Tagline: If the sun dies, so do we.
Sunshine movie storyline. The sun is dying, which means that life on Earth will eventually die along with it. In 2050, Icarus is the name given to a human space mission to approach the sun in order to bomb it to reignite it. Icarus disappeared without a trace, unable to complete the mission. It’s now 2057, and Icarus II, with an eight person crew, each crew member with a specific role, is making one last attempt to resurrect the sun. As Icarus II reaches the far side of Mercury, the crew members discover a distress signal from Icarus I.
After a debate on the pros and cons of doing so still with the primary goal of completing their mission first and foremost among the team as a collective, the crew aboard Icarus II decide to approach Icarus I both in a hope to find survivors aboard and to use their payload as extra insurance in completing their mission. However, making this change in course has inherent risks in and of itself, those risks which the naysayers used in their argument, some with the ulterior motive of self-preservation. This change does have unintended consequences which leads to the team needing to make further decisions which could sacrifice certain crew members. But what they may also discover is the reason that Icarus I failed in its mission, which could mean life and death for them and as such life and death for those on Earth.
Sunshine is a 2007 British-American science fiction thriller film directed by Danny Boyle. The film was adapted from a screenplay written by Alex Garland about the crew of a spacecraft on a dangerous mission to the Sun. In 2057, with the Earth in peril from the dying Sun, the crew is sent on a mission to reignite the star with a nuclear bomb that has a mass equivalent to Manhattan Island. The script was based on a scientific back-story that took the characters on a psychological journey.
The director cast a group of international actors for the film, and had the actors live together and learn about topics related to their roles, as a form of method acting. To have the actors realistically react to visual effects that would be implemented in post-production, the filmmakers constructed live sets to serve as cues. The ensemble cast features Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans, Rose Byrne, Michelle Yeoh, Cliff Curtis, Troy Garity, Hiroyuki Sanada, Benedict Wong, and Chipo Chung.
The film was released commercially in its home country of the United Kingdom on 6 April 2007, taking £1,021,063 in 407 cinemas for its opening weekend. The film also opened the same weekend in seven other markets, performing most strongly in Hong Kong (US$267,000), Taiwan (US$442,000) and Singapore (US$198,000). On the weekend of 13 April 2007, Sunshine opened in 22 more countries, garnering US$5.3 million for the weekend. Its French debut was the strongest with US$1.2 million in 380 cinemas, but the film only had an average performance in New Zealand (US$120,149 from 36 cinemas), Switzerland (US$60,285 from 11 cinemas) and Finland (US$42,745 from 15 cinemas).
The following weekend of 20 April 2007, the film’s release expanded to 44 countries, garnering US$5.9 million for a total of US$18.6 million thus far, considered a disappointing amount. Sunshine had poor debuts in Spain (US$1 million), Germany (US$638,549), and Italy (US$453,000). By the end of April, Sunshine had opened to most countries, with the notable exception of the United States, for which a release date had yet to be established at the time.[84] The film’s cinematical run in the UK lasted twelve weeks, totaling £3,175,911.
The film was released everywhere else in the two countries the following weekend of 27 July 2007. In the film’s first wide release weekend in Canada and the United States, Sunshine took US$1,262,996 in 461 cinemas, ranking no. 13 at the weekend box office. In its theatrical run, the film took a worldwide gross of US$32,017,803; the film’s budget reportedly was US$40 million.
About the Story
Stars do not live forever. In our universe, one star dies every second. The star that keeps our planet alive, the Sun, is a massive nuclear fusion reactor that scientists estimate has enough fuel to burn for another five billion years. But what if it doesn’t? What will happen to the Earth and to humankind? And could humanity alter the very course of nature if the Sun began to flicker out?
These are the questions that drive the high-tension space thriller Sunshine, the new film from acclaimed director Danny Boyle (Millions, 29 Days Later, The Beach, Trainspotting) from a script by novelist / screenwriter Alex Garland (28 Days Later, The Beach).
The story begins in the year 2057, as our Sun begins to die and mankind faces the unthinkable: extinction. Earth’s last hope lies with the Icarus II, a spacecraft manned with eight men and women led by Captain Kaneda. Their mission — to deliver a nuclear device designed to reignite the Sun. Deep into their voyage, far out of radio contact with Earth, the lonely, restless crew hears a distress beacon from the Icarus I, the ship which disappeared without a trace on the same mission seven years earlier. But when an attempt at rescue throws the Icarus II into jeopardy, the increasingly desperate crew soon find themselves literally gripped in the shadow of the Sun, fighting for their lives, their sanity, and the future of us all…
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Sunshine (2007)
Directed by: Danny Boyle
Starring: Rose Byrne, Cliff Curtis, Chris Evans, Troy Garity, Cillian Murphy, Hiroyuki Sanada, Benedict Wong, Michelle Yeoh, Benedict Wong, Mark Strong, Paloma Baeza, Sylvie Macdonald
Screenplay by: Alex Garland
Production Design by; Mark Tildesley
Cinematography by; Alwin H. Küchler
Film Editing by: Chris Gill
Costume Design by: Suttirat Anne Larlarb
Set Decoration by: Michelle Day
Art Direction by: Gary Freeman, Stephen Morahan, Denis Schnegg, David Warren
MPAA Rating: R for violent content and language.
Distributed by: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Release Date: September 14, 2007
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