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This Is the End

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This Is the End
Theatrical release poster
Directed by
Screenplay by
  • Seth Rogen
  • Evan Goldberg
Produced by
  • Seth Rogen
  • Evan Goldberg
  • James Weaver
Starring
CinematographyBrandon Trost
Edited byZene Baker
Music byHenry Jackman
Production
companies
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
  • June 12, 2013 (2013-06-12)
Running time
106 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$32 million[2]
Box office$125,891,960[2]

This Is the End is a 2013 American comedy film written and directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg in their directorial debut, starring an ensemble cast including Rogen, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride and Craig Robinson as fictional versions of themselves in the aftermath of a global apocalypse. The film was released on June 12, 2013, and was a critical and commercial success. Due to the success of the film, Columbia Pictures set the film to be re-released on September 6, 2013.[3]

Plot

Jay Baruchel arrives in Los Angeles to visit his old friend and fellow actor Seth Rogen, who invites Baruchel to attend a housewarming party hosted by James Franco. Baruchel is uncomfortable being around many people he does not know well, so Rogen accompanies him to a convenience store for cigarettes.

While at the convenience store, the ground begins to shake and beams of blue light from the sky carry away many nearby people. Rogen and Baruchel flee back to Franco's house amid mass chaos, but find the party undisturbed. Baruchel tries to explain that the Apocalypse has occurred, but Rogen and the others thinking this as a hallucinogenic episode. Moments later, the earth quakes again and they rush outside to see the Hollywood Hills on fire. A large hole opens in the earth swallowing up several other celebrities, while Rogen, Baruchel, Franco, Jonah Hill and Craig Robinson survive. They take inventory of the supplies, including food, water, drugs, pornographic magazines, a baseball bat, a video camera from 127 Hours, and Franco's revolver from Flyboys. They set up a ration system, fortify the house, and await help.

Danny McBride, who attended the party uninvited and passed out in the bathtub, wakes up first. Not knowing about the crisis, he makes breakfast using the majority of the food in the house and disbelieves the others' accounts until a desperate outsider seeking aid is decapitated in their presence. Tensions rise, however, due to various conflicts, including Baruchel and Rogen's growing estrangement and the others' skepticism of Baruchel's theory that the disasters might be the Biblical Rapture.

Emma Watson, another survivor of the party, returns. Because of a misunderstanding, she believes the group is planning to rape her and leaves, taking with her the remaining drinks left in the house. Robinson is chosen to travel outside to the basement for water, but finds the door locked and endures a frightening encounter with an unknown being.

Robinson's experience causes him to believe Baruchel's theory of the Apocalypse. They reach the basement by digging through the floor and they find the water, but McBride's behavior results in much of it being lost. Franco wants to kick McBride out of the house everyone else want to give McBride a choice and he chooses to leave. Franco gives McBride his revolver, which he tries to use to kill the others, only to find that it is filled with blanks. Before he leaves, McBride reveals Baruchel was in town two months before, but stayed at a Four Seasons instead of Rogen's house, due to their strained friendship. Later that night, Hill prays for Baruchel to die and is raped by a demon. The next day, Robinson volunteers to explore a neighboring home for supplies with Baruchel. Now possessed, Hill chases Franco and Rogen while Robinson and Baruchel flee a demonic bull at the neighbors' house. The group subdues Hill, but during an exorcism attempt, Rogen and Baruchel get into a fight, accidentally knocking over a candle, which starts a fire destroying the house and Hill's body.

