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Spider-Man is a 2002 American superhero film based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. The film is the first in the Spider-Man film series. The film was directed by Sam Raimi and stars Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and Willem Dafoe. The script was credited to David Koepp.
The film begins with Peter Parker, a high school student, being bitten by a genetically altered spider. After misusing his newly-given abilities, which indirectly caused the death of his Uncle Ben, he becomes the heroic Spider-Man. Peter hopes to win the heart of Mary Jane Watson, the girl he has loved since he was a boy, and battles the villainous Green Goblin, who is the father of Peter's best friend, Harry Osborn.
After being stuck in development hell for nearly 25 years, the film was released on May 3, 2002 by Columbia Pictures. The film received multiple good reviews, went on to break box office records, and become the highest grossing film of 2002. Spider-Man is the 2nd most popular film based on a comic book (after The Dark Knight) and the 33rd most successful film of all time. The success of the film led to two sequels, Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3.

Plot

Peter Parker, his best friend Harry Osborn, and Peter's secret crush Mary Jane Watson visit a genetics laboratory at Columbia University with their high school class. While taking photos in the laboratory, Peter is bitten on the hand by a genetically engineered "super spider". Feeling unwell, he passes out shortly after arriving home. Meanwhile, scientist Norman Osborn, Harry's father, is attempting to preserve his company's military contract, knowing that its loss will mean the end of his business. He experiments on himself with his company's new, but unstable, performance-enhancing chemical vapor which increases his speed, strength, and stamina. However, it also causes him to become insane and he kills his assistant, Mendel Stromm. The next morning, Peter wakes to find that his previously impaired vision has improved and that his body has metamorphosized into a more muscular physique. At school, he finds himself producing webbing and having the quick reflexes to avoid being injured in a fight with bully Flash Thompson. Peter escapes from the school and realizes that he has acquired spider-like abilities from the spider bite. He quickly learns to scale walls, long jump across building rooftops and swing via webs from his wrists.
Lying to his aunt and uncle about where he is going, Peter decides to enter a wrestling tournament to get money to buy a car and impress Mary Jane. During an argument, Uncle Ben advises Peter, "With great power comes great responsibility." Peter lashes out at his uncle and leaves for the tournament. Peter wins, but is cheated out of the contest money. In retaliation he allows a thief to escape with the promoter's gate money. Afterward, Peter finds his uncle has been carjacked and killed. Peter tracks down the carjacker only to find out it was the same thief he allowed to escape earlier. After Peter disarms him, the carjacker tries to get away but falls out of a window and is killed.
Upon graduating school, Peter decides to use his abilities to fight injustice, and dons a new costume and the persona of Spider-Man. Peter is hired as a freelance photographer when he arrives in newspaper editor J. Jonah Jameson's office with the only clear images of Spider-Man.
Norman, upon finding out that Oscorp's board members plan to sell the company, attacks them at the World Unity Fair. Although he successfully murders them, Spider-Man arrives and drives him off. Jameson quickly dubs Norman the "Green Goblin". The Goblin offers Spider-Man a place at his side, but Spider-Man refuses, knowing that it is the right thing to do. At the Osborn and Parkers' Thanksgiving dinner, Norman, unknown to Peter, figures out Spider-Man's true identity; the Green Goblin subsequently attacks Aunt May. While Aunt May recovers in the hospital, Mary Jane admits she has a crush on Spider-Man, who rescued her on numerous occasions, and asks Peter whether he ever asked about her. Peter reflects on his own feelings, during which Harry enters. Feeling betrayed by his girlfriend and his best friend, Harry tells his father whom Peter loves the most, unintentionally revealing Spider-Man's biggest weakness.
The Goblin holds Mary Jane and a tram car full of children hostage on top the Queensboro Bridge where Spider-Man arrives. The Goblin forces Spider-Man to choose who he wants to save, and drops Mary Jane and the children. Spider-Man manages to save both Mary Jane and the tram car, while the Goblin is pelted by civilians showing loyalty to Spider-Man. The Goblin then grabs Spider-Man and throws him into an abandoned building where he begins to beat him [similar to how The Joker's black goon beats up Batman in the 1989 film]. The tables turn as the Goblin boasts of how he will later kill Mary Jane, and an enraged Spider-Man dominates over him, forcing the Goblin into being unmasked. Norman begs for forgiveness, but his Goblin persona attempts to remote-control his glider to impale Spider-Man. The superhero evades the attack, causing the glider to impale Norman instead, and he dies asking Peter not to tell Harry about the Green Goblin. At Norman’s funeral, Harry swears vengeance toward Spider-Man, who he believes is responsible for killing his father, and asserts that Peter is all he has left. Mary Jane confesses to Peter that she’s in love with him, but Peter, feeling that he must protect her from the unwanted attentions of Spider-Man's enemies, hides his true feelings. As Peter leaves the funeral, he recalls Uncle Ben's words about responsibility, and accepts his new life as Spider-Man.

Cast and characters

• Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker/Spider-Man: An academic but socially inept student who is bitten by a genetically modified spider and gains spider-like abilities. Maguire was cast as Peter in July 2000,'s primary choice for the role after he saw The Cider House Rules. The studio was initially hesitant to cast someone who did not seem having been Sam Raimito fit the ranks of "adrenaline-pumping, tail-kicking titans", but Maguire managed to impress studio executives with his audition. The actor was signed for a deal in the range of $3 to $4 million with higher salary options for two sequels. To prepare, Maguire was trained by a physical trainer, a yoga instructor, a martial arts expert and a climbing expert, taking several months to improve his physique. Maguire studied spiders and worked with a wire man to simulate the arachnidlike motion, and had a special diet.
  The studio had expressed interest in actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Freddie Prinze, Jr, Chris Klein, Wes Bentley and Heath Ledger. DiCaprio had been considered by James Cameron for the role in 1995, while Raimi joked of Prinze that "[he] won't even be allowed to buy a ticket to see this film." In addition, actors Scott Speedman, Jay Rodan, and James Franco were involved in screen tests for the lead role.

• Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin: CEO of Oscorp who tests an unstable strength enhancer on himself and becomes the insane and powerful Green Goblin. Unaware of Spider-Man's true identity, he also sees himself as a father figure for Peter, ignoring his own son, Harry. Dafoe was cast as Osborn in November 2000. Nicolas Cage turned down the role due to his commitment on Adaptation, while John Malkovich also rejected the role because of scheduling difficulties and a disinterest in the genre. Dafoe insisted on wearing the uncomfortable costume as he felt that a stuntman would not convey the character's necessary body language. The 580-piece suit took half an hour to put on.

• Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson: The girl whom Peter Parker has developed a crush since he was six years old. Mary Jane has an abusive father, and aspires to become an actress, but becomes a waitress at a run down diner, a fact she hides from her boyfriend Harry. Before Raimi cast Dunst, he had expressed his interest in casting Alicia Witt. Dunst decided to audition after learning Maguire had been cast, feeling the film would have a more independent feel. Dunst earned the role a month before shooting in an audition in Berlin.

• James Franco as Harry Osborn: Before being cast as Peter's best friend and flatmate, Franco had screen tested for Spider-Man himself.

• Cliff Robertson as Ben Parker: The husband to May Parker and uncle of Peter Parker, a fired electrician who is trying to find a new job. He is killed by a carjacker whom Peter failed to stop, and leaves Peter with the message, "With great power comes great responsibility."

• Rosemary Harris as May Parker: The wife to Ben Parker and the aunt of Peter Parker. May is a devout Christian who is highly aware of Peter's love for Mary Jane.

• J. K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson: The grouchy chief editor of the Daily Bugle who considers Spider-Man a criminal. Nonetheless he has a good side and pays Peter for photos of Spider-Man, and refuses to tell the Green Goblin the identity of the photographer.

• Joe Manganiello as Flash Thompson: A repugnant high school student who bullies Peter, and is defeated in a fight after Peter inherits his spider-like powers.

• Michael Papajohn as The Carjacker: The criminal who robs the wrestling manager who stiffs Peter Parker for his ring performance and murders Ben Parker (although the murderer was retconned as Flint Marko (Sandman) in Spider-Man 3). He was killed from falling from a window when confronted by Peter.

Bruce Campbell, a long-time colleague of director Sam Raimi, cameoed as the announcer at the wrestling ring Peter takes part in. Raimi himself appeared off-screen, throwing popcorn at Peter as he enters the arena to wrestle Bonesaw McGraw who was played by former professional wrestler "Macho Man" Randy Savage. Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee also had a cameo, in which he asks Peter, "Hey kid, would you like a pair of these glasses? They're the kind they wore in X-Men." The scene was cut, and Lee only briefly appears in the film to grab a young girl from falling debris during the battle between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin in Times Square.

Production

Development

Although Sony Pictures acquired the "Cameron material" from MGM/UA, in April 1999 the studio announced they were not hiring James Cameron himself to direct the film. The studio lined up Roland Emmerich, Tim Burton, Chris Columbus, and David Fincher as potential directors. Fincher did not want to depict the origin story, pitching the film as being based on The Night Gwen Stacy Died storyline, but the studio disagreed. Sam Raimi was attached to direct in January 2000, for a summer 2001 release. He had been a big fan of the comic book during his youth, and his passion for Spider-Man earned him the job.
Cameron's "scriptment" became the basis of David Koepp's first-draft screenplay, often word for word. Cameron's versions of the Marvel villains Electro and Sandman remained the antagonists. Koepp's rewrite substituted the Green Goblin as the primary antagonist and added Doctor Octopus as a secondary villain. Raimi felt the Green Goblin and the surrogate father-son theme between Norman Osborn and Peter Parker would be more interesting. In June, Columbia hired Scott Rosenberg to rewrite of Koepp's material. Remaining a constant in all the rewrites was the "organic webshooter" idea from the Cameron "scriptment". Raimi felt he would stretch the audience's suspension of disbelief too far to have Peter invent mechanical webshooters.
Rosenberg removed Doctor Octopus and created several new action sequences. Raimi felt adding a third origin story would be make the film too complex. Sequences removed from the final film had Spider-Man protecting Fargas, the wheelchair-bound Oscorp executive from the Goblin, and Spider-Man defusing a hostage situation on a train. As production neared, producer Laura Ziskin hired her husband, award-winning writer Alvin Sargent, to polish the dialogue, primarily between Peter and Mary Jane. Columbia offered David Koepp's name to the WGA as sole screenwriter, despite the fact that it had acquired Cameron's script and hired two subsequent writers. Without reading and comparing any of the material, the Writers Guild approved sole credit to Koepp.

