| Beast | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Baltasar Kormákur |
| Screenplay by | Ryan Engle |
| Story by | Jaime Primak Sullivan |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Philippe Rousselot |
| Edited by | Jay Rabinowitz |
| Music by | Steven Price[1] |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 93 minutes[2] |
| Countries |
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| Language | English |
| Budget | $36 million[3] |
| Box office | $59.1 million[4][5] |
Beast is a 2022survivalactionhorror film directed byBaltasar Kormákur from a screenplay by Ryan Engle, based on a story by Jaime Primak Sullivan. The film starsIdris Elba,Iyana Halley,Leah Jeffries andSharlto Copley. It follows a widowed father and his two teenage daughters who visit aSouth Africangame reserve but must fight to survive when they are stalked and attacked by a ferocious, rogue,man-killinglion.
Beast was released in the United States on August 19, 2022, byUniversal Pictures.[6] The film received generally positive reviews from critics, while grossing just over $59 million on a $36 million production budget.
Recentlywidowed Dr. Nate Samuels and his daughters, Meredith and Norah, arrive at theMopani Reserve inSouth Africa for avacation. Nate reunites with his old friend, Martin Battles, abiologist and Mopani manager, who introduced Nate and his wife. Martin takes Nate and the girls to thevillage where Nate's wife grew up. Nate confides in Martin his guilt over being distant following his and his wife's separation, after which she developedterminal cancer. The trip is to reconnect with his daughters.
The next day, Martin and the family tour the reserve's restricted areas. Martin shows them a locallion pride and notices that one is injured. At a nearbyTsonga community, Martin discovers most of the population is dead. Suspecting a rogue,man-killing lion is responsible, Martin rushes back to report the finding. Nate encounters an injured Tsonga man on the road but is unable to save him. Martin is mauled as he tracks the lion. It then ambushes Nate, who takes cover in the car. Meredith speeds away but crashes into a tree, stranding them.
Martin radios Nate on awalkie-talkie, warning him to stay away, saying the lion is using Martin as bait to lure the others out. As the radio is out of range to contact help, Nate assembles atranquilizerrifle. He confronts the lion, hoping to subdue it long enough to recover Martin and trek back to civilization. The lion attacks, and Meredith takes advantage of the distraction to save Martin. Norah stabs the lion with a tranquilizer dart after it knocks the gun from Nate's hands, causing the lion to retreat. Meredith brings Martin back to the car, and Nate treats his wound. To the group's surprise, the lion soon returns to stalking them, seemingly unaffected by the tranquilizer.
As night falls, the now-recovering Martin speculates the lion went rogue afterpoachers killed its pride. Soon after, the poachers arrive and initially agree to transport the group to the village in exchange for payment. Tensions rise after the poachers spot Martin, an avid anti-poacher, inside the car. The lion attacks and scatters the poachers, killing most of them. Nate maneuvers his way past the lion and finds the poachers' truck keys. Back in the car, Martin holds the lion off long enough to allow the sisters to escape, though Meredith sustains a deep laceration to her side. The car falls into a ravine and Martin sacrifices himself by setting off an explosion from the leaking gasoline, severely burning the lion. Nate starts the truck and races away with Meredith and Norah but has to stop the car before they run out of fuel. They leave the car and walk to an abandoned schoolhouse nearby.
At the abandoned schoolhouse, which the poachers used as their base, Nate treats Meredith's wound and forages for water. The lion appears and stalks the girls, but Nate returns and scares it off. Locking his daughters inside a room, Nate promises to return after subduing the lion. After provoking the lion into chasing him, Nate lures it to the local lion pride which Martin helped raise. The rogue lion overtakes and mauls Nate, nearly killing him, until the pride males named Kuda and Kawe intervene and kill the rogue. A Mopani worker named Banji arrives and saves Nate as he falls unconscious.
Awakening in a hospital, a recovering Nate tells his daughters he loves them. Sometime later, the three return to the reserve, this time as a united family, and recreate the photo Nate's late wife took of herself next to her favorite tree.
