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{{short description|2008 film by Roland Emmerich}}
{{Infobox film
{{Infobox film
| name = 10,000 BC
| name = 10,000 BC
| image = Ten thousand b c.jpg
| image = Ten thousand b c.jpg
| caption = Promotional poster
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = [[Roland Emmerich]]
| director = [[Roland Emmerich]]
| producer = Roland Emmerich <br /> [[Mark Gordon]] <br /> [[Michael Wimer]]
| producer = Michael Wimer<br />Roland Emmerich<br />[[Mark Gordon (film)|Mark Gordon]]
| writer = Roland Emmerich <br /> Harald Kloser <br /> [[John Orloff]]
| writer = Roland Emmerich<br />[[Harald Kloser]]
| narrator = [[Omar Sharif]]
| starring = {{Plain list |
| starring = [[Steven Strait]]<br />[[Camilla Belle]]<br>[[Cliff Curtis]]
* [[Steven Strait]]
* [[Camilla Belle]]
* [[Cliff Curtis]]
}}
| music = [[Harald Kloser]]<br />[[Thomas Wander]]<br />[[James Seymour Brett]] (additional score)
| music = Harald Kloser<br />[[Thomas Wanker|Thomas Wander]]
| cinematography = [[Ueli Steiger]]
| cinematography = [[Ueli Steiger]]
| editing = Alexander Berner
| distributor = [[Warner Bros.|Warner Bros. Pictures]]
| studio = [[Legendary Entertainment|Legendary Pictures]]<br />[[Centropolis Entertainment]]
| released = '''Australia'''<br />March 6, 2008<br />'''United States<br /><small>wide release</small>'''<br />March 7, 2008
| runtime = 109 min.
| distributor = [[Warner Bros. Pictures]]
| country = {{filmUS}}
| released = {{Film date|2008|3|5}}
| language = [[English language|English]]
| runtime = 109 minutes
| country = United States
| language = English
| budget = $105 million
| budget = $105 million
| gross = '''Worldwide'''<br />$300,414,491
| gross = $269.8 million
}}
}}
'''''10,000 BC''''' is a {{fy|2008}} [[Cinema of the United States|American]] [[film]] from [[Warner Bros. Pictures]] set in the [[prehistory|prehistoric]] era, directed by [[Roland Emmerich]] and starring [[Steven Strait]] and [[Camilla Belle]]. The world premiere of the movie was held on February 10, 2008 at [[Potsdamer Platz]] in [[Berlin]].<ref>{{cite news | author=Welt Online | url=http://www.welt.de/berlin/article1725206/Emmerich_feiert_Start_seines_Steinzeit-Films.html | title=Emmerich feiert Start seines Steinzeit-Films (German)| publisher=[[Die Welt]] | date=[[2008-02-26]] | accessdate=2008-03-11 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | author=Hilary Whiteman | url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/03/03/emmerich.premiere/index.html | title= 10,000 BC: The premiere (English)| publisher=[[CNN]] | date=[[2008-03-03]] | accessdate=2008-03-11 }}</ref> General release was on March 7, 2008.<ref>{{cite news | author=imdb.com | url=http://imdb.com/title/tt0443649/ | title= 10,000 BC (2008) IMDb| publisher=[[IMDb]] | date=[[2008-03-06]] | accessdate=2008-03-11 }}</ref>


'''''10,000 BC''''' is a 2008 American [[action-adventure film]] co-written, co-produced and directed by [[Roland Emmerich]], co-written, co-scored, and executive produced by [[Harald Kloser]], and starring [[Steven Strait]] and [[Camilla Belle]]. The film depicts the journeys of a [[prehistoric]] tribe of [[mammoth]] hunters.
== Plot ==
In the year 10,000 BC, a tribe of hunter-gatherers called the Yagahl, who live on a remote mountain range, survive by killing [[Woolly Mammoth|mammoths]]. D'Leh, a young hunter, has a companion named Evolet, an orphan who was found by the tribe. D'Leh, while hunting mammoths, manages to kill one and wins the "White Spear," which is given to the killer of the mammoth. He also wins Evolet in marriage, but feels he deserves neither since he killed the mammoth by accident.


Despite the film being a box office success, it received negative reviews, being considered one of the worst films of 2008.<ref name="rt7">{{cite web|title=Tomato Picker 2008 films with <10% "fresh" ratings|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/browser.php?navsection=home&type=2&genre=&subgenre=&tomatometer=0%s&numreviews=&mpaa=&letter=&decade=2000s&year=&video_format=&title_search=&person_search=&plot_search=&sort=OrigReleaseYear+DESC&start_index=0&page=1|website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130201151404/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/movie/browser.php?navsection=home&type=2&genre=&subgenre=&tomatometer=0%2525s&numreviews=&mpaa=&letter=&decade=2000s&year=&video_format=&title_search=&person_search=&plot_search=&sort=OrigReleaseYear+DESC&start_index=0&page=1|archive-date=February 1, 2013|access-date=March 16, 2009}}</ref>
One day, D'Leh and several others are away when horse-raiders called the "Four Legged Demons" attack the Yaghal camp. The horse raiders enslave Evolet, and D'Leh, Tic'Tic, and Ka'Ren pursue them to save her. Baku, whose mother was killed during the raid, joins them later. They are attacked by [[Phorusrhacidae|terror birds]] in the jungle, along with the [[Oakland Raiders]]. In this encounter, Tic'Tic gets wounded and Baku and Ka'Ren are captured. D'Leh rescues Evolet, but she is later re-captured. Continuing on, they meet others whose loved ones were taken by the raiders. D'Leh and Tic'Tic befriend Nakudu, leader of the Naku tribe. He tells D'Leh of a prophecy: whoever talks to the [[saber-toothed cat|"Spear-Tooth"]] will help free their people. D'Leh had earlier saved a saber-toothed cat from drowning in a trap. The saber-tooth then spared his life, and he realizes the prophecy was about him. Nakudu explains that his loved ones were taken in the "Great Red Birds," or ships with large red sails, to the "Mountains of the Gods," from which no one has ever returned. They then come together with other tribes, who agree to form a coalition to pursue the raiders.


==Plot==
They find the ships with red sails holding Evolet and Baku. They have no means to follow the ships, so they journey through a vast desert, where they discover a relatively advanced civilization similar to [[ancient Egypt]], which is ruled by an enigmatic figure known as "The Almighty," who is said to be the last survivor of his kind. The Almighty, who is regarded as a living god, possesses many thousands of slaves that he is using to build a huge [[Giza pyramid complex|pyramid complex]] in his honor and possibly for his burial. D'Leh finds an escaped slave, and notices he is wearing a bracelet worn by D'Leh's father. D'Leh's father left his tribe for food and found the Naku tribe before being stolen by the raiders. In a night attack, the guards of the slaves discover D'Leh behind a [[Khafre's Pyramid|pyramid]]. Tic'Tic dies during the attack. Meanwhile, the Almighty's priests discover Evolet wears scars on her hand patterned after the "Mark of the Hunter," the brightest star in all of the heavens. The priests believe it is part of a prophecy that whoever wears the mark of the Hunter is destined to kill the Almighty. D'Leh starts a full-scale rebellion amongst the slaves. They cause the mammoth herd to stampede and kill a large number of troops.
<!-- Per [[MOS:FILMPLOT]], the plot summary should be 400–700 words. -->
In 10,000 [[Before Christ|BC]], a [[hunter-gatherer]] tribe called the Yagahl live in the [[Ural Mountains]]. They survived by hunting [[woolly mammoths]], but the animals have become more scarce. A hunter who single-handedly killed a manak and earned the White Spear venerates Old Mother, an elderly [[Neanderthal]] with [[shamanistic]] powers. The village chief finds a young girl named Evolet, the lone survivor of her village that was massacred by what Old Mother calls "four-legged demons," who will come when "the Yagahl go on their last hunt."


