Evan Almighty
Evan Almighty is a 2007 American comedy film, and a spin-off of Bruce Almighty (2003). The film was directed by Tom Shadyac, written by Steve Oedekerk, based on the characters created by Steve Koren and Mark O'Keefe from the original film. It stars Steve Carell and Morgan Freeman reprising their roles as Evan Baxter and God, respectively, with new cast members Lauren Graham and John Goodman. The film is a modern-day retelling of Noah's Ark, which Evan reluctantly re-enacts because God commands him to do so at the same time Evan pursues a new career in government.
Evan Almighty
- Steve Oedekerk
- Joel Cohen
- Alec Sokolow
Characters
by Steve Koren
Mark O'Keefe
- Tom Shadyac
- Gary Barber
- Roger Birnbaum
- Neal H. Moritz
- Michael Bostick
Scott Hill
- June 22, 2007
96 minutes[1]
United States
English
$175 million[2]
$174.4 million[2]
Production of the film began in January 2006. Several visual effect companies were used to provide CGI for the numerous animals and the climactic flood scene. By the time the film had completed production, it had become the most expensive comedy film ever, later being overtaken by Men in Black 3.
The film opened on June 22, 2007, and was a box-office bomb, grossing $174.4 million worldwide, and received generally negative reviews from critics.
Newly elected to Congress, former local television news reporter Evan Baxter leaves his hometown of Buffalo, New York and moves with his family to the community of Prestige Crest, located in the fictional town of Huntsville, Virginia, where his congressional campaign officially declares that he will change the world. Evan prays to God to give him this opportunity. His wife, Joan, also prays that she, Evan, and their three sons will be closer together as a family.
On his first day in Congress, Evan receives a letter from his greedy boss, Congressman Chuck Long, who provides him with a prime office and gives him the opportunity to join him as the junior co-sponsor to his Citizens' Integration of Public Lands Act (CINPLAN) bill. Over the next several days, strange events in Evan's life occur:
Evan comes to realize that the number actually refers to verse 14 in chapter 6 of the Book of Genesis, where God instructed Noah to build an ark in preparation for a coming flood. Although Evan initially rejects this idea, God himself starts appearing to Evan and assures him that the flood will come and the only way he can change the world will be through recreating the ark instead. Evan finally decides to start building it using the tools and materials provided, giving him an opportunity to spend more time with his sons, but Joan sees this as a midlife crisis.
While Evan still maintains his career in Congress, his appearance alienates three staffers and the animals that follow him everywhere become more disruptive. God reappears to Evan and provides him a robe, later warning him the flood will come mid-day on the 22nd of September. When God indefinitely exposes Evan's robe, Long gets him suspended from Congress and have him removed from the Public Land Act bill. Believing that Evan has gone insane, Joan leaves him behind, causing Evan himself to continue building the ark alone. Meanwhile, God disguises himself as a waiter in a restaurant and speaks with Joan. God assures Joan that she should see this as an opportunity for the entire family to get closer to each other. Joan is inspired and finally returns to help Evan finish building the ark together to prepare for the flood.
On September 22, Evan's three staffers show him evidence that Long had planned to build Prestige Crest after damming off a nearby water source, but Long had cut many corners in building the dam. They suspect Long would do the same with the Public Land Act Bill. With the ark finally complete, the animals board two by two. However, the local police threaten to demolish it with a wrecking ball as the ark violates land codes and a small amount of rain falls. Evan realizes that the flood will not be due to the rain, but as a result of Long's dam failing. The dam eventually fails, destroying all the homes of Prestige Crest. The entire community manages to safely board the Ark, which rides the floodwaters to Washington, D.C.. The ark then comes to its final destination in front of the Capitol, interrupting the vote for Long's Public Land Act Bill. The flood results in Evan criticizing Long of being responsible for cost-cutting leading up to the dam's failure.
The voting of the Public Land Act Bill is suspended due to an investigation on Long for profiteering. After the flood, Evan is reinstated to Congress and all the animals return to their natural habitats. With his appearance returned back to normal, Evan re-encounters God during a family hike. God states that Evan had changed his world as he prayed for and being closer to his family through his one Act of Random Kindness (ARK). God issues a new commandment to the outgoing audience: "Thou shalt do the dance", followed by the film's cast and crew dance to C+C Music Factory's hit song "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" during the closing credits.
