| Hulk | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Ang Lee |
| Screenplay by | |
| Story by | James Schamus |
| Based on | |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Frederick Elmes |
| Edited by | Tim Squyres |
| Music by | Danny Elfman |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures[1] |
Release date |
|
Running time | 138 minutes[4] |
| Country | United States[1] |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $137 million[5] |
| Box office | $245.3 million[5] |
Hulk (also known asThe Hulk) is a 2003 Americansuperhero film based on theMarvel Comicscharacter of the same name, created byStan Lee andJack Kirby. Produced byUniversal Pictures in association withMarvel Enterprises,Valhalla Motion Pictures, andGood Machine, and distributed by Universal, it was directed byAng Lee and written byJohn Turman,James Schamus, andMichael France, from a story conceived by Schamus. The film starsEric Bana as Bruce Banner and Hulk, alongsideJennifer Connelly,Sam Elliott,Josh Lucas, andNick Nolte. The film explores Bruce Banner's origins. After a lab accident involvinggamma radiation, he transforms into a giant green-skinned humanoid withsuperhuman strength known as the Hulk whenever stressed or emotionally provoked. TheUnited States military pursues him, and he clashes with his biological father, who has dark plans for his son.
Development started in 1990. At one time,Joe Johnston and thenJonathan Hensleigh were to direct. Hensleigh, John Turman,Michael France,Zak Penn,J. J. Abrams,Michael Tolkin,David Hayter, andScott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski wrote more scripts before Ang Lee andJames Schamus's involvement. The project was filmed primarily inCalifornia from March to August 2002, mainly in theSan Francisco Bay Area.
Hulk was released byUniversal Pictures on June 20, 2003. The film grossed $245.4 million worldwide and received mixed reviews upon release, with reviewers praising the cast's performances and Lee's directing but criticising the slow pace and length. It has since received retrospective praise for its departure from conventional comic book film tropes. A planned sequel which would have been released in May 2005 was repurposed as a reboot titledThe Incredible Hulk and released on June 13, 2008, as thesecond film in theMarvel Cinematic Universe.
Governmentalgenetics researcherDavid Banner tries improving human DNA. His supervisor, ColonelThaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, forbids human experimentation, so David experiments on himself. His wife, Edith, soon gives birth to their son,Bruce Banner. David realizes Bruce inherited his mutant DNA and attempts to find a cure. After discovering his experiments, Ross shuts down David's research; David rigs Desert Base's gamma reactor to explode as revenge. Believing he is dangerous, David tries to kill Bruce but accidentally murders Edith when she gets between them; the trauma makes Bruce suppress his early childhood memories. Ross arrests and sends David to a mental hospital, putting the four-year-old Bruce into foster care. Mrs. Krenzler adopts him, and Bruce assumes the surname, growing up believing his birth parents are dead.
As an adult, Bruce becomes a scientist at theBerkeley Lab with his girlfriend and Ross's estranged daughter,Betty Ross. Representing the private research company Atheon, the shadyGlenn Talbot becomes interested in the scientists'nanomeds research to create regenerating soldiers for themilitary-industrial complex. David reappears as a janitor in the lab building to infiltrate Bruce's life. The now-general Ross investigates, becoming concerned for Betty's safety around Bruce.
Bruce saves a colleague named Harper from an accident with a malfunctioninggammasphere. Bruce wakes in a hospital bed and tells Betty he feels better than ever, but Betty cannot fathom his survival since the nanomeds killed everything else; unknown to them, the radiation merged with Bruce's altered DNA. Later, David meets Bruce, revealing their relationship and hinting at Bruce's mutation. He later uses samples of Bruce's DNA for animal experimentation. Bruce's increasing rage from the tensions around him activates his gamma-radiated DNA; he becomes theHulk and destroys the lab. Betty finds Bruce unconscious in his home the next morning, barely remembering the previous night. Ross arrives later to question Bruce before Betty locates David to investigate him. After hours of interrogation, Ross seizes the lab and places Bruce underhouse arrest. David calls Bruce that night, revealing he mutated his three dogs and sicced them on Betty, enraging him. Bemoaning the lab's destruction, Talbot attacks Bruce, who transforms, injuring Talbot and Ross'sMPs. The Hulk finds Betty at her forestcabin, saves her from the dogs, and changes back.
