This article needs additional citations for verification .(November 2023) |
Wonder | |
---|---|
![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Stephen Chbosky |
Screenplay by |
|
Based on | Wonder by R. J. Palacio |
Produced by | |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Don Burgess |
Edited by | Mark Livolsi |
Music by | Marcelo Zarvos |
Production companies |
|
Distributed by | Lionsgate |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 113 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $20 million [2] |
Box office | $315 million [3] |
Wonder is a 2017 American coming-of-age family comedy-drama directed by Stephen Chbosky, who co-wrote the screenplay with Steven Conrad and Jack Thorne. It is based on the 2012 novel of the same name by R. J. Palacio and stars Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson, Jacob Tremblay, Mandy Patinkin, and Daveed Diggs.
The film follows a boy named August "Auggie" Pullman with Treacher Collins syndrome as he tries to fit in. The film was released in the United States on November 17, 2017, by Lionsgate. It received positive reviews from critics and audiences, with many praising Tremblay and Roberts' performances, Chbosky's direction, writing, musical score and faithfulness to Palacio's novel of the same name; the film was a box office success, grossing $315 million worldwide on a $20 million budget. At the 90th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for Best Makeup and Hairstyling. A spin-off and prequel film, White Bird , will release in October 2024, with Bryce Gheisar reprising his role.
August "Auggie" Pullman is a 10-year old boy living in Brooklyn with his parents, Isabel and Nate, older sister, Via, and their dog, Daisy. Auggie was born with a rare medical facial deformity, mandibulofacial dysostosis.
He has been homeschooled by Isabel, but as he approaches fifth grade, his parents enroll him at Beecher Prep, a private middle school. When the school year begins, Auggie is ostracized, but he soon forms a close friendship with a classmate, Jack Will.
For Halloween, Auggie dresses as Ghostface from the previous year when Daisy ruins his planned Boba Fett costume. As he enters his homeroom, he overhears Jack, who does not recognize him, joining Julian, the class bully, and his friends, Amos, Miles, and Henry, in making fun of him behind his back. Auggie feigns sick, forcing his mother to abandon her mother-daughter day with Via to pick him up. Though she is hurt, Via convinces Auggie to go trick-or-treating with her, as she has been rejected by her own best friend, Miranda Navas. Afterwards, Auggie begins avoiding Jack.
Auggie forms a new friendship with another classmate, Summer Dawson, confiding in her about his split with Jack. When Jack asks Summer why Auggie is avoiding him, she says "Ghostface". Jack realizes his mistake and resolves to make it up to Auggie by being his partner for the science fair instead of partnering with Julian and Amos. When Julian confronts Jack about it and calls Auggie a freak, they get into a fight. Outraged, Julian ends his friendship with Jack. Jack is suspended for two days, and the principal, Mr. Lawrence Tushman, reads Jack's letter about defending Auggie. Jack then apologizes to Auggie via Minecraft , and they reconcile.
Meanwhile, Via has been feeling left out as her parents spend more time looking after Auggie than her, and her best friend, Miranda, has been ignoring her since the summer. Via signs up for the drama club after meeting Justin, with whom she begins a romantic relationship. She is selected as Miranda's understudy for the lead role in the school's production of Our Town , but on opening night, learning that Via's family is in attendance while her own is not, Miranda feigns illness to let Via take her place. Via gives a moving performance, earning a standing ovation, and reconciles with Miranda.
Auggie's popularity and circle of friends grow, but Julian and his friends continue to bully him. Mr. Tushman confronts Julian and his parents with evidence, including hate notes and a class picture with Auggie photoshopped out. Julian's mother admits she deleted Auggie from the picture, defends Julian's actions, and insists that students should not be exposed to Auggie. Despite her threats to pull funding, Julian is suspended for two days, forcing him to miss an upcoming nature retreat. As they leave, his mother declares that Julian will not be back in the fall. However, Julian apologizes to Mr. Tushman, and the latter forgives him.
At the nature retreat, Auggie and Jack are threatened by a trio of seventh graders from another school, but Amos, Miles, and Henry defend them. At the graduation ceremony, Auggie thanks Isabel for enrolling him in school and is given the Henry Ward Beecher Medal for his strength and courage throughout the school year.