Filming

With Spider-Man cast, filming was set to begin the following November in New York City and on Sony soundstages. The film was set for release a year later, but when the film was postponed to be released on May 3, 2002, the shoot began on January 8, 2001 in Culver City. Sony's Stage 29 was used for Peter's Forest Hills home, and Stage 27 was used for the wrestling sequence where Peter takes on Bonesaw McGraw (Randy Savage). Stage 27 was also used for the complex Times Square sequence where Spider-Man and the Goblin battle for the first time, where a three-story set with a breakaway balcony piece was built. The scene also required shooting in Downey, California. On March 6, 45-year-old construction worker Tim Holcombe was killed when a forklift modified as a construction crane crashed into a construction basket that he was in. The following court case led to the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health to fine Sony $58,805.
In Los Angeles, locations included the Natural History Museum (for the Columbia University lab where Peter is bitten and receives his powers), the Pacific Electricity Building (the Daily Bugle offices) and Greystone Mansion for the interiors of Norman Osborn's home. In April, some of the Spider-Man costumes were stolen, and Sony put up a $25,000 reward, although they were never returned. Production moved to New York City for two weeks, taking in locations such as the Queensboro Bridge, the exterior of Columbia University's Low Library and a rooftop garden in the Rockefeller Center. The crew returned to L.A. where production was finished in June.

Design

Although it wound up being faithful to the comics, many designs were made for Spider-Man's costumes: one concept costume designer James Acheson became fond of had a red emblem over a black costume. To create Spider-Man's costume, Maguire was fitted for the skintight suit, being covered with layers of substance to create the suit's shape. It was designed as a single piece, except for the mask. The webbing, which accented the costume, was cut by computer. The mask eye lenses were designed to have a mirror look.
The Green Goblin's costume was created after Willem Dafoe was cast, as Dafoe rejected the initially bulky designs created beforehand. The finished design focused on a more streamlined and athletic feel, and the mask in particular was created to be an extreme cartoon version of his face, focusing on his long cheekbones. Some of the early designs were heavily inspired by black ops. One popular idea among the concept artists was to have the Goblin accompanied by adolescent women in costume and have their own gliders. Raimi hated the idea.

 Effects

Visual effects supervisor John Dykstra was hired to produce the visual effects for Spider-Man in May 2000. He convinced Raimi to make many of the stunts computer generated, as they would have been physically impossible. Raimi had used more traditional special effects in his previous films and learned a lot about using computers during production. Raimi worked hard to plan all the sequences of Spider-Man swinging from buildings, which he described as, "ballet in the sky." The complexity of such sequences meant the budget rose from an initially planned $70 million to around $100 million. Shots were made more complicated because of the main characters' individual color schemes, so Spider-Man and the Green Goblin had to be shot separately for effects shots: Spider-Man was shot in front of a greenscreen, while the Green Goblin was shot against bluescreen. Shooting them together would have resulted in one character being erased from a shot.
Dykstra said the biggest difficulty of creating Spider-Man was that as the character was masked, it immediately lost a lot of characterization. Without the context of eyes or mouth, a lot of body language had to be put in so that there would be emotional content. Raimi wanted to convey the essence of being Spider-Man, being, "the transition that occurs between him being a young man going through puberty and being a superhero." Dykstra said his crew of animators had never reached such a level of sophistication to give subtle hints of still making Spider-Man feel like a human being. When two studio executives were shown shots of the computer generated character, they believed it was actually Maguire performing stunts. In addition, Dykstra's crew had to composite areas of New York City and replaced every car in shots with digital models. Raimi did not want it to feel entirely like animation, so none of the shots were 100% computer generated.

Release

After the terrorist attacks on the United States of September 11, 2001, Sony recalled teaser posters which showed a close-up of Spider-Man's face with the New York skyline (including, prominently, the World Trade Center towers) reflected in his eyes. The movie's original teaser trailer, released in 2001, featured a mini-movie plot involving a group of bank robbers escaping in a helicopter, which gets caught from behind and propelled backward into what at first appears to be a net, then is shown to be a gigantic spider web spun between the two towers at the World Trade Center. According to Sony the trailer did not contain any actual footage from the film itself and is consequently one of the most popular "Special Shoot" trailers since Terminator 2: Judgement Day. The trailer was pulled after the events of September 11, 2001, attacks but can be found on the internet.
Before Spider-Man's British theatrical release in June 2002, the BBFC gave the film a '12' certificate. Due to Spider-Man's popularity with younger children, this prompted much controversy. The BBFC defended their decision, arguing that the film could have been given a '15'. Despite this, North Norfolk and Breckland District Councils, in East Anglia, changed it to a 'PG', and Tameside council, Manchester, denoted it a 'PG-12'. In late August, the BBFC relaxed their policy to '12A', leading Sony to re-release the film.

Critical reception

Critical reaction to the film was mostly positive. Film review site Rotten Tomatoes calculated a 90% overall approval based on 207 reviews, and it scored an 85% Cream of the Crop rating from major news outlets. The casting, mainly Tobey Maguire, is often cited as one of the high points of the film. Eric Harrison, of the Houston Chronicle, was initially skeptical of the casting of Tobey Maguire, but, after seeing the film, he stated, "within seconds, however, it becomes hard to imagine anyone else in the role." USA Today critic Mike Clark believed the casting rivaled that of 1978's Superman. Owen Gleiberman, of Entertainment Weekly, had mixed feelings about the casting, particularly Tobey Maguire. "Maguire, winning as he is, never quite gets the chance to bring the two sides of Spidey -- the boy and the man, the romantic and the avenger -- together." The Hollywood Reporter's Kirk Honeycutt thought, "the filmmakers' imaginations work in overdrive from the clever design of the cobwebby opening credits and Spider-Man and M.J.'s upside down kiss -- after one of his many rescues of her -- to a finale that leaves character relationships open ended for future adventures."
Not all of the criticism was good, as LA Weekly's Manohla Dargis wrote, "It isn't that Spider-Man is inherently unsuited for live-action translation; it's just that he's not particularly interesting or, well, animated." Giving it 2.5/4 stars, Roger Ebert felt the film lacked a decent action element; "Consider the scene where Spider-Man is given a cruel choice between saving Mary Jane or a cable car full of school kids. He tries to save both, so that everyone dangles from webbing that seems about to pull loose. The visuals here could have given an impression of the enormous weights and tensions involved, but instead the scene seems more like a bloodless storyboard of the idea." Stylistically, there was heavy criticism of the Green Goblin's costume, which led Richard George of IGN to comment years later, "We're not saying the comic book costume is exactly thrilling, but the Goblin armor (the helmet in particular) from Spider-Man is almost comically bad... Not only is it not frightening, it prohibits expression."

Box office performance

Spider-Man was a commercial success. With the release in the United States on May 3, 2002 in 3,615 theaters, The film earned $114,844,116 during its opening weekend and became the fastest theatrical release to reach $100 million, crossing the milestone in three days. The film's three-day record was later surpassed by Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest in 2006. Spider-Man also set an all-time record for the highest earnings in a single day with $43,622,264 on May 4, 2002, a record later surpassed by Shrek 2 in 2004. In the U.S. box office, Spider-Man became the highest grossing film of 2002 with $403,706,375, defeating The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Spider-Man currently ranks eighth in the all-time U.S. box office. The film also grossed $821,708,551 worldwide, currently placing it #18 in worldwide box office ranks.

Awards

The film has won several awards ranging from Teen Choice Awards to the Saturn Awards, and was even nominated for two Academy Awards ("Best Visual Effects" and "Best Sound"). While only Danny Elfman brought home a Saturn Award, Raimi, Maguire, and Dunst were all nominated for their respective positions. It also took home the People's Choice Award for "Favorite Motion Picture."

You've Got Mail is an American romantic comedy released in 1998 by Warner Brothers. It is a remake of the film The Shop Around the Corner (1940), in which two letter-writing lovers are completely unaware that their sweetheart is in fact the co-worker with whom they share a certain degree of animosity. There was also a 1949 musical remake (In the Good Old Summertime) starring Judy Garland. You've Got Mail updates that concept to the use of e-mail. The name of the film is an example of product placement, based on the trademark greeting that AOL users hear when they receive new e-mail. The film received significant media coverage leading up to its release in anticipation of the romantic coupling of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, who had appeared together previously in Joe vs. The Volcano (1990) and Sleepless in Seattle (1993).
You've Got Mail was directed by Nora Ephron and is set in the Upper West Side of New York City. Ephron insists that You've Got Mail was as much about the West Side itself as the characters, highlighting the 'small town community' feel that pervades the West Side.
The script was written by Ephron and her sister Delia Ephron (with a credit given to Miklós László, the writer of the original play). The production team included Nora Ephron, Delia Ephron (who worked with Nora on films such as Michael and Sleepless in Seattle), and Lauren Shuler Donner. The supporting cast included David Chappelle, Greg Kinnear, Parker Posey, Jean Stapleton, Steve Zahn, Heather Burns and Dabney Coleman. The film is accompanied by a score written by George Fenton.

