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Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008 film)
Encyclopedia
Journey to the Center of the Earth (also promoted as Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D or Journey 3-D) is an American 2008 3D
adventure film
starring Brendan Fraser
, Josh Hutcherson
, and Anita Briem
. It refers to and may be considered a 21st-century sequel to the 19th-century novel of the same name
by Jules Verne
.
, the man who is possibly Max Anderson. As the dinosaur pursues him, he comes to a fissure. He tries to jump over, but fails, and falls.
Trevor Anderson (Brendan Fraser
) is a Bostonian volcanologist
whose 13-year-old nephew, Sean (Josh Hutcherson
), is supposed to spend ten days with him. When Sean's mother drops him off, she leaves Trevor with a box of items that belonged to Max, Trevor's brother and Sean's father, who disappeared 10 years before. Sean suddenly takes interest in what Trevor has to say after he tells him about his father, whom he never really had a chance to know. Among the items in the box is the novel A Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
. Inside the book, Trevor finds notes written by his late brother. At Trevor's laboratory, the two learn there is a new dot on his radar device on Snæfell
, an extinct volcano in Iceland. Trevor goes to Iceland
to investigate, and Sean goes with him.
They start by looking for another volcanologist named Sigurbjörn Ásgeirsson and instead find his daughter Hannah Ásgeirsson, the scientist having died years earlier. It turns out that he and Trevor's brother Max were Vernians, a small group who believe the works of Jules Verne to be fact. Hannah offers to help them climb up to the radar device.
While hiking the mountain, a lightning storm forces the three into a cave that collapses, leaving them trapped. They find it is an abandoned mine. They venture further into the mine, eventually reaching the bottom of a volcanic tube which is full of precious gems. As they are admiring the gems they realize the floor they're standing on is actually muscovite
, a very thin layer of rock formation. The muscovite breaks, and the group falls through the volcanic tube towards the center of the earth, surviving only because the volcanic tube eventually turns into something like a "water slide" which drops them into a lake. There, they find that the center of the Earth is actually another world contained within the Earth.
The group continues seeking a way back to the surface. Along the way, they find evidence that someone was there 100 years previous. Trevor remarks that the instruments found are Lindenbrook's (a character from the book), hinting that his views of the events of the book being real are changing. They find some of Max's things as well, such as his water bottle and his journal. While Trevor and Sean are going through what they've found, Hannah wanders off and unfortunately discovers Max's body.
They bury him on the beach of the underground ocean and Trevor reads a letter to Sean found in Max's journal about how it was Sean's birthday that day and how Max thought he would never be there to give his son his first baseball glove. They then say their goodbyes and hug each other. Trevor also discovers that his brother died due to dehydration
because of the Magma
surrounding the center of the Earth.
Using Max's advice from his journal, Trevor figures that they must find a geyser that can send them to the surface, which is located on the other side of the underground ocean, or else the temperature will rise up to 200 °F
, making it impossible to survive. They must reach the geyser in 48 hours or all of the water to create the geyser will have evaporated. They build a raft and begin crossing the underground ocean, but soon encounter prehistoric piranha
fish (resembling Xiphactinus
), so they use makeshift baseball bats to bat them away, until the arrival of a shoal of Elasmosaurus
. After the fish attack, the raft's sail becomes loose, and Sean tries to hold on, but is blown away and becomes separated from the two adults.
Sean's guide is now a little bird who has been present since the trio entered the center, and it takes him towards the river. He then goes walking, but then trips and finds out he is in a magnetic field. After he goes through a path of floating magnetic rocks. He almost falls down but was able to hang on. Meanwhile, Trevor and Hannah decide to split up to find him. Sean wanders to find a dry bonefilled land. He hears roars and hides behind a rock. Drool falls next to him, and Sean looks up. He then encounters a Giganotosaurus which drools on top of him and his face. The Giganotosaurus then goes after him. Sean runs, but the dinosaur is faster. It finds Sean and he yells and cries for desperate help. Trevor – who has desperately been searching for him – finds him. The beast pursues them until they discover that the ground beneath them is muscovite, the same type as earlier. The dinosaur falls through the muscovite, creates a massive hole and dies in the process. They get to a river and find Hannah, using a Giganotosaurus skull as a boat. They sail until they end up at a volcano with magma rising. Then, they feel cold water on the other side of a magnesium wall.
