| Passengers | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Morten Tyldum |
| Written by | Jon Spaihts |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Rodrigo Prieto |
| Edited by | Maryann Brandon |
| Music by | Thomas Newman |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Sony Pictures Releasing |
Release dates |
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Running time | 116 minutes[2] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $110–150 million[3][4] |
| Box office | $303.1 million[3] |
Passengers is a 2016 Americanscience fictionromantic film directed byMorten Tyldum, written byJon Spaihts and starringJennifer Lawrence andChris Pratt. The supporting cast featuresMichael Sheen,Laurence Fishburne, andAndy García. The film follows two passengers on an interstellar spacecraft carrying thousands of people to a colony 120-years-traveling-distance from Earth, when the two are awakened 90 years early from theirsuspended hibernation.
The script was written in 2007 by Spaihts, but languished indevelopment with multiple actors attached and detached from it over the years untilSony Pictures Entertainment acquired its rights in late 2014. Lawrence, Pratt and Tyldum quickly joined the project, and filming spanned from September 2015 to February 2016 inAtlanta. It was produced byVillage Roadshow Pictures, Start Motion Pictures,Original Film,LStar Capital,Wanda Pictures and Company Films, and was the last film fromColumbia Pictures with the involvement of Village Roadshow Pictures.
Passengers premiered at theRegency Village Theater in Los Angeles on December 14, 2016, and was released theatrically in the United States by Columbia Pictures on December 21, 2016. It received mixed reviews, with praise for Pratt's and Lawrence's performances,Thomas Newman's musical score, and its visual style and production values, but was criticized for its plot and characters.[5][6] It grossed $304 million worldwide and was nominated forBest Original Score andBest Production Design at the89th Academy Awards.[7]
TheAvalon, asleeper ship transporting 5,000 colonists and 258 crew inhibernation pods, is traveling from Earth to the planet Homestead II, a 120-year journey as part of an exodus of Earth's population due toecocide and the collapse of the biosphere.[8]
After only 30 years, an asteroid collision damages the ship, causing a malfunction that awakens passenger Jim Preston, a mechanical engineer, 90 years early. He is unable to return to hibernation, and cannot contact Earth for help due to an overly long communication delay. He attempts to break into the crew hibernation room, in the hopes they will be able to help. He fails due to the strength of the ship's security systems.
As the ship's AI systems cannot seem to comprehend the idea of a hibernation pod malfunction (as it had never occurred before), Jim eventually gives up, passing the time in several of the ship's entertainment zones.
After a year of isolation, with only anandroid barman named Arthur for company, Jim grows despondent and contemplates suicide, until he notices Aurora Lane, a beautiful young woman inside a pod. He considers reviving her for companionship, but struggles doing so, knowing it is morally wrong and will preclude her intended life on their destination planet.
Jim eventually awakens Aurora, letting her believe it was a malfunction. Devastated at having to live out her life on the ship, she tries to reenter hibernation. Resigned to the situation, she begins writing about her experience.
Over the next year, the two fall in love. Just before Jim intends to propose to Aurora, Arthur inadvertently reveals the truth about her awakening. Distraught and enraged, Aurora berates, shuns, and physically attacks Jim. She furiously rejects his apologies and avoids contact with him.
Sometime later, another pod failure awakens Gus Mancuso, a deck chief officer. Using Gus's employee code, the group gets on the bridge and discovers cascading failures in the ship's systems. If left unrepaired, the ship will fail, causing the passengers and crew to perish.
When Gus falls critically ill, the ship's automated medical suite, the Autodoc, diagnosespansystemic necrosis and gives him hours to live. He attributes it to his hibernation pod's multiple failures. Before dying, Gus gives Jim and Aurora his ID badge and employee code to get into crew-only areas.
Jim and Aurora find hull breaches from the asteroid collision two years earlier. The computer module administering the ship'sfusion reactor power plant has been damaged, causing the cascading malfunctions as the other systems' computing power was diverted in an attempt to maintain it.
They replace the damaged module but when the computer attempts to vent the reactor to extinguish a runaway plasma reaction, the exterior vent fails. Jim is forced tospacewalk and vent the plasma from outside, using the manual controls in the vent tube.
Jim discovers that he must remain in the tube to keep the vent open while Aurora initiates venting from inside the ship. Revealing her feelings for him, she admits she is terrified of losing him and being alone.
Jim improvises a heat shield and survives the venting but is blasted into space as his tether snaps, and his damaged spacesuit begins losing oxygen. Aurora retrieves aclinically dead Jim from space and resuscitates him in the Autodoc. TheAvalon, its reactor repaired, returns to normal operations.
After burying Gus in space, Jim learns the Autodoc can function as a hibernation pod for one person, so he insists that Aurora use it for the remainder of the voyage. Realizing she would never see Jim again, she chooses to remain awake with him.
Eighty-eight years later, the ship's crew awaken on schedule, shortly before arrival at Homestead II. In the ship's grand concourse, they discover a huge tree with trailing vines, lush vegetation, flying birds, and a small cabin. A recording of Aurora's story describes the wonderful life she and Jim shared on theAvalon.
Emma Clarke,Chris Edgerly,Matt Corboy,Fred Melamed, and screenwriterJon Spaihts voice theAvalon, InfoMat, video game, observatory, and Autodoc, respectively.