Franco suggests taking his Prius to escape, but it's guarded by a massive winged demon. Robinson volunteers to sacrifice himself so his friends can escape. The plan succeeds and Robinson (because of his good deed) is sent up into Heaven in the same blue light that Baruchel saw before. As the others escape, the car is hit by an armored motor home filled with cannibals led by McBride (and Channing Tatum as McBride's sex slave), who captures them. Franco volunteers to sacrifice himself to save the others, and although the plan succeeds and a blue beam begins to take him to Heaven, Franco taunts McBride as he ascends, causing the beam to vanish, and the cannibals eat Franco. Rogen and Baruchel escape, but immediately encounter Satan. They reconcile and await death in an embrace. A blue beam strikes Baruchel, but not Rogen, and Baruchel grabs Rogen's hand. Rogen's presence prevents them from ascending to Heaven, so Rogen lets go to save Baruchel, but before he falls into Satan's mouth, he is saved by another heavenly beam.

In Heaven, Baruchel and Rogen see a golden gate and are greeted by Robinson, who is now an angel. Robinson tell Baruchel and Rogen that Heaven is a place where any desire comes true. Baruchel wishes for the Backstreet Boys and the film ends with the band performing "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" in a heavenly party.

Cast

Much of the film's cast portray fictional, exaggerated versions of themselves:[4]

Production

According to Rogen and Goldberg, "We always wanted to do a movie where people played themselves and something extraordinary happened; the initial version of the film was Seth Rogen and Busta Rhymes were filming a music video and a film respectively, on the Sony lot, and Antmen attacked from the center of the earth."[5] The film is also based on Jay and Seth versus the Apocalypse, a short film created by Stone and Goldberg in 2007.[6] In an interview with The Guardian, Goldberg commented on influences contributing to the film, saying "[i]f you drilled down to the core of what I do, it's just ripping off little bits of Charlie Kaufman. Seth and I always loved The Larry Sanders Show too. And the popularity of reality television now also feeds into that idea of whether what we're watching is actually real. We thought working with our friends in that situation would be awesome because they're all comedians willing to take stabs at themselves."[7]

During production, the film was titled The Apocalypse,[6] a name later changed to The End of the World (20th Century Fox owns the rights to the title The Apocalypse). The film entered post-production in July 2012.[6][8] The name changed to This Is the End on December 20, 2012, upon the release of its first trailer and poster.[9] This was done at the request of Rogen's Paul co-star Simon Pegg, who wrote to Rogen in concern that The End of the World was too similar a title to his film The World's End, also released in the summer of 2013 and centered around an apocalypse. As The World's End was the name of a key location in that film, Pegg worried he could not change the name of his film.[10]

In March 2013, the release date was pushed forward two days to June 12, 2013.[11] On April 1, 2013, Sony released an April Fools' Day trailer for Pineapple Express 2, which was in fact a teaser trailer for This Is the End.[12] According to Rogen and Goldberg, however, the homemade Pineapple Express 2 film in This Is the End depicts what they envision for the actual sequel.[13]

Music

Soundtrack

Untitled

This Is the End: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack of the film. It was released on June 11, 2013[14][15] by RCA Records.

No.TitlePerformer(s)Length
1."Take Yo Panties Off"Snoop Lion & Craig Robinson5:06
2."Step Into a World (Rapture's Delight)"KRS-One4:50
3."Tipsy (Club Mix)"J-Kwon4:05
4."A Joyful Process"Funkadelic6:17
5."Love in the Old Days"Daddy4:18
6."When the Shit Goes Down"Cypress Hill3:11
7."Watchu Want"Belief & Karniege2:57
8."Easy Fix"K.Flay3:36
9."Spirit in the Sky"Norman Greenbaum3:58
10."Everybody (Backstreet's Back)"Backstreet Boys3:45
11."Please Save My Soul"Church Friends Choir featuring Pamela Landrum2:07
12."I Will Always Love You"Whitney Houston4:33
Total length:48:43
Songs featured in the film, but not in the soundtrack

Score

The score by Henry Jackman, with additional material by Dominic Lewis and Matthew Margeson and conducted by Nick Glennie-Smith, was not officially released on its own, not even as bonus tracks on the CD or digital releases on RCA's album. Despite that, a promotional album for the score does exist, according to Soundtrack.net.[16]

