Taglines: It was supposed to be the safest room in the house.
Meg Altman – emotionally estranged from her cheating ex-husband, pharmaceutical magnate Stephen Altman – and their street-wise pre-teen daughter Sarah Altman are spending their first night in their just purchased converted brownstone in the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
The conversions, which include a functioning elevator and secure panic room, were made by the now deceased former owner, a wealthy recluse whose family is now fighting over the whereabouts of his vast estate. What Meg does not know is that part of that estate – supposedly $3 million – is hidden in a safe in the floor of the panic room, something that Burnham, Junior and Raoul know.
Junior is the grandson of the previous owner, Burnham works for the security company that monitors the security system for the brownstone including its panic room, and Raoul is Junior’s gun-toting hired hand. The three plan on retrieving the money. Believing the brownstone still empty, the three criminals break into the brownstone and quickly find that it is not as empty as they believed.
When all five realize there are others unexpected in the house, Meg and Sarah are able to make it into the panic room, but one that as of yet has no functioning telephone, which Burnham knows. Burnham also knows there is no way for him or his partners to get into the panic room. The five are at a standoff as Meg and Sarah will not leave the panic room, while the three criminals won’t leave until they get the money.
As Meg and Sarah try to figure out how to get a message to the outside world – specifically either to the police or Stephen – they are working against time as Sarah is a diabetic who does not have access to her insulin. And the three criminals may have other foes besides the Altmans, the three who are differing personalities and thus have different motivations in stealing the money. Each may have different thoughts on how far they should go to get it.
Panic Room is a 2002 American thriller film directed by David Fincher and written by David Koepp. The film stars Jodie Foster and Kristen Stewart as a mother and daughter whose new home is invaded by burglars, played by Forest Whitaker, Jared Leto, and Dwight Yoakam.
Koepp’s screenplay was inspired by news coverage in 2000 about panic rooms. The film was Fincher’s fifth feature film, following Fight Club (1999). Fincher and Koepp brought together a crew of people with whom each had worked before. The house and its panic room were built on a Raleigh Studios lot. Nicole Kidman was originally cast as the mother, but she left after aggravating a previous injury. Her departure threatened the completion of the film, but Foster quickly replaced Kidman. The filmmakers used computer-generated imagery to create the illusion of the film camera moving through the house’s rooms. Foster became pregnant during the shooting schedule, so filming was suspended until after she gave birth.
The film was commercially released in the United States and Canada on March 29, 2002. The film cost $48 million and it grossed $30 million on its opening weekend. In the United States and Canada, it grossed $96.4 million. In other territories, it grossed $100 million for a worldwide total of $196.4 million, making it a commercial success. Critics were generally positive or mixed in their reviews. In retrospect, Panic Room has been assessed for its portrayal of childhood and feminism, the elements of video surveillance and diabetes, and its thematic approach to mortality.
Howard Shore won from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers an ASCAP Award in the Top Box Office Film music category for his scores for Panic Room and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. The Art Directors Guild nominated Panic Room for the Excellence in Production Design for a Contemporary Film award. The Online Film Critics Society Award nominated Panic Room for Best Editing. For acting, Jodie Foster was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Actress.
Panic Room (2002)
Directed by: David Fincher
Starring: Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart, Forest Whitaker, Jared Leto, Dwight Yoakam, Patrick Bauchau, Ann Magnuson, Ian Buchanan, Victor Thrash, Andrew Kevin Walker
Screenplay by: David Koepp
Cinematography by: Arthur Max
Costume Design by: Michael Kaplan
Set Decoration by: Jon Danniells
Art Direction by: Keith Neely, James E. Tocci
Makeup Department: Alec Gillis
Music by: Howard Shore
MPAA Rating: R for violence and languag.
Distributed by: Columbia Pictures
Release Date: March 29, 2002
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