In Jon Spaihts's original 2007 script, Aurora's surname was Dunn.[9] At one point in the film's development, it was set to starKeanu Reeves andEmily Blunt.[10] Other actors temporarily attached to it includedReese Witherspoon andRachel McAdams.[11]Brian Kirk was originally set to make his feature directorial debut with Reeves in the lead.[12][13] On December 5, 2014, it was announced thatSony Pictures Entertainment had won the rights to the film,[14] and in early 2015,Morten Tyldum was chosen to direct.[15] He had always wanted to do a big-scale sci-fi movie, but also stressed the importance of character development over effects.[16]
The final cast was announced between February 2015 and January 2016.[17][18][19][20] Lawrence was paid $20 million against 30% of the profit after the moviebroke even. Pratt received $12 million.[11][21]
Principal photography began on September 15, 2015, atPinewood Atlanta Studios inFayette County, Georgia,[22][23] with most of it involving the two leads only. Rodrigo Prieto was cinematographer, andMaryann Brandon was film editor.[24][25] Filmingwrapped on February 12, 2016.[26]
Thomas Newman composed the score forPassengers.[27] Spaihts said that he wrotePassengers while listening to Newman's previous scores.[28]Imagine Dragons also recorded the song "Levitate" for the soundtrack, which was released on November 29, 2016.[29] The Chinese theme song for the film is"Light Years Away", composed byG.E.M.; it became the first Chinese music video to surpass 200 million views in September 2019.[30] The Japanese version uses "Because of You" byJuju as its theme song.[31]
At the 2016CinemaCon,Passengers was featured by Sony Pictures chairmanThomas Rothman with Lawrence and Pratt in attendance. A teaser trailer of unfinished footage was shown afterward.[32] The first official images of the film were released on August 12, 2016.[33]
The film had its world premiere at theRegency Village Theater on December 14, 2016. It was released in the United States bySony Pictures Entertainment on December 21, 2016.[34]
Passengers was released on DVD,Blu-ray, and4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on March 14, 2017, and made available on digital HD fromAmazon Video andiTunes on March 7, 2017.[35]On March 14, 2017,Passengers: Awakening, a virtual-reality experience based on the film launched forOculus Rift andHTC Vive.[36]
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.[4][3] It was the second-highest grossing original live-action Hollywood release of 2016, afterLa La Land.[37]
Passengers opened alongsideSing andAssassin's Creed, and was initially expected to gross around $50 million from 3,478 theaters over its first six days, although the studio anticipated a more conservative $35 million debut.[38][39] After making $1.2 million from Tuesday night previews[40] and $4.1 million on its first day, projections for the six-day opening were lowered to $27 million.[41] 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 behindRogue One andSing.[42] It became the third-biggest original live-action domestic release of 2016 behindLa La Land ($149 million) andCentral Intelligence ($126 million).[37]
OnRotten Tomatoes,Passengers holds an approval rating of 30% based on 288 reviews, with an average rating of 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."[43] OnMetacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 41 out of 100, based on 48 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[44] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, whilePostTrak reported filmgoers gave it a 77% overall positive score.[42]
Mick LaSalle ofThe San Francisco Chronicle gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, writing: "Despite the confinement and the limited cast,Passengers has moments of intense drama that take the actors to places of extreme feeling."[45] James Dyer ofEmpire gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, calling it "as surprisingly traditional as it is undeniably effective", and describing it as "Titanic amongst the stars" and "a touching, heartfelt tale of loss and love for theGravity generation".[46] Peter Keough ofThe Boston Globe gave it 2.5 out of 4 stars, writing: "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."[47] Peter Bradshaw ofThe Guardian called the film an "appealing sci-fi romance", but criticized its final act as an "anticlimax", giving it 3 out of 5 stars.[48] Sheri Linden ofThe Hollywood Reporter said it "concocts a sort ofTitanic in outer space, with dollops of 'Sleeping Beauty' andGravity thrown into the high-concept mix." She praised the striking visual design and elegant costumes, but said that the "heavy-handed mix of life-or-death exigencies and feel-good bromides finally feels like a case of more being less."[1]
Rebecca Hawkes ofThe 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.[49] Andrew Pulver ofThe Guardian called it an "interstellar version of social-media stalking" with "a fantastically creepy start" that, contrary to romantic comedies that managed to "plane down" the nastiness of stalking tactics, presented them in a way where they were "gruesomely inescapable".[50] Alissa Wilkinson ofVox called it "a fantasy ofStockholm syndrome, in which the captured eventually identifies with and even loves the captor" and "a really disturbing wish fulfillment fantasy".[51]
Lawrence was initially proud of the film, but agreed with suggestions that it might have benefited from a different edit, starting with her character waking up.[6][52] Later, she expressed regret over starring in the film, saying thatAdele had advised her against it and that she should have listened.[53][54] ProducerNeal H. Moritz said he loved the film and thought the script was one of the best he had ever read. He pointed out that it was well received at test screenings, but that shortly before its release the media picked up on one review and "it became a mantra". He "thought it was a really unfair thing because I think it's a beautiful film I couldn't be more proud of."[6]
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipients | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Awards | February 26, 2017 | Best Original Score | Thomas Newman | Nominated | [55][7] |
| Best Production Design | Guy Hendrix Dyas andGene Serdena | ||||
| Art Directors Guild Awards | February 11, 2017 | Excellence in Production Design for a Fantasy Film | Guy Hendrix Dyas | Won | [56] |
| Golden Trailer Awards | June 6, 2017 | Best Action | Sony Pictures Entertainment | Nominated | [57] |
| Best Motion Poster | |||||
| Saturn Awards | June 28, 2017 | Best Science Fiction Film | Passengers | Nominated | [58] |
| Best Actor | Chris Pratt | ||||
| Best Actress | Jennifer Lawrence | ||||
| Best Music | Thomas Newman | ||||
| Best Production Design | Guy Hendrix Dyas |
There was just stuff that I wished I'd looked into deeper before jumping on.
Adele told me not to do it! She was like, 'I feel like space movies are the new vampire movies.'
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