Prospect | |
---|---|
![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by |
|
Written by |
|
Produced by |
|
Starring | |
Cinematography | Zeek Earl |
Edited by | Paul Frank |
Music by | Daniel L.K. Caldwell |
Production companies |
|
Distributed by | Dust (Gunpowder & Sky) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 100 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | Less than $4 million [1] |
Box office | $22,777 (internationally) [2] |
Prospect is a 2018 American science fiction film that stars Pedro Pascal, Sophie Thatcher, and Jay Duplass. The film, written and directed by Zeek Earl and Chris Caldwell, features a teenage girl named Cee (Thatcher) and her father Damon (Duplass) who land on a poisonous forest moon to mine for valuable gems. A series of betrayals, alliances, and conflicts with mercenaries and rival prospectors make their quest increasingly perilous.
The film premiered on March 5, 2018 at the South by Southwest Film Festival. The company Gunpowder & Sky, under their science fiction-oriented label Dust, released the film in Regal Cinemas theaters on November 2, 2018, and on video-on-demand and home media on March 8, 2019.
A teenage girl, Cee, and her father, Damon, descend from a transport spaceship to a forest moon's surface in a landing pod to mine for gems. During their descent, a technical malfunction cripples the lander, forcing them to land some distance away from their planned prospecting site. On foot, they find an abandoned dig site where they extract a fleshy pod from the earth, revealing a valuable gem inside. Cee urges her father to return to the lander with the gem, but Damon insists on continuing to the original site.
Setting out again, Damon encounters two rival prospectors, Ezra and his silent partner. Initially planning to rob Damon at gunpoint, they reconsider when Damon counter-offers to join forces. He reveals he's been asked to assist mercenaries who've discovered the legendary 'queen's lair,' an incredibly valuable dig site. Damon proposes that instead of aiding the mercenaries, he, Ezra, and the silent companion can collaborate to claim the site for themselves.
Ezra agrees to the alliance, but Cee, who has been hidden, ambushes them with a rifle. This allows Damon to disarm Ezra and take both rival prospectors hostage. When Damon tries to rob Ezra, the silent partner attacks, leading to a shootout. Ezra's partner is killed, and Damon, mortally wounded, is executed by Ezra.
Cee retreats to her malfunctioning lander, which won't start, and is found by Ezra hours later. When Ezra tries to enter, Cee shoots him in the arm and takes him captive. Ezra proposes following Damon's initial plan to assist the mercenaries for a ride on their ship. Cee agrees reluctantly, and they head for the queen's lair. Ezra's arm becomes infected from the moon's poisonous spores, prompting them to seek medical help from local villagers. The villagers propose trading gems for Cee instead. As Ezra inquires about the deal, Cee escapes, pursued by the villagers.
After wandering alone, Cee encounters Ezra again, his wound severely worsened. She helps him amputate his arm and they proceed to a mercenary camp near the queen's lair. After securing a ride on the mercenaries' ship, they try and fail multiple times to extract gems. When their guard moves to report their failure, Ezra kills him, triggering a fight with the remaining mercenaries. Several are killed, and Ezra sustains grave injuries. Cee tends to his wounds, and they escape into orbit aboard the mercenaries' ship.
Zeek Earl and Chris Caldwell met at the Seattle Pacific University. [3] They formed the production company Shep Films and initially made commercials before making short films. [4] They first produced Prospect as a short film, with a $21,000 budget which they raised through Kickstarter. The short drew attention after premiering at the 2014 SXSW Film Festival, ultimately becoming a hit on Vimeo. [1]
After that they wanted to make Prospect into a feature length film. The duo presented the pitch to studios and secured a $4,000,000 financing from the Canadian BRON Studios.
They wanted seven months to make the film's ships, costumes, and weapons. For that they moved into a former ship-building warehouse in Fremont, Seattle. “We hired a lot of people who'd never worked on a movie before: industrial designers, carpenters, mechanics, cosplayers," said Caldwell. "They were working with us as the script was being written, and by the time we got the green light, we had this kind of art collective under one roof." [1] The production team used a Computer Numeric Control kit to create much of the ship's interiors.
