Jumper

Monday, June 15, 2009

Jumper

Promotional movie poster
Directed byDoug Liman
Produced bySimon Kinberg
Lucas Foster
Jay Sanders
Stacy Maes
Written byDavid S. Goyer
Jim Uhls
Simon Kinberg
(screenplay)
Steven Gould
(novel)
StarringHayden Christensen
Jamie Bell
Samuel L. Jackson
Rachel Bilson
Michael Rooker
Diane Lane
AnnaSophia Robb
Max Thieriot
Teddy Dunn
Kristen Stewart
Jesse James
Music byJohn Powell
CinematographyBarry Peterson
Editing bySaar Klein
Distributed by20th Century Fox
New Regency Productions
Release date(s)February 14, 2008 (U.S.)
Running time84 min.
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
BudgetUSD$85 million[1]
Gross revenueWorldwide
$221,231,186

Jumper is a 2008 science fiction film from 20th Century Fox and New Regency Productions. It is loosely based on the 1992 science fictionnovel of the same name by Steven Gould. The film is directed by Doug Liman, director of The Bourne Identity and Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and starsHayden Christensen, Samuel L. Jackson, Rachel Bilson, Jamie Bell, Max Thieriot, AnnaSophia Robb, and Diane Lane. The film follows a person capable of teleporting to any location as he is chased by a secret group intent on killing him.

The script went through a rewrite prior to filming and the roles for the main characters were changed during production. Jumper was filmed in 20 cities in 14 countries between 2006 and 2007. The film was released on February 14, 2008 and a soundtrack was released on February 19. The film held the first position in its opening weekend with $27.3 million, despite mostly negative reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoesrecorded a 16% approval rating and 35/100 on Metacritic. Several novels were developed as tie-ins to the film along with a video game for theXbox 360, PlayStation 2, and Wii consoles, named Jumper: Griffin's Story. The DVD was released on June 10, 2008, and both Christensen and Liman have spoken of one or more sequels.

[edit]Plot

David Rice a 15-year-old student in Ann Arbor, Michigan, lives with his alcoholic father, William, since his mother, Mary, left when he was five. After falling into a frozen river while recovering a snow globe for Millie, a girl he likes, David discovers he has the ability to "jump", afterteleporting to a library. He decides to leave his father and with the ability to teleport anywhere, he moves to New York where he uses his power to rob banks and casinos.

Eight years later, David lives a luxurious life from his penthouse apartment, its walls covered with pictures of places around the world which he "jumps" to on a daily basis. However, a lead from his first bank robbery has directed Roland Cox to David, who knows of his ability and has the technology to disable him, using electrified restraints. However, as Roland believes someone is protecting David, he hesitates in killing him, and David escapes.

David returns to Ann Arbor and seeks out Millie. But his high school nemesis Mark recognizes him and he and David get into a fight. Once out of sight of the onlookers, David teleports Mark to the bank vault in New York City, and returns. He invites Millie to join him on a trip to Rome, which she accepts. The two arrive in the city and start sightseeing. David uses his abilities to gain them access to the closed Colosseum, but runs into another Jumper, Griffin, who has been watching David for some time. Griffin explains that his flagrant jumping has attracted attention, and two of Roland's associates appear. The ensuing battle displays both Griffin's Jumping talent and the hunters' ability to sense Jumps, but Griffin is victorious, welcoming David to "the war" with a short explanation. Roland is the leader of the "Paladins", a secret society dedicated to killing Jumpers. Griffin has been fighting them for much of his life.

David is caught by the police and arrested. David's mother shortly arrives and helps David get free, telling him he has little time, but does not give David any time to ask questions. David goes to find Millie, who is highly suspicious of David's behavior, but he does not reveal his jumping ability, and puts her aboard a plane back home while he goes to Griffin for further investigation. At Griffin's desert lair, Griffin explains to David about the Paladins, and tells him how he has been on a personal mission to kill them after they killed his parents. Griffin then tells David to leave him alone. Griffin then makes a series of 'jumps' with David following him. Griffin decides to work with David, he steals a car and 'jumps' it through the glass window of the shop. He and David then ride along in the speeding car 'jumping' the car to avoid crashing. He also 'jumps' the car approximately 70ft into the air for fun.

