| Evan Almighty | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Tom Shadyac |
| Screenplay by | Steve Oedekerk |
| Story by |
|
| Based on | Characters bySteve Koren Mark O'Keefe |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Ian Baker |
| Edited by | Scott Hill |
| Music by | John Debney |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 96 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $175 million[2] |
| Box office | $174.4 million[2] |
Evan Almighty is a 2007 Americanfantasycomedy film[3] that is aspin-off andsequel ofBruce Almighty (2003). The film was directed byTom Shadyac, written bySteve Oedekerk, based on the characters created bySteve Koren andMark O'Keefe from the original film. It starsSteve Carell andMorgan Freeman reprising their roles as Evan Baxter and God, respectively, with new cast membersLauren Graham andJohn Goodman. The film is a modern-day retelling ofNoah's Ark, which Evan reluctantly re-enacts because God commands him to do so at the same time Evan pursues a new career in government.
Production of the film began in January 2006. Several visual effects companies were used to provideCGI for the numerous animals and the climactic flood scene. By the time the film had completed production, it had become themost expensive comedy film ever, later being overtaken byMen in Black 3.
The film opened on June 22, 2007, and was abox-office bomb, grossing $174.4 million worldwide, and received generally negative reviews from critics.
Newly elected toCongress, former television news reporter Evan Baxter leaves his hometown ofBuffalo, New York and moves to the community of Prestige Crest, located in the fictional town of Huntsville, Virginia, where his congressional campaign declares that he will change the world. Evan prays toGod to give him this opportunity. His wife, Joan, also prays that she, Evan, and their three sons will be closer together as a family.
On his first day in Congress, Evan introduces himself to his staffers and later given the opportunity to join his greedy boss, Congressman Chuck Long, to co-sponsor his Citizens' Integration of Public Lands Act (CINPLAN) bill. Over the next few days, strange events in Evan's life occur:
Evan realizes that the number refers to verse 14 in chapter 6 of theBook of Genesis, where God instructedNoah to buildan ark in preparation for acoming flood. God appears to Evan and says that the flood will come and that the right way he can change the world will be through recreating the ark instead. Evan decides to start building it by using the tools and materials provided, giving him an opportunity to spend more time with his sons, but Joan sees this as a midlife crisis.
While Evan still maintains his career in Congress, his appearance alienates his staffers because of God and the animals that appear and follow him everywhere become more disturbing. God provides Evan a robe and then warned him that the flood will come by mid-day on the 22nd of September. When God indefinitely exposes Evan's robe, Long gets him suspended from Congress and has him removed from the Public Land Act bill. Joan falsely believes that Evan has gone insane and leaves him behind, causing Evan himself to continue building the ark alone. Meanwhile, God disguises himself as a waiter at a restaurant, where he speaks with Joan and tells her that she should see this as an opportunity for the entire family to get closer to each other. Joan is inspired by God's meaning and decides to return to help Evan finish building the ark together to prepare for the flood.
On September 22, Evan's three staffers show him evidence that Long had planned to build Prestige Crest after damming off a nearby water source, but he had cut corners in building the dam. They suspect Long would do the same with the Public Land Act Bill. With the ark complete, the animals board two by two. However, the police threaten to demolish the ark with a wrecking ball as it violates land codes. With a small amount of rain falls, Evan realizes that the flood would be a result of Long's dam failing. When the dam actually fails, the entire community manages to board the ark and all the houses of Prestige Crest are destroyed. The ark then rides the floodwaters toWashington, D.C. until it stops in front of theCapitol, which interrupts the vote for Long's Public Land Act Bill. Evan criticizes Long of being responsible for the cost-cutting that lead up to the dam's failure, inciting the other congressmen to turn against him.
The voting of Public Land Act Bill is suspended due to an investigation of Long's profiteering behavior. After the flood, Evan is reinstated to Congress and all the animals returning to their natural habitats. With his appearance returned back to normal, Evan re-encounters God during a family hike. God states that Evan had successfully changed his world as he actually prayed for and grown closer to his family through his oneAct of Random Kindness (ARK). God issues a new commandment to the outgoing audience: "Thou shalt do the dance", which is followed by the film's cast and crew members dancing to theC+C Music Factory song "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" during its closing credits.
