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The Blind Side (film)

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This article is about the 2009 feature film about an American football player. For the 1993 made-for-TV thriller, see Blind Side (HBO film).
The Blind Side
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJohn Lee Hancock
Screenplay byJohn Lee Hancock
Story byMichael Lewis
Produced byBroderick Johnson
Andrew Kosove
Gil Netter
StarringSandra Bullock
Quinton Aaron
Tim McGraw
Kathy Bates
Lily Collins
Jae Head
CinematographyAlar Kivilo
Edited byMark Livolsi
Music byCarter Burwell
Production
companies
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release date
  • November 20, 2009 (2009-11-20)
Running time
129 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$29 million[1]
Box office$309,208,309[1]

The Blind Side is a 2009 American semi-biographical sports drama film. It is written and directed by John Lee Hancock, and based on the 2006 book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis.[2][3] The storyline features Michael Oher, an offensive lineman who plays for the Baltimore Ravens of the NFL. The film follows Oher from his impoverished upbringing, through his years at Wingate Christian School (a fictional representation of Briarcrest Christian School in Memphis, Tennessee[4]), his adoption by Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, and on to his position as one of the most highly coveted prospects in college football.

Sandra Bullock stars alongside Quinton Aaron as Michael Oher, Tim McGraw as Sean Tuohy, and Kathy Bates as Miss Sue.[2] The movie also features appearances by several current and former NCAA coaches, including SEC coaches Houston Nutt and Ed Orgeron (Oher's coaches in college, though Nutt represented Arkansas at the time and therefore does so in the film) and Nick Saban (who was at LSU at the time and represents it in the film), former coaches Lou Holtz, Tommy Tuberville, Phillip Fulmer, as well as recruiting analyst Tom Lemming.[5]

The Blind Side was a box-office success, grossing over $300 million. The film was well received by critics, who most notably praised Sandra Bullock's performance. Bullock went on to win the Academy Award for Best Actress, as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role. The film itself also received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture.

Plot

For most of his childhood, 17-year-old Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron) has been in foster care with different families, largely because of his mother's drug addiction, throughout Memphis, Tennessee. Every time he is placed in a new home, he runs away. His friend's father, whose couch Mike had been sleeping on, asks Burt Cotton (Ray McKinnon), the coach of Wingate Christian school, to help enroll his son and Mike. Impressed by Mike's size and athleticism, Cotton gets him admitted despite his abysmal academic record.

At his new school, Michael is befriended by a boy named Sean Jr. "SJ" (Jae Head). SJ's mother Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock) is a strong-minded interior designer and the wife of wealthy businessman Sean Tuohy (Tim McGraw). Leigh Anne notices Michael walking on the road, shivering in the cold; when she learns he intends to spend the night huddled outside the school gym, she offers him a place to sleep at her house. The next morning, when she sees Michael leaving, she asks him to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with her family. Slowly, Michael becomes a member of the Tuohy family, even as Leigh Anne's rich friends wonder what she is doing. One even suggests that her teenage daughter Collins (Lily Collins) is not safe around him, much to Leigh Anne's disgust.

When Leigh Anne seeks to become Michael's legal guardian, she learns he was separated from his drug-addict mother when he was seven and that no one knows her whereabouts. She is also told that even though he scored low in almost every category in a career aptitude test, he is in the 98th percentile in "protective instincts".

After his grades improve, Michael is allowed to join the school football team. He has a shaky start due to his polite and gentle nature, yet after some encouragement by Leigh Anne to tap into his "protective instincts" and regard his teammates as he would members of his family, Michael dominates on the field. SJ sends out videos of the games to college coaches around the country. Leigh Anne discovers that to get a NCAA Division I scholarship, Michael needs a 2.5 GPA, so they hire a tutor, Miss Sue (Kathy Bates). Some of the teachers help out as well, and Michael ends up with a GPA of 2.52.

When coaches come to recruit Michael, Leigh Anne makes it clear that she prefers the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) as both she and her husband are alumni. Miss Sue, another Ole Miss alumna, tells Michael (who dislikes horror films) that the FBI buries body parts under the University of Tennessee's Neyland Stadium for research; Leigh Anne particularly loathes that school. Michael commits to Ole Miss.

Subsequently, Michael and the Tuohys become the subject of an NCAA investigation. The investigator tells Michael that the Tuohys and Miss Sue are fervent Mississippi boosters, who are subject to special restrictions, and his high school coach got a job at Ole Miss after Michael chose the school. Michael confronts Leigh Anne, asking her if she only took him in so he would play football for her alma mater. Michael then goes to his birth mother's apartment in the projects. His old friends welcome him, but their leader makes crude remarks about Leigh Anne and Collins. Michael becomes angry and in the ensuing fight subdues his former friends and then flees.

