Time of the Wolf/Le Temps du Loup (2003) - Apocalyptic meanderings by Haneke

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+ Worst $ Return of the Year: 0.04

 

The contour of what appears to be a naked boy is set against a fire on a railroad track on this ominous poster for Michael Haneke's Time of the Wolf

A small family suddenly lose the husband and father, so that the two children are forced to seek survival with their nervous mother in an apocalyptic future, in which food, water and electricity are luxuries.

 

Time of the Wolf is written and directed by Great German filmmaker Michael Haneke (The Seventh Continent/Der Siebente Kontinent (1989)). The English title is a literal translation of the original French title, which is taken from the ancient Norse Völuspá poem.

The visuals and acting performances are impressively consistent in a greyish blue, desaturated, despairing tone. But since no cause is ever presented behind the gloomy scenario, - and the film moreover is entirely without humor and is inhabited by a long row of screaming, deeply unsympathetic people and grim scenes, - the result is a very small audience investment in the characters and the film overall. Its effect is thereby negligible.

Time of the Wolf is a cruel and insufferable film. - But what's the point?

 

Related posts:

Michael Haneke: 2012 in films - according to Film Excess
Amour (2012) - Tender love, unseizing death in Haneke's pictures
2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

Funny Games (2007) - Haneke recreates his strong critique of movie violence consumption for the American audience 

Top 10: Best drama-thrillers reviewed by Film Excess to date 

2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 
Hidden/Caché (2005) - Haneke's slick, cold surveillance drama-thriller   

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 8.82 mil. €, approximately 10 mil. $

Box office: 499k $

= Box office disaster (returned 0.04 times its cost)

[Time of the Wolf premiered 20 May (Cannes Film Festival, out of competition) and runs 113 minutes. Shooting took place in Austria, including in Vienna. The film was screened out of competition in Cannes, because a member of the year's jury acted in it. It opened #83 to a 7k $ first weekend in 2 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #53 but never in more than 2 theaters, grossing 61k $ (12.2 % of the total gross). North America was the film's 3rd biggest market. Its biggest and 2nd biggest were France with 106k $ (21.2 %) and Austria with 78k $ (15.6 %). Haneke returned with Hidden/Caché (2005). Isabelle Huppert (My Worst Nightmare/Mon Pire Cauchemar (2011)) returned in Ma Mère (2004). Time of the Wolf is fresh at 67 % with a 6.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Time of the Wolf?

Metropolis/メトロポリス (Metoroporisu) (2001) - Rintaro's ambitious robo-anime a matter of taste

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Colorful cyberpunk sci-fi animation is promised on this poster for Rintaro's Metropolis

Complications arising concerned with the evolution of robots lead a future mega-city to a complete breakdown.

Metropolis is written by Katsihuro Ôtomo (Stink Bomb/Saishu Heiki (1995, short)), based on the same-titled 1949 manga by Osama Tezuka (Astro Boy (1952-68)), and directed by Rintaro (Galaxy Express 999/Ginga tetsudô Three-Nine (1979)).
The inspiration from Fritz Lang's eponymous 1927 masterpiece (Metropolis (1927)) is apparent, though this anime evolves into a radically different film, especially due to its visual ambition, which divides audiences: Some will find the detailed, staccato-moving, fast-edited style with obvious mixing of traditional animation and CGI highly attractive, but others like myself find it deeply stressful and at times almost intolerable to watch. It is a matter of taste.
The style overwhelms the experience for me. Metropolis certainly is a noisy and special, doom-romanticizing film.

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Reportedly 1 bil. ¥, approximately 15 mil. $
Box office: Uncertain, perhaps around 15.25 mil. $
= Uncertain, but looks like a huge flop (looks to have returned 1.01 times its cost)
[Metropolis premiered 26 May (Japan) and runs 113 minutes. Production reportedly lasted 5 years. The film opened #40 to an 84k $ first weekend in 9 theaters in North America, its peak weekend there, where it widened to 16 theaters and grossed 722k $. The world gross listed at Box Office Mojo is 4 mil. $. On Wikipedia the film is listed to have grossed 750 mil. ¥ in Japan, approximately 11.25 mil. $. Put together the gross comes to 15.25 mil. $. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to 4 notches higher than this one. Metropolis is certified fresh at 86 % with a 7.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Metropolis?

