Hancock is a 2008 superhero film directed by Peter Berg and starring Will Smith, Jason Bateman, and Charlize Theron. It tells the story of a vigilante superhero, John Hancock (Smith), from Los Angeles whose reckless actions routinely cost the city millions of dollars. Eventually one person he saves, Ray Embrey (Bateman), makes it his mission to change Hancock’s public image for the better.
The story was originally written by Vincent Ngo in 1996 and languished in development hell in Hollywood for some time. The project has had various directors attached, including Tony Scott, Michael Mann, Jonathan Mostow, and Gabriele Muccino. Hancock was originally intended to be filmed before I Am Legend, also starring Will Smith. Hancock was filmed in Los Angeles with a production budget of $150 million.
In the United States, the film was rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America after changes were made at the organization’s request in order to avoid a “restricted” (R) rating, which it had received twice before. The film was widely released on July 2, 2008 in the United States and the United Kingdom. Hancock has received relatively poor reviews from critics, with a 36% rating from Rotten Tomatoes, a reviews aggregator website. To date, the film has grossed an estimated $345,234,000 worldwide.
Plot
John Hancock (Will Smith) is an alcoholic man with superhero powers, including flight, invulnerability, and super-strength. Though he uses his powers to stop criminals in his current residence of Los Angeles, his activity inadvertently causes millions of dollars in property damage due to his constant intoxication. As a result, he is routinely jeered at the crime scenes. Hancock also ignores court subpoenas from the city of Los Angeles to address the property damage he has caused.
When public relations spokesperson Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman) departs from an unsuccessful meeting pitching his All-Heart logo for corporations who are extraordinarily charitable, he becomes trapped on railroad tracks with an incoming freight train. Hancock saves Ray’s life, but he causes the train to derail and nearly injures another driver. Hancock is jeered by other drivers for causing more damage, but Ray steps in and thanks Hancock for saving his life. Ray offers to improve Hancock’s public image, and Hancock grudgingly accepts. The spokesperson convinces the alcoholic superhero to permit himself to be jailed for outstanding subpoenas so they can show Los Angeles how much the city really needs Hancock. When the crime rate rises after Hancock’s incarceration, the superhero is contacted by the Chief of Police. With a new costume from Ray, Hancock intervenes with a bank robbery, rescuing a cop and stopping the leader of the robbers, Red Parker (Eddie Marsan).
After the rescue, Hancock is applauded for handling the bank robbery. The superhero becomes popular once more, as Ray had predicted. He goes out to dinner with Ray and his wife Mary (Charlize Theron), with whom he reveals his apparent immortality and his amnesia from 80 years ago. After Hancock tucks a drunken Ray in bed, he discovers that Mary also has superhero powers. He threatens to expose her until she explains their origins, and she tells him that they have lived for 3,000 years with their powers, having been called gods and angels in their time. She explains that they are the last of their kind and that their kind are paired. Mary does not tell Hancock the entire truth, and Hancock departs to tell Ray about the conversation. The exchange results in a battle between Hancock and Mary that takes them to downtown Los Angeles, causing significant damage to the area. Ray, downtown in a business meeting, sees and recognizes Mary using superhero powers like Hancock.
Hancock is later shot twice in the chest and wounded when he stops a liquor store robbery. After being hospitalized, Mary enters and explains that as the pair of immortals gets close, they begin to lose their powers. She also explains that Hancock was attacked in an alley 80 years prior, where he obtained amnesia. Mary deserted him then in order for him to recover from his injuries. When he is hospitalized, the hospital is raided by Red Parker, the bank robber, and two men that Hancock had humiliated during his incarceration. Mary, visiting Hancock, is shot in the process. Hancock is able to stop two men but is further wounded by them. When Red attempts to finish Hancock off, Ray comes to the rescue and kills the bank robber with a fire axe. With Mary nearly dying, Hancock flees from the hospital so their parting would allow her to heal with her powers. He later winds up in New York City, working as a superhero. Ray is seen walking with Mary discussing historical events such as the reign of Attila the Hun in a jovial manner. As gratitude to Ray, Hancock paints Ray’s All-Heart logo on the moon and calls the spokesperson to look up to the worldwide advertisement.