The tribe believes the demons are the mammoths and sets out to hunt the herd leader; however, the current chief does not trust the prophecy and leaves to find another way to save his people. He entrusts the White Spear, his young son D'Leh, and the true purpose of his quest to his friend Tic'Tic. The tribe's children ridicule D'Leh for his father's cowardice, and he seeks comfort from Evolet. The two begin to fall in love.
The Almighty offers Evolet to D'Leh in exchange for abandoning his rebellion. The Almighty says that if D'Leh takes his wife, his warriors can return, but the rest must be his slaves forever. D'Leh feigns acceptance of the deal which allows him to throw a spear at the Almighty and kill him, proving that he is not a god. During the ensuing battle, a raider kidnaps Evolet on horseback. Evolet grabs an arrow and stabs the warlord in the side, knocking them both off the horse. D'Leh rushes towards her, but the raider shoots her in the back. D'Leh kills the raider and returns to Evolet, and she dies in his arms. The scene shifts to the wise woman as she breathes in deeply and then breathes out her last breath. The scene then returns to D'Leh still holding Evolet's body when she suddenly awakens, restored by the wise woman's sacrifice. They depart for home and bid farewell to the other tribes. They return home and kiss passionately as the screen fades in the sun.


Years later, when the mammoths finally return, the adult D'Leh hunts them with his tribe's men under Tic'Tic's leadership and kills one by accident, inadvertently winning the White Spear and Evolet. The next day, horse-mounted riders attack the camp. The warlord, taken by Evolet’s beauty, kidnaps her, enslaves the able-bodied, and kills those who fight back, leaving very few survivors. D'Leh, Tic'Tic, Ka'Ren, and a young boy, Baku, set out to rescue their fellow Yagahl as Old Mother follows their journey in spirit. During an attack on the slavers by [[Phorusrhacidae|terror birds]], Evolet is recaptured along with Ka'Ren and Baku, and Tic'Tic is wounded. While hunting, D'Leh falls into a pit, where he helps free a trapped [[saber-tooth tiger]], asking it not to eat him before escaping. Tic'Tic recovers and finds their way to a [[agrarian society|sedentary]] Naku village, also attacked by the riders. The surviving villagers nearly attack them until the saber-tooth tiger comes to save D'Leh from the initially hostile Naku. They also learn that D'Leh's father was a guest of the Naku before the riders captured him.
In an alternative ending, the scene shifts forward many years into the future, showing Baku's retelling of the story by the camp fire. It ends with a child asking what had happened to the "Mountains of the Gods," and Baku responds "They were taken back by the sands. Lost to time, lost to man."


Several tribes arrive to form a coalition to defeat the slavers, with D'Leh as their leader. They find the ships holding Evolet and their loved ones but fail to reach them before they cast off. They set out to follow on foot, and D'Leh learns to use the North Star to navigate the journey. D'Leh and the tribes discover an advanced [[ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] civilization ruled by the "Almighty", an untouchable god-king, who is using the kidnapped tribesmen along with some mammoths to build pyramids. D'Leh and Tic’Tic sneak into the slave cages, and D’Leh learns that his father was killed trying to defend a slave. The party is spotted by the guards, who Tic'Tic kills before he succumbs to his wound. D'Leh and the tribesman infiltrate the civilization, and D'Leh starts a rebellion among the slaves, killing many of the Almighty's forces. However, Ka'Ren sacrifices himself as D'Leh eventually starts a stampede.
== Cast ==
* [[Steven Strait]] as D'Leh (an [[anagram]] for "Held" which is the [[German language|German]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]] and [[Afrikaans language|Afrikaans]] word for "[[hero]]"), a mammoth hunter and the main protagonist.
* [[Camilla Belle]] as Evolet, D'Leh's love and the only survivor of a different tribe; one which was killed off by the "Four Legged Demons" (fierce warriors on horseback). While kidnapped, her hands were whipped, leaving a scar in the shape of the "[[The Three Kings|hunter]]" - a foreshadowing of the one who will defeat the Almighty. She is unique in that she has blue eyes.
* [[Cliff Curtis]] as Tic'Tic, D'Leh's mentor.<ref>{{cite news | author=Shawn Adler | url=http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2007/06/29/emmerich-heads-back-in-time-for-10000-bc/ | title=Emmerich Heads Back In Time For ‘10000 B.C.’ | publisher=[[MTV]] | date=[[2007-06-29]] | accessdate=2007-07-11 }}</ref>
* [[Joel Virgel]] as Nakudu, leader of the Naku tribe.
* [[Affif Ben Badra]] as Warlord, leader of the "Four Legged Demons"
* [[Mo Zinal]] as Ka'Ren
* [[Nathanael Baring]] as Baku
* [[Mona Hammond]] as Old Mother, the Yagahl wise old woman.
* [[Marco Khan]] as One-Eye, Warlord's main henchman.
* [[Reece Ritchie]] as Moha
* [[Joel Fry]] as Lu'Kibu
* [[Kristian Beazley]] as D'Leh's father, who had lived with the Naku tribe and learned [[agriculture]] from them.
* [[Junior Oliphant]] as Tudu, Nakudu's son.
* [[Boubacar Badaine]] as Quina, leader of another tribe.
* [[Tim Barlow]] as the Almighty. The Almighty is a tall, blue eyed man who dresses in long white robes and a face-concealing veil. He is the last of three kings, and the last of the Atlanteans. He also fears the "Hunter", who is foretold to bring about his downfall.
* [[Omar Sharif]] as the [[Narrator]] / elderly Baku


The Almighty threatens to kill Evolet if they do not abandon their rebellion. D'Leh feigns acceptance but easily kills the Almighty with the White Spear, breaking his illusion of godhood. During the ensuing battle, the warlord fatally wounds Evolet, who is then killed by D'Leh. He is devastated when Evolet dies in his arms, but her life is restored in exchange for Old Mother’s, who dies having fulfilled her final duty. With the Almighty dead and his civilization destroyed, the Yagahl bid the other tribes farewell and returned home with seeds collected by D’Leh’s father, given to them by the Naku to begin a new life.
=== Casting process ===
Emmerich opened casting sessions in late October 2005.<ref>{{cite news | author=Michael Fleming | url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117930197?categoryid=13&cs=1 | title=Sci-fi guy follows primal instinct | publisher=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] | date=[[2005-10-05]] | accessdate=2006-08-20 }}</ref> In February 2006, Camilla Belle and Steven Strait were announced to star in the film, with Strait as the mammoth hunter and Belle as his love.<ref name="mankind"/> Emmerich felt that casting well known actors would distract from the realistic feel of the prehistoric setting. "If like, [[Jake Gyllenhaal]] turned up in a movie like this, everybody would be, 'What's that?'", he explained. Unknown casting also helped keep the film's budget down.<ref name=empire>{{cite news | author = Adam Smith | title = News Etc. | publisher = [[Empire (magazine)|Empire]] | month = January | year = 2008 | pages = 16}}</ref>