Trevor uses a flare to ignite the magnesium in the wall and causes a geyser
to shoot them through Mount Vesuvius
in Italy
. When they destroy the vineyard
of an Italian man, Sean gives him a diamond that he found earlier to say sorry. Trevor sees that he has many more in his backpack, and he uses them to fund his brother's laboratory. Throughout the adventure, Hannah and Trevor gradually become close and even share a kiss. Sean visits Trevor and Hannah in their new home, which was purchased with some of the diamonds Sean took from the cave. Trevor hands Sean a copy of the book Atlantis: The Antediluvian World
by Ignatius L. Donnelly, suggesting they could maybe hang out during Sean's Christmas break, alluding to a possible sequel. Sean then reveals that he has brought the little bird back from the center of the Earth to keep as a pet. Despite Sean's entreaties the bird flies away into the screen to effectively end the movie.
and Dolby 3D
.
, the re-release
of The Nightmare Before Christmas
and the release of Beowulf
, with the Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert
, and during the 2008 Kids' Choice Awards
.
Warner Bros. marketed the film like a theme park attraction. However, the studio had to slightly tweak the campaign (including dropping "3D" from the title) when it became clear that the film would be shown in 3-D in far fewer theaters than anticipated.
, based on 151 reviews, with 92 "Fresh" reviews and 59 "Rotten." Top critics gave the film 56%, based on the reviews of 9. Metacritic
gave the film a 57, indicating "Mixed or Average reviews."
in North America. The film grossed $21,018,141 in 2,811 theaters with an average of $7,477. 57 percent of the opening gross was taken from theaters which showed the film in 3-D. It has since made just over $100 million domestically.
As of October 2009, the film has grossed $101,704,370 in the US and $139,157,146 foreign sales, with a total of $241,995,151 worldwide. The film has also enjoyed strong DVD sales.
and DVD
on October 28, 2008, in standard 2-D format as well as a magenta/green anaglyph
. The film opened at #2 at the DVD sales chart, selling 843,224 units in the first week which translates to $13,238,617 in revenue. As per the latest figures, 1,642,994 DVD units have been sold, bringing in $25,346,260 in revenue. This does not include Blu-ray Disc sales/DVD rentals.
The 2008 two-disc BD edition of the film does not conform to the – only later established – Blu-ray 3D specifications, which means that this version does not take advantage of any dedicated 3D HDTVs, although it can be watched on them as well as on any other TV in anaglyph 3D by using red-cyan paper glasses (four pairs are included). A 3D blu-ray version will be released on January 17, 2012
at Dollywood
under the same name on June 12, 2009. It also features in the new 4D Cinema at the recently reopened Weston Super-Mare Grand Pier in the U.K
The film's closing scene suggests a potential sequel with seeking Atlantis
as its goal. In a July 2008 Q&A with Fraser and Brevig with Rocky Mountain News's Mike Pearson, director Eric Brevig indicated a sequel to Journey depended largely on the reception of the film. Said Brevig, "If people embrace the movie and want to see these characters on another adventure, we might come up with something." A month prior Brevig had been less cagey, when asked by Paul Fischer if he'd like to return for another installment, saying, "I would love to. If the movie is successful, I hope to get on that right away. Because I certainly like watching the three characters." Due to cost and competing projects, an Atlantis-based sequel was ruled out.
In March 2009, Walden Media
and New Line Cinema
purchased Richard Outten
's spec script, Mysterious Travels, to serve as the basis for the sequel. Outten has rewritten his original screenplay, transforming it into a second adventure in the franchise. In the story, the characters embark on a journey to a mysterious uncharted island thought to have informed the writing of three literary classics: Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island
, Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels
and Jules Verne's Mysterious Island.
In May of 2010, New Line Cinema
and Warner Bros.
announced that Journey to the Center of the Earth 2 also known as Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, will be released September 23, 2011. Eventually, it was changed to be released sometime in 2012.
