michelle "MJ" Jones-Watson from the previous films in the sequel. McKenna and Sommers began working on the script in earnest by December 2019. They considered featuring Kraven the Hunter as the film's main antagonist, an idea that Watts had expressed interest in and pitched to Holland, but was abandoned because Sony wanted to first feature the character in a solo film before any other projects. The plot subsequently gravitated towards a story idea similar to the film It's a Wonderful Life (1946) in which Peter makes a wish regarding his now public identity. That idea introduced Dr. Stephen Strange to the story, and the duo began exploring the idea of the multiverse and potentially revisiting characters from past Spider-Man films. Initially, they thought this would just be a tease for fans, but they ultimately decided to fully integrate the past characters into the plot. Sommers said, "Once it was collectively decided that we were going to take this swing, we had to commit and we had to do what was right for the story." They optimistically wrote for all the characters they wanted in the film before those actors were confirmed to be returning. Initial drafts of the film included every major character from past Spider-Man films returning, but this was narrowed down because the pair felt they had "bit[ten] off more than [they] could chew". The duo worked hard to prevent the film from just being "a bunch of fan service" by using the returning characters to help tell Peter Parker's story instead of just creating "curtain calls for everybody". Norman Osborn / Green Goblin from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy was not the main villain of the film in the first version of the script, despite still appearing as an antagonist; after the film lost "other characters", McKenna and Sommers concluded that the Green Goblin "had to be" the main villain and rewrote the script to give him a second chance to replicate his actions in the film Spider-Man (2002), but in a darker way related to Holland's version of Spider-Man. America Chavez had been considered to appear in the film at one point to serve in the sorcerer's apprentice-type role that eventually became part of Ned Leeds's role in the film; she would go on to appear in the MCU film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022). By the end of 2019, filming was expected to begin in mid-2020. By March 2020, McKenna and Sommers were still working on the first draft of the script. In April, Sony rescheduled the film's release to November 5, 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the film was originally meant to be set after the events of Multiverse of Madness, release date changes meant the film would be released first which meant aspects of the plot had to be rewritten, including Strange no longer having firsthand knowledge of the multiverse. McKenna felt this made it "even more frightening, to start fooling around with these things, because it's the fear of the unknown". In June, Marisa Tomei confirmed that she would return as May Parker along with Watts as director. She was hopeful that May's work as a community organizer would be featured in the film. Also in June, Charlie Cox, who portrayed Matt Murdock / Daredevil in Marvel Television's Netflix series, was contacted by Feige about reprising his role in upcoming Marvel Studios projects starting with appearances in No Way Home and the Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022). While working on the script, McKenna and Sommers discussed the possibility of giving Murdock a larger role in the film than they had originally planned, though the duo ultimately decided against this to avoid detracting the film's focus on Peter. The next month, Holland said production was planned to take place from late 2020 to February 2021, and Sony shifted the film's release date to December 17, 2021. Tony Revolori was also confirmed to be reprising his role as Flash Thompson. In early October, Jacob Batalon and Benedict Cumberbatch were revealed to be reprising their MCU roles of Ned Leeds and Strange, while Jamie Foxx was set to return as Max Dillon / Electro from Marc Webb's film The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), with filming beginning later in the month. Immediately prior to the beginning of filming, several other key actors in the film had yet to sign on. According to Holland, the film needed "all or none" of the actors to be produced. Second unit filming occurred from October 14 to 16, 2020, in New York City, under the working title Serenity Now, to capture visual effects plates and establishing shots. Filming occurred in the Astoria, Sunnyside, and Long Island City neighborhoods in Queens. On October 23, filming occurred in Greenwich Village in Manhattan. The production moved to Atlanta by October 25, with Holland, Batalon, and Zendaya joining for principal photography, after Holland finished shooting the Sony film Uncharted (2022) two days earlier. Mauro Fiore served as cinematographer on the film, replacing Seamus McGarvey, who had to leave the production after contracting COVID-19. McGarvey also had a conflict with the film Cyrano (2021) following the third MCU Spider-Man film's pandemic-caused production delay, as principal photography was originally planned to start in July 2020. Shooting in Atlanta occurred at Trilith Studios, with strict safety measures in place on the soundstages to prevent exposure to COVID-19. To reduce interactions between cast and crew members on set during the pandemic, the production reportedly relied on "innovative new technology" that scanned actors into a visual effects system that can apply make-up and costumes to actors during post-production. A light system was also in-place to signal when the cast could take off their masks for filming and when masks would be required for the cast and crew members to wear while set work was being done. Cumberbatch began shooting his scenes in Atlanta by late November, before beginning work on Multiverse of Madness which began filming that month in London. Filming ran for seven-to-eight weeks using the working titles Serenity Now and The November Project, before a break during the 2020 Christmas season. By December 2020, Alfred Molina was set to reprise his role as Otto Octavius / Doctor Octopus from Raimi's film Spider-Man 2 (2004), with Tobey Maguire reprising his role as Peter Parker / Spider-Man from Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy and Andrew Garfield returning as Peter Parker / Spider-Man from Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man films. A cameo appearance of Maguire and Garfield alongside Holland as their respective Spider-Men had previously been considered for the Sony Pictures Animation film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), but was cut then because Sony felt at that moment that it would be too risky and confusing. At that time, Collider reported that Maguire and Garfield would appear in the film alongside Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson from Raimi's Spider-Man film trilogy and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy from the Amazing Spider-Man films. The first draft of the script included other characters from the Spider-Man and Amazing Spider-Man films, such as Sally Field's May Parker, but the writers felt that including too many characters would negatively affect the story. The rumors about returning actors led to speculation and commentary, with Richard Newby of The Hollywood Reporter believing that a crossover-style film could "lessen the impact" of Sony's successful animated Into the Spider-Verse film. His colleague Graeme McMillan felt a "Spider-Verse" crossover would allow Marvel to "clean up some loose ends ... and fulfill some fan dreams in the process", especially if Marvel and Sony's negotiations meant that they wanted to separate Spider-Man from the MCU. /Film's Hoai-Tran Bui feared the film was becoming over-crowded and wished that Holland could lead a Spider-Man film without a "bigger A-list star showing him the ropes", while Adam B. Vary of Variety noted that these reports were not confirmed and questioned whether the returning actors would be making more than cameo appearances. Shortly after, Holland denied that Maguire and Garfield would appear in the film. Many of the actors returning from previous Spider-Man films were brought to set in cloaks to help prevent their involvement in the film from leaking. Around Christmas 2020, McKenna and Sommers rewrote the introductions of Maguire and Garfield as well as much of the third act in time for those actors to start filming. They had not been able to focus on those scenes earlier because they were busy during filming of much of the first and second acts in the previous months. Feige confirmed in December 2020 that the film would have connections to Multiverse of Madness. A month later he discussed the fact that the film's title had not yet been announced, acknowledging that it was being referred to by some as Spider-Man 3 and revealing that Marvel was referring to it as Homecoming 3 internally. Cox had shot material for the film by then. An Atlanta set photo indicated that the film would be set during the Christmas season. Filming occurred at Frederick Douglass High School from January 22 to 24. The next month, Holland described it as "the most ambitious standalone superhero" film, and again denied the rumors that Maguire and Garfield would appear. At the end of February, the film's title was revealed to be Spider-Man: No Way Home, continuing the naming convention of the past two films of featuring "home" in the title. Filming took place at Midtown High School from March 19 to 21. The Atlanta Public Schools system had stopped allowing buildings in the district for use as filming locations because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but gave this film an exception since both the Frederick Douglass and Midtown schools were previously used as filming locations in Homecoming. Hannibal Buress was revealed to be reprising his role as gym teacher Coach Wilson, with Buress releasing a music video in August 2021 revealing that he had filmed scenes in Atlanta. Holland said No Way Home had more "visceral" fight sequences than the previous two films, with more hand-to-hand combat. Filming wrapped on March 26, 2021. In April 2021, Molina confirmed that he was appearing in the film, explaining that he had been told not to talk about his role in the film during production but he realized that his appearance had been widely rumored and reported on. Later that month, J. B. Smoove revealed that he was returning as Julius Dell from Far From Home, while Cox stated that he was not involved with the film. In early May, Garfield denied that he had been asked to appear in the film, but later said "never say never", while Angourie Rice was revealed to be returning as Betty Brant in the film, reprising her role from previous MCU media. Later that month, Stone denied her involvement in the film. Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group President Sanford Panitch acknowledged in May 2021 that there had been confusion and frustration from fans regarding the relationship between the SSU and the MCU but stated that there was a plan to clarify this. He believed it was already "getting a little more clear for people [as to] where we're headed" at that time and added that the release of No Way Home would reveal more of this plan. Vary commented that the apparent introduction of multiverse elements in No Way Home could be what would allow Holland to appear in both the MCU and the SSU. The official trailer for No Way Home confirmed the involvements of Jon Favreau as Harold "Happy" Hogan and Benedict Wong as Wong, reprising their roles from past MCU films, as well as J. K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson from Far From Home (Simmons previously played a different version of the character in the Raimi trilogy as well). It was also confirmed that the characters Electro and Green Goblin would appear in the film, with the implication that this incarnation of Green Goblin would be Willem Dafoe's version from the Raimi films. In September 2021, Garfield again denied he was in the film, saying, "No matter what I say... it's either going to be really disappointing for people or it's going to be really exciting". Garfield later described his denials as "rather stressful but also weirdly enjoyable". In early October 2021, many commentators expected Tom Hardy to reprise his roles as Eddie Brock and Venom from the SSU films Venom (2018) and Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021), after the Let There Be Carnage mid-credits scene showed the characters being transported from their universe (the SSU) to the MCU. Feige said there was a lot of coordination between the Let There Be Carnage and No Way Home teams to create the scene, which was directed by Watts during the production of No Way Home. Hardy ultimately appeared as Brock in the film's mid-credits scene, though there had been discussions about integrating him into the film's final battle, as well as bonding Holland's Peter to a symbiote. Later that month, Empire's issue on No Way Home stated that the film would include the returns of Doctor Octopus, Electro, Dafoe's Green Goblin, Thomas Haden Church's Flint Marko / Sandman from Raimi's film Spider-Man 3 (2007) and Rhys Ifans's Curt Connors / Lizard from Webb's film The Amazing Spider-Man (2012). Church's role in the film was originally meant to be larger, counting with a subplot of his own about Sandman's relationship with his daughter Penny (who was previously portrayed by Perla Haney-Jardine), but the COVID-19 pandemic and the script being rewritten led to his role's reduction, only providing scratch dialogue and some motion-capture at a San Antonio, Texas parking lot. Watts said these were still unconfirmed rumors and was in "no hurry to confirm or deny appearances" of the characters, while Feige said the rumors were fun for fans but audiences should not expect them all to come true. At the beginning of November, Jorge Lendeborg Jr. revealed that he would be reprising his role as Jason Ionello from Homecoming and Far From Home in a similar role to those films that would have "very little to do with the core" story. By the middle of the month, additional photography had been completed for the film. Pascal described No Way Home as "the culmination of the Homecoming trilogy", and Arian Moayed revealed that he had a role in the film, playing Department of Damage Control (DODC) agent Cleary. At that time, Dunst confirmed that she would not appear in the film, but also stated that she would "never say no" to reprising her role as Mary Jane Watson. Also in November 2021, the film's second trailer confirmed the involvements of Dafoe, Church, and Ifans. Paul Giamatti's Aleksei Sytsevich / Rhino from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Jake Gyllenhaal's Quentin Beck / Mysterio from Far From Home were also considered for inclusion, with McKenna and Sommers playing with the idea of a Sinister Six forming; Rhino, Mysterio, and the Sinister Six ultimately did not appear in the film, though archival footage of Gyllenhaal as Beck from Far From Home was used in No Way Home. In mid-December, Martin Starr was confirmed to be appearing as Roger Harrington in the film, reprising his role from previous MCU media. A teaser trailer for Multiverse of Madness was included at the end of the film as a post-credits scene, before being released online shortly after No Way Home's theatrical release. Jeffrey Ford and Leigh Folsom Boyd served as the film's editors. The visual effects were provided by Cinesite, Clear Angle Studios, Crafty Apes, Digital Domain, Folks VFX, Framestore, Luma Pictures, Monsters Aliens Robots Zombies, Mr. X, Perception, Secret Lab, Sony Pictures Imageworks, and SSVFX. Concepts considered but ultimately not used in the film include: Holland's Peter meeting Jameson in the latter's apartment; a cameo appearance by the version of Peter Parker / Spider-Man from Insomniac Games's Marvel's Spider-Man video game series; Doctor Octopus donning a comics-accurate green and yellow costume; a more comics-accurate look for the Lizard; Green Goblin adding parts of Iron Man's armor to his own; and Ned riding the Goblin Glider in a homage to his Hobgoblin persona in the comics. The scene of Holland's Peter's first confrontation with the Green Goblin in Hogan's apartment went through several different iterations, including one that featured Michael Keaton's Adrian Toomes / Vulture from Homecoming, and another in which the Goblin bombs Hogan's apartment with May still inside, presumably killing her differently than how it was depicted in the final cut of the film. Music In November 2020, Homecoming and Far From Home composer Michael Giacchino was confirmed to be returning for No Way Home. The film's score album was released digitally on December 17, 2021, with a track titled "Arachnoverture" released as a single on December 9 and another titled "Exit Through the Lobby" released the following day. Giacchino references themes from previous Spider-Man films by Hans Zimmer, James Horner, Christopher Young, and Danny Elfman, as well as his own themes from Doctor Strange (2016). Regarding the use of these other themes, Giacchino did not want their use to be fan service and finding ways to include them in a "very targeted" way. He and Watts were "very much in alignment in terms of when to use them and when not to use them for their maximum effect". Marketing In May 2020, Sony entered a promotional partnership with Hyundai Motor Group to showcase their new models and technologies in the film; Hyundai later released a commercial, titled "Only Way Home", that was directed by Watts to promote the film and the Ioniq 5 electric-powered SUV (which appears in the film along with the Hyundai Tucson), with Holland and Batalon starring. In late February 2021, Holland, Batalon, and Zendaya released three stills featuring their characters from the film alongside fake logos with the titles Spider-Man: Phone Home, Spider-Man: Home-Wrecker, and Spider-Man: Home Slice, respectively. The film's official title was announced the next day with a video showing Holland, Batalon, and Zendaya leaving Watts's office (where they supposedly received the fake titles). Batalon and Zendaya note that Holland could not be trusted with the actual title since he had "accidentally" revealed the second film's title. The video ends on a whiteboard showing the film's true title, among various other titles featuring the word "home" that were apparently considered. Jennifer Bisset of CNET suggested the fake titles and logos could represent the villains in the film, including Foxx's Electro and Molina's Doctor Octopus, while TheWrap's Umberto Gonzalez called them funny "bait-and-switch fakes", and noted the Phone Home title referenced a line from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). Gregory Lawrence