Production[edit]
Screenplay[edit]
The film's screenplay was originally titled The Passion of the Ark and was written by Bobby Florsheim and Josh Stolberg.[3] It became the subject of a seven-studio bidding war in April 2004. The script was sold to Sony Pictures in a deal worth $2.5 million plus a percentage of the profits, a record for a spec script from previously unproduced writers.[4] Universal Studios immediately made a deal to co-produce the script with Sony Pictures and have Steve Oedekerk rewrite it into the sequel to Bruce Almighty. Steve Oedekerk had been involved with Bruce Almighty as an executive producer and co-writer of the screenplay (with Steve Koren and Mark O'Keefe, who wrote the story). The studio later discarded the original The Passion of the Ark script completely, and Oedekerk fashioned a new script from scratch (only he received final credit on the finished film as screenwriter). Jim Carrey was asked to reprise his role as Bruce in the sequel and, when he declined, director Tom Shadyac convinced Steve Carell to accept the leading role.[5] Shadyac, reflecting on the first film, stated "[Carell] delivered some of the funniest stuff in the movie. We thought, 'Why not take that character and spin him off into a different film?'"[1]
Casting[edit]
Jim Carrey declined to reprise his role from the original Bruce Almighty. Although Carrey did act in a sequel to Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, he has said that he is "not a big fan of doing the same character twice."[6] This marked the third time a sequel has been made to a film for which Carrey declined to reprise his role—the others being Dumb and Dumberer and Son of the Mask.
Budget[edit]
The initial budget, at approximately $140 million, led Evan Almighty to become the most expensive comedy film ever made. Added costs such as set construction, visual effects, and problems with filming multiple animals in a controlled location brought the budget up to $175 million.[7] Once marketing for the film was also included, the film's entire spend was estimated to be around $200 million.[8] The ballooning budget caused Sony to drop the project and hand it over entirely to Universal Studios.[7] Part of the budget was Carell's payroll, where he earned a reported $5 million for his leading role.[6] The Virginia Film Office estimates the film brought $20–25 million to Virginia, with the majority of it in the Charlottesville area.[9] Universal defended the cost of the film, saying it was "designed as a four-quadrant film, and therefore poised for bigger [box office] returns than typical comedies."[10]
Marketing[edit]
In late May during production, the media learned that director Tom Shadyac angrily complained to producers, saying "I'm not seeing any ads, and I don't know why. I'm not getting answers. People are giving me information that isn't true ... I'm only hearing about all the other summer movies, and nothing about mine."[15] Shadyac also fired his marketing consultants that he had used for prior films due to his thoughts over the mishandling of the marketing. He later apologized for his outburst with producers, and claimed that it was as a result of his nervousness before the film's release.[16]
Grace Hill Media, a marketing firm that targets religious Americans and was also used for marketing Bruce Almighty, The Da Vinci Code, and The Passion of the Christ;[17] held exclusive screenings of the film in mid-June in fifty cities in the United States to reach religious moviegoers.[16] Grace Hill provided free screenings to blogs in exchange for publicity on the blogs.[17] The film and its subsequent home video release was marketed to Christians and their churches through a "kindness campaign" called Ark ALMIGHTY.[18][19]
The first trailer of the film premiered on March 29, 2007 for a marathon of The Office, which also stars Steve Carell and Ed Helms.[20] For online advertising, an eight-minute clip of a scene was released on Yahoo! two days before the release of the film.[21]
The film was also an official sponsor for the 2007 Tooth & Nail Tour along with Best Buy, PureVolume, AbsolutePunk and White Castle. [22]
Release[edit]
Theatrical[edit]
The premiere for the film was held on June 10, 2007, and guests included Adam Sandler, David Hasselhoff, Kate Flannery, Eddie Murphy, Kevin James, and Mindy Kaling, among others.[33]
Home media[edit]
The film was released on HD DVD and DVD on October 9, 2007,[34] and was the fourth-most rented DVD of the week earning $6.4 million.[35] In the film's first six weeks of release it earned $27,676,676 in domestic DVD sales.[36] The HD-DVD and DVD's special features include deleted scenes, outtakes, cast interviews, and footage of the animals used in the film. The film was released on Blu-ray on August 7, 2012.