Fraser and Briem will not return due to scheduling issues, but Hutcherson will reprise his role. Dwayne Johnson will play the boyfriend of Sean's mother and is forced to come along on a trip with Sean to find his missing grandfather, played by Michael Caine
, on a mythical and monstrous island. In October 2010, it was announced that Vanessa Hudgens will play Hutcherson's love interest. Like the first film, this one will be shot in 3D, and the script will be loosely based on a Verne novel – this time "The Mysterious Island".
Brad Peyton
is on board to direct while Beau Flynn, Charlotte Huggins and Tripp Vinson producing with Michael Bostick and Evan Turner serving as executive producers. Filming kicks off late October in North Carolina and Hawaii.
3-D film
A 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...
adventure film
Adventure film
Adventure films are a genre of film.Unlike pure, low-budget action films they often use their action scenes preferably to display and explore exotic locations in an energetic way....
starring Brendan Fraser
Brendan Fraser
Brendan James Fraser is a Canadian-American film and stage actor. Fraser portrayed Rick O'Connell in the three-part Mummy film series , and is known for his comedic and fantasy film leading roles in major Hollywood films, including Encino Man , George of the Jungle , Dudley Do-Right , Monkeybone ,...
, Josh Hutcherson
Josh Hutcherson
Joshua Ryan "Josh" Hutcherson is an American film and television actor. He began working in the early 2000s, appearing in several minor film and television roles...
, and Anita Briem
Anita Briem
Anita Briem is an Icelandic actress. She is known for her role as Jane Seymour on The Tudors and her role as Hanna in Journey to the Center of the Earth.-Personal life:...
. It refers to and may be considered a 21st-century sequel to the 19th-century novel of the same name
Journey to the Center of the Earth
A Journey to the Center of the Earth is a classic 1864 science fiction novel by Jules Verne. The story involves a German professor who believes there are volcanic tubes going toward the center of the Earth...
by Jules Verne
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
.
Plot
The film starts off with a man running from a GiganotosaurusGiganotosaurus
Giganotosaurus is a genus of carcharodontosaurid dinosaur that lived around 97 million years ago during the early Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period. It included some of the largest known terrestrial carnivores, slightly larger than the largest Tyrannosaurus, but smaller than the...
, the man who is possibly Max Anderson. As the dinosaur pursues him, he comes to a fissure. He tries to jump over, but fails, and falls.
Trevor Anderson (Brendan Fraser
Brendan Fraser
Brendan James Fraser is a Canadian-American film and stage actor. Fraser portrayed Rick O'Connell in the three-part Mummy film series , and is known for his comedic and fantasy film leading roles in major Hollywood films, including Encino Man , George of the Jungle , Dudley Do-Right , Monkeybone ,...
) is a Bostonian volcanologist
Volcanology
Volcanology is the study of volcanoes, lava, magma, and related geological, geophysical and geochemical phenomena. The term volcanology is derived from the Latin word vulcan. Vulcan was the ancient Roman god of fire....
whose 13-year-old nephew, Sean (Josh Hutcherson
Josh Hutcherson
Joshua Ryan "Josh" Hutcherson is an American film and television actor. He began working in the early 2000s, appearing in several minor film and television roles...
), is supposed to spend ten days with him. When Sean's mother drops him off, she leaves Trevor with a box of items that belonged to Max, Trevor's brother and Sean's father, who disappeared 10 years before. Sean suddenly takes interest in what Trevor has to say after he tells him about his father, whom he never really had a chance to know. Among the items in the box is the novel A Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
. Inside the book, Trevor finds notes written by his late brother. At Trevor's laboratory, the two learn there is a new dot on his radar device on Snæfell
Snæfellsjökull
Snæfellsjökull is a 700,000 year old stratovolcano with a glacier covering its summit in western Iceland. The name of the mountain is actually Snæfell, but it is normally called "Snæfellsjökull" to distinguish it from two other mountains with this name...
, an extinct volcano in Iceland. Trevor goes to Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
to investigate, and Sean goes with him.
They start by looking for another volcanologist named Sigurbjörn Ásgeirsson and instead find his daughter Hannah Ásgeirsson, the scientist having died years earlier. It turns out that he and Trevor's brother Max were Vernians, a small group who believe the works of Jules Verne to be fact. Hannah offers to help them climb up to the radar device.
