Ender's Game - The big game

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Movie
German title Ender's Game - The big game
Original title Ender's game
Country of production USA , Canada , United Kingdom
original language English
Publishing year 2013
length 114 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
JMK 12
Rod
Director Gavin Hood
script Gavin Hood
production Roberto Orci ,
Alex Kurtzman ,
Orson Scott Card ,
Lynn Hendee ,
Robert Chartoff ,
Ed Ulbrich ,
Gigi Pritzker ,
Linda McDonough
music Steve Jablonsky
camera Donald McAlpine
cut Zach Staenberg ,
Lee Smith
occupation

Ender's Game - The Big Game (Original Title: Ender's Game ) is a science fiction film based on the novel The Big Game by Orson Scott Card . Directed by Gavin Hood and starring Asa Butterfield , Viola Davis , Harrison Ford , Ben Kingsley and Abigail Breslin .

The film is set in the future: 50 years after a devastating alien attack that left millions dead, the gifted boy Ender Wiggin is sent to a military school to learn the strategic warfare. The humanity is planning a counter-attack on the alien world and Enders skills are to secure the victory.

Ender's Game was produced by Charoff Productions and Radiant Productions on behalf of Summit Film Studios . Constantin Film took over the German distribution . The German film release took place on October 24, 2013 and in the United Kingdom and Ireland on October 25; The film was released in cinemas on November 1, 2013 in the USA, Canada and India. The US film release was originally planned for March 2013, but the Studio Summit postponed it to the last quarter of 2013 based on its experience with the Twilight series.

action

The Formics, over-sized, ant-like aliens, attacked humanity and killed millions about 50 years before the action began. The destruction of the earth could only be prevented by the tactical skill of the fighter pilot Mazer Rackham, who destroyed an enemy mothership with his machine in a kamikaze attack during the decisive battle, whereupon the attack collapsed. In order to be better prepared for the expected next attack, mankind has since sought out the greatest tactical talents among young people in order to train them to become strategists. Children are more suitable than adults for this task, as they are more likely to resort to surprising and unconventional tactics.

Colonel Hyrum Graff - member of the "International Fleet" ( IF ) - is looking for a successor to Mazer Rackham around 50 years later. Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, a shy and strategically gifted boy, could in his eyes be the next human leader in the fight against the Formics. While his sister Valentine has been taken off the program as too sensitive, his older brother Peter was considered too brutal. Ender, on the other hand, seems to be more suitable and travels with other young cadets to the military school in orbit.

There, Ender masters tricky strategic tasks in simulations in the weightless fighting room (in the original "Battle Room") and in the mind game "Mind Game" on a pad brings some envy from the rest of the cadets . Because of his achievements, Ender was sent to a group of older, more experienced cadets. After another tactical masterpiece, he was given command of a newly assembled group of crossheads with which he beat two other groups at the same time in a game in the fighting area. The commander of one of the defeated groups, Bonzo, Ender then lurks in the shower and attacks him. In battle, the attacker hits the back of his head against an edge and is sent back to earth, seriously injured. Ender is then plagued by remorse and decides to leave the academy and also return to earth. However, his sister succeeds there in convincing Ender to continue his education.

Graff and Ender fly to a planet where the humans captured a Formics outpost 27 years earlier and converted it into a command school. At the academy there, Ender surprisingly meets Mazer Rackham as his new instructor, who survived his kamikaze attack by catapulting himself out of the ejection seat shortly before the impact of his machine. In secret records of the decisive blow, Ender recognizes, as did Rackham, formation patterns of the enemy that indicate the existence of a queen whose death abruptly collapsed the entire Formic fleet. He is also shown reconnaissance results that the enemy is building a large number of new ships.

Ender commands a group of six subordinates who each command part of the human fleet in the simulations. Ender's team is confronted with increasingly difficult, sometimes seemingly hopeless simulations, which they usually win. When the group loses a particularly difficult simulation, Ender is announced that his final exam, designed by Rackham, will take place the following day. If he passed this, he could fight real battles. The simulation takes place on the home planet of the Formics. By sacrificing his entire fleet, Ender succeeds at the last moment in using a weapon of mass destruction - the "little doctor" - against the planet. The weapon triggers a chain reaction in which the molecular structures of the planet disintegrate and the simulation breaks off.

While Ender's team cheers, the fleet command that is present during the simulation remains silent for the time being, then current images of the dissolving planet are shown in the simulation room. Graff congratulates Ender on the brilliant action and the final victory - the battle was real. Ender is furious because he was deceived and lied to and because he wiped out an entire species and sent the crews of the spaceships to their deaths without using peaceful options. Knowing that there was an emergency, Ender would have tried to recognize whether the Formics had long since given up the plan for a colony on earth and whether the building of the fleet served less for a new attack than for protection from humans.

