Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents and Alien vs. Predator (film): Difference between pages
(Difference between pages)
Content deleted Content added
→Production Notes: removed useless trivia as per WP:TRIV. this section needs to be rewritten as prose & referenced. |
|||
Line 1:
{{Infobox_Film |
name = Alien vs. Predator |
image = Avpmovie.jpg |
writer = '''Story:'''<br>[[Paul W. S. Anderson]]<br>[[Dan O'Bannon]]<br>Ronald Shusett<br>'''Screenplay:'''<br>Paul W.S. Anderson|
starring = [[Sanaa Lathan]]<br>[[Lance Henriksen]]<br>[[Raoul Bova]]<br>[[Ewen Bremner]]<br>[[Colin Salmon]] |
director = [[Paul W.S. Anderson]] |
producer = Gordon Carroll<br>[[John Davis (American producer)|John Davis]]<br>David Giler<br>[[Walter Hill (director)|Walter Hill]] |
distributor = [[20th Century Fox]] |
released = [[August 13]], [[2004]]|
runtime = '''Theatrical Cut:'''<br>101 min.<br>'''Director's Cut:'''<br>115 min.<!-- According to the IMDB --> |
language = English |
budget = $70,000,000 |
music = |
awards = |
preceded_by = ''[[Alien: Resurrection]]''<br> ''[[Predator 2]]''|
followed_by = ''[[Alien vs. Predator: Survival of the Fittest]]''|
amg_id = 1:288761 |
imdb_id = 0370263 |
}}
'''''Alien vs. Predator''''' (also known as '''''AVP''''') is a [[film|motion picture]] released in [[2004]] by [[20th Century Fox]] and directed by [[Paul W. S. Anderson]]. It is based both on several series of ''[[Aliens vs. Predator (comic book)|Alien vs. Predator]]'' [[comic books]] published by [[Dark Horse Comics]] and on the ''[[Alien (film)|Alien]]'' and ''[[Predator (film)|Predator]]'' films which spawned the original characters. The release of the film marks the two species' first shared appearance in a motion picture.
'''Tagline:'''
*''Whoever wins...we lose.''
==Plot==
The events of ''Alien vs. Predator'' are set in [[2004]] on [[Earth]]. As a [[Predator (alien)|Predator]] ship nears the planet, Earth satellites detect a mysterious heat bloom beneath the ice of the island [[Bouvet Island|Bouvetøya]] near [[Antarctica]]. Billionaire [[Charles Bishop Weyland]] assembles a team of scientists to investigate the heat source and claim it for his multinational communications company the Weyland Corporation (foreshadowing the [[Weyland-Yutani|Weyland-Yutani Corporation]] of the ''Alien'' series). The team includes paleontologists, archaeologists, linguistic experts, drillers, mercenaries, and a "rough and tumble" female guide named Alexa Woods.
As the Predator ship reaches Earth orbit, it blasts a hole down through the ice towards the source of the heat bloom. When the human team arrives at the site, an abandoned whaling station, they find this hole and descend beneath the ice. There they discover a mysterious [[pyramid]] and begin to explore it, finding proof of a civilization predating written history and what appears to be a "sacrificial chamber" filled with dismembered human skeletons. Meanwhile, three Predators land and kill off the humans at the surface, making their way down to the pyramid and arriving just as the team unwittingly "powers on" the structure. An [[Xenomorph (Alien)|Alien]] queen awakens from cryogenic stasis and begins producing eggs, from which facehuggers hatch and attach themselves to several of the humans. Chestbursters soon result and quickly grow into adult Aliens. Conflicts erupt between the Predators, Aliens, and humans, resulting in several deaths. Unbeknownst to the others, one of the Predators is implanted with an Alien embryo by a facehugger.
Through translation of the pyramid’s [[Egyptian hieroglyphs|hieroglyphs]], the explorers learn that the Predators have been visiting Earth for centuries. It was they who taught early human civilizations to build pyramids, and they were worshipped as gods. At regular intervals they would visit Earth to take part in a rite of passage in which several humans would sacrifice themselves as hosts for the Aliens, creating the "ultimate prey" for the Predators to hunt. If overwhelmed, the Predators would activate their self-destruct weapons to eliminate the Aliens along with themselves. They deduce that this is why the current Predators are here, and that they must be allowed to succeed in their hunt so that the Aliens do not spread to the rest of Earth.