Betty calls Ross the following day; the army sedates and takes Bruce to Desert Base. Deeming him doomed to follow in David's footsteps, Ross doubts helping Bruce, but Betty persuades Ross to let her try. David subjects himself to the nanomeds and gammasphere, becoming able to meld with and absorb the properties of anything he touches. Talbot wrestles control from Ross, forcing Betty to return home. Seeking to profit from the Hulk's power, Talbot fails to provoke Bruce and puts him in anisolation tank. David confronts Betty at her house, offering to surrender himself yet asking to speak to Bruce "one last time". Talbot induces a nightmare from Bruce's repressed memories and triggers a transformation. Trapping the Hulk insticky foam, Talbot tries taking a sample of him, but the Hulk breaks free. Talbot is killed when he fires an explosive round that ricochets, and Ross resumes command. The Hulk escapes the base, battles the army in the desert, and leaps toSan Francisco to find Betty. She convinces Ross to take her to the Hulk, returning Bruce to normal.
Bruce and David talk at a base in the city while Ross watches, threatening to incinerate them. David has descended into megalomania, wanting Bruce's power to destroy his enemies. After Bruce refuses, David bites into ahigh-voltage cable when Ross powers it and absorbs the energy, mutating into a powerful electrical entity. Bruce becomes the Hulk and fights and overpowers him; they are presumed dead after Ross orders a Gamma Charge Bomb to end the battle. A year later, Ross has Betty under constant surveillance, as many Hulk sightings get reported. In exile in theAmazon rainforest, Bruce is alive as a medical camp doctor. His camp gets overrun by soldiers who try to steal their supplies. After Bruce unsuccessfully warns their commander not to make him angry, the Hulk bellows in rage.
Stan Lee, who co-created Hulk, andLou Ferrigno, who portrayed the character in the1970s series, makecameo appearances assecurity guards.Johnny Kastl andDaniel Dae Kim have small roles as soldiers.
ProducersAvi Arad andGale Anne Hurd began developingHulk in 1990,[19] the same year of the airing of the final television film based onthe 1970s television series,The Death of the Incredible Hulk. They set the property up atUniversal Pictures in 1992.[20]Michael France andStan Lee were invited into Universal's offices in 1993, with France writing the script. Universal's concept was to have theHulk battleterrorists, an idea France disliked. John Turman, a Hulk comic book fan, was brought to write the script in 1994, getting Lee's approval. Heavily influenced by theTales to Astonish issues, Turman wrote ten drafts and pitted the Hulk against General Ross, the military, and theLeader, also includingRick Jones and the atomic explosion origin from the comics along withBrian Banner as the explanation for Bruce's inner anger.[21][22][23] Universal had mixed feelings over Turman's script, but future screenwriters would use many elements.[21][24]
Hurd brought her husbandJonathan Hensleigh as co-producer the following year, and Universal hiredIndustrial Light & Magic (ILM) to create the Hulk withCGI. Universal was courting France once more to write the screenplay[9] but changed whenJoe Johnston became the director in April 1997.[25] The studio wanted Hensleigh to rewrite the script due to his successful results on Johnston'sJumanji (1995). Universal fired France before he wrote a single page but gave him a buy-off.[9] Johnston dropped out of directing in July 1997 in favor ofOctober Sky (1999), and Hensleigh convinced Universal to make theHulk his directing debut. Universal brought Turman back a second time to write two more drafts.Zak Penn then rewrote it.[9][26] His script featured a fight between the Hulk and a school of sharks,[22] and two scenes he eventually used for the 2008 film: Banner realizing he cannot have sex, and triggering a transformation by falling out of a helicopter.[27] Hensleigh rewrote from scratch, coming up with a brand new storyline featuring Bruce Banner, who, before the accident which turns him into the Hulk, experiments with gamma-irradiated insect DNA on three convicts, transforming them into "insect men" that cause havoc.[9][28][29]