The film's screenplay was originally titledThe Passion of the Ark and was written byBobby Florsheim andJosh Stolberg.[4] It became the subject of a seven-studio bidding war in April 2004. The script was sold toSony Pictures in a deal worth $2.5 million plus a percentage of the profits, a record for aspec script from previously unproduced writers.[5]Universal Studios immediately made a deal to co-produce the script withSony Pictures and haveSteve Oedekerk rewrite it into the sequel toBruce Almighty. Steve Oedekerk had been involved withBruce Almighty as an executive producer and co-writer of the screenplay (withSteve Koren and Mark O'Keefe, who wrote the story). The studio later discarded the originalThe Passion of the Ark script completely, and Oedekerk fashioned a new script from scratch (only he received final credit on the finished film as screenwriter). Jim Carrey was asked to reprise his role as Bruce in the sequel and, when he declined, director Tom Shadyac convinced Steve Carell to accept the leading role.[6] Shadyac, reflecting on the first film, stated "[Carell] delivered some of the funniest stuff in the movie. We thought, 'Why not take that character and spin him off into a different film?'"[1]
Jim Carrey declined to reprise his role from the originalBruce Almighty and has said that he is "not a big fan of doing the same character twice."[7] This marked the third time a sequel has been made to a film for which Carrey declined to reprise his role—the others beingDumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd andSon of the Mask.
The initial budget, at approximately $140 million, ledEvan Almighty to become the most expensive comedy film ever made. Added costs such as set construction, visual effects, and problems with filming multiple animals in a controlled location brought the budget up to $175 million.[8] Once marketing for the film was also included, the film's entire spend was estimated to be around $200 million.[9] The ballooning budget caused Sony to drop the project and hand it over entirely toUniversal Studios.[8] Part of the budget was Carell's payroll, where he earned a reported $5 million for his leading role.[7] The Virginia Film Office estimates the film brought $20–25 million to Virginia, with the majority of it in theCharlottesville area.[10] Universal defended the cost of the film, saying it was "designed as a four-quadrant film, and therefore poised for bigger [box office] returns than typical comedies."[11]
Construction of the ark began in January 2006 and the scenes involving the ark were shot in aCrozet, Virginia, subdivision called Old Trail.[1] The ark was designed to meet the actual measurements of thebiblical ark, measuring 450 feet (137 m) long, 80 feet (24 m) wide, and 51 feet (16 m) high.[7] The ark's layout was also based on pictures in several children's books that crew members had read in their childhoods.[1] When the characters were filmed during the day building the ark or were on location elsewhere, crew members would further construct the ark at night.[1] A concrete base was built to support the weight of the large ark; after filming was completed, the ark was taken down in a week, and the base in another week.[1]
In disassembling the set, everything that was salvageable from the ark was donated toHabitat for Humanity. "Leave no trace" was the slogan used by the director as part of the DVD's bonus features, "The Almighty Green Set".
To create Evan's beard and long hair, three designers would take three hours each day adding individual hairs using prostheticadhesive and making Carell wear custom wigs. The wigs consisted of both human andyak hair.[12] With his new look, Carell was sometimes nicknamed "Mountain Man", "Retrosexual", or "Unabomber."[12] For his costumes, designers spoke withtextile experts, researched historical information on the clothing that was likely worn at the time of Noah, and used aged fibers for the clothing.[1]
Scenes for the film were filmed in various locations inVirginia, including areas in and aroundCrozet,Waynesboro,Richmond,Charlottesville, andStaunton, though some filming did take place at Universal Studios inHollywood, California.[13]
For theCGI used throughout the film, companiesIndustrial Light & Magic (ILM) andRhythm & Hues Studios (R&H) developed different parts of the film. R&H focused on the animation of the animals, while ILM completed the final scene of the ark rushing through Washington, D.C.[14] Lindy De Quattro, the ILM associate visual effects supervisor, revealed that "This is the first time where we had to do a whole series of shots that were happening mid-day, where you were going to get a really long look at the water and what it was doing."[14] The company initially experienced problems creating the water effects and had to develop new tools that would choreograph the movements of the water. In addition, ILM used similar tools that were used on their prior filmPoseidon.[14]Lighting was also an issue as the characters on the ark had been filmed on agreenscreen stage, and thevisual effects company had to ensure that the lighting matched that of the characters and the outside setting. Details were added to the ark for long-distance shots to make the design of the ark more appealing and relate the ark's size to scale in comparison to the amount of water. To complete the scene, ILM used thirty to sixty crew members and produced 200 shots over a yearlong period between April 2006 and May 2007.[14]