== Production ==
==Cast==
{{Cast listing|
Director Roland Emmerich and composer Harald Kloser originally penned a script for ''10,000 BC''. When the project received the greenlight from [[Columbia Pictures]], screenwriter John Orloff began work on a new draft of the original script. Columbia Pictures, under [[Sony Pictures Entertainment]], dropped the project due to a busy release calendar, and [[Warner Bros.]] picked up the project in Sony's vacancy.<ref>{{cite news | author=Pamela McClintock | url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117937113?categoryid=1236&cs=1&s=h&p=0 | title=Warners goes on time trek | publisher=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] | date=[[2006-01-30]] | accessdate=2006-08-20 }}</ref> The script went through a second revision with Matthew Sand and a final revision with [[Robert Rodat]].<ref name="mankind"/> Emmerich rejected making the film in an ancient language (similar to ''[[The Passion of the Christ]]'' or ''[[Apocalypto]]''), feeling it would not be as emotionally engaging.<ref name=comingsoon>{{cite news | title = Exclusive CS Featurette: 10,000 BC | publisher = ComingSoon.net | date = [[2008-03-05]] | url = http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=42418 | accessdate=2008-03-05|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/5jfZfSLXy|archivedate=2009-09-09|deadurl=no}}</ref>
*[[Steven Strait]] as D'Leh, a [[woolly mammoth|manak]] [[hunter]]
*[[Camilla Belle]] as Evolet, D'Leh's wife and the only survivor of a tribe which was destroyed by the "four-legged [[demon]]s" (fierce [[Cavalry|warriors on horseback]]){{snd}}spared because of her unique [[blue eyes]]
*[[Cliff Curtis]] as Tic'Tic, D'Leh's mentor and friend<ref>{{cite news | author=Shawn Adler | url=http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2007/06/29/emmerich-heads-back-in-time-for-10000-bc/ | title=Emmerich Heads Back In Time For '10000 B.C.' |publisher=MTV | date=June 29, 2007 | access-date=July 11, 2007 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070702164347/http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2007/06/29/emmerich-heads-back-in-time-for-10000-bc/| archive-date= July 2, 2007 <!--Added by DASHBot-->}}</ref>
*Joel Virgel as Nakudu, leader of the Naku tribe
*[[Affif Ben Badra]] as [[Warlord]], the leader of the "Four Legged Demons"
*Mo Zinal as Ka'Ren
*Lil Tecca as Baku
*[[Marco Khan]] as One-Eye, Warlord's main henchman
*[[Mona Hammond]] as Old Mother, the [[Neanderthal]] shaman of the Yahgdal
*[[Joel Fry (actor)|Joel Fry]] as Lu'Kibu
*[[Reece Ritchie]] as Moha
*Piers Stubbs as Young Moha
*Junior Oliphant as Tudu, Nakudu's son
*Kristian Beazley as D'Leh's father, who had lived with the Naku tribe and learned [[agriculture]] from them
*Boubacar Babiane as Quina, leader of another tribe
*Farouk Valley-Omar as the High [[Priest]]
*[[Tim Barlow]] as The Almighty, last of three kings and the last of the [[Atlantis|Atlanteans]]
*[[Omar Sharif]] as Narrator
}}


==Development==
Production began in spring 2006 in [[South Africa]] and [[Namibia]].<ref name="mankind">{{cite news | author=Borys Kit | url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/film/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002075091 | title=Strait, Belle fight for mankind | publisher=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] | date=[[2006-02-27]] | accessdate=2006-08-20 }}</ref> Location filming also took place in [[South Island|southern]] [[New Zealand]]<ref name="businesswire">{{cite news | url=http://www.forbes.com/businesswire/feeds/businesswire/2006/05/09/businesswire20060509006136r1.html | title=Principal Photography Commences on the Epic Adventure ''10,000 B.C'', Directed by Roland Emmerich for Warner Bros. Pictures | publisher=[[Forbes]] | date=[[2006-05-09]] | accessdate=2006-08-20 }}</ref> and [[Thailand]]. Before shooting began, the production had spent eighteen months on [[research and development]] for the [[computer generated imagery]]. Two companies recreated prehistoric animals. To cut time (it was taking sixteen hours to render a single frame) 50% of the CGI models' fur was removed, as "it turned out half the fur looked the same" to the director.<ref name=empire/>
===Casting===
Emmerich opened casting sessions in late October 2005.<ref>{{cite news|author=Michael Fleming|date=October 5, 2005|title=Sci-fi guy follows primal instinct|work=Variety|url=https://variety.com/2005/film/markets-festivals/sci-fi-guy-follows-primal-instinct-1117930197/|url-status=live|access-date=August 20, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013165054/https://www.variety.com/article/VR1117930197.html?categoryid=13&cs=1|archive-date=13 October 2007}}</ref> In February 2006, Camilla Belle and Steven Strait were announced to star in the film, with Strait as the mammoth hunter and Belle as his love.<ref name="mankind"/> Emmerich decided that casting well known actors would distract from the realistic feel of the prehistoric setting. "If like, [[Jake Gyllenhaal]] turned up in a movie like this, everybody would be, 'What's that?'", he explained. The casting of unknown actors also helped keep the film's budget down.<ref name=empire>{{cite news | author = Adam Smith | title = News Etc. | publisher = [[Empire (film magazine)|Empire]] | page = 16 |date= January 2008}}</ref>