Plot summary

Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan) is involved with Frank Navasky (Greg Kinnear). While Frank, a newspaper writer for the New York Observer, is devoted to his typewriter, Kathleen prefers her laptop and logging into her AOL e-mail account. There, using the screen name "Shopgirl", Kathleen communicates with "NY152". This is the screen name for Joe Fox (Tom Hanks). Joe belongs to the Fox family which runs Fox Books — a chain of "mega" bookstores similar to Borders or Barnes & Noble. Kathleen, on the other hand, runs the independent bookstore The Shop Around The Corner, that her mother ran before her. The central conflict of the film revolves around the ability of Kathleen and Joe to interact well in virtual reality while they are business competitors in the "real world." A persistent mode of dramatic irony appears when Kathleen and Joe read each other's emails.
The movie begins with Kathleen logging on to her AOL account to read an email from "NY152" (Joe). In her reading of the e-mail, she reveals the boundaries of the online relationship; no specifics. The two then pass themselves on their respective ways to work, unbeknownst to each other. Joe arrives at work, overseeing the opening of a new Fox Books in New York with the help of his friend and assistant Kevin (Dave Chappelle). Meanwhile, Kathleen and her three store assistants, George (Steve Zahn), Birdie (Jean Stapleton), and Christina (Heather Burns) open up shop.
Following a day on the town with his eleven-year-old aunt Annabel and four-year-old brother Matthew (the children of his grandfather and father, respectively), Joe enters Kathleen's store to let his younger relatives experience storytime. The two have a friendly conversation that reveals Kathleen's fears about the Fox Books store opening around the corner, shocking Joe. He introduces himself as "Joe. Just call me Joe", omitting his last name of Fox and makes an abrupt exit with the children. However, at a publishing party later in the week, Joe and Kathleen meet again, both of them being in the "book business", where Kathleen discovers Joe's true identity.
All the while, "NY152" and "Shopgirl" continue their courtship, to the point where "NY152" asks "Shopgirl" to meet. Too embarrassed to go alone, Joe brings Kevin along for moral support. He insists that "Shopgirl" may be the love of his life. Meanwhile Kevin, looking in a cafe window at the behest of Joe, discovers the true identity of "Shopgirl". When Joe discovers that it is actually Kathleen behind the name, he confronts her as Joe (concealing his "NY152" alter ego). The two exchange words and Joe leaves the cafe hurt.
Following invitations from Frank and Joe via "NY152", Kathleen begins a media war, including both a boycott of Fox Books and an interview on the local news. Despite all efforts, The Shop Around the Corner slowly goes under. In a somber moment Kathleen enters Fox Books to discover the true nature of the store is one of friendliness and relaxation, yet not as personal as her independent shop. Eventually, the employees move on to other jobs as Christina goes job hunting, George gets a job at the children's department at a Fox Books store (Joe later compares George's knowledge to a PhD) and a gleeful Birdie retires off the riches of her investments: "I bought Intel at six!"
Allowing time for their electronic relationship to convalesce, Joe visits Kathleen while she is sick, and for the first time makes a favorable impression. Joe discovers that Kathleen has broken up with Frank, who moved in with a talk show host that interviewed him, predated one week by Joe and his uptight girlfriend, Patricia (Parker Posey), who broke up in their apartment building while stuck in the elevator. The two develop a tentative friendship that blossoms over the course of a few weeks and they eventually fall for one another.
At the same time, "NY152" and "Shopgirl" agree to meet one more time. Joe and his dog Brinkley (the topic of numerous e-mails) meet Kathleen at Riverside Park. The two kiss as Kathleen cries and Over the Rainbow takes the movie out.

Cast

• Tom Hanks as Joe "NY152" Fox
• Meg Ryan as Kathleen "Shopgirl" Kelly
• Greg Kinnear as Frank Navasky
• Parker Posey as Patricia Eden
• Jean Stapleton as Birdie Conrad
• Steve Zahn as George Pappas
• Heather Burns as Christina Plutzker
• Dave Chappelle as Kevin Jackson
• Dabney Coleman as Nelson Fox
• John Randolph as Schuyler Fox
• Deborah Rush as Veronica Grant
• Hallee Hirsh as Annabel Fox
• Jeffrey Scaperrotta as Matthew Fox
• Cara Seymour as Gillian Quinn

Soundtrack

You've Got Mail featured a number of popular songs, and a successful soundtrack was released in December of 1998. The soundtrack featured a mixture of classics from the 1960s and 1970s, particularly the work of Harry Nilsson, as well as new original recordings and covers. One famous soundtrack includes 'Somewhere over the rainbow'. More information can be found here.

Trivia

• Sara Ramirez of Grey's Anatomy fame can be spotted as Rose the Zabar's cashier.
• Michael Palin's part was cut out of the final movie.
• The character of Joe Fox was named after a former boyfriend of Nora Ephron who was an editor at Random House for authors such as John Irving and Truman Capote. His son Logan Fox ran an independent bookstore that succumbed to the pressure of big-box book retailers in 2007.
• During the "storytime" scene, Kathleen reads a section from Roald Dahl's celebrated autobiography Boy, describing "The Great Mouse Plot of 1923".
• Meg Ryan's character uses a PowerBook G3 laptop computer.
• Tom Hanks' character uses an IBM ThinkPad computer with a Pentium II processor.
• AOL and Time Warner (parent of Warner Bros.) would merge in 2000.

Daredevil is a 2003 superhero film written and directed by Mark Steven Johnson. Based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, the film stars Ben Affleck as Matt Murdock, a blind lawyer who fights for justice in the courtroom and out of the courtroom as the masked vigilante Daredevil. Jennifer Garner plays his love interest Elektra Natchios, Colin Farrell plays the perfectly-aimed assassin Bullseye and Michael Clarke Duncan plays Wilson Fisk, also known as the crime lord Kingpin.
The film began development in 1997 at 20th Century Fox and Columbia Pictures, before New Regency acquired the rights in 2000. Johnson wrote the screenplay and pushed Avi Arad to be able to direct it as well. He chose to shoot the film primarily in Downtown Los Angeles despite the Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan setting of the film and the comics. Rhythm and Hues Studios were hired to handle CGI, and Steve Boeddeker did the sound engineering. Varèse Sarabande released the score for Daredevil, composed by Graeme Revell.
Reviews for Daredevil were generally mixed or average, but did well enough to allow a spin-off film, Elektra, which was released in 2005. A vastly-different, R-rated director's cut of the film was released in 2005, including about 30 minutes of scenes cut at the last minute from the theatrical release.

Cast

• Ben Affleck as Matt Murdock / Daredevil: An attorney-at-law with a disability. He was blinded as a youth in a radioactive accident that also drastically heightened his remaining senses and gave him a "radar-sense", which allowed him to perceive his surroundings. After this, he makes a silent promise with his father to "stick up for the long shots". His father is killed not long after and at that moment, he vows to seeks justice by any means. At night, Murdock becomes Daredevil, and takes justice into his hands. Affleck was cast in October 2001. Vin Diesel was considered to portray Daredevil before him, but he opted to take a role from another film. Colin Farrell was also considered until Affleck signed. As a fan, Affleck made sure he had read every single issue of Daredevil, commenting that it was about taking what he knew as a fan and faithfully getting it on the screen. Joe Quesada considered it "serendipity in action" that Affleck is the lead role, as when he and Kevin Smith did the Guardian Devil series, they had modelled it on Affleck. Affleck said Daredevil was his favourite comic book as a kid, and explained why he took the role by saying "Everybody has that one thing from childhood that they remember and that sticks with them. This story was that for me." He also stated another reason, being "I didn't want someone else to do it, because I was afraid that they would go out and do it different from the comic and screw it up."
  
  • Scott Terra as Young Matt Murdock: As a youth, he has trouble with local bullies and a close bond with his father. This changes in different ways after the accident. Terra was officially announced as a part of the cast in March 2002.

• Jennifer Garner as Elektra Natchios: Daughter of billionaire Nikolas Natchios and the love interest of Matt Murdock. At a very young age she witnessed the murder of her mother, and since then her father has had her become highly trained in martial arts. For the role of Elektra, many actresses were looked into with considerations including Penélope Cruz, Salma Hayek, Natalie Portman, Lucy Liu, Jessica Alba, and Katie Holmes. A short-list was eventually made, giving the choices of Jennifer Garner, Jolene Blalock, Mía Maestro and Rhona Mitra, with Garner finally becoming the actress to land the role. Garner said of the character, "I think she's strong and cool and beautiful and smart. She'd be a good role model." Garner noted that the costume would be different as Elektra often wears red satin, but in the film she wears black leather. Garner explained "the red would never have worked for hiding a harness, and I know this sounds ridiculous, but you have to protect your skin a little bit. They throw me around so much on the rooftop [that] I got cut through the leather, so imagine if I hadn't had anything."

• Colin Farrell as Bullseye: An assassin with perfect accuracy and deep-rooted pride of it. Bullseye is hired by Kingpin to kill Nikolas and Elektra Natchios, but when Daredevil gets involved and causes Bullseye to miss his target, he makes it his own personal vendetta to take Daredevil down. Farrell was attached to the role in December 2001. For the film, the traditional Bullseye costume was not used in the film, a reason for which Mark Steven Johnson credited Joe Quesada for talking him out of. Also, Farrell was encouraged to keep his Irish accent as this version of Bullseye is from Ireland. Farrell had to read into Frank Miller's Daredevil comics to understand Bullseye "because the expression on the character's faces in the comic books, and just the way they move sometimes, and the exaggerations of the character I'm playing […] he's so over-the-top that you do draw from that. But it's not exactly a character you can do method acting for... you know, running around New York killing people with paper clips."

• Michael Clarke Duncan as Wilson Fisk / The Kingpin: By appearance, he is an overweight corporate head that takes the name Wilson Fisk, but in fact he is the sole person running organised crime, under the moniker of Kingpin. Kingpin is the murderer of Murdock's father, and the man responsible for the hiring of Bullseye, with intention of having the Natchios family murdered. Michael Clarke Duncan signed on for the role in January 2002, though he had been attached far earlier. When Duncan was cast, he weighed 290 pounds. He was asked to gain 40 pounds for the role in order to fit the physique of Kingpin. In order to do this, he would lift weights for 30 minutes a day, and power-lifted with one or two reps a day, as well as eating whatever he wanted. Despite this, Duncan's biggest concern was that he is black, whilst Kingpin has always been portrayed with having white ethnicity. He spoke on the fan's loyalty to the source material by saying "they watch movies to say, 'Hey, that's not like the comic book.' But I want them to get past that and just see the movie for what it is and see me for what I am — an actor."