Rhythm & Hues created 300 pairs of animals for use on the ark and fifteen pairs with higher detail for closeup shots.[1] R&H was also assisted by C.I.S. Hollywood, another visual effects company, who provided a large number of composites, involving hundreds of greenscreen animal elements.[1] In scenes where there are multiple species of animals, crew members would film the animals on the greenscreen and R&H and C.I.S would digitally add the animals one at a time, sometimes taking several weeks to a couple of months. Andy Arnett, the animation supervisor, declared that "The research was extensive. It took six or seven months to perfect the look and feel of the animals before we had the first shot out the door."[1]
For the scene in Congressman Long's office, CGI was used the entire time for the fish that follow Evan around from thefish tank.Cafe FX, the visual effects company hired for the scene, ordered ten different kinds oftropical fish from a local store and studied their movements to imitate them on screen using computer animation. Jeff Goldman, the visual effects supervisor, stated "Early in the sequence, we mimicked the actual behavior of the fish in our animation, but as the scene plays out, the fish are a counterpoint to Steve Carell's comedic timing."[15]
In late May, during production, the media learned that director Tom Shadyac angrily complained to producers, saying "I'm not seeing any ads, and I don't know why. I'm not getting answers. People are giving me information that isn't true ... I'm only hearing about all the other summer movies, and nothing about mine."[16] Shadyac also fired his marketing consultants that he had used for prior films due to his thoughts over the mishandling of the marketing. He later apologized for his outburst with producers, and claimed that it was as a result of his nervousness before the film's release.[17]
Grace Hill Media, a marketing firm that targetsreligious Americans and was also used for marketingBruce Almighty,The Da Vinci Code, andThe Passion of the Christ;[18] held exclusive screenings of the film in mid-June in fifty cities in the United States to reach religious moviegoers.[17] Grace Hill provided free screenings to blogs in exchange for publicity on the blogs.[18] The film and its subsequent home video release was marketed to Christians and their churches through a "kindness campaign" called Ark ALMIGHTY.[19][20]
The first trailer of the film premiered on March 29, 2007 for a marathon ofThe Office, which also stars Steve Carell andEd Helms.[21] For online advertising, an eight-minute clip of a scene was released onYahoo! two days before the release of the film.[22]
The film was also an official sponsor for the 2007 Tooth & Nail Tour along withBest Buy,PureVolume,AbsolutePunk andWhite Castle.[23]
DirectorTom Shadyac felt the film reflected environmental themes of how humans are stewards of God's creation. In keeping with the themes,Evan Almighty became NBC Universal's first film to offset the production's carbon emissions.[24] Producer Michael Bostick revealed how the emissions were offset:
We worked closely with The Conservation Fund to calculate our carbon emissions from what we used on the movie—whether from vehicles used or any of the construction equipment. Once our carbon emissions were calculated, we planted trees that will effectively zero out our climate-changing footprint left behind from the movie.[1]
Shadyac accomplished this by requiring crew members to plant 2,050 trees at theRappahannock River Valley National Wildlife Refuge inWarsaw, Virginia and theSan Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge nearModesto, California.[1] He also bought over 400 bikes for all the cast and crew, to get to work instead of driving.[25] In addition, rather than simply demolishing sets, Shadyac tried to donate houses built for the production and had the Ark set recycled, by donating materials toHabitat for Humanity.[24] During the premiere of the film for cast and crew at Universal Citywalk, the attendees were encouraged to donate to a campaign to plant trees in forests around the world. The after party used recycled cups and plates to offset the use of resources.[26] Shadyac also required that when Industrial Light & Magic developed the climactic scene, that the CGI flood did not appear to harm any of the trees in the scene.[14]