===Production===
== Critical reception ==
At the 2008 [[Wondercon]], Emmerich mentioned the fiction of [[Robert E. Howard]] as a primary influence for the film's setting, as well as his love for the film ''[[Quest for Fire (film)|Quest for Fire]]'' and the book ''[[Fingerprints of the Gods]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=42310|title=WonderCon 2008: Day 2 - Part 1! - ComingSoon.net|work=ComingSoon.net|date=February 24, 2008|access-date=February 27, 2015|archive-date=January 2, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102231630/http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=42310|url-status=dead}}</ref> He invited composer [[Harald Kloser]] to help write the screenplay after he liked his story suggestions to ''[[The Day After Tomorrow]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://filmfestivaltraveler.com/film-arts/film-arts-interviews/605-2012-interview-writer-producer-harald-kloser |title=Writer-Producer Harald Kloser of New-to-DVD "2012" |access-date=February 4, 2022 |archive-date=February 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220204190227/http://filmfestivaltraveler.com/film-arts/film-arts-interviews/605-2012-interview-writer-producer-harald-kloser |url-status=live }}</ref> When the project received the greenlight from [[Columbia Pictures]], screenwriter John Orloff began work on a new draft of the original script. Columbia Pictures, under [[Sony Pictures|Sony Pictures Entertainment]], dropped the project due to a busy release calendar, and [[Warner Bros.]] picked up the project in Sony's absence.<ref>{{cite news | author=Pamela McClintock | url=https://variety.com/2006/film/features/warners-goes-on-time-trek-1117937113/ | title=Warners goes on time trek | work=Variety | date=January 30, 2006 | access-date=August 20, 2006 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101126225725/http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117937113?categoryid=1236&cs=1&s=h&p=0 | archive-date=November 26, 2010 | url-status=live | df=mdy-all }}</ref> The script went through a second revision with Matthew Sand and a final revision with [[Robert Rodat]].<ref name="mankind"/>
The film received largely negative reviews from critics, stating that the movie is mainly visual and lacks a firm screenplay. Critics went on to say that the film is extremely inaccurate archaeologically. As of [[December 29]] [[2008]], the review aggregator at [[Rotten Tomatoes]] has reported that 9% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 135 reviews.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10000_bc/ |title=10,000 B.C. - Movie Reviews, Trailers, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes |accessdate=2008-03-07 |publisher=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]}}</ref> [[Metacritic]] reported the film had an average score of 34 out of 100, based on 29 reviews.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/10000BC |title=10,000 B.C. (2008): Reviews |accessdate=2008-03-07 |publisher=[[Metacritic]]}}</ref>


Production began in early 2006 in South Africa and [[Namibia]].<ref name="mankind">{{cite news|author=Borys Kit |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/film/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002075091 |title=Strait, Belle fight for mankind |work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |date=February 27, 2006 |access-date=August 20, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060313055619/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/film/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002075091 |archive-date=March 13, 2006 |url-status=live }}</ref> Location filming also took place in [[South Island|southern]] New Zealand<ref name="businesswire">{{cite news | url=http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20060509006136/en/Principal-Photography-Commences-Epic-Adventure-10000-B.C. | title=Principal Photography Commences on the Epic Adventure ''10,000 B.C'', Directed by Roland Emmerich for Warner Bros. Pictures | work=Business Wire | date=May 9, 2006 | access-date=February 2, 2017 | archive-date=March 6, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170306210647/http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20060509006136/en/Principal-Photography-Commences-Epic-Adventure-10000-B.C. | url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Thailand]]. Emmerich wanted to shoot the entire film in Africa but was barred from shooting a certain helicopter scene which led to them going to New Zealand for those shots.<ref name="moonfall">{{cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/roland-emmerich-interview-moonfall-1235080389/|title=Roland Emmerich, Master of Disaster, Returns to Big-Screen Cataclysms With 'Moonfall'|work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]|date=January 27, 2022|accessdate=January 30, 2022|archive-date=December 31, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221231182827/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/roland-emmerich-interview-moonfall-1235080389/|url-status=live}}</ref> Before shooting began, the production had spent eighteen months on [[research and development]] for the [[computer-generated imagery]]. Two companies recreated prehistoric animals. To cut time (it was taking sixteen hours to render a single frame) 50% of the CGI models' fur was removed, as "it turned out half the fur looked the same" to the director.<ref name=empire/> Filming took place for a total of 102 days, 20 days longer than planned.<ref name="moonfall"/>
==Historical Inaccuracies==
{{Cleanup|section|date=November 2009}}
In the special features of the DVD it is asserted that inaccuracies were deliberately included to show the existence of an advanced civilization as yet undiscovered by modern archaeology as alluded to in the book Fingerprints of the Gods. However, the same confusion about the true fantastical nature of the film led Yahoo! movies to feature 10,000 BC at the top of their list of "The 10 most historically inaccurate movies". Below is a list of identified historical and archeological flaws:
*One of the main blunders of critics of the alleged historical inaccuracy of the movie is to immediately identify the ancient civilization depicted in the film with ancient Egypt, instead of a fictional, older and more advanced one that is hinted to descend from Atlantis. Hence, it is pointed out by Yahoo! movies that the depiction of the use of mammoths in the construction of Egyptian pyramids was strongly out of place. Quoting the website's review, "Woolly mammoths were not, in fact, used to build pyramids. Heck, woolly mammoths weren't even found in the desert. They wouldn't need to be woolly if that were the case..."
*The slaves were forced to work on building a pyramid, as well as a sphinx. Following the same line of thought as before, critics also point out that neither of the two was being built in Egypt until about 2,500 BC.
*Yet again the same confusion leads critics to assert that the path that the main protagonists (the Yagahl) and antagonists (the "Four Legged Demons") take to the Pyramids makes no sense. Based on the Yagahl's appearance and the geography of their homeland it is implied that they come from somewhere in eastern Europe or western Asia. This means that, had the location been indeed in Egypt, they would have to travel south through Anatolia to reach the pyramids. However, the characters are shown journeying all the way to a portion of the Nile river in the middle of the desert (which would have been in southern Egypt), and then sailing north up to the river to the "head of the snake". This means that the characters would have had to bypass the pyramids on their way south to the southern portion of the Nile, only to travel hundreds of miles back north.
*The men have clean facial hair lines. This could not have happened without razors.
*Another misconception is revealed when criticizing a scene in the film where a telescope, which wouldn't be invented until the 17th century AD. The character is clearly looking through a sextant-type of object and not a telescope, as the object has no lens.
*Evolet's legs appeared to have been waxed as they show no growth of hair, but there is no evidence that Cro-Magnon women neither knew nor used the waxing process.
*The Terror birds were indigenous to the Americas and had gone extinct 1.8 million years before.
*The earliest known use of sailing ships was around 3500 B.C.[13]
*The film shows humans riding horses which were not thought to have been domesticated until around 3,500 BC.
*The use of swords and other bladed weapons are also anachronistic as the first known swords date to the late 3rd millennium BC in the Middle East.
*There is no evidence that Cro-Magnon Man ever hunted mammoths with a net.
*The Naku tribe fed D'Leh red peppers and gave him seed corn. Both of these were from the Americas.
*The Woolly Mammoth and the Smilodon are oversized.
*Smilodon did not live in Africa; this means it might have been Dinofelis. If so, it was extremely oversized, given true Saber teeth, and also, Dinofelis became extinct 1.3 million years previously.


