Like the movie? Buy the book.: Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. Dwayne Johnson & Michael Cain join the fun in this sequel to the 3D hit, Journey to the Centre of the Earth...

Thursday 10 November 2011

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. Dwayne Johnson & Michael Cain join the fun in this sequel to the 3D hit, Journey to the Centre of the Earth...

Journey to the Centre of The Earth was, quietly , one of the pioneering films of the ‘modern’ 3D era. Before films like Avatar truly cemented 3D as tool / marketing item / viable option Journey opened with modest expectations, a mixed bag of critical opinion and a story and look that entertained audiences around the world for a long period of time. It made it’s money, not so much in a massive opening and rapid tail off (as is pretty much the norm for modern adventure films), but with decent tarts and a ton of repeat business and word-of-mouth inspired viewings.

The film managed to make $101,704,370 from a, relatively small $21m opening weekend; the film experienced minimal drops from its 3^rd weekend onwards, showing that the film proved popular amongst those who took a chance on seeing it. Adding the $140,290,781 international takings, again over a long haul and New Line /WB had a $241,995,151 hit from a shooting budget of $60m: More than that they had a film that significant percentages of viewers actually liked. With 3D having grown exponentially since then (especially in 2 of Journey’s highest grossing markets, Russia & China) then this sequel was inevitable.

I even mentioned it in a Blog I wrote for SyFy's U.K website...

3D: Back to the Future

Brendan gets busy in Journey 1...

The film was curious mix as it was partially an adaptation of the classic Jules Verne novel, but in updating the book to modern times it took the position that the events in the book were in fact real, hence none of the characters in the book appear in the film, although events that occurred there are replicated in the film. It set up a handy “franchise” premise, spoken aloud in the film, that many, or all, of the events in Jules Verne novels were in fact true. Here we get what could be the first of many sequels to explore that thread.

Brendan Fraser isn’t returning for this film, but much else has changed since Journey 1 came out in 2008. Josh Hutcherson has proven himself a capable dramatic actor (for those that didn’t already know) in The Kids Are All Right. He has also made himself a much more widely known figure, The U.S at least, through being cast as one of the main characters in The Hunger Games: He is playing Gale. Dwayne Johnson has joined the cast, and as Fast 5 showed, when he’s in the right role his presence can certainly add interest. A touch of class has been added by adding Michael Caine (Yes I know about Jaws 4 & the Bees, but he still adds class) and a younger love interest has been added in the form of Vanessa Hudgens.

Synopsis...

Young Sean Anderson receives a coded distress signal from a mysterious island where no island should exist. It's a place of strange life forms, mountains of gold, deadly volcanoes, and more than one astonishing secret.

Unable to stop him from going, Sean's new stepfather, Hank, joins the quest. Together with a helicopter pilot and his beautiful, strong-willed daughter, they set out to find the island, rescue its lone inhabitant and escape before seismic shockwaves force the island under the sea and bury its treasures forever.

Trailer....

I have to say it is a gutsy move using the Avatar trailer music for this, but I guess that brings up warm and fuzzies (even subconscious ones) for a major chunk of the movie-going public. The ante has definitely been upped here. Starring Dwayne Johnson, Michael Caine, Josh Hutcherson, Luis Guzman, Vanessa Hudgens and Kristen Davis the film opens in North America and the U.K on the 10^th of February 2012...