88-455: Evan Almighty is a 2007 American fantasy comedy film that is a spin-off and sequel of Bruce Almighty (2003). The film was directed by Tom Shadyac , written by Steve Oedekerk , based on the characters created by Steve Koren and Mark O'Keefe from the original film. It stars Steve Carell and Morgan Freeman reprising their roles as Evan Baxter and God, respectively, with new cast members Lauren Graham and John Goodman . The film
176-489: A ban on the film, claiming it is offensive to Islam . Secretary-General Maamor Osman claimed that the film was depicting the great flood as comedy and characterized God with the portrayal of a human, both of which are considered blasphemous in Islam. Similarly there was some public protest against Bruce Almighty being shown in theaters, but that movie was released on DVD and was also shown on television broadcasts. Evan Almighty
264-412: A controlled location brought the budget up to $ 175 million. Once marketing for the film was also included, the film's entire spend was estimated to be around $ 200 million. The ballooning budget caused Sony to drop the project and hand it over entirely to Universal Studios . Part of the budget was Carell's payroll, where he earned a reported $ 5 million for his leading role. The Virginia Film Office estimates
352-420: A fantasy film, and Heaven Can Wait (1978) was a successful Bangsian fantasy remake of 1941's Here Comes Mr. Jordan (not 1943's Heaven Can Wait ). A few low budget "Lost World" pictures were made in the 1970s, such as 1975's The Land That Time Forgot . Otherwise, the fantasy genre was largely absent from mainstream movies in this decade, although 1971's Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Willy Wonka &
440-410: A film with a low-quality script, bad acting, and poor production values. Another important subgenre of fantasy films that has become more popular in recent years is contemporary fantasy . Such films feature magical effects or supernatural occurrences happening in the "real" world of today. Films with live action and animation such as Disney 's Mary Poppins , Pete's Dragon , Enchanted , and
528-664: A form of speculative fiction alongside science fiction films and horror films , although the genres do overlap. Fantasy films often have an element of magic, myth , wonder , escapism , and the extraordinary. Several sub-categories of fantasy films can be identified, although the delineations between these subgenres, much as in fantasy literature, are somewhat fluid. The most common fantasy subgenres depicted in movies are high fantasy and sword and sorcery . Both categories typically employ quasi-medieval settings, wizards, magical creatures and other elements commonly associated with fantasy stories. High fantasy films tend to feature
616-473: A history almost as old as the medium itself. However, fantasy films were relatively few and far between until the 1980s , when high-tech filmmaking techniques and increased audience interest caused the genre to flourish. What follows are some notable Fantasy films. For a more complete list see: List of fantasy films In the era of silent film , the earliest fantasy films were those made by French film pioneer Georges Méliès from 1903. The most famous of these
704-559: A lawsuit that documented allegations of beatings and mistreatment. PETA was also critical of Birds & Animals Unlimited, the primary animal supplier to the film, for alleged serious and continuing violations of the U.S. Animal Welfare Act , including failure to comply with veterinary care requirements and failure to provide shelter from heat and sunlight, which PETA details and claims it can document. The film's director, Tom Shadyac, said of PETA's criticisms "many of these animals have been rescued from other situations and can't be returned to
792-452: A little more exciting. The 1940s then saw several full-color fantasy films produced by Alexander Korda , including The Thief of Bagdad (1940), a film on par with The Wizard of Oz , and Jungle Book (1942). In 1946, Jean Cocteau 's classic adaptation of Beauty and the Beast won praise for its surreal elements and for transcending the boundaries of the fairy tale genre. Sinbad
880-534: A modern Chinatown setting. Highlander , a film about immortal Scottish swordsmen, was released the same year. Jim Henson produced two iconic fantasy films in the 80s, the solemn The Dark Crystal and the more whimsical and lofty Labyrinth . Meanwhile, Robert Zemeckis helmed Who Framed Roger Rabbit , featuring various famous cartoon characters from animation's "Golden Age," including Mickey Mouse , Minnie Mouse , Donald Duck , Bugs Bunny , Daffy Duck , Droopy , Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner , Sylvester
968-480: A more richly developed fantasy world, and may also be more character-oriented or thematically complex. Often, they feature a hero of humble origins and a clear distinction between good and evil set against each other in an epic struggle. Many scholars cite J. R. R. Tolkien 's The Lord of the Rings novel as the prototypical modern example of high fantasy in literature, and the recent Peter Jackson film adaptation of