While hiking the mountain, a lightning storm forces the three into a cave that collapses, leaving them trapped. They find it is an abandoned mine. They venture further into the mine, eventually reaching the bottom of a volcanic tube which is full of precious gems. As they are admiring the gems they realize the floor they're standing on is actually muscovite
Muscovite
Muscovite is a phyllosilicate mineral of aluminium and potassium with formula KAl22, or 236. It has a highly-perfect basal cleavage yielding remarkably-thin laminæ which are often highly elastic...
, a very thin layer of rock formation. The muscovite breaks, and the group falls through the volcanic tube towards the center of the earth, surviving only because the volcanic tube eventually turns into something like a "water slide" which drops them into a lake. There, they find that the center of the Earth is actually another world contained within the Earth.
The group continues seeking a way back to the surface. Along the way, they find evidence that someone was there 100 years previous. Trevor remarks that the instruments found are Lindenbrook's (a character from the book), hinting that his views of the events of the book being real are changing. They find some of Max's things as well, such as his water bottle and his journal. While Trevor and Sean are going through what they've found, Hannah wanders off and unfortunately discovers Max's body.
They bury him on the beach of the underground ocean and Trevor reads a letter to Sean found in Max's journal about how it was Sean's birthday that day and how Max thought he would never be there to give his son his first baseball glove. They then say their goodbyes and hug each other. Trevor also discovers that his brother died due to dehydration
Dehydration
In physiology and medicine, dehydration is defined as the excessive loss of body fluid. It is literally the removal of water from an object; however, in physiological terms, it entails a deficiency of fluid within an organism...
because of the Magma
Magma
Magma is a mixture of molten rock, volatiles and solids that is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and is expected to exist on other terrestrial planets. Besides molten rock, magma may also contain suspended crystals and dissolved gas and sometimes also gas bubbles. Magma often collects in...
surrounding the center of the Earth.
Using Max's advice from his journal, Trevor figures that they must find a geyser that can send them to the surface, which is located on the other side of the underground ocean, or else the temperature will rise up to 200 °F
Fahrenheit
Fahrenheit is the temperature scale proposed in 1724 by, and named after, the German physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit . Within this scale, the freezing of water into ice is defined at 32 degrees, while the boiling point of water is defined to be 212 degrees...
, making it impossible to survive. They must reach the geyser in 48 hours or all of the water to create the geyser will have evaporated. They build a raft and begin crossing the underground ocean, but soon encounter prehistoric piranha
Piranha
A piranha or piraña is a member of family Characidae in order Characiformes, an omnivorous freshwater fish that inhabits South American rivers. In Venezuela, they are called caribes...
fish (resembling Xiphactinus
Xiphactinus
Xiphactinus was a large, 4.5 to 6 m long predatory bony fish that lived in the Western Interior Sea, over what is now the middle of North America, during the Late Cretaceous. When alive, the fish would have resembled a gargantuan, fanged tarpon...
), so they use makeshift baseball bats to bat them away, until the arrival of a shoal of Elasmosaurus
Elasmosaurus
Elasmosaurus + σαυρος sauros 'lizard') is a genus of plesiosaur with an extremely long neck that lived in the Late Cretaceous period , 80.5 million years ago.-Description:...
. After the fish attack, the raft's sail becomes loose, and Sean tries to hold on, but is blown away and becomes separated from the two adults.
Sean's guide is now a little bird who has been present since the trio entered the center, and it takes him towards the river. He then goes walking, but then trips and finds out he is in a magnetic field. After he goes through a path of floating magnetic rocks. He almost falls down but was able to hang on. Meanwhile, Trevor and Hannah decide to split up to find him. Sean wanders to find a dry bonefilled land. He hears roars and hides behind a rock. Drool falls next to him, and Sean looks up. He then encounters a Giganotosaurus which drools on top of him and his face. The Giganotosaurus then goes after him. Sean runs, but the dinosaur is faster. It finds Sean and he yells and cries for desperate help. Trevor – who has desperately been searching for him – finds him. The beast pursues them until they discover that the ground beneath them is muscovite, the same type as earlier. The dinosaur falls through the muscovite, creates a massive hole and dies in the process. They get to a river and find Hannah, using a Giganotosaurus skull as a boat. They sail until they end up at a volcano with magma rising. Then, they feel cold water on the other side of a magnesium wall.