of Collider felt the Home-Wrecker title could point to the film feeling like a 1990s thriller film, and said the fake titles were a "solid goof" to excite fans. He also compared the stills to the "terrifying/awe-inspiring wonder" of Steven Spielberg films and The Goonies (1985), while Germain Lussier from io9 said they gave off "subtle National Treasure, Indiana Jones vibes". In July 2021, Marvel revealed various toys and figurines for the film, including Funko Pops, Marvel Legends figures, and Lego sets. At the end of August 2021, when asked about the lack of trailer and official images or descriptions for the film, Feige stated that the film was not being "any more or less secret than any of our other projects" and reaffirmed that a trailer would be released before the film's premiere in theaters. Though Sony handles the marketing for the film, their marketing team is in coordination with Disney's to ensure each knows when the other is releasing MCU-related content so it is a "win-win for everybody". On August 22, an apparent leak of the first trailer was shared on social media, which The Hollywood Reporter deemed "legitimate" after Sony worked to have various copies of the trailer taken down. Adam Chitwood at Collider noted the built-up online "fervor" surrounding the trailer and felt that it would not be able to "live up to the hype fans have built up in their minds". Chitwood continued that the other 2021 film releases from Marvel Studios had not seen a similar level of demand as No Way Home, pointing out that all of the rumored castings had positioned the film to be a "once-in-a-lifetime moviegoing experience" if they were accurate. He also wondered if Sony was wary of committing to marketing that noted the film's December 2021 release date amid the resurgence of the COVID-19 Delta variant. The film's teaser trailer was officially released on August 23 during Sony's CinemaCon 2021 panel. Entertainment Weekly's Devan Coggan noted that the trailer confirmed the multiverse's role in the film, including elements from the Raimi and Webb films, while Ethan Anderton from /Film called the trailer "nothing short of thrilling" since it confirmed many of the previous rumors about the film. Austen Goslin at Polygon conversely felt much of what had been rumored did not get revealed in the trailer, feeling that the rumors were either false or Marvel was still intending to keep them a secret. Anderton's colleague Joshua Meyer called the trailer "a doozy... packed with jaw-dropping moments" and noted how the film would be adapting the "One More Day" comic book storyline; Newby had previously noted the apparent adaption of "One More Day" and "One Moment in Time" storylines following the reveal of Cumberbatch's casting. Many commentators noted the possible teases of Spider-Man villains Sandman and the Lizard in the trailer as an indication of the Sinister Six forming in the film. Vinnie Mancuso at Collider was excited to see the return of Molina and the potential for Dafoe's involvement, but called it a "cheap pop" since it was doing "a disservice to the stories you're trying to tell in the present by reminding the audience how much better things used to be". He also felt the trailer played into "Marvel's ongoing reluctance to let Tom Holland's Spider-Man star in his own Spider-Man movies" since the trailer gave Peter "zero memorable moments" among all of its elements. The trailer had 355.5 million global views in its first 24 hours, becoming the most viewed trailer in that time period. This surpassed the record of Avengers: Endgame (289 million views) and more than doubled the views for the Spider-Man: Far From Home trailer (135 million). It also generated the largest 24-hour social media conversation volume of all-time globally with 4.5 million mentions, made up of 2.91 million in the United States, and 1.5 million internationally; these both exceeded Avengers: Endgame's mentions (1.94 million in the United States, 1.38 million internationally). The second official trailer premiered at a fan screening at the Regal Sherman Oaks theater in Los Angeles on November 16, 2021. Goslin felt the trailer "reveals the full extent of Marvel's Spider-Man multiverse", while his colleague Matt Patches noted the missing appearance of Maguire's or Garfield's Spider-Man in the trailer but felt that it was "entirely possible the actors appear in No Way Home". Jason Robbins of Collider was disappointed by the trailer, saying it was "what we expected, but less", since it just showed the returning villains and had no confirmation of Maguire or Garfield or "further insight into the multiverse". Some commentators said parts of the trailer appeared as though Maguire and Garfield had been edited out of the footage, such as a shot in which the Lizard appears to be struck by an invisible force. On November 24, Sony began releasing several videos on TikTok as part of their The Daily Bugle viral marketing campaign featuring Simmons and Rice. In December 2021, the first minute of the film premiered exclusively on Late Night with Seth Meyers, while a newsstand for The Daily Bugle was set up in New York City in partnership with Liberty Mutual to promote the film. Other marketing partners include the video games Fortnite and PUBG Mobile, which featured special in-game Spider-Man themed props and costumes, Asus, whose Republic of Gamers (ROG) laptop is used by Ned in the film, Xiaomi, iQOO, Continental AG, and Tampico Beverages. The film had a total promotional marketing value of $202 million. Release Spider-Man: No Way Home had its world premiere at Fox Village Theater in Westwood, Los Angeles, on December 13, 2021. The film was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland on December 15, and in the United States on December 17, where it opened in 4,325 theaters, including in RealD 3D, IMAX, and other premium large formats. It was initially set for release on July 16, 2021, but was pushed back to November 5, before it was further pushed back to the December 2021 date due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is part of Phase Four of the MCU. In August 2021, Sony and CJ 4DPlex announced a deal to release 15 of Sony's films over three years in the ScreenX format, including No Way Home. In November 2021, the film was reported to be getting a theatrical release in China, making it the first Phase Four film to do so as Black Widow, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and Eternals were not released in the country, though by February 2022, there had been no release date, in part because of diplomatic tensions between the country and the United States, which stemmed in part from the U.S. diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. In May 2022, Chinese authorities had reportedly requested for the Statue of Liberty to be removed from the film for it to be released in the country, but Sony refused. In March 2024, Sony announced that all of their live-action Spider-Man films would be re-released in theaters as part of Columbia Pictures' 100th anniversary celebration. Spider-Man: No Way Home was re-released on June 3, 2024. An extended cut of the film, subtitled The More Fun Stuff Version, was announced in June 2022. The re-release celebrated 60 years of Spider-Man in comics and 20 years of Spider-Man in film, and featured approximately 13 minutes of additional and deleted scenes. The additions included: an introduction by Holland, Maguire, and Garfield; additional scenes of Peter and May being interrogated by the Department of Damage Control; the scene with Holland's brother Harry as a thief that was cut from the original release; additional scenes of Peter at school; Brant interviewing Peter, his teachers, and his classmates; Daily Bugle reports of Peter's first day back at school and the arrivals of Dillon and Marko; additional scenes in the basement of the New York Sanctum; a scene featuring May, Peter, and the villains in an elevator while on the way to Hogan's apartment; an additional scene with Murdock and Hogan; additional scenes of the three Peters; and a new post-credits scene, replacing the teaser trailer of Multiverse of Madness, which showcases the effects of Strange's second spell. The More Fun Stuff Version was released in theaters beginning August 31, 2022, in Indonesia, followed by the United States and Canada, among other countries, on September 1, and later in several other markets through October 6. The poster for the extended cut was considered an improvement on the original release's marketing, since it was able to feature all of the characters who were previously kept secret in the lead up to the film's release. Shrishty Mishra at Collider said it was an "Avengers-style poster [with] a perfect blend of multiverse feels, combined with the 'Where's Waldo' effect". Anthony Lund of MovieWeb called it an "epic poster that [the fans] have been calling out for". ComicBook.com's Russ Burlingame said the poster was what "we've all been waiting for" and "a big change in the way [Sony] initially promoted the movie" since they "continued to play coy" on the cameos after the film had released. Spider-Man: No Way Home was released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on digital download on March 15, 2022, and on Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD on April 12. Digitally, the film was also available in a three-film bundle including all of Marvel Studios' Spider-Man films, as well as an eight-film bundle including Holland, Maguire, and Garfield's films. Sony moved the digital release up to March 15 from March 22, following Blu-ray versions of the film being leaked to torrent sites. The home media includes a gag reel and various behind-the-scenes featurettes, including two roundtable discussions: one with Dafoe, Molina, and Foxx, and another with Holland, Maguire, and Garfield. It has the most pre-release digital purchases on Vudu, surpassing the purchases for Endgame. To announce the home media release dates, Sony and the film's social media accounts posted a photo of Holland, Maguire, and Garfield recreating a popular meme from the 1967 Spider-Man television series of multiple Spider-Men pointing at one another; the tweets of the image garnered more than 10,000 retweets within minutes of being posted. Within its first week of release, the film sold over 2.1 million digital units in the United States, equaling $42 million; this was a record for a film's first week available on digital release. It was also the highest-selling film on physical media for 2022 in the US according to The NPD Group. The film was released on Starz following its theatrical and home media releases, the last film released by Sony with an exclusive limited streaming video on demand (SVOD) release on Starz. Subsequent films would be released on Netflix after their theatrical and home media releases, through 2026. Additionally, Sony signed a deal with Disney in April 2021 giving the latter access to Sony's legacy content, including past Spider-Man films and Marvel content in the SSU, to stream on Disney+ and Hulu and appear on Disney's linear television networks. Disney's access to Sony's titles to be released from 2022 through 2026 would come following their availability on Netflix. In February 2022, Sony expanded their pre-existing deal with WarnerMedia for making their films available on HBO Max and HBO across Central and Eastern Europe, which included No Way Home. The More Fun Stuff Version was released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on digital on October 18, 2022, as Spider-Man: No Way Home – Extended Cut, when it also began streaming on Starz. Reception Spider-Man: No Way Home grossed $814.9 million in the United States and Canada, and $1.107 billion in other territories for a worldwide total of $1.921 billion. It became the highest-grossing film of 2021, the sixth-highest-grossing film of all time, the third-highest-grossing film in the United States and Canada, the highest-grossing Spider-Man film, and the highest-grossing film released by Sony. No Way Home is also the first film since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) to gross over $1 billion, becoming the third-fastest to reach that milestone and the first to do so during the COVID-19 pandemic. It surpassed Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) to become Sony Pictures' highest-grossing film in North America. Based on a final projected worldwide gross of $1.75 billion (a figure that was surpassed), Deadline Hollywood estimated the film's final net profit at $610 million, accounting for production budgets, marketing, talent participations, and other costs versus box office grosses and home media revenues. It returned the global revenue of Cineworld, the world's second-largest cinema operator, to 88% of 2019 levels. In the United States and Canada, No Way Home earned $121.85 million (which included $50 million from its Thursday night previews) on its opening day, becoming the second-highest opening film after Endgame ($157.4 million) and the highest-opening film for a December release. In its opening weekend, it grossed $260 million, surpassing Infinity War ($257.7 million) to become the second-highest domestic box office opening of all time. As of January 9, 2022[update], an estimated 54.4 million people have seen No Way Home in theaters in the United States and Canada. The film remained at the top of the box office for three additional weekends until it was dethroned in its fifth weekend by Scream. In its sixth weekend of release, No Way Home reclaimed the top spot at the box office. The film once again held onto the number one spot in its seventh weekend of release. In March 2022, the film surpassed $800 million in the United States and Canada, becoming the third film to do so after Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) and Endgame. Comscore Senior Media Analyst Paul Dergarabedian called the film "arguably the most important movie to the movie theater industry ever", as it helped show the viability of the movie theater industry and the benefit of theatrical release windows while the industry recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic. The film dropped to the 11th spot on its 15th weekend. No Way Home returned to first place at the box office, earning $1.8 million on the first day of the release of The More Fun Stuff Version, and went on to finish third with $6.5 million over the four-day Labor Day weekend, finishing behind Top Gun: Maverick (2022) and Bullet Train (2022). It was the highest opening weekend box office gross for a re-released MCU film, surpassing Endgame ($5.5 million) and Far From Home ($4 million). No Way Home earned $43.6 million from 15 markets on its opening day, with Sony holding the best opening-day record in South Korea, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Italy, and Taiwan. In South Korea, the film grossed $5.28 million on its opening day, thereby beating Far From Home's opening day in the country by over 11% and the biggest day-one figure for any film during the pandemic. In the United Kingdom, the film beat No Time to Die's opening box office record at £7.6 million ($10.1 million). In India, the film's box office on its opening day was ₹320 million (equivalent to ₹360 million or US$4.2 million in 2023) to ₹345 million (equivalent to ₹390 million or US$4.6 million in 2023), beating Endgame and the Indian film Sooryavanshi (2021). In its five-day opening weekend, the film grossed $340.8 million from 60 markets. In Latin America as of January 16, 2022, it became the all-time highest-grossing film in Mexico ($72 million), and the second all-time highest in Brazil ($50.4 million), Central America ($12.6 million) and Ecuador ($7.9 million). As of February 27, 2022[update], the film's largest markets are the United Kingdom ($127.3 million), Mexico ($76.2 million), Australia ($67.9 million), France ($65.2 million), and South Korea ($63.1 million). Tickets went on sale the midnight of November 29, 2021, with several ticket websites such as Fandango and AMC Theatres crashing due to the high influx of users attempting to purchase tickets. Ticket sales on Fandango surpassed those for Black Widow in just two hours, and by the end of the day it became the best first-day advance ticket sale since Endgame, while also surpassing the 24-hour ticket sales of Infinity War, Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), Far From Home, The Rise of Skywalker and Rogue One (2016). No Way Home had the second-highest one-day ticket sales on AMC, with CEO Adam Aron attributing this to Spider-Man-themed non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The film also set records in Mexico with $7 million in the first-day ticket sale, which was 40% above Endgame. In the United Kingdom, the film outsold No Time to Die three times in the same twelve-day span before their release, while Brazil's ticket sale was 5% above Endgame at the same point. The film also passed the presale records of The Rise of Skywalker in Poland and No Time to Die in Portugal. Other markets with the best presale records include Spain, Brazil, and Central America. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 93%, with an average score of 7.9/10, based on 432 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads: "A bigger, bolder Spider-Man sequel, No Way Home expands the franchise's scope and stakes without losing sight of its humor and heart." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 71 out of 100, based on 60 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a rare "A+" grade on an A+ to F scale, the first live-action Spider-Man film and the fourth MCU film overall to earn the score after The Avengers (2012), Black Panther (2018), and Avengers: Endgame. PostTrak reported 96% of audience members gave it a positive score, with 91% saying they would definitely recommend it. Amelia Emberwing of IGN gave the film 8 out of 10, stating that its "impact on the universe as a whole, as well as the overall emotional beats, all feel earned" while praising the performances of Dafoe, Molina, and Foxx. Pete Hammond of Deadline Hollywood praised Watts's direction and wrote, "Holland, Zendaya, and Batalon are a priceless trio, and the various villains and 'others' who pop in and out make this pure movie fun of the highest order. Fans will be in heaven". Peter Debruge of Variety praised Garfield's and Maguire's performances and felt the film "provides enough resolution for the past two decades of Spider-Man adventures that audiences who've tuned out along the way will be rewarded for giving this one a shot". Writing for Den of Geek, Don Kaye gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, for its action sequences, performances and chemistry of the cast, stating that "No Way Home channels the entire spectrum of Spider-Man movies while setting the character on a course all his own at last". Jennifer Bisset of CNET praised the action sequences, performances, and story, writing: "A Russo Brothers influence can almost be felt ushering Holland's third Spider-Man movie into new, weightier territory. If the character is to become the next Tony Stark, this is the way to etch a few more scars into a more interesting hero's facade. If you came for the biggest movie of the year, you'll definitely leave satisfied". In a 4 out of 5 review, Sandra Hall of Sydney Morning Hall stated that "it's a form of breaking the fourth wall, inviting the audience in to share a joke with the actors, and verges on parody. Yet somehow they carry it off without diluting our sense of involvement with Peter and those he loves". Kevin Maher of The Times gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, saying that it was "As satisfying to watch as it is perilous to discuss", and described it as "a dynamite blast of smarty-pants postmodernism that never once abandons its emotional core". Benjamin Lee of The Guardian gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, praising Watts for "bringing back numerous baddies from the previous Spider-Man universes, delivering a propulsive, slickly choreographed adventure that will appease a broad fanbase this Christmas" but feeling that the script "lacks the expected fizz, that sense of shaggy fun struggling to break through a more robotic plot". Kate Erbland of IndieWire gave the film a "B−", feeling that Watts's work was "satisfying, emotional, and occasionally unsteady". She found that the script spent "far too long dwelling on the machinations of people and plans we already know, throwing in some awkward misdirection and simply delaying the inevitable". The Hollywood Reporter's John DeFore felt that the inclusion of "multiversal mayhem" addressed the "Iron Man-ification of the character" that made Holland-centric films "least fun". CNN's Brian Lowry praised the humor and wrote, "What's already apparent, though, is that this movie was conceived to be savored and enjoyed. And in what has become an increasingly elusive phenomenon, that will include whoops and hollers from appreciative fans in theaters, where Spider-Man will first reveal its secrets, and then, more than likely, shows off its legs." Richard Roeper of Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 out of 4 and praised the performances of Holland and Zendaya, writing: "There's nothing new or particularly memorable about the serviceable CGI and practical effects, but we remain invested in the outcome in large part because Holland remains the best of the cinematic Spider-Men, while Zendaya lends heart and smarts and warmth to every moment she's onscreen. We continue to root for these two to make it, even if the multiverse isn't always on their side." In contrast, Bilge Ebiri of Vulture called the film "aggressively mediocre", criticizing the action, comedy and writing, but praising Dafoe – describing him as "once again gets to have some modest fun with his character's divided self" – and Garfield, calling him a "genuine delight" and naming his the film's best performance. Hannah Strong of Little White Lies criticized the film for poor character development particularly regarding Holland's Peter Parker character stating, "It's grating seeing the same character repeatedly fail to learn any lessons or show even a modicum of personal growth". The same review was also generally critical of the film prioritizing fan service over good storytelling. No Way Home was nominated for an Academy Award, three Visual Effects Society awards (winning one), a Costume Designers Guild Award, a Golden Reel Award, three Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards (winning all), five Critics' Choice Super Awards (winning three), and nine Saturn Awards (winning one), among others. The film was disqualified from consideration for the 75th British Academy Film Awards because it was not made available on BAFTA's streaming service, reportedly due to Sony being concerned about piracy. As part of the ceremony's "Oscars Fan Favorite" contest, the three Spider-Men teaming up was one of the five finalists for Oscars Cheer Moment, and the film was the favorite to win the "Fan Favorite" film contest according to a Morning Consult survey. It ended up finishing second and fourth, respectively. Future By August 2019, a fourth film in the franchise was in development alongside No Way Home. In November 2021, Pascal said there were plans for another trilogy of Spider-Man films starring Holland, with work on the first of those about to begin. The next month, Feige confirmed that he and Pascal, along with Sony and Disney, were actively beginning to develop the story for the next Spider-Man film following Peter's "momentous decision" at the end of No Way Home. He said that ending was a promise to audiences that they would see Holland as a "proper Spider-Man" for the first time, with the character on his own and fighting street-level crime in New York. The fourth film, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, is scheduled to be released on July 31, 2026, with Destin Daniel Cretton directing from a screenplay by McKenna and Sommers. Holland, Zendaya, and Batalon reprise their roles, with Michael Mando returning as Mac Gargan / Scorpion from Homecoming, while Jon Bernthal and Mark Ruffalo reprise their respective MCU roles as Frank Castle / Punisher and Bruce Banner / Hulk. They are joined by Sadie Sink, Liza Colón-Zayas, and Tramell Tillman. Notes References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Knight] | [TOKENS: 14544] |
Contents The Dark Knight The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan, from a screenplay co-written with his brother Jonathan. Based on the DC Comics superhero Batman, it is the sequel to Batman Begins (2005), and the second installment in The Dark Knight trilogy. The plot follows the vigilante Batman, police lieutenant James Gordon, and district attorney Harvey Dent, who form an alliance to dismantle organized crime in Gotham City. Their efforts are derailed by the Joker, an anarchistic mastermind who seeks to test how far Batman will go to save the city from chaos. The ensemble cast includes Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Morgan Freeman. Warner Bros. Pictures prioritized a sequel following the successful reinvention of the Batman film series with Batman Begins. Christopher and Batman Begins co-writer David S. Goyer developed the story elements, making Dent the central protagonist caught up in the battle between Batman and the Joker. In writing the screenplay, the Nolans were influenced by 1980s Batman comics and crime drama films, and sought to continue Batman Begins' heightened sense of realism. From April to November 2007, filming took place with a $185 million budget in Chicago and Hong Kong, and on sets in England. The Dark Knight was the first major motion picture to be filmed with high-resolution IMAX cameras. Christopher avoided using computer-generated imagery unless necessary, insisting on practical stunts such as flipping an 18-wheel truck and blowing up a factory. The Dark Knight was marketed with an innovative interactive viral campaign that initially focused on countering criticism of Ledger's casting by those who believed he was a poor choice to portray the Joker. Ledger died from an accidental prescription drug overdose in January 2008, leading to widespread interest from the press and public regarding his performance. When it was released in July, The Dark Knight received acclaim for its mature tone and themes, visual style, and performances—particularly that of Ledger, who received many posthumous awards including Academy, BAFTA, and Golden Globe awards for Best Supporting Actor. This made The Dark Knight the first comic-book film to receive major acting awards. It broke several box-office records and became the highest-grossing 2008 film, the fourth-highest-grossing film to that time, and the highest-grossing superhero film of the time. Since its release, The Dark Knight has been assessed as one of the greatest superhero films ever, one of the best movies of the 2000s, and one of the best films ever made. It is considered the "blueprint" for many modern superhero films, particularly for its rejection of a typical comic-book movie style in favor of a crime film that features comic-book characters. Many filmmakers attempted to replicate its success by adopting a similarly gritty, realistic tone, though with uneven results. The Dark Knight has been analyzed for its themes of terrorism and the limitations of morality and ethics. The United States Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2020. A sequel, The Dark Knight Rises, concluded The Dark Knight trilogy in 2012. Plot A gang of masked criminals rob a mafia-owned bank in Gotham City, betraying and killing each other until the sole survivor, the Joker, reveals himself as the mastermind and escapes with the money. The vigilante Batman, district attorney Harvey Dent, and police lieutenant Jim Gordon ally to eliminate Gotham's organized crime. Batman's true identity, the billionaire Bruce Wayne, publicly supports Dent as Gotham's legitimate protector, believing Dent's success will allow him to retire as Batman and romantically pursue his childhood friend Rachel Dawes—despite her being with Dent. Gotham's mafia bosses gather to discuss protecting their organizations from the Joker, the police, and Batman. The Joker interrupts the meeting and offers to kill Batman for half of the fortune their accountant, Lau, concealed before fleeing to Hong Kong to avoid extradition. With the help of Wayne Enterprises CEO Lucius Fox, Batman finds Lau in Hong Kong and returns him to the custody of the Gotham police. His testimony enables Dent to apprehend the crime families. The bosses accept the Joker's offer, and he kills high-profile targets involved in the trial, including the judge and police commissioner. Although Gordon saves the mayor, the Joker threatens that his attacks will continue until Batman reveals his identity. He targets Dent at a fundraising dinner and throws Rachel out of a window, but Batman rescues her. Bruce struggles to understand the Joker's motives, to which his butler Alfred Pennyworth says that "some men just want to watch the world burn." Dent claims he is Batman to lure the Joker out, who attacks the police convoy transporting Dent. Batman and Gordon apprehend the Joker, and Gordon is promoted to commissioner. At the police station, Batman interrogates the Joker, who says he finds Batman entertaining and has no intention of killing him. Having deduced Batman's feelings for Rachel, the Joker reveals she and Dent are being held separately in buildings rigged to explode. Batman races to rescue Rachel while Gordon and the other officers go after Dent, but they discover the Joker has given their positions in reverse. The explosives detonate, killing Rachel and severely burning Dent's face on one side. The Joker escapes custody, extracts the fortune's location from Lau, and burns it, killing Lau in the process. Coleman Reese, a consultant for Wayne Enterprises, deduces and tries to expose Batman's identity, but the Joker threatens to blow up a hospital unless Reese is killed. While the police evacuate hospitals and Gordon struggles to keep Reese alive, the Joker meets with a disillusioned Dent, persuading him to take the law into his own hands and avenge Rachel. Dent defers his decision-making to his now half-scarred, two-headed coin, killing the corrupt officers and the mafia involved in Rachel's death. As panic grips the city, the Joker reveals that two evacuation ferries, one carrying civilians and the other prisoners, are rigged to explode at midnight unless one group sacrifices the other. To the Joker's disbelief, the passengers refuse to kill one another. Batman subdues the Joker but refuses to kill him. Before the police arrest the Joker, he says that although Batman proved incorruptible, his plan to corrupt Dent has succeeded. Dent takes Gordon's family hostage, blaming his negligence for Rachel's death. He flips his coin to decide their fates, but Batman tackles him to save Gordon's son, and Dent falls to his death. Believing Dent is the hero the city needs, and the truth of his corruption will harm Gotham, Batman takes the blame for his death and actions, persuading Gordon to conceal the truth. Alfred burns an undelivered letter from Rachel to Bruce that says she chose Dent, and Fox destroys the invasive surveillance network that helped Batman find the Joker. The city mourns Dent as a hero, and the police launch a manhunt for Batman. Cast Additionally, Eric Roberts, Michael Jai White, and Ritchie Coster appear as crime bosses Sal Maroni, Gambol, and the Chechen, respectively; while Chin Han portrays Lau, a Chinese criminal banker.[d] The GCPD cast includes Colin McFarlane as commissioner Gillian B. Loeb, Keith Szarabajka and Ron Dean as detectives Stephens and Wuertz, Monique Gabriela Curnen as rookie detective Anna Ramirez and Philip Bulcock as Murphy. The cast also features Joshua Harto as Coleman Reese, Anthony Michael Hall as news reporter Mike Engel, Néstor Carbonell as mayor Anthony Garcia, William Fichtner as a bank manager, Nydia Rodriguez Terracina as Judge Surrillo, Tom "Tiny" Lister Jr. as a prisoner, Beatrice Rosen as Wayne's Russian ballerina date, and David Dastmalchian as the Joker's paranoid schizophrenic henchman Thomas Schiff. Melinda McGraw, Nathan Gamble, and Hannah Gunn portray Gordon's wife Barbara, his son James Jr., and his daughter, respectively. The Dark Knight features several cameo appearances from Cillian Murphy, who reprises his role as Jonathan Crane / Scarecrow from Batman Begins; musical performer Matt Skiba; as well as United States Senator and Batman fan Patrick Leahy, who has appeared in or voiced characters in other Batman media. Production Following the critical and financial success of Batman Begins (2005), the film studio Warner Bros. Pictures prioritized a sequel. Although Batman Begins ends with a scene in which Batman is presented with a joker playing card, teasing the introduction of his archenemy, the Joker, Christopher Nolan did not intend to make a sequel and was unsure Batman Begins would be successful enough to warrant one. Christopher, alongside his wife and longtime producer Emma Thomas, had never worked on a sequel film but he and co-writer David Goyer discussed ideas for a sequel during filming. Goyer developed an outline for two sequels, but Christopher remained unsure how to continue the Batman Begins narrative while keeping it consistent and relevant, though he was interested in using the Joker in Begins's grounded, realistic style. Discussions between Warner Bros. Pictures and Christopher began shortly after Batman Begins's theatrical release, and development began following the production of Christopher's The Prestige (2006). Goyer and Christopher collaborated for three months to develop The Dark Knight's core plot points. They wanted to explore the theme of escalation and the idea that Batman's extraordinary efforts to combat common crimes would lead to an opposing escalation by criminals, attracting the Joker, who uses terrorism as a weapon. The joker playing card scene in Batman Begins was intended to convey the fallacy of Batman's belief his war on crime would be temporary. Goyer and Christopher did not intentionally include real-world parallels to terrorism, the war on terror, and laws enacted to combat terrorists by the United States government because they believed making overtly political statements would detract from the story. They wanted it to resonate with and reflect contemporary audiences. Christopher described The Dark Knight as representative of his own "fear of anarchy" and Joker represents "somebody who wants to just tear down the world around him." Although he was a fan of Batman (1989), starring Jack Nicholson as the Joker, Goyer did not consider Nicholson's portrayal scary and wanted The Dark Knight's Joker to be an unknowable, already-formed character, similar to the shark in Jaws (1975), without a "cliché" origin story.[e] Christopher and Goyer did not give their Joker an origin story or a narrative arc, believing it made the character scarier; Christopher described their film as the "rise of the Joker". They felt the threat of cinematic villains such as Hannibal Lecter and Darth Vader had been undermined by subsequent films depicting their origins.[f] With Christopher's help, his brother Jonathan spent six months developing the story into a draft screenplay. After submitting the draft to Warner Bros., Jonathan spent a further two months refining it until Christopher had finished directing The Prestige. The pair collaborated on the final script over the next six months during pre-production for The Dark Knight. Jonathan found the "poignant" ending the script's most interesting aspect; it had always depicted Batman fleeing from police but was changed from him leaping across rooftops to escaping on the Batpod, his motorcycle-like vehicle. The dialogue Jonathan considered most important, "you either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain", came late in development. Influenced by films such as The Godfather (1972) and Heat (1995), and maintaining Batman Begins's tone, their finished script bore more resemblance to a crime drama than a traditional superhero film.[g] Comic-book influences included writer Frank Miller's 1980s works, which portray characters in a serious tone, and the limited series Batman: The Long Halloween (1996–1997), which explores the relationship between Batman, Dent, and Gordon. Dent was written as The Dark Knight's central character, serving as the center of the battle between Batman, who believes Dent is the hero the city needs, and the Joker, who wants to prove even the most righteous people can be corrupted. Christopher said the title refers to Dent as much as Batman.[h] He considered Dent as having a duality similar to Batman's, providing interesting dramatic potential. Focusing on Dent meant Bruce Wayne / Batman was written as a generally static character who did not undergo drastic character development. Christopher found writing the Joker the easiest aspect of the script. The Nolans identified the traits common to his media incarnations and were influenced by the character's comic-book appearances as well as the villain Dr. Mabuse from the films of Fritz Lang. Writer Alan Moore's graphic novel, Batman: The Killing Joke (1988), did not influence the main narrative but Christopher believed his interpretation of the Joker as someone partially driven to prove anyone can become like him when pushed far enough helped the Nolans give purpose to an "inherently purposeless" character. The Joker was written as a purely evil psychopath and anarchist who lacks reason, logic, and fear, and could test the moral and ethical limits of Batman, Dent, and Gordon.[i] Christopher and Jonathan later realized they had inadvertently written their version similarly to Joker's first appearance in Batman #1 (1940).