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#17327910081351056-424: A scene was released on Yahoo! two days before the release of the film. The film was also an official sponsor for the 2007 Tooth & Nail Tour along with Best Buy , PureVolume , AbsolutePunk and White Castle . Director Tom Shadyac felt the film reflected environmental themes of how humans are stewards of God's creation. In keeping with the themes, Evan Almighty became NBC Universal's first film to offset
1144-579: A single for the soundtrack by American country pop recording artist, LeAnn Rimes . Rascal Flatts' version of "Revolution" peaked at number 57 on the Hot Country Songs charts, and "The Power of One" by Bomshel reached number 52 on the same. The soundtrack was nominated for a Dove Award for Special Event Album of the Year at the 39th GMA Dove Awards . The song "Be the Miracle" by Room for Two
1232-574: A small amount of rain falls. Evan realizes that the flood will not be due to the rain, but as a result of Long's dam failing. The dam fails, destroying all the homes of Prestige Crest. The entire community manages to board the ark, which rides the floodwaters to Washington, D.C. and stops in front of the Capitol , interrupting the vote for Long's Public Land Act Bill. The flood results in Evan criticizing Long of being responsible for cost-cutting leading up to
1320-401: A tremendous financial success, has achieved critical acclaim for its design, thematic sophistication and emotional depth, grittier realism and darkness, narrative complexity, and characterization, and boasts an enormous and loyal fanbase. Following the success of these ventures, Hollywood studios have greenlighted additional big-budget productions in the genre. These have included adaptations of
1408-403: A whole series of shots that were happening mid-day, where you were going to get a really long look at the water and what it was doing." The company initially experienced problems creating the water effects and had to develop new tools that would choreograph the movements of the water. In addition, ILM used similar tools that were used on their prior film Poseidon . Lighting was also an issue as
1496-426: A yearlong period between April 2006 and May 2007. Rhythm & Hues created 300 pairs of animals for use on the ark and fifteen pairs with higher detail for closeup shots. R&H was also assisted by C.I.S. Hollywood, another visual effects company, who provided a large number of composites, involving hundreds of greenscreen animal elements. In scenes where there are multiple species of animals, crew members would film
1584-499: Is "not a big fan of doing the same character twice." This marked the third time a sequel has been made to a film for which Carrey declined to reprise his role—the others being Dumb and Dumberer and Son of the Mask . The initial budget, at approximately $ 140 million, led Evan Almighty to become the most expensive comedy film ever made. Added costs such as set construction, visual effects, and problems with filming multiple animals in
1672-623: Is a modern-day retelling of Noah's Ark , which Evan reluctantly re-enacts because God commands him to do so at the same time Evan pursues a new career in government. Production of the film began in January 2006. Several visual effects companies were used to provide CGI for the numerous animals and the climactic flood scene. By the time the film had completed production, it had become the most expensive comedy film ever, later being overtaken by Men in Black 3 . The film opened on June 22, 2007, and
1760-592: Is a nonpremeditated, inconsistent action designed to offer kindness towards the outside world. The phrase " random kindness and senseless acts of beauty " was written by Anne Herbert on a placemat in Sausalito, California in 1982. It was based on the phrase "random acts of violence and senseless acts of cruelty". Herbert's book Random Kindness and Senseless Acts of Beauty was published in February 1993 speaking about true stories of acts of kindness. The phrase
1848-509: The CGI used throughout the film, companies Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and Rhythm & Hues Studios (R&H) developed different parts of the film. R&H focused on the animation of the animals, while ILM completed the final scene of the ark rushing through Washington, D.C. Lindy De Quattro, the ILM associate visual effects supervisor, revealed that "This is the first time where we had to do
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#17327910081351936-519: The Himalayan fantasy kingdom of Shangri-La , where the residents magically never age. Other noteworthy fantasy films of the 30s include Tarzan the Ape Man in 1932 starring Johnny Weissmuller starting a successful series of talking pictures based on the fantasy-adventure novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs and the G. W. Pabst directed The Mistress of Atlantis from 1932. 1932 saw the release of