Halloween Movie 2019: Altered States (1980) or, Reversed Darwinism

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The at the time unknown star (William Hurt) is upside down on this mysterious, text-heavy poster for Ken Russell's Altered States

Edward Jessup is an experimental psychology professor, who gambles with his own mental constitution to investigate the human consciousness using an isolation tank and Mexican mushrooms!

Altered States is written by Paddy Chayefsky (Mati (1958, TV movie)), based on his own same-titled 1978 novel, and directed by English master filmmaker Ken Russell (Valentino (1977).
Feature-debuting William Hurt (Mr. Wonderful (1993)) is unique in maybe his career's best performance: In Altered States he expresses madness in galloping speed, while he spouts coherent, complex dialog, which seems to conflict troublingly with his madness.
Bob Balaban (Thin Ice (2011)) and Charles Haid (The Rescue (1988)) are good as his experimental mates, and Blair Brown (Fringe (2008-12)) is strong and sexy in the good part as Hurt's increasingly broken romantic companion.
Chayevsky and Russell keep the film stringent and and anything but flaky plot-wise, although we get into something really strange and bizarre here!
An American Werewolf in London (1981) has a predecessor in the special effects department in Altered States, which also recalls the body horror excess of David Cronenberg's The Fly (1986), a film that Altered States transcends intellectually.
The psychedelic sensual bombardment created by Russell and Co. is more out there and hypnotic - as well as upsetting - than any such sequence I have seen anywhere else before; and I haven't seen anything to rival it until Gaspar Noé's nightmarish Enter the Void (2009).
Altered States is a completely wild, intense and attention-demanding picture; it stands as the ultimate horror movie for atheist science freaks: SPOILER Human degeneration back into the simian stage, in this perspective, is the logical, horrific descent to hell.

Related posts:

Ken Russell: Top 10: Best drug-themed movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Past Halloween Movies: Halloween Movie 2018: Misery (1990) - Bates ignites an iconic villain in Reiner's rock-solid King adaptation
Halloween Movie 2017: Candyman (1992) - Racial tensions inform Rose and Barker's Chicago-set horror favorite 

Watch a 1-minute clip from one of the film's psychedelic scenes here

Cost: 14.9 mil. $
Box office: 19.8 mil. $ (North America alone)
= Some uncertainty; most likely a big flop or flop (returned 1.32 times its cost domestically)
[Altered States was released 25 December (USA) and runs 103 minutes. Chayefsky had formed the idea after a gathering of "disgruntled" friends in 1975. Columbia Pictures producer Daniel Melnick suggested that he turn the treatment into a novel first. Arthur Penn was director through pre-production but resigned after a disagreement with Chayefsky. Russell was allegedly director #27 asked to take up the film, following numerous big filmmakers who had passed. The budget ballooned from 9 to 12 to the final 14.9 mil. $ during production - with 4 mil. $ alone going to special effects. Shooting took place in Mexico, New York, Boston, Massachusetts, Kentucky and California, including Los Angeles, from March 1979 - ?. Chayefsky budded into production too much, causing a conflict with Russell, which led to Chayefsky demanding his usual pen name be removed from the film; instead his birth first name and middle name are used (Sidney Aaron). The film opened to a 174k $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 19.8 mil. $, - impressive for such an unusual and wild movie. The foreign grosses are regrettably not made public online, but if the film made 25 mil. $ total, it would still rank as a big flop. It was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Score (John Corigliano (Revolution (1985))), lost to Michael Gore for Fame, and Best Sound, lost to Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Russell returned with The Planets (1983, TV documentary), The South Bank Show (1984, documentary TV-series) and theatrically with Crimes of Passion (1984). Hurt returned in Eyewitness (1981); Balaban in Prince of the City (1981); Haid in Pray TV (1981) and Brown in Continental Divide (1981). Altered States is certified fresh at 84 % with a 6.81/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Altered States?

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) - Remarkable visuals and Goldenthal's score elevate trailblazing adaptation

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Enticingly colorful characters fill out the top letters on this anticipation-building poster for Hironobu Sakaguchi and Motonori Sakakibara's Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

Scientist Aki Ross carries an alien virus within herself, which gives her some frightening dreams. She lives on Earth after an alien attack, where humans battle the ghostly phantom aliens. 