• Jon Favreau as Franklin "Foggy" Nelson: Matt Murdock's legal partner and best friend, he is also used as a form of comic relief. Favreau joined the cast in February 2002.

• Joe Pantoliano as Ben Urich: An investigative journalist whose articles notably relate to Daredevil, and the Kingpin. During the film, he goes on to uncover a lot of information about the two. Pantoliano was cast in March 2002.

• David Keith as Jack Murdock: Father of Matt Murdock and a boxer, he is murdered by the Kingpin when he doesn't take a fall for a fight. Keith was officially announced as a part of the cast in March 2002.

• Leland Orser as Wesley Owen Welch: The number two of Wilson Fisk, but he doesn't like to be involved in the activities of the Kingpin.

• Erick Avari as Nikolas Natchios: The father of Elektra, who is murdered by Bullseye on behalf of the Kingpin.

• Ellen Pompeo as Karen Page: The secretary at Matt Murdock and Franklin Nelson's law firm.

• Derrick O'Connor as Father Everett: A priest of Matt Murdock's local church, where he sometimes goes to find solace.

Stan Lee, Frank Miller and Kevin Smith, each notable for their work on the Daredevil comics, also have cameo roles throughout the film. The Director's Cut version also features Jude Ciccolella and Coolio in a sub-plot removed from the theatrical version.

Production

Development

In 1997, 20th Century Fox optioned the rights from Marvel Enterprises, and Chris Columbus was chosen to direct the film. In 1998, Marvel was facing bankruptcy. During this time 20th Century Fox allowed the option to expire, so Disney began negotiations in order to acquire the rights. In 1999, the negotiations failed to work out so Marvel sets the project up with Sony's Columbia Pictures. During this time, Chris Columbus and Carlo Carlei co-wrote a script together, before Mark Steven Johnson got signed to write the screenplay. By 2000, Sony decided to cancel the project, as the two companies reportedly couldn't come to an agreement over Internet rights.
New Regency entered negotiations with a more satisfying offer, attaining the character rights from Marvel in 2000 to produce the film, with 20th Century Fox handling the distribution. Mark Steven Johnson had to pitch himself again in order to show he's suitable for the job, and became rehired. Johnson's script was turned in in 2001, which was praised by Ain't It Cool News' Harry Knowles. Prior to shooting, producer Gary Foster said that in comparison to other comic book-based films before it, this film would be "more character-driven ... darker ... edgier," whilst Marvel Studios Executive Kevin Feige felt the script was one of the strongest comic scripts Marvel had received.

Filming

20th Century Fox wanted to start filming in Canada in order to save money. This plan was contended by Mark Steven Johnson, and the film's cinematographer, Ericson Core, after they found a preferred area for shooting around downtown Los Angeles' Arcade Building. Core noted that the appeal came from the "beautiful, old brick buildings and great rooftops," which they felt was perfect for a depiction of Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, in comparison to the studio's choice where the filming would be done in Montreal or Vancouver. Due to their insistence, coupled with Ben Affleck's disinterest in filming in Canada (after having filmed there for his previous film, The Sum of All Fears) they were able to overturn the studio's mind.
When the look of the film was being decided, Mark Steven Johnson opted to use direct scenes from the Daredevil comics. Joe Quesada's Guardian Devil was an influence on the film, with Johnson noting that they would "literally take out a scene from the comic book that Joe did […] Here's Daredevil on the cross, you know, it's that scene from 'Guardian Devil'. You just shoot that." Throughout the film, Ben Affleck had to wear "cataract milky-blue" contacts, which would effectively make him blind. This was considered great by Johnson, as it would aid his performance.

Effects

The sound plays an integral part in the film, as the superhero relies on it in order to form his 'radar sense'. The sound was engineered by Steve Boeddeker and is heard taking place immediately after Matt's optic nerve is seen mutating. The mutating of the nerve was done by Rhythm and Hues Studios, who also worked on the radar-sense which became referred to as "shadow world." Shadow world was made using just CGI except in a scene where Elektra and Matt Murdock are in the rain, the scene was done using CGI over film.

References to Daredevil creators

The film contained many nods to Daredevil comic writes and artists throughout the film, and these included the following:

• Stan Lee, Daredevil's co-creator, makes a cameo appearance in the movie when he is stopped by young and blind Matt Murdock from walking in front of a speeding bus.
• Frank Miller, a prominent Daredevil comic writer, is shown in a cameo as a corpse with a pen in his head, whose motorcycle Bullseye takes. The credits list Frank Miller as "Man with Pen in Head."
• In the scene with Matt Murdock's father, Jack Murdock, fighting, the sign outside the arena reads "Jack 'the Devil' Murdock vs. John Romita." John Romita was an artist in the 1960s who worked on the Daredevil comic books. His son, John Romita Jr., pencilled the comic in the 80s.
• Also in the boxing sequence, Jack Murdock is talking to Fallon, who orders Jack to lose. During the conversation, Fallon lists all of his fighters, whose names are "Miller...Mack...Bendis." This is a reference to some of the Daredevil comics writers: Frank Miller, David Mack and Brian Michael Bendis.
• The character José Quesada's name is a reference to Marvel's editor-in-chief, Joe Quesada, who also did the artwork for a Daredevil storyline written by Kevin Smith, who makes a cameo in the film as the morgue worker Kirby, which is a reference to comic book legend Jack Kirby. Also referred to only in dialogue is Mr. Lee, another reference to Stan Lee.
• The character Father Everett's name is a reference to co-creator Bill Everett.

Armageddon is a 1998 disaster/sci-fi-action film about a group of blue-collar deep-core drillers who are sent by NASA to deflect an asteroid on a collision course with Earth. It was directed by Michael Bay, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and released on Disney's Touchstone Pictures label. It stars Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler.
A novelization was written by C. Bolin, based on the screenplay by Jonathan Hensleigh, J.J. Abrams, Tony Gilroy and Shane Salerno and the story by Jonathan Hensleigh and Robert Pool.

Plot

After several meteoroids destroy the Space Shuttle Atlantis and bombard a path across the Earth, including New York City, NASA discovers that an asteroid the size of Texas is on a direct collision with Earth, the impact likely to wipe out all life on the surface within 18 days, a fact not publicly revealed. The scientists at NASA devise a scheme to activate a nuclear bomb at a precise point under the asteroid's surface which will split the body in two, both halves missing the Earth. NASA locates the best oil driller on the planet, Harry Stamper, to get advice. Harry and his daughter Grace are taken to NASA and are told of the situation by Dan Truman, the head of NASA. Harry immediately recognizes that he and his crew must accompany the astronauts on the mission to make sure the job is done right. After Harry's crew is collected from across the country and NASA acquiesces to their demands for their services, they are put through a fast-paced training program before the mission starts, as well as outfitting a drilling rig with the proper equipment for the job. During this time, AJ, a member of Stamper's crew who Grace has been sleeping with, gets into several heated arguments with Harry, making the training difficult.
When a meteorite completely wipes out Shanghai, China, the truth is revealed to the world, as well as the pending mission. Two shuttles, Freedom and Independence are launched simultaneously and shortly dock at a Russian space station to refuel. However, an accident occurs during the process, and the crews evacuate to their shuttles, including Lev Andropov, the sole Cosmonaut from the station. The two shuttles begin a high G-force slingshot procedure around the Moon in order to land on the backside of the asteroid. However, as they enter the trailing debris of the asteroid, the Independence, including AJ, Lev, and Bear, another member of Harry's crew, is struck down and crash lands on the asteroids. Mourning the loss of their friends, the Freedom manages to land on the surface but misses the target landing zone, ending up over an area of very hard rock to have to drill through. The Freedom team tries to drill but suffer several setbacks and losses due to the impossible conditions, and are well behind schedule. They are further put behind schedule when it is revealed that the if the deadline would be missed, the shuttle pilot Colonel Sharpe would have activated the nuclear device, sacrificing their lives and likely not damaging the asteroid as needed. Harry, with Dan's help at mission control, is able to convince Colonel Sharpe to help them finish up. Another meteorite wipes out all of Paris as the asteroid continues closer to the Earth.
All seems lost when their drilling machine is blasted off the asteroid by a gas vent. However, they come to learn that AJ, Bear, and Lev have managed to survive the Independence crash and have driven the second machine to the drilling site. Harry puts AJ in charge of finishing the drilling, and they successfully get to the necessary depth. The team lowers the nuclear bomb into the hole, but find that the asteroid's conditions have made it impossible to detonate remotely, and that someone would have to sacrifice themselves to activate the bomb after the shuttle leaves. AJ is picked after drawing straws, but as AJ is about to step out of the shuttle, Harry disables his air supply and takes his place, telling AJ to take good care of Grace. As the shuttle prepares to depart, Harry sends a final touching message to his daughter and gives his full support of her seeing AJ. Harry manages to activate the bomb moments before the critical deadline, and the asteroid halves successfully miss the earth. The remaining crew of the Freedom return to Earth as heroes, AJ reuniting tearfully with Grace while the others are met by their loved ones. Grace and AJ are soon wed, Harry and their lost crew remembered in memorandum at the service.

