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Eragon (film)

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This article is about the film. For other media, see Eragon (novel) and Eragon (video game). For the title character, see Eragon (character).
Eragon
Directed byStefen Fangmeier
Written byChristopher Paolini
(novel)
Peter Buchman
(screenplay)
Produced byJohn Davis
Adam Goodman
Gil Netter
StarringEd Speleers
Jeremy Irons
Sienna Guillory
Robert Carlyle
Djimon Hounsou
Garrett Hedlund
Joss Stone
with Rachel Weisz
and John Malkovich
CinematographyHugh Johnson
Edited byRoger Barton
Masahiro Hirakubo
Chris Lebenzon
Music byPatrick Doyle
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release dates
December 15, 2006 (USA and UK)
Running time
103 min.
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$100 million (estimated)
Box office$247,894,671 (worldwide)

Eragon is a 2006 fantasy-adventure film based on the novel of the same name by author Christopher Paolini. The cast includes Edward Speleers in the title role, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Guillory, Robert Carlyle, John Malkovich and Joss Stone.

The film was directed by Stefen Fangmeier, a first-time director, who had previously worked as a visual effects director on Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. The screenplay was written by Peter Buchman, who is best known for Jurassic Park III. Principal photography took place at the Mafilm Fót Studios in Hungary, starting on August 1, 2005. Special visual effects and animation were by Weta Digital and Industrial Light & Magic.

Eragon was released worldwide between December 13 and December 15, 2006. It was the 10th worst reviewed film of 2006,[1] and the 31st highest grossing film of 2006 in the US.[2] A DVD of the film was released March 20, 2007.

Synopsis

See also: Eragon

Eragon is about a teenage farm boy named Eragon. He lives in a village named Carvahall in the fictional and magical world of Alagaësia. While hunting, he finds a dragon egg. From the egg hatches a sapphire dragon named Saphira. Eragon decides to keep Saphira a secret, but a pair of magical creatures are sent by the King of Alagaesia, Galbatorix, to find Eragon and the dragon. He flees home to find his uncle dead and so sets out on a journey to avenge his Uncle. Accompanied by a wise storyteller named Brom, Eragon and Saphira take up the legacy of legendary Dragon Riders. He learns magic, swordfighting, and dragon-riding to fulfill the legend of the dragon riders and his destiny.

Cast

Production

Pre-production

Plans to create a movie based on Christopher Paolini's best-selling novel were first announced in February, 2004. 20th Century Fox purchased the rights to Eragon.

Casting

Others considered for the role included Alex Pettyfer but since production took place in the Czech Republic and Pettyfer is afraid of flying, he declined the role.[3] Pettyfer would later go onto play Alex Rider in Stormbreaker.

On July 15, 2005, in an official press release from 20th Century Fox, it was confirmed that Speleers had signed on to the project. More casting information soon followed. Over the following months, Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich, Chris Egan and Djimon Honsou were all confirmed as joining the Eragon cast. Paolini, author of the original novel, had expressed his wishes to be featured in a cameo role in the film - specifically, as a warrior who is beheaded in the battle of Farthen Dûr. However, he was unable due to his European book tour.[4]

Filming

In August, 2005, Fox began filming Eragon at various locations throughout Hungary, including:

Filming ended a month later in September, beginning the film's post-production state, with Industrial Light and Magic creating the film's CGI.

In other media

Soundtrack

The score for the movie was composed by Patrick Doyle who also did the score of 2005's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Avril Lavigne also recorded the theme song for the film, entitled "Keep Holding On," which was featured in the credits and on the soundtrack.[5]. The track was released as a single and reached 17 on Billboard Hot 100 singles charts in America.[6]

Video game

Main article: Eragon (video game)

The video game based on the motion picture was developed by Stormfront Studios and Amaze Entertainment and was released in November 2006.

