Passengers is a 2016 American science fiction film directed by Morten Tyldum and written by Jon Spaihts. It stars Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt, Michael Sheen, and Laurence Fishburne. The story depicts two people who are awakened some 90 years too soon from an induced hibernation on a spaceship bound for a new planet.
The film was released in the United States on December 21, 2016, in 2D and RealD 3D by Columbia Pictures. It grossed $303 million worldwide but received mixed reviews from critics. The film was nominated for Best Original Score and Best Production Design at the 89th Academy Awards.
Video Passengers (2016 film)
Plot
The Avalon, a sleeper ship transporting 5,000 colonists and 258 crew members in hibernation pods, is on course to the planet Homestead II, a journey taking 120 years. Thirty years into its journey, the ship passes through an asteroid field, which causes a malfunction. The malfunction awakens one passenger, mechanical engineer Jim Preston, 90 years too early.
After a year of isolation, with no company except an android bartender named Arthur, Jim grows despondent and contemplates suicide. One day, he notices Aurora Lane in her pod. He watches her video profile and is immediately smitten. After struggling with the morality of manually reviving Aurora for companionship, therein robbing her of a long life on a planet, he awakens her, claiming her pod also must have malfunctioned. Aurora is devastated that she will grow old and die before the ship reaches Homestead II. Her attempts to re-enter hibernation are fruitless. Eventually, she accepts her situation and begins writing a book about her experiences. Jim and Aurora grow closer, and eventually fall in love.
After another year, Jim inadvertently allows Arthur to reveal the truth to Aurora by saying that he and Aurora have "no secrets" between them. Aurora is devastated; she considers his action tantamount to murder. She alternately berates, shuns, and physically attacks Jim. The two refrain from contact for some time. Soon after, another pod failure awakens Gus Mancuso, Chief Deck Officer. The three discover multiple failures throughout the ship's systems. If not repaired, the ship will continue to suffer critical system failures. Gus attempts to repair the ship with Jim and Aurora's help, while Aurora still blames Jim for stealing her life. Gus becomes ill; unlike Jim's, his body was physically damaged by his malfunctioning pod. The Autodoc, an automated medical diagnostics and treatment pod, shows he has only hours to live. Before dying, Gus gives Jim and Aurora his ID badge to access crew-only areas and repair the ship.
Jim and Aurora discover a series of hull breaches from the meteor collision two years earlier. The computer module administering the fusion reactor that powers the ship has been damaged, causing the ship's escalating malfunctions. Jim and Aurora replace the damaged module. The computer attempts to vent the reactor in order to extinguish a massive reactor fire, but fails. Jim realizes that the reactor must be vented by opening the vent hatch from the ship's exterior. Aurora assists, while admitting she is terrified of losing Jim and being left alone. Aurora, from inside the ship, and Jim, outside, vent the reactor. Jim's tether snaps and his damaged spacesuit loses oxygen; Aurora frantically retrieves and resuscitates Jim in the Autodoc. He later learns that the Autodoc can function as a makeshift hibernation pod, but only for one person, and offers to send Aurora back to sleep for the remainder of the voyage.
Eighty-eight years later, the ship's crew awaken as scheduled, shortly before arrival on Homestead II. They discover a small house amid lush flora and fauna in the ship's grand concourse area. Aurora's book reveals that she chose to stay awake with Jim and continue writing her story.
Maps Passengers (2016 film)
Cast
- Jennifer Lawrence as Aurora Lane, a writer
- Chris Pratt as Jim Preston, a mechanical engineer
- Michael Sheen as Arthur, an android bartender on the Avalon
- Laurence Fishburne as Chief Gus Mancuso, the chief deck officer
- Andy García as Captain Norris (non-speaking cameo)
Production
Development
The original script for Passengers was written by Jon Spaihts in 2007, and had been in development hell for years. In this original script, character Aurora's original surname was Dunn. At one point, the film was set to star Keanu Reeves and Emily Blunt. The film's production budget was a relatively low $35 million, and at various points in its development, actors attached to it included Keanu Reeves, Reese Witherspoon, and Rachel McAdams. Brian Kirk was originally scheduled to make his feature directorial debut with the film, with Reeves in the lead. On December 5, 2014, it was announced that Sony Pictures Entertainment had won the rights to the film. In early 2015, Morten Tyldum was chosen to direct the film. Tyldum had always wanted to do a massive sci-fi action movie, but also stressed the importance of a 'big guy' character-driven sci-fi film, rather than a cold and distant one.