David, realizing that the Paladins will go after his father and Millie in order to get to him, quickly jumps back to Ann Arbor to find his father mortally wounded;'jumps' his father to a hospital; Roland had used the appearance of Mark in the bank vault to trace David to Ann Arbor. David jumps to Millie's apartment to find that Roland and his team are just arriving. Before Roland can react, David grabs Millie and returns the two of them to Griffin's lair.

Griffin, who has been arming himself to fight Roland, is furious with David, because the Paladins have a device that permits them to reopen and traverse the short-lived "jump scar" wake left by a Jumper's teleportation—David has just led Roland right to Griffin's lair. A battle ensues between the Jumpers and Paladins, but Griffin is able to drive the Paladins back to Millie's apartment with a flame thrower, though they grab Millie through the scar before it closes. Griffin plans to teleport a bomb to the apartment, but David tries to stop him to save Millie; the two begin a world-spanning fight, but David eventually traps Griffin in a downed pylon in the middle of a firefight in Chechnya, leaving Griffin's fate unknown.

David jumps to Millie's apartment and is quickly caught by the Paladins. Risking his life, David manages to teleport a section of the apartment to a nearby river, including Millie and Roland, shorting out the Paladin's electrical equipment, but falls unconscious in the process. However, they are then teleported by undisclosed means to the library where David made his first jump. David recovers first, grabs Roland and teleports him to a cave high above the Grand Canyon. Sometime later, David and Millie travel to Mary's home, and David learns that he has a sister but her name is not mentioned and confirms that Mary is, in fact, a Paladin. She left to avoid having to kill her own son when David was five when he made his first (initially unremembered) jump. She claims it was a necessity, says she loves him gives him a "head start" before she must hunt him down. David and Millie then jump to an unknown warmer location.

[edit]Cast

Rachel Bilson and Hayden Christensen filming in Rome in November 2006

[edit]Production

[edit]Script and storyboards

In November 2005, New Regency Productions hired director Doug Liman to helm the film adaptation of the science fiction novel Jumper by Steven Gould. Screenwriter Jim Uhls was hired to rewrite an adapted screenplay by David S. Goyer.[2] However, Liman desired another rewrite and Simon Kinberg assisted in completing the script.[2] Liman said about using the novel for developing the script: "This is 100% Steven Gould's story, it's just reinvented as a movie."[3] In an interview with Steven Gould, he revealed that he approved of the deviations from the novel.[3] Before filming was to begin, the studio announced plans to develop a trilogy based on the novel's premise.[4]

While other films tend to use only one storyboard artist, Jumper required six artists who each worked on an individual action sequence. The artists were given specific instruction on the rules of the teleportation used in the film, to ensure accuracy in the storyboarding. One artist reflected on the instructions: "I was just thinking, 'How would a guy that can teleport fight?' So you were really pushing yourself to try to think of inventive, cool, spectacular ways that you could use this jumping talent that these characters have."[5]

[edit]Casting

In April 2006, actors Tom Sturridge, Teresa Palmer, and Jamie Bell were cast for Jumper with Sturridge in the lead role (who won the role over Heath Ledger, Devon Sawa, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Jared Padalecki).[6] The following July, actor Samuel L. Jackson was cast in Jumper as an NSA agent, with producer Simon Kinberg rewriting the original screenplay draft by Goyer. Principal photography was scheduled to take place in Tokyo, Rome, Toronto, and New York.[7] Production was stopped in June 2006 after producer Tom Rothman told Liman "The lead is 18. Wouldn't the movie be better if he was 25? You have a huge movie here and adults won't go and see an 18-year-old. They'll consider it a children's movie. You could make a bigger movie than that."[8] Liman agreed on casting older actors for furthering the romantic aspect of the film.[9] In August, actor Hayden Christensen replaced Sturridge in the lead role as David just two weeks before the beginning of shooting, as the studio "became concerned about not having a more prominent actor in their trio of young stars."[10] Rapper Eminem was also considered for the role.[11] After Christensen was recast for the lead role, Liman replaced Palmer with Rachel Bilson.[8]

[edit]Filming

“We'd walk in at dawn with the sun coming up so Doug could get the light he wanted, and it was just beautiful, not a soul in there.”

