Around the World in 80 Days premiered at the El Capitan Theatre on 13 June 2004 and was released theatrically in the United States on 16 June 2004, the United Kingdom and Ireland on 9 July and Germany on 23 December. The film received mixed reviews from critics and earned $72.6 million worldwide on a $110 million budget, making it a box-office bomb.
Plot
Chinese thief Lau Xang robs a JadeBuddha from the Bank of England belonging to Lord Kelvin, head of the Royal Academy of Science, given to him by extremist group the Black Scorpions in exchange for providing military assistance to their cause. Lau Xang seeks refuge with inventor Phileas Fogg; giving his name as "Passepartout", he is hired as Fogg's valet and assists testing his inventions. Fogg's eccentric ways are mocked by members of the Royal Academy and, when he calculates it is possible to circumnavigate the world in eighty days, Kelvin - who stands on tradition over ambition and innovation - offers to vacate his position in favour of Fogg if he is able to do so, but if he can not Fogg must cease scientific pursuits.
Fogg accepts and is joined by Passepartout, who sees the endeavor as a way of returning home. The two journey to Paris, where Fogg encounters impressionist painter Monique La Roche and Passepartout finds he is being pursued by General Fang, who Kelvin has ordered to retrieve the Jade Buddha. Monique flees with the two men in a hot-air balloon, and they continue the journey by train. Monique learns Passepartout's true intentions - that he is travelling with Fogg in order to return the Jade Buddha, which was stolen from his village - and promises to keep his secret if he allows her to continue travelling with them.
Arriving in Istanbul, they are thrown a banquet by Prince Hapi, who seeks to make Monique his seventh wife. Fogg and Passepartout get him to release Monique by threatening to destroy his statue of "The Thinker"; Hapi agrees but the statue is still broken, and the trio flee for their lives. Kelvin learns that Passepartout is the bank thief and orders colonial authorities in India to arrest him and Fogg. The trio avoid capture by the Black Scorpions and escape to China where Fogg learns the truth about Lau Xang after arriving in his village of Lanzhou. The village is seized by the Black Scorpions and Lau Xang challenges their leader, defeating him with the help of his fellow "Ten Tigers of Canton", and the Jade Buddha is returned to the village temple.
Feeling his trust in his companions has been betrayed, Fogg continues on alone and reaches San Francisco, where he has all his money stolen, and days later is found destitute by Lau Xang and Monique, who have followed him. Reunited, the trio cross America, encountering the Wright Brothers testing their prototype flying machine on their way to New York Harbor, where they are ambushed by General Fang. Lau Xang offers to hold her off so Fogg and Monique can board the boat that will get them to London on time; however, they decide to assist him in defeating Fang, but in doing so miss the boat.
The trio board a smaller boat which runs out of coal en route to London, prompting Fogg to construct a flying machine based on the Wright Brothers' plans. The flying machine is catapulted to London, crash-landing outside the Royal Academy. The clock strikes noon and Kelvin proclaims himself the victor, but when his attempts to interfere in Fogg's attempt are discovered, Queen Victoria has him arrested. Fogg is despondent about having lost the wager until he realizes he didn't factor in crossing the International Date Line; realizing they arrived back in London with a day to spare, the trio and the rest of London joyously celebrate Fogg's success.
When Frank Coraci got involved, he went back to read the original novel and watch the 1956 film, where he realized that the story didn't really have a driving lead character. So he decided to rework the plot considerably, which involved giving Phileas Fogg an arc. Coraci's first choice for Fogg was Johnny Depp, but studio executives at the time didn't think Depp in a family movie would ever work.[7] Jackie Chan was announced to play Passepartout in June 2002.[8] He was paid about $18 million for the role.[9] After Chan was cast, the filmmakers settled on lesser known character actor Steve Coogan for Fogg. Walden Media was in charge of investing the film while Summit Entertainment handled foreign sales. Paramount Pictures acquired domestic distribution rights, and set a release date for 21 November 2003. However, the studio stepped out at the start of the year, with concerns over the high budget and bankability of the cast.[10][11]
Principal photography began on 13 March 2003 in Thailand, followed by a three month shoot at Babelsberg Studio in Berlin.[12][13] Before Disney had picked up the film for North American distribution, it was one of the highest-budget films produced without a distributor attached.[14]
The film received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 32% approval rating, based on 128 reviews, with an average score of 4.79/10, with the site's consensus stating: "Hit-and-miss family fare that bears only the slightest resemblance to Verne's novel."[16] Metacritic gives the film a weighted score of 49 out of 100, based on reviews from 33 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[17] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[18]
The Guardian critic Rob Mackie criticized it for having little to no resemblance to the novel it is based on.[19]Roger Ebert praised it for its visual style and for being "goofy fun".[20]Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote: "Takes plenty of liberties with the material and never generates much genuine excitement, but provides an agreeable ride without overloading it with contemporary filmmaking mannerisms."[21]
↑ Lyons, Charles; Petrikin, Chris (9 September 1999). "Herek around 'World' journey". Variety. Archived from the original on 23 April 2022. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
↑ Dunkley, Cathy; Fleming, Michael (17 November 2003). "Disney deals for '80 Days'". Variety. Archived from the original on 21 April 2022. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
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