Filming was to start in December 1997 inArizona for a mid 1999 release, but filming was pushed back for four months.[28][30] Hensleigh subsequently rewrote the script withJ. J. Abrams.Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski were also brought on board to rewrite, with Hensleigh still attached as director.[9] In October 1997,[31][32][33]Hulk had enteredpre-production with the creation ofprosthetic makeup andcomputer animation already underway.Gregory Sporleder was cast as "Novak", Banner's archenemy, while Lynn Williams was cast as a convict who transforms into a combination of human, ant, and beetle.[30] In March 1998, Universal putHulk onhiatus due to its escalating $100 million budget and worries of Hensleigh directing his first film. $20 million was already spent on script development, computer animation, and prosthetics work. Hensleigh immediately went to rewrite the script to reduce the budget.[34]
Hensleigh found the rewriting process too complicated and resigned, saying he "wasted nine months inpre-production".[35] It took another eight months for France to convince Universal and the producers to let him try to write a script for the third time. France claimed, "Someone within the Universal hierarchy wasn't sure if this was ascience fictionadventure, or acomedy, and I kept getting directions to write both. I think that at some point when I wasn't in the room, there may have been discussions about turning it into aJim Carrey orAdam Sandler movie."[9] France was writing the script on the fast track from July—September 1999. Filming forHulk was to start in April 2000.[36][37]
France stated his vision of the film was different from the other drafts, which based Bruce Banner on his "amiable,nerdy genius" incarnation in the 1960s. France cited inspiration from the 1980sHulk stories, which introducedBrian Banner, Bruce's abusive father who killed his mother. His script had Banner trying to create cells with regenerative capabilities to convince himself that he is not like his father.[9] However, he hasanger management issues before the Hulk is born, which makes everything worse. The "Don't make me angry..." line from the 1970s television series became the dialogue that Banner's father would say before beating his son.[38] Elements such as the "Gammasphere", Bruce and Betty's tragic romance, and theblack ops made it to the final film. France turned in his final drafts in late 1999 – January 2000.[9]
Michael Tolkin andDavid Hayter rewrote the script even after the producers' positive response to France's script. Tolkin was brought in January 2000, and Universal brought Hayter in September. Hayter's draft features theLeader,Zzzax, andAbsorbing Man as the villains, who are depicted as Banner's colleagues and get caught in the same accident that creates the Hulk.[9][16][39] DirectorAng Lee and his producing partnerJames Schamus became involved with the film on January 20, 2001.[40] Lee chose not to directTerminator 3: Rise of the Machines and instead began work on the film.[41] He was dissatisfied with Hayter's script and commissioned Schamus for a rewrite, merging Banner's father with the Absorbing Man.[9][42] Lee cited influences fromKing Kong,Frankenstein,Jekyll and Hyde,Beauty and the Beast,Faust, andGreek mythology to interpret the story.[43] Schamus said he had found the storyline that introduced Brian Banner, allowing Lee to write a drama that again explored father-son themes.[44]
Schamus was still rewriting the script in October 2001.[6] In early 2002, as filming was underway, France read all the scripts for theWriters Guild of America to determine who would get final credit. France criticized Schamus and Hayter for claiming they were aiming to make Banner a more in-depth character, saddened they had denigrated his and Turman's work in interviews. Schamus elected to get solo credit. France said, "James Schamus did a significant amount of work on the screenplay. For example, he brought in the Hulk dogs from the comics and he made the decision to use Banner's father as a real character in the present. But he used quite a lot of elements from John Turman's scripts and quite a lot from mine, and that's why we were credited."[9][45][46] France, Turman, and Schamus received final credit. In December 2001, a theatrical release date for June 20, 2003, was announced, with the title ofThe Hulk.[47] Schamus admitted that he was worried about making the film after seeingSpider-Man (2002).[48]
