Steve Jobs (film)
Steve Jobs is a 2015 biographical drama film directed by Danny Boyle and written by Aaron Sorkin. A British-American co-production, it was adapted from the 2011 biography by Walter Isaacson and interviews conducted by Sorkin. The film covers fourteen years in the life of Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs, specifically ahead of three press conferences he gave during that time - the formal unveiling of the Macintosh 128K on January 24, 1984; the unveiling of the NeXT Computer on October 12, 1988; and the unveiling of the iMac G3 on May 6, 1998. Jobs is portrayed by Michael Fassbender, with Kate Winslet as Joanna Hoffman and Seth Rogen, Katherine Waterston, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Jeff Daniels in supporting roles.
This article is about the 2015 film. For the 2013 film starring Ashton Kutcher, see Jobs (film). For other films about Steve Jobs, see List of artistic depictions of Steve Jobs.Steve Jobs
- Mark Gordon
- Guymon Casady
- Scott Rudin
- Danny Boyle
- Christian Colson
- Legendary Pictures
- Scott Rudin Productions
- Entertainment 360
- The Mark Gordon Company
- Decibel Films
- Cloud Eight Films
- September 5, 2015 (Telluride)
- October 9, 2015 (United States)
- November 13, 2015 (United Kingdom)
122 minutes[2]
- United Kingdom
- United States
English
$30 million[3]
$34.4 million[3]
Development began in 2011 after the rights to Isaacson's book were acquired. Filming began in January 2015. A variety of actors were considered and cast before Fassbender eventually took the role. Editing was extensive on the project, with editor Elliot Graham starting while the film was still shooting. Daniel Pemberton served as composer, with a focus on dividing the score into three distinguishable sections.
Steve Jobs premiered at the 2015 Telluride Film Festival on September 5, 2015, and began a limited release in New York City and Los Angeles on October 9, 2015. It opened nationwide in the U.S. on October 23, 2015, to widespread critical acclaim, with Boyle's direction, visual style, Sorkin's screenplay, musical score, cinematography, editing and the acting of Fassbender and Winslet garnering unanimous acclaim. However, it was a financial disappointment, grossing only $34 million worldwide against a budget of $30 million. People close to Jobs such as Steve Wozniak and John Sculley praised the performances, but the film also received criticism for historical inaccuracy. Steve Jobs was nominated for Best Actor (Fassbender) and Best Supporting Actress (Winslet) at the 88th Academy Awards, and received numerous other accolades.
Plot[edit]
In 1984, the Apple Macintosh 128K's voice demo fails less than an hour before its unveiling at Flint Center. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs demands engineer Andy Hertzfeld fix it, threatening to publicly implicate him in the presentation's credits if he does not. Hertzfeld finally suggests faking the demo by using the prototype Macintosh 512K computer.
Jobs rants to marketing executive Joanna Hoffman about a Time magazine article exposing his paternity dispute with ex-girlfriend Chrisann Brennan as he denies he is the father of Brennan's five-year-old daughter, Lisa. Brennan arrives with Lisa to confront him – she is bitter over his denials and refusal to support her despite his wealth. Jobs bonds with Lisa over her MacPaint art and agrees to provide more money and a house. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak asks Jobs to acknowledge the Apple II team in his presentation, but Jobs feels that mentioning the computer (which he considers obsolete) is unwise.
By 1986, following the Macintosh's apparent failure, Jobs has founded a new company, NeXT. Before the NeXT Computer launch at the War Memorial Opera House in 1988, he spends time with 9-year-old Lisa. However, his relationship with Brennan is still strained. He accuses her of irresponsible behavior and using Lisa to get money from him. Wozniak arrives and predicts the NeXT will be another failure. Jobs confronts him about his public criticism of him, and Wozniak questions Jobs' contributions to computing history. Jobs defends his role as that of a conductor who directs "musicians" like Wozniak.
Apple CEO John Sculley demands to know why the world believes he fired Jobs – Jobs was actually forced out by the Apple board, who were resolute on updating the Apple II following the Macintosh's lackluster sales. Despite Sculley's warnings, Jobs criticized the decision and dared them to cast a final vote on his tenure. After Hoffman and Jobs discuss NeXT's unclear direction, she realizes Jobs designed the computer to entice Apple to buy the company and reinstate him.
By 1998, Apple has fired Sculley, purchased NeXT, and named Jobs CEO, and Jobs is about to unveil the iMac at Davies Symphony Hall. He is delighted by Hoffman's strong commercial forecasts but furious that Lisa has allowed her mother to sell the house Jobs bought for them. Hoffman reminds Jobs that he threatened to withhold Lisa's college tuition, and Hertzfeld admits that he paid Lisa's tuition and suggested she attend therapy. Wozniak again asks Jobs to credit the Apple II team during the presentation, and again, he refuses in an argument.
Sculley arrives in secret, and the two make amends. Jobs and Sculley discuss Jobs' life as an adopted child, and Jobs admits that his need for control stems from his feelings of powerlessness in being given up. At the behest of Hoffman, Jobs apologizes to Lisa for his mistakes and accepts that he is her father, admitting he is "poorly made." He confesses to Lisa that "the Lisa" was named after her. On seeing her Walkman, he also promises Lisa that he will put more music in her pocket. Lisa watches her father take the stage to introduce the first iMac, but only after handing her the printout of the abstract she made as a kid on the original Macintosh, which he kept with him all those years.
Release[edit]
Steve Jobs premiered at the 2015 Telluride Film Festival on September 5, 2015,[70] and began a limited release in New York City and Los Angeles on October 9, 2015. It opened nationwide in the U.S. on October 23, 2015.[71][72] The movie also served as the closing film for the 2015 BFI London Film Festival, approximately one month before its release in the United Kingdom on November 13, 2015.[73]
Steve Jobs was released digitally on February 2, 2016, and was released on Blu-ray and DVD on February 16, 2016, and includes feature commentary from Boyle, Sorkin, and Elliot Graham. The physical releases contain a 44-minute making-of documentary, Inside Jobs: The Making of Steve Jobs, chronicling the production of the film.[74][75][76]
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
Steve Jobs grossed $17.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $16.7 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $34.4 million, against a budget of $30 million.[3] The film needed to gross an estimated $120 million in order to break-even.[77]
In its opening weekend in limited release, the film grossed $521,000 from four theaters, for a per theater average of $130,250, beating out Sicario ($67,000) for the best average theater gross of 2015.[78] The film began its wide release on October 23, 2015, alongside The Last Witch Hunter, Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension, Rock the Kasbah, and Jem and the Holograms. Over the weekend, the film was originally projected to gross $11–12 million from 2,491 theaters.[79] However, after grossing just $2.5 million on its first day, it was revised to $7.4 million. It ended up grossing $7.1 million, finishing seventh at the box office.[80]
On November 10, 2015, just over two weeks after its wide release, the film was pulled from 2,072 theaters.[81] Variety said the film suffered from fierce competition at the box office, possible public weariness with Jobs and the low profile of Fassbender in the title role, and that the underperformance at the box office could hurt the film's award chances.[77] After his film was pulled from wide release in the U.S., Danny Boyle expressed disappointment at the box office performance of Steve Jobs, while suggesting that Universal expanded the film's release "too wide too soon" and that the studio's move was "arrogant".[82][83]
