Wichita (2010 film)
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Knight and Day, is a 2010 romantic action comedy film starring Tom Cruise
and Cameron Diaz
. The film is directed by James Mangold
.
The film went through a period of "development hell
"; which included a prior film director and multiple writers that worked on the script. Producers for Knight and Day went through multiple other actors for the lead roles before eventually settling on Cruise and Diaz. Will Smith
, Chris Tucker
, and Gerard Butler
were considered by the film's producers for the male lead that later went to Cruise, and Eva Mendes
was initially set for the role that Diaz later portrayed in the movie. The film's investors offset funding costs by paying Cruise a lower advance fee and neglecting to provide him with a share of the revenue until the financiers earn back their initial investment in the production. Filming took place in several locations, mainly in several cities located in Massachusetts
, while other scenes were filmed in Spain
and parts of Austria
.
Knight and Day was released in the United States on June 23, 2010. The film received mixed reviews from film critics; it garnered a 53 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes
based upon aggregated reviews, and a rating of "mixed or average reviews" at Metacritic
. Knight and Day performed poorly at the box office
in its debut, proceeded to fall nine percent in ticket sales in its second day after being released, and took third place behind films Toy Story 3
and the comedy Grown Ups
in its first Friday after release. At $20.5 million, the total U.S. weekend box office take for Knight and Day was the worst result for an action film starring Tom Cruise in 20 years.
However, the film was still a financial success. With a production budget of $107 million (after tax credits) Knight and Day went on to gross $261,924,837 worldwide, of which only an estimated $76.4 million was generated in the United States.
), a spy on the run, and June Havens (Cameron Diaz
), a car restorer. Miller is seen watching Havens, and he bumps into her a couple of times as they go through security at Wichita Airport
. Havens is making her way back home to Boston
from Wichita, Kansas
after picking up spare parts for her deceased father's classic Pontiac GTO
car, that she is restoring for her sister as a wedding gift. Even though she has a confirmed reservation for her flight, she is told at the gate that it is overbooked. Miller, able to board, whispers to her that "sometimes things happen for a reason". Unbeknownst to Havens, Federal agent Fitzgerald (Peter Sarsgaard
) is monitoring Miller's movements and, believing she is working with Miller, puts her back on the flight list.
On board the flight, Havens notices that there are only four or five other people present. She relaxes with a drink, and chats about her dream of someday driving to Cape Horn while Miller checks out the other passengers. She is charmed, and goes to the restroom to freshen up. While she is occupied, Miller is attacked by the remaining passengers and crew. Miller kills them all, including the pilots
. After she emerges from the restroom Miller calmly informs her that everyone onboard is dead. Thinking that he is joking, Havens plays along until Miller enters the cockpit
. In a spell of turbulence
, she notices the dead bodies falling over in their seats, and spilling into the aisle. Miller lands the plane on a highway, but skids off the road into a corn field trying to avoid a semi-trailer Truck. Miller gives Havens a drink, and explains that she may be questioned by various officials. She is not to get in any vehicle with them, nor accompany them if they suggest taking her away to a "safe" place. Havens passes out due to a knock-out drug in the drink, but awakes at home amongst clues that Miller brought her there, ensuring her safety.
Havens struggles through the day trying on bridesmaid dresses for her sister, April's (Maggie Grace
) wedding
. Talking over what to do with their dad's GTO car Havens is shocked to learn that April wants to sell it. She is lured out of the shop and is accosted by a group seeming to be FBI special agents who, with assurances that she will be safe, drive her away. She is shown some files pertaining to Miller, and is questioned by the agents to determine if she is working with him. Suddenly, Miller shows up, and with much shooting and acrobatics, "rescues" Havens.
Havens doesn't know who or what to believe and flees to the firehall, where her former boyfriend, Rodney (Marc Blucas
), works as a firefighter
. Upon hearing her story he thinks she is merely stressed from the wedding, and takes her out for pie. While they are chatting, Miller arrives and kidnaps Havens. He handcuffs her and shoots Rodney in the leg, telling him this will all turn him into an overnight hero and virtually guarantee his desired promotion to lieutenant
.
