City of Ember
| City of Ember | |
|---|---|
 theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Gil Kenan |
| Written by | Jeanne Duprau (novel) Caroline Thompson |
| Produced by | Tom Hanks Gary Goetzman |
| Starring | Bill Murray Saoirse Ronan Harry Treadaway Mackenzie Crook |
| Cinematography | Xavier Pérez Grobet |
| Edited by | Adam P. Scott Zach Staenberg |
| Music by | Andrew Lockington |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox Walden Media Playtone |
Release date | October 10, Template:Fy |
Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | Template:FilmUS |
| Language | Transclusion error: {{En}} is only for use in File namespace. Use {{lang-en}} or {{in lang|en}} instead. |
| Budget | $55 million |
| Box office | $16,213,294[1] |
City of Ember is a Template:Fy science fiction-fantasy film directed by Gil Kenan and based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Jeanne Duprau. Walden Media under 20th Century Fox released the film on October 10, 2008.
Plot
The movie introduction explains that the City of Ember is a fully-contained city built underground to house a human community for 200 years as a shelter from an unspecified disaster. Having long since passed the 200-year mark, Ember's food supplies are becoming depleted and blackouts are increasingly frequent and longer-lasting, as the hydroelectric generator that powers the city has deteriorated. Much of the knowledge and technology from the city's near-mythic Builders and earlier generations has been lost.
Two 12-year-olds, Lina Mayfleet (Saoirse Ronan) and Doon Harrow (Harry Treadaway), who live in the City of Ember are graduating from school. They begin their assigned jobs with Lina as one of the messengers who deliver communications around the city following the collapse of the telephone system. Doon is a technician in the Pipeworks of the hydroelectric generator. Lina witnesses the city's decay as she relays messages, and Doon learns that the Pipeworks are held together with increasing amounts of patchwork. Nobody knows in detail how any of the city's systems work. After a major malfunction of the generator during the city's annual celebration, Lina and Doon conclude that Ember is in danger of imminent collapse. With the city's adult population either largely ignorant of their plight or cowed by the corrupt Mayor Cole (Bill Murray), Lina and Doon search for the clues left by the Builders showing the citizens of Ember how to save themselves.
Mayor Cole, understanding the gravity of the city's situation, has been stockpiling food in a secret bunker, it was disgused as a room named 351 to guarantee his own survival. He suspects that Lina, a descendant of an earlier mayor who died in office, may be in possession of lost secrets about Ember and orders her and Doon arrested. The pair escapes and begin their egress from the city with instructions left by the Builders. They discover a means of evacuation from the city and receive unexpected assistance from Doon's elderly mentor Sul (Martin Landau). Meanwhille, Mayor Cole goes to his bunker and is eaten by a huge, mutated mole. Initially they despair at the enveloping darkness described in Ember's folklore when they emerge from their journey, but when the sun rises they discover that light has returned to the skies and the planet has recovered. They also see the lights of Ember deep below the surface and realize they had lived in an underground city. Lina and Doon drop a message tied to a rock through a crevasse down to Ember telling the other citizens how to leave the city, where it is found by Loris Harrow, Doon's father and one of the few adults cognizant of the city's plight.
Production
In October 2004, Playtone partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman purchased film rights to Jeanne Duprau's 2003 novel The City of Ember. They entered negotiations with Caroline Thompson to adapt the novel and Gil Kenan to direct the film. The deal also includes an option on the sequel novel The People of Sparks.[2]
Filming was scheduled to begin in early summer of 2007 and to wrap up in October of the same year,[3] a 16-week shooting process. A former paint hall in the shipyard of Harland and Wolff in Belfast's Titanic Quarter was converted into the post-apocalyptic city.[4]
Marketing
Walden Media hired Lucas Cruikshank to promote the movie in his internet series "Fred". The video was released October 4, 2008 with an edited version of clips from the film, including "Fred"'s face superimposed on the faces of characters from the trailer.[5]
Reception
The film has received mixed reviews from critics. According to the consensus from review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film "is visually arresting, and boasts a superb cast, but is sadly lacking in both action and adventure." Of the 114 reviewers listed, 51% of the critics gave positive reviews.[6] Metacritic scored the film as 57/100 rating falling under the category of "mixed or average reviews", based on 27 reviews.[7]
On its opening weekend, the film opened poorly at #11 at the box office with $3,129,473. [8] As of January 10, 2009, the film has grossed $7,864,106, below its $55 million budget, domestically and $8,350,982 internationally totaling $16,215,088 worldwide.[1]
Possible sequel
Yeah, we're gonna finish the ember film series...it just might take a long time.
Gil Kenan
Many popular rumors indicate that there will be a future film adaption of The People of Sparks due to the cliffhanger at the end of City of Ember, but its poor box office performance makes a sequel unlikely.
DVD
The DVD was released on January 20, 2009.
Notes
- ^ a b "City of Ember". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2009-1-08.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) Cite error: The named reference "boxoffice" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page). - ^ Michael Fleming (2004-10-31). "Playtone warms up to 'Ember'". Variety. Retrieved 2007-04-27.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Jane Loughrey (2007-03-07). "Hanks' firm to shoot film in Belfast's Titanic Quarter". UTV. Retrieved 2007-04-27.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Robbins' role in City of Ember". BBC. 2007-07-14. Retrieved 2007-07-20.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ http://www.youtube.com/Fred
- ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/city_of_ember/
- ^ http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/cityofember
- ^ "Box Office Weekend Grosses from 10/10/08 to 10/01/09". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2008-10-26.