Filming began on March 18, 2002, in Arizona and moved on April 19 to theSan Francisco Bay Area. Locations includedAdvanced Light Source,Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory,Oakland,Treasure Island military base, and the sequoia forests ofPorterville, before several weeks in theUtah andCalifornia deserts. The penultimate battle scene between Hulk and his father used the real Pear Lake inSequoia National Park as a backdrop. Filming then moved to the Universal backlot inLos Angeles, using Stage 12 for the water tank scene, and finished in the first week of August. Filming ofHulk constituted hiring 3,000 local workers, generating over $10 million in the local economy.[49][50][51][52]Mychael Danna, who previously collaborated with Lee onRide with the Devil (1999) andThe Ice Storm (1997), was set to compose thefilm score before dropping out.Danny Elfman was then hired.[53]
Eric Bana commented that the shoot was "Ridiculously serious... a silent set, morbid in a lot of ways." Lee told him that he was shooting a Greek tragedy and that he would be making a "whole other movie" about the Hulk atIndustrial Light & Magic. An example of Lee'sarthouse approach to the film was taking Bana to watch abare-knuckle boxing match. Bana would later disfavorably reflect on his experience making the film as the majority of the time he was working indoors while the rest of the cast interacted with a CGI recreation of the Hulk, somewhat limiting his screen time.[44][54]Computer animation supervisorDennis Muren was on the set every day.[19] One of the many visual images that presented an acting challenge for Bana was Lee'ssplit-screen technique to mimic comic book page panels cinematically. This technique required many more takes of individual scenes than usual.[55] Muren and other ILM animators utilized previous technology originally used for theDobby character fromHarry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) to create the Hulk withcomputer-generated imagery. Additional software includedPowerAnimator,Softimage 3D,Softimage XSI, andPixar'sRenderMan. ILM started computer animation work in 2001 and completed it in May 2003, just one month before the film's release.[56] Lee provided somemotion capture work inpost-production.[7]Gary Rydstrom handledsound design atSkywalker Sound.[57][58]
Danny Elfman composed thefilm score forHulk as a replacement forMychael Danna, whose score was rejected by the studio executives because it had a non-traditional approach and did not suit the film's tone.[59] Elfman's involvement was confirmed nearly three months ahead of the film's release; he composed over two hours of music within 37 days.[60] The soundtrack album was released on June 17, 2003, byDecca Records; the album features Elfman's score as well as the song "Set Me Free" byVelvet Revolver, which plays during the end credits.[61]
A 70-secondteaser trailer debuted in theaters with the release ofSpider-Man on May 3, 2002.[62] This trailer was later attached to the home video releases ofThe Scorpion King.[63] Universal Pictures spent $2.1 million to market the film in a 30-secondtelevision spot duringSuper Bowl XXXVII on January 26, 2003, whch featured the song; "We Luv U".[64] A new trailer would premiere on February 14, 2003, in front ofDaredevil's screenings.[65] Another trailer debuted on May 2, 2003 with the opening ofX2.[66] Just weeks before the film's release, severalworkprints leaked on the Internet. Universal launched an investigation for who was responsible for the leak. The public already criticized the story, the visual and special effects, although it was not the film's final editing cut.[67][68] The film received a novelization written byHulk comic writer,Peter David.[69]A tie-in video game was developed byRadical Entertainment and released byVivendi Universal Games on May 28, 2003, and features a narrative that acts as a sequel to the film.[70][71]
For the promotional campaign, Universal hiredNabisco,Post Consumer Brands,Pepsi,Hershey's,Kraft Foods,Conagra Brands,Glad, andSnack Foods Limited.[72]