Cast

• Bruce Willis - Harry Stamper
• Billy Bob Thornton - Dan Truman
• Ben Affleck - A.J. Frost
• Liv Tyler - Grace Stamper
• Will Patton - Charles 'Chick' Chapple
• Steve Buscemi - Rockhound
• William Fichtner - Col. William Sharp
• Owen Wilson - Oscar Choi
• Michael Clarke Duncan - Jayotis 'Bear' Kurleenbear
• Peter Stormare - Lev Andropov
• Ken Hudson Campbell - Max Lennert
• Jessica Steen - Jennifer Watts
• Keith David - Lieutenant General Kimsey
• Chris Ellis - Walter Clark
• Jason Isaacs - Dr. Ronald Quincy, Researcher
• Eddie Griffin - Little Guy

Reception and criticism

The film was an international box office success, but it received a large amount of criticism from film reviewers. On Rotten Tomatoes it scores 40%; on a similar website, Metacritic, it similarly scores 42%. The film is on the list of Roger Ebert's most hated films: in his original review, he stated "The movie is an assault on the eyes, the ears, the brain, common sense and the human desire to be entertained". In contrast, his long-time friend Gene Siskel from the show Siskel & Ebert gave it a "thumbs up."
The film received the Saturn Awards for Best Direction and Best Science Fiction Film (where it tied with Dark City). However, it was also nominated in seven categories for the 1998 Golden Raspberry Awards for bad films; only one was awarded: Bruce Willis received the Worst Actor award for Armageddon, in addition to his appearances in Mercury Rising and The Siege.
Despite the general critical disdain, a DVD edition of Armageddon was released by The Criterion Collection, a specialist film distributor of primarily arthouse films that markets what it considers to be "important classic and contemporary films" and "cinema at its finest". In an essay supporting the selection of Armageddon, film scholar Jeanne Basinger, who taught Michael Bay at Wesleyan University, states that the film is "a work of art by a cutting-edge artist who is a master of movement, light, color, and shape—and also of chaos, razzle-dazzle, and explosion". She sees it as a celebration of working men: "This film makes these ordinary men noble, lifting their efforts up into an epic event." Further, she states that in the first few moments of the film all the main characters are well established, saying, "If that isn't screenwriting, I don't know what is".
Despite the poor reviews and criticism, Armageddon was nominated for four Academy Awards (Best Sound, Best Special Effects, Best Effects Editing, and Best Original Song).

Criticism of scientific inaccuracies

While science fiction films are generally not meant to be realistic, Armageddon is noted for its large number of scientific inaccuracies. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Michael Bay said that the solution for the asteroid situation was great for the movie but not possible in real life, while adding that real-life "anti-gravity" systems for such a situation were being worked on by NASA. Bay also said that in real life, people who would think that it was possible to deal with an asteroid based on the movie would be mistaken.
The physics and scientific approach of Armageddon was criticized for its poor adherence to the laws of physics, such as the asteroid having gravity like Earth. This has led NASA to show the film as part of its management training program. Prospective managers are asked to find as many inaccuracies in the movie as they can. At least 168 impossible things have been found during these screenings of the film. The movie also adheres to standard Hollywood conventions when it comes to science, such as having noise in space.

Space Shuttle Columbia disaster

Following the 2003 Columbia disaster, some screen captures from the opening scene where Atlantis is destroyed were passed off as satellite images of the Columbia disaster in a hoax.  Also, in response to the disaster, FX pulled Armageddon from that night's schedule and replaced it with Aliens.

Box office

• Budget - USD$140,000,000
• Marketing cost - $100,000,000
• Opening Weekend Gross (Domestic) - $36,089,972
• Total Domestic Grosses - $201,578,182
• Total Overseas Grosses - $352,131,606
• Total Worldwide Grosses - $553,709,788

 

Troy is an epic movie released on May 14, 2004, concerning the Trojan War. It is loosely based on Homer's Iliad, but includes material from Virgil's Aeneid and other sources, and frequently diverges from myth. The film has the following cast of actors prominent at the time of its release: Brad Pitt as Achilles, Eric Bana as Hector, Orlando Bloom as Paris, Diane Kruger as Helen, Brian Cox as Agamemnon, Sean Bean as Odysseus, Rose Byrne as Briseis, Garrett Hedlund as Patroclus, Peter O'Toole as Priam, Brendan Gleeson as Menelaus, and Tyler Mane as Ajax. Troy was directed by Wolfgang Petersen and written by David Benioff. It received an Oscar nomination for its costume design.

Plot

Agamemnon of Mycenae and his army are in Thessaly, Greece, looking to expand his military might and empire. His army prepares to engage in combat against a host of soldiers under the Thessalonian king, Triopas. Rather than suffer great losses, Triopas agrees to Agamemnon's proposal to settle the matter in the traditional way - through a decisive match between the heroes of the opposing armies. Achilles is summoned by Agamemnon, and arrives after being woken by a messenger boy. He easily kills the greatest and most accomplished warrior of Thessaly, Boagrius. Accepting defeat, Triopas presents Achilles with a scepter as a token for his king. Achilles however refuses, saying "He's not my king."
In Sparta, Prince Hector and his young brother Paris negotiate an end to the war between the outlying kingdom of Troy and Sparta. On the last day of a week long peace festival, Paris manages to smuggle his love Helen back to Troy with him. Menelaus, Helen's husband, vows revenge on Paris. Meanwhile, Agamemnon the brother of Menelaus, who had for years harbored plans for conquering Troy, decides to use his brother's situation as an excuse to invade. He is advised by his general Nestor, to call upon Achilles to fight for the Greeks. This is in order to ensure they can rally enough troops to the cause. Agamemnon knows that with Troy under his control, he would have complete control over the Aegean.
When they arrive in Troy, Hector, Paris and Helen are warmly welcomed and received by their father King Priam. He says nothing of his younger son's love for Helen. Shortly afterwards, Hector tries to urge his father to put Helen on a ship back to Sparta, in order to avoid a colossal war between Troy and Agamemnon (who now controls all of Greece). Priam refuses, choosing instead to put his faith in his high priests and their interpretation of how Apollo would react, as well as his firm belief that Paris is truly in love with Helen.
Agamemnon and the Greeks amass the largest naval force ever known to man - 1000 ships each containing 50 men - and set sail for Troy. Agamemnon sends Odysseus to convince Achilles to join, but he refuses as he utterly despises Agamemnon and only fights for personal glory, not the power of others. Odysseus hints that the warriors who would fight in this war shall receive immortality in history, but he still refuses. Later, Thetis, Achilles' mother, tells Achilles of the prophecy she had learned of even before he was born, which foretold that if Achilles does not go to the war, he will find peace, love and a family of his own, but he will eventually be forgotten as time passed. But if he chooses to go to Troy, his name would become immortal, at the cost of his life. Achilles, unable to resist such fame and glory, heads for Troy.
The Greeks land at Troy and take control of the beach on the first day of the war. Achilles and the Myrmidons are able to kill many Trojans but also desecrate the Trojan temple of Apollo, slaying the unarmed priests that reside there. Briseis, a member of the Trojan royal family who has chosen to dedicate her life to service to the gods, is captured and taken as a prize by Achilles. However, he treats her with kindness, which makes her initially cautious. In the course of the battle within the temple, Achilles and Hector meet but do not fight. Hector is outnumbered but allowed to leave.
After the battle, Achilles is annoyed that, although he and his Myrmidons spearheaded the battle, the other kings who serve Agamemnon pay him tribute in honor of Agamemnon's great victory. Offended by Achilles' disrespectful and disobedient attitude, Agamemnon takes Briseis from him. Only Briseis' contemptuous pleas stop Achilles from slaughtering Agamemnon and his men, and Agamemnon taunts him for listening to a mere slave girl. Achilles leaves in a rage, but promises Agamemnon he will see him dead before his own life ends.
When the Greek army marches upon Troy, Achilles refuses to fight or to allow the Myrmidons to fight until Agamemnon regrets belittling him. Instead Achilles and his Myrmidons watch the events from a distance, Achilles pacing back and forth in anger at Agamemnon's mistakes. With the Trojan army beneath the walls of Troy and the Greek army surrounding it, Paris, feeling guilt for having brought the threat of war upon Troy, challenges Menelaus to a duel to settle things. Menelaus agrees, knowing he is the better warrior. Agamemnon then decides he will attack afterwards anyway, regardless of the outcome. Paris, severely outmatched, is easily defeated. Terrified of dying, he crawls back to Hector's feet. Menelaus approaches and moves to finish Paris, but Hector steps in to protect his brother and kills Menelaus. A shocked and distraught Agamemnon orders his army to charge the Trojans.
During the battle, Ajax leads the fight and is unstoppable while he causes mayhem with a great hammer of war. Hector, recognizing the threat, faces Ajax and they fight. At first Ajax almost kills Hector, who can only shelter behind his shield as it is smashed to pieces. Hector only just manages to kill Ajax despite being almost throttled to death by him. The increasingly energized Trojans press their attack against the uncoordinated Greeks. The Greeks move too close to the walls and Trojan archers rain arrows down on them, killing Greek soldiers by the hundreds. Without Ajax or Achilles and his Myrmidons, and with the Trojan archers upon the walls of Troy free to shower arrows upon the Greeks, the battle quickly turns against them. With command of the battle lost, Agamemnon grudgingly bows to Odysseus's pleas to withdraw and the Greeks retreat to the beach.
Briseis is given to some men by the king after their poor performance in battle as a "morale booster". Before she can be branded and raped, Achilles arrives in the nick of time to save her. Killing her assailants and carrying her back to his tent. Later that night, as Achilles sleeps, Briseis contemplates killing him and kneels beside him to press a knife to his throat. He wakes but only challenges her to do it and says that dying now isn't so different than dying fifty years from now, causing her to hesitate at his calmness in the face of death. As she hesitates, Achilles suddenly pulls her down to him and rolls over so she is pinned beneath him. He then kisses her passionately and as she drops the knife, begins to make love to her. The next evening, the two lie in bed and Achilles tells her he is sailing in the morning, having been convinced that perhaps the life of an infamous warrior is not all for him. She is slightly skeptical and asks him if he could really leave it all behind, inducing him to ask if she could bring herself to leave Troy.
A debate takes place within the Trojan palace. The priests say that the gods are on their side and they should attack the Greeks while they are weak. Hector points out that the Myrmidons did not fight and that the Greeks are dispirited. If they attack, it might be the thing to roust and unify the Greeks. He argues for leaving them alone and perhaps they will leave on their own accord. Priam disregards this and goes with the assurances of his priests, and a reluctant Hector leads them.
The Trojans attack the Greek camp at dawn. As the Greeks appear to be on the verge of defeat, Achilles appears and the Myrmidons join the battle. He brings courage to the Greeks, and eventually fights man-to-man against Hector, until his throat is cut. This energizes the Trojans and dismays the Greeks, until Hector pulls Achilles' helmet off and finds it is Patroclus. Achilles' cousin. Grieved at having slain a boy so young, Hector gives him a killing blow out of mercy. Odysseus informs Hector of the boy's identity and they agree to cease hostilities for the day. Achilles, who had slept through the battle, is informed by the Myrmidons of his cousin's death. They had also mistaken Patroclus for Achilles. Consumed by grief and rage, Achilles beats Eudorus and walks toward the beach. A distraught Achilles leads the ceremony, complete with funeral pyre, while a satisfied Agamemnon tells Odysseus "That boy just saved this war."
The next day, Achilles approaches the gates of Troy and demands Hector come out and face him. Hector stops the city's archers from opening fire and goes down to face Achilles. Hector requests a pact that the loser be given proper funeral rites by the winner. Achilles denies him, saying that "There are no pacts between lions and men". The two fight bravely and arduously. Hector, though he is a great warrior in his own right, is outclassed by the enraged Achilles, who duly kills him. Achilles then ties Hector's body to the back of his chariot and drags it along the dirt. That night King Priam, aided by the dark, goes to the Greek army's camp to get Hector's body back. After an emotional and mortifying talk given to him by Priam, Achilles breaks down into tears near Hector's slain body. He lets Priam take Hector's body back, promising him that no Greek will attack them on the way back. Achilles lets Priam take Briseis back as well, and gives her the shell necklace Thetis made for him. He assures Priam that the Greeks will honor Prince Hector's death, and that no Greek will attack Troy for 12 days. This temporary ceasefire angers Agamemnon who sees it as golden opportunity to attack Troy while they are leaderless.
During the 12 days that Troy mourns Hector's death, the Greeks plan to enter the city using a hollowed-out wooden horse, devised by Odysseus. The Greeks leave the horse at the location of their camp, then withdraw to the beach hiding in their ships behind a nearby island. Paris warns Priam about the horse and says they should burn it to the ground, but Priam neglects his warning, blinded by the priests' talk of the horse being a "peace offering by the Greeks" in order to appease the Sun-God Apollo for the desecration of his temple by Achilles earlier. Assuming victory, the Trojans take the horse into the city and celebrate. A Trojan scout sees the Greeks still at the bay but gets killed by an archer. The Trojans celebrate their victory and the whole of Troy is in drunken stupor when several Greeks, hidden inside the horse, launch a surprise attack and open the gates of Troy to allow the Greek army inside the city walls. Helen and Andromeche are able to gather a large amount of women and children and other Trojans who take the secret path Hector showed to Andromeche. Paris refuses to leave and hands the sword of Troy to Aeneas, quoting his father by telling Aeneas that "So long the sword of Troy remains in the hands of a Trojan, our people have a future". Priam yells to the Greeks who break statues in the temple, "Have you no honor?" but before he can act, he is killed by Agamemnon. In the Director's Cut before Priam dies he asks Agamemnon to spare the innocent, but Agamemnon refuses saying "No one's innocent."
Achilles frantically searches for Briseis, who is at the shrine of Apollo being threatened by Agamemnon. She kills him with a concealed knife, and is saved by Achilles from being stabbed to death by Agamemnon's guards when Achilles arrives. Paris manages to find Achilles and shoots an arrow that goes straight through Achilles' fatal weakness, his heel. Crippled, he is then hit in the chest by several more arrows, but is able to remove them. Though the wound to his ankle proves decisive. As she cries, Achilles tells Briseis, "You gave me peace in a lifetime of war," and urges her to leave the city with Paris, though she initially refuses to. Tearfully, Briseis lets Paris pull her up and lead her up the steps as they run towards the secret passageway and leave Achilles there. After watching them leave, he collapses with the one arrow remaining in his heel.
After a last disorganized and futile attempt by surviving Trojan soldiers to repel the invaders, the battle ends and the Greeks storm the inner palace only to find that Achilles has died just a few moments earlier. They perform the funeral rituals for him the next morning. Odysseus delivers the final words, "If they ever tell my story, let them say that I walked with giants. Men rise and fall like the winter wheat, but these names will never die. Let them say that I lived in the time of Hector, tamer of horses. Let them say I lived in the time of Achilles...."