As the battle continues most of the characters are killed off (including Weyland), leaving only Alexa Woods and a single Predator to face off against the remaining Aliens. The two ally with each other and use the Predator’s self-destruct device to detonate the pyramid, killing the remaining Aliens and escaping to the surface. The Alien queen escapes as well, and the three do battle in the whaling station. Alexa and the Predator defeat the queen by attaching its chain to a heavy water tower and pushing it over a cliff and into the ocean, dragging the queen down to the ocean floor. The Predator, however, dies from its wounds. A Predator ship suddenly decloaks and several elder Predators appear. They collect their fallen comrade and recognize Alexa as a worthy warrior. As they retreat into space, a [[chestburster]] bursts forth from the dead Predator. It appears an Alien/Predator hybrid, as it has the characteristic jaw mandibles of both species.
==Cast==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Actor
! Role
|-
| [[Sanaa Lathan]] || Alexa "Lex" Woods
|-
| [[Raoul Bova]] || Sebastian De Rosa
|-
| [[Lance Henriksen]] || [[Charles Bishop Weyland]]
|-
| [[Ewen Bremner]] || Graeme Miller
|-
| [[Colin Salmon]] || Max Stafford
|-
| [[Tommy Flanagan (actor)|Tommy Flanagan]] || Mark Verheiden
|-
| Joseph Rye || Joe Connors
|-
| [[Agathe De La Boulaye]] || Adele Rousseau
|-
| [[Carsten Norgaard]] || Rustin Quinn
|-
| [[Sam Troughton]] || Thomas Parkes
|-
| [[Petr Jákl]] || Stone
|-
| [[Pavel Bezdek]] || Bass
|-
| Kieran Bew || Klaus
|-
| Carsten Voigt || Mikkel
|-
| Jan Filipensky || Boris
|-
| Adrian Bouchet || Sven
|}
According to the novelization, the three Predators are named Scar (the main Predator), Celtic (the leader who attacks Quinn) and Chopper (who has the shortest screentime). Scar is also noted in the credits, and Celtic is acknowledged in one of the DVD commentaries. Chopper has also been called Gill. The three are easily distinguishable owing to their different masks - Celtic has a very elaborate design over his mouth, Chopper has several horizontal 'ribs' beneath his eyepieces and Scar's is almost entirely smooth. In addition, the Alien which fights Celtic is listed in the credits as "Grid", owing to the gridlike pattern Celtic scars onto it. Also the Predator Leader of the Spaceship, the one who gives Alexa the hunt victory spear, is called Elder, since he's the main leader of all the pack.
==Production==
{{Not verified|date=February 2007}}
===Origins===
Screenwriter [[Peter Briggs]] created the original [[Screenplays#Spec scripts|spec screenplay]] in [[1990]]-[[1991]], which itself was essentially a rewrite of the first comic series of the same name.<ref name="briggs">''Cinescape Presents v3 #9'', "Movie Aliens"|</ref> In [[1991]] he successfully pitched the concept to 20th Century Fox, who owned both film franchises, although the company did not move forward with the project until [[2003]] after several re-writes of the original concept and screenplay and several changes to the cast and crew.
The writing credits submitted by the studio to the [[Writer's Guild of America|WGA]] recommended that [[Peter Briggs]] and Paul W.S. Anderson be credited for the story, while Anderson and [[Shane Salerno]] get the screenplay credit.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} Instead, the WGA denied any sort of credit to Briggs or Salerno, and instead gave co-story credit to original ''Alien'' writers Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett on the rationale that some story elements were based on a deleted scene from that film.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} Shocked at this decision, the studio offered Salerno an executive producer's credit, but he turned it down.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
Before ''AvP'' was greenlighted, [[James Cameron]], the maker of ''[[Aliens (film)|Aliens]]'', started work on a story for ''Alien 5'', but when he heard of ''AvP'', he thought that the crossover would "kill the validity of the franchise" and stopped work on his script. He changed his opinion about ''AvP'' after seeing it, however, going on record with Ain't it Cool News that he actually thought AvP was "pretty good" and that of the five ''Alien'' films, he would rate it third.<ref name="cameron">{{cite web|url=http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=22405|title=Quint interviews James Cameron|publisher=AintItCool|accessdate=2006-12-18}}</ref>
===Location===
Production began in late 2003 on the [[Barrandov Studios]] backlot in [[Prague]], where the vast majority of the filming took place, although the film was set on the [[Norway|Norwegian]] [[Antarctic]] island of [[Bouvet Island|Bouvet]].