Cast
- Will Smith as John Hancock, an alcoholic, down-and-out, incredibly sarcastic superhero.[1] He is invulnerable, possesses superhuman strength, and can fly at supersonic speeds.[2] To give a realistic appearance of superhero flight, Smith was often suspended by wires 60 feet above the ground and propelled at 40-50 miles per hour.[3]
- Jason Bateman as Ray Embrey, a corporate public relations consultant whose life Hancock saves. Bateman said, “[It] was a fun thing to play, a very idealistic guy that’s trying to build up this suicidal, homeless alcoholic that then ends up hitting on my wife. It was a fun thing. To play the victim is funny.”[4]
- Charlize Theron as Mary Embrey, Ray’s wife.
- Eddie Marsan as Red Parker, a bank robber.
- Jae Head as Aaron Embrey, Ray’s young son.
Production
Development
Screenwriter Vincent Ngo wrote the spec script Tonight, He Comes in 1996. The draft, about a troubled 12-year-old and a fallen superhero, was initially picked up by director Tony Scott as a potential project.[5] Producer Akiva Goldsman came across the script, which he had considered a favorite,[6] and encouraged Richard Saperstein, then president of development and production at Artisan Entertainment, to acquire it in 2002.[5] Director Michael Mann was initially attached to direct Tonight, He Comes, but he instead opted to direct Miami Vice (2006).[6] Eventually, Artisan placed the project in turnaround, and it was acquired by Goldsman.[7]
Screenwriters Vince Gilligan and John August performed rewrites of Ngo’s script,[8] and Jonathan Mostow was attached to direct the film. Under Mostow’s supervision, a 10-page treatment was written to be pitched to actor Will Smith to portray the lead role in the film. Both Mostow and Smith were not yet committed to make the project an active priority at the time. Several studios pursued the opportunity to finance the film, and Columbia Pictures succeeded in acquiring the prospect in February 2005. A second draft was scripted by Gilligan following the finalization of the deal with Columbia. The film was initially slated for a holiday 2006 release.[7]
In November 2005, Mostow and Smith committed to Tonight, He Comes, with production slated to begin in Los Angeles in summer 2006.[6] Smith had set up a pay or play contract to film I Am Legend (2007) under Warner Bros. after completion of Tonight, He Comes.[9] Mostow eventually departed from the project due to creative differences.[10] Italian director Gabriele Muccino filled Mostow’s vacancy in May 2006. Since Muccino was busy editing The Pursuit of Happyness starring Smith, which Muccino had directed, Smith switched projects to film I Am Legend first for its December 2007 release, and then film Tonight, He Comes afterward.[11] Later in the month, Muccino left the project because of an incompatibility with filming the story. Since Muccino was preparing The Pursuit of Happyness, the studio had delayed the production start for Tonight, He Comes to summer 2007, enabling Warner Bros. to begin production of I Am Legend with Smith.[10]
Filming
In October 2006, Peter Berg was attached to direct Tonight, He Comes with production slated to begin in May 2007 in Los Angeles, the story’s setting.[12] Berg was midway through filming The Kingdom when he heard about the film and called Michael Mann, who had become one of its producers.[13] The new director compared the original script’s tone to Leaving Las Vegas (1995), calling it “a scathing character study of this suicidal alcoholic superhero”. The director explained the rewrite, “We thought the idea was cool, but we did want to lighten it up. We all did.”[14] Before filming began, Tonight, He Comes was retitled John Hancock,[1] and it was eventually shortened to Hancock.[15] Filming began on Hancock on July 3, 2007 in Los Angeles,[16] having a production budget of $150 million.[8] Locations like Hollywood Boulevard were designed to look damaged, having rubble, overturned vehicles, and fires.[17] Smith’s character is also an alcoholic, so for scenes in liquor stores, the art department designed fake labels such as Pap Smear Vodka for the bottles because “brown-bag brands” like Thunderbird and Night Train refused to lend their names.[18]