No.TitleLength
1."Rapture on Melrose"1:47
2."Hills on Fire/The Sinkhole"3:36
3."Foreboding News Report"0:22
4."Can't Sleep"0:43
5."Head Guy"0:30
6."The Sinkhole Remains"0:35
7."This Shit is Biblical"0:58
8."Boredom Montage"0:36
9."Emma Returns"0:15
10."Drawing Matches Pt 1"0:42
11."Craig Gets the Water"1:37
12."Creepy Basement Memorabilia"0:25
13."The Devil Rapes Jonah"1:17
14."Drawing Matches Pt 2"1:05
15."Jay & Craig Go Outside"1:22
16."Something's Wrong with Jonah"0:37
17."Jonah is Possessed"0:35
18."Demonic Chase Sequence"4:01
19."Lights Out, Jay's Got a Plan"0:22
20."The Exorcism of Jonah Hill"0:37
21."Fire Chase"1:12
22."Craig's Last Stand"2:15
23."Franco's Demise"1:31
24."The Rapture of Seth & Jay"2:25
Total length:29:30

Reception

Critical response

This Is the End received mostly positive reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 83% based on 204 reviews; the site's consensus states: "Energetic, self-deprecating performances and enough guffaw-inducing humor make up for the flaws in This Is the End's loosely written script."[17] On Metacritic, the film has an average rating of 67/100, indicating "generally favorable reviews."[18]

Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a letter grade of "A", saying: "You could sit through a year's worth of Hollywood comedies and still not see anything that's genuinely knock-your-socks-off audacious. But This Is the End (opening June 12) truly is. It's the wildest screen comedy in a long time and also the smartest, the most fearlessly inspired and the snort-out-loud funniest."[19]

Brian D. Johnson of Maclean's wrote: There could be worse ways to experience the apocalypse than with a party of stoned celebrities at James Franco's house. For one thing, his epic art collection can be used to board up the cracking walls against demons and zombies. That's the screwball scenario of This Is the End...The film unfolds as a profanely funny showbiz parody. But with perfect timing, it also sends up a genre that has recently gone viral at the multiplex: the apoca-blockbuster.[20]

At the other end of the scale, Canada's The Globe and Mail compared the film to the interminable wait for a cancelled bus, giving it one and a half stars out of five, referring to the actors in the film as "the lazy, the privileged and the mirthless".[21]

Box office

This Is the End was a box office success. The film grossed $101,470,202 in North America, and $22,982,457 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $124,452,659.[2] In North America, the film opened to number 2 in its first weekend with $20,719,162, behind Man of Steel.[22]

Home media

This Is the End was released on DVD and Blu-ray on October 1, 2013.[23]

Possible sequel

When asked if a sequel to the film was probable, director and co-writer Evan Goldberg said, "If you ask me, I'd say there's a pretty good chance of a sequel. If you ask Seth [Rogen], he'd say no." On June 26, 2013, Goldberg announced ideas for a sequel in which the apocalypse occurs at the premiere of This Is the End. "Seth’s a cokehead in this version, Michael Cera is a calm dude with a boyfriend, Rihanna and The Backstreet Boys are back," Goldberg said in an interview. “We have a lot of ideas: a heaven and hell, for example, and a garden of Eden version where Danny [McBride] is Adam.”[24]

Despite this, Goldberg has stated it would be difficult to re-create the casting conditions from the first film, believing them to be a stroke of luck, saying, "I honestly don't know if we could get the guys together [again]."[25][26][27]

See also

  • It's a Disaster – a 2012 black comedy about a several couples at a couples brunch who realize that the world is ending
  • The World's End – another 2013 apocalyptic comedy film with an ensemble cast
  • Rapture-Palooza – another 2013 apocalypse-themed comedy which also featured Craig Robinson

