Jump to content

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 24.5.233.251 (talk) at 06:56, 21 June 2010 (→Plot). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMike Newell
Written by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyJohn Seale
Edited byMichael Kahn
Martin Walsh
Music byHarry Gregson-Williams
Production
companies
Distributed byWalt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Release dates
May 9, 2010 (2010-05-09)
(London) (premiere)
May 21, 2010 (2010-05-21)
(United Kingdom)
May 28, 2010 (2010-05-28)
(Canada & United States)
Running time
116 minutes
CountriesUnited States
United Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget$200 million[1]
Box office$293,608,000[2]

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a 2010 fantasy-adventure film written by Jordan Mechner, Boaz Yakin, Doug Miro, and Carlo Bernard; directed by Mike Newell; produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The film is based on the 2003 video game of the same name, developed and released by Ubisoft Montreal.

The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Prince Dastan, Gemma Arterton as Princess Tamina, Ben Kingsley as Nizam, and Alfred Molina as Sheik Amar.

The film has the same title as the video game Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and is primarily based on it. Elements from Prince of Persia: Warrior Within and Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, two other titles from the Prince of Persia video game franchise, are also incorporated.

Plot

Dastan, an orphan in the Persian Empire, commits an act of courage in a public market place and is adopted by the king because of it. Fifteen years later Dastan, his royal-blooded foster brothers, Tus (Richard Coyle) and Garsiv (Toby Kebbell), and his uncle, Nizam are planning an attack on the sacred city of Alamut, which is believed to be selling weapons to Persia's enemies. Despite his doubts as to whether they should attack a sacred city, and orders to avoid the front-line of the fighting, Dastan leads the way in breaching the walls of Alamut. In the confusion, the princess of Alamut, Tamina, instructs one of her guards to take a dagger from a shrine to safety. During the fight, however, Dastan defeats this guard, and steals the dagger. Alamut falls to the Persians and Tamina is captured. In order to pacify the captured city, Tus suggests that he and Tamina marry, which she agrees to only upon seeing that the dagger has fallen into Dastan's possession.

When the king of Persia arrives at Alamut, he reproaches Tus (the eldest son) for having made the decision to attack the city. He suggests that Dastan, rather than Tus should marry Tamina. Prince Dastan unknowingly presents a poisoned robe, given to him by Tus, to his father, King Sharaman (Ronald Pickup) who dies upon donning it. Dastan is blamed for the king's murder and flees Alamut with Princess Tamina. In their first camp, Tamina attempts to kill the prince and recover the dagger, during which Dastan finds out what the dagger is capable of and believes that Tus framed Dastan for their father's murder in an attempt to seize the throne and the Dagger. During their journey, the duo meet an ostrich racing-organizer and tax-averse shady entrepreneur Sheik Amar, with his knife-throwing African friend Seso (Steve Toussaint). Dastan offers Tamina up as a slave in return for supplies, however Amar betrays him because he recognizes him as the murderer of the king, for whom there is an "obscene" price being offered. Dastan and Tamina escape and return to Persia for King Sharaman's funeral; here, Dastan attempts to convince his uncle Nizam that he did not kill his father. Dastan discovers that Tamina has taken the Dagger; however, he then notices Nizam's hands are burned. Guards go after Dastan and he's forced to escape.

Dastan catches up with Tamina and explains that the villainous brother of the King, Nizam, was behind the murder. He wanted the Dagger of Time to use it with the massive Sandglass to go back in time and undo saving Sharaman from a lion so he can become king. He fabricated the false allegations that Alamut had been dealing weapons to Persia's enemies so that he would have the opportunity to search the city for the Sandglass. The pair put aside their differences and agree to work together to protect the Dagger. Meanwhile, back in Persia, Nizam tries to convince Tus and Garsiv that Dastan is trying to overthrow them and must be killed. When this fails, Nizam hires the Hassansins, a group of highly skilled warriors who once served as hired killers for Persian royalty.

Dastan and Tamina are again captured by Sheik Amar and Seso. But that night, when everyone is asleep, the Hassansin leader(Gísli Örn Garðarsson) attacks the group by controlling a number of vipers. Many of the group die, but Dastan uses the Dagger to rewind time and foreseeing the attack, manages to kill all the snakes and saves everyone. The Hassansin leader then leaves in a sand dervish. The next day, the pair accompanied by Sheik and Seso travel to the secret sanctuary in the mountains near India, where it's possible to seal away the Dagger. However, they run into Garsiv's men. Dastan manages to persuade his brother that he is innocent, only for Garsiv to be fatally wounded by a Hassansin. The Hassansins attack, killing many of the group, while their leader manages to snatch the Dagger of Time from Tamina. However, Dastan is saved from the last Hassansin by Garsiv, who then dies.