Miller explains that Havens is safer with him; and Havens agrees to follow him as they go to pick up Simon Feck (Paul Dano
), a genius inventor who created a perpetual energy
battery called the Zephyr. They arrive at a safe house in Brooklyn
where he left Feck. He is missing, but has left clues that he can be found on a train in Austria. The two are immediately ambushed by men belonging to Antonio (Jordi Mollà
), a Spanish
arms dealer. After Miller again drugs Havens, she drifts in and out of consciousness between their capture and escape from Antonio's men. Miller brings her to an island that is off the grid, which he calls his home. After leaving Miller in frustration to wander the island, Havens notices a message on Miller's cell phone with a Boston address. While studying this, her cell phone rings, showing her sister's caller ID
. In answering the phone, she accidentally leads Antonio's group to the hideaway. They try to kill Miller and Havens with a remote drone.
Again knocking out Havens, this time with a neck pinch
, Miller transports them to a train heading through the Alps
. Havens awakes alone and, missing a message from Miller, leaves to get breakfast in the dining car where she encounters Bernhard (Falk Hentschel
), a German assassin whom she believes is Feck. When she finds the message stuck to the bottom of her shoe, she realizes that Feck is with Miller, and Bernhard is someone else. Using tricks learned from Miller, Havens manages to survive, and Bernhard is eventually knocked out of a window by Miller and killed by a train coming from the opposite direction.
Miller puts Havens and Feck up in a hotel in Salzburg, Austria
, and heads to a meeting with a mysterious beautiful woman. Havens follows him, and hears him make a deal to sell the Zephyr to Antonio. Havens is picked up by the CIA and meets the director of counter-intel, who confirms that Miller is a rogue agent, and gives her a pen transmitter to signal them when she is with Miller and the Zephyr. Miller meets her back at the hotel, and shows her the Zephyr, which is now showing signs of overheating. Havens uses the pen to notify the agents, which Miller notes "hurts more than I thought it would," but Miller escapes to the roof-tops. After leading the CIA agents on a chase, Miller is apparently shot and falls into the Salzach
River. His body is not recovered, nor is the Zephyr.
Havens is sent home by the agents in time to stand at her sister's wedding. When Havens hears the song that Miller used as his ring-tone, she heads to the address she remembered from his iPhone
. She meets the people at the address, and realizes that they are Miller's parents. Havens learns that Miller's real name is Matthew Knight and the couple believe their son, a former Army Ranger
Captain
and Eagle Scout
, is dead, and they are fabulously wealthy from winning lotteries and sweepstakes
they don't remember entering. They mention that their son was an excellent swimmer who could hold his breath for an amazing length of time, which leads Havens to realize Miller is still alive.
Havens leaves the Knights, and calls her own voice mail, leaving a message that she has the Zephyr. She is quickly captured by Antonio's men and taken to Spain. She is drugged with truth serum
, which makes her relaxed and happy and leads her to reveal that Miller feigned his selling of the Zephyr and his death to allow her to return home. Antonio realizes that she doesn't have the Zephyr, and the only way he can get the device is to pay Fitzgerald who has kidnapped Feck. Miller has been following Feck using a tracking app on his iPhone
, and stumbles upon Havens in the Spaniard's compound. Havens is rescued as she is being taken out for execution. They pursue Fitzgerald and Feck on a motorcycle, while eluding Antonio's men during the Running of the Bulls, during which Antonio is trampled to death by some bulls.
Fitzgerald is able to escape in an amphibious plane with the now extremely hot Zephyr while Miller is hit in the chest by a bullet as he saves Feck. Feck comments that the battery is unstable. As they watch the plane climb, the battery explodes, killing Fitzgerald.
Miller collapses from the gunshot wound, but wakes in a hospital. He receives an apology from the director (Viola Davis
), who tells him that he rooted out a corrupt team. He asks about Havens, and is told that she has returned home. He is warned that he can't be distracted, and must forget her to continue with his job. The Director also explains to Miller that the agency will "transfer you to a secure facility tomorrow, for your safety" using the same wording that he warned Havens about. As they leave, a nurse enters, and gives Miller his medication. Miller realizes that he's been drugged, but then sees that the nurse is Havens.
Miller comes to in the rebuilt classic car that belonged to Havens' father. After he asks what day it is, Havens kisses him and says it's someday. She drives off, traveling along a coastal road past a signpost for Cape Horn. The final scene shows Roy's mother telling her husband that they have just received two tickets to Cape Horn. Though she blames her husband for ordering them by mistake, she insists that they go.
