| Baywatch | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Seth Gordon |
| Screenplay by | Damian Shannon Mark Swift |
| Story by |
|
| Based on | |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Eric Steelberg |
| Edited by | Peter S. Elliot |
| Music by | Christopher Lennertz |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures[1] |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 116 minutes[2] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $65–69 million[3][2] |
| Box office | $177.9 million[2] |
Baywatch is a 2017 Americanaction comedy film directed bySeth Gordon, with a screenplay byMark Swift and Damian Shannon, from a story by Jay Scherick, David Ronn,Thomas Lennon, andRobert Ben Garant. It is based onthe television series of the same name created byMichael Berk,Douglas Schwartz, andGregory J. Bonann and takes place within the samefictional universe.[4] The film starsDwayne Johnson andZac Efron. The story follows lifeguardMitch Buchannon and his team who must take down a drug lord in an effort to save their beach.
Principal photography began on February 22, 2016, inFlorida andSavannah, Georgia. The film premiered inMiami on May 13, 2017, and was theatrically released in the United States on May 25, byParamount Pictures. It was a commercial success, grossing $177.9 million worldwide on a $65–69 million budget, but received negative reviews from critics.[5][6][7]Baywatch received five nominations at the38th Golden Raspberry Awards, includingWorst Picture andWorst Actor for Efron.[8]
In Emerald Bay,Florida, Lt.Mitch Buchannon is a beloved member of an elite lifeguard division known as Baywatch. The team, including second-in-command Stephanie Holden and veteran C. J. Parker, protects the beaches and the bay and are opposed by jealous beat cop Garner Ellerbee and his superior, Captain Thorpe.
On morning patrol, Mitch finds a small pouch offlakka near the Huntley Club, owned by powerful businesswoman Victoria Leeds. Later, he meets Matt Brody, an entitledOlympic gold medal-winning swimmer who expects to make the Baywatch team without trying out. Mitch and Brody compete in a variety of physical tests, which Mitch wins. As the course is ending, a mom and her two kids fall into the water and the lifeguards and Brody rush to save them. Brody makes the team along with Ronnie Greenbaum and Summer Quinn.
A private yacht catches fire and the occupants are evacuated alive by Baywatch except for city councilman Rodriguez, who dies. Suspicious, Mitch and his team continue to investigate to Ellerbee's disapproval. They infiltrate the hospital morgue where they discover that Rodriguez was murdered. The trio hide and take a video of Leeds' henchmen planting an autopsy report to cover up Rodriguez's murder, but are discovered and the recording is destroyed. Thorpe threatens to fire Mitch if he oversteps again.
Convinced Leeds is running drugs through the Huntley, Mitch and Brody go undercover and witness drugs being retrieved from barrels of fish. When they contact Ellerbee, they learn another dead body has been found on the beach. Thorpe, enraged that Mitch deserted his post, fires him, naming Brody the new lieutenant. He doesn't want the job but is forced to take it.
Brody later sees "sand grifters (beach thieves)" steal bags using a cooler. He chases them off the beach and keeps the cooler. After finding another pouch of flakka on the beach, Brody uses the cooler to steal the second victim's report from Ellerbee's desk. Bringing it to Summer, she confirms the man was killed by knife instead of a shark attack. Ronnie recognizes the victim as his friend Dave, who was working for the Huntley. Brody realizes that Mitch was right about the Huntley. Ronnie hacks into Leeds' servers, finding her plan to privatize the entire beach.
The team infiltrates a private party on Leeds' personal yacht and discover that she's been using the hull to smuggle the drugs. Brody is captured and thrown into a bait cage. A gloating Leeds reveals she bribed Thorpe to replace Mitch with Brody before pushing the cage into the water. Before Brody can drown, Summer swims to him and gives himmouth-to-mouth resuscitation. However, Brody's hallucinating and realizes it is actually Mitch.
They catch up to Leeds before she can escape on a helicopter, but she captures Brody. Mitch aims aRoman candle at her and Ronnie and C. J. launch the fireworks, blowing her up. Ellerbee arrives, takes Leeds' henchmen into custody, and apologizes to Mitch. Thorpe arrives, berating Mitch for returning to the beach. Brody punches him in the face and Thorpe is arrested for his role in Leeds' plan.
Sometime later, Ronnie and Brody begin relationships with C. J. and Summer, respectively. Mitch, reinstated, announces that Summer, Ronnie, and Brody are no longer trainees and introduces them to their new captain,Casey Jean.