Hancock was Peter Berg’s first film with visual effects as critical cinematic elements.[13] He considered the computer-generated fight his least favorite part of the film, citing limited control in making the scene successful. According to the director, “Once the fight starts, you’re very limited and you’re at the mercy of your effects guys… unless they’re really technically oriented, that it’s definitely the time we have the least amount of control as directors.” He and other filmmakers worked to cut down on the fight scene, believing that the film’s success would come from the character study of Smith’s character, John Hancock, similar to Robert Downey Jr.’s acclaimed portrayal of Tony Stark in the previous May’s release, Iron Man.[14] The director said if Hancock pulls in as much business as predicted, a sequel, Hancock 2, would likely follow.[13]
Theatrical run
Hancock had its world premiere as the opener at the 30th Moscow International Film Festival on June 19, 2008.[20] To avoid copyright infringement, organizers undertook “unprecedented” steps to prevent illegal reproduction of the film.[21]
For the film, Sony created a digital camera package (DCP) having 4K resolution, containing four times more information than the typical DCP that possessed 2K resolution. Projectors for the higher-resolution package have been installed in 200 theaters in the United States with two dozen in evaluation. The impact of the package has been debated, with one argument being that the difference is not noticeable and the counter-argument being that the higher resolution has future value.[22]
Prior to the film’s opening five-day weekend in the United States and Canada, predictions for its weekend performance ranged from as low as $70 million to as high as $125 million.[23][24] According to CinemaScore, Hancock was given a B+ grade by audiences.[25] The film was shown in advance screenings on July 1, 2008 in 3,680 theaters in the United States and Canada, grossing $6.8 million. The film was widely released on July 2, 2008, expanding to 3,965 theaters.[26] At the conclusion of the five-day weekend, Hancock took top placement at the box office in the United States and Canada, grossing an estimated $107.3 million. The film had the third-biggest opening 4th of July weekend after Transformers (2007) and Spider-Man 2 (2004). Hancock was Will Smith’s fifth film to open on a 4th of July weekend and was his most successful opening to date. The film was also Smith’s eighth film in a row to take top placement in the American and Canadian box office and the twelfth film in Smith’s career to lead the box office.[27][28] Hancock was also Peter Berg’s strongest opening of his directing career to date.[29]
Outside of the United States and Canada, Hancock grossed $78.3 million in its opening weekend, drawing from 5,444 screenings across 50 markets, ranking it the third highest international opening of 2008 after Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Iron Man.[30] Hancock averaged $14,382 per screen. It placed on top in 47 of the 50 markets in which it opened;[31] its strongest openings were the United Kingdom with $19.3 million, Germany with $12.4 million, South Korea with $8.5 million, Australia with $7.3 million, and China with $5.5 million. The Chinese opening was the fourth-biggest opening to date for the country. Other international performances included $3.4 million in Brazil and $3.1 million in Taiwan.[30] In Hong Kong, the film opened in first place with $1.3 million, averaging $37,300 across the 35 venues.[32] The film’s overall gross for its opening five-day weekend worldwide is $185.6 million.[31]
In the following weekend of July 11-13, 2008, Hancock fell to second place in the United States and Canada behind Hellboy II: The Golden Army, grossing an estimated $33 million, a “modest” 47% drop in revenue.[33] Overseas, Hancock expanded to 8,125 screens across 67 markets, ranking first at the box office again in 30 markets. The film’s top opening grosses for the weekend included $11.4 million in Russia (589 screens), $9.9 million in France (739 screens), $4.6 million in Mexico (783 screens), $2.2 million in India (429 screens), $1.7 million in Holland (90 screens), $1.3 million in Belgium (69 screens), and $1 million in the Ukraine (81 screens). In territories playing Hancock for a second weekend, the United Kingdom dropped 45% to total $33.4 million to date, Germany 37% to total $24.2 million to date, Korea 38% to total $14.7 million to date, and Australia 47% to total $14.4 million to date.[34] For the second weekend, with the 67 markets, Hancock accumulated an estimated $71.4 million in the international box office, only a $7.2 million drop from the previous weekend in territories outside the United States and Canada.[35] To date, Hancock has grossed $171,434,779 in the United States and Canada and an estimated $179,814,933 in other territories for an estimated worldwide total of $351,249,712.[36]