[j] The final scene, in which the Joker states he and Batman are destined to battle forever, was not intended to tease a sequel but to convey the diametrically opposed pair were in an endless conflict because they will not kill each other. Describing how his character had evolved from Batman Begins, Christian Bale said Wayne had changed from a young, naive, and angry man seeking purpose to a hero who is burdened by the realization his war against crime is seemingly endless. Because the new Batsuit allowed him to be more agile, Bale did not increase his muscle mass as much as he had for Batman Begins. Christopher had deliberately obscured combat in the previous film because it was intended to portray Batman from the criminals' point of view. The improved Batsuit design let him show more of Bale's Keysi-fighting method training. Christopher was aware that Nicholson's popular portrayal of the Joker would invite comparisons to his version, and wanted an actor who could cope with the associated scrutiny.[k] Ledger's casting in August 2006 was criticized by some industry professionals and members of the public who considered him inappropriate for the role; executive producer Charles Roven said Ledger was the only person seriously considered, and that Batman Begins's positive reception would help alleviate any concerns.[l] Christopher was confident in the casting because discussions between himself and Ledger had demonstrated they shared similar ideas regarding the Joker's portrayal. Ledger said he had some trepidation in succeeding Nicholson in the role but that the challenge excited him. He described his interpretation as a "psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy", and avoided humanizing him. He was influenced by Alex from the crime film A Clockwork Orange (1971), and British musicians Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious.[m] Ledger spent about a month secluding himself in a hotel room while reading relevant comic books. He developed the character's voice by mixing a high-pitch and low-pitch, which was inspired by ventriloquist performances. His fighting style was designed to appear improvised and erratic.[n] Ledger spent a further four months creating a "Joker diary" containing images and elements he believed would resonate with his character, such as finding the disease AIDS humorous. Describing his performance, Ledger said: "It's the most fun I've had with a character and probably will ever have ... It was an exhausting process. At the end of the day, I couldn't move. I couldn't talk. I was absolutely wrecked." In a November 2007 interview, Ledger said when committing himself to any role, he had difficulty sleeping because he could not relax his mind, and often slept only two hours a night during filming. Christopher wanted to cast an actor with an all-American "heroic presence" for Harvey Dent, something he likened to Robert Redford but with an undercurrent of anger or darkness. Josh Lucas, Ryan Phillippe, and Mark Ruffalo were considered, as well as Matt Damon, who could not commit due to scheduling conflicts.[o] According to Christopher, Eckhart had the all-American charm and "aura ... of a good man pushed too far". Eckhart found portraying conflicted characters to be interesting; he said the difference between Dent and Batman is the distance they are willing to go for their causes, and that after Dent's corruption he remains a crime fighter but he takes this to an extreme because he dislikes the restrictions of the law. Eckhart's performance was influenced by the Kennedy family, particularly Robert F. Kennedy, who fought organized crime with a similarly idealistic view of the law. During discussions on the portrayal of Dent's transformation into Two-Face, Eckhart and Christopher agreed to ignore Tommy Lee Jones's "colorful" portrayal in Batman Forever (1995), in which the character has pink hair and wears a split designer suit, in favor of a more realistic, slightly burnt, neutral-toned suit. Describing his role as GCPD Lieutenant James Gordon, Oldman said Gordon is the "moral center" of The Dark Knight, an honest and incorruptible character struggling with the limits of his morality. Maggie Gyllenhaal replaced Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes, as Holmes chose to star in the crime comedy Mad Money (2008) instead. Gyllenhaal approached Rachel as a new character and did not reference Holmes's previous performance. Christopher described Rachel as the emotional connection between Wayne and Dent, ultimately serving as a further personal loss to fuel Wayne's character. Gyllenhaal collaborated with Christopher on the character's depiction because she wanted Rachel to be important and meaningful in her relatively minor role.[p] Musician Dwight Yoakam turned down a role as the bank manager or a corrupt police officer because he was recording his album Dwight Sings Buck (2007). Hong Kong actor Edison Chen had a role in the film, but this was mostly cut following his involvement in a sex photo scandal. In October 2006, location scouting for Gotham City took place in the United Kingdom in Liverpool, Glasgow, London, and parts of Yorkshire, and in several cities in the United States. Christopher chose Chicago because he liked the area and believed it offered interesting architectural features without being as recognizable as locations in better-known cities such as New York City. Chicagoan authorities had been supportive during filming of Batman Begins, allowing the production to shut stretches of roads, freeways, and bridges. Christopher wanted to exchange the more natural, scenic settings of Batman Begins such as the Himalayas and caverns for a modern, structured environment the Joker could disassemble. Production designer Nathan Crowley said the clean, neat lines of Chicagoan architecture enhanced the urban-crime drama they wanted to make, and that Batman had helped improve the city. The destruction of Wayne Manor in Batman Begins provided an opportunity to move Wayne to a modern, sparse penthouse, reflecting his loneliness. Sets were still used for some interiors such as the Bat Bunker, the replacement for the Batcave, on the outskirts of the city. The production team considered placing it in the penthouse basement but believed it was too unrealistic a solution. Much of The Dark Knight was filmed using Panavision's Panaflex Millennium XL and Platinum cameras but Christopher wanted to film about 40 minutes with IMAX cameras, a high-resolution technology using 70 mm film rather than the more-commonly used format 35 mm; the finished film includes 15–20% IMAX footage, running for about 28 minutes.[q] This made it the first major motion picture to use IMAX technology, which was generally employed for documentaries.[r] Warner Bros. was reluctant to endorse the use of the technology because the cameras were large and unwieldy, and purchasing and processing the film stock cost up to four times as much as typical 35 mm film. Christopher said cameras that could be used on Mount Everest could be used for The Dark Knight, and had cinematographer Wally Pfister and his crew begin training to use the equipment in January 2007 to test its feasibility. Christopher particularly wanted to film the bank heist prologue in IMAX to immediately convey the difference in scope between The Dark Knight and Batman Begins. Principal photography began on April 18, 2007, in Chicago on a $185 million budget.[s][t] For The Dark Knight, Pfister chose to combine the "rust-style" visuals of Batman Begins with the "dusk"-like color scheme of The Prestige (cobalt blues, greens, blacks, and whites), in part to address over-dark scenes in Batman Begins. To avoid attention, filming in Chicago took place under the working title Rory's First Kiss but the production's true nature was quickly uncovered by media publications. The Joker's homemade videos were filmed and mainly directed by Ledger. Caine said he forgot his lines during a scene involving one video because of Ledger's "stunning" performance. The first scene filmed was the bank heist, which was shot in the Old Chicago Main Post Office over five days. It was scheduled early to test the IMAX procedure, allowing it to be refilmed with traditional cameras if needed, and it was intended to be publicly released as part of the marketing campaign. Pfister described it as a week of patience and learning because of the four-day wait for the IMAX footage to be processed. Filming moved to England throughout May, returning to Chicago in June. Filming took place in the lobby of One Illinois Center, which served as Wayne's penthouse apartment; bookcases were built to hide the elevators. A floor of Two Illinois Center was decorated for Wayne's fundraiser. The crew was described as excited as this scene depicted the first meeting between Batman and the Joker. The windows in both settings were covered in green screen material, allowing Gotham City visuals to be added later. In July, three weeks were spent filming the truck chase scene, mainly on Wacker Drive, a multi-level street that had to be closed overnight. During filming, Christopher added a set-piece of a SWAT van crashing through a concrete barricade. The sequence continued on LaSalle Street, which was also used for the GCPD funeral procession, for a practical truck-flip stunt and helicopter sequence. Additional segments were filmed on Monroe Street and Randolph Street, and at Randolph Street Station. Navy Pier, along the shore of Lake Michigan, served as Gotham Harbor in a climactic ferry scene. Scouts spent over a month searching for suitable vessels but were unsuccessful, so construction coordinator Joe Ondrejko and his team built ferry facades atop barges. The entire sequence was filmed in one day and involved 800 extras, who were moved through makeup and clothing departments in shifts. Exterior footage of the Gotham Prewitt Building, the site of Batman's and the Joker's final confrontation, was filmed at the in-construction Trump International Hotel and Tower. The owners refused permission to film a stunt in which Batman suspends a SWAT team from the building, so this was filmed from the fortieth floor of a separate building site. A former Brach's candy factory on Cicero Avenue scheduled for demolition was used to film the Gotham General Hospital explosion in August 2007. Filming in Chicago concluded on September 1, ending with scenes of Wayne driving and crashing his car, before the production returned to England. The Dark Knight includes Chicago locations such as Lake Michigan, which doubled as the Caribbean Sea where Wayne boards a seaplane; Richard J. Daley Center (Wayne Enterprises exteriors and a courtroom); The Berghoff restaurant (GCPD arresting mobsters); Twin Anchors restaurant; the Sound Bar; McCormick Place (Wayne Enterprises interiors); and Chicago Theatre. 330 North Wabash served as offices used by Dent, mayor Garcia, and commissioner Loeb; and its thirteenth floor appears as Wayne Enterprises' boardroom; Pfister enhanced its large, panoramic windows and natural light with an 80-foot (24 m) glass table and reflective bulbs. A Randolph Street parking garage is where Batman captures Scarecrow and Batman impersonators. Christopher wanted several Rottweiler dogs in the scene but locating a dog-handler willing to simultaneously manage several dogs was difficult. A scene of Batman surveying the city from a rooftop edge was filmed atop Willis Tower, Chicago's tallest building. Stuntman Buster Reeves was due to double as Batman, but Bale persuaded the filmmakers to let him perform the scene himself. The thirteen weeks of filming in Chicago was estimated to have generated $45 million for the city's economy and thousands of local jobs. Many interior locations for The Dark Knight were filmed on sets at Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire, and Cardington Airfield, Bedfordshire; these locations include the Bat Bunker, which took six weeks to build in a Cardington hangar. The Bat Bunker was based on 1960s Chicago building designs, and was integrated into existing concrete floor, and used the 200-foot (61 m) long, 8 ft (2.4 m) tall ceiling to create a broad perspective. The 160-foot (49 m) tall hangar was unsuitable for suspending the bunker roof, and an encompassing gantry was built to hold it and the lighting. After moving from Chicago in May, scenes filmed in the UK also include Criterion Restaurant, where Rachel, Dent, and Wayne share dinner, and a Gotham News scene that was filmed at the University of Westminster. The GCPD headquarters was rebuilt in the Farmiloe Building. During the interrogation scene, Ledger asked Bale to physically hit him and, although he declined, Ledger cracked and dented the walls by throwing himself around. After returning to England in the middle of September, scenes were filmed for the ferry, hospital, and Gotham Prewitt building interiors. By mid-October, interior and exterior scenes of Rachel being held hostage surrounded by barrels of gasoline were filmed at Battersea Power Station. To avoid damaging the power station, a listed building, a false wall was built in front of it and lined with explosives. Nearby residents contacted emergency services believing the explosion was a terrorist attack. Filming in England concluded at the end of October with a variety of green-screen shots for the truck-chase sequence, and shots of Rachel being thrown from a window were filmed on a set at Cardington. The final nine days of production took place in Hong Kong and included aerial footage from atop the International Finance Centre, as well as filming at Central to Mid-Levels escalator, The Center, Central, The Peninsula Hong Kong, and Queen's Road; and a stunt involving Batman catching an in-flight C-130 aircraft.[u] Despite extensive rehearsals of Reeves jumping from the McClurg Building in Chicago, a planned stunt to depict Batman leaping from one Hong Kong skyscraper to another was canceled because local authorities refused permission for helicopter use; Pfister described the officials as a "nightmare". Christopher disputed a report that said a scene of Batman leaping into Victoria Harbour was canceled because of pollution concerns, saying it was a script decision. The 127-day shoot concluded on November 15, on time and under budget. Editing was underway in January 2008 when Ledger, aged 28, died from an accidental overdose of a prescription drug. A rumor his commitment to his performance as the Joker had affected his mental state circulated, but this was later refuted.[v] Christopher said editing the film became "tremendously emotional, right when he passed, having to go back in and look at him every day [during editing] ... but the truth is, I feel very lucky to have something productive to do, to have a performance that he was very, very proud of, and that he had entrusted to me to finish". Because Christopher preferred to capture sound while filming rather than re-recording dialogue in post-production, Ledger's work had been completed before his death, and Christopher did not modify the Joker's narrative in response. Christopher added a dedication to Ledger and stuntman Conway Wickliffe, who died during rehearsals for a Tumbler (Batmobile) stunt. Alongside lead editor Lee Smith, Christopher took an "aggressive editorial approach" to editing The Dark Knight to achieve its 152-minute running time.[w] Christopher said no scenes were deleted because he believed every scene was essential, and that unnecessary material had been cut before filming. The Nolans had difficulties refining the script to reduce the running time. After removing so much material they believed the story had become incomprehensible, they added more scenes. Unlike the design process of Batman Begins, which was restrained by a need to represent Batman iconography, audience acceptance of its realistic setting gave The Dark Knight more design freedom. Chris Corbould, the film's special effects supervisor, oversaw the 700 effect shots Double Negative and Framestore produced; there were relatively few effects compared to equivalent films because Christopher only used computer-generated imaging where practical effects would not suffice. Production designer Nathan Crowley designed the Batpod (Batcycle) because Christopher did not want to extensively re-use the Tumbler. Corbould's team built the Batpod, which is based on a prototype Crowley and Christopher built by combining different commercial model components. The unwieldy, wide-tired vehicle could only be ridden by stuntman Jean Pierre Goy after months of training. The Gotham General Hospital explosion was not in the script but added during filming because Corbould believed it could be done. Hemming, Crowley, Christopher, and Jamie Rama re-designed the Batsuit to make it more comfortable and flexible, developing a costume made from a stretchy material covered in over 100 urethane armor pieces. Sculptor Julian Murray developed Dent's burnt-facial design, which is based on Christopher's request for a skeletal appearance. Murray went through designs that were "too real and more horrifying" before settling on a more "fanciful" and detailed but less-repulsive version. Hemming designed Joker's overall appearance, which he based on fashion-and-music celebrities to create a modern and trendy look. Influence also came from the 1953 painting Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X by Francis Bacon—suggested by Christopher—and the character's comic-book appearances. The outfit consists of a purple coat, a green vest, an antique shirt, and a thin, 1960s-style tie that Ledger suggested. Prosthetics supervisor Conor O'Sullivan created Joker's scars, which he partly based on a scarred delivery man he met, and used his own technique to create and apply the supple, skin-like prosthesis. John Caglione Jr designed Joker's "organic" makeup to look as though it had been worn for days; this idea was partly based on more of Bacon's works. Caglione Jr used a theatrical makeup technique for the application; he instructed Ledger to scrunch up his face so different cracks and textures were created once the makeup was applied and Ledger relaxed. Ledger always applied the lipstick himself, believing it was essential to his characterization. Composers James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer, who had also worked on Batman Begins, scored The Dark Knight because Christopher believed it was important to bridge the musical-narrative gap between the films. The score was recorded at Air Studios, London. Howard and Zimmer composed the score without seeing the film because Christopher wanted them to be influenced by the characters and story rather than fitting specific on-screen elements. Howard and Zimmer separated their duties by character; Howard focused on Dent and Zimmer focused on Batman and the Joker. Zimmer did not consider Batman to be strictly noble and wrote the theme to not seem "super". Howard wrote about ten minutes of music for Dent, wanting to portray him as an American who represents hope, but undergoes an emotional extreme and moral corruption. He used brass instruments for both moral ends but warped the sound as Dent is corrupted. Zimmer wanted to use a single note for the Joker's theme; he said, "imagine one note that starts off slightly agitated and then goes to serious aggravation and finally rips your head off at the end". He could not make it work, however, and used two notes with alternating tempos and a "punk" influence. The theme was influenced by electronic music innovators Kraftwerk and Zimmer's work with rock band The Damned. He wanted to convey elements of the Joker's corrosion, recklessness, and "otherworldliness" by combining electronic and orchestral music, and modifying almost every note after recording to emulate sounds including thunder and razors. He attempted to develop original sounds with synthesizers, trying to create an "offputting" result by instructing musicians to start with a single note and gradually shift to the second over a three-minute period; the musicians found this difficult because it was the opposite of their training. It took several months to achieve Zimmer's desired result. Following Ledger's death, Zimmer considered discarding the theme for a more traditional one but he and Howard believed they should honor Ledger's performance.