On November 27, 2012, it was announced that Lionsgate was developing a feature film adaptation of R. J. Palacio's debut novel Wonder , and were in talks with John August to write the screenplay. [4] Mandeville Films' David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman produced the film. [4]
On May 8, 2013, Jack Thorne was hired to adapt the novel after August had departed from the project. [5] In October 2014, John Krokidas was reported to be directing the film, [6] though in April 2015, Paul King was hired to direct instead. Steven Conrad was writing the script at that time. [7]
On April 14, 2016, Jacob Tremblay was cast to play the lead role, Auggie Pullman, while Julia Roberts was in talks to play Auggie's mother. [8] On May 5, 2016, Roberts' casting was confirmed, and Stephen Chbosky was set as the film's director. [9]
On June 27, 2016, Owen Wilson joined to play Auggie's father. [10] On July 11, 2016, newcomer Noah Jupe joined the cast as Auggie's best friend at school, [11] and on July 15, 2016, Daveed Diggs was cast as Mr. Browne, an English teacher at the school. [12]
On August 19, 2016, Sônia Braga joined the cast, portraying the role of Roberts's character's mother. [13]
Tremblay's prosthetic makeup, designed and created by Arjen Tuiten, took an hour and a half to apply. It consisted of a skull cap with prosthetic ears attached, a facial prosthetic that covered Tremblay's face, and a wig to tie it all together. [14]
Filming took place in several locations in British Columbia, Canada, and Coney Island, New York, from October 18 to December 13, 2016.
Marcelo Zarvos composed the film's score. [15] Bea Miller composed a song for the film, "Brand New Eyes". It was released on August 3, 2017. Wonder author R. J. Palacio has often credited Natalie Merchant's song "Wonder", from her 1995 album Tigerlily , as the inspiration for her best-selling book. At Merchant's invitation, the song was featured on the soundtrack. The song is played during the film's end credits. [16]
Lionsgate had initially scheduled Wonder to be released in the United States on April 7, 2017. [17] [18] On February 13, 2017, it was announced that the release date had been pushed back to November 17, 2017. [19] Wonder had its world premiere at the Regency Village Theater in Los Angeles on November 14, 2017. [20]
Wonder grossed $132 million in the United States and Canada, and $182 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $315 million, against a production budget of $20 million. [3] Deadline Hollywood calculated the film made a net profit of $55.3 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues. [21]
In the United States and Canada, Wonder opened alongside Justice League , The Star , and Roman J. Israel, Esq. and was initially projected to gross around $9 million from 3,096 theaters in its first weekend. [22] However, after grossing $740,000 from Thursday night previews and receiving a large number of group ticket sales, weekend projections were upped to $15 million. [23] Weekend projections were again increased, this time to $28 million, after the film made $9.4 million on its first day. The film went on to debut to $27.5 million, [24] finishing second at the box office, behind Justice League. [25] In its second weekend, the film dropped just 17.7%, grossing $22.7 million and finishing third at the box office. [26]
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 85% based on 192 reviews, and an average rating of 7.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Wonder doesn't shy away from its bestselling source material's sentiment, but this well-acted and overall winsome drama earns its tugs at the heartstrings." [27] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 66 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [28] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A+" on an A+ to F scale, one of approximately 100 films in the history of the service to receive the grade. [25]
Some reviewers criticized the decision to cast an actor without the same condition as Auggie as undermining the film's message. [29] [30] In August 2021, during Edinburgh TV Festival's MacTaggart Lecture, co-writer Jack Thorne, while not specifically citing Wonder, acknowledged that he had failed to stand up for disabled talent on projects involving the subject, and sought to rectify this through pushing for new disability initiatives like 'Underlying Health Condition', which launched in December 2021. [31]
Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipients | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
AARP's Movies for Grownups Awards | February 5, 2018 | Best Intergenerational Film | Wonder | Nominated | [32] |
Readers' Choice Poll | Wonder | Nominated | |||
Academy Awards | March 4, 2018 | Best Makeup and Hairstyling | Arjen Tuiten | Nominated | [33] |
British Academy Film Awards | February 18, 2018 | Best Makeup and Hair | Naomi Bakstad, Robert Pandini and Arjen Tuiten | Nominated | [34] |
Casting Society of America | January 18, 2018 | Big Budget – Comedy | Deborah Aquila, Kara Eide, Tricia Wood and Kris Woz | Nominated | [35] |