Proposed ban[edit]
Malaysia's Muslim Consumers Association (PPIM) called for a ban on the film, claiming it is offensive to Islam. Secretary-General Maamor Osman claimed that the film was depicting the great flood as comedy and characterized God with the portrayal of a human, both of which are considered blasphemous in Islam. Similarly there was some public protest against Bruce Almighty being shown in theaters, but that movie was released on DVD and was also shown on television broadcasts. Evan Almighty was still released in Malaysia on August 23, 2007.[37]
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
Though Evan Almighty was well hyped, especially with churchgoers,[38] and had double the budget of Bruce Almighty, it performed under expectations. On its first weekend, it opened in 5,200 screens in 3,604 theaters and earned $31.1 million[39] (on its first two days the film earned $11.4 million followed by $8.3 million on Sunday).[38] The opening was less than half of the first film's $68 million weekend ($85 million counting Memorial Day).[8] Nikki Rocco, the president of distribution for Universal Pictures declared, "We never expected it to be much higher ... it is not unusual for family films to open at a level like this and build. This film will have legs."[8] The film managed to remain at the third spot at the box office in its second week, before dropping to fifth place in its third week.[40]
Internationally, the film also opened in first place in Russia and Ukraine, earning $1.5 million in Russia with 329 venues and $179,000 in Ukraine at 64 locations. The gross in the opening weekends for the two countries was 10% and 11%, respectively, bigger than the opening for Bruce Almighty.[38] Altogether, the film earned $173,418,781 worldwide with $100,462,298 in the U.S. and $72,956,483 in the international box office.[41]
Critical response[edit]
Evan Almighty received generally negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 24%, based on 194 reviews, with an average rating of 4.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Big on special effects but short on laughs, Evan Almighty underutilizes a star-studded cast that includes Steve Carell and Morgan Freeman."[42] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 37 out of 100, based on reviews from 33 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[43] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[44]
Critic Richard Roeper commended Jim Carrey for declining to reprise his role in "three of the worst sequels of all time", which included Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd, Son of the Mask and Evan Almighty. He continued: "Evan Almighty is a paper-thin alleged comedy with a laugh drought of biblical proportions, and a condescendingly simplistic spiritual message."[45] Several reviewers credit Carell's performance to significantly improving the humor of the film.[46][47] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave it 1 out of 4, calling it "shamelessly juvenile, pseudo-religious, mock-sincere" and "not that funny". He praised Carell "who projects the movie’s only sense of mischief. But it’s too little and too late."[48] He later included it on his list of the Worst Movies of 2007.[49]
Awards[edit]
Before Evan Almighty was released, it was nominated for "Best Summer Movie You Haven't Seen Yet" at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards. Competing against seven other nominees, it lost to Transformers.[50] At the Golden Raspberry Awards Evan Almighty was nominated for the Worst Prequel or Sequel, but lost to Daddy Day Camp.[51]
Evan Almighty: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture
July 3, 2007
Adam Anders, Matt Bronleewe, D.J. Butcher, Mike Curb, Chuck Howard, Dann Huff, Doug Johnson, Hal Ketchum, Jo Dee Messina, Kathy Nelson, Eric Pittarelli, Tom Shadyac
Evan Almighty: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture debuted in 2007.[53] The soundtrack debuted on June 19, 2007.[54] "Revolution" was performed by Rascal Flatts in the film.[55] Their version is not on the soundtrack, but it appears as a bonus track on their album Still Feels Good.[56] Also not included on the soundtrack are Elton John's 2006 hit, "Just Like Noah's Ark" of which only a little bit is heard during the start of building the ark, and John Mayer's "Waiting on the World to Change", used in the main ark-building montage. "Ready For a Miracle" was released as a single for the soundtrack by American country pop recording artist, LeAnn Rimes.
Rascal Flatts' version of "Revolution" peaked at number 57 on the Hot Country Songs charts,[56] and "The Power of One" by Bomshel reached number 52 on the same.[57]
The soundtrack was nominated for a Dove Award for Special Event Album of the Year at the 39th GMA Dove Awards. The song "Be the Miracle" by Room for Two was also nominated for Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year while "Ready for a Miracle" by LeAnn Rimes won the Dove Award for Traditional Gospel Recorded Song of the Year.[58]