Response

The film was received extremely negatively by critics: it garnered only a 16% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes,[7] the 10th lowest of 2006.[8] Critics said that although "technically accomplished",[9] the film was "plodding and dull."[10] The story was labelled "derivative"[11] and "generic";[12] one critic alleged that only "nine-year-olds with no knowledge whatsoever of any of the six Star Wars movies" would find the film original.[13] The acting was called "lame",[14] "stilted",[15] and "lifeless".[16] The dialogue was called "silly".[17]

Critics compared the film to Harry Potter: "the big difference between Harry and Eragon is that the former movies range from not bad to very good, but the latter stinks,[18] and Star Wars: "plays out like a bad Star Wars rip-off"[19] and The Lord of the Rings: "such a clone of The Lord of the Rings it probably could lose a plagiarism suit."[20]

Positive reviews described the film as "fun"[21] and "the stuff boys' fantasies are made of."[22] The CGI work was called "imaginative" and Saphira was called a "magnificent creation."[23]

Many fans of the book series reacted negatively to the film.[24] The film's rating at IMDb is 4.9 out of 10,[25] with females giving the film a higher rating than males.[26] Users at Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 'rotten' 32% approval rating and criticized the extreme departures from the plot of the novel.[27] Christopher Paolini claimed to enjoy the film, giving praise to Jeremy Irons and Ed Speleers.[28]

Box Office

Eragon grossed approximately $75 million in the US and $172.9 million elsewhere, totalling $247.9 million worldwide.[29] Films need to gross roughly twice their production and distribution costs to break even:[30] Eragon, which had a production budget of $100 million and distribution costs of an estimated $30 million,[31] did not reach this threshold. Despite this, Eragon is the highest grossing film with a dragon at its focal point.[32] It is the second highest grossing film of the sword and sorcery genre;[33] adjusted for inflation it falls to seventh place behind such films as Willow, Dragonheart, The Dark Crystal and Conan the Barbarian.[34]

Eragon was in release for 17 weeks in the US, opening on December 15, 2006 and closing on April 8, 2007.[35] It opened in 3020 theaters, earning $8.7 million on opening day and $23.2 million across opening weekend, ranked 2nd behind The Pursuit of Happyness.[36] Eragon's second weekend US box office dropped by almost 70%,[37] the 41st biggest second weekend drop since this statistic was kept.[38] Eragon’s $75 million total US gross was the 31st highest for 2006.[39]

The film earned $30.3 million in its opening weekend across 76 overseas markets, making it the #1 film worldwide.[40] This was attributed to the sheer scope of Eragon's global launch as the film ranked number 1 in less than half of the overseas territories it was released in.[41] The foreign box office competition for the film’s opening week was “soft;”[42] had Eragon been released one year earlier, it would have been placed fourth.[43] Eragon’s UK opening was “a disappointment,”[44] in Australia it was “solid if unimpressive,”[45] but its most impressive market was France,[46] where the film earned more than $21 million.[47] The film’s $247.9 million total worldwide gross was the 16th highest for 2006.[48]

Nominations

  • Nominated: Best Fantasy Film
  • Nominated: Best Performance by a Younger Actor - Edward Speleers
  • CDG Award (Costume Designers Guild) (2007)
  • Nominated: Excellence in Costume Design for Film (Fantasy) - Kym Barrett

DVD

Eragon was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the USA on March 20, 2007. It debuted at number 1 on the national DVD sales charts and at number 3 on the DVD rental charts.[49] Eragon has grossed more than US$25 million in rentals.[50] It was released on DVD in Europe on April 16, 2007 and in Australia on April 18, 2007.

On April 30, 2007, Mike Nelson and Kevin Murphy released a commentary for Eragon for their Rifftrax service.