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is written by Al Reinert (Apollo 13 (1995)) and Jeff Vintar (I, Robot (2004)) with Jack Fletcher (Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000)) supplying dialog and debuting co-director Hironobu Sakaguchi contributing story elements. It is based on Sakaguchi's popular Final Fantasy series of video games and was co-directed with also debuting Motonori Sakakibara (Rudolf the Black Cat/Rudorufu to ippai attena (2016)). It is notable as the first photorealistic computer-animated feature film.
The plot is fairly abstract and to some degree most appealing to the initiated computer nerds, who are already privy to Sakaguchi's sci-fi universe. However, the film's visual side is so overwhelmingly beautiful, - particularly the dreams and alien attacks, - and Elliot Goldenthal's (Heat (1995)) score is so atmospheric, - that as audiences, Final Fantasy transports us to a world of fantasy regardlessly.

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 137 mil. $
Box office: 85.1 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 0.62 times its cost)
[Final Fantasy premiered 2 July (USA) and runs 106 minutes. The film was the most expensive computer game adaptation until Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010): 45 mil. $ was spent to construct the almost 1,000 computer 'render farm' in Hawaii, which was used to create and render the unprecedented amount of computer-animated details required. Reportedly, 200 people worked for 4 years to create the film there. Special care went into the creation of lead Aki Ross, who was thought to become the world's first computer-animated star actress, 'performing' in other films following Final Fantasy, (this did not materialize, - although she did get to adorn a cover of Maxim in a purple bikini, named one of the year's 100 sexiest women.) The film opened #4, behind fellow new releases Legally Blonde and The Score and holdover hit Cats & Dogs, to an 11.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd week and grossed 32.1 mil. $ (37.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 7.4 mil. $ (8.7 %) and Germany with 5.8 mil. $ (6.8 %). Some sources say that the 137 mil. $ price tag includes Columbia Pictures' 30 mil. $ spent on advertising and distributing the film, although it also says that the production costs were 115 mil. $, - which would then bring the combined cost at 145 mil. $, - so in the confusion I am going by the ballooned 137 mil. $ production cost (as appears on Box Office Mojo and Wikipedia). The flop of the film turned Square Pictures out of business. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to a notch higher than this one. The film made in excess of 26.6 mil. $ on home video rentals in North America alone, - not enough to change its 'huge flop' status if figured into the calibration. Sakaguchi has not returned to filmmaking since; Sakakibara returned as supervising director on 1 episode of King: King of the Apes (2016-) and theatrically with Rudolf the Black Cat (2016). Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is rotten at 45 % with a 5.3/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within?

The Fountain (2006) - Aronofsky's sensorial meditation on mortality

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+ Best Psychedelic Movie of the Year + Best Mega-flop Movie of the Year

A truly striking, space-set poster for Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain

The Fountain is a strange journey in three ages: Thomas struggles to save the woman he loves; as a 16th century conquistador in New Spain, protecting her from attacking Mayans; as a neuroscientist in present time, dealing with her cancer diagnosis, and in an organic spaceship in the future.

The Fountain is a highly unusual, psychedelic and metaphysical triple story about the search for immortality, which isn't held together by a central suspense curve, SPOILER but one that does find its final release in our natural conclusion: death.
Hugh Jackman (The Greatest Showman (2017)) and Rachel Weisz (The Whistleblower (2010)) play the loving, troubled couple, and Weisz relates all of creation to Mayan myths in The Fountain, which is interesting.
The Fountain is written and directed by New-Yorker master filmmaker Darren Aronofsky (Pi (1998)), with Ari Handel (Noah (2014)) contributing story elements. It did not grab me as strongly as Aronofsky's preceding, harrowing drug drama Requiem for a Dream (2000), but it is a sensual, aesthetic waterfall of beautiful sounds, images (cinematography by Matthew Libatique (Ruby Sparks (2012))), music (score by Clint Mansell (United (2011))) and lights. A rare experience and obviously the result of serious, painstaking efforts.