—Hayden Christensen, reflecting on filming in the Colosseum[9]

In September 2006, Jumper was filmed at various locations in Peterborough, Ontario and principal photography began inToronto in October.[2][12] In December 2006, Liman negotiated with the Rome Film Commission for rare access to film for three days in the Colosseum. The scene in the Colosseum was originally written for the Pantheon, at which exterior shots were also filmed. The crew was required to keep equipment off the ground by using harnesses and had to rely on natural light for filming.[13] Filming took place for 45 minutes in the morning and in the evening so as not to disturb the public touring the amphitheater throughout the day.[14] In order to maximize the short period for filming, four steadicams were set up to ensure time was not wasted in reloading the camera.[8] A visual effects supervisor explained how visual effects were needed for various aspects after filming: "There were three kinds of shots: there were shots where they were able to get most of what they needed in the Coliseum itself; and then there were shots on a set that needed extensions beyond the limits of the set; and then there were shots where we needed to create the Coliseum basically from scratch."[15]

After filming in Rome, scenes were filmed in Toronto during December 2006 to January 2007 and wrapped at the Canadian location on January 19. On January 26 in Toronto, 56-year-old David Ritchie, a set dresser, was fatally struck by frozen debris while dismantling an outdoor set in wintry conditions.[2][16] Another worker was injured and was sent to a hospital with serious head and shoulder injuries.[17] After Toronto, the cast and crew traveled to Tokyo to film scenes. One scene required over 30 shoots as the scene could only be filmed in between traffic light changes.[8] As a result of director Liman insisting Christensen perform his own stunts, the actor injured his hand, split open his ear, and developed a hyperdilated pupil that required hospital care while filming various scenes.[9][18]

In February 2007, the next filming site was set up at Gallup Park in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Sixty students from the nearby Huron High School were cast as extras for the film.[19] Since additional filming was required of the area, twenty other students were used for a day of filming in September.[20] Altogether, filming took place in 20 cities in 14 countries.[21]

[edit]Visual effects

The New Zealand visual effects studio Weta Digital was initially selected to assist in creating a preview clip for the 2007 Comic-Con Convention.[15] The studio's 100 employees later developed the visual effects for 300 of the 600 shots in the film.[9][15][22] In total, there are more than 100 jumps in the film, and each jump was modified based on the distance and location the character(s) jumped.[23] The jumps were developed using Nuke and Shake.[15] Many of the shots, including those of Big Ben and the Sphinx were created using the program Maya.[23]Weta's VFX supervisor Erik Winquist explained how the visual effects of the jumps were created: "The concept of what a jump looks like changed and evolved a little over the course of post production. There are shots in the film that use still array footage but not in the same way that we saw in The Matrix. The Matrix was largely about stopping time whereas this was about using slow shutter speeds on those still array cameras to end up with a streaky motion-blurred image as the perspective was changing, which is a pretty interesting look."[23] Other visual effects studios that assisted with the film include Hydraulx, Digital Domain, and Pixel Magic.[15]

[edit]Critical reception

The film received widespread criticism and poor reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 16% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 156 reviews — the consensus was "An erratic action pic with little coherence and lackluster special effects."[24] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 35 out of 100, based on 36 reviews.[25] Austin Chronicle's Marc Salov called the film "...pretty slick, entertaining stuff, well-crafted by Liman, edited into a tight, action-packed bundle of nerviness."[26] Edward Douglas of ComingSoon.net wrote that the film was "An impressive feat as a vehicle for Doug Liman to pull out the stops with some of the most jaw-dropping stunts shot in some of the most amazing locations on earth."[27] Jules Brenner of Cinema Signals gave the film a negative review, stating "...by mid way, you wish the jumper were you. Teleporting yourself to the outer lobby would be far enough."[28] Dustin Putman of TheMovieBoy.com also presented a negative review of the film, "With no one to root for, no adequate story development, and action scenes that are the epitome of underwhelming, Jumper is a lost cause."[29]

[edit]Box office performance

The film was released Thursday, February 14, 2008 in the United States and Canada, in the hopes of pulling in business on Valentine's Day.[30] The film was targeted at an audience of both males and females below the age of 25.[1] Jumper grossed $27.3 million on 4,600 screens in 3,428 theaters from Friday to Sunday, ranking first for the weekend at the box office.[1][31] In its first weekend, the film set the record for the largest February release in Korea and had the first place position in 11 of the 30 markets it was released in.[32] For the first two weekends of its release, the film maintained its number one position in international markets, while slipping to the second position in the United States to the release of Vantage Point.[33] The film's worldwide gross is $221,231,186 with $80,172,128 from the domestic box office and $142,059,058 from foreign markets.[34] It was the 28th highest-grossing film worldwide for 2008.[35]