All of Prospect's exterior shots were filmed on a private land trust adjacent to the Olympic National Park, Washington. [1]
Prospect premiered on March 5, 2018 at the 2018 South by Southwest Film Festival, where it won the Adam Yauch Hörnblowér Award. The company Gunpowder and Sky, under their label Dust, released the film in Regal Cinemas theaters on November 2, 2018. The film was released on video-on-demand and home media on March 8, 2019. [5]
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes assessed 56 reviews; it reported 43 as positive and 6 as negative, for an overall rating of 89%. The website's critical consensus reads, "Fueled by character development and setting instead of special effects, Prospect is a sci-fi story whose style is defined—and enriched—by its limitations." [6] The similar website Metacritic assessed 8 reviews and reported 6 as positive and 2 as mixed. With an overall score of 68 out of 100, it said the film had "generally favorable reviews". [7]
Peter Debruge of Variety wrote, "Constructing character does not appear to be Earl and Caldwell’s strong suit (what’s satisfying about Cee owes almost entirely to Thatcher, a fresh face who tricks us into assuming she’s just a callow teen, when in fact, she proves to be the film’s toughest character). On the other hand, the duo show a real aptitude for world building." [8]
Prospect may refer to:
Pitch Black is a 2000 American science fiction horror film directed by David Twohy and co-written by Twohy and brothers Ken and Jim Wheat from a story conceived by the latter. The film stars Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser, and Keith David. Dangerous criminal Riddick (Diesel) is being transported to prison in a spacecraft, and escapes when the spaceship is damaged by comet debris and crash lands on an empty desert planet. When predatory creatures begin attacking the survivors, Riddick joins forces with them to escape the planet.
The Chronicles of Riddick is a 2004 American science fiction action film written and directed by David Twohy. It is a sequel to Pitch Black (2000) and the second installment in the Riddick film series. Vin Diesel reprises his role as Richard B. Riddick and acts as producer, alongside Thandiwe Newton, Karl Urban, Alexa Davalos, Colm Feore, and Keith David. It follows the adventures of Riddick as he attempts to elude capture and face an invading empire.
The Chronicles of Riddick is an American science fiction space Western media franchise created by brothers Ken and Jim Wheat and later continued by writer-director David Twohy. It follows the adventures of antihero character Riddick in the 28th century.
Elysium is a 2013 American dystopian science fiction action film written, produced, and directed by Neill Blomkamp. It was Blomkamp's second directorial effort. The film stars Matt Damon and Jodie Foster alongside Sharlto Copley, Alice Braga, Diego Luna, Wagner Moura, and William Fichtner. The film takes place on both a ravaged Earth and a luxurious artificial world called Elysium. The film itself offers deliberate social commentary that explores political and sociological themes such as immigration, overpopulation, transhumanism, health care, worker exploitation, the justice system, technology, and social class issues.
Riddick is a 2013 science fiction action film written and directed by David Twohy, based on the character Richard B. Riddick by Jim and Ken Wheat. It is the third installment in The Chronicles of Riddick film series and a sequel to both Pitch Black (2000) and The Chronicles of Riddick (2004). Vin Diesel reprises his role as the eponymous character alongside Jordi Mollà, Matt Nable, Katee Sackhoff, Dave Bautista, Bokeem Woodbine, Raoul Trujillo, and Karl Urban. In the film, notorious murderer Riddick is betrayed and left for dead on a desolate planet and uses his instincts to survive. He eventually teams up with mercenaries arriving to capture him to escape from a larger threat.
Baggage Claim is a 2013 American romantic comedy film written and directed by David E. Talbert, based on his book of the same name. It stars Paula Patton, Derek Luke, Taye Diggs, Jill Scott, Adam Brody, Djimon Hounsou, Jenifer Lewis and Ned Beatty in his final film role. The film premiered on September 27, 2013.
Tammy is a 2014 American road comedy film directed and co-written by Ben Falcone and produced, co-written by, and starring Melissa McCarthy as the title character. The film also stars Susan Sarandon, Allison Janney, Gary Cole, Mark Duplass, Nat Faxon, Toni Collette, Sandra Oh, with Dan Aykroyd, and Kathy Bates. The film tells the story of a woman named Tammy who hits the road with her profane, alcoholic grandmother after finding out her husband is cheating. Tammy was released in theaters on July 2, 2014.