Related posts:

Darren Aronofsky: mother! (2017) - Bring a flask with you to this one!
Black Swan (2010) or, Manic Dance

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 35 mil. $
Box office: 16 mil. $
= Mega-flop
[The Fountain premiered 4 September (Venice Film Festival, Italy) and runs 96 minutes. Aronofsky developed the film after Requiem for a Dream as a 70 mil. $ package with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett for Warner Bros. But as Pitt dropped out weeks before shooting, the film fell apart, and the sets, including a Mayan temple, were auctioned off. Aronofsky attempted to recast with Russell Crowe, but he was too exhausted after Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Aronofsky was able to reshape the film to a budget half the original size, and the project was again green-lit. Jackman prepared extensively for his performance, training t'ai chi and yoga for many months before shooting. Aronofsky cast his girlfriend Weisz, who visited terminal patients and witnessed brain surgery as preparation. The budget was kept low by minimizing the use of CG effects and using macro photography instead, (blowing up extreme closeups, including deep-sea images of micro-organisms shot by Peter Parks). Shooting took place in Guatemala, Montreal, Quebec, Canada and in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania over 60 days in 'early 2005'. The film opened #10 to a 3.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 10.4 mil. $ (65 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 1.3 mil. $ (8.1 %) and Russia with 0.6 mil. $ (3.8 %). It was nominated for a Golden Globe. Roger Ebert gave the film a 2.5/4 star review, translating to a notch harder than this one. Jackman returned in The Prestige (2006), Weisz as a voice in Eragon (2006) and in a physical part in My Blueberry Nights (2007). Aronofsky returned with The Wrestler (2008). The Fountain is rotten at 52 % with a 5.9/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Fountain?

Under the Skin (2013) - Glazer's visually chilling, flawed art film

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+ Strangest Movie of the Year

 

An ethereal, appealing poster for Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin

A young, beautiful brunette drives through Scotland, seeking out man after man, whom she lures with her body to go with her and then lets drown in a mysterious tar-like substance. But a change is coming in the 'woman'.

Incredibly, watching Under the Skin, we are very fast convinced, without the use of any visual effects, that Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation (2003)) is not human here, simply through her unperson-like, empty portrayal and the chilly, observational photography by Daniel Landin (Sixty Six (2006)).
Under the Skin is the third feature from Londoner co-writer-director Jonathan Glazer (Sexy Beast (2000)), and it is a very strange art film with an oppressive sound universe and ditto score by Mica Levi (Jackie (2016)). The film's biggest strength is its images, which are pictorially beautiful and striking throughout. Unfortunately some shots are held for too long, and our attraction to the story becomes too vague. It gets boring. And the pace gives plenty of room for us to wonder whether the disfigured man in the film is really a disfigured man, (he is; Adam Pearson (The Ugly Face of Disability Hate Crime (2015, TV movie)) has neurofibromatosis, no prosthetics are involved); how Johansson was cast and so on, - which we don't have time to wonder about in a truly successful film.
Under the Skin is co-written with Walter Campbell and based on the same-titled 2000 novel by Michel Faber (The Book of Strange New Things (2014)). Particularly its ending does have something undeniably scary about it, and though not exactly good, it is certainly a highly unusual film.

Related posts:

2013 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED VI]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

 

Watch the official trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 8 mil. £, equal to approximately 13.3 mil. $

Box office:  5.7 - 7.7 mil. $ (different reports)

= Mega-flop

[Under the Skin premiered August 29 (Telluride Film Festival, Colorado) and runs 108 minutes. Glazer wanted to adapt Faber's book after Sexy Beast but completed Birth (2004) first. Brad Pitt was supposed to be a male alien for a time, but development was slow, and the plot moved to center on just one alien, a female. Gemma Arterton was Glazer's choice for a time, but funding couldn't be attracted with her as lead. Filming took place in Scotland and England's Elstree Studios in and around October 2011 as a co-production of no less than 11 companies and institutions. Besides Johansson, most characters in the film are played by non-actors, including championship motorcycle road racer Jeremy McWilliams. The film opened #29 in 4 theaters to a 133k $ first weekend, peaking in 176 theaters at #16 in North America, where it grossed 2.6 mil. $ (45.6 % of the total gross, if going with the 5.7 mil. $ gross, which is what is reported to Box Office Mojo). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets of the just 13 international markets were the UK with 1.9 mil. $ (33.3 %) and France with 305k $ (5.4 %). The film was nominated for two BAFTAs and 4 British Independent Film Awards, among many other nominations and awards. Under the Skin is certified fresh at 85 % with a 7.8 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Under the Skin?