Trevor uses a flare to ignite the magnesium in the wall and causes a geyser
Geyser
A geyser is a spring characterized by intermittent discharge of water ejected turbulently and accompanied by a vapour phase . The word geyser comes from Geysir, the name of an erupting spring at Haukadalur, Iceland; that name, in turn, comes from the Icelandic verb geysa, "to gush", the verb...
to shoot them through Mount Vesuvius
Mount Vesuvius
Mount Vesuvius is a stratovolcano in the Gulf of Naples, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is the only volcano on the European mainland to have erupted within the last hundred years, although it is not currently erupting...
in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. When they destroy the vineyard
Vineyard
A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...
of an Italian man, Sean gives him a diamond that he found earlier to say sorry. Trevor sees that he has many more in his backpack, and he uses them to fund his brother's laboratory. Throughout the adventure, Hannah and Trevor gradually become close and even share a kiss. Sean visits Trevor and Hannah in their new home, which was purchased with some of the diamonds Sean took from the cave. Trevor hands Sean a copy of the book Atlantis: The Antediluvian World
Atlantis: The Antediluvian World
Atlantis: The Antediluvian World is a book published during 1882 by Minnesota populist politician Ignatius L. Donnelly, who was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during 1831...
by Ignatius L. Donnelly, suggesting they could maybe hang out during Sean's Christmas break, alluding to a possible sequel. Sean then reveals that he has brought the little bird back from the center of the Earth to keep as a pet. Despite Sean's entreaties the bird flies away into the screen to effectively end the movie.
Cast
- Brendan FraserBrendan FraserBrendan James Fraser is a Canadian-American film and stage actor. Fraser portrayed Rick O'Connell in the three-part Mummy film series , and is known for his comedic and fantasy film leading roles in major Hollywood films, including Encino Man , George of the Jungle , Dudley Do-Right , Monkeybone ,...
as Prof. Trevor Anderson - Josh HutchersonJosh HutchersonJoshua Ryan "Josh" Hutcherson is an American film and television actor. He began working in the early 2000s, appearing in several minor film and television roles...
as Sean Anderson - Anita BriemAnita BriemAnita Briem is an Icelandic actress. She is known for her role as Jane Seymour on The Tudors and her role as Hanna in Journey to the Center of the Earth.-Personal life:...
as Hannah Ásgeirsson - Seth MeyersSeth MeyersSeth Adam Meyers is an American actor and comedian. He currently serves as head writer for Saturday Night Live and hosts its news parody segment Weekend Update.-Early life:...
as Prof. Alan Kitzens - Jean-Michel Paré as Max Anderson
- Jane Wheeler as Elizabeth Anderson
- Giancarlo Caltabiano as Leonard
- Garth Gilker as Sigurbjörn Ásgeirsson
Filming
The film transposes the novel into the present day and is mostly live action, with only the landscape and creatures supplied by computer-generated graphics. The film is projected using Real D CinemaReal D Cinema
RealD Cinema is a digital stereoscopic projection technology made and sold by RealD Inc. It is currently the most widely used technology for watching 3-D films in theatres.-Technology:...
and Dolby 3D
Dolby 3D
Dolby 3D is a marketing name for a system from Dolby Laboratories, Inc. to show three-dimensional motion pictures in a digital cinema.- Technology :...
.
Marketing
The first trailer was shown before screenings of Meet the RobinsonsMeet the Robinsons
Meet the Robinsons is a 2007 American computer-animated family film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures on March 30, 2007. The forty-seventh animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics, the film was released in both the United States and the...