===Language===
The magazine [[Archaeology (magazine)|Archaeology]] gave the movie a bad review owing to its inaccuracies.{{Citation needed|date=October 2009}}
[[File:Camilla Belle 2009.jpg|thumb|[[Camilla Belle Routh]] portrayed Evolet in 10,000 BC]]
Emmerich rejected making the film in an ancient language (similar to ''[[The Passion of the Christ]]'' or ''[[Apocalypto]]''), deciding that it would not be as emotionally engaging.<ref name="comingsoon">{{cite news|date=March 5, 2008|title=Exclusive CS Featurette: 10,000 BC|publisher=ComingSoon.net|url=https://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=42418|access-date=March 5, 2008|archive-date=March 7, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307080707/http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=42418|url-status=live}}</ref> Dialect coach Brendan Gunn was hired by Emmerich and Kloser to create "a half dozen" languages for the film.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.steven-online.org/press/ |title=Steven – Online II Press Archive |publisher=steven-online.org |access-date=February 2, 2010 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100121171114/http://www.steven-online.org/press/| archive-date= January 21, 2010 <!--Added by DASHBot-->}}</ref> Gunn has stated that he collaborated informally with film lead Steven Strait to improvise what the languages would sound like. He also used some local African languages and their dialects, including the [[Oshiwambo]] language native to Namibia, which can be heard faintly, spoken by the wise blind man.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3670457/How-I-told-Brad-Pitt-to-mind-his-language.html |title=How I told Brad Pitt to mind his language – Telegraph |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |access-date=February 2, 2010 |first=Brendan |last=Gunn |date=January 13, 2008 |archive-date=June 5, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605071531/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3670457/How-I-told-Brad-Pitt-to-mind-his-language.html |url-status=live }}</ref>


===Alternate ending===
== Influences of other works ==
In an alternative ending, the scene shifts forward many years into the future, showing Baku's retelling of the story by the camp fire. It ends with a child asking what had happened to the "Mountains of the Gods", and Baku responds, "They were taken back by the sands. Lost to time, lost to man".
Glenn Whipp of the ''[[Los Angeles Daily News]]'' draws numerous comparisons between ''10,000 BC'' and other films in the prehistoric and historic film genre, especially ''[[One Million Years B.C.]]''<ref>{{cite news | author=Glenn Whipp | url=http://www.centredaily.com/entertainment/movies/story/451933.html | title=Cheesy ‘10,000 B.C.’ adheres closely to Ten Commandments of prehistoric movies | publisher=[[Los Angeles Daily News]] | date=[[2008-03-07]] | accessdate=2008-03-07 }}</ref> and ''[[Apocalypto]]''.<ref>{{cite news | author=Alex Markerson | url=http://www.eonline.com/movies/e_reviews/index.jsp?uuid=6dbe5878-9de7-4595-bed4-32a42adabea2 | title=10,000 B.C. E! Reviews | publisher=[[E! Reviews]] | date=[[2008-03-08]] | accessdate=2008-03-08 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | author=Ty Burr, Globe Staff | url=http://www.boston.com/movies/display?display=movie&id=8996 | title=Yabba-dabba-don't | publisher=[[boston.com]] | date=[[2008-03-08]] | accessdate=2008-03-08 }}</ref> [[A. O. Scott]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' compared it to John Ford's film ''[[The Searchers (film)|The Searchers]]'' and also the animated film ''[[Ice Age (film)|Ice Age]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/03/07/movies/07ten.html |title=Human Civilization: The Prequel |accessdate=2008-04-06 |author=[[A. O. Scott]] |date=[[2008-03-07]] |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>


===Visual and sound effects===
At the 2008 [[Wondercon]], Emmerich mentioned the fiction of [[Robert E. Howard]] as a primary influence for the film's setting, as well as his love for ''[[Quest for Fire]]'' and the book ''[[Fingerprints of the Gods]]''.<ref>[http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=42310 WonderCon 2008: Day 2 - Part 1! - ComingSoon.net<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
The [[woolly mammoth]]s in the movie were based on elephants and fossils of mammoths, while the [[saber-toothed cat]] was based on tigers and [[liger]]s (a lion/tiger hybrid).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.howstuffworks.com/10000-bc.htm/printable|title=Introduction to Inside "10,000 BC" - HowStuffWorks|work=HowStuffWorks|date=March 6, 2008|access-date=February 27, 2015|archive-date=February 27, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150227185654/http://www.howstuffworks.com/10000-bc.htm/printable|url-status=live}}</ref> The sounds made by the saber-toothed cat in the movie are based on the vocalization of tigers and lions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://designingsound.org/2008/03/10000-b-c-exclusive-interview-with-supervising-sound-editors-simon-gershon-and-jeremy-price/|title=10,000 B.C. – Exclusive Interview with Supervising Sound Editors Simon Gershon and Jeremy Price|access-date=February 27, 2015|archive-date=February 27, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150227192655/http://designingsound.org/2008/03/10000-b-c-exclusive-interview-with-supervising-sound-editors-simon-gershon-and-jeremy-price/|url-status=live}}</ref>


==Box office==
The film's plot bears superficial resemblance to the 1994 film ''[[Stargate (film)|Stargate]]'', also written and directed by Roland Emmerich. In both movies, a primitive culture is raided and enslaved by a more advanced civilization, and the enslaved people are forced to build pyramids for a "living god" who is considered to be the last surviving member of a technologically advanced race. Also similarly, a small group of outsiders rally the primitives to attack and overthrow the ruler and his bodyguards. Each film is noted for extreme historical inaccuracy, however in the case of ''Stargate'' this is placed within the context of science fiction.
The world premiere was held on February 10, 2008, at [[Sony Center]] on [[Potsdamer Platz]] in Berlin.<ref>{{cite news |author=Welt Online |date=February 26, 2008 |title=Emmerich feiert Start seines Steinzeit-Films (German) |url=https://www.welt.de/berlin/article1725206/Emmerich_feiert_Start_seines_Steinzeit-Films.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080317000648/http://www.welt.de/berlin/article1725206/Emmerich_feiert_Start_seines_Steinzeit-Films.html |archive-date=March 17, 2008 |access-date=March 11, 2008 |publisher=[[Die Welt]] |language=de}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Hilary Whiteman |date=March 3, 2008 |title=10,000 BC: The premiere (English) |url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/03/03/emmerich.premiere/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307185645/http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/03/03/emmerich.premiere/index.html |archive-date=March 7, 2008 |access-date=March 11, 2008 |publisher=CNN}}</ref>


The film was a moderate success at the box office. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $35.8 million in 3,410 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking No. 1 at the box office, and grossing over $22 million more than the film in second place, ''[[College Road Trip]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekend&id=10000bc.htm |title=10,000 B.C. (2008) – Weekend Box Office Results |access-date=March 16, 2008 |website=[[Box Office Mojo]] |archive-date=April 17, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417214323/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekend&id=10000bc.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/03/09/bc.boxoffice.ap/index.html|title='10,000 B.C.' roars to top of box office|access-date=March 9, 2008|publisher=CNN|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080605175207/http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/03/09/bc.boxoffice.ap/index.html |archive-date = June 5, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> {{as of|2008|April|29|df=}}, it has grossed approximately $268.6 million worldwide—$94.6 million in the United States and Canada and $174 million in other territories<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=10000bc.htm |title=10,000 B.C. (2008) |access-date=April 6, 2008 |website=[[Box Office Mojo]] |archive-date=October 1, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001000244/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=10000bc.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>—including $17.2 million in Mexico, $13.1 million in Spain, $11.3 million in the United Kingdom, and $10.8 million in China. This also makes it the first film of 2008 to surpass the $200 million mark.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=intl&id=10000bc.htm |title=10,000 B.C. (2008) – International Box Office Results |access-date=March 30, 2008 |website=Box Office Mojo |archive-date=April 17, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417214722/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=intl&id=10000bc.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
== DVD release ==
The DVD of the film was released on June 24, 2008 in single disc editions of [[DVD]] and [[Blu-ray Disc]] in the [[United States]]. [[Best Buy]] will release a 2-disc limited edition along with the DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases. It was released on July 21, 2008 in the [[United Kingdom]].<ref>Play.com http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/4-/5305386/10-000-BC/Product.html</ref> The film grossed $31,341,721 in DVD sales, bringing its total film gross to $300,414,491.<ref>http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2008/10KBC.php</ref>