[edit]Novel tie-ins

Steven Gould, the author of Jumper and Reflex also wrote Jumper: Griffin's Story as a tie-in for the film. The novel, released on August 21, 2007, focuses on the character Griffin which was created by screenwriter David Goyer specifically for the film. Because Griffin had not appeared in the two prior novels, Gould developed Jumper: Griffin's Story as a backstory of the character's early childhood before the film. When writing the novel, Gould had to work closely with a producer of the film to ensure that the story did not conflict with the film's premise.[36]

Oni Press released a graphic novel that portrays several back stories related to the film titled Jumper: Jumpscars.[37] The novel was released on February 13, 2008, one day before the film's wide release. A publisher for Oni Press commented on the tie-in to the film, stating: "The world that was being built around these characters was so well-realized and the mythology so interesting that other stories about this conflict would be plentiful and add to what the filmmakers were building."[37] The novel was written by Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir and illustrated by Brian Hurtt.

[edit]Soundtrack

Jumper: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Film score by John Powell
ReleasedFebruary 19, 2008
LabelLakeshore Records
Professional reviews

The score for the film was released on February 19, 2008, after the film's release in theaters. The tracks were all written by John Powell. The music was conducted by Brett Weymark and performed by The Sydney Scoring Orchestra.[38]

[edit]Video game release

A video game titled Jumper: Griffin's Story was made for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, and Wii consoles. The storyline focuses on the character Griffin as he attempts to avenge the death of his parents. Nicholas Longano of the video game publisher Brash Entertainmentstated, "From the very first script read, we knew this had to be made into a game. The teleportation elements make for some very compelling gameplay."[39] The game was released on February 12, 2008, two days before the film's wide release.[40] Game Rankings gave the Xbox 360 version of the game a 29% positive rating, based on 13 reviews.[41] The PlayStation 2 version received a 35% positive rating while the Wii version had a 23% positive rating.[41] Daemon Hatfield of IGN reviewed the Xbox 360 version and gave it a negative review: "Low production values, monotonous gameplay, and lackluster visuals make this a story you can jump past."[42]

[edit]Home media release

The film was released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD in North America on June 10, 2008 and internationally on June 16.[43] Special features include a commentary, deleted scenes, an animated graphic novel, featurettes, and a digital copy allowing consumers to watch the film on portable devices.[43]

[edit]Sequel

Prior to the film's release, Hayden Christensen reflected on the possibility of one or more sequels: "This has definitely been set up in a way that will allow for more films, and Doug has been careful to make sure that he's created characters that will have room to grow."[9] Lucas Foster during production of the film stated in an interview: "The ideas got so large, that they really couldn't fit into, you know, one or two movies, they needed to evolve over at least three movies. So we planned the story out over three movies and then we sliced it up in such a way as to leave room for the other two movies."[3] In response to the film's box office performance, Doug Liman has spoken of his ideas for a sequel. Among them are that Jumpers can reach other planets and travel in time, as well as their capacity for espionage. He has also stated that Rachel Bilson's character will learn how to jump (hinted by David falling unconscious before the jump from the river to the library), just as in Gould's sequel, Reflex.[44] In interviews that followed the release of film (as well as some of the featurettes on the DVD), Jamie Bell was critical of the finished product of Jumper, describing his frustration whilst they were shooting the film.[45]

