Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Evan Almighty (2007) - Shadyac's monumentally miscalculated sequel/professional gravestone (hope not)

2/21/2017

Evan Almighty (2007) - Shadyac's monumentally miscalculated sequel/professional gravestone (hope not)

♥♥

+ Most Expensive Flop of the Decade: 105.7 mil. $ range

+ Most Expensive Flop of the Year (lost approximately 105.7 mil. $) + Worst Poster of the Year + Biggest Career Killer of the Year: Tom Shadyac

This poster for Tom Shadyac's Evan Almighty is a fine example of a grotesquely manipulated copy-paste poster graphics job that's gone awfully wrong

Following the funny huge hit Bruce Almighty (2003), spin-off Evan Almighty focuses on news anchor-turned-congressman Evan (Steve Carell (The Big Short (2015))). One of his colleagues gets contacted by God, who - for reasons that seem beyond our comprehension, - make Evan into a modern day Noah.

- As his hysterical wife leaves him, and the political job becomes harder and harder to keep, Carell trots around in more and more wacky costumes and hair jobs in Evan Almighty, which must surely rank among the craziest and most outlandish comedies in recent history. It is a very bizarre film built around a poor idea, which is also very badly constructed from there. It is also a huge effects feature, which is amusing in small glimpses, - mostly those in which Carell seems to laugh inwards in earnest at the whole absurd situation he has put himself in here.

Morgan Freeman (Oblivion (2013)) is, however, good as God, and, believe it or not, so is the message of the film.

Evan Almighty is written by Steve Oedekerk (Bruce Almighty), with Joel Cohen (Toy Story (1995)) and Alec Sokolow (Garfield (2004)) contributing story elements, and directed by Virginian master filmmaker Tom Shadyac (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)), whose directing career fell into a black hole, probably as a result of the costly failure of Evan Almighty. (Shadyac has only directed a documentary since.)

Tom Shadyac: The 2000s in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Bruce Almighty (2003) - Carrey makes laughter in well-made what-if-you-were-God-comedy

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994) - 6th gear Jim Carrey smacker

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 175 mil. $

Box office: 173.4 mil. $

= Huge flop

[Evan Almighty was released June 22 and runs 96 minutes. Its script is a reworking of the spec script The Passion of the Ark, which Sony Pictures bought in a bidding war for a huge 2.5 mil. $ in 2004, beginning the hugely expensive and difficult production of Evan Almighty. Jim Carrey, the star of Bruce Almighty, declined to star in the sequel, which thus became a spin-off. Shooting took place in Virginia, Washington and California, including Universal Studios, from March - August 2006. The budget ballooned from 140 mil. to 175 mil. $ due to the effects-heavy, animal-heavy shoot. Shadyac had an environmental focus during production, getting thousands of trees planted to make up for its CO2 emissions, and had a fall-out with the producers towards the release of the film. The film opened #1 with a 31.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weeks in the top 5 (#3, #5) and grossed 100.4 mil. $ (57.9 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 12.1 mil. $ (7 %) and Australia with 6.7 mil. $ (3.9 %). The film additionally made in excess of 27.6 mil. $ on home video sales in North America alone, which, if added to its gross, changes its statues to merely a big flop. Evan Almighty is rotten at 23 % with a 4.5 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Evan Almighty?

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (15-24)