Metro described its plot as bearing a resemblance to the EC Comics story "50 Girls 50" by Al Williamson, first published in the July-August 1953 issue of Weird Science, in which two passengers of a colony spaceship are awoken from hibernation early and fall in love.
The cast - Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt, Michael Sheen and Laurence Fishburne - were announced between February 2015 and January 2016. Lawrence was paid $20 million against 30 percent of the profit after the movie breaks even and Pratt was paid $12 million.
Filming
Principal photography on the film began in September 2015 in Atlanta, Georgia. Filming occasionally took place for full days with a bulk of the shooting done around the two leads only. Rodrigo Prieto was cinematographer, and Maryann Brandon was film editor.
Music
Thomas Newman composed the musical score for Passengers. Spaihts said that he wrote Passengers while listening to Newman's previous scores. Also, Imagine Dragons recorded a song, "Levitate", for the film's soundtrack. It was released on November 29, 2016.
Release
In August 2015, Sony Pictures Entertainment set the film's release date for December 21, 2016, in the United Kingdom, United States and Canada. The film was concurrently released in 3D and RealD 3D formats, with the international rollout running through Christmas and the New Year, to January 12, 2017.
Box office
Passengers grossed $100 million in the United States and Canada and $203.1 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $303.1 million, against a net production budget of $110 million. It was the second-highest grossing original live-action Hollywood release of 2016, after La La Land.
Passengers opened alongside Sing and Assassin's Creed, and was initially expected to gross around $50 million from 3,478 theaters over its first six days of release, although the studio was projecting a more conservative $35 million debut. After making $1.2 million from Tuesday night previews and $4.1 million on its first day, projections for the six-day opening were lowered to $27 million. It went on to gross $15.1 million in its opening weekend (a six-day total of $30 million), finishing third at the box office behind Rogue One and Sing. It became the third-biggest original live-action domestic release of 2016 behind Central Intelligence ($126 million) and La La Land ($149 million).
Critical response
Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 30% of 243 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 5/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Passengers proves Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence work well together - and that even their chemistry isn't enough to overcome a fatally flawed story." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 41 out of 100 based on 48 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it a 77% overall positive score.
Mick LaSalle of The San Francisco Chronicle gave the film three out of four stars. He stated "despite the confinement and the limited cast, Passengers has moments of intense drama that take the actors to places of extreme feeling." James Dyer of Empire gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, stating the film is "as surprisingly traditional as it is undeniably effective." He described the film as "Titanic amongst the stars" and "a touching, heartfelt tale of loss and love for the Gravity generation." Peter Keough of The Boston Globe gave the film two and a half out of four stars, stating "perhaps as a well-written play for a cast of three, Passengers might have been first class. Instead, it's just another mediocre thrill ride." Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian called the film an "appealing sci-fi romance" but criticized the final act as an "anticlimax". He gave the film three out of five stars.
Rebecca Hawkes of The Telegraph described the film as not a romance but "a creepy ode to manipulation", describing the action as a "central act of violence" that is softened and justified. Andrew Pulver of The Guardian called it an "interstellar version of social-media stalking" with "a fantastically creepy start" that, contrary to romantic comedies that manage to "plane down" the nastiness of stalking tactics, presents them in a way where "it's gruesomely inescapable". Alissa Wilkinson of Vox called it "a fantasy of Stockholm syndrome, in which the captured eventually identifies and even loves the captor" and "a really disturbing wish fulfillment fantasy".
Home media
Passengers was released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 14, 2017, and was made available on Digital HD from Amazon Video and iTunes on March 7, 2017.
On March 14, 2017, Passengers: Awakening, a virtual reality experience based on the film launched for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.
Accolades
References
External links
- Official website
- Passengers on IMDb
- Passengers at Box Office Mojo
- Passengers at Rotten Tomatoes
- Passengers at Metacritic
- Passengers at AllMovie
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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