==Reception==
== Box office performance ==
{{RT data|prose|consensus=prose prose prose...|ref=yes}} {{MC film|34|29|ref=yes|access-date=2024-12-10}}
In its opening weekend, the film grossed $35.8 million in 3,410 theaters in the [[United States]] and [[Canada]], ranking #1 at the box office, and grossing over $22 million more than the film in second place, ''[[College Road Trip]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekend&id=10000bc.htm |title=10,000 B.C. (2008) - Weekend Box Office Results |accessdate=2008-03-16 |publisher=[[Box Office Mojo]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/03/09/bc.boxoffice.ap/index.html|title='10,000 B.C.' roars to top of box office|accessdate=2008-03-09|publisher=[[CNN]]}}</ref> As of April 29, 2008, it has grossed approximately $268.6 million worldwide — $94.6 million in the United States and Canada and $174 million in other territories<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=10000bc.htm |title=10,000 B.C. (2008) |accessdate=2008-04-06 |publisher=[[Box Office Mojo]]}}</ref> — including $17.2 million in Mexico, $12.9 million in Spain, $11.4 million in the United Kingdom, and $10.8 million in China. This also makes it the first film of 2008 to surpass the $200 million mark.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=intl&id=10000bc.htm |title=10,000 B.C. (2008) - International Box Office Results |accessdate=2008-03-30 |publisher=[[Box Office Mojo]]}}</ref>


[[Todd McCarthy]] of ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' wrote: "Conventional where it should be bold and mild where it should be wild, ''10,000 BC'' reps a missed opportunity to present an imaginative vision of a prehistoric moment."<ref>{{Cite magazine |first=Todd |last=McCarthy |author-link=Todd McCarthy |url=https://variety.com/2008/film/markets-festivals/10-000-bc-1200536051/|title=10,000 BC |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=March 6, 2008|access-date=March 25, 2019|archive-date=November 11, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211111053920/https://variety.com/2008/film/markets-festivals/10-000-bc-1200536051/|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Peter Bradshaw]] of ''[[The Guardian]]'' wrote: "Roland Emmerich's great big CGI blockbuster lumbers along like one of the woolly mammoths that roam across the screen."<ref>{{Cite news |first=Peter |last=Bradshaw |author-link=Peter Bradshaw |url = https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/mar/14/actionandadventure.periodandhistorical|title = 10,000 BC |work=[[The Guardian]]|date = March 14, 2008|access-date = March 25, 2019|archive-date = October 20, 2019|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191020231230/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/mar/14/actionandadventure.periodandhistorical|url-status = live}}</ref> Caroline White, writing for ''[[The Times]]'', noted that ''10,000 BC'' is archaeologically inaccurate and contains many factual errors and [[anachronism]]s.<ref>{{cite news | last=White | first=Caroline | title=The 10 most historically inaccurate movies | work=[[The Times]] | url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article6738785.ece | date=August 4, 2009 |url-access=subscription | access-date=2009-08-05 | location=London | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615070116/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article6738785.ece | archive-date=June 15, 2011}}</ref>
== See also ==

{{Anchor|Awards|Accolades}}Composer [[Thomas Wander]] won a [[Broadcast Music, Inc.|BMI Film Music Award]] for his work on the film.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2008-05-22 |title=2008 BMI Film/TV Awards |url=https://www.bmi.com/news/entry/2008_bmi_film_tv_awards|access-date=2021-09-17|website=BMI.com |archive-date=March 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230317031531/https://www.bmi.com/news/entry/2008_bmi_film_tv_awards |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Home media==
The film was released on June 17, 2008, in single-disc editions on DVD and [[Blu-ray|Blu-ray Disc]] in the United States. [[Best Buy]] released a 2-disc limited edition along with the DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases. It was released on July 1, 2008, in the United Kingdom.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/4-/5305386/10-000-BC/Product.html |title=10,000 BC (10000 BC) Optical Media Releases |publisher=Play.com |access-date=2017-01-11 |archive-date=June 26, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080626041537/http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/4-/5305386/10-000-BC/Product.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> The film grossed $31,341,721 in DVD sales, bringing its total film gross to $300,414,491.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2008/10KBC.php|title=10,000 B.C.|access-date=February 27, 2015|archive-date=December 20, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131220142954/http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2008/10KBC.php|url-status=live}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of American films of 2008]]
* [[List of American films of 2008]]
*''[[100 Million BC]]'' - A [[direct-to-DVD]] film by [[The Asylum]]
* ''[[One Million Years B.C.]]'' – A similar film released in 1966
*''[[One Million Years B.C.]]'' - A similar film released in [[1966]]
* ''[[Quest for Fire (film)|Quest for Fire]]'' – A similar film released in 1981


== References ==
==References==
{{reflist|2}}
{{Reflist}}


== External links ==
==External links==
* {{IMDb title}}
*{{official|http://www.10000bcmovie.com/}}
*{{imdb title|0443649|10,000 BC}}
* {{mojo title}}
* {{TCMDb title}}
*{{rotten-tomatoes|10000_bc|10,000 BC}}
*{{metacritic film|10000BC|10,000 BC}}
*{{mojo title|10000bc|10,000 BC}}
*{{Amg movie|344317|10,000 BC}}
*[http://www.scifi.com/sfw/column/sfw18733.html ''10,000 BC:'' SciFi.com on movie's historical inaccuracies]


{{Roland Emmerich}}
{{Roland Emmerich}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2019}}


[[Category:2008 films]]
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[[Category:Prehistoric fantasy films]]
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[[Category:Films scored by Thomas Wander]]
[[Category:Films set in Egypt]]
[[Category:Films set in Europe]]
[[Category:Films set in the Stone Age]]
[[Category:Casting controversies in film]]
[[Category:Films shot in Namibia]]
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[[Category:Films shot in South Africa]]
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[[Category:Fiction about Neanderthals]]

[[Category:Warner Bros. films]]
{{use mdy dates}}
[[Category:2000s American films]]