Monsters (2010) - Edwards' fascinating, impressive guerilla filmmaking debut

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2 Film Excess nominations:

Best Lead Actress: Whitney Able (lost to Jennifer Connelly for Virginia/What's Wrong with Virginia)
Best Digital Effects (lost to Alice in Wonderland)

 

+ Best Monster Movie of the Year

+ Best Low-Budget Movie of the Year

 

Above the title on this poster for Gareth Edwards' Monsters is the film's cool tagline

Years after an alien invasion, the giant monsters have been interned in South America, where an American photographer is now given the assignment to get his boss' daughter back to the States. But the road is long and full of obstacles...

Monsters is based on an unusual, exciting and original idea: It is an ultra-low budget giant creature feature without the mass destruction scenes the subgenre has grown us accustomed to but scoring on other parameters. The story is driven by a special, terrific mood stemming from all the action taking place in a world that has restructured after the fact of the alien coming, a world that is post great ideals; the collapse has, on more than one front, already happened.
The chemistry and dynamic between the two fine leads, portrayed by now married Scoot McNairy (Gone Girl (2014)) and Whitney Able (Mercy (2009)), who is especially wonderful, is gold to the film. It was made in a real guerilla filmmaking spirit (read more below), and this is reflected in the sense of realism and truthfulness of the film, which is rarely found in its mega-budgeted cousins.
Some may feel themselves led on by the film's title, because the film really doesn't show too many monsters at all. Besides the qualities already mentioned, Monsters also has a strong, surprising ending and some very well-made CGI.
It is the feature debut for great British writer-director Gareth Edwards (Godzilla (2014)), who won the latter, mega-budgeted giant creature feature directing gig based on this impressive film.

Related posts:

Gareth Edwards: 2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Godzilla (2014) - Best Godzilla ever!!!
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 0.5 mil. $

Box office: 4.2 mil. $

= Huge hit

[Monsters premiered March 13 (SXSW, Austin, Texas) and runs 94 minutes. Edwards had wanted to make a giant creature feature for more than a decade, getting derailed by War of the Worlds and Cloverfield. The film was shot with only a treatment with almost all of its lines getting improvised during production and most of the extras getting played by willing strangers the crew met on their adventure. Filming took place in America, Belize, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Mexico in just 3 weeks with a total crew of 7 people. 100 hours of footage was edited down, and Edwards created the film's CGI effects himself in 5 months in his bedroom. The film opened #54 in just 3 theaters to a 20k $ first weekend, expanding to 25 theaters and grossing 237k $ (5.6 % of the total gross) in North America. Its 3 biggest markets were the UK with 1.44 mil. $ (34.3 %), Russia with 1.40 mil. $ (33.3 %) and Mexico with 463k $ (11 %). Roger Ebert gave the film 3½ stars, equal to one notch better than this review. It was nominated for 6 awards at the British Independent Film Awards, winning Best Director, Best Technical Achievement and Best Achievement in Production. Edwards was also nominated as Best Director's Debut at the BAFTAs, but didn't win. A sequel, Monsters: Dark Continent (2015), was made without the direct involvement of the creators of Monsters and flopped. Monsters is fresh at 72 % with a 6.6 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Monsters?

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) - Spielberg's greatest accomplishment, the ultimate in movie magic

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One of the marvelous posters for Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which references Michelangelo's classical painting The Creation of Adam and underscores the film's religious undercurrent

In a nice suburban neighborhood near Los Angeles lives the boy Elliott with his big brother, little sister and mother. Their father/husband has left them for Mexico. A creature from space meets Elliott, they bond, and it benefits from his warm child's heart.

E.T. is the second masterpiece of master Ohioan filmmaker Steven Spielberg's (Saving Private Ryan (1998)) incredible career, the first one, of course, being Jaws (1975). Every time I have watched it, it has moved me tremendously, like no other film. E.T. is a film that is made with such technical and visual mastery, humanity, artfulness and forcefulness, - it makes you swell up with warmth inside, and after seeing it feel positively purified. - What other films can you name that does all of that?
John Williams' (Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)) Oscar-winning score is sheer perfection, musically storytelling in the best possible way, boosting every moment of the film with wonder, adventure and emotion.