The film partnered with the website Get On Board Now,[27] which focused on the importance of conservation during production of the film. Donations were taken at the website for The Conservation Fund, which paid for the planting of 15,000 trees.[24]
TheAmerican Humane Association oversaw the 177 species of animals that were used in the film.[1] In scenes including both predators and prey, the animals were digitally added instead to ensure their safety.[28] The American Humane Association gave its permission for the film to display "No animals were harmed in the making of this movie" over the closing credits.[29]
PETA accused the film's producers of using animals that had previously been abused. Two chimpanzees who appear in the film, Cody and Sable, were surrendered by their owner to settle a lawsuit that documented allegations of beatings and mistreatment.[30] PETA was also critical of Birds & Animals Unlimited, the primary animal supplier to the film, for alleged serious and continuing violations of the U.S.Animal Welfare Act, including failure to comply with veterinary care requirements and failure to provide shelter from heat and sunlight, which PETA details and claims it can document.[31]
The film's director, Tom Shadyac, said of PETA's criticisms "many of these animals have been rescued from other situations and can't be returned to the wild" and "There's a certain amount of hypocrisy whenever you work with animals, even to show, which we hope we're showing, that respect of all of God's creation ... I don't know. I respect their criticism."[32]A Universal Studios spokesperson declared:
The live animals used in the filming ofEvan Almighty were supplemented by a great number of computer-generated animals, but it would have been impossible to depend on CGI exclusively as some key scenes in the film demonstrate the need for peaceful and productive co-existence between man and animals. One of the most prominent, inescapable messages of the film is the responsibility that humans have to protect and care for animals.[33]
The premiere for the film was held on June 10, 2007, and guests includedAdam Sandler,David Hasselhoff,Kate Flannery,Eddie Murphy,Kevin James, andMindy Kaling, among others.[34]
The film was released onHD DVD andDVD on October 9, 2007,[35] and was the fourth-most rented DVD of the week earning $6.4 million.[36] In the film's first six weeks of release it earned $27,676,676 in domestic DVD sales.[37] The HD-DVD and DVD's special features include deleted scenes, outtakes, cast interviews, and footage of the animals used in the film. The film was released on Blu-ray on August 7, 2012.
Malaysia's Muslim Consumers Association (PPIM) called for a ban on the film, claiming it is offensive toIslam. Secretary-General Maamor Osman claimed that the film was depicting the great flood as comedy and characterized God with the portrayal of a human, both of which are considered blasphemous in Islam. Similarly there was some public protest againstBruce Almighty being shown in theaters, but that movie was released on DVD and was also shown on television broadcasts.Evan Almighty was still released in Malaysia on August 23, 2007.[38]
ThoughEvan Almighty was well hyped, especially with churchgoers,[39] and had doubled the budget ofBruce Almighty, it performed under expectations. On its first weekend, it opened in 5,200 screens in 3,604 theaters and earned $31.1 million[40] (on its first two days the film earned $11.4 million followed by $8.3 million on Sunday).[39] The opening was less than half of the first film's $68 million weekend ($85 million countingMemorial Day).[9] Nikki Rocco, the president of distribution forUniversal Pictures declared, "We never expected it to be much higher ... it is not unusual for family films to open at a level like this and build. This film will have legs."[9] The film managed to remain at the third spot at the box office in its second week, before dropping to fifth place in its third week.[41]
Internationally, the film also opened in first place in Russia andUkraine, earning $1.5 million in Russia with 329 venues and $179,000 in Ukraine at 64 locations. The gross in the opening weekends for the two countries was 10% and 11%, respectively, bigger than the opening forBruce Almighty.[39] Altogether, the film earned $173,418,781 worldwide with $100,462,298 in the U.S. and $72,956,483 in the international box office.[42]