, the re-release
Reissue
A reissue is the repeated issue of a published work. In common usage, it refers to an album which has been released at least once before and is released again, sometimes with alterations or additions....
of The Nightmare Before Christmas
The Nightmare Before Christmas
The Nightmare Before Christmas, often promoted as Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, is a 1993 stop motion musical fantasy film directed by Henry Selick and produced/co-written by Tim Burton. It tells the story of Jack Skellington, a being from "Halloween Town" who opens a portal to...
and the release of Beowulf
Beowulf (2007 film)
Beowulf is a 2007 American animated fantasy film written by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary inspired by the Old English epic poem of the same name. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, the film was created through a motion capture process similar to the technique he used in The Polar Express...
, with the Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert
Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert
Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert is a 2008 American concert film from Walt Disney Pictures presented in Disney Digital 3-D. Released in the United States and Canada originally for one week, February 1–7, 2008, with release in other countries later on...
, and during the 2008 Kids' Choice Awards
2008 Kids' Choice Awards
The 21st annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards were held at the Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, California on March 29, 2008. The show was the first live-action/animated Kids Choice Awards show. The event was hosted by Jack Black. Voting began March 3 on Nick.com and Nicktropolis. A "Bring on the...
.
Warner Bros. marketed the film like a theme park attraction. However, the studio had to slightly tweak the campaign (including dropping "3D" from the title) when it became clear that the film would be shown in 3-D in far fewer theaters than anticipated.
Critical reception
The film received mixed to positive reviews. It received a 61% "Fresh" rating by Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, based on 151 reviews, with 92 "Fresh" reviews and 59 "Rotten." Top critics gave the film 56%, based on the reviews of 9. Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
gave the film a 57, indicating "Mixed or Average reviews."
Box office
Journey to the Center of the Earth opened #3 behind Hellboy II: The Golden Army and HancockHancock (film)
Hancock is a 2008 American action-comedy 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 from Los Angeles whose reckless actions routinely cost the city millions of dollars...
in North America. The film grossed $21,018,141 in 2,811 theaters with an average of $7,477. 57 percent of the opening gross was taken from theaters which showed the film in 3-D. It has since made just over $100 million domestically.
As of October 2009, the film has grossed $101,704,370 in the US and $139,157,146 foreign sales, with a total of $241,995,151 worldwide. The film has also enjoyed strong DVD sales.
Home video release
It was released on Blu-ray DiscBlu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
and DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
on October 28, 2008, in standard 2-D format as well as a magenta/green anaglyph
Anaglyph image
Anaglyph images are used to provide a stereoscopic 3D effect, when viewed with glasses where the two lenses are different colors, such as red and cyan. Images are made up of two color layers, superimposed, but offset with respect to each other to produce a depth effect...
. The film opened at #2 at the DVD sales chart, selling 843,224 units in the first week which translates to $13,238,617 in revenue. As per the latest figures, 1,642,994 DVD units have been sold, bringing in $25,346,260 in revenue. This does not include Blu-ray Disc sales/DVD rentals.
The 2008 two-disc BD edition of the film does not conform to the – only later established – Blu-ray 3D specifications, which means that this version does not take advantage of any dedicated 3D HDTVs, although it can be watched on them as well as on any other TV in anaglyph 3D by using red-cyan paper glasses (four pairs are included). A 3D blu-ray version will be released on January 17, 2012
Theme parks
In May 2009, the film premiered as "Journey to the Center of the Earth 4-D" at Stone Mountain Park in Georgia. It also opened in the motion simulatorMotion simulator
A motion simulator or motion platform is a mechanism that encapsulates occupants and creates the effect/feelings of being in a moving vehicle...
at Dollywood
Dollywood
Dollywood is a theme park owned by entertainer Dolly Parton and the Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation. It is located in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Dollywood has 3,000 people on its payroll, making it the largest employer in that community....