Critics' Choice Movie Awards | January 11, 2018 | Best Young Actor/Actress | Jacob Tremblay | Nominated | [36] |
Best Adapted Screenplay | Jack Thorne, Steve Conrad and Stephen Chbosky | Nominated | |||
Best Hair & Makeup | Wonder | Nominated | |||
Heartland Film Festival | December 31, 2017 | Truly Moving Picture Award | Stephen Chbosky | Won | [37] |
Hochi Film Award | December 18, 2018 | Best International Picture | Stephen Chbosky | Won | [38] |
London Film Critics Circle | January 28, 2018 | Young British/Irish Performer of the Year | Noah Jupe | Nominated | [39] |
Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild | February 24, 2018 | Feature Motion Picture: Best Contemporary Makeup | Naomi Bakstad, Jean Black and Megan Harkness | Nominated | [40] |
Feature Motion Picture: Best Contemporary Hair Styling | Robert Pandini and Alisa Macmillan | Nominated | |||
Feature Motion Picture: Best Special Makeup Effects | Michael Nickiforek and Arjen Tuiten | Nominated | |||
Feature Motion Picture: Best Contemporary Hair Styling | Robert Pandini and Alisa Macmillan | Nominated | |||
Feature Motion Picture: Best Special Makeup Effects | Michael Nickiforek and Arjen Tuiten | Nominated | |||
Saturn Awards | June 27, 2018 | Best Performance by a Younger Actor | Jacob Tremblay | Nominated | [41] |
Best Make-up | Arjen Tuiten | Nominated | |||
Best Independent Film | Wonder | Won | |||
Seattle Film Critics Society | December 18, 2017 | Best Youth Performance | Jacob Tremblay | Nominated | [42] |
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association | December 8, 2017 | Best Youth Performance | Jacob Tremblay | Nominated | [43] |
Women Film Critics Circle | December 17, 2017 | Best Family Film | Wonder | Nominated | [44] [45] |
Teen Choice Awards | August 12, 2018 | Choice Drama | Wonder | Nominated | [46] |
Choice Drama Actor | Jacob Tremblay | Nominated | |||
Choice Drama Actress | Julia Roberts | Nominated |
White Bird: A Wonder Story, a spin-off sequel/prequel war drama film to Wonder based on R. J. Palacio's graphic novel of the same name, starring Gillian Anderson and Helen Mirren, with Bryce Gheisar reprising his role as Julian Albans, began production in February 2021 in the Czech Republic. [47] Described as a "companion piece" to the original film, [48] the film follows Julian as his Parisian grandmother tells him stories of her childhood as a young Jewish girl living in Nazi-occupied France during World War II, when she was hidden from the Nazis by a classmate and his family. Initially scheduled to be released on September 16, 2022, [49] the film's release date was ultimately delayed to October 14, 2022 [50] before the film was removed from the release schedule in September, [51] and actual sole delayed to August 2023 release. [52] However Lionsgate pushed the release to an unspecified date, in July 2023, as a result of the SAG-AFTRA strike, in the fourth quarter of 2023. [53] In December 2023, Lionsgate scheduled the film for release on October 4, 2024. [54]
It was announced on April 9, 2019 that a musical adaptation of the film is in the works for Broadway. Jill Furman ( Hamilton ) will produce, R. J. Palacio will adapt the novel for the stage production. [55]
Stephen Chbosky is an American film director, screenwriter, and author. He is best-known for writing the bestselling coming-of-age novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower (1999), as well as for writing and directing the 2012 film adaptation of the book. Most recently, he directed the 2017 drama Wonder and the 2021 film adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen. His first psychological horror novel, Imaginary Friend, was published in October 2019.
Lionsgate Films is a Canadian-American film production and distribution studio founded in Canada in 1962. It is now a division of Lionsgate Studios and headquartered in Santa Monica.
Steven Conrad is an American filmmaker.
Roadside Attractions, LLC is an American production company and film distributor based in Los Angeles, California, founded on July 27, 2000, by Howard Cohen and Eric d'Arbeloff, specializing largely in independent films. Lionsgate bought a portion of Roadside in 2007.
Stage 6 Films, Inc. is an American film production label of Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions that acquires and produces feature films that are low budget and that are being released direct-to-disc, on demand, or through streaming services. Some of their films are also being released theatrically. Once a film is finished, Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions will decide if the film will be released theatrically or on a different platform.
Wonder is a contemporary children's novel written by R. J. Palacio and published on 14 February 2012. Wonder is in part inspired by an incident where the author's son started to cry after noticing a girl with a severe facial deformity. Inspiration was also pulled from Natalie Merchant's song of the same name. Several spin-offs have been published, including 365 Days of Wonder: Mr. Browne's Book of Precepts, We're All Wonders, Auggie and Me, and White Bird. A film adaptation was released in 2017, and a spin-off sequel film followed in 2024.