2024-548: The Robert Zemeckis film Who Framed Roger Rabbit are also fantasy films although are more often referred to as Live action/animation hybrids (2 of those are also classified as musicals). Fantasy films set in the afterlife , called Bangsian fantasy , are less common, although films such as the 1991 Albert Brooks comedy Defending Your Life would likely qualify. Other uncommon subgenres include historical fantasy and romantic fantasy , although 2003's Pirates of
2112-482: The Universal Studios monster movie The Mummy which combined horror with a romantic fantasy twist. more light-hearted and comedic affairs from the decade include films like 1934s romantic drama film Death Takes a Holiday where Fredric March plays Death who takes a human body to experience life for three days and 1937s Topper where a man is haunted by two fun-loving ghosts who try to make his life
2200-490: The 1950s that feature fantastic elements and are sometimes classified as fantasy are Harvey (1950), featuring a púca of Celtic mythology ; Scrooge , the 1951 adaptation of Charles Dickens ' A Christmas Carol ; and Ingmar Bergman 's 1957 masterpiece, The Seventh Seal . Disney's 1951 animated film Alice in Wonderland is also a fantasy classic. There were also a number of lower budget fantasies produced in
2288-616: The 1950s, typically based on Greek or Arabian legend. The most notable of these may be 1958's The 7th Voyage of Sinbad , featuring special effects by Ray Harryhausen and music by Bernard Herrmann . Harryhausen worked on a series of fantasy films in the 1960s, most importantly Jason and the Argonauts (1963). Many critics have identified this film as Harryhausen's masterwork for its stop-motion animated statues, skeletons, harpies , hydra , and other mythological creatures. Other Harryhausen fantasy and science fantasy collaborations from
2376-662: The 2000s, such as The Lord of the Rings films, the 1st and 3rd Narnia adaptations, and the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 7th Harry Potter adaptations have most often been released in November and December. This is in contrast to sci-fi films , which are often released during the northern hemisphere summer (June–August). All 3 of the Pirates of the Caribbean films, however, were released in July 2003, July 2006, and May 2007 respectively, and
2464-619: The 2007 MTV Movie Awards . Competing against seven other nominees, it lost to Transformers . At the Golden Raspberry Awards Evan Almighty was nominated for the Worst Prequel or Sequel , but lost to Daddy Day Camp . Evan Almighty: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture debuted in 2007. The soundtrack debuted on June 19, 2007. "Revolution" was performed by Rascal Flatts in
2552-635: The Barbarian followed by Krull and Fire and Ice in 1983, as well as a boom in fairy tale -like fantasy films such as The Neverending Story (1984), Ladyhawke (1985), The Princess Bride (1987), and Willow (1988). The 1980s also started a trend in mixing modern settings and action film effects with exotic fantasy-like concepts. Big Trouble in Little China (1986), directed by John Carpenter and starring Kurt Russell , combined humor, martial arts and classic Chinese folklore in
2640-582: The Caribbean also saw success at the box office. The early 2010s saw a continuation of the book to screen adaptation fad of the 2000s. Also prevalent in the decade were remakes of older fantasy films especially from Walt Disney Pictures . The 2020s as of 2023 have shown an increasing interest by studios to adapt games into film with Monster Hunter , Sonic the Hedgehog , The Super Mario Bros. Movie , and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Random act of kindness A random act of kindness
2728-538: The Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl successfully incorporated elements of both. As noted above, superhero movies and fairy tale films might each be considered subgenres of fantasy films, although most would classify them as altogether separate movie genres. As a cinematic genre, fantasy has traditionally not been regarded as highly as the related genre of science fiction film. Undoubtedly,
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2816-657: The Cat , Tweety Pie , and Jiminy Cricket , among others. The 90s saw the Disney Renaissance in which many successful adaptations of written fantasy works were released by Disney Animation . The 2000s saw a boom in the genre. This was compounded by the success of Lord of The Rings and Harry Potter , which spurred a movement in film adaptations of fantasy literary works including The Chronicles of Narnia , Tales from Earthsea , Eragon , Inkheart , and The Golden Compass . The Star Wars prequel trilogy and Pirates of
2904-609: The Chocolate Factory were two fantasy pictures in the public eye the former being predominantly from the same team who did Mary Poppins the latter again being from Roald Dahl in both script and novel. 1980s fantasy films were initially characterized by directors finding a new spin on established mythologies. Ray Harryhausen brought the monsters of Greek legends to life in Clash of the Titans while Arthurian lore returned to