ABaywatch movie was first announced in 2004, although the movie became stuck indevelopment hell over the years, with several writers penning drafts.[11] In July 2015,Sean Anders was replaced bySeth Gordon as director.[12][13] On October 2, 2014,Dwayne Johnson was attached to star in the lead role, and Justin Malen was set to rewrite the script.[14] Damian Shannon and Mark Swift wrote the latest draft, and the film would be comedic in style.[12] On August 10, 2015,Zac Efron signed on to star in the film, andBeau Flynn andIvan Reitman joined to produce with Johnson's Seven Bucks Productions.[15][16] On November 9, 2015,Deadline reported that seven actresses were among the short list testing for the lead female role,Alexandra Daddario,Ashley Benson,Nina Dobrev,Alexandra Shipp,Shelley Hennig,Bianca A. Santos, andDenyse Tontz.[17] On November 18, 2015, Johnson confirmed Daddario would play Summer, a lifeguard, and the love interest of Efron's character.[18][19]
On January 4, 2016,Kelly Rohrbach's casting as C. J. Parker was confirmed by Johnson'sInstagram post.[20] Damian Shannon and Mark Swift wrote the screenplay, while the final list of producers were Johnson along with his partner Dany Garcia, through their Seven Bucks Productions, as well as Flynn, Reitman,Michael Berk,Douglas Schwartz, andGregory J. Bonann.[20] On January 20, 2016, Johnson again posted on his Instagram about castingIlfenesh Hadera as Johnson's love interest.[21] On January 27, 2016,Jon Bass was cast in the film to play Ronnie, a funny, awkward, and skilled disco dancer at the beach, who falls in love with Parker.[22] On February 12, 2016,Hannibal Buress joined the cast of the film to play a bay community local.[23] On February 17, 2016,Priyanka Chopra signed on to star as the antagonist in the film.[24] The role was originally written for a male. In March 2016,Yahya Abdul-Mateen II joined the cast as Ellerbee, a police officer who is constantly reminding Mitch that being a lifeguard, he has no actual jurisdiction on the beach.[25]Jack Kesy andAmin Joseph were also cast in the film.[26]Vine (laterYouTube) starLogan Paul announced that he was in the film, but his scenes were later cut.[27][28][29]Izabel Goulart also appeared.[30] NFL playersVernon Davis andArian Foster also have cameo appearances in the film.[31][32]
Principal photography on the film began on February 22, 2016, inDeerfield Beach, Florida, with the setting inBroward County, Florida, while the television series was set inMalibu, California.[33] The film was shot inMiami andSavannah, Georgia.[23][34][35] In late March 2016, filming started inTybee Island, Georgia.[36] Filming wrapped on May 18, 2016.[3]
In January 2016,Paramount Pictures scheduledBaywatch for a May 19, 2017 release, which was originally scheduled for a sequel toTerminator Genisys.[37] In December 2016, Paramount pushed the release date back one week to May 26, 2017, to avoid competition withAlien: Covenant.[38] In April 2017, the film was moved one day earlier, to avoid direct competition withPirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.[39]
Baywatch was released onDigital HD on August 15, 2017[40] and onBlu-ray andDVD on August 29, 2017.[41]
Baywatch grossed $58.1 million in the United States and Canada and $119.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $177.9 million, against a production budget of $69 million (not including marketing and distribution costs).[2]
In the United States and Canada, the film was initially projected to gross around $40 million from 3,642 theaters over its five-day opening weekend, with the studio predicting a more conservative $30 million debut.[42][43] It made $1.25 million at 2,554 theaters from Wednesday night previews, similar to fellow mid-week R-rated releasesWe're the Millers ($1.7 million) andLet's Be Cops ($1.2 million).[44] However, after making $4.6 million on its opening day (including Wednesday night previews) and $5.7 million on Friday, five-day projections were lowered to $25 million. It ended up grossing $18.5 million in its opening weekend (for a five-day total of $27.7 million), finishing third at the box office, behindPirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales ($63 million) andGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ($20.9 million).[7][45] In its second weekend the film grossed $8.8 million (a drop of 52.5%), finishing 5th at the box office.[46]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 17% of 246 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4/10. The website's consensus reads: "Baywatch takes its source material'sjiggle factor to R-rated levels, but lacks the original's campy charm – and leaves its charming stars flailing in the shallows."[47]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 37 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.[48] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, whilePostTrak reported filmgoers gave it a 76% overall positive score.[5][7] Dwayne Johnson responded to critics' reviews, saying that the film was made for fans and that they loved it.[49][6]
Writing forRolling Stone,Peter Travers praised the "easy rapport" of Johnson and Efron while saying, "what [the film] needs more is a functional script". Travers rated it two out of four stars and said, "Think of yourself sitting down for a big two-hour wallow in instant stupid with a vat of popcorn, slathered in fake butter and possibly a mound of melted M&Ms on top. It feels great chugging it down, then your stomach hurts, your head aches and you puke the whole thing up so you can forget about it in the morning. That'sBaywatch in a nutshell."[50] Owen Gleiberman ofVariety called it "stupidly entertaining... for a while" but was critical of the plot.[51] Brian Truitt ofUSA Today gave the film two out of four stars, and said that while the film has all the elements you would expect "the remake yearns to be both sendup farce and straight action film, tripping along the way and failing to grasp either."[52]Richard Roeper of theChicago Sun-Times gave the film 1.5 out of 4 stars, writing: "As was the case withCHiPs,The Dukes of Hazzard,The Beverly Hillbillies,Car 54, Where Are You? and I'll just stop there, when you make films from junk TV, more often than not you're going to wind up with a junk movie."[53]
| Year | Award | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Teen Choice Awards | Choice Movie: Comedy Actor | Dwayne Johnson | Nominated | [54] |
| Zac Efron | Won | ||||
| Choice Movie: Comedy Actress | Alexandra Daddario | Nominated | |||
| Choice Movie: Villain | Priyanka Chopra | Nominated | |||
| Choice Movie: Ship | Dwayne Johnson andZac Efron | Nominated | |||
| Golden Schmoes Awards | Best T&A of the Year | Alexandra Daddario | Won | ||
| 2018 | 38th Golden Raspberry Awards | Worst Picture | Michael Berk,Gregory J. Bonann,Beau Flynn,Ivan Reitman,Douglas Schwartz | Nominated | [8] |
| Worst Screenplay | Damian Shannon,Mark Swift, Jay Scherick, David Ronn,Thomas Lennon andRobert Ben Garant | Nominated | |||
| Worst Actor | Zac Efron | Nominated | |||
| Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel | Nominated | ||||
| The Razzie Nominee So Rotten You Loved It | Won |
In May 2017, producer Beau Flynn revealed plans for a sequel were in development, with the project's story already written. Damian Shannon and Mark Swift were stated to be returning to their roles as co-screenwriters, while the plot would revolve around the titular team's adventures in traveling to a different environment overseas. Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron entered early negotiations to reprise their roles, while the remaining cast were expected to also return in the potential sequel.[55]