Hulk was released onVHS andDVD on October 28, 2003.[73] The DVD includes behind-the-scenes footage, enhanced viewing options that allow users to manipulate a 3-D Hulk model, and cast and crew commentaries.[74] The film earned $61.2 million in DVD sales during 2003.[75]Hulk was released onHD DVD on December 12, 2006, onBlu-ray on September 16, 2008,[76] and onUltra HD Blu-ray on July 9, 2019.[77]
Hulk was released on June 20, 2003, grossing $24.3 million during its opening day. On its second day of release, it made $21.3 million. The film then earned $62.1 million in its opening weekend, which made it the 16th highest-ever opener at the time.[78] It managed to top the box office upon opening, beating outFinding Nemo.[79] Moreover, it surpassedAustin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me to score the biggest June opening weekend.[80] That record would last until 2004 when it was surpassed byHarry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.[81]Hulk went on to score the fourth-highest opening weekend for a Universal film, behindThe Lost World: Jurassic Park,The Mummy Returns, andBruce Almighty. It also achieved the fifth-highest opening weekend for a 2003 film, trailing only behind the latter film,Finding Nemo,X2, andThe Matrix Reloaded.[82] Also, the film joined2 Fast 2 Furious andBruce Almighty to become one of three Universal films to make $50 million opening weekends.[78] With a second-weekend drop of 70%, it was the first opener above $20 million to drop over 65%.[83] At the time, the film had the second-highest second weekend decline of any superhero film, behindSteel.[84] It eventually made $18.8 million during its second weekend, ranking in second place belowCharlie's Angels: Full Throttle.[85] The film grossed $132.2 million in North America on a budget of $137 million. It made $113.2 million in foreign countries, coming to a worldwide total of $245.4 million.[5] With a final North American gross of $132.2 million, it became the largest opener not to earn $150 million.[86]
Internationally,Hulk had box office runs in several countries. It made $3.1 million from five Asian countries during its opening weekend, scoring a Hong Kong opening of $700,000 while doublingGladiator. It grossed $122,000 in Malaysia, making it the country's second-highest opening of a Universal film, afterThe Lost World: Jurassic Park.[87] In the UK, the film had made $5.6 million during its opening weekend, combined with $2.1 million from previews.[88] In Mexico,Hulk became Universal's biggest opening in the country, generating $4.6 million and surpassingJurassic Park III.[89] In total, the international grosses include Argentina ($1.2 million), Australia ($6.4 million), France ($9.6 million), Germany ($4.1 million), Italy ($8 million), Japan ($7.6 million), Mexico ($11.6 million), South Korea ($2.5 million), Spain ($7.7 million), Taiwan ($3.7 million), and the United Kingdom ($13.9 million).[5]
Upon opening,Hulk received mixed reviews from critics.[90] Onreview aggregatorRotten Tomatoes,Hulk holds a 63% approval rating based on 239 reviews and an average rating of 6.2/10. The website's critics' consensus reads, "While Ang Lee's ambitious film earns marks for style and an attempt at dramatic depth, there's ultimately too much talking and not enough smashing."[91]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 54 out of 100 based on 40 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[92] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.[93]
Roger Ebert ofThe Chicago Sun-Times gave a positive review and ratedHulk three stars out of four, explaining, "Ang Lee is trying to actually deal with the issues in the story of the Hulk, instead of simply cutting to brainlessvisual effects." Ebert also liked the performances, the innovative editing, and appreciated how the Hulk's movements resembled the stop-motion effects in the 1930s filmKing Kong.[94] AlthoughPeter Travers ofRolling Stone feltHulk should have been shorter, he heavily praised the action sequences, especially theclimax andcliffhanger.[95]Paul Clinton ofCNN believed the cast gave strong performances, but in an otherwise positive review, criticized thecomputer-generated imagery, calling the Hulk "a ticked-off version ofShrek".[96]