2992-479: The Public Land Act bill. Believing that Evan has gone insane, Joan leaves him behind, causing Evan himself to continue building the ark alone. Meanwhile, God disguises himself as a waiter in a restaurant and speaks with Joan. God says that Joan should see this as an opportunity for the entire family to get closer to each other. Inspired, Joan returns to help Evan finish building the ark together to prepare for
3080-468: The Rings and J. K. Rowling 's Harry Potter series. Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy is notable due to its ambitious scale, serious tone, and thematic complexity. These pictures achieved phenomenal commercial and critical success, and the third installment of the trilogy became the first fantasy film ever to win the Academy Award for Best Picture . The Harry Potter series has been
3168-471: The Sailor (1947), starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. , has the feel of a fantasy film though it does not actually have any fantastic elements. Several other pictures featuring supernatural encounters and aspects of Bangsian fantasy were produced in the 1940s during World War II . These include Beyond Tomorrow , The Devil and Daniel Webster , and Here Comes Mr. Jordan , all from 1941, Heaven Can Wait
3256-528: The United States to reach religious moviegoers. Grace Hill provided free screenings to blogs in exchange for publicity on the blogs. The film and its subsequent home video release was marketed to Christians and their churches through a "kindness campaign" called Ark ALMIGHTY. The first trailer of the film premiered on March 29, 2007 for a marathon of The Office , which also stars Steve Carell and Ed Helms . For online advertising, an eight-minute clip of
3344-643: The advent of sound films , audiences of all ages were introduced from 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to 1939's The Wizard of Oz . Also notable of the era, the iconic 1933 film King Kong borrows heavily from the Lost World subgenre of fantasy fiction as does such films as the 1935 adaptation of H. Rider Haggard's novel She about an African expedition that discovers an immortal queen known as Ayesha "She who must be obeyed". Frank Capra 's 1937 picture Lost Horizon transported audiences to
3432-409: The ancient crown of Italy), with war, cruelty, betrayal, heroism, sex, magic and mysticism, a whirl of events taken from every possible fairy tale and legend source Blasetti could find. This movie is unlike anything done before; indeed, considering that it was finished fifteen years before the publication of Lord Of The Rings, its invention of a vast, national epic mythology is an act of genius. And while
3520-468: The animals on the greenscreen and R&H and C.I.S would digitally add the animals one at a time, sometimes taking several weeks to a couple of months. Andy Arnett, the animation supervisor, declared that "The research was extensive. It took six or seven months to perfect the look and feel of the animals before we had the first shot out the door." For the scene in Congressman Long's office, CGI
3608-704: The ark at night. A concrete base was built to support the weight of the large ark; after filming was completed, the ark was taken down in a week, and the base in another week. In disassembling the set, everything that was salvageable from the ark was donated to Habitat for Humanity . "Leave no trace" was the slogan used by the director as part of the DVD's bonus features, "The Almighty Green Set". To create Evan's beard and long hair, three designers would take three hours each day adding individual hairs using prosthetic adhesive and making Carell wear custom wigs. The wigs consisted of both human and yak hair. With his new look, Carell
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3696-486: The books is a good example of the high fantasy subgenre on the silver screen. Sword and sorcery movies tend to be more plot-driven than high fantasy and focus heavily on action sequences, often pitting a physically powerful but unsophisticated warrior against an evil wizard or other supernaturally endowed enemy. Although sword and sorcery films sometimes describe an epic battle between good and evil similar to those found in many High fantasy movies, they may alternately present
3784-449: The characters on the ark had been filmed on a greenscreen stage, and the visual effects company had to ensure that the lighting matched that of the characters and the outside setting. Details were added to the ark for long-distance shots to make the design of the ark more appealing and relate the ark's size to scale in comparison to the amount of water. To complete the scene, ILM used thirty to sixty crew members and produced 200 shots over
3872-474: The climactic scene, that the CGI flood did not appear to harm any of the trees in the scene. The film partnered with the website Get On Board Now, which focused on the importance of conservation during production of the film. Donations were taken at the website for The Conservation Fund, which paid for the planting of 15,000 trees. The American Humane Association oversaw the 177 species of animals that were used in
