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10,000 BC (film)

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10,000 BC
Promotional poster
Directed byRoland Emmerich
Written byHarald Kloser
Roland Emmerich
Produced byMichael Wimer
Roland Emmerich
StarringSteven Strait
Camilla Belle
Cliff Curtis
Narrated byOmar Sharif
Music byHarald Kloser
Thomas Wander
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release dates
March 6 2008 (D, AUS)
March 7, 2008 (USA)
March 14, 2008 (UK)
Running time
109 min.
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$105,000,000
Box office$227,420,000

10,000 BC is a 2008 American film set in the prehistoric era directed by Roland Emmerich and starring Steven Strait and Camilla Belle. The World Premiere of the movie was on February 10, 2008 at the Potsdamer Platz in Berlin.[1][2] The cinema release was on March 6, 2008.[3]

Plot

The film follows D'Leh (Steven Strait), a young mammoth hunter of the Yagahl Tribe who is the son of a hunter who allegedly abandoned the village. It was also at that time that D'Leh witnessed the mysterious arrival of Evolet (Camilla Belle), a young girl with bright blue eyes who prompts a prophecy from the wise old woman of the tribe, Old Mother (Mona Hammond) of "four legged demons" (men on horses) coming to their land during the last Mammoth hunt to occur years later. D'Leh falls in love with Evolet and promises that she will always be in his heart.

Years later, the Yagahl tribe is expecting the arrival of a mammoth herd to help them survive the winter. According to Tic'Tic (Cliff Curtis), D'Leh's trainer and a friend of D'Leh's father, whoever kills the lead male of the herd will inherit the legendary White Spear of the North, and his wife of choice. When the mammoth herd arrives, the hunters try to capture the biggest one by dropping a net anchored by large boulders, but the mammoth manages to escape. D'Leh gets his hand caught in the net and is dragged by the mammoth. The struggle ends when the mammoth is pierced in the heart by D'Leh's spear after he desperately places it in the cleft of a rock. Since nobody sees this other than Tic'Tic, D'Leh is assumed to be the leader and the winner of Evolet's love. However, Tic'Tic is reluctant to recognize D'Leh. Being honest with the fact that he had tried to let go of the net and did not kill the mammoth, D'Leh returns the White Spear for the sake of honor.

During the night, a group of raiders come in and kidnap several Yagahl, including Evolet. The warlord leader takes a liking towards her. His main henchman, One Eye, believes that the girl is a witch who has seduced his master (his later actions hint that he is attracted to the girl as well). D'Leh decides to rescue Evolet and the rest of the Yagahl. Tic'Tic, Ka'Ren, and young Baku, whose mother was killed by One-Eye during the attack, join him. In pursuit of the raiders, they pass through a rainforest and are ambushed by a pack of Phorusrhacids. D'leh stuns one with a rock before another chases him into a bamboo patch. D'Leh narrowly avoids being eaten by impaling the bird through the head with a broken bamboo stalk. During a failed rescue attempt in the forest, Ka'Ren and Baku are captured by the raiders and Tic'Tic is injured. D'Leh falls into a pitfall trap where he finds a Saber-Toothed Cat trapped and drowning under a pile of wooden beams. Despite knowing he may be eaten, D'Leh saves the cat by setting it free. D'Leh and Tic'Tic continue through the desert, encountering the recently raided village of the Naku tribe. Just when the Naku are about to attack them, the Saber-Tooth Cat appears and D'Leh reluctantly confronts it. Recognizing D'Leh as the one who saved it earlier, the feline spares him and protects him and Tic'Tic from the tribe. The tribe acknowledges D'Leh as the fulfiller of the prophecy that a man who speaks to the Spear-Tooth would become savior. D'Leh also learns that his father had been there years before, from whom Nakudu, leader of the Naku had learned the Yagahl language. Meanwhile, one of the raiders whips Baku and Nakudu's son, but Evolet begs the warlord to make him stop, which he does. The angry raider then says he will regret this.

Other tribes of the area, being convinced that the prophecy has been fulfilled, join them. D'Leh learns that Evolet and the others are being taken to the "Mountain of the gods", home to the Lost Civilization, a egyptian race, where they would be forced to build temples and pyramids for a mysterious god-like figure who is believed to have come from a "land that sank into the sea". Determined to rescue Evolet and the rest of his tribesmen, D'Leh and Nakudu sneak into a slave camp to attempt to recruit the help of the countless slaves in a massive uprising. The slaves are unwilling to help, as they believe that no one can defeat the god-like figure except one: the one who bears "the mark." D'Leh and Nakudu are discovered by some guards as they leave the slave camp, but Tic'Tic kills them before they are able to raise the alarm. Unfortunately, Tic'Tic is killed in the struggle and D'Leh reluctantly inherits the White Spear. Evolet is discovered to have scars on her hand forming "the mark" of the constellation of Orion. As D'Leh and the tribes under his command start an uprising, the slaves join them. They approach the temple of the "god", who threatens to kill Evolet. D'Leh chooses not to accept an offer to leave with Evolet alone and throws a spear at the tyrant "god", impaling him and encouraging the mob to surge forward. Evolet is seized by the warlord of the raiders, but she frees herself by stabbing him with an arrow. She runs towards D'Leh when the dying warlord, out of spite and jealousy, shoots an arrow at Evolet from behind, killing her. However, she comes back to life to fulfill the prophecy of Old Mother, who revives her with her last breath. Nakudu, fulfilling the wishes of D'Leh's father, gives him seeds for the Yagahl to cultivate. D'Leh and the rest of the Yagahl bid farewell to the Naku and return to their village. The film ends as D'Leh and Evolet observe the growth of the seedlings.