[[Category:Films with screenplays by Roland Emmerich]]
[[ar:10.000 ق.م (فيلم)]]
[[Category:Films produced by Roland Emmerich]]
[[bg:10 000 пр.н.е.]]
[[Category:Films produced by Mark Gordon (producer)]]
[[ca:10.000 A.C.]]
[[Category:Films set in prehistory]]
[[da:10,000 B.C.]]
[[Category:English-language action adventure films]]
[[de:10.000 B.C.]]
[[Category:English-language fantasy adventure films]]
[[es:10.000 a.C. (película)]]
[[fa:۱۰۰۰۰ پ.م. (فیلم)]]
[[fr:10 000 (film)]]
[[id:10,000 BC]]
[[it:10.000 A.C.]]
[[jv:10,000 BC]]
[[lv:10000 p.m.ē. (filma)]]
[[lt:10 000 metų prieš Kristų]]
[[hu:I. e. 10 000 (film)]]
[[mk:10.000 години п.н.е (филм)]]
[[nl:10,000 BC]]
[[ja:紀元前1万年]]
[[no:10,000 BC]]
[[pl:10,000 BC: Prehistoryczna legenda]]
[[pt:10.000 a.C.]]
[[ru:10 000 лет до нашей эры]]
[[sk:10 000 pred Kristom]]
[[sv:10,000 BC]]
[[th:บุกอาณาจักรโลก 10,000 ปี]]
[[tr:M.Ö. 10.000 (film)]]
[[zh:史前一萬年]]

Latest revision as of 15:16, 21 December 2024

10,000 BC
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRoland Emmerich
Written byRoland Emmerich
Harald Kloser
Produced byMichael Wimer
Roland Emmerich
Mark Gordon
Starring
CinematographyUeli Steiger
Edited byAlexander Berner
Music byHarald Kloser
Thomas Wander
Production
companies
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
Release date
  • March 5, 2008 (2008-03-05)
Running time
109 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$105 million
Box office$269.8 million

10,000 BC is a 2008 American action-adventure film co-written, co-produced and directed by Roland Emmerich, co-written, co-scored, and executive produced by Harald Kloser, and starring Steven Strait and Camilla Belle. The film depicts the journeys of a prehistoric tribe of mammoth hunters.

Despite the film being a box office success, it received negative reviews, being considered one of the worst films of 2008.[1]

Plot

[edit]

In 10,000 BC, a hunter-gatherer tribe called the Yagahl live in the Ural Mountains. They survived by hunting woolly mammoths, but the animals have become more scarce. A hunter who single-handedly killed a manak and earned the White Spear venerates Old Mother, an elderly Neanderthal with shamanistic powers. The village chief finds a young girl named Evolet, the lone survivor of her village that was massacred by what Old Mother calls "four-legged demons," who will come when "the Yagahl go on their last hunt."

The tribe believes the demons are the mammoths and sets out to hunt the herd leader; however, the current chief does not trust the prophecy and leaves to find another way to save his people. He entrusts the White Spear, his young son D'Leh, and the true purpose of his quest to his friend Tic'Tic. The tribe's children ridicule D'Leh for his father's cowardice, and he seeks comfort from Evolet. The two begin to fall in love.

Years later, when the mammoths finally return, the adult D'Leh hunts them with his tribe's men under Tic'Tic's leadership and kills one by accident, inadvertently winning the White Spear and Evolet. The next day, horse-mounted riders attack the camp. The warlord, taken by Evolet’s beauty, kidnaps her, enslaves the able-bodied, and kills those who fight back, leaving very few survivors. D'Leh, Tic'Tic, Ka'Ren, and a young boy, Baku, set out to rescue their fellow Yagahl as Old Mother follows their journey in spirit. During an attack on the slavers by terror birds, Evolet is recaptured along with Ka'Ren and Baku, and Tic'Tic is wounded. While hunting, D'Leh falls into a pit, where he helps free a trapped saber-tooth tiger, asking it not to eat him before escaping. Tic'Tic recovers and finds their way to a sedentary Naku village, also attacked by the riders. The surviving villagers nearly attack them until the saber-tooth tiger comes to save D'Leh from the initially hostile Naku. They also learn that D'Leh's father was a guest of the Naku before the riders captured him.

Several tribes arrive to form a coalition to defeat the slavers, with D'Leh as their leader. They find the ships holding Evolet and their loved ones but fail to reach them before they cast off. They set out to follow on foot, and D'Leh learns to use the North Star to navigate the journey. D'Leh and the tribes discover an advanced Egyptian civilization ruled by the "Almighty", an untouchable god-king, who is using the kidnapped tribesmen along with some mammoths to build pyramids. D'Leh and Tic’Tic sneak into the slave cages, and D’Leh learns that his father was killed trying to defend a slave. The party is spotted by the guards, who Tic'Tic kills before he succumbs to his wound. D'Leh and the tribesman infiltrate the civilization, and D'Leh starts a rebellion among the slaves, killing many of the Almighty's forces. However, Ka'Ren sacrifices himself as D'Leh eventually starts a stampede.

The Almighty threatens to kill Evolet if they do not abandon their rebellion. D'Leh feigns acceptance but easily kills the Almighty with the White Spear, breaking his illusion of godhood. During the ensuing battle, the warlord fatally wounds Evolet, who is then killed by D'Leh. He is devastated when Evolet dies in his arms, but her life is restored in exchange for Old Mother’s, who dies having fulfilled her final duty. With the Almighty dead and his civilization destroyed, the Yagahl bid the other tribes farewell and returned home with seeds collected by D’Leh’s father, given to them by the Naku to begin a new life.

Cast

[edit]

Development

[edit]

Casting

[edit]

Emmerich opened casting sessions in late October 2005.[3] In February 2006, Camilla Belle and Steven Strait were announced to star in the film, with Strait as the mammoth hunter and Belle as his love.[4] Emmerich decided that casting well known actors would distract from the realistic feel of the prehistoric setting. "If like, Jake Gyllenhaal turned up in a movie like this, everybody would be, 'What's that?'", he explained. The casting of unknown actors also helped keep the film's budget down.[5]

Production

[edit]

At the 2008 Wondercon, Emmerich mentioned the fiction of Robert E. Howard as a primary influence for the film's setting, as well as his love for the film Quest for Fire and the book Fingerprints of the Gods.[6] He invited composer Harald Kloser to help write the screenplay after he liked his story suggestions to The Day After Tomorrow.[7] When the project received the greenlight from Columbia Pictures, screenwriter John Orloff began work on a new draft of the original script. Columbia Pictures, under Sony Pictures Entertainment, dropped the project due to a busy release calendar, and Warner Bros. picked up the project in Sony's absence.[8] The script went through a second revision with Matthew Sand and a final revision with Robert Rodat.[4]

Production began in early 2006 in South Africa and Namibia.[4] Location filming also took place in southern New Zealand[9] and Thailand. Emmerich wanted to shoot the entire film in Africa but was barred from shooting a certain helicopter scene which led to them going to New Zealand for those shots.[10] Before shooting began, the production had spent eighteen months on research and development for the computer-generated imagery. Two companies recreated prehistoric animals. To cut time (it was taking sixteen hours to render a single frame) 50% of the CGI models' fur was removed, as "it turned out half the fur looked the same" to the director.[5] Filming took place for a total of 102 days, 20 days longer than planned.[10]

Language

[edit]
Camilla Belle Routh portrayed Evolet in 10,000 BC

Emmerich rejected making the film in an ancient language (similar to The Passion of the Christ or Apocalypto), deciding that it would not be as emotionally engaging.[11] Dialect coach Brendan Gunn was hired by Emmerich and Kloser to create "a half dozen" languages for the film.[12] Gunn has stated that he collaborated informally with film lead Steven Strait to improvise what the languages would sound like. He also used some local African languages and their dialects, including the Oshiwambo language native to Namibia, which can be heard faintly, spoken by the wise blind man.[13]

Alternate ending

[edit]

In an alternative ending, the scene shifts forward many years into the future, showing Baku's retelling of the story by the camp fire. It ends with a child asking what had happened to the "Mountains of the Gods", and Baku responds, "They were taken back by the sands. Lost to time, lost to man".