[x] Release The Dark Knight's marketing campaign was developed by alternate reality game (ARG) development company 42 Entertainment. Christopher wanted the team to focus on countering the negative reaction to Ledger's casting and controlling the revelation of the Joker's appearance. Influenced by the script and the comic books The Killing Joke, The Long Halloween, and Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth (1989), 42 Entertainment paced the ARG over annual events, although Warner Bros. rejected their ideas to use Jokerized Santas at Christmas, coffins filled with chattering teeth on Mother's Day (mocking Wayne's late mother), and Batman actors on rooftops due to safety concerns. The ARG began in May 2007 with campaign posters for Dent and Joker playing cards bearing the phrase "I believe in Harvey Dent" were hidden inside comic books at stores around the U.S. This led people to a website where they could submit their e-mail addresses to reveal a pixel of a concealed Joker image; about 97,000 e-mail addresses and 20 hours were required to reveal the image in full, which was well received. At San Diego Comic-Con, 42 Entertainment modified 11,000 one-dollar bills with the Joker's image and the phrase "Why So Serious?" that led finders to a location. 42 Entertainment's initial plan to throw the bills from a balcony was canceled due to safety concerns, so the bills were covertly distributed to attendees. Although the event was expected to attract a few thousand people, 650,000 arrived and participated in activities that included calling a number taken from a plane flying overhead and wearing Joker makeup to commit disruptive acts with actors. Globally, fans photographed letters on signs to form a ransom note. A U.S.-centric effort involved people recovering cellphones made by Nokia—a brand partner to the film—from a cake, which led to an early screening of the film's bank-heist prologue before its public release in December. Ledger's appearance in the prologue was well-received and positively changed the discourse around his casting.[y] Following Ledger's death, the campaign continued unchanged with a focus on Dent's election, which was influenced by the ongoing 2008 United States presidential election. Warner Bros. was concerned public knowledge of Dent's character was poor; the campaign included signs, stickers, and "Dentmobiles" visiting U.S. cities to raise his profile. The campaign concluded in July with displays of the Bat-Signal in Chicago and New York City that were eventually defaced by the Joker. Industry professionals considered the campaign innovative and successful.[z] Warner Bros. dedicated six months to anti-piracy methods; the film industry lost an estimated $6.1 billion to piracy in 2005. Delivery methods of film reels were randomized and copies had a chain of custody to track who had access. Some theater staff were given night-vision goggles to identify people recording The Dark Knight, and one person was caught in Kansas City. Warner Bros. considered its strategy a success, delaying the appearance of the first "poorly-lit" camcorder version until 38–48 hours after its earliest global release in Australia. Compared to 2007's $9.7 billion box-office take, in 2008, lower revenues were expected due to the large number of comedies competing against each other and the release of films with dark tones, such as The Dark Knight, during a period of rising living costs and election fatigue in the U.S. Fewer sequels, which generally performed well, were scheduled and only four—The Dark Knight, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull—were predicted to be blockbusters. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was the only film expected to easily earn over $300 million. The Dark Knight was expected to sell well based on high audience anticipation, positive pre-release reviews, and a record $3.5 million in IMAX pre-sales. Predictions placed its opening-weekend take above that of Iron Man's $102.1 million but below that of Spider-Man 3's (2007) record $151.1 million. Analysts said its success would be influenced by the lengthy running time that limited the number of screenings per day, and counter-programming from the romantic comedy Mamma Mia!—which surveyed well with women—and the family comedy Space Chimps. There was also a perceived limit on financial success for Batman films; the 1989 installment remained the franchise's highest-grossing release. The Dark Knight's premiere took place on July 14, in IMAX in New York City. A block in Broadway was closed for the event, which included a live performance of the film score by Howard and Zimmer. The Hollywood Reporter said Ledger received several ovations, and that during the after-party, Warner Bros. executives struggled to maintain a balance between celebrating the successful response and commemorating Ledger. On July 18, 2008, The Dark Knight was widely released in the U.S. and Canada in a record 4,366 theaters on an estimated 9,200 screens. It earned $158.4 million during the weekend, a per-theater average of $36,282, breaking Spider-Man 3's record and making it the number-one film ahead of Mamma Mia! ($27.8 million) and Hancock ($14 million) in its third weekend.[aa] It set further records for the highest-grossing single-day ($67.2 million on the Friday), Sunday ($43.6 million), midnight opening ($18.5 million, from 3,000 midnight screenings), and IMAX opening ($6.3 million from about 94 locations), as well as the second-highest-grossing Saturday ($47.7 million) behind Spider-Man 3, and contributed to the highest-grossing weekend on record ($253.6 million).[ab] The film benefited from repeat viewings by younger audiences and had broad appeal, with 52% of the audience being male and an equal number of those under 25 years old, and those of 25 or older. The Dark Knight broke more records, including for the highest-grossing opening week ($238.6 million), and for three-, four-, five-, six-, seven-, eight-, nine-, and ten-day cumulative grosses, including the highest-grossing non-holiday Monday ($24.5 million) and non-opening Tuesday ($20.9 million, as well as the second-highest-grossing non-opening Wednesday ($18.4 million), behind Transformers ($29.1 million).[ac] It retained the number-one position in its second weekend with a total gross of $75.2 million, ahead of the debuting Step Brothers ($31 million), giving it the highest-grossing second weekend. It retained the number-one position in its third ($42.7 million) and fourth ($26.1 million) weekends, before falling to second place in its fifth, with a gross of $16.4 million, behind the debuting Tropic Thunder ($25.8 million). The Dark Knight remained in the top-ten highest-grossing films for ten weeks, and became the film to surpass $400 million soonest (18 days) and $500 million (45 days). The film was playing in fewer than 100 theaters when it received a 300-theater relaunch in late January 2009 to raise its profile during nominations for the 81st Academy Awards. This raised its total box office to $533.3 million before it left theaters on March 5 after 33 weeks, making it the highest-grossing comic-book, superhero, and Batman film; the highest-grossing film of 2008; and the second-highest-grossing film ever (unadjusted for inflation), behind the 1997 romantic drama Titanic ($600.8 million).[ad] The Dark Knight was released in Australia and Taiwan on Wednesday, July 16, 2008, and opened in twenty markets by the weekend. It earned about $40 million combined, making it second to Hancock ($44.8 million), which was playing in nearly four times as many countries.[ae] The Dark Knight was available in sixty-two countries by the end of August, although Warner Bros. decided not to release it in China, blaming "a number of pre-release conditions ... as well as cultural sensitivities to some elements of the film". The Dark Knight earned about $469.7 million outside the U.S. and Canada, its highest grosses coming from the United Kingdom ($89.1 million), Australia ($39.9 million), Germany ($29.7 million), France ($27.5 million), Mexico ($25 million), South Korea ($24.7 million), and Brazil ($20.2 million). This made it the second-highest-grossing film of the year behind Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The film had grossed $997 million worldwide by January 2009. Its reissue in the run-up to the Oscars enabled the film to exceed $1 billion in February, and it ultimately earned $1.003 billion. It was the first superhero film to gross over $1 billion, the highest-grossing film of 2008 worldwide, the fourth film to earn more than $1 billion, and the fourth-highest-grossing film of its time behind Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest ($1.066 billion), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ($1.119 billion), and Titanic ($1.842 billion).[af][ag] As of June 2025,[update] rereleases have further raised its box-office take to $1.009 billion. Reception The Dark Knight received critical acclaim.[ah] On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 94% approval rating from the aggregated reviews of 341 critics. The consensus reads: "Dark, complex and unforgettable, The Dark Knight succeeds not just as an entertaining comic book film, but as a richly thrilling crime saga." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 85 out of 100 based on 41 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. Several publications called The Dark Knight the best comic-book hero adaptation ever made. Roger Ebert said that it, alongside Iron Man, had redefined the potential of superhero films by combining comic-book tropes with real world events.[ai] Some appreciated its complex moral tale about the effects of vigilantism and terrorism on contemporary society. Emanuel Levy and Manohla Dargis praised the depiction of the characters as possessing both positive and negative aspects, such as Batman's efforts to end crime provoking unintended consequences and a greater response from criminals; Dargis believed that The Dark Knight's exploration of chaos, fear, and death, following the September 11 attacks in 2001 represented "that American movies have entered a new era of ambivalence when it comes to their heroes or maybe just superness".[aj] Others criticized the dark, grim, intense, and self-serious tone as lacking any elements of fun or fantasy.[ak] David Denby said that The Dark Knight was a product of a "time of terror", but focused on embracing and unleashing it while cynically setting up a sequel. Stephanie Zacharek and David Edelstein criticized a perceived lack of visual storytelling in favor of exposition, and aspects of the plot being difficult to follow amid the fast pace and loud score. Christopher's action direction was criticized, especially during fight scenes where it could be difficult to see things clearly, although the prologue bank heist was praised as among the film's best.[al] Ledger's performance received near-unanimous praise with the caveat that his death made the role both highly anticipated and difficult to watch.[am] Dargis, among others, described Ledger as realizing the Joker so convincingly, intensely, and viscerally it made the audience forget about the actor behind the makeup. The Village Voice wrote that the performance would have made Ledger a legend even if he had lived.[an] Other reviews said Ledger outshone Nicholson's performance with macabre humor and malevolence. Reviews generally agreed the Joker was the best-written character, and that Ledger commanded scenes from the entire cast to create one of the most mesmerizing cinematic villains.[ao] Bale's reception was mixed; his performance was considered to be alternately "captivating" or serviceable, but ultimately uninteresting and undermined by portraying an immovable and generally unchanged character who delivers Batman's dialogue in a hoarse, unvarying tone.[ap] Eckhart's performance was generally well received; reviewers praised his portrayal of Dent as charismatic, and the character's subsequent transformation into a sad, bitter "monster", although Variety considered his subplot the film's weakest.[aq] Stephen Hunter said that the Dent character was underwritten and that Eckhart was incapable of portraying the role as intended. Several reviewers regarded Gyllenhaal as an improvement over Holmes, although others said that they found difficulty in caring about the character and that Gyllenhaal, while more talented than her predecessor, was miscast.[ar] Peter Travers praised Oldman's skill in making a virtuous character interesting and he, among others, described Caine's and Freeman's performances as "effortless". Ebert surmised that the entire cast provided "powerful" performances that engage the audience, such that "we're surprised how deeply the drama affects us". The Dark Knight appeared on several lists recognizing the best films of 2008, including those compiled by Ebert, The Hollywood Reporter, and the American Film Institute.[as] At the 13th Satellite Awards, The Dark Knight received one award for Sound Editing or Mixing (Richard King, Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo). A further four wins came at the 35th People's Choice Awards: Favorite Movie, Favorite Cast, Favorite Action Movie, and Favorite On-Screen Match-Up (Bale and Ledger), as well as Best Action Movie and Best Supporting Actor (Ledger) at the 14th Critics' Choice Awards. Howard and Zimmer were recognized for Best Motion Picture Score at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards. Ledger won the film's only awards at the 15th Screen Actors Guild Awards, 62nd British Academy Film Awards, and 66th Golden Globe Awards, for Best Supporting Actor. At the 14th Empire Awards, The Dark Knight received awards for Best Film, Best Director (Christopher Nolan), and Best Actor (Bale). Ledger received the award for Best Villain at the 2009 MTV Movie Awards, and at the 35th Saturn Awards, The Dark Knight won awards for Best Action or Adventure Film, Best Supporting Actor (Ledger), Best Writing (Christopher and Jonathan Nolan), Best Music (Howard and Zimmer), and Best Special Effects (Corbould, Nick Davis, Paul J. Franklin, Timothy Webber). Before The Dark Knight's release, film industry discourse focused on Ledger potentially earning an Academy Award nomination at the 81st Academy Awards in 2009, making him only the seventh person to be nominated posthumously, and if the decision would be influenced by his death or performance.[at] Genre films such as those based on comic books were also generally ignored by Academy voters. Even so, Ledger was considered a favorite to earn the award based on praise from critic groups and his posthumous Golden Globe award. Ledger won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, making him only the second performer to win an award posthumously (after Peter Finch in 1977), and The Dark Knight the first comic book adaptation to win an academy acting award. The Dark Knight also won an award for Best Sound Editing (King), and received six nominations for Best Art Direction (Crowley and Peter Lando), Best Cinematography (Pfister), Best Film Editing (Smith), Best Makeup (Caglione Jr. and O'Sullivan), Best Sound Mixing (Hirschberg, Rizzo, and Ed Novick), and Best Visual Effects (Davis, Corbould, Webber, and Franklin). Despite the success of The Dark Knight, the lack of a Best Picture nomination was criticized and described as a "snub" by some publications. The response was seen as the culmination of several years of criticism toward the academy ignoring high-performing, broadly popular films. The backlash was such that, for the 82nd Academy Awards in 2010, the academy increased the limit for Best Picture nominees from five to ten, a change known as "The Dark Knight Rule". It allowed for more broadly popular but "respected" films to be nominated, including District 9, The Blind Side, Avatar, and Up, the first animated film to be nominated in two decades.[au] This change is seen as responsible for the first Best Picture nomination of a comic book adaptation, Black Panther (2018). Even so, The Hollywood Reporter argued the academy mistook the appeals to recognize important, "generation-defining" genre films with just nominating more films. Other releases The Dark Knight was released on DVD and Blu-ray in December 2008. The release has a slipcover box-art that revealed a "Jokerized" version underneath, and contains featurettes on Batman's equipment, the psychology used in the film, six episodes of the fictional news program Gotham Tonight, and a gallery of concept art, posters, and Joker cards. The Blu-ray disc version additionally offers interactive elements describing the production of some scenes.[av] A separate, limited-edition Blu-ray disc set came with a Batpod figurine. The Dark Knight sold 3 million copies across both formats on its launch day in the U.S., Canada, and the UK; Blu-ray discs comprised about 25–30% of the sales—around 600,000 units. The film was released at the beginning of the Blu-ray disc format; it was considered a success, breaking Iron Man's record of 250,000 units sold and indicating the format was growing in popularity.[aw] In 2011, it also became the first major-studio film to be released for rent via digital distribution on Facebook. A 4K resolution remaster, which was overseen by Christopher, was released in December 2017 as a set containing a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray disc, and digital download, as well as special features from earlier releases. Merchandise for The Dark Knight includes statuettes, action figures, radio-controlled Tumbler and Batpod models, costumes, sets of Batarangs, a limited-edition Grappling Launcher replica, board games, puzzles, clothing, and a special-edition UNO card game.