[edit]References

  1. ^ a b c Gray, Brandon (February 18, 2008). "'Jumper' Teleports to the Top". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  2. ^ a b c d Roberts, Samuel (February 2008), "A Big Jump", SciFiNow: 36–40
  3. ^ a b c Jumper-"Jumping From Novel To Film: The Past, Present and Future of Jumper" (Special Feature). [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  4. ^ Fleming, Michael (November 10, 2005). "Liman in 'Jumper' suit". Variety. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  5. ^ Lytal, Cristy (February 10, 2008). ""Jumper" storyboard artist Rob McCallum draws on his comic book cred". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  6. ^ Snyder, Gabriel; Nicole Laporte (April 3, 2006). "'Jumper' gets hopping with trio". Variety. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  7. ^ Kit, Borys (July 10, 2006). "Jackson hops on 'Jumper'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  8. ^ a b c d Day, Aubrey (February 2008), "Leap of Faith", Total Film: 65–69
  9. ^ a b c d e Dan (February 2008), "Briefing: Jumper", Empire: 66–69
  10. ^ Sampson, Mike (August 11, 2006). "'Hayden in on Jumper'". JoBlo.com. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  11. ^ Carroll, Larry (February 14, 2008). "Eminem Almost Had Hayden Christensen's Role In 'Jumper'". www.mtv.com. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  12. ^ Laporte, Nicole; Gabriel Snyder (October 15, 2006). "Bilson joins 'Jumper'". Variety. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  13. ^ Kiefer, Peter (December 17, 2006). "'Oh My God, Can You Rent the Colosseum?'". The New York Times. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  14. ^ Edward, Douglast (February 13, 2008). "Spotlight on Jumper Director Doug Liman". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  15. ^ a b c d e McLean, Thomas (February 22, 2008). "Jumper: Using VFX to Disrupt Space and Time". VFXWorld. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  16. ^ Tillson, Tamsen (January 26, 2007). "Crew member killed on sci-fi film set". Variety. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  17. ^ Reuters (January 29, 2007). "Stagehand killed on set of Samuel Jackson film". MSNBC. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  18. ^ "Jumper role leaves Hayden battered". The Times of India. January 14, 2008. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  19. ^ McKee, Jenn (February 24, 2007). "And ... action! Film shot at bridge" (dead link). Ann Arbor News. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  20. ^ McKee, Jenn (February 10, 2008). "Extra credit: Local teens with bit parts in "Jumper" will see who made the cut at movie's debut this week" (dead link). Ann Arbor News. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  21. ^ Gaudin, Sharon (January 17, 2008). "Teleportation: The leap from fact to fiction in new movie Jumper". Computerworld. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  22. ^ Cardy, Tom (February 16, 2008). "Transforming a reluctant hero". The Dominion Post. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  23. ^ a b c Dawes, Bill (February 16, 2008). "Jumping Around with Weta". Fxguide. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  24. ^ "Jumper". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  25. ^ "Jumper (2008): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  26. ^ Salov, Marc (February 13, 2008). "Jumper". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  27. ^ Douglas, Edward (February 13, 2008). "Jumper". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  28. ^ Brenner, Jules (May 24, 2008). "Jumper". Cinema Signals. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  29. ^ Putman, Dustin (February 13, 2008). "Jumper". TheMovieBoy.com. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  30. ^ Goodman, Dean (February 17, 2008). "Jumper leaps to top of North American box office". Reuters. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  31. ^ "Jumper (2008) - Weekend Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  32. ^ Segers, Frank (February 18, 2008). "Fox's Jumper leaps to top of international chart with $28.2m in 30 markets". Screen International. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  33. ^ "Vantage Point tops US film chart". BBC News. February 25, 2008. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  34. ^ "Jumper". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  35. ^ "2008 Worldwide Grosses". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  36. ^ "Jumper Jumps From Film". www.SciFi.com. October 15, 2007]]. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  37. ^ a b CBR News Team (December 13, 2007). "Preview: "Jumper: Jumpscars" — Prequel to Upcoming Film". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  38. ^ "Jumper". SoundtrackNet. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  39. ^ Fritz, Ben (November 12, 2007). "Brash leaps on 'Jumper'". Variety. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  40. ^ "Brash Entertainment Announces Jumper Video Game". GamersHell.com. November 13, 2007. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  41. ^ a b "Jumper: Griffin's Story - X360". Game Rankings. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  42. ^ Hatfield, Daemon (February 26, 2008). "Brash leaps on 'Jumper'". IGN. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  43. ^ a b Epstein, Ronald (April 2, 2008). "Jumper". Home Theater Forum. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  44. ^ Frosty (February 13, 2008). "Director Doug Liman — Exclusive Interview — Jumper". GamersHell.com. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.
  45. ^ "Jumper Star Jamie Bell on Working With Nut Jobs". Maxim. June 10, 2008. Retrieved on May 5, 2009.

Posted by Didit Nurwantoro at 9:45 AM  

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