Mick LaSalle of theSan Francisco Chronicle considered "the film is more thoughtful and pleasing to the eye than any blockbuster in recent memory, but its epic length comes without an epic reward."[97]Ty Burr ofThe Boston Globe felt "Jennifer Connelly reprises her stand-by-your-messed-up-scientist turn fromA Beautiful Mind."[98] Lisa Schwarzbaum ofEntertainment Weekly stated, "a big-budget comic-book adaptation has rarely felt so humorless and intellectually defensive about its own pulpy roots."[99]
Hulk received retrospective praise from critics for its artistic difference from other superhero films such as those by Marvel and DC comics. In 2012,Matt Zoller Seitz cited it as one of the few big-budget superhero films that "really departed from formula, in terms of subject matter or tone", writing that the film is "pretty bizarre... in its old-school Freudian psychology, but interesting for that reason".[100] In Scout Tafoya's 2016 video essay on another film directed by Ang Lee,Ride with the Devil, he mentionedHulk as "Lee's ill-fated but quietly soulful and deeply sad adaptation ofThe Incredible Hulk comics".[101] In 2018, Peter Sobczynski ofRogerEbert.com wrote that the film is "a genuinely great example of cinematic pop art that deserves a reappraisal".[102] One article calls it a "road not taken" in comic book adaptations. The author praisedPopeye,Dick Tracy, andHulk for their use of comic techniques such as "masking,paneling, andpage layout" in ways theDC Extended Universe andMarvel Cinematic Universe do not.[103]
Connelly andDanny Elfman received nominations at the30th Saturn Awards withBest Actress andBest Music. The film was nominated forBest Science Fiction Film but lost out toX2, another film based on Marvel characters.Dennis Muren,Michael Lantieri, and thespecial effects crew were nominated forBest Special Effects.[104]
| Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30th Saturn Awards | Best Science Fiction Film | Hulk | Nominated |
| Best Actress | Jennifer Connelly | Nominated | |
| Best Music | Danny Elfman | Nominated | |
| Best Special Effects | Dennis Muren,Michael Lantieri | Nominated |
In March 2002, during filming forHulk, producerAvi Arad targeted a May 2005 theatrical release date for a sequel.[105] Upon the film's release, screenwriterJames Schamus started to plan a sequel featuring Hulk's Grey Hulk persona and considered using theLeader and theAbomination as villains.[106] Marvel asked for Abomination's inclusion to be an actual threat to Hulk, unlike General Ross.[107] Schamus envisioned the sequel to take place on aNative American reservation and stating it was "Very radioactive and very political". He would later walked away from the project.[108] The project ultimately never launched due to Universal’s failure to meet the 2004 deadline to begin filming.
In January 2006,Marvel Studios reacquired the film rights to the character, and writerZak Penn began work on a sequel titledThe Incredible Hulk.[109] However,Edward Norton rewrote Penn's script after signing on to star, retelling the origin story in flashbacks and revelations, to establish the film as areboot; directorLouis Leterrier agreed with this approach.[110] Leterrier acknowledged that the only remaining similarity between the two films was Bruce hiding in South America.[111]
In 2021, amid the rumors ofTobey Maguire andAndrew Garfield returning to reprise their roles inSpider-Man: No Way Home which later turned out to be true, Bana was interviewed by Jake Hamilton to promote his new filmThe Dry (2020). When asked if he would be willing to reprise his role as his version of Bruce Banner in a future MCU project alongsideMark Ruffalo's version of the character, Bana replied:
When I went and did that film, I mean, that was kind of, like, pre-Marvel universe, right? That universe didn't even really exist. So, it always just felt like a one-time film for me, y'know? That world of, 'You go off and do a movie and there are gonna be sequels and you're going to be doing it for a bit.' That, actually, that framework didn't even exist back then. So I guess the answer, the short answer, is no, I never felt like it was something I was going to reprise or do again and I still feel, I mean after all this time, that's definitely... yeah, I can't see that happening.[112]
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