[ax] A novelization written by Dennis O'Neil was released in 2008. A direct-to-DVD animated film, Batman: Gotham Knight, was released in July 2008. Executive produced by Bruce Timm and Nolan's wife Emma Thomas, with Goyer as one of the writers, it includes veteran Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy reprising his role. Originally there was interest in bringing Bale and other actors from the live-action films to voice their respective characters, but it was not possible due to scheduling conflicts. Gotham Knight presents six vignettes, each of which are animated in a different artistic style, set between the events of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. A video game adaptation, Batman: The Dark Knight, was canceled due to development problems. The Dark Knight Coaster, an indoor roller coaster, opened in May 2008 at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey and Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois. Costing $7.5 million, the 1,213-foot (370 m) long attraction places riders in an imitation of Wayne Central Station in Gotham City as they move through areas that are vandalized or controlled by the Joker. Themes and analysis A central theme of The Dark Knight is escalation, particularly the rise of the Joker in response to Batman's vigilantism. Batman's vigilante operation arms him with high-tech military equipment against common criminals, and the Joker is the inevitable response and escalation of lawlessness to counter Batman. Critic Siddhant Adlakha argued that the Joker symbolizes the constructed, unknowable face of modern terrorism. While real-world terrorism often has identifiable political motives,such as Al-Qaeda citing U.S. actions in Somalia and Lebanon, or ISIS emerging from the Iraq occupation, the Joker's chaos reflects how terror can appear cyclical and inseparable from the militarism it reacts against. Batman also inspires copycat vigilantes, further escalating lawlessness. Film studies professor Todd McGowan said Batman asserts authority over these copycats, telling them to stop because they do not have the same defensive equipment as himself, reaffirming his self-given authority to act as a vigilante. The film has been analyzed as an analog for the war on terror, the militaristic campaign the U.S. launched following the September 11 attacks. The scene in which Batman stands in the ruins of a destroyed building, having failed to prevent the Joker's plot, is reminiscent of the World Trade Center site after September 11. According to historian Stephen Prince, The Dark Knight is about the consequences of civil and government authorities abandoning rules in the fight against terrorism. Several publications criticized The Dark Knight for a perceived endorsement of "necessary evils" such as torture and rendition. Author Andrew Klavan said Batman is a stand-in for then-U.S. president George W. Bush and justified the breaching of "boundaries of civil rights to deal with an emergency, certain that [Batman] will re-establish those boundaries when the emergency is past". Klavan's interpretation was criticized by some publications that considered The Dark Knight anti-war, proposing society must not abandon the rule of law to combat lawlessness or risk creating the conditions for escalation. This is exemplified in the covert alliance formed between Batman, Dent, and Gordon, leading to Rachel's death and Dent's corruption. Writer Benjamin Kerstein said both viewpoints are valid, and that "The Dark Knight is a perfect mirror of the society which is watching it: a society so divided on the issues of terror and how to fight it that, for the first time in decades, an American mainstream no longer exists". Batman and Dent resort to torture or enhanced interrogation to stop the Joker but he remains immune to their efforts because he has a strong belief in his goals. When Dent ineffectually attempts to torture Joker's henchman, Batman does not condemn the act, only being concerned about public perception if people discover the truth. This conveys the protagonists' gradual abandonment of their principles when faced with an extreme foe. The Joker meets Dent in a hospital to explain how expected atrocities, such as the deaths of several soldiers, and societal failings are tolerated but when norms are unexpectedly disrupted, people panic and descend into chaos. Although the Joker wears disguising makeup, he is not hiding behind a mask and is the same person with or without makeup. He lacks any identity or origin, representing the uncertainty, unknowability, and fear of terrorism, although he does not follow any political ideology. Dent represents the fulfillment of American idealism, a noble person who can work within the confines of the law and allow Batman to retire, but the fear and chaos embodied by the Joker taints that idealism and corrupts Dent absolutely. In The Dark Knight's final act, Batman employs an invasive surveillance network by co-opting the phones of Gotham's citizens to locate the Joker, violating their privacy. Adlakha described this act as a "militaristic fantasy", in which a significant violation of civil liberties is required through the means of advanced technology to capture a dangerous terrorist, reminiscent of the 2001 Patriot Act. Lucius Fox threatens to stop helping Batman in response, believing he has crossed an ethical boundary, and although Batman agrees these violations are unacceptable and destroys the technology, the film demonstrates he could not have stopped the Joker in time without it. The Dark Knight focuses on the moral and ethical battles faced by the central characters, and the compromises they make to defeat the Joker under extraordinary circumstances.[ay] Roger Ebert said the Joker forces impossible ethical decisions on each character to test the limits of their morality. Batman represents order to the Joker's chaos and is brought to his own limit but avoids completely compromising himself. Dent represents goodness and hope; he is the city's "white knight" who is "pure" of intent and can operate within the law. Dent is motivated to do good because he identifies himself as good, not through trauma like Batman, and has faith in the legal system. Adlakha wrote Dent is framed as a religious icon, his campaign slogan being "I believe in Harvey Dent", and his eventual death leaves his arms spread wide like Jesus on the Cross. Eckhart described Dent as someone who loves the law but feels constrained by it and his inability to do what he believes is right because the rules he must follow do not allow it. Dent's desire to work outside the law is seen in his support of Batman's vigilantism to accomplish what he cannot. Dent's corruption suggests he is a proxy for those looking for hope because he is as fallible and susceptible to darkness as anyone else. This can be seen in his use of a two-headed coin to make decisions involving others, eliminating the risk of chance by controlling the outcome in his favor, indicating losing is not an acceptable outcome for him. Once Dent experiences a significant traumatic event in the loss of Rachel and his own disfigurement, he quickly abandons his noble former self to seek his own form of justice. His coin is scarred on one side, introducing the risk of chance, and he submits himself to it completely. According to English professor Daniel Boscaljon, Dent is not broken; he believes in a different form of justice in a seemingly unjust world, flipping a coin because it is "Unbiased. Unprejudiced. Fair." The Joker represents an ideological deviancy; he does not seek personal gain and causes chaos for its own sake, setting a towering pile of cash ablaze to prove "everything burns". Unlike Batman, the Joker is the same with or without makeup, having no identity to conceal and nothing to lose.[az] Boscaljon wrote the residents and criminals believe in a form of order and rules that must be obeyed; the Joker deliberately upends this belief because he has no rules or limitations. The character can be considered an example of Friedrich Nietzsche's "Superman", who exists outside definitions such as good and evil, and follows his own indomitable will. The film, however, leaves open the option to dismiss his insights because his chaos ultimately leads to death and injustice. Christopher described the Joker as an unadulterated evil, and professor Charles Bellinger considered him a satanic figure who repels people from goodness and tempts them with things they supposedly lack, such as forcing Batman to choose between saving Dent—who is best for the city—and Rachel, who is best for Wayne. The Joker aims to corrupt Dent to prove anyone, even symbols, can be broken. In their desperation, Dent and Batman are forced to question their own limitations. As the Joker states to Batman: Their morals, their code ... it's a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. You'll see—I'll show you ... when the chips are down, these civilized people ... they'll eat each other. See, I'm not a monster ... I'm just ahead of the curve. — The Joker, in The Dark Knight The ferry scene can be seen as the Joker's true defeat, demonstrating he is wrong about the residents turning on each other in an extreme scenario. According to writer David Chen, this demonstrates, individually, people cannot responsibly handle power but by sharing the responsibility, there is hope for a compassionate outcome. Although Batman holds to his morals and does not kill the Joker, he is forced to break his code by pushing Dent to his death to save an innocent person. Batman chooses to become a symbol of criminality by taking the blame for Dent's crimes and preserving him as a symbol of good, maintaining the hope of Gotham's residents. Critic David Crow wrote Batman's true test is not defeating the Joker but saving Dent, a task at which he fails. Batman makes his own Christ-like sacrifice, taking on Dent's sins to preserve the city. Although The Dark Knight presents this as a heroic act, this "noble lie" is used to conceal and manipulate the truth for what a minority determines is the greater good. McGowan considered the act heroic because Batman's sacrifice will leave him hunted and despised without recognition, indicating he has learned from the Joker the established norms must sometimes be broken. According to professor Martin Fradley, among others, Batman's "noble lie" and Gordon's support of it is a cynical endorsement of deception and totalitarianism. Wayne's butler Alfred also commits a noble lie, concealing Rachel's choice of Dent over Wayne to spare him the pain of her rejection. Legacy The Dark Knight is considered an influential and often-imitated work that redefined the superhero/comic-book film genre, and filmmaking in general.[ba] In 2020, the United States Library of Congress selected The Dark Knight to be preserved in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Before The Dark Knight, superhero films closely emulated their comic-book source material, and though the genre had seen significant successes such as Superman (1978), Batman (1989), X-Men (2000), and Spider-Man (2002), they were often considered disposable entertainment that did not garner much industry respect.[bb] A 2018 retrospective by The Hollywood Reporter said The Dark Knight taught filmmakers "comic book characters are malleable. They are able to be grounded or fantastic, able to be prestigious or pure blockbuster entertainment, to be dark and gritty or light, to be character-driven or action-packed, or any variation in-between." The Dark Knight is considered a blueprint for the modern superhero film that productions either attempt to closely emulate or deliberately counter.[bc] Its financial, critical, and cultural successes legitimized the genre with film studios at a time when recent films, such as Daredevil, Hulk (both 2003), Fantastic Four (2005), and Superman Returns (2006) had failed to meet expectations. The genre became a focus of annual studio strategies rather than a relatively niche project, and a surge of comic-book adaptations followed, in part because of their broad franchising potential. In 2008, Ebert wrote; "[The Dark Knight], and to a lesser degree Iron Man, redefine the possibilities of the 'comic-book movie'". The Atlantic wrote Iron Man's legacy in launching the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) could not have happened without the financial and critical success of The Dark Knight, which made comic book adaptations a central focus of film studios. Retrospective analysis has focused on the way studios, eager to replicate its performance, released tonally dark, gritty, and realistic films, or reboots of existing franchises, many of which failed critically or commercially. Some publications said studios took the wrong lessons from The Dark Knight, treating source material too seriously and mistaking a dark, gritty tone for narrative depth and intelligent writing.[bd] The MCU is seen as a successful continuation of what made The Dark Knight a success, combining genres and tones relevant to each respective film while treating the source material seriously, unlike the DC Extended Universe, which more closely emulated the tone of The Dark Knight but failed to replicate its success. Directors including Sam Mendes (Skyfall, 2012), Ryan Coogler (Black Panther), and David Ayer (Suicide Squad, 2016), have cited it as an influence on their work, Steven Spielberg and Leonardo DiCaprio listed it among their favorite films, and Timothée Chalamet said it inspired him to become an actor.[be] The film has been referenced in a variety of media including television shows such as Robot Chicken, South Park, and The Simpsons. U.S. President Barack Obama used Joker to explain the growth of Islamic State (IS) military group, saying " ... the gang leaders of Gotham are meeting ... they were thugs, but there was a kind of order ... the Joker comes in and lights the whole city on fire. [IS] is the Joker." Joker's appearance became a popular Halloween costume and also influenced the 2009 Barack Obama "Joker" poster.[bf] Since its release, The Dark Knight has been assessed as one of the greatest superhero films ever made,[bg] among the greatest films ever made,[bh] and one of the best sequel films.[bi] It is also considered among the best films of the 2000s,[bj] and in a 2010 poll of thirty-seven critics by Metacritic regarding the decade's top films, The Dark Knight received the eighth most mentions, appearing on 7 lists. In the 2010s, a poll of 177 film critics by the BBC in 2016 listed it as the 33rd-best film of the 21st century, and The Guardian placed it 98th on its own list. In 2020, Empire magazine named it third-best, behind The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). As of 2025[update], it remains the highest critically rated Batman film according to Rotten Tomatoes, and is often ranked as the best film featuring the character.[bk] The Dark Knight remains popular with entertainment industry professionals, including directors, actors, critics, and stunt actors, being ranked 57th on The Hollywood Reporter's poll of the best films ever made, 18th on Time Out's list of the best action films, and 96th on the BBC's list of the 100 Greatest American Films. The Dark Knight is included in the film-reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, and film critics James Berardinelli and Barry Norman included it in their individual listings of the 100 greatest films of all time. In 2012, Total Film named it the sixth-most-accomplished film of the preceding fifteen years, and a 2020 article by Empire named The Dark Knight as one of the films that defined the previous three decades. In 2020, Time Out named it the seventy-second-best action movie ever made. In June 2025, the film ranked number 28 on The New York Times' list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century" and number 6 on its "Readers' Choice" edition of the list. In July 2025, it ranked number 42 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century." Ledger's Joker is considered one of the greatest cinematic villains; several publications placed his portrayal second only to Darth Vader.[bl] In 2017, The Hollywood Reporter named Ledger's Joker the second-best cinematic superhero performance ever, behind Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, and Collider listed him as the greatest villain of the 21st century. In 2022, Variety listed him as the best superhero film performance of the preceding 50 years (Eckhart appears at number 22). Entertainment Weekly wrote there had not been another villain as interesting or "perversely entertaining" as Joker, and Ledger's performance was considered so defining that future interpretations would be compared against it. Michael B. Jordan cited the character as an inspiration for his character Erik Killmonger in Black Panther.[bm] The "pencil trick" scene, in which Joker makes a pencil disappear by slamming a mobster's head on it, is considered an iconic scene and among the film's most famous.[bn] Similarly, the character's line "why so serious?" is among the film's most famous and oft-quoted pieces of dialog,[bo] alongside "everyone loses their minds," and Dent's line "you either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain", as well as Pennyworth's line "some men just want to watch the world burn"; the lines also became popular internet memes.[bp] The Dark Knight remains popular with audiences in publicly voted rankings. Over 17,000 people voted the film into the top ten of American Cinematographer's "Best-Shot Film of 1998–2008" list, and listeners of BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra named it their eighth-favorite film. Readers of Empire have alternatively voted it the fifteenth (2008), third (2014), and the fourth-greatest film ever made (2020). The Dark Knight was also voted the greatest superhero movie by readers of Rolling Stone (2014), and as one of New Zealand's favorite films (2015). In 2021, members of Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) and Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) ranked its screenplay 26th in WGA’s 101 Greatest Screenplays of the 21st Century (so far). Sequel The Dark Knight was followed by The Dark Knight Rises (2012), the conclusion of The Dark Knight Trilogy. In the film, Batman is forced out of his self-imposed retirement following the events of The Dark Knight; he allies with Selina Kyle / Catwoman to take on Bane, a physically imposing revolutionary allied with the League of Shadows that is featured in Batman Begins. The Dark Knight Rises was a financial success, surpassing the box-office take of The Dark Knight, and was generally well received by critics but proved more divisive with audiences.[bq] Notes References External links |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Film] | [TOKENS: 837] |