3960-505: The dam's failure. The voting of the Bill is suspended due to an investigation of Long's profiteering. After the flood, Evan is reinstated to Congress and all the animals return to their natural habitats. With his appearance returned to normal, Evan re-encounters God during a family hike. God states that Evan had changed his world as he prayed for and grown closer to his family through his one Act of Random Kindness (ARK). The film's screenplay
4048-588: The decade include the 1961 adaptation of Jules Verne 's Mysterious Island , the critically panned One Million Years B.C. starring Raquel Welch , and The Valley of Gwangi (1969). Capitalising on the success of the sword and sandal genre several Italian B-movies based on classical myth were made, including the Maciste series. Otherwise, the 1960s were almost entirely devoid of fantasy films. The fantasy picture 7 Faces of Dr. Lao , in which Tony Randall portrayed several characters from Greek mythology,
4136-403: The fact that until recently fantasy films often suffered from the " Sword and Sandal " afflictions of inferior production values, over-the-top acting, and decidedly poor special effects was a significant factor in fantasy film's low regard. Since the early 2000s, however, the genre has gained new respectability in a way, driven principally by the successful adaptations of Tolkien 's The Lord of
4224-813: The fantasy genre. In the 1950s there were a few major fantasy films, including Darby O'Gill and the Little People and The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. , the latter penned by Dr. Seuss . Jean Cocteau's Orphic Trilogy , begun in 1930 and completed in 1959, is based on Greek mythology and could be classified either as fantasy or surrealist film, depending on how the boundaries between these genres are drawn. Russian fantasy director Aleksandr Ptushko created three mythological epics from Russian fairytales, Sadko (1953), Ilya Muromets (1956), and Sampo (1959). Japanese director Kenji Mizoguchi 's 1953 film Ugetsu Monogatari draws on Japanese classical ghost stories of love and betrayal. Other notable pictures from
4312-609: The film also opened in first place in Russia and Ukraine , earning $ 1.5 million in Russia with 329 venues and $ 179,000 in Ukraine at 64 locations. The gross in the opening weekends for the two countries was 10% and 11%, respectively, bigger than the opening for Bruce Almighty . Altogether, the film earned $ 173,418,781 worldwide with $ 100,462,298 in the U.S. and $ 72,956,483 in the international box office. Evan Almighty received generally negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes ,
4400-517: The film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale. Critic Richard Roeper commended Jim Carrey for declining to reprise his role in "three of the worst sequels of all time", which included Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd , Son of the Mask and Evan Almighty . He continued: " Evan Almighty is a paper-thin alleged comedy with a laugh drought of biblical proportions, and a condescendingly simplistic spiritual message." Several reviewers credit Carell's performance to significantly improving
4488-484: The film brought $ 20–25 million to Virginia, with the majority of it in the Charlottesville area. Universal defended the cost of the film, saying it was "designed as a four-quadrant film, and therefore poised for bigger [box office] returns than typical comedies." Construction of the ark began in January 2006 and the scenes involving the ark were shot in a Crozet, Virginia , subdivision called Old Trail. The ark
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#17327910081354576-482: The film demonstrate the need for peaceful and productive co-existence between man and animals. One of the most prominent, inescapable messages of the film is the responsibility that humans have to protect and care for animals. The premiere for the film was held on June 10, 2007, and guests included Adam Sandler , David Hasselhoff , Kate Flannery , Eddie Murphy , Kevin James , and Mindy Kaling , among others. The film
4664-466: The film has an approval rating of 24%, based on 194 reviews, with an average rating of 4.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Big on special effects but short on laughs, Evan Almighty underutilizes a star-studded cast that includes Steve Carell and Morgan Freeman." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 37 out of 100, based on reviews from 33 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave
4752-460: The film. In scenes including both predators and prey, the animals were digitally added instead to ensure their safety. The American Humane Association gave its permission for the film to display "No animals were harmed in the making of this movie" over the closing credits. PETA accused the film's producers of using animals that had previously been abused. Two chimpanzees who appear in the film, Cody and Sable, were surrendered by their owner to settle