References

  1. ^ "THIS IS THE END (15)". British Board of Film Classification. April 23, 2013. Retrieved April 23, 2013.
  2. ^ a b c "This is the End (2013)". Box Office Mojo. IMDB. Retrieved July 5, 2013.
  3. ^ "Seth Rogen And Evan Goldberg's This Is The End Is Returning To Theaters". CinemaBlend.com. September 3, 2013. Retrieved October 17, 2013.
  4. ^ Chitwood, Adam (December 20, 2012). "First Red-Band Clip and Poster for Seth Rogen's THIS IS THE END Starring Jay Baruchel, James Franco, Danny McBride, Jonah Hill, and Many More". Collider. Archived from the original on December 20, 2012. Retrieved December 20, 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ Rogen, Seth; Goldberg, Evan (June 14, 2013). "We are Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg - Ask Us Anything". Reddit. Retrieved June 21, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ a b c Chitwood, Adam (April 6, 2012). "Aziz Ansari Joins Seth Rogen in THE APOCALYPSE". Collider. Archived from the original on March 28, 2013. Retrieved March 28, 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ Gilbey, Ryan (June 6, 2013). "This is the End: why actors love to play themselves". The Guardian. Retrieved June 11, 2013.
  8. ^ "Aziz Ansari Joins 'The Apocalypse'". Spill.com. April 8, 2012. Retrieved April 9, 2012.
  9. ^ Lussier, Germain (December 20, 2012). "'This Is The End' Red-Band Teaser Clip and Poster: Seth Rogen's End Of The World Comedy Debuts, Before Possible End Of The World". /Film. Archived from the original on December 20, 2012. Retrieved December 20, 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ [1]
  11. ^ Bettinger, Brendan (March 28, 2013). "Release Dates for Seth Rogen's THIS IS THE END and KON-TIKI; Tina Fey/Steve Carell Comedy MAIL-ORDER GROOM Delayed". Collider. Archived from the original on March 28, 2013. Retrieved March 28, 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ "PINEAPPLE EXPRESS 2 – Official Trailer". YouTube. April 1, 2013. Retrieved June 11, 2013.
  13. ^ Rogen, Seth; Goldberg, Evan (June 14, 2013). "We are Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg - Ask Us Anything". Reddit. Retrieved June 21, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. ^ "This Is The End: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack [Explicit]: Various: MP3 Downloads". Amazon.com. January 1, 1970. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
  15. ^ "iTunes – Music – This Is the End (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by Various Artists". iTunes Store. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
  16. ^ ""This Is the End" Original Score (Promotional Album) 2013 - Soundtrack.net". Soundtrack.net. Retrieved June 30, 2013.
  17. ^ This Is the End at Rotten Tomatoes Flixster. Retrieved July 6, 2013
  18. ^ This Is the End at Metacritic CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 6, 2013
  19. ^ Gleiberman, Owen (June 8, 2013). "Movie Review: This Is the End". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved June 11, 2013.
  20. ^ Johnson, Brian D. (June 7, 2013). "Was Armageddon always this complicated?". Maclean's. Retrieved June 11, 2013.
  21. ^ Groen, Rick D. "This Is the End leaves viewers asking: When will it be over?". The Globe and Mail.
  22. ^ "Weekend Box Office Results for June 14-16, 2013". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. July 4, 2013. Retrieved July 5, 2013.
  23. ^ "This Is the End Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved October 17, 2013.
  24. ^ evan-goldberg-thinks-this-is-the-end-sequel-is-entirely-possible
  25. ^ Puchko, Kristy (June 26, 2013). "Evan Goldberg Has Big Ideas For This Is The End Sequel". CinemaBlend. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
  26. ^ Mr. Disgusting (June 26, 2013). "Potential 'This Is The End' Sequel Would Start During The Film's Premiere!". BloodyDisgusting. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
  27. ^ Anderton, Ethan (June 26, 2013). "Evan Goldberg Thinks 'This is The End' Sequel is Entirely Possible". FirstShowing. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
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