Sequel

There is a possibility that Eragon's sequel, Eldest, will be made into a film. When asked whether there would be a movie adaptation of Eldest at the premiere of Eragon, Christopher Paolini replied, "I think we'll know after opening weekend."[51] Many critics have considered the possibility of a sequel in their reviews of Eragon. One critic said that 20th Century Fox's plans to adapt Eldest was "jumping the gun" and that "they will have a tough time convincing anyone but the most die-hard fans to return for another helping."[52] Even some critics who gave the film positive reviews were skeptical towards the possibility of a sequel: "That the studio hopes to build a franchise on this, now that—that is expecting way too much."[53]

File:Eragon2.jpg
Brom (Jeremy Irons) gives Eragon (Edward Speleers) Zar'Roc.
Wikiquote has quotations related to Eragon (film).

Movie sites

Reviews

References

  1. ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/features/rtawards/movie_2006.php?r=10&mid=1159341&type=m
  2. ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=2006&p=.htm
  3. ^ "He Was a Teenage Spy, Surrounded by Treacherous Adults". The New York Times. 2006-07-20. Retrieved 2007-05-01. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ http://www.canmag.com/news/4/3/4743
  5. ^ http://www.avrillavigne.com/
  6. ^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.vnuArtistId=485926&model.vnuAlbumId=628482
  7. ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eragon/
  8. ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/features/rtawards/movie_2006.php?r=10&mid=1159341&type=m
  9. ^ http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/artsentertainment/2003476247_eragon15.html
  10. ^ http://www.oneguysopinion.com/Review.php?ID=2072
  11. ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?node=cityguide/profile&id=1111248&categories=Movies&nm=1
  12. ^ http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=118741
  13. ^ http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/movies/ny-eterag5014666dec15,0,228990.story?coll=ny-moviereview-headlines
  14. ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?node=cityguide/profile&id=1111248&categories=Movies&nm=1
  15. ^ http://www.orlandoweekly.com/film/review.asp?rid=12096
  16. ^ http://www.orlandoweekly.com/film/review.asp?rid=12096
  17. ^ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16192526/
  18. ^ http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/entertainment/movies/16239619.htm
  19. ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eragon/about.php#consensus
  20. ^ http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/movies/295961_eragon15q.html
  21. ^ http://www.crazedfanboy.com/npcr06/moviereviewpcr351.shtml
  22. ^ http://www.urbancinefile.com.au/home/view.asp?a=12634&s=Reviews
  23. ^ http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/movies/295961_eragon15q.html
  24. ^ http://inheritanceforums.com/index.php?showtopic=21238&st=
  25. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0449010/
  26. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0449010/ratings
  27. ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eragon/reviews_users.php
  28. ^ http://media.shurtugal.com/movieviewer.php?type=rev&id=119486
  29. ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=eragon.htm
  30. ^ http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/?p=21
  31. ^ http://www.omgili.com/preview/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5qb2Jsby5jb20vZm9ydW1zL3Nob3d0aHJlYWQucGhwP3RocmVhZGlkPTEwNjQ3OQ==
  32. ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=dragon.htm
  33. ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=swordandsorcery.htm
  34. ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/about/adjuster.htm
  35. ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=eragon.htm
  36. ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2006&wknd=50&p=.htm
  37. ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2006&wknd=51&p=.htm
  38. ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/weekends/drops.htm?page=1&p=.htm
  39. ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=2006&p=.htm
  40. ^ http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i16891de0eed2dafe81a7b3b2da45259f
  41. ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=2220&p=.htm
  42. ^ http://www.imdb.com/news/sb/2006-12-27
  43. ^ http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117956327.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
  44. ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=2220&p=.htm
  45. ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=2220&p=.htm
  46. ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=2236&p=.htm
  47. ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=intl&id=eragon.htm
  48. ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?view2=worldwide&yr=2006&p=.htm
  49. ^ http://www.homemediaretailing.com/news/html/breaking_article.cfm?article_id=10454
  50. ^ http://www.imdb.com/boxoffice/rentals?date=2007-04-22&region=us
  51. ^ http://media.shurtugal.com/movieviewer.php?type=rev&id=119486
  52. ^ http://themovieboy.com/directlinks/06eragon.htm
  53. ^ http://www.reel.com/movie.asp?MID=142841&buy=open&Tab=reviews&CID=13#tabs
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