Everyone returns to Alamut to reveal the truth about Nizam and the Dagger to Tus. Seso retrieves the Dagger, but is killed in the process by a Hassansin. Dastan confronts Tus and explains the Dagger's mechanics to him and then kills himself and Tus brings Dastan back to life by rewinding time. Soon after, however, Nizam arrives and kills Tus, leaving his guard to kill Dastan. The Dagger is once again in Nizam's hands, but Dastan manages to defeat the Hassansin with Tamina's help. Nizam goes to the Sandglass caves beneath Alamut, as Dastan and Tamina take a more secret route. After a short battle with the Hassansins' leader, Dastan and Tamina kiss. They then reach Nizam before he can pierce the Sandglass with the Dagger, but he knocks Tamina and Dastan over the edge of the chasm, killing Tamina, while Dastan manages to pull himself up. Nizam stabs the Sandglass with the Dagger, but Dastan grabs a hold and opens the Dagger, rather than activating it, causing the Sands of Time to flow through freely, reversing time to when Dastan first obtained the Dagger, fully aware of all that occurred since. Dastan stops the siege of Alamut, revealing Nizam's treachery. Nizam attempts to kill Dastan, but is killed by Tus. After apologizing for the ransacking of her city, Tus suggests that perhaps Tamina should become Dastan's wife as a sign of good will. The Prince returns the Dagger of Time to her. The two take a walk together and Dastan expresses his feelings for her.

Cast

Production

In March 2004, the production company Jerry Bruckheimer Films sought to acquire feature film rights to the 2003 video game Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time with the film to be distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. Under John August as executive producer, the series' creator Jordan Mechner was hired to write the script. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer's Pirates of the Caribbean film trilogy served as a touchstone in how a theme park ride was converted into a film franchise. According to Mechner, "Rather than do a straight beat-for-beat adaptation of the new videogame, we're taking some cool elements from the game and using them to craft a new story."[3] Mechner previously considered producing an animated film based on the games, but could not resist Disney and Bruckheimer's offer.[4] In February 2006, Disney hired screenwriter Jeffrey Nachmanoff to write a new script for Prince of Persia.[5]

Early in 2007, Disney announced Prince of Persia as one of its tentpole films and by June had scheduled a release date for July 10, 2009, before having a final script or any actors attached.[6] By November 2007, Disney entered negotiations with Mike Newell to direct the film based on a script by Mechner and Nachmanoff, though the studio held off production until the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike was resolved.[7] Newell was fond of Bruckheimer's films,[8] and loved the "exciting [and] immensely romantic" script, which reminded him of Lost Horizon. His assistant played the video games and gave the director key details.[9] Mechner, in writing the script, re-conceived the storyline to shift the perspective from the interactive one experienced by video gamers to the non-interactive experience by film audiences. The screenwriter left out elements of the Prince of Persia video games Warrior Within and The Two Thrones and did not anticipate including these elements in the film's possible sequels.[4]

When filming began, the film's release date was postponed to May 28, 2010, with the studio seeking enough time for the post-production process in designing the film's special effects. The profit margin on the Pirates of the Caribbean films was compromised by overspending as special effects teams rushed to complete the films for their release dates.[10] Variety also ascribed the postponement to avoiding the potential 2008 Screen Actors Guild strike so the studio could ensure that the film leads to a "mega-franchise" similar to its successful Pirates of the Caribbean series.[11] Other reasons for the release date change were that the film was originally scheduled a week before Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and Disney needed more time to co-ordinate its marketing campaign.[12] Gyllenhaal claims he "over-prepared"[13] for the role, gaining five or six pounds of muscle.[13] The actor says, "…I never knew how much they were going to ask me to do, so I just made sure I'd be hopefully able to do anything."[13] Gemma Arterton was announced to play the role of protagonist Tamina,[12] and Arterton reported she practiced horse back riding in Madrid before filming.[14] Sir Ben Kingsley was to portray the film's antagonist, Nizam.[15] Alfred Molina was to portray a character named Sheik Amar, who becomes a mentor to the prince.[16] Toby Kebbell was to play Prince Garsiv, Dastan's brother, and head of the Persian army.[17] The leading characters of the film all speak with a recognisable British English accent, albeit with a slight Middle Eastern colour.