Visual and sound effects

[edit]

The woolly mammoths in the movie were based on elephants and fossils of mammoths, while the saber-toothed cat was based on tigers and ligers (a lion/tiger hybrid).[14] The sounds made by the saber-toothed cat in the movie are based on the vocalization of tigers and lions.[15]

Box office

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The world premiere was held on February 10, 2008, at Sony Center on Potsdamer Platz in Berlin.[16][17]

The film was a moderate success at the box office. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $35.8 million in 3,410 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking No. 1 at the box office, and grossing over $22 million more than the film in second place, College Road Trip.[18][19] As of 29 April 2008, it has grossed approximately $268.6 million worldwide—$94.6 million in the United States and Canada and $174 million in other territories[20]—including $17.2 million in Mexico, $13.1 million in Spain, $11.3 million in the United Kingdom, and $10.8 million in China. This also makes it the first film of 2008 to surpass the $200 million mark.[21]

Reception

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On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 10% of 147 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 3.4/10. The website's consensus reads: "prose prose prose..."[22] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 34 out of 100, based on 29 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.[23]

Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote: "Conventional where it should be bold and mild where it should be wild, 10,000 BC reps a missed opportunity to present an imaginative vision of a prehistoric moment."[24] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian wrote: "Roland Emmerich's great big CGI blockbuster lumbers along like one of the woolly mammoths that roam across the screen."[25] Caroline White, writing for The Times, noted that 10,000 BC is archaeologically inaccurate and contains many factual errors and anachronisms.[26]

Composer Thomas Wander won a BMI Film Music Award for his work on the film.[27]

Home media

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The film was released on June 17, 2008, in single-disc editions on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in the United States. Best Buy released a 2-disc limited edition along with the DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases. It was released on July 1, 2008, in the United Kingdom.[28] The film grossed $31,341,721 in DVD sales, bringing its total film gross to $300,414,491.[29]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Tomato Picker 2008 films with <10% "fresh" ratings". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on February 1, 2013. Retrieved March 16, 2009.
  2. ^ Shawn Adler (June 29, 2007). "Emmerich Heads Back In Time For '10000 B.C.'". MTV. Archived from the original on July 2, 2007. Retrieved July 11, 2007.
  3. ^ Michael Fleming (October 5, 2005). "Sci-fi guy follows primal instinct". Variety. Archived from the original on October 13, 2007. Retrieved August 20, 2006.
  4. ^ a b c Borys Kit (February 27, 2006). "Strait, Belle fight for mankind". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on March 13, 2006. Retrieved August 20, 2006.
  5. ^ a b Adam Smith (January 2008). "News Etc". Empire. p. 16.
  6. ^ "WonderCon 2008: Day 2 - Part 1! - ComingSoon.net". ComingSoon.net. February 24, 2008. Archived from the original on January 2, 2014. Retrieved February 27, 2015.
  7. ^ "Writer-Producer Harald Kloser of New-to-DVD "2012"". Archived from the original on February 4, 2022. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
  8. ^ Pamela McClintock (January 30, 2006). "Warners goes on time trek". Variety. Archived from the original on November 26, 2010. Retrieved August 20, 2006.
  9. ^ "Principal Photography Commences on the Epic Adventure 10,000 B.C, Directed by Roland Emmerich for Warner Bros. Pictures". Business Wire. May 9, 2006. Archived from the original on March 6, 2017. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  10. ^ a b "Roland Emmerich, Master of Disaster, Returns to Big-Screen Cataclysms With 'Moonfall'". The Hollywood Reporter. January 27, 2022. Archived from the original on December 31, 2022. Retrieved January 30, 2022.
  11. ^ "Exclusive CS Featurette: 10,000 BC". ComingSoon.net. March 5, 2008. Archived from the original on March 7, 2008. Retrieved March 5, 2008.
  12. ^ "Steven – Online II Press Archive". steven-online.org. Archived from the original on January 21, 2010. Retrieved February 2, 2010.
  13. ^ Gunn, Brendan (January 13, 2008). "How I told Brad Pitt to mind his language – Telegraph". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on June 5, 2011. Retrieved February 2, 2010.
  14. ^ "Introduction to Inside "10,000 BC" - HowStuffWorks". HowStuffWorks. March 6, 2008. Archived from the original on February 27, 2015. Retrieved February 27, 2015.
  15. ^ "10,000 B.C. – Exclusive Interview with Supervising Sound Editors Simon Gershon and Jeremy Price". Archived from the original on February 27, 2015. Retrieved February 27, 2015.
  16. ^ Welt Online (February 26, 2008). "Emmerich feiert Start seines Steinzeit-Films (German)" (in German). Die Welt. Archived from the original on March 17, 2008. Retrieved March 11, 2008.
  17. ^ Hilary Whiteman (March 3, 2008). "10,000 BC: The premiere (English)". CNN. Archived from the original on March 7, 2008. Retrieved March 11, 2008.
  18. ^ "10,000 B.C. (2008) – Weekend Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on April 17, 2009. Retrieved March 16, 2008.
  19. ^ "'10,000 B.C.' roars to top of box office". CNN. Archived from the original on June 5, 2008. Retrieved March 9, 2008.
  20. ^ "10,000 B.C. (2008)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on October 1, 2007. Retrieved April 6, 2008.
  21. ^ "10,000 B.C. (2008) – International Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on April 17, 2009. Retrieved March 30, 2008.
  22. ^ "10,000 BC". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved December 10, 2024. Edit this at Wikidata
  23. ^ "10,000 BC". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved December 10, 2024.
  24. ^ McCarthy, Todd (March 6, 2008). "10,000 BC". Variety. Archived from the original on November 11, 2021. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
  25. ^ Bradshaw, Peter (March 14, 2008). "10,000 BC". The Guardian. Archived from the original on October 20, 2019. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
  26. ^ White, Caroline (August 4, 2009). "The 10 most historically inaccurate movies". The Times. London. Archived from the original on June 15, 2011. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
  27. ^ "2008 BMI Film/TV Awards". BMI.com. May 22, 2008. Archived from the original on March 17, 2023. Retrieved September 17, 2021.
  28. ^ "10,000 BC (10000 BC) Optical Media Releases". Play.com. Archived from the original on June 26, 2008. Retrieved January 11, 2017.
  29. ^ "10,000 B.C." Archived from the original on December 20, 2013. Retrieved February 27, 2015.
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