Portal:Film Portal topics - (Random portal) The Film Portal A film, movie, or motion picture is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, since the 1930s, synchronized with sound and sometimes using other sensory stimuli. Films are produced by recording actual people and objects with cameras or by creating them using animation techniques and special effects. They comprise a series of individual frames, but when these images are shown rapidly in succession, the illusion of motion is given to the viewer. Flickering between frames is not seen due to an effect known as persistence of vision, whereby the eye retains a visual image for a fraction of a second after the source has been removed. Also of relevance is what causes the perception of motion: a psychological effect identified as beta movement. (Full article...) Featured articles - load new batch Made in Dagenham is a 2010 British comedy-drama film directed by Nigel Cole, written by William Ivory, and starring Sally Hawkins, Bob Hoskins, Miranda Richardson, Geraldine James, Rosamund Pike, Andrea Riseborough, Jaime Winstone, Daniel Mays and Richard Schiff. It dramatises the Ford sewing machinists strike of 1968 that aimed for equal pay for women. Its theme song, with lyrics by Billy Bragg, is performed by Sandie Shaw, a native of the area and former Ford Dagenham clerk. A stage musical version of the film opened at London's Adelphi Theatre in 2014. (Portal:Film/Featured content) General images - load new batch Selected image The shadow of the vampire climbing stairs in a famous scene from the 1922 film Nosferatu by F. W. Murnau. The movie is an example of German Expressionism. Its original German title is Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens ("Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror"). The film, shot in 1921 and released in 1922, was in essence an unauthorised adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, with names and other details changed because the studio could not obtain the rights to the novel. More... Did you know... Selected biography - show another Hugh Michael Jackman (born 12 October 1968) is an Australian actor, singer, and producer. Beginning in theatre and television, Jackman landed his breakthrough role as Wolverine, playing it across the X-Men film franchise and in the Marvel Cinematic Universe from X-Men (2000) to Deadpool & Wolverine (2024). Prominent on both screen and stage, he has received various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Grammy Award and two Tony Awards, along with nominations for an Academy Award and a British Academy Film Award. Jackman was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2019. Jackman has headlined films in various genres, including the romantic comedy Kate & Leopold (2001), the action-horror Van Helsing (2004), the drama The Prestige (2006), the period romance Australia (2008), the science fiction Real Steel (2011), the musical Les Misérables (2012), the thriller Prisoners (2013), the musical The Greatest Showman (2017), the political drama The Front Runner (2018), and the crime drama Bad Education (2019). For his role as Jean Valjean in Les Misérables, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor, and for The Greatest Showman soundtrack, Jackman received a Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack. He also provided voice roles in the animated films Flushed Away, Happy Feet (both 2006), Rise of the Guardians (2012) and Missing Link (2019). (Full article...) Featured lists - load new batch News WikiProjects Selected quote Main topics Featured content Subcategories Subportals Related portals Things you can do Associated Wikimedia The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject: |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Comedy] | [TOKENS: 589] |
Portal:Comedy Portal topics - (Random portal) The Comedy Portal Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. (Full article...) Selected article More... Selected picture A jester, joker, fool, or buffoon is a specific type of entertainer (but not always) associated with the Middle Ages. Jesters typically wore brightly colored clothing in a motley pattern. Their hats, sometimes called the cap ’n bells, cockscomb (obsolete coxcomb), were especially distinctive; made of cloth, they were floppy with three points (liliripes) each of which had a jingle bell at the end. The three points of the hat represent the asses ears and tail worn by jesters in earlier times. Other things distinctive about the jester were his incessant laughter and his mock scepter, known as a bauble or maharoof. Read more… More did you know... Selected quote Selected biography More... Did you know (auto-generated) Categories Related portals Main topics Terms: Black comedy • Comedian • Comedy club • Comedy of manners • Convention (norm) • Irony • Komos • Parody • Political satire • Race humor • Restoration comedy • Satire • Screwball comedy • Surreal humour • Taboo • Toilet humor Comedy genres: Bouffon • Comedy film • Anarchic comedy film • Gross-out film • Parody film • Romantic comedy film • Screwball comedy film • Slapstick film • Comic novel • Dramedy • Improvisational comedy • Musical comedy • Stand-up comedy • Alternative comedy • Impressionist (entertainment) • One-liner joke • Comedy genres • Sketch comedy • Television comedy • Radio comedy • Situation comedy • Tragicomedy History of theatre: Ancient Greek comedy • Ancient Roman comedy • Burlesque • Citizen comedy • Clown • Comedy of humours • Comedy of manners • Comedy of menace • Comédie larmoyante • Commedia dell'arte • Face • Jester • Restoration comedy • Shakespearean comedy • Dadaist/Surrealist • Theatre of the absurd Comedy events and awards: British Comedy Awards • Canadian Comedy Awards • Cat Laughs Comedy Festival • Edinburgh Festival Fringe • Just for laughs • Melbourne International Comedy Festival • New York Underground Comedy Festival Lists: List of comedians • List of British comedians • List of Canadian comedians • List of Finnish comedians • List of German language comedians • List of Italian comedians • List of Mexican comedians • List of Puerto Rican comedians • List of Indian comedians • List of British TV shows remade for the American market • List of comedies • List of New York Improv comedians Featured content WikiProjects Things you can do Associated Wikimedia The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject: |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Speculative_fiction] | [TOKENS: 1971] |
Portal:Speculative fiction Portal topics - (Random portal) Speculative fiction is an umbrella phrase encompassing the more fantastical fiction genres, specifically science fiction, fantasy, horror, supernatural fiction, superhero fiction, utopian and dystopian fiction, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, and alternate history in literature as well as related static, motion, and virtual arts. It has been around since humans began to speak. The earliest forms of speculative fiction were likely mythological tales told around the campfire. Speculative fiction deals with the "What if?" scenarios imagined by dreamers and thinkers worldwide. Journeys to other worlds through the vast reaches of distant space; magical quests to free worlds enslaved by terrible beings; malevolent supernatural powers seeking to increase their spheres of influence across multiple dimensions and times; all of these fall into the realm of speculative fiction. Speculative fiction as a category ranges from ancient works to cutting edge, paradigm-changing, and neotraditional works of the 21st century. It can be recognized in works whose authors' intentions or the social contexts of the versions of stories they portrayed is now known. For example, Ancient Greek dramatists such as Euripides, whose play Medea (play) seemed to have offended Athenian audiences when he fictionally speculated that shamaness Medea killed her own children instead of their being killed by other Corinthians after her departure. The play Hippolytus, narratively introduced by Aphrodite, is suspected to have displeased contemporary audiences of the day because it portrayed Phaedra as too lusty. In historiography, what is now called speculative fiction has previously been termed "historical invention", "historical fiction," and other similar names. It is extensively noted in the literary criticism of the works of William Shakespeare when he co-locates Athenian Duke Theseus and Amazonian Queen Hippolyta, English fairy Puck, and Roman god Cupid all together in the fairyland of its Merovingian Germanic sovereign Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream. In mythography it has been termed "mythopoesis" or mythopoeia, "fictional speculation", the creative design and generation of lore, regarding such works as J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Such supernatural, alternate history, and sexuality themes continue in works produced within the modern speculative fiction genre. Jump to a specific section below Selected profile Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (/ˈkroʊbər lə ˈɡwɪn/ KROH-bər lə GWIN; née Kroeber; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author. She is best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the Earthsea fantasy series. Her work was first published in 1959, and her literary career spanned nearly sixty years, producing more than twenty novels and more than a hundred short stories, in addition to poetry, literary criticism, translations, and children's books. Frequently described as an author of science fiction, Le Guin has also been called a "major voice in American Letters". Le Guin said that she would prefer to be known as an "American novelist". Selected work Scott and director James Cameron developed ideas for a film that would serve as a prequel to Scott's science-fiction horror film Alien (1979). In 2002, the development of Alien vs. Predator (2004) took precedence, and the project remained dormant until 2009 when Scott again showed interest. Spaihts wrote a script for a prequel to the events of the Alien films, but Scott opted for a different direction to avoid repeating cues from those films. In late 2010, Lindelof joined the project to rewrite Spaihts' script, and he and Scott developed a story that precedes the story of Alien but is not directly connected to the original series. According to Scott, although the film shares "strands of Alien's DNA," and takes place in the same universe, Prometheus explores its own mythology and ideas. (Full article...) Selected quote Selected picture Illustration to Tennyson's "Sir Galahad" by W. E. F. Britten: No branchy thicket shelter yields; Read more... Did you know... Upcoming conventions February: March: Dates can usually be found on the article page. See also these convention lists: anime, comic book, furry, gaming, multigenre, and science fiction. Selected article The Hugo Award for Best Novelette is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The novelette award is available for works of fiction of between 7,500 and 17,500 words; awards are also given out in the short story, novella and novel categories. The Hugo Awards have been described as "a fine showcase for speculative fiction" and "the best known literary award for science fiction writing". On this day... February 21: Deaths Possible futures Possible events in the future as suggested by science fiction: Things you can do... Here are ideas for how you can help improve the coverage of speculative fiction topics on Wikipedia: Join a WikiProject or task force: Start a requested article: Expand a stub: Expand a new article: Note: If no articles are shown below, please work on those found in the Archive. This list was generated from these rules. Questions and feedback are always welcome! The search is being run daily with the most recent ~14 days of results. Note: Some articles may not be relevant to this project. Rules | Match log | Results page (for watching) | Last updated: 2026-02-20 20:29 (UTC) Note: The list display can now be customized by each user. See List display personalization for details. Recognized content Featured articles are considered to be the best on Wikipedia, as determined by Wikipedia's editors, and Good articles are those which are considered to be of good quality but which are not yet featured article quality. If you see one that should be listed here, please add it or post on the talk page and let us know so we can add it for you. Speculative fiction topics Creators: Artists (list) · Authors (by nationality) · Editors Media: Animation · Anime and manga · Comics · Films (list) · Games (board · role-playing · video) · Literature (magazines (pulp) · novels · poetry · stories) · Opera · Radio · Television (films · list · sitcoms) · Theatre Subgenres: Alternate history · Apocalyptic · Biopunk · Comedy · Cyberpunk (derivatives) · Dying Earth · Gothic · Hard · Human society · Military · Mundane · Planetary romance · Recursive · Social · Soft · Space opera · Spy-fi · Steampunk · Sword and planet · Tech-noir · Western (Space) History: Films · Golden Age · New Wave · Scientific romance Related genres: Fantasy (Science fantasy) · Mystery · Horror · Slipstream · Speculative (Weird) · Superhero Themes: Artificial intelligence · Extraterrestrials (First contact) · Floating city · Hyperspace · Lost World · Planets · Politics (Libertarian · Utopia/Dystopia · World government) · Religion (Christian · ideas) · Resizing · Sex (Feminist · gender · homosexuality · reproduction) · Simulated realities/Virtual worlds · Slipstream · Space warfare (weapons) · Stock characters · Superpowers · Timeline (Alternate future · Future history · Parallel universes · Time travel) Subculture: Fandom: By nationality · Conventions (list) · Organizations — Studies: Awards · Definitions · Journals · New Wave By country: Australia · Bangladesh · Canada · China · Croatia · Czech Republic · France · Japan · Norway · Poland · Romania · Russia/Soviet Union · Serbia · Spain Creators: Artists · Authors Media: Anime · Art (Fantastic) · Comics (Webcomics) · Film · Literature · Magazines · Television (List) Studies: History · Sources · Tolkienology Subgenres: Bangsian · Comic · Contemporary (Urban) · Dark · Epic/High fantasy · Heroic · Mythic fiction · Steampunk · Sword and sorcery · Weird fiction Tropes (List): Fantasy races · Fantasy worlds · Legendary creatures · Magic · Magic items · Magicians · Quests Creators: Artists · Authors Media: Anime and manga · Comics (US) · Films (list) · Games · Giallo · Grand Guignol · Magazines · Novels · Television Subgenres: Body · Comedy (list · zombie comedy) · Dark fantasy · Dark romanticism · Ero guro · Erotic · Ghost · Gothic · J-Horror · K-Horror · Lovecraftian · Monsters (Frankenstein · vampire · werewolf) · Occult detective · Psychological · Religious (film) · Sci-fi (film) · Slasher (film) · Splatter/Gore (film) · Supernatural · Survival · Weird menace · Weird West · Zombie apocalypse Related genres: Crime · Mystery · Speculative · Thriller Others: Awards · Conventions · LGBT · Writers Subcategories Related portals Wikimedia The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject: The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject: The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject: The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject: Portal directory |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Category] | [TOKENS: 3650] |
Contents Help:Category Categories are intended to group together pages on similar subjects. They are implemented by a MediaWiki feature that adds any page with a text like [[Category:XYZ]] in its wiki markup to the automated listing that is the category with name XYZ. Categories help readers to find, and navigate around, a subject area, to see pages sorted by title, and to thus find article relationships. Categories are normally found at the bottom of an article page. Clicking a category name brings up a category page listing the articles (or other pages) that have been added to that particular category. There may also be a section listing the subcategories of that category. The subcategorization feature makes it possible to organize categories into tree-like structures to aid navigation. The term category does refer to both the title of a category page—the category pagename—and the category itself. Keeping this in mind while reading about categorization, plus learning a category page layout is a worthwhile investment in research techniques. (See also the search box parameter "incategory".) The layout of a category page is mostly text, but see about displaying category trees below. Summary The MediaWiki software maintains tables of categories, to which any editable page can be added. To add a page to a category, include "[[Category:Category name]]" or "[[Category:Category name|Sortkey]]" in that page's wiki markup. The categories to which a page belongs appear in a box at the bottom of the page. A category is usually associated with a category page in the "Category:" namespace. A category page contains text that can be edited, like any other page, but when the page is displayed, the last part of what is displayed is an automatically generated list of all pages in that category, in the form of links. Other category pages which appear in this list are treated separately, as subcategories. Category page definition A category page is any page in the Category namespace. They each act as a category, and are termed a "category". The category page has one section titled Subcategories listing other "categories", and one section titled Pages, listing pages as categorized (in other namespaces). New categories are created by creating a page in the Category namespace. A category page can be edited like any other page. However, when it is displayed, the editable part of the page is followed by automatically generated lists of pages belonging to the category, as follows: The items in the lists all link to the pages concerned; in the case of the images this applies both to the image itself and to the text below it (the name of the image). For the way in which the lists are ordered, see Sorting category pages below. The first and second lists are divided into sections, according to the first character of the sort key. These initial characters are displayed above the sections. To suppress these, make all sort keys start with a space. A category page can only display a limited number of members (currently 200). If there are more members, there will be a link to the next page. The categories box for the category page appears at the bottom, in the same place as for other pages. This contains the categories to which the current category page has been added, i.e., its parent categories (the categories of which it is a subcategory). Add a category page to other categories in the normal way, using the "[[Category:Category name]]" or "[[Category:Category name|Sortkey]]" syntax. A page becomes part of a category if the page's wiki markup contains a declaration for that category. A category declaration takes the form [[Category:Category name]] or [[Category:Category name|Sortkey]]. The declaration must be processed, i.e. it will not work if it appears between <nowiki>...