Leigh Anne searches for Michael. He finally calls her, and they meet. Leigh Anne tells him she will support any decision he makes. Michael satisfies the investigator by explaining that he chose Ole Miss because his whole family has gone there.

Later, Leigh Anne and her family take Michael to the Ole Miss campus to begin college. The film ends with an emotional goodbye between Leigh Anne and Michael. The closing credits show the 2009 NFL Draft with the real Michael Oher being drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the first round. Photographs of Oher and the real Tuohys follow, with Oher's success in the NFL detailed. The credits include a dedication to director John Lee Hancock's father, a football player and coach who died in 2009.

Cast

Coaches playing themselves

Production

The Blind Side was produced by Alcon Entertainment and released by Warner Bros. According to Reuters, the film's production budget was $29 million. Filming for the school scenes took place at Atlanta International School and The Westminster Schools in Atlanta, Georgia, and it features many of their students as extras. The film premiered on November 17 in New York City and New Orleans and opened in theaters on November 20 in the rest of the United States and in Canada.[6]

Academy Award winner Julia Roberts was originally offered Bullock's role, but turned it down.[7] Bullock, who is not outwardly religious, initially turned down the starring role three times due to discomfort with portraying a devout Christian. According to Bullock, she felt she couldn't objectively represent such a person's beliefs on screen.[8] But after a visit with the real Leigh Anne Tuohy, Bullock was not only won over, but also took a pay cut and agreed to receive a percentage of the profits instead.[9]

Reception

Accolades

The Blind Side has earned numerous awards and nominations for the lead performance of the film's star, Sandra Bullock.

Awards and Nominations
Award Category Nominee Result
Academy Award Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role Sandra Bullock Won
Best Picture Film Nominated
Critics’ Choice Award Best Actress Sandra Bullock Won (tied with Meryl Streep)
ESPY Awards Best Sports Movie Film Won
Golden Globe Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama Sandra Bullock Won
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards Favorite Movie Actress Sandra Bullock Nominated
Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role Sandra Bullock Won
People's Choice Award Favorite Movie Actress Sandra Bullock Won
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award Best Actress Sandra Bullock Nominated
Teen Choice Awards 2010 Favorite Drama Movie Film Won
Movie Actress – Drama Sandra Bullock Won
Breakout Male Actor Quinton Aaron Nominated

Critical reception

The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with Sandra Bullock's acting being critically acclaimed. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that, as of October 8, 2011, 66% of 188 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 6.1 out of 10. The site's general consensus is that "It might strike some viewers as a little too pat, but The Blind Side has the benefit of strong source material and a strong performance from Sandra Bullock."[10]

Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from film critics, has a rating score of 53 based on 28 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[11]

Box office

The Blind Side opened in 3,110 theaters on its opening weekend, the weekend of November 20, 2009. It grossed a strong $34,510,000 in its opening weekend, the second highest gross of that weekend, behind The Twilight Saga: New Moon. It was the highest-grossing opening weekend of Sandra Bullock's career. The per-theater average for The Blind Side's opening weekend was $11,096.[12] In its opening weekend, the movie already proved to be a financial success, having a budget of just $29,000,000. It proved to have remarkable staying power, taking in an additional $9.5 million, bringing its gross to $60,125,000 by the weekend of November 27, 2009.[13] The movie enjoyed a very rare greater success for the second weekend than it did in its opening weekend, taking in an estimated $40 million, an increase of 18 percent, from November 27 to November 29, 2009, coming in second to New Moon once again, bringing its gross to $100,250,000.[1] In its third weekend, the movie continued its trend of rare feats by moving up to the number one position with $20.4 million in sales after spending the previous two weekends in second place for a total gross of $128.8 million, due to strong word-of-mouth.[14] In its fourth weekend, it moved down to second place, dropping a slim 23% with an estimated $15.5 million for a total of $150.2 million in the United States and Canada as of December 13, 2009.[14] The film hit $200 million domestically on January 1, 2010, marking the first time a movie marketed with a sole actress' name above the title (Bullock's) has crossed the $200 million mark.[15] The Blind Side has also become the highest grossing football movie and sports drama of all time domestically [16][17] unadjusted for ticket inflation.[18] The Blind Side ended its domestic theatrical run on June 4, 2010 (nearly 7 months after it opened), earning a total of $255,959,475.[19] In the UK, The Blind Side was released on March 26, 2010.[20] It was the third biggest release of that weekend behind Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang and Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.[21]

Soundtrack

The movie features 23 songs by artists including Les Paul, Young MC, Lucy Woodward, The Books, Canned Heat, Five for Fighting, and film costar Tim McGraw.[22] However, while the score soundtrack by Carter Burwell was released on CD, none of the featured songs were included.