Cast

  • Steven Strait as D'Leh, a mammoth hunter.
  • Camilla Belle as Evolet, D'Leh's love and the only survivor of a different tribe that was killed by the "four legged demons". While kidnapped, her hand was whipped, forming a scar in the shape of the "hunter"
  • Cliff Curtis as Tic Tic, D'Leh's mentor.[4]
  • Joel Virgel as Nakudu, leader of the Naku tribe.
  • Affif Ben Badra as Warlord, leader of the "four legged demons" who falls in love with Evolet.
  • 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.
  • Junior Oliphant as Tudu, Nakudu's son.
  • Boubacar Badaine as Quina, leader of another tribe.
  • Tim Barlow as the Pyramid God. The last of the three surviving Atlanteans, he is a tyrant who sought to enslave all people on earth. The Pyramid God covers his body to hide signs of his aging from his followers to have think of him as divine. He also fears the "hunter", who is said to kill him.
  • Omar Sharif as the Narrator


Casting process

Emmerich opened casting sessions in late October 2005.[5] 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.[6] 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.[7]

Production

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.[8] The script went through a second revision with Matthew Sand and a final revision with Robert Rodat.[6] 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.[9]

Production began in spring 2006 in South Africa and Namibia.[6] Location filming also took place in southern New Zealand[10] 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.[7]

Critical reception

Critics have given the film negative reviews. As of March 30 2008, the review aggregator at Rotten Tomatoes has reported that 9% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 119 reviews.[11] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 37 out of 100, based on 25 reviews.[12]

Influences of other works

Similarities to One Million Years B.C. have been pointed out by some critics.[13] 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.[14] and Apocalypto[15][16]

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.[17]

Box office performance

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.[18][19] As of March 31, 2008, the film has grossed $84,920,000 domestically and $142,500,000 internationally, for an approximate worldwide total of $227,420,000 .[20] A.O. Scott of the New York times has compared it to John Ford's film The Searchers which it shares a similar story line with.[21]

References

  1. ^ Welt Online (2008-02-26). "Emmerich feiert Start seines Steinzeit-Films (German)". Die Welt. Retrieved 2008-03-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ Hilary Whiteman (2008-03-03). "10,000 BC: The premiere (English)". CNN. Retrieved 2008-03-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ imdb.com (2008-03-06). "10,000 BC (2008) IMDb". IMDb. Retrieved 2008-03-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ Shawn Adler (2007-06-29). "Emmerich Heads Back In Time For '10000 B.C.'". MTV. Retrieved 2007-07-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ Michael Fleming (2005-10-05). "Sci-fi guy follows primal instinct". Variety. Retrieved 2006-08-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ a b c Borys Kit (2006-02-27). "Strait, Belle fight for mankind". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2006-08-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ a b Adam Smith (January 2008). "News Etc". Empire. p. 16.
  8. ^ Pamela McClintock (2006-01-30). "Warners goes on time trek". Variety. Retrieved 2006-08-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ "Exclusive CS Featurette: 10,000 BC". ComingSoon.net. 2008-03-05. Retrieved 2008-03-05. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ "Principal Photography Commences on the Epic Adventure 10,000 B.C, Directed by Roland Emmerich for Warner Bros. Pictures". Forbes. 2006-05-09. Retrieved 2006-08-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ "10,000 B.C. - Movie Reviews, Trailers, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2008-03-07.
  12. ^ "10,000 B.C. (2008): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2008-03-07.
  13. ^ Lewis Beale (2008-03-02). "'10,000 B.C.' marks a new era of caveman flicks". Newsday. Retrieved 2008-03-07. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ Glenn Whipp (2008-03-07). "Cheesy '10,000 B.C.' adheres closely to Ten Commandments of prehistoric movies". Los Angeles Daily News. Retrieved 2008-03-07. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. ^ Alex Markerson (2008-03-08). "10,000 B.C. E! Reviews". E! Reviews. Retrieved 2008-03-08. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ Ty Burr, Globe Staff (2008-03-08). "Yabba-dabba-don't". boston.com. Retrieved 2008-03-08. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ^ http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=42310
  18. ^ "10,000 B.C. (2008) - Weekend Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2008-03-16.
  19. ^ "'10,000 B.C.' roars to top of box office". CNN. Retrieved 2008-03-09.
  20. ^ "'10,000 B.C.'". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2008-03-23.
  21. ^ "10,000 B.C. (2008): Reviews". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-03-07.

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