The setting of the film, [[Bouvet Island]], is referred to as ''"Bouvetøya Island"''. "Bouvetøya" is the [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] name and is a combination of the words ''Bouvet'' and ''øya'' ("the island"). The film claims that Bouvet Island is not controlled by any nation, as is the case with [[Antarctica]]. The island, however, has belonged to [[Norway]] since [[1927]]. Additionally, an animation in the movie shows Bouvet as being located off the coast of the [[Antarctic Peninsula]], when in fact it is over 1,600 km from the nearest land. At this distance, Bouvet Island can be considered the most remote island (and indeed the most remote place) on Earth.
===Effects===
A number of changes were made to both the appearance and equipment of the Predators in ''AvP''. Director Paul Anderson and the film's costume designers chose to give the Predators heavier armor in ''AvP'' than had been seen in the prior ''Predator'' films, partly because they felt it made the Predators seem less vulnerable to the Aliens and partly because it gave them a larger, sturdier overall appearance. Some fans, however, were upset with the costuming, as many felt that it made the Predators appear overly bulky, unstable and awkward. In addition, the Predator's vision system has been modified; it now includes a viewing mode used for tracking the Aliens. Modifications have been made to almost all of the previous weapons: the wrist blades are longer and larger, and can be fired; the net gun has been built into the wrist gauntlet, and its nets automatically contract; a folding [[shuriken]]-style weapon has replaced the disc; a more ornate version of the spear appears at the end of the film, perhaps only given to Predator elders; the [[plasmacaster]]s are larger and more powerful, for use against Aliens; and one Predator is given a pair of giant, retractable fore-arm claws, though he never gets a chance to use them.
==Reception==
Critics were not allowed to view the film in advance.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/536/536671p1.html|title=Critic viewing|publisher=FilmForce.com|accessdate=2006-12-15}}</ref> Once critics were able to review the film they were not very positive about it. <ref>{{cite web|url=http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808496111/critic|title=Critic reviews|publisher=yahoo.com|accessdate=2007-1-2}}</ref>
Despite mostly poor reviews, the film earned more than $38 million over its US opening weekend and spent its first week of release at the top of box office charts. However, the success did not last long and subsequent weeks saw the film's revenue take a severe decline. Even so, it ranks as one of the most successful films to date in either franchise. The film earned $171.2 million worldwide, with a sequel, ''[[Alien vs. Predator: Survival of the Fittest]]'', scheduled for [[December 25]], [[2007 in film|2007]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://superherohype.com/news.php?id=4111|title=Sequel scheduled|publisher=SuperHeroHype|accessdate=2006-12-15}}</ref> Visual effects artists, the [[Brothers Strause]], known for directing commercial and music videos, are confirmed to be directing the project.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=15775|title=Sequel directors|publisher=ComingSoon|accessdate=2006-12-15}}</ref>
==Influence==
===Spoofs===
====Magazines====
*In the summer of [[2004]], [[Mad (magazine)|Mad magazine]] reran its ''Alien'' and ''Predator'' spoofs together in the same issue of MAD XL. The two spoofs, both written around the time the two original movies came out, were called "Alias" and "Predecessor", respectively.
*In the Fundalini section of an issue of MAD, there was a spoof movie poster for "[[Ewok]] vs. Predator", for which the tagline was: "Whoever wins... [[George Lucas|Lucas]] gets richer.".
*In the front section of an issue of MAD, there was a picture of a comic page that had "[[Spy vs. Spy]] vs. Alien vs. Predator
*An ad for [[The Simpsons]]/[[Futurama]] crossover in both respective comic series parodied the poster shown above with [[Bender (Futurama)|Bender]] in place of the predator and a drooling [[Homer Simpson|Homer]] in place of the alien with the tag line "Whoever wins, we laugh."
====TV====
*In an episode of [[MADtv]], A movie titled "Alien vs. The Princess Diaries vs. Snuggle The Fabric Softener Bear" was advertised with the tagline "Whoever wins, we lose 8 dollars, or 10 if you live in a major city".
*In one of the many cutaways of the episode of ''[[Family Guy]]'' entitled "[[8 Simple Rules for Buying My Teenage Daughter]]", a clip of a (fictional) movie called ''[[Kramer vs. Kramer|Kramer]] vs. Predator'' was shown. It consisted of [[Dustin Hoffman|Dustin Hoffman's]] Kramer from ''Kramer vs. Kramer'' telling the Predator it could not have custody. The Predator responded by shooting Kramer in the face with its plasma caster.