In September 2020, it was announced thatIdris Elba would star in a newUniversal Pictures film titledBeast, based on an original idea by Jaime Primak-Sullivan and directed byBaltasar Kormákur.[7] In June 2021,Sharlto Copley,Iyana Halley, andLeah Sava Jeffries joined the cast.[8]
Filming commenced on June 1, 2021, in South Africa and lasted for 10 weeks. Filming locations includedCape Town,Limpopo, and theOrange River.[8][9]
Steven Price composed the film score.Back Lot Music has released the soundtrack.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Beast" | 2:08 |
| 2. | "One Got Away" | 2:50 |
| 3. | "The Amahle Tree" | 1:28 |
| 4. | "I Wasn't Home" | 0:58 |
| 5. | "Ready for Safari" | 1:13 |
| 6. | "The Only Law That Matters" | 2:39 |
| 7. | "The Fire Is Still Hot" | 4:44 |
| 8. | "Is Anybody Still Alive?" | 2:55 |
| 9. | "To The Water" | 2:18 |
| 10. | "Stay in the Car" | 3:23 |
| 11. | "In His Territory Now" | 3:25 |
| 12. | "You Have One Shot" | 6:12 |
| 13. | "That Thing Is a Beast" | 1:18 |
| 14. | "Amahle Would Be Proud of You" | 3:47 |
| 15. | "A Very Dangerous Place" | 3:39 |
| 16. | "Ten Minutes" | 3:08 |
| 17. | "Come Back Please Dad" | 4:17 |
| 18. | "Sorry Boy" | 2:47 |
| 19. | "There's Got to Be Something" | 2:39 |
| 20. | "Trust Me" | 2:49 |
| 21. | "The Beast" | 2:53 |
| 22. | "Everything's Going to Be OK" | 1:00 |
| 23. | "Into The Pridelands" | 1:44 |
| 24. | "I Missed All the Signs" | 4:12 |
| 25. | "Coda" | 0:59 |
| 26. | "N'na Duniyaa (Sona Jobarteh)" | 4:45 |
| Total length: | 74:08 | |
Beast was released on August 19, 2022, byUniversal Pictures.[11]
The film was released onVOD on September 8, 2022, followed by aBlu-ray andDVD release on October 11, 2022.[12] The movie was released onPeacock on October 7, 2022.[13]
Beast grossed $31.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $27.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $59.1 million,[5][4] against a production budget of $36 million.[3]
In North America,Beast was released alongsideDragon Ball Super: Super Hero, and was projected to gross around $10 million from 3,743 theaters in its opening weekend.[3] The film made $4.3 million on its first day, including $925,000 from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut at $11.6 million, finishing second behindSuper Hero. The largest demographic was African-American at 34%, followed by 26% Caucasian, 23% Hispanic, and 10% Asian. Nearly half the opening weekend audience was over 35 years old, and a third was over 45.[14] In its second weekend, the film made $4.9 million, finishing third.[15]
Onreview aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, 68% of 208 reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Want to watch Idris Elba fight a lion? The admirably lean yet ultimately disposableBeast is just the movie you're looking for."[16]Metacritic gave the film aweighted average score of 54 out of 100, based on 46 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[17] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, whilePostTrak gave the film a 65% overall positive score, with 46% saying they would definitely recommend it.[14]
Several critics singled praise for cinematographerPhilippe Rousselot.[18] Wenlei Ma writing fornews.com.au commended the film's focus: "it's a chase film and what you get is a suspenseful chase. Job done."[19] Critic Dwight Brown wrote: "The success of this film's eye-catching, ear-grabbing hocus pocus can be traced back to smart direction, near seamless visual/sound effects, tight editing and the supremely talented Idris Elba."[20]
Odie Henderson ofRogerEbert.com, gave it 2.5 out of 4 and compared the film to its contemporary,Prey (2022): "both have messages about hunters ravaging the animal kingdom and paying dearly for it [...]. The climactic showdown in both films boils down to the hero using what they know about their location and their foe, though this film requires a lot more suspension of disbelief."[21]Richard Roeper called it "intermittently exciting but also quite dumb and ridiculous".[22]
The film was nominated forOutstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature at the21st Visual Effects Society Awards.[23] It was also nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Effects in a Live Action Production at the50th Annie Awards.
The camera work here is really beautiful and the style fits this film very well.