The Signal is a 2014 American science fiction thriller film directed by William Eubank, written by William and Carlyle Eubank and David Frigerio, and starring Brenton Thwaites and Laurence Fishburne. It premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, and was theatrically released in the United States on June 13, 2014.
José Pedro Balmaceda Pascal is a Chilean and American actor. After nearly two decades of taking small roles in film and television, Pascal had his breakout role as Oberyn Martell in the fourth season of the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones (2014). He gained further prominence with his portrayal of Javier Peña in the Netflix crime series Narcos (2015–2017). He went on to appear in the films The Great Wall (2016), Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017), The Equalizer 2 (2018), and Triple Frontier (2019).
The Great Wall is a 2016 monster film directed by Zhang Yimou, with a screenplay by Carlo Bernard, Doug Miro and Tony Gilroy, from a story by Max Brooks, Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz. An American and Chinese co-production starring Matt Damon, Jing Tian, Pedro Pascal, Willem Dafoe, and Andy Lau, the plot centers on two European mercenary warriors imprisoned by imperial Chinese forces within the Great Wall of China after arriving in search of gunpowder, eventually joining forces with the Chinese to help combat an alien threat. The Great Wall is Zhang's first English-language film.
Passengers is a 2016 American science-fiction romance film directed by Morten Tyldum, written by Jon Spaihts and starring Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence. The supporting cast features Michael Sheen, Laurence Fishburne, and Andy García. The film follows two passengers on an interstellar spacecraft carrying thousands of people to a colony 120-years-traveling-distance from Earth, when the two are awakened 90 years early from their induced hibernation.
Stowaway is a 2021 sci-fi drama thriller film directed by Joe Penna, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ryan Morrison. It stars Anna Kendrick, Daniel Dae Kim, Shamier Anderson and Toni Collette. A co-production of the United States and Germany, it premiered on Netflix in select countries on April 22, 2021.
Sea Fever is a 2019 science fiction horror thriller film written and directed by Neasa Hardiman, starring Hermione Corfield, Dougray Scott and Connie Nielsen. The film follows the crew of a marooned fishing trawler, who find themselves threatened by a parasitic infection.
A.I. Rising is a 2018 English-language Serbian science fiction film directed by Lazar Bodroža and based on a 1980s short story by Zoran Nešković that was adapted for film by screenwriter Dimitrije Vojnov. The film stars Sebastian Cavazza, Stoya, Marusa Majer and Kirsty Besterman.
Sophie Bathsheba Thatcher is an American actress and musician. She is best known for starring as young Natalie Scatorccio in Showtime's psychological drama series Yellowjackets (2021–present), and for her appearance as Drash in The Book of Boba Fett (2022).
Infinite is a 2021 American science fiction action film directed by Antoine Fuqua, from a screenplay written by Ian Shorr based on a story by Todd Stein. The film stars Mark Wahlberg, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sophie Cookson, Jason Mantzoukas, Rupert Friend, Toby Jones and Dylan O'Brien.
Aniara is a 2018 Swedish-Danish science fiction film written and directed by Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja. The film is an adaptation of the 1956 Swedish epic poem of the same name by Harry Martinson. The film is set in a dystopian future where climate change ravages Earth, prompting mass migration from Earth to Mars. When one such routine trip veers off course, the passengers of the Aniara struggle to cope with their new lives.
Spaceman is a 2024 American science fiction drama film directed by Johan Renck and written by Colby Day. It is based on the 2017 novel Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfař. Starring Adam Sandler, Carey Mulligan, Kunal Nayyar, Isabella Rossellini, and Paul Dano, it follows an astronaut sent on a mission to the edge of the solar system who encounters a creature that helps him resolve his earthly problems.
Biosphere is a 2022 American science fiction comedy film directed by Mel Eslyn and written by Eslyn and Mark Duplass. It stars Sterling K. Brown and Duplass.