Ender realizes in a dream that the Formics had already tried to contact him in the “Mind Game”. At the outpost he recognizes a destroyed Formic structure from the game, penetrates to an underground cave and communicates with a dying Formic queen. Ender learns that there is an egg with a new queen next to him. Meanwhile promoted to admiral , he takes a ship and goes in search of a new home for the queen in order to pay off his debt for the genocide of the Formics.

background

Novel novel and production

"Ender's Game" author Orson Scott Card had several opportunities in the 80s and 90s to sell the film rights for his novel, but all projects failed due to artistic differences. In 1996, after founding Fresco Pictures - Card is a partner - Card decided to write the script himself. In a 1998 interview, Card described the process of translating his novel into a script:

“A first decision was not to pursue the subplot with Peter / Valentine with the Internet. Because it's all about people typing something into computers. Then I decided to bring the big surprise from the end at the beginning of the film. In the script, we know who Mazer Rackham really is, and we also know what's at stake when Ender plays his games. But Ender doesn't know. Because of that, I think the tension is increased. Because the audience knows that it is about the survival of mankind, and everything depends on Ender not knowing that. So we're more concerned about whether Ender wins or not. And we're afraid that he might not want to win. As we watch the adults strive to take control of Ender, we feel sorry for Ender for what he is going through. But we want the adults to be successful. I think it will be a much more complex and fascinating film than one in which secrets are kept. "

In 2003 Card sent a screenplay to Warner Bros. In the same year, David Benioff and DB Weiss also worked on a script version that director Wolfgang Petersen was supposed to implement. Four years later Card wrote a completely new script that was completely independent of the previous versions. In February 2009 Card announced that he had completed a new script for "Odd Lot Entertainment" and that a production team was already being put together.

In 2010 it was announced that Gavin Hood had joined the project, both as a screenwriter and as a director. In January 2011, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman were announced as producers who would introduce the script to potential investors.

In April 2011 Summit Entertainment took over the distribution of the film together with Digital Domain . Gavin Hood was confirmed as director who would work with cameraman Donald McAlpine to film a script version of Gavin Hood. The creative producers are Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman from K / O Paper Products along with Gigi Pritzker and Linda McDonough from Odd Lot Entertainment who are providing funding. Other producers of Ender's Game include Lynn Hendee and Robert Chartoff of Chartoff Productions and writer Orson Scott Card.

Filming and cinema release

Filming began in New Orleans on February 27, 2012. In Germany, Ender's Game started on October 24, 2013, in the United Kingdom and Ireland the day after; the US film release took place on November 1, 2013.

Post production

During post-production, Digital Domain, the company responsible for the film's special effects, went bankrupt. At times it was unclear whether this could affect the film's release date.

Film music

On January 30, 2013 it was announced that the composer James Horner ( Titanic , Avatar ) is to compose the film music for Ender's Game . However, on May 9, 2013, Steve Jablonsky ( Transformers ) was announced as the composer of the film. The soundtrack was released on October 22, 2013.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for Ender's Game - The big game . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , October 2013 (PDF; test number: 141 218 K).
  2. ↑ Age rating for Ender's Game - The big game . Youth Media Commission .
  3. ↑ a b Steve Jablonsky Takes Over Scoring Duties on 'Ender's Game'. Reported to filmmusicreporter.com, May 9, 2013.
  4. ↑ a b Ender's Game - The Big Game (2013). Release info at IMDB.com.
  5. ↑ The Game Is Afoot. IGN.com, May 13, 2002.
  6. ↑ Scott Nicholson: CARD'S GAME: An Interview With Orson Scott Card. hatracks.com, 1998.
  7. ^ Card Talks Ender's Game Movie. IGN.com, April 18, 2007.
  8. ↑ Ender's Game - Movie Update. Films in Development at taleswapper.net, February 25, 2009.
  9. ↑ Steven Zeitchik: Gavin Hood looks to play 'Ender's Game'. LA Times Blog , Sept. 20, 2010.
  10. ↑ Sam Morgan: 'Ender's Game' Finally Out Of Development Hell. Hollywood.com, April 29, 2011.
  11. ↑ Michael Cieply: A Movie Mogul Rising. NY Times , Jan. 14, 2013.
  12. ↑ Peter Sciretta: Kurtzman and Orci Producing 'Ender's Game'. Slashfilm.com, January 28, 2011.
  13. ^ Jordan DeSaulnier: 'Ender's Game' Actually Begins Production in New Orleans. iamrogue.com, February 29, 2012.
  14. ↑ Mike Scott: NOLA-shot 'Ender's Game' ensnared in Digital Domain collapse. In: Nola.com. The Times-Picayune, September 14, 2012, accessed October 22, 2013 .
  15. ↑ Jim Vejvoda: James Horner to Score Ender's Game. The composer of Avatar, Aliens and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Reported to ign.com, February 1, 2013.