Finance and Reaction

When the film was completed, total production costs were approximately $180,000,000. This makes Troy one of the most expensive films made in modern cinema. Not adjusted for inflation, it is number 13 on the all time list of most expensive films and number 16 when adjusted for inflation.
Troy screenings have earned $133 million (US$133,378,256) in the United States. Having cost $180 million to make, the film was a disappointment in the US. Many critics anticipated that it would flop as Troy barely missed the $50 million mark on its opening US weekend and wrote off the film. Troy was among the several historical epics released in 2004 that disappointed, such as Alexander, The Alamo and King Arthur, although it fared better than those films.
However, Troy did extremely well at the international box office financial success, making more than 73% of its revenues outside of the U.S. Eventually Troy made over US$497 million dollars worldwide, placing it in the #60 spot of top box office hits of all time. This places the film 17 spots above Gladiator (#77) and approximately 20 spots above 300 (#80) in the all-time worldwide box office.
Troy met mixed reactions by reviewers. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a Tomatometer rating of 55% from a base of 214 reviews while Yahoo! Movies gave it a critic rating of "B-" (although that was based on 15 Critical Reviews). Roger Ebert, who disliked what he saw as an unfaithful adaptation of the Iliad, gave it two stars out of four Ebert claimed that Troy "sidesteps the existence of the Greek gods, turns its heroes into action movie clichés and demonstrates that we're getting tired of computer-generated armies."

Music

Composer Gabriel Yared originally worked on the score for Troy for over a year, having been hired by the director, Wolfgang Petersen.
Yared wrote and recorded his score and Tanja Tzarovska provided vocals on various portions of the music, as she later would on composer James Horner's version of the soundtrack. However, after having screened the movie with an early incomplete version of the score, the reactions at test screenings were against it and in less than a day Yared was off the project without being given a chance to fix or change his music, while Warner Bros was already looking for a replacement. According to Yared, his score was removed due to a complaint by the screening audience that the score was too "old-fashioned".
The replacement score was written by composer James Horner in about four weeks. He utilized Tanja Tzarovska's vocals, traditional Eastern Mediterranean music and brass instruments. Drums are conspicuous in the most dramatic scenes; most notably, in the duel between Achilles and Hector. His instrumental scenes have themes very reminiscent of Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 1.
Horner also collaborated with Grammy-nominated American singer/songwriter, Josh Groban and lyricist Cynthia Weil to write an original song for the film's end credits. The product of this collaboration, "Remember" was performed by Groban with additional vocals by Tzarovska. The song is available from the movie's original soundtrack.
Around the time of the film's release in theaters, Gabriel Yared briefly made portions of his rejected score available on his personal website which was later removed by the request of Warner Brothers. Bootleg versions exist on the Internet. Yared's score has since gained much of attention from the fans of movie music. Several petitions were made in request to release Yared's score on either a limited edition CD, or as a bonus feature or secondary audio track on the film's DVD. Those requests however, have been denied by Warner Bros.

Filming

Major sets for the city of Troy were built in the Mediterranean island of Malta at Fort Ricasoli from April to June 2003. Other important scenes were shot in Mellieħa, a small town in the north of Malta, and on the small island of Comino. The outer walls of Troy were built and filmed in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

Director's cut

Troy: Director's Cut was screened at the 57th Berlin International Film Festival on February 17, 2007, and received a limited theatrical release in Germany in April 2007. Warner Home Video reportedly spent more than $1 million for the Director's Cut, which includes "at least 1,000 new cuts" or almost 30-minute extra footage (Running Time: 196 minutes). The DVD was released on September 18, 2007 in the USA. The score of the film was changed dramatically, with many of the female vocals being cut. Various shots were recut and extended. For instance, the love scene between Helen and Paris was reframed to include more nudity of Diane Kruger. The sex scene between Achilles and Briseis is also extended. Only one scene was removed: the scene where Helen tends to the wound of Paris is taken out. The battle scenes were also extended, showing much more of Ajax's bloody rampage on the Trojans during the initial attack by the Greek Army. Perhaps most significantly was the sacking of Troy, barely present in the theatrical cut, but shown fully here. Characters were given more time to develop, specifically Priam and Odysseus, the latter being given a humorous introduction scene. Lastly, bookend scenes were added: the beginning being a soldier's dog finding its dead master, and the end including a sequence where the few surviving Trojans escape to Mount Ida. In one of the commentary sequences one of the film editors said that when it came to deciding whether to follow Iliad, or do what was best for the movie they always decided with what was best for the movie.

The Ninth Gate is a 1999 film based on the novel The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte. Spanning several genres, The Ninth Gate is a mix of mystery, horror thriller, and neo-noir, and additionally portrays facets of the rare book business. The film was co-written and directed by Roman Polanski, and stars Johnny Depp as Dean Corso, a rare-book dealer hired by a book collector (Frank Langella) to validate a copy of The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows, a book by 17th century author Aristide Torchia.
The film premiered in San Sebastián, Spain on August 25, 1999, a month before the 47th San Sebastian International Film Festival and was a critical and commercial failure in North America as most critics felt that it fell short of Polanski's best known supernatural thriller, Rosemary's Baby. The Ninth Gate managed to turn a profit with a worldwide box office gross of $58,401,898, well above its $38 million budget. It has since enjoyed a small cult following.