</nowiki> or <includeonly>...</includeonly> tags, or in a comment. The declaration may however come from a transcluded page; see Categories and templates below. A category name can be any string that would be a legitimate page title. If the category name begins with a lower-case letter, it will be capitalized. For initial lower-case letters, as in Category:macOS, see the technical restrictions page. On Wikipedia, it is customary to place category declarations at the end of the wiki markup, but before any stub templates (which themselves transclude categories). When a page has been added to one or more categories, a categories box appears at the bottom of the page (or possibly elsewhere, if a non-default skin is being used). This box contains a list of the categories the page belongs to, in the order in which the category declarations appear in the processed wiki markup. The category names are linked to the corresponding category pages. They appear as red links if the corresponding category page does not exist. If a user has enabled the HotCat gadget, the categories box will also provide links to quickly add, remove, or modify category declarations on the page, without having to edit the whole page. Hidden categories are not displayed, except as described below under Hiding categories. Working with category pages The following subsections are ordered from simple actions to more elaborate or rarer actions. To link to a category page without putting the current page in that category, precede the link with a colon: [[:Category:Category name]]. Such a link can be piped like a normal wikilink. (The {{cl}} template, and others listed on its documentation page, may sometimes be helpful.) Raw information about the members of a category, their sort keys and timestamps (time when last added to the category) can be obtained from the API, using a query of the form: Listings of up to 500 members are possible. If there are more members then the results will include text near the end like this: <categorymembers cmcontinue="page|NNNN|TITLE" />. This can be added to the previous one, without quotation marks, for the next page of members: ...&cmcontinue=page|NNNN|TITLE By default, a page is sorted under the first character of its name, without the namespace. English Wikipedia groups accented characters together with their unaccented version, so pages starting with À, Á, Ä, will be listed under heading A. Sorting is case-insensitive, so "ABC" comes after "Abacus". Unlike at Special:Allpages and Special:Prefixindex, a space is treated as a space (coming before all other characters), not as an underscore. The English Wikipedia has numerical sorting in categories. This means that digit sequences in page names are treated according to their numerical value, not as strings. Thus "9 dogs", "25 dogs", and "112 dogs" will all appear under the "0–9" heading in numerical order, and V838 Monocerotis will appear before V1309 Scorpii. Each of the three lists (subcategories, pages, media files) is arranged in the order explained above (except that, in the subcategories list, the namespace indicator "Category:" is not considered). If an item ought to be positioned within a list on the basis of an alternative name (sort key) for that item, then this can be specified in the category tag that places the item in the list: For example, to add an article called Albert Einstein to Category:1879 births and have the article sorted by "Einstein, Albert", you would type: Unlike a piped link (which uses the same syntax), the sort key itself is not displayed to readers. It affects only the order in which pages are listed on the category page. It is useful to document the system being used for sort keys on the category page. For guidelines about the use of sort keys on Wikipedia, see WP:SORTKEY. It is possible to set a default sort key which is different from {{PAGENAME}} by using the magic word {{DEFAULTSORT:}}: This is often used in biography articles, to make sure the subject is sorted by their last name: For example, on the Albert Einstein page, {{DEFAULTSORT:Einstein, Albert}} adds the sort key "Einstein, Albert" to all his categories, such as Category:1879 births. In the case of multiple default sort key tags, the last DEFAULTSORT on the final rendering of a page applies for all categories, regardless of the position of the category tags. This also means that a DEFAULTSORT tag included from a template is not effective if another DEFAULTSORT tag occurs later on the page, even if the later DEFAULTSORT tag is also "hidden" (included by another template). Any conflicts are tracked via Category:Pages with DEFAULTSORT conflicts. In addition to browsing through hierarchies of categories, it is possible to use the search tool to find specific articles in specific categories. To search for articles in a specific category, type incategory:"CategoryName" in the search box. A pipe "|" can be added to join the contents of one category with the contents of another. For example, enter to return all pages that belong to either (or both) of the categories, as here. Note that using search to find categories will not find articles which have been categorized using templates. This feature also doesn't return pages in subcategories. Special:Categories provides an alphabetic list of all categories, with the number of members of each; this number does not include the content of the subcategories, but it includes the subcategories themselves, i.e., each counting as one. The above list contains all categories that have members, regardless of whether they have corresponding category pages. To list all existing category pages (regardless of whether they have members), use Special:AllPages/Category:. As described at mw:Help:Magic words, {{PAGESINCATEGORY:Example}} or {{PAGESINCAT:Example}} returns the number of pages in "Category:Example". Each subcategory counts as one page; pages in subcategories are not counted. The page Special:CategoryTree enables you to see the tree structure of a category (its subcategories, their subcategories and so on; the display of files and other member pages is optional). The CategoryTree extension can be used to display such a tree on any page. (This is sometimes done on the category page itself, if the category is split over multiple screens, to make all subcategories available on every screen.) The basic syntax is to display just the subcategory tree, and to display member pages as well. They will be indicated by italics. Dapete's category-visualizer vCat will render charts of the tree structure. You may also use Template:Category tree or Template:Category tree all, instead. Warning: Categories can be moved in the same way as an ordinary page; but a certain amount of cleanup may be necessary. A redirect is left at the old category name, and this is not a normal #REDIRECT [[...]] but a {{category redirect}}. Once all the pages have been moved out of the old category, it may be left as a category redirect or deleted. For categories entirely populated through templates (see above), modifying the templates enables all affected articles to be moved to another category, but with the refresh problem mentioned. Almost all category name changes are made pursuant to a consensus decision at Wikipedia:Categories for discussion. Do not create intercategory redirects other than with a {{category redirect}} template. See Wikipedia:Categories for discussion § Redirecting categories for more on category redirects. When the magic word __HIDDENCAT__ is placed on a category page, that category becomes hidden, meaning that it will not be displayed on the pages belonging to that category. On Wikipedia, the magic word is not normally used explicitly, but is applied through the {{hidden category}} template. The feature is mostly used to prevent project maintenance categories from showing up to ordinary readers on article pages. For users who are not logged in, hidden categories are displayed on category pages (whether as parent categories or subcategories). Hidden categories are displayed at the bottom of each page, after "Hidden categories:", for registered users: Hidden categories are automatically added to Category:Hidden categories. For guidelines on the hiding of categories on Wikipedia, see WP:HIDDENCAT. Tracking categories are used to track technical featues or problems. They are outside of the category structure for articles. Pages may be inserted into those by the MediaWiki software, or by templates or modules. Usually they are hidden, or even red ie not created. Special:TrackingCategories lists all tracking categories populated by the MediaWiki software. Category:Tracking categories is the top for tracking categories on this wiki. Finding articles for a category The most effective way of finding entries of a category is using the "What links here" tool on the category's main article. An easy way to find relevant articles for a new category or missing entries in an existing one is by finding the most relevant list and checking its entries. Sometimes categories are about things that are intersections of other categories for which the PetScan tool can be used. More relevant articles may also be found linked in a category's main article and the articles already featured in the category − especially in their "See also" sections (if existent) and the automatically suggested "RELATED ARTICLES" below them. Furthermore, a category's superordinate categories often feature articles that should be subcategorized to the category. Other ways to find relevant articles include searching Wikipedia for the category's topic and searching the Web for the topic in quotes " (with synonyms also in quotes and appended after an OR) and appending the word wiki or Wikipedia or site:Wikipedia.org to them. Categorizing Templates are categorized the same way as articles, except that [[Category: Some-topic templates]] should be placed on the template's documentation page (or inside <noinclude>...</noinclude> tags, if there is no documentation page), this is necessary to avoid categorizing pages by template inclusion (see below). A template can be used to add pages to a category, usually by placing the category link inside <includeonly></includeonly> tags on the template (e.g. <includeonly>[[Category:category name]]</includeonly>). When the template is transcluded into the page, the category link becomes active, and the page is added to the category page. This is useful for categories that have high turnover or many pages included, like cleanup categories. Changes to the template, however, may not be reflected immediately on the category page. When you edit an article to add a category tag directly, the list of category members is updated immediately when the page is saved. When a category link is contained in a template, however, this does not happen immediately: instead, whenever a template is edited, all the pages that transclude it are put into the job queue to be recached during periods of low server load. This means that, in busy periods, it may take hours or even days before individual pages are recached and they start to appear in the category list. Performing a null edit to a page will allow it to jump the queue and be immediately recached. To add the template itself to the category page as well, omit the "includeonly" tags. To add the template to a category without categorizing pages on which the template is transcluded, place the category declaration between <noinclude>...</noinclude> tags, or add it to the template documentation page between <includeonly></includeonly> (the latter allows recategorizing the template without editing it, which is helpful if it is protected, or so complicated that mere mortals hesitate to touch it). Parser functions can be used to make the transcluded categories, or the sort key used in them, dependent on other variables, notably PAGENAME. On Wikipedia it is not recommended that templates be used to populate ordinary content categories of articles. See Categorization using templates in the categorization guideline. Redirect pages can be categorized and there are conventions on how to do it. The redirect link must be first on the page. On a category page, redirects are listed in italics. For a category, the "Related Changes" feature, when applied to the corresponding category page, lists recent changes to the pages which are currently listed as belonging to a category. Where those pages are subcategories or image pages, only changes to their editable parts are listed. Notice that "Related Changes" does not show edits to pages that have been removed from the category. Also, "Related Changes" does not list recent changes to pages linked from the editable part of the category page (as it would normally, with a non-category page). If a workaround would be required, the links in question could be placed in a template and transcluded onto the category page. As usual – unlike with watchlists – recent changes to corresponding talk pages are not shown under "Related Changes". Pages that one is watching are bolded on the list. This can help to find which pages in a given category one has on one's watchlist. The DynamicPageList (third-party) extension provides a list of last edits to the pages in a category, or optionally, just the list of pages; the simpler DynamicPageList (Wikimedia) is installed on Meta, Wikinews, Wikibooks and Wikiversity; the extension mw:Extension:DPLforum is installed on Wikia. Since 2016, additions and removals from categories are available via the "Category changes" filter on recent changes pages, including watchlists and Special:RecentChangesLinked. For example, category changes to articles in Category:Cannabis stubs can be found here. You can monitor additions and removals from specific categories by adding the categories to your watchlist and making sure the "Category changes" filter is active. You can view changes to categories in your watchlist by clicking here. Additional scripts with similar functionality are User:CategoryWatchlistBot and User:Ais523/catwatch. See also Notes |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wikiquote-logo.svg] | [TOKENS: 154] |
File:Wikiquote-logo.svg Summary This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing. File history Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. File usage More than 100 pages use this file. The following list shows the first 100 pages that use this file only. A full list is available. View more links to this file. Global file usage The following other wikis use this file: View more global usage of this file. Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create or digitize it. If the file has been modified from its original state, some details may not fully reflect the modified file. |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:American_fantasy_adventure_films] | [TOKENS: 59] |
Category:American fantasy adventure films Contents Subcategories This category has the following 8 subcategories, out of 8 total. Pages in category "American fantasy adventure films" The following 200 pages are in this category, out of approximately 539 total. This list may not reflect recent changes. |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:2025_American_films] | [TOKENS: 67] |
Category:2025 American films This category is for American films originally released in the year 2025. Contents Subcategories This category has only the following subcategory. Pages in category "2025 American films" The following 200 pages are in this category, out of approximately 512 total. This list may not reflect recent changes. |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:2025_comedy_films] | [TOKENS: 58] |
Category:2025 comedy films Contents Subcategories This category has the following 5 subcategories, out of 5 total. Pages in category "2025 comedy films" The following 124 pages are in this category, out of 124 total. This list may not reflect recent changes. |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:American_adventure_comedy_films] | [TOKENS: 59] |
Category:American adventure comedy films Contents Subcategories This category has the following 9 subcategories, out of 9 total. Pages in category "American adventure comedy films" The following 200 pages are in this category, out of approximately 392 total. This list may not reflect recent changes. |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Internet_memes_introduced_in_2025] | [TOKENS: 56] |
Category:Internet memes introduced in 2025 Subcategories This category has only the following subcategory. Pages in category "Internet memes introduced in 2025" The following 100 pages are in this category, out of 100 total. This list may not reflect recent changes. |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Internet_memes_introduced_in_2024] | [TOKENS: 56] |
Category:Internet memes introduced in 2024 Subcategories This category has only the following subcategory. Pages in category "Internet memes introduced in 2024" The following 116 pages are in this category, out of 116 total. This list may not reflect recent changes. |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:English-language_adventure_films] | [TOKENS: 60] |
Category:English-language adventure films Subcategories This category has the following 9 subcategories, out of 9 total. Pages in category "English-language adventure films" The following 200 pages are in this category, out of approximately 1,216 total. This list may not reflect recent changes. |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Films_postponed_due_to_the_COVID-19_pandemic] | [TOKENS: 75] |
Category:Films postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic This category contains articles of films that were postponed from their original release date due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Contents Pages in category "Films postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic" The following 200 pages are in this category, out of approximately 572 total. This list may not reflect recent changes. |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Articles_with_short_description] | [TOKENS: 89] |
Category:Articles with short description This category is for articles with short descriptions defined on Wikipedia by {{short description}} (either within the page itself or via another template). Subcategories This category has the following 4 subcategories, out of 4 total. Pages in category "Articles with short description" The following 200 pages are in this category, out of approximately 6,221,383 total. This list may not reflect recent changes. |
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[SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Mojang_Studios] | [TOKENS: 49] |
Category:Mojang Studios Subcategories This category has only the following subcategory. Pages in category "Mojang Studios" The following 11 pages are in this category, out of 11 total. This list may not reflect recent changes. |
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