*The show ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' has made cracks at this movie more than once. The first time the movie was referenced was a subtle, short gag involving an Alien and a Predator playing chess in the park. The second was a much longer segment called ''Alien Loves Predator'' which featured an "Alien" going on a date with a "Predator" on the show [[Blind Date (US TV series)|Blind Date]] which ended up with the Predator activating the wrist-bomb and blowing the Alien up after the Alien accidentally punched a hole in the Predator's mouth with her secondary mouth while kissing.
*It is said that in 2008, the show [[The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy]] will show a one hour TV movie called [[Chicken vs. Martian]], which is a spoof of this film.
====Internet====
*''[[Alien Loves Predator]]'' is a humorous online comic where a Xenomorph (Abe) and a Predator (Preston) are best friends and housemates in current-day [[New York City]].
*In the popular webcomic [[Penny Arcade]], it is speculated that the origins of the Alien vs. Predator grudge stems from a misplaced [[Wham!]] MC ([[Compact Cassette]]).
==Production Notes==
{{list to prose (section)}}
*AVP had both the shortest filming & post-production schedules of any "major studio" film in 2004, filming was given 2 1/2 months while post-production was given just 4 months to complete.
*[[Paul W.S. Anderson]] stepped down from directing ''[[Resident Evil: Apocalypse]]'' to write and direct this film, though he still wrote and produced the other.
*Except for scenes with stand-ins, [[Ian Whyte]] played all of the Predators.
*The role of Max Stafford was written specifically for [[Colin Salmon]].
*Screenwriter [[Shane Salerno]] was the last writer and served as "closer" on this movie. He worked on the film for 15 months, including from pre-production up through filming in Prague and all the way through post production. However, he did not receive the co-screenplay by credit that 20th Century Fox recommended him for to the WGA. Shane has a co-screenplay credit on the novelization of the film, dozens of magazine articles, and many of the original theatre posters.
*At one stage [[Peter Weller]] was attached to do a cameo as [[John Yutani]], the other half of the infamous Weyland-Yutani Company from the Alien films.{{Fact|date=March 2007}}
*This is the first Alien film, and also the first Predator film, to get a rating other than R.
*The character of Verheiden was named after comic book writer [[Mark Verheiden]], creator of the first ''Aliens vs Predator'' comic series and first story ever involving both species.
*The drawings that Paul W.S. Anderson used for his original presentation to 20th Century Fox were done by [[Patrick Tatopoulos]].
*After the opening credits are shown, SFX designers [[Tom Woodruff Jr.]] and [[Alec Gillis]] have brief cameos as technicians who discover the heat bloom coming from the pyramid
==See also==
*[[Alien vs. Predator]] titles in-general, including films, comics, novels, and games
*[[Aliens versus Predator (computer game)|Aliens versus Predator]] computer game series
==References==
<div class="references-small">
<references/>
</div>
==External links==
*[http://www.avp-movie.com/ Official movie website]
*{{imdb title|id=0370263|title=Alien vs. Predator}}
*{{rotten-tomatoes|id=alien_vs_predator|title=Alien vs. Predator}}
*[http://www.avpgalaxy.net AvPGalaxy] - Latest news on the movies, games and novels.
*[http://www.avpvm.com/forums AVPVM: Browser based MMORPG set in the AVP universe]
{{alien}}
[[Category:2004 films]]
[[Category:Alien and Predator series]]
[[Category:Alien (film series)|Alien 5]]
[[Category:Crossover fiction]]
[[Category:Films based on comics]]
[[Category:Teen films]]
[[Category:Predator series]]
[[Category:Bouvet Island]]
[[Category:Films shot in Super 35]]
[[Category:Alien visitation films]]
[[Category:Science fiction action films]]
[[Category:English-language films]]
[[de:Alien vs. Predator]]
[[es:Alien vs. Predator]]
[[fr:Alien vs. Predator (film)]]
[[it:Alien vs. Predator]]
[[nl:Alien vs. Predator]]
[[ja:エイリアンVSプレデター]]
[[no:Alien vs. Predator]]
[[pl:Alien vs. Predator]]
[[pt:AVP: Alien Vs. Predator]]
[[fi:Alien vs. Predator]]
[[sv:AVP: Alien vs. Predator (film)]]
|