Filming

In March 2008, director Mike Newell selected Morocco as a shooting location for Prince of Persia and also planned to film in Pinewood Studios. Production was scheduled to begin in mid-June 2008.[18] By May 2008, actors Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton were cast into the lead roles. With a new script by Jordan Mechner, Doug Miro, Carlo Bernard, and Boaz Yakin, filming began in July 2008 in Morocco as well as London.[12] Eight weeks were spent in Morocco before the first unit moved to Pinewood.[13]

Soundtrack

Untitled

Alanis Morissette composed the theme song for the film, named "I Remain".[19] The score was written by composer Harry Gregson-Williams.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Soundtrack (66:26)
No.TitleLength
1."The Prince of Persia"5:20
2."Raid On Alamut"6:32
3."Tamina Unveiled"2:34
4."The King and His Sons"2:59
5."Dastan and Tamina Escape"4:31
6."Journey Through the Desert"2:55
7."Ostrich Race"0:59
8."Running from Sheikh Amar"3:27
9."Trusting Nizam"4:37
10."Visions of Death"1:46
11."So, You're Going To Help Me?"2:20
12."The Oasis Ambush"1:54
13."Hassansin Attack"2:59
14."Return To Alamut"3:05
15."No Ordinary Dagger"4:39
16."The Passages"3:09
17."The Sands of Time"3:58
18."Destiny"3:38
19."I Remain" (performed by Alanis Morissette, written by Alanis Morissette and Mike Elizondo)4:57

Marketing

Mechner, Gyllenhaal, Bruckheimer, and Newell at a panel promoting the film at WonderCon 2010.

The Prince of Persia poster made its debut as a background prop in a 2009 Bruckheimer production, Confessions of a Shopaholic, similar to how Warner Brothers incorporated poster for various developed but never filmed projects based on their comic-book characters in I Am Legend.[20] The week of Confessions of a Shopaholic’s release, Disney signed a merchandising deal with Lego for the film.[21]

The trailer was released on the internet on November 2, 2009. In the trailer, it is shown that Nizam has released the Sands of Time (via the dagger) to destroy the Kingdom, thus forcing Dastan to take back the dagger and retrieve it to the "Secret Guardian Temple," along with Princess Tamina. It also shows that using the dagger will cause half of the Prince's body to become "flamed," a homage to the element in Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones (where the Prince is possessed by the Sands of Time). Disney will also release merchandise such as action figures, sets, costumes and a replica Dagger Of Time. It will also release a graphic novel called Prince of Persia: Before the Sandstorm, which will act as a prequel to the film. Also, a video game is being developed by Ubisoft Montreal titled Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands that will be released alongside the film; however, the game's story is unrelated to the film, and instead serves as a midquel to the first two games in the Sands of Time trilogy.

Release

Disney's marketing strategy included a step by step release of the film. Prince of Persia was released first in Europe, with its world premiere held in Westfield, London, UK on May 9 then premiered on May 19, 2010 in Italy, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland, and on May 20 in Germany.[22] It was released on May 21 in the United Kingdom, Spain, Bulgaria and Turkey. It was released in Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and the Philippines on May 27. The film was not released in the United States until May 28 in order to try and profit from the potentially higher audience on Memorial Day weekend. It was also released in Ghana, India, Romania and Nigeria on May 28.

Reception

The film received generally mixed reviews. Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 39% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 194 reviews, with an average score of 5/10.[23] The critical consensus is: It doesn't offer much in the way of substance, but Prince of Persia is a suitably entertaining swashbuckler -- and a substantial improvement over most video game adaptations.[24] Another review aggregate, Metacritic, which calculates an average rating based on reviews from mainstream critics, gave a score of 50/100.[25] Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert gave the film two stars out of four and wrote, "The two leads are not inspired. Jake Gyllenhaal could make the cover of a muscle mag, but he plays Dastan as if harboring Spider-Man's doubts and insecurities." [26] On Rotten Tomatoes Prince of Persia is the highest rated live-action movie based on a video game and it's currently sitting at #2, behind only the animated Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.[27]

Box office

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, which, according to Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer, was supposed to be "the new Pirates of the Caribbean", debuted #3 at the box office behind Shrek Forever After and Sex and the City 2 with $30.1 million in its first 3-day weekend of release. It is also the third highest opening for a video game adaptation, behind Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Pokémon: The First Movie. Internationally, the film grossed $18 million in its first week, when it opened in 19 major European countries[28]. Prince of Persia debuted at #1 in these countries, except UK where it lost the top spot to StreetDance 3D. A week later the film was released in the rest of the world and it grossed $59 million in total of 47 countries[29], becoming the leader of worldwide box office, while reaching the #1 spot in 40 of the 47 countries.[30]

As of June 20, 2010, the film has earned $80,508,000 in the United States and $213,100,000 in foreign countries with a total worldwide gross of $293,608,000.[2]