4840-464: The film. Their version is not on the soundtrack, but it appears as a bonus track on their album Still Feels Good . Also not included on the soundtrack are Elton John 's 2006 hit, "Just Like Noah's Ark" of which only a little bit is heard during the start of building the ark, and John Mayer's " Waiting on the World to Change ", used in the main ark-building montage. "Ready For a Miracle" was released as
4928-451: The first film's $ 68 million weekend ($ 85 million counting Memorial Day ). Nikki Rocco, the president of distribution for Universal Pictures declared, "We never expected it to be much higher ... it is not unusual for family films to open at a level like this and build. This film will have legs." The film managed to remain at the third spot at the box office in its second week, before dropping to fifth place in its third week. Internationally,
5016-561: The first, second, and third books in C. S. Lewis ' The Chronicles of Narnia and the teen novel Eragon , as well as adaptations of Susan Cooper 's The Dark Is Rising , Cornelia Funke 's Inkheart , Philip Pullman 's The Golden Compass , Holly Black 's The Spiderwick Chronicles , Nickelodeon's TV show Avatar: The Last Airbender , and the Fantasia segment (along with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 's original poem) The Sorcerer's Apprentice Many fantasy movies starting in
5104-540: The fish in our animation, but as the scene plays out, the fish are a counterpoint to Steve Carell's comedic timing." In late May, during production, the media learned that director Tom Shadyac angrily complained to producers, saying "I'm not seeing any ads, and I don't know why. I'm not getting answers. People are giving me information that isn't true ... I'm only hearing about all the other summer movies, and nothing about mine." Shadyac also fired his marketing consultants that he had used for prior films due to his thoughts over
5192-494: The flood. On September 22, Evan's three staffers show him evidence that Long had planned to build Prestige Crest after damming off a nearby water source, but Long had cut corners in building the dam. They suspect Long would do the same with the Public Land Act Bill. With the ark complete, the animals board two by two. However, the police threaten to demolish it with a wrecking ball as the ark violates land codes and
5280-403: The hero as having more immediate motivations, such as the need to protect a vulnerable maiden or village, or even being driven by the desire for vengeance. The 1982 film adaptation of Robert E. Howard 's Conan the Barbarian , for example, is a personal (non-epic) story concerning the hero's quest for revenge and his efforts to thwart a single megalomaniac—while saving a beautiful princess in
5368-498: The humor of the film. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave it 1 out of 4, calling it "shamelessly juvenile, pseudo-religious, mock-sincere" and "not that funny". He praised Carell "who projects the movie’s only sense of mischief. But it’s too little and too late." He later included it on his list of the Worst Movies of 2007. Before Evan Almighty was released, it was nominated for "Best Summer Movie You Haven't Seen Yet" at
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#17327910081355456-722: The latest releases in the Harry Potter series were released in July 2007 and July 2009. The huge commercial success of these pictures may indicate a change in Hollywood's approach to big-budget fantasy film releases. Screenwriter and scholar Eric R. Williams identifies fantasy films as one of eleven super-genres in his screenwriters taxonomy , claiming that all feature length narrative films can be classified by these super-genres. The other 10 super-genres are action , crime , horror , romance , sci-fi , slice of life , sports , thriller , war and western . Fantasy films have
5544-472: The mishandling of the marketing. He later apologized for his outburst with producers, and claimed that it was as a result of his nervousness before the film's release. Grace Hill Media, a marketing firm that targets religious Americans and was also used for marketing Bruce Almighty , The Da Vinci Code , and The Passion of the Christ ; held exclusive screenings of the film in mid-June in fifty cities in
5632-693: The movie. Shadyac accomplished this by requiring crew members to plant 2,050 trees at the Rappahannock River Valley National Wildlife Refuge in Warsaw, Virginia and the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge near Modesto, California . He also bought over 400 bikes for all the cast and crew, to get to work instead of driving. In addition, rather than simply demolishing sets, Shadyac tried to donate houses built for
5720-536: The musical Cabin in the Sky (1943), the comedy The Horn Blows at Midnight and romances such as The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), One Touch of Venus and Portrait of Jennie , both 1948. An astonishing anticipation of the full "sword and sorcery" genre was made in 1941 in Italy by Alessandro Blasetti. La Corona di Ferro presents the struggles of two imaginary kingdoms around the legendary Iron Crown (historically