American Ultra is a 2015 American stoner spy action comedy film directed by Nima Nourizadeh and written by Max Landis. The film stars Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Topher Grace, Connie Britton, Walton Goggins, John Leguizamo, Bill Pullman and Tony Hale. The story is about a stoner who discovers he was part of a secret government program and is a sleeper agent.
The Divergent Series: Allegiant is a 2016 American dystopian science fiction action film directed by Robert Schwentke with a screenplay by Bill Collage, Adam Cooper, and Noah Oppenheim, and the third and final film in The Divergent Series. It was set to be the first of two cinematic parts based on the 2013 novel Allegiant of the Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth.
Room is a 2015 internationally co-produced survival psychological drama directed by Lenny Abrahamson and written by Emma Donoghue, based on her 2010 novel of the same name. It stars Brie Larson as a young woman who has been held captive for seven years and whose five-year-old son was born in captivity. Their escape allows the boy to experience the outside world for the first time. The film also stars Joan Allen, Sean Bridgers, Tom McCamus and William H. Macy.
Robin Hood is a 2018 American action-adventure film directed by Otto Bathurst and written by Ben Chandler and David James Kelly, from a story by Chandler. It is a quasi-contemporary retelling of the Robin Hood legend, and follows his training by John to steal from the Sheriff of Nottingham. The film stars Taron Egerton as Robin, and features Jamie Foxx, Ben Mendelsohn, Eve Hewson, Tim Minchin and Jamie Dornan in supporting roles. Returning home to England to learn the corrupt Sheriff of Nottingham (Mendelsohn) has seized his family estate, aristocrat Robin of Loxley joins forces with Friar Tuck (Minchin) and Little John (Foxx) – a fierce Arabian warrior who wants to put an end to the Crusades. Armed with arrows and dubbed Robin Hood, Loxley leads a band of oppressed rebels in a daring plan to rob the Sheriff of his money and take away his power.
Jacob Tremblay is a Canadian actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a Canadian Screen Award, a Critics' Choice Movie Award, and nominations for a SAG Award and three Saturn Awards.
Chaos Walking is a 2021 American dystopian science-fiction action-thriller film directed by Doug Liman and written by Patrick Ness and Christopher Ford. It is based on Ness's science fiction trilogy Chaos Walking, adapting its first book, 2008's The Knife of Never Letting Go. It stars Tom Holland, Daisy Ridley, Mads Mikkelsen, Demián Bichir, Cynthia Erivo, Nick Jonas and David Oyelowo. It follows a young man who lives in a dystopian world without women, where all living creatures can hear each other's thoughts in streams of images, words and sounds, called "Noise". When a woman crash-lands on the planet, he protects her from danger.
Noah Jupe is a British actor. He is known for his roles in the television series The Night Manager (2016); the dark comedy film Suburbicon (2017); the drama film Wonder (2017); the horror film A Quiet Place (2018) and its sequel A Quiet Place Part II (2021); the sports drama film Ford v Ferrari (2019); the drama film Honey Boy (2019), for which he was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male; and the miniseries The Undoing (2020).
Raquel Jaramillo Palacio is an American author and graphic designer. She is the author of several novels for children, including the best-selling Wonder, which was adapted into a 2017 film starring Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson.
Antebellum is a 2020 American black horror thriller film written and directed by Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz in their feature directorial debuts. The film stars Janelle Monáe, Eric Lange, Jena Malone, Jack Huston, Kiersey Clemons and Gabourey Sidibe, and follows a 21st-century African-American woman who wakes to find herself mysteriously in a Southern slave plantation from which she must escape.
Borderlands is a 2024 American science fiction action comedy film co-written and directed by Eli Roth, based on the video game series developed by Gearbox Software. The film stars Cate Blanchett as Lillith, an infamous outlaw who returns to the place where she grew up and forms an alliance with a team of misfits to find the missing daughter of the most powerful man in the universe. The ensemble cast also features Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Édgar Ramírez, Ariana Greenblatt, Florian Munteanu, Gina Gershon, and Jamie Lee Curtis.
Bryce Gheisar is an American actor, best known for his leading roles as young Ethan in A Dog's Purpose and Julian in Wonder.
White Bird is a 2024 American coming-of-age period drama film directed by Marc Forster from a screenplay by Mark Bomback, based on the 2019 graphic novel of the same name by R. J. Palacio. Serving as both a prequel and sequel to Wonder (2017), the film stars Ariella Glaser, Orlando Schwerdt, Bryce Gheisar, Gillian Anderson, and Helen Mirren, with Gheisar reprising his role as Julian from Wonder.