under the same name on June 12, 2009. It also features in the new 4D Cinema at the recently reopened Weston Super-Mare Grand Pier in the U.K
Awards and nominations
| Award | Year | Category | Result | Cast/Crew |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teen Choice Awards Teen Choice Awards The Teen Choice Awards, are an annual awards show that air on the Fox cable channel, that honor the year's biggest biggest achievements in music, movies, sports, television, fashion and more, voted by teen viewers aged 14 through 17. Winners receive an authentic full size surfboard designed with... |
2008 | Choice Summer Movie: Action Adventure | ||
| Young Artist Award Young Artist Award The Young Artist Award is an accolade bestowed by the Young Artist Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 1978 to recognize and award excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young artists who may be physically and/or financially challenged.The Young Artist... |
2009 | Best Performance in a Feature Film – Leading Young Actor | Josh Hutcherson Josh Hutcherson Joshua Ryan "Josh" Hutcherson is an American film and television actor. He began working in the early 2000s, appearing in several minor film and television roles... |
|
| BMI Film & TV Awards | 2009 | Andrew Lockington Andrew Lockington Andrew Lockington is a Canadian film score composer, who composes scores for American and Canadian films. He was born July 31, 1974 in Burlington, Ontario.... |
Sequel
- Main article: Journey 2: The Mysterious IslandJourney 2: The Mysterious IslandJourney 2: The Mysterious Island is an upcoming American 3D action-adventure film directed by Brad Peyton and the sequel to the 2008 film Journey to the Center of the Earth....
The film's closing scene suggests a potential sequel with seeking Atlantis
Atlantis
Atlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....
as its goal. In a July 2008 Q&A with Fraser and Brevig with Rocky Mountain News's Mike Pearson, director Eric Brevig indicated a sequel to Journey depended largely on the reception of the film. Said Brevig, "If people embrace the movie and want to see these characters on another adventure, we might come up with something." A month prior Brevig had been less cagey, when asked by Paul Fischer if he'd like to return for another installment, saying, "I would love to. If the movie is successful, I hope to get on that right away. Because I certainly like watching the three characters." Due to cost and competing projects, an Atlantis-based sequel was ruled out.
In March 2009, Walden Media
Walden Media
Walden Media is a children's film production and publishing company best known as the producers of The Chronicles of Narnia series. Its films are based on notable classic or award-winning children's literature, compelling biographies or historical events, documentaries and some original...
and New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema, often simply referred to as New Line, is an American film studio. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne as a film distributor, later becoming an independent film studio. It became a subsidiary of Time Warner in 1996 and was merged with larger sister studio Warner...
purchased Richard Outten
Richard Outten
Richard Outten is an American screenwriter who works in both motion pictures and television. After receiving his MFA from the USC School of Cinematic Arts, he co-authored , the screenplay to the award-winning animated film Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland. Other motion picture credits...
's spec script, Mysterious Travels, to serve as the basis for the sequel. Outten has rewritten his original screenplay, transforming it into a second adventure in the franchise. In the story, the characters embark on a journey to a mysterious uncharted island thought to have informed the writing of three literary classics: Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island
Treasure Island
Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "pirates and buried gold". First published as a book on May 23, 1883, it was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881–82 under the title Treasure Island; or, the...
, Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels
Gulliver's Travels
Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships, better known simply as Gulliver's Travels , is a novel by Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift that is both a satire on human nature and a parody of...
and Jules Verne's Mysterious Island.
In May of 2010, New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema, often simply referred to as New Line, is an American film studio. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne as a film distributor, later becoming an independent film studio. It became a subsidiary of Time Warner in 1996 and was merged with larger sister studio Warner...
and Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
announced that Journey to the Center of the Earth 2 also known as Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, will be released September 23, 2011. Eventually, it was changed to be released sometime in 2012.
Fraser and Briem will not return due to scheduling issues, but Hutcherson will reprise his role. Dwayne Johnson will play the boyfriend of Sean's mother and is forced to come along on a trip with Sean to find his missing grandfather, played by Michael Caine
Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
, on a mythical and monstrous island. In October 2010, it was announced that Vanessa Hudgens will play Hutcherson's love interest. Like the first film, this one will be shot in 3D, and the script will be loosely based on a Verne novel – this time "The Mysterious Island".
Brad Peyton
Brad Peyton
Brad Peyton is a Canadian-born film director, writer and television producer, born in Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador. His latest film is Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore.-Career:...
is on board to direct while Beau Flynn, Charlotte Huggins and Tripp Vinson producing with Michael Bostick and Evan Turner serving as executive producers. Filming kicks off late October in North Carolina and Hawaii.