5808-497: The next days, strange events in Evan's life occur: Evan realizes that the number refers to verse 14 in chapter 6 of the Book of Genesis , where God instructed Noah to build an ark in preparation for a coming flood . Although Evan initially rejects this idea, God starts appearing. God says that the flood will come and that the only way Evan can change the world will be through recreating the ark. Evan decides to start building it using
5896-484: The novel Ayesha: The Return of She both produced by Hammer Film Productions . The musical fantasy film Mary Poppins was released in 1964, and 1968 saw the release of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang based on a story by Ian Fleming with a script from Roald Dahl . Fantasy elements of Arthurian legend were again featured, albeit absurdly, in 1975's Monty Python and the Holy Grail . Harryhausen also returned to
5984-499: The process. Some critics refer to such films by the term Sword and Sandal rather than sword and sorcery, although others would maintain that the Sword and Sandal label should be reserved only for the subset of fantasy films set in ancient times on the planet Earth, and still others would broaden the term to encompass films that have no fantastic elements whatsoever. To some, the term Sword and Sandal has pejorative connotations, designating
6072-462: The production and had the Ark set recycled, by donating materials to Habitat for Humanity . During the premiere of the film for cast and crew at Universal Citywalk, the attendees were encouraged to donate to a campaign to plant trees in forests around the world. The after party used recycled cups and plates to offset the use of resources. Shadyac also required that when Industrial Light & Magic developed
6160-415: The production's carbon emissions. Producer Michael Bostick revealed how the emissions were offset: We worked closely with The Conservation Fund to calculate our carbon emissions from what we used on the movie—whether from vehicles used or any of the construction equipment. Once our carbon emissions were calculated, we planted trees that will effectively zero out our climate-changing footprint left behind from
6248-465: The screen in John Boorman 's 1981 Excalibur . Films such as Ridley Scott 's 1985 Legend and Terry Gilliam 's 1981–1986 trilogy of fantasy epics ( Time Bandits , Brazil , and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen ) explored a new artist-driven style featuring surrealist imagery and thought-provoking plots. The modern sword and sorcery boom began around the same time with 1982's Conan
6336-420: The sequel to Bruce Almighty . Steve Oedekerk had been involved with Bruce Almighty as an executive producer and co-writer of the screenplay (with Steve Koren and Mark O'Keefe, who wrote the story). The studio later discarded the original The Passion of the Ark script completely, and Oedekerk fashioned a new script from scratch (only he received final credit on the finished film as screenwriter). Jim Carrey
6424-589: The silver screen in the 1970s with two additional Sinbad fantasies, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974) and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977). The animated movie Wizards (1977) had limited success at the box office but achieved status as a cult film . There was also The Noah (1975) which was never released theatrically but became a cult favorite when it was finally released on DVD in 2006. Some would consider 1977's Oh God! , starring George Burns to be
6512-597: The storytelling is rough - due to the need to insert everything - and the resources limited, Blasetti shows how to make a little go a long way through beautifully staged and designed battle and crowd scenes. Although it's not classified as a fantasy film, Gene Kelly 's Anchors Aweigh had a fantasy sequence called "The King who Couldn't Dance" in which Gene did a song and dance number with Jerry Mouse from Tom and Jerry . Because these movies do not feature elements common to high fantasy or sword and sorcery pictures, some modern critics do not consider them to be examples of
6600-556: The tools and materials provided, giving him an opportunity to spend more time with his sons, but Joan sees this as a midlife crisis. While Evan still maintains his career in Congress, his appearance alienates his staffers and the animals that follow him everywhere become more disruptive. God provides Evan a robe, later warning him that the flood will come mid-day on the 22nd of September. When God indefinitely exposes Evan's robe, Long gets him suspended from Congress and has him removed from
6688-464: The wild" and "There's a certain amount of hypocrisy whenever you work with animals, even to show, which we hope we're showing, that respect of all of God's creation ... I don't know. I respect their criticism." A Universal Studios spokesperson declared: The live animals used in the filming of Evan Almighty were supplemented by a great number of computer-generated animals, but it would have been impossible to depend on CGI exclusively as some key scenes in