Cultural references

The movie is based on characters and cultural elements of the game, which in turn is loosely based on characters of Persian mythology such as The Shahnameh (a.k.a. "Book of Kings"), and a famous legend involving Malik-Shah I, Nizam al-Mulk, and Hassan-i Sabbah in Persian literature. The name "Dastan" e.g. is derived from Rostam Dastan, a hero in the Shahnameh. in the film it was chosen as a name however "Dastan" is an adj. in ancient persian which means Hero, therefore "Rostam Dastan" means Rostam the Hero! "Tamina" (from Tahmina), and "Garsiv" (from Garsivaz) are also names from the Shahnameh. Roger Ebert seems to think that Dastan's character is reminiscent of the character of Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves of Baghdad from One Thousand and One Nights, itself another Persian tale.[26]

References

  1. ^ Fritz, Ben (May 27, 2010). "Movie Projector: 'Sex and the City' ladies to rule over 'Prince of Persia'". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company. Retrieved May 27, 2010. It appears that "Persia" won't draw enough men, however, to make good on its hefty production budget of about $200 million.
  2. ^ a b "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010)". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved June 6, 2010.
  3. ^ Bing, Jonathan (March 3, 2004). "Jerry preps game plan for 'Sands'". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved July 14, 2008. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ a b Vejvoda, Jim (July 25, 2008). "SDCC 08: Mechner Talks Persia Movie". IGN. News Corporation. Retrieved August 6, 2008.
  5. ^ Gardner, Chris (February 26, 2006). "Scribe goes into action for Disney". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  6. ^ McNary, Dave (July 13, 2007). "Hollywood films' dating game". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  7. ^ Fleming, Michael (November 7, 2007). "Disney, Bruckheimer talking 'Prince'". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  8. ^ "Prince of Persia Movie Update". ReelzChannel. Hubbard Broadcasting Corporation. November 11, 2007. Retrieved October 12, 2008.
  9. ^ Topel, Fred (November 12, 2007). "Mike Newell Drops Early Prince of Persia Details!". Rotten Tomatoes. News Corporation. Retrieved October 12, 2008.
  10. ^ Hill, Jim (August 10, 2008). "Monday Mouse Watch: Why did Disney push back "Prince of Persia"?". Jim Hill Media. LLC. Retrieved October 12, 2008.
  11. ^ McClintock, Pamela (July 31, 2008). "Disney pushes 'Persia' to 2010". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved August 1, 2008.
  12. ^ a b c Graser, Marc (May 20, 2008). "Jake Gyllenhaal is Disney's 'Prince'". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  13. ^ a b c d "Jake Gyllenhaal as 'the Prince of Persia'". Entertainment Tonight. CBS Television Distribution. November 13, 2008. Retrieved November 14, 2008.
  14. ^ "Gemma Arterton Interview". MI6.co.uk. L.P. November 12, 2008. Retrieved November 13, 2008.
  15. ^ Graser, Marc (June 5, 2008). "Ben Kingsley joins 'Prince of Persia'". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  16. ^ Fleming, Michael (June 2, 2008). "Alfred Molina joins 'Prince of Persia'". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  17. ^ Floyd, Bobbie. "Toby Kebbell interview". Little White Lies. Retrieved January 8, 2009.
  18. ^ Jaafar, Ali (March 6, 2008). "Newell takes 'Persia' to Morocco". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  19. ^ http://www.cifraclubnews.com.br/noticias/21541-alanis-morissette-grava-musica-para-filme-prince-of-persia-ouca.html
  20. ^ "Jerry Bruckheimer Debuts 'Prince of Persia' Poster Within His Own Film, 'Confessions Of A Shopaholic". MTV Movies Blog. Viacom. January 25, 2009. Retrieved January 25, 2009.
  21. ^ "Disney and LEGO Group Announce Strategic Licensing Relationship". PR Newswire. February 15, 2009. Retrieved February 15, 2009.
  22. ^ Prince of Persia on allocine.fr, Prince of Persia on moviepilot.de
  23. ^ "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Times reviews at Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. IGN. Retrieved June 9, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  24. ^ [hhttp://beta.rottentomatoes.com/m/prince_of_persia_sands_of_time/ "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Times reviews at Rotten Tomatoes"]. Rotten Tomatoes. IGN. Retrieved June 9, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  25. ^ "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Times reviews at Metacritic.com". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved May 21, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  26. ^ a b Ebert, Roger. "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews". rogerebert.com. Sun-Time Media Group. Retrieved May 28, 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  27. ^ Best Video Game Adaptations
  28. ^ http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/24/entertainment/la-et-boxoffice-sidebar-20100524
  29. ^ http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN3024385220100530
  30. ^ http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/prince-reigns-over-sex-and-shrek-worldwide-1987748.html
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (film).
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Prince_of_Persia:_The_Sands_of_Time_(film)&oldid=369313748"