Plot outline

Dean Corso (Johnny Depp) is a rare-book dealer in New York whose only motivation is financial gain. Wealthy book collector Boris Balkan (Frank Langella) hires Corso to authenticate The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows, a book by 17th century author Aristide Torchia, one of only three surviving copies, now in Balkan's possession. The book contains nine engravings which, when correctly deciphered and the interpretations properly spoken, are alleged to raise the Devil. Balkan suspects the book may be a forgery, and hires Corso to travel to Europe, assess the other two known copies, discover whether any are genuine, and if so, acquire them for Balkan at any cost.
Balkan's copy of The Nine Gates had previously belonged to Andrew Telfer, who committed suicide shortly after selling the book to Balkan. Telfer's widow Liana (Lena Olin) wants the book back, as Telfer originally bought the book for her. Liana seduces Corso in a failed attempt to reacquire her book. Corso's business partner and book store owner Bernie (James Russo), whom Corso had asked to hide the book, is murdered in the style of one of the engravings in The Nine Gates. Like The Hanged Man, Bernie is found hanging by one foot upside down.
Corso travels to Toledo, in Spain, and talks to the Ceniza brothers (Jose Lopez Rodero), twin book restorers who show him that some of the book's engravings are signed "LCF." Prompting Corso to guess who the initials refer to, the Cenizas agree when he responds with "Lucifer." Corso next goes by train to Sintra, in Portugal, and visits Victor Fargas (Jack Taylor), whose copy Corso compares with Balkan's, noting several variations in the engravings. The next morning, Corso is awakened by a mysterious young woman (Emmanuelle Seigner) with whom he has been crossing paths; she then leads Corso back to Fargas' home to find him murdered and the engravings ripped out of his copy of The Nine Gates. Later, the unnamed woman displays supernatural ability when she rescues Corso from an attack by Telfer's bodyguard (Tony Amoni).
In Paris, Corso tracks down the third surviving copy owned by Baroness Kessler (Barbara Jefford). He records additional differences in her copy before she is killed and pages from her book are removed. Corso, now believing each copy of The Nine Gates to be genuine, suspects that the secret to opening the nine gates can be found in a combination of all three copies. Telfer steals Balkan's copy out of Corso's hotel room, and he follows her to a mansion to witness her using it to lead a Satanist ceremony. Balkan suddenly interrupts the ceremony, kills Telfer, takes the torn out engravings and his own intact copy, and drives away believing that Corso is correct and all three copies are genuine.
Realizing that Balkan is responsible for the deaths of Victor Fargas and Baroness Kessler, Corso locates Balkan and witnesses him preparing to open the gates himself. However, because one of the engravings he uses is a forgery, Balkan's invocation fails and he dies consumed by flames (before Corso finishes him off by a bullet in his skull using Telfer's own gun). The mysterious girl has sex with Corso and directs him back to the Ceniza brothers' shop. There he discovers the final authentic engraving, which includes a likeness of the mystery girl herself, thereby allowing Corso to identify the correct location and travel through the ninth portal, to an unestablished fate, at the film's conclusion.

Production

Roman Polanski received the screenplay by Enrique Urbizu that adapted the book, El Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte. The filmmaker was so taken by Urbizu's script that he read the novel. He liked the novel because, "I saw so many elements that seemed good for a movie. It was suspenseful, funny, and there were a great number of secondary characters that are tremendously cinematic." Pérez-Reverte's book featured several intertwined plots and so Polanski decided to write his own draft with long-time screenwriting partner, John Brownjohn (they had collaborated previously on Tess, Pirates and Bitter Moon). The source novel contains numerous literary references and a subplot concerning Corso’s investigation into the original manuscript for a chapter of The Three Musketeers. Polanski and Brownjohn jettisoned these elements and focused on one particular plot line: Corso’s pursuit of the authentic copy of The Nine Gates.
Polanski approached the subject matter with a certain amount of skepticism as he said in an interview, "I don't believe in the occult. I don't believe. Period." He wanted to have fun with the genre. "There is a great number of cliches of this type in The Ninth Gate which I tried to turn around a bit. You can make them appear serious on the surface, but you cannot help but laugh at them." For Polanski, the appeal of the film was that it featured "a mystery in which a book is the leading character" and its illustrations "are also essential clues."
While reading the book, Polanski thought of Johnny Depp as Corso. The actor became attached to the project as early as 1997 when he met Polanski at the Cannes Film Festival promoting his directorial debut The Brave that was in competition. Initially, the veteran filmmaker did not think that Depp was right for the role of Corso because the character was 40-years-old. Polanski was thinking of casting an older actor but Depp was persistent and wanted to work with him. Hints of friction between Depp and Polanski while working on the film surfaced in the press around the time of its North American release. The actor said, "It's the director's job to push, to provoke things out of an actor". Polanski told one interviewer, "He [Depp] decided to play it rather flat which wasn't how I envisioned it. And I didn't tell him it wasn't how I saw it." Corso's dishevelled look was modelled after Raymond Chandler's famous sleuth, Philip Marlowe according to the director.
Polanski cast Frank Langella as Balkan after seeing him in Adrian Lyne’s version of Lolita. Barbara Jefford was a last minute casting decision because the German actress originally cast was struck with pneumonia and another actress couldn't learn the lines. Jefford came in with only a few days notice, learned her lines, and affected a German accent.
Filming took place in France, Portugal and Spain during the summer of 1998.

Reaction

The Ninth Gate premiered in San Sebastián, Spain on August 25, 1999. On its opening weekend in North America, the film debuted in 1,586 theaters and grossed $6,622,518. While eventually only making $18,661,336 in North America, it went on to make $58,401,898 worldwide, well above its budget of $38 million.
Most critics felt that the film fell short of Polanski's best known supernatural thriller, Rosemary's Baby. The Ninth Gate holds a 40-percent rotten rating at Rotten Tomatoes (and a 26% among the "Cream of the Crop" critics). In Roger Ebert's review for the Chicago Sun-Times, he felt that the film's ending was lackluster, "while at the end I didn't yearn for spectacular special effects, I did wish for spectacular information–something awesome, not just a fade to white." Elvis Mitchell in The New York Times criticized the film for being "about as scary as a sock-puppet re-enactment of The Blair Witch Project, and not nearly as funny." However, Philip Strick's review in Sight and Sound magazine was more sympathetic, recognizing that it was "not particularly liked at first outing – partly because Johnny Depp, in fake grey temples, personifies the odious Corso of the book a little too accurately – the film is intricately well-made, deserves a second chance despite its disintegrations, and in time will undoubtedly acquire its own coven of heretical fans."
After the film's release, Artisan Entertainment sued Polanski for allegedly taking more than $1 million from the budget, pocketing refunds of France's value-added tax instead of turning them over to Artisan's completion bond company.

Sex and the City is the 2008 romantic comedy feature film adaptation of the HBO comedy series of the same name (itself based on the book of the same name by Candace Bushnell) about four female friends: Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall), Charlotte York Goldenblatt (Kristin Davis), and Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) living in New York City. The series often portrayed frank discussions about romance and sexuality.
The world premiere took place at Leicester Square, London on May 12, 2008, and premiered on May 28, 2008 in the UK and May 30, 2008 in the US. The film is rated R in the United States, 18PL in Malaysia, 18A in Canada, Category III in Hong Kong, M18 (with cuts) in Singapore, 15 in the United Kingdom, MA15+ in Australia, 12 in Germany and 11 in Norway.

Plot

Set four years after the events of the series finale, the film begins with Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Big (Chris Noth) viewing apartments with the intention of moving in together. Carrie falls in love with a penthouse suite far from their price range, which Big immediately agrees to pay for. However, Carrie experiences doubts over the sensibility of this arrangement, explaining that they are not married, and as such she would have no legal rights to their home in the event of a separation. Quelling her fears, Big suggests that they get married.
Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) is finding balancing her home, work, and social life ever more difficult, and confesses to the girls that she hasn’t had sex with Steve (David Eigenberg) in six months. She is devastated when Steve reveals he has slept with another woman, and immediately separates from him. Samantha (Kim Cattrall) is living with Smith (Jason Lewis), who has a successful television career. They live in a seaside beach house in Los Angeles, where Samantha is finding it difficult to take time for herself. She is traveling frequently between L.A. and New York, and grappling with her persistent desire for sex with other men; her handsome and sexually active next-door-neighbor, Dante (Gilles Marini), in particular. Charlotte (Kristin Davis) is happy in her marriage to Harry (Evan Handler), with their adopted daughter, Lily.
Carrie's wedding plans escalate into such a lavish event that Big begins to experience doubts. Carrie is given a Vivienne Westwood wedding gown after modeling it for a photo shoot in Vogue. Carrie reads to Big from a book of famous love letters she has borrowed from the New York Public Library. She teases Big for never having sent her a love letter. While returning Love Letters of Great Men, Vol. 1 to the library, Carrie sees a wedding being held there and chooses it for her own venue.
After an argument with Steve at the rehearsal dinner, Miranda, still upset about Steve's indiscretion, tells Big bluntly that he and Carrie are crazy to be getting married, as marriage ruins everything. On the day of the ceremony, he decides he cannot go through with it, leaving Carrie devastated and fleeing from the library, where their wedding was supposed to take place. Big, however, changes his mind and intercepts Carrie as he sees her limousine drive past. Carrie has already been left humiliated and betrayed, and proceeds to attack Big with her bouquet; screaming her dismay at him, while earning furious looks from Miranda and Charlotte. The four women subsequently take the honeymoon that Carrie had booked to Mexico, where they de-stress and collect themselves.
On her return to New York, Carrie hires an assistant, Louise (Jennifer Hudson), to help her move back into her old apartment and manage her administration. Charlotte learns she is pregnant after a visit to her doctor. Miranda eventually confesses to Carrie about what happened during the night of the rehearsal dinner, and the two have a brief falling out. After reflecting on the argument she had with Carrie, Miranda agrees to attend couples counseling with Steve, and they are eventually able to reconcile. Samantha begins overeating to keep her from cheating on Smith with Dante, but eventually realizes that their relationship is simply not working, and that she needs to put herself first. The two break up, and she moves back to New York. Charlotte for several months is concerned that something might happen to the baby, as her life seems to be too perfect.
A surprise encounter with Big at a restaurant leaves Charlotte so furious that she goes into labor. Big delivers her to the hospital, and waits until baby Rose is born, hoping to see Carrie. Harry passes on the message that Big would like her to call him, and that he has written to her frequently, but never received a reply. Carrie searches her correspondence, before realizing that Louise has kept his e-mails password-protected from her, after she earlier announced she wished to sever all communication with him. She finds that he has sent her dozens of letters copied from the Love Letters of Great Men book she showed him in the weeks before their wedding, Love Letters of Great Men, Vol. 1, culminating with one of his own where he apologizes for screwing it up and promises to love her forever.
One hour before the locks are due to be changed on their shared penthouse apartment, Carrie travels to the home Big had bought for them to collect a pair of mint condition Manolo Blahnik shoes she had left there. She finds Big in the walk-in closet he had built for her, and the moment she sees him, her anger at his betrayal dissipates. She runs into his arms and they share a passionate kiss. After spending the final hour in their apartment together, talking and apologizing to one another, Big proposes to Carrie properly, using one of her diamond-encrusted shoes in place of a ring. They later marry alone, in a simple wedding in New York City Hall, with Carrie dressed in the original dress she had bought in a vintage shop. They hold a get-together at a local diner with their friends. The film ends with the four women around a table in a restaurant, sipping cosmopolitans, and celebrating Samantha's fiftieth birthday, with Carrie making a toast to the next fifty.