The story, developed by Spielberg with recently passed, great screenwriter Melissa Mathison (The BFG (2016)), is wonderful. Henry Thomas (The Last Ride (2012)), Drew Barrymore (Blended (2014)) and everyone else are fantastic in it. Thomas is especially phenomenal, and so, of course, is Carlo Rambaldi's legendary creature design of E.T.
E.T. can be enjoyed as a religious reminder of the existence and importance of goodness and innocence in the world, with E.T. interpreted as a Jesus-like character or a symbol of childhood. At the same time the film's entirety works as a unique allegory of the full passage of life; with its dangers, mysteries, losses, adventures, unity and love.
E.T. is Spielberg's greatest accomplishment to date, one that is impossible to top. An absolutely spectacular film.

Related posts:

Steven Spielberg: War Horse (2011) - Spielberg visits WWI with problematic horse drama Super 8 (2011) - Abrams' nostalgic family crowdpleaser (producer)
Band of Brothers - TV mini-series (2001) - WWII-sacrifice and -comradeship portrayed with skill and integrity (producer)
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) - A robot fairy tale with both heart and mind
Amistad (1997) or, Must... Free... Slaves! 
Twilight Zone The Movie (1983) - Fear takes many forms in tragedy-struck anthology
1941 (1979) - Spielberg's bizarre 'comedy spectacular' sinks like a rock  
Duel (1971) - Spielberg's truck terror is ideal afternoon fare

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 10.5 mil. $
Box office: 792.9 mil. $
= Blockbuster
[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial premiered May 26 (Cannes) and runs 117 minutes. The story is inspired by the divorce of Spielberg's parents in 1960, his estrangement from his father and development of a fantasy friend. E.T. began development as Spielberg's darker sci-fi project Night Skies, about evil aliens, collapsed. Columbia Pictures made one of the great errors of movie history when their management at the time passed on E.T., calling it "a wimpy Walt Disney movie." The E.T. puppet took 3 months and 1.5 mil. $ to make, but was still so ugly, in the nervous eyes of some, that Mars, Incorporated refused the use of M&Ms in the film. The Hershey Company then jumped in, and their profits rose 65 % after the release of the film, prominently featuring their Reese's Pieces candy. Filming took place from September - December 1981, mostly in Culver City, LA. The shoot was mostly chronological, especially to help the children's performances, and production wrapped four days early. It was the first film on which Spielberg did not use meticulous storyboarding. The film premiered at the closing gala of the Cannes Film Festival, a screening that has gone down in Cannes history as among the greatest the festival has ever enjoyed. The film opened #1 with an 11.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed #1 for 6 consecutive weeks, fluctuating between #1 and #2 in October and returning #1 once again in December. By 1983, E.T. surpassed Star Wars (1977) as the highest-grossing film of all time (unadjusted for inflation). It had grossed 359 mil. $ in North America and 619 mil. $ worldwide. E.T. was re-released in 1985 and 2002, adding 60 and 68 mil. $, respectively, to its gross. The film held its top-grossing spot for 11 years until Spielberg bested it with Jurassic Park (1993), although it stayed #1 in North America until a 1997 Star Wars re-issue beat it. The North American gross stands at 435.1 mil. $ (54.9 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets are Japan with 66.9 mil. $ (8.4 %) and the UK with 29.6 mil. $ (3.7 %). E.T. is still the 4th highest-grossing film in North America ever, adjusted for inflation, only bested by Gone with the Wind, Star Wars and The Sound of Music. Bengali master filmmaker Satyajit Ray has claimed that Spielberg plagiarized his 1967 script The Alien, which Spielberg has refused, although Martin Scorsese and Richard Attenborough have substantiated the claims. Spielberg has addressed the Christian undertones of the film and made clear that they are unintentional on his part, pointing to his being Jewish.  Despite much pirating of the film was reported, it made an additional 75 mil. $ on VHS sales in North America alone. E.T. was nominated for 9 Oscars, winning for Best Score, Sound, Visual Effects and Sound Effects. It lost Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Cinematography and Editing to Attenborough's Gandhi. It was nominated for 5 Golden Globes, winning for Best Picture - Drama and Best Score. A 20 year anniversary edition of E.T. was released with some minor changes made using CGI, which prompted controversy. Spielberg has decided against doing so in the future releases of his past films and recommends watching the original 1982 version of E.T. Atari, Inc. released a video game based on the film in 1982, which is widely regarded among the worst video game ever made. A 40 mil. $ theme park ride based on the film was created for the Florida Universal Studios park in 1990. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is certified fresh at 98 % with a 9.2 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial?
Do you agree that it is Spielberg's greatest achievement?