Evan Almighty received generally negative reviews from critics. OnRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 24%, based on 194 reviews, with an average rating of 4.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Big on special effects but short on laughs,Evan Almighty underutilizes a star-studded cast that includes Steve Carell and Morgan Freeman."[43] OnMetacritic, the film has aweighted average score of 37 out of 100, based on reviews from 33 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[44] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[45]
CriticRichard Roeper commendedJim Carrey for declining to reprise his role in "three of the worst sequels of all time", which includedDumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd,Son of the Mask andEvan Almighty. He continued: "Evan Almighty is a paper-thin alleged comedy with a laugh drought of biblical proportions, and a condescendingly simplistic spiritual message."[46] Several reviewers credit Carell's performance to significantly improving the humor of the film.[47][48]Peter Travers ofRolling Stone gave it 1 out of 4, calling it "shamelessly juvenile, pseudo-religious, mock-sincere" and "not that funny". He praised Carell "who projects the movie’s only sense of mischief. But it’s too little and too late."[49] He later included it on his list of the Worst Movies of 2007.[50]
BeforeEvan Almighty was released, it was nominated for "Best Summer Movie You Haven't Seen Yet" at the 2007MTV Movie Awards. Competing against seven other nominees, it lost toTransformers.[51] At theGolden Raspberry AwardsEvan Almighty was nominated for theWorst Prequel or Sequel, but lost toDaddy Day Camp.[52]
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Recipients | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Teen Choice Awards | Choice Movie Actor – Comedy | Steve Carell | Nominated |
| Choice Hissy Fit | Steve Carell | Nominated | ||
| Choice Scream | Steve Carell | Nominated | ||
| 2008 | Golden Raspberry Awards | Worst Prequel or Sequel | Nominated |
| Evan Almighty: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Various Artists | |
| Released | July 3, 2007 |
| Genre | Country,rock,CCM,dance |
| Label | Curb Records |
| Producer | Adam Anders,Matt Bronleewe, D.J. Butcher,Mike Curb, Chuck Howard,Dann Huff,Doug Johnson, Hal Ketchum, Jo Dee Messina, Kathy Nelson, Eric Pittarelli, Tom Shadyac |
| Singles from Evan Almighty | |
| |
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [53] |
Evan Almighty: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture debuted in 2007.[54] The soundtrack debuted on June 19, 2007.[55] "Revolution" was performed byRascal Flatts in the film.[56] Their version is not on the soundtrack, but it appears as a bonus track on their albumStill Feels Good.[57] Also not included on the soundtrack areElton John's 2006 hit, "Just Like Noah's Ark" of which only a little bit is heard during the start of building the ark, andJohn Mayer's "Waiting on the World to Change", used in the main ark-building montage. "Ready For a Miracle" was released as a single for the soundtrack by American country pop recording artist,LeAnn Rimes.
Rascal Flatts' version of "Revolution" peaked at number 57 on theHot Country Songs charts,[57] and "The Power of One" byBomshel reached number 52 on the same.
The soundtrack was nominated for aDove Award for Special Event Album of the Year at the39th GMA Dove Awards. The song "Be the Miracle" by Room for Two was also nominated for Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year while "Ready for a Miracle" byLeAnn Rimes won the Dove Award for Traditional Gospel Recorded Song of the Year.[58]
| No. | Title | Recording artist(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Ready for a Miracle" | LeAnn Rimes | 3:36 |
| 2. | "One Love" | Jo Dee Messina | 3:53 |
| 3. | "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?" | John Fogerty | 2:47 |
| 4. | "Walk on Water" | Blue County | 3:50 |
| 5. | "Spirit in the Sky" (withMikeschair) | Plumb | 3:24 |
| 6. | "The Power of One" | Bomshel | 4:33 |
| 7. | "Be the Miracle" | Room for Two | 2:17 |
| 8. | "God Makes Stars" | Hal Ketchum | 3:03 |
| 9. | "This Land Is Your Land" | The Mike Curb Congregation | 3:16 |
| 10. | "Never Give Up" | Tracy Edmond | 4:00 |
| 11. | "Revolution" | Blue County | 4:17 |
| 12. | "Revolution" | Stone Temple Pilots | 3:39 |
| 13. | "Sharp Dressed Man" | Jo Dee Messina | 3:49 |
| 14. | "Sharp Dressed Man" | ZZ Top | 4:15 |
| 15. | "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" | C+C Music Factory | 4:07 |
| 16. | "Have You Ever Seen The Rain?" | Creedence Clearwater Revival | 2:41 |
...Evan Almighty is being aggressively marketed to Christians and churches, including the Ark Almighty campaign on the side. Your movie has now become a part of that Christian marketing machine.
Universal could take some comfort in the fact that CinemaScore's sampling of the opening-weekend audience found that overall moviegoers awarded the movie an A-.
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