Home media

The Blind Side was released on DVD and Blu-ray March 23, 2010. The Blind Side was available exclusively for rental from Blockbuster for 28 days.[23]

Redbox and Netflix customers had to wait 28 days before they were able to rent the movie.[24][25] This stems from the settlement of a lawsuit brought by Redbox against Warner Home Video, who, in an attempt to boost DVD sales, refused to sell wholesale titles to Redbox. On August 19, 2009 Redbox sued Warner Home Video[26] to continue purchasing DVD titles at wholesale prices. On February 16, 2010, Redbox settled the lawsuit[25] and agreed to a 28-day window past the street date.

As of July 18, 2012, units sold for the DVD stand at more than 8.4 million copies and has grossed a further $107,459,025 adding to its total gross.[27]

References

  1. ^ a b c "The Blind Side Box Office". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved June 5, 2010.
  2. ^ a b Dave McNary (March 27, 2009). "Kathy Bates to star in 'Blind Side'". Retrieved June 7, 2009. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |work= ignored (help)
  3. ^ "The Blind Side (2009)". Internet Movie Database. April 22, 2009. Retrieved May 8, 2009.
  4. ^ Briarcrest opted out of feature role in 'The Blind Side' from CommercialAppeal.com
  5. ^ Schlabach, Mark (June 29, 2009). "Prominent coaches turn actors for film". ESPN. Retrieved July 1, 2009.
  6. ^ The Blind Side – Release dates
  7. ^ Abramowitz, Rachel (December 16, 2009). "A Bonanza Year for Sandra Bullock". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 8, 2010. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  8. ^ Swartzendruber, Jay (November 17, 2010). "Believers Walk the Talk in The Blind Side". Crosswalk.com. Retrieved March 8, 2010.
  9. ^ "Sandra Bullock scores touchdown at box office" on Reuters.com
  10. ^ "The Blind Side (2009)". Rotten Tomatoes. IGN Entertainment. Retrieved December 14, 2009.
  11. ^ "The Blind Side: Reviews (2009)". Metacritic. CNET Networks. Retrieved December 26, 2009.
  12. ^ Weekend Box Office Results for November 20–22, 2009 from Box Office Mojo
  13. ^ Daily Box Office for Thursday, November 26, 2009 from Box Office Mojo
  14. ^ a b "'Blind Side' tops 'New Moon' at box office" from Hollywood Reporter Cite error: The named reference "test" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  15. ^ "'Avatar' passes $300 million mark on Friday, and Sandra Bullock makes box-office history" from Hollywood Insider
  16. ^ Sports – Football Movies at the Box Office. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on January 23, 2011
  17. ^ Sports Drama Movies at the Box Office. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on January 23, 2011
  18. ^ Weekend Report: ‘Avatar’ Rocks New Year’s. Box Office Mojo (January 4, 2010). Retrieved on January 23, 2011.
  19. ^ End-of-Run Report: 'Blind Side,' 'Crazy Heart,' 'Runaways' Close. Box Office Mojo (June 6, 2010). Retrieved on January 23, 2011
  20. ^ "The Blind Side". Yahoo!. Retrieved July 23, 2010.
  21. ^ Gant, Charles (March 30, 2010). "Nanny McPhee sends Alice in Wonderland to the naughty step at the UK box office". Film. London: The Guardian. Retrieved July 23, 2010. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  22. ^ Blind Side, The [2009] Soundtrack @ what-song. What-song.com. Retrieved on January 23, 2011
  23. ^ Panchuk, Kerri (March 19, 2010). "Blockbuster CEO: The movie's not over yet".
  24. ^ Warner Bros. Home Entertainment And Netflix Announce New Agreements Covering Availability Of Dvds, Blu-Ray And Streaming Content. Netflix.mediaroom.com (January 6, 2010). Retrieved on January 23, 2011
  25. ^ a b redbox press room. redbox press room (February 16, 2010). Retrieved on January 23, 2011
  26. ^ redbox press room. redbox press room (August 19, 2009). Retrieved on January 23, 2011
  27. ^ The Blind Side – DVD Sales. The Numbers. Retrieved on July 18, 2012
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