6776-419: The world. Evan prays to God to give him this opportunity. His wife, Joan, also prays that she, Evan, and their three sons will be closer together as a family. On his first day in Congress, Evan receives a letter from Congressman Chuck Long, who provides him with a prime office and gives him the opportunity to join him as the junior co-sponsor to his Citizens' Integration of Public Lands Act (CINPLAN) bill. Over
6864-592: Was 1902's A Trip to the Moon . In the Golden Age of Silent film (1918–1926) the most outstanding fantasy films were Douglas Fairbanks ' The Thief of Bagdad (1924), Fritz Lang 's Die Nibelungen (1924), and Destiny (1921). Other notables in the genre were F.W. Murnau 's romantic ghost story Phantom , Tarzan of the Apes starring Elmo Lincoln , and D. W. Griffith 's The Sorrows of Satan . Following
6952-410: Was a box-office bomb , grossing $ 174.4 million worldwide, and received generally negative reviews from critics. Newly elected to Congress , former television news reporter Evan Baxter leaves his hometown of Buffalo, New York and moves with his family to the community of Prestige Crest, located in the fictional town of Huntsville, Virginia, where his congressional campaign declares that he will change
7040-462: Was also nominated for Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year while "Ready for a Miracle" by LeAnn Rimes won the Dove Award for Traditional Gospel Recorded Song of the Year. Fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually magic , supernatural events, mythology , folklore , or exotic fantasy worlds . The genre is considered
7128-434: Was asked to reprise his role as Bruce in the sequel and, when he declined, director Tom Shadyac convinced Steve Carell to accept the leading role. Shadyac, reflecting on the first film, stated "[Carell] delivered some of the funniest stuff in the movie. We thought, 'Why not take that character and spin him off into a different film?'" Jim Carrey declined to reprise his role from the original Bruce Almighty , saying that he
7216-413: Was designed to meet the actual measurements of the biblical ark , measuring 450 feet (137 m) long, 80 feet (24 m) wide, and 51 feet (16 m) high. The ark's layout was also based on pictures in several children's books that crew members had read in their childhoods. When the characters were filmed during the day building the ark or were on location elsewhere, crew members would further construct
7304-522: Was originally titled The Passion of the Ark and was written by Bobby Florsheim and Josh Stolberg . It became the subject of a seven-studio bidding war in April 2004. The script was sold to Sony Pictures in a deal worth $ 2.5 million plus a percentage of the profits, a record for a spec script from previously unproduced writers. Universal Studios immediately made a deal to co-produce the script with Sony Pictures and have Steve Oedekerk rewrite it into
7392-479: Was released in 1964. But the 1967 adaptation of the Broadway musical Camelot removed most of the fantasy elements from T. H. White 's classic The Once and Future King , on which the musical had been based. The 1960s also saw a new adaption of Haggard's She in 1965 starring Ursula Andress as the immortal "She who must be obeyed" and was followed by a sequel in 1968 The Vengeance of She based loosely on
7480-457: Was released on HD DVD and DVD on October 9, 2007, and was the fourth-most rented DVD of the week earning $ 6.4 million. In the film's first six weeks of release it earned $ 27,676,676 in domestic DVD sales. The HD-DVD and DVD's special features include deleted scenes, outtakes, cast interviews, and footage of the animals used in the film. The film was released on Blu-ray on August 7, 2012. Malaysia 's Muslim Consumers Association (PPIM) called for
7568-684: Was sometimes nicknamed "Mountain Man", " Retrosexual ", or " Unabomber ." For his costumes, designers spoke with textile experts, researched historical information on the clothing that was likely worn at the time of Noah, and used aged fibers for the clothing. Scenes for the film were filmed in various locations in Virginia , including areas in and around Crozet , Waynesboro , Richmond , Charlottesville , and Staunton , though some filming did take place at Universal Studios in Hollywood, California . For
7656-474: Was still released in Malaysia on August 23, 2007. Though Evan Almighty was well hyped, especially with churchgoers, and had double the budget of Bruce Almighty , it performed under expectations. On its first weekend, it opened in 5,200 screens in 3,604 theaters and earned $ 31.1 million (on its first two days the film earned $ 11.4 million followed by $ 8.3 million on Sunday). The opening was less than half of
7744-399: Was used the entire time for the fish that follow Evan around from the fish tank . Cafe FX , the visual effects company hired for the scene, ordered ten different kinds of tropical fish from a local store and studied their movements to imitate them on screen using computer animation. Jeff Goldman, the visual effects supervisor, stated "Early in the sequence, we mimicked the actual behavior of
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