| Eden | |
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.jpg) German theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | Ron Howard |
| Screenplay by | Noah Pink |
| Story by |
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| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Mathias Herndl |
| Edited by | Matt Villa |
| Music by | Hans Zimmer |
Production companies |
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Release date |
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Running time | 129 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $30–50 million |
Eden is a 2024 Americansurvivalthriller film directed byRon Howard and written byNoah Pink from a story by Pink and Howard.[2] It starsAna de Armas,Vanessa Kirby,Sydney Sweeney,Jude Law,Daniel Brühl,Felix Kammerer,Toby Wallace andRichard Roxburgh. The film is based on the true story of a few European settlers arriving atFloreana Island, in theGalápagos Islands,Ecuador.[3]
The film premiered at theToronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2024 and will be released theatrically in Germany on April 3, 2025 byLeonine.
Dr. Friedrich Ritter (Law) and his wife Dora Strauch (Kirby) flee their native Germany in 1929, repudiating the bourgeois values they believe are corroding mankind’s true nature. On the isle ofFloreana (part of theGalápagos Islands in Ecuador), Friedrich can focus on writing his manifesto, while Dora resolves to cure hermultiple sclerosis through meditation. Their hard-won solitude, however, is short lived.
They are joined byMargret (Sweeney) and Heinz Wittmer (Brühl), who prove to be earnest, capable settlers. Next comes Eloise Bosquet de Wagner Wehrhorn (De Armas), a self-described Baroness and the "embodiment of perfection", who arrives with two devoted lovers, an Ecuadorian servant, a wardrobe full of evening gowns, and plans to erect a luxury hotel. Between inclement weather, unruly wildlife, and a total lack of amenities, all three groups find life on Floreana arduous. But nothing will test their mettle more than the challenge of coexisting with desperate neighbours capable of theft, deception, and worse.
It was announced in October 2022 thatRon Howard would direct the film, and he had begun the casting process and location scouting. The film was to be titledOrigin of Species at that time.[4] In May 2023,Ana de Armas,Jude Law,Alicia Vikander andDaniel Brühl were cast,[5] withDaisy Edgar-Jones in negotiations.[6] Casting was permitted to continue during the2023 SAG-AFTRA strike after securing an interim agreement with the guild.[7] In November, the film was retitled toEden, withVanessa Kirby andSydney Sweeney added to the cast to replace Vikander and Edgar-Jones respectively, andHans Zimmer was set to compose the score.[8] Edgar-Jones was forced to exit as a result of the SAG-AFTRA strike, as she needed to keep her commitment toTwisters, which had to halt production as a result of the strike.[9] In December 2023, it was announced thatRichard Roxburgh,Felix Kammerer,Toby Wallace, Paul Gleeson, and Ignacio Gasparini had joined the cast.[10]
Filming was expected to begin in November 2023, with production taking place inQueensland, Australia, and a small unit filming on the Galápagos Islands.[8] Filming began on November 27, 2023 on the AustralianGold Coast.[11]
The film premiered at theToronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2024.[1][12] In May 2024,AGC Studios sold distribution rights to the film for multiple international territories toAmazon Prime Video at theMarché du Film.[13] It will be released theatrically in Germany on April 3, 2025 byLeonine.
The film holds a 57% score on review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, based on 30 critic reviews with an average rating of 6.4/10.[14]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, gave the film a score of 60 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[15]