Cast

• Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw
• Kim Cattrall as Samantha Jones
• Kristin Davis as Charlotte York Goldenblatt
• Cynthia Nixon as Miranda Hobbes
• Chris Noth as John James "Mr. Big" Preston
• Jennifer Hudson as Louise, Carrie's assistant
• David Eigenberg as Steve Brady
• Jason Lewis as Smith Jerrod
• Evan Handler as Harry Goldenblatt
• Willie Garson as Stanford Blatch
• Mario Cantone as Anthony Marantino
• Lynn Cohen as Magda
• Candice Bergen as Enid Frick
• Annaleigh Ashford as Spoiled Label Queen
• Andre Leon Talley as Vogue executive (cameo)
• Joseph Pupo as Brady Hobbes, Miranda and Steve's son
• Alexandra and Parker Fong as Lily York Goldenblatt, Charlotte and Harry's daughter
• Gilles Marini as Dante
• Monica Mayhem as Dantes' Lover #1
• Julie Halston as Bitsy von Muffling
• Daphne Rubin-Vega as Baby-Voiced Girl

Victoria Beckham was offered a cameo but had to turn it down due to scheduling conflicts with the Spice Girls' tour rehearsals.

Production

Development

At the end of Sex and the City's run in February 2004, there were indications of a movie being considered following the series. HBO announced that Michael Patrick King was working on a possible script for the movie which he would direct. However, later that year, Kim Cattrall declined to work on the project citing reasons that the script and the start date were overly prolonged and she decided to take other offers at hand. As a result, the immediate follow-up idea for the movie were dropped.
It was in mid-2007 that the plans for making the movie were announced again. This reportedly resulted after Cattrall's conditions being accepted along with a future HBO series. However, in May 2007 the project was halted after HBO decided it was no longer in a position to finance the movie on its own. The project was pitched within the Time Warner family (owners of HBO) and was picked by sister concern New Line Cinema.

Filming

The film was prominently shot in New York between September-December 2007. The locations included a number of places around Manhattan and a certain portion was shot in Steiner Studios and Silvercup Studios. The shooting was continually interrupted by paparazzi and onlookers with the security and police authorities employed in order to control the crowd. Efforts were taken in order to keep the plot of the film in secrecy, including shooting multiple endings. As a defense strategy, scenes shot in public or in presence of number of extras were termed by Michael Patrick King and the main cast as "dream sequences".

Costumes

As in the TV series, fashion played a significant role in plot and production of the movie. Over 300 ensembles were used over the course of entire film. Patricia Field, who created costume designs for the series, also undertook the job in the film. However, Field has stated that she initially was ambivalent to do the film, for monetary and creative reasons. Field rose to fame particularly after designing for the series from 1999 to 2004, wherein she popularized the concept of using designer clothes with day-to-day fashion.
While dressing the characters for the film, Field decided to stay clear from the latest fashion trends defining the characters and instead focused on the evolution of individual character and the actor portraying it, over the last four years. While Samantha's dressing was influenced by American TV soap opera Dynasty, Jackie Kennedy was the inspiration for Charlotte's clothes. Miranda, according to Field, has evolved the most from the series in terms of fashion. This was influenced significantly by development in actress Cynthia Nixon in past years. The tutu outfit that Carrie models for the other girls is the same outfit she wears on the HBO's show's credits.
Iconic fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, whose looks were featured in the film, has stated that she was unhappy with the styling in the movie, criticizing it as "quite dull", and walked out of the premiere after ten minutes.
Hats for Vivienne Westwood in the film are made by Prudence Millinery.
H. Stern loaned more than 300 pieces of jewelery to the film.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was released May 27, 2008 by New Line Records. The soundtrack includes new songs by Fergie and Jennifer Hudson (who plays Carrie's assistant in the film).
The film's soundtrack debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200, the highest debut for a multi-artist theatrical film soundtrack since 2005's Get Rich or Die Tryin', and debuting at #6 on the UK Albums Chart, selling to date more than 55,000 copies.
A second soundtrack, Sex and the City: Volume 2, was released on September 23, 2008, conciding with the film's DVD release, featuring the British singers Estelle, Craig David and Mutya Buena, among others (Amy Winehouse).

Release

Premiere

The film's international premiere took place on Monday, May 12, 2008 at Odeon West End in London's Leicester Square to the audience of 1700. It was next premiered at Sony Center at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin on May 15. The film had its New York City premiere at Radio City Music Hall on Tuesday, May 27, 2008.

Reaction

Box office performance

The film has experienced commercial success. Opening in 3,285 theaters, the film made $26.93 million domestically on its first day. The three-day opening weekend total was $57,038,404, aggregating $17,363 per theater. The film recorded the biggest opening ever for an R-rated comedy and for a romantic comedy, and also for a film starring a woman. As of September, 2008, the film has grossed $152,619,616 in US box office, and $247,835,011 in foreign box office, bringing the worldwide total gross revenue at more than $400,454,627.

Critical reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics. As of 28th of September, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 50% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 167 reviews (54% of positive reviews for their "Top Critics" designation, based on 37 reviews) — with the consensus that "Sex and the City loses steam in the transition to the big screen, but will still thrill fans of the show." Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 53 out of 100, based on 38 reviews.
Brian Lowry of Variety said the film "..feels a trifle half-hearted", while Carina Chocano of the Los Angeles Times stated "[the film] tackles weighty issues with grace but is still very funny". She praised Michael Patrick King's work saying very few movies "are willing to go to such dark places while remaining a comedy in the Shakespearean sense". Colin Bertram of the New York Daily News dubbed the film a "great reunion", and was happy with the return of "The 'Oh, my God, they did not just do that!' moments, the nudity, the swearing, the unabashed love of human frailty and downright wackiness". The Chicago Tribune's Jessica Reeves described it as "Witty, effervescent and unexpectedly thoughtful." Michael Rechtshaffen at The Hollywood Reporter praised the performances of the four leading ladies and said the film kept the essence of the series, but resembled a super-sized episode.
Manohla Dargis of The New York Times found the film "a vulgar, shrill, deeply shallow — and, at 2 hours and 22 turgid minutes, overlong — addendum to a show",  while The Daily Telegraph's Sukhdev Sandhu panned the film saying "[the ladies] have become frozen, Spice Girls-style types - angsty, neurotic, predatory, princess - rather than individuals who might evolve or surprise us". Rick Groen of The Globe and Mail slammed the film commenting on lack of script and adding that the characters "don't perform so much as parade, fixed in their roles as semi-animated clothes hangers on a cinematic runway". He gave the film zero stars out of four. Anthony Lane, a film critic for The New Yorker since 1993, called the film a "superannuated fantasy posing as a slice of modern life"; he noted that "almost sixty years after All About Eve, which also featured four major female roles, there is a deep sadness in the sight of Carrie and friends defining themselves not as Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, Celeste Holm, and Thelma Ritter did—by their talents, their hats, and the swordplay of their wits—but purely by their ability to snare and keep a man....All the film lacks is a subtitle: "The Lying, the Bitch, and the Wardrobe."
Ramin Setoodeh of Newsweek speculated that some of the criticism for Sex is derived possibly from sexism: "...when you listen to men talk about it (and this is coming from the perspective of a male writer), a strange thing happens. The talk turns hateful. Angry. Vengeful. Annoyed... Is this just poor sportsmanship? I can't help but wonder—cue the Carrie Bradshaw voiceover here—if it's not a case of 'Sexism in the City.' Men hated the movie before it even opened... Movie critics, an overwhelmingly male demographic, gave it such a nasty tongue lashing you would have thought they were talking about an ex-girlfriend...The movie might not be 'Citizen Kane'—which, for the record, is a dude flick—but it's incredibly sweet and touching. If it's not your cup of tea (or Cosmo), must you really attack it so vehemently?"

Home video release

New Line Home Entertainment released a DVD and Blu-ray release of Sex and the City: The Movie on September 23, 2008. There are 2 versions of the film released in the US on home video. There is a standard, 1 disc theatrical cut (version seen in theaters) which comes in fullscreen or widescreen (in separate editions). Both discs are the same, except for the movie presentation. The only features are an audio commentary, additional scenes, and a digital copy of the film. Also released on the same day as the standard edition is the 2 disc special edition, which adds 6 minutes of footage to the film, along with the commentary from the standard edition DVD and a second disc that contains bonus features, as well as a digital copy of the widescreen theatrical version of the film. The only version of the film released on Blu-Ray is the 2 disc extended cut, which is identical to the DVD version of the extended cut.
The DVD has reached the #1 on the UK DVD's Top Chart and is the fastest selling DVD release of 2008 in the UK, selling over 920,000 copies in one week. It is way ahead of the 700,000 copies sold for Ratatouille which was, prior to Sex and the City's release, the best selling DVD of 2008 in the UK.

Sequel

Rumors of a sequel to Sex and the City: The Movie have been circulating about the internet at the DVD release of the first film. Reports on what Sarah Jessica Parkers intentions have run the gamut from ruling out a sequel altogether to equivocation on whether a suitable script could be written to all-but-confirming one will occur.