. The script originated with writer Patrick O'Neill, a friend of producer Steve Pink, who originally wrote the script as a serious thriller involving an older male character (battery creator) and a younger man (spy) and that the script had the tone of "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" and was titled All New Enemies. There are even rumors that Gene Hackman and Justin Long were attached to that version of the story. The script was later refined and became a romantic comedy action romp titled Trouble Man that had Chris Tucker and Eva Mendes attached. As the script progressed into being Wichita, Adam Sandler
became involved but passed. Then, new screenwriters were brought on, beginning with Scott Frank whose draft attracted Cameron Diaz. She became attached and then brought on writer Dana Fox, whom she had worked with on What Happens in Vegas. Gerard Butler was offered the lead, before he passed, and then Diaz sent the script to Tom Cruise and from there, James Mangold became involved, followed by seven more writers. In subsequent drafts, the title Wichita, which had previously not been a part of the script at all, had been worked into the story. However, the obscure title was always being discussed about, being changed. Shortly after production began, Tom Rothman, an exec over at Fox, came up with the title idea of Knight and Day, which they ended up sticking with. All-in-all, over ten writers contributed to the film, and the Writers Guild of America, West
decided due to this large number of contributors, to only credit Patrick O'Neill – who was the original screenwriter that wrote and sold the script on spec back in 2004. Despite delays and studio changes, producer Steve Pink
pointed to the core concept of a "shifty protagonist" and the film's original script as reasons Knight and Day overcame obstacles to release. Nine other writers who worked on the film's script included Scott Frank
, Laeta Kalogridis
, Ted Griffin and Nick Griffin, Timothy Dowling, Dana Fox
, Don Payne, Simon Kinberg
and finally director James Mangold
.
". Prior to the finalization of actors Tom Cruise
and Cameron Diaz
, comedian and actor Adam Sandler
was offered to star in the film when it was titled Wichita, but declined explaining, "I just don't see me with a gun." Wichita was developed under production at Revolution Studios
; the film was later moved to Sony Pictures. At Sony Pictures, actors Chris Tucker
and Eva Mendes
were slated to portray the two lead roles in the film; it was titled Trouble Man and intended as a romantic vehicle film for Tucker and Mendes.
After Tucker and Mendes dropped out of the lead roles, Diaz signed on to the film with Sony Pictures, and actor Gerard Butler
met with production staff regarding starring opposite Diaz. Butler instead decided to take on the lead role in the film The Bounty Hunter
, opposite actress Jennifer Aniston
. Tom Cruise considered accepting a role in the film; at the time he was audition
ing for parts in five films including Salt, and The Tourist. Cruise decided he wished to star in Knight and Day, and had a vision for the film which included modifying the male lead character with his own ideas. Other actors cast in the film included Maggie Grace
, Peter Sarsgaard
, Marc Blucas
, Paul Dano
, Viola Davis
, and Jordi Mollà
.
reported he only received $11 million for Knight and Day. Cruise will also not receive "first dollar gross", which was customary for him. This means that Cruise will not receive a share of the film's revenue
, until Knight and Day funding investors have first gained back their investment in the production. In total, production costs for the film exceeded $117 million, however with a $10 million tax credit for filming in Massachusetts, the costs were down to $107 million.
and Bridgewater, Massachusetts
. Airport terminal scenes were filmed in Worcester, Massachusetts
at Worcester Regional Airport. Filming also took place in Melrose
, Danvers
, and New Bedford, Massachusetts
. Spanish cities Cadiz
and Seville
, as well as Austrian city Salzburg
, were also chosen as locations that were used in filming in November and December 2009.
Filming continued through late January 2010, with filming in Long Beach, California. Filming then moved to the Frenchman's Cove of Portland, Jamaica, where shooting took place for one week in February 2010.
Re-shoots were done in late April 2010, in Long Beach, California, where shots of Tom Cruise
riding the Ducati with Cameron Diaz
on the back was filmed. More re-shoots were done in late May 2010, at Silver Cup Studios in New York City for a day or two of pick-up shots.
recorded a theme song for the movie, titled, "Someday". The soundtrack
to Knight and Day was released on July 9, 2010. In a review of the soundtrack for Almasry Alyoum
, journalist Ahmed Ramadan commented, "The soundtrack, enjoyable and suiting to the film's action sequences, is one of the redeeming factors of Knight and Day, with its theme song 'Someday' by The Black Eyed Peas a cool, up-beat anthem."
, Fox co-president of marketing Tony Sella discussed the publicity strategy for the film. Sella explained that the film was marketed towards older moviegoers, "If you're over 40, this movie was a rock star – the whole concept, the Nick and Nora of it all. It's a grown up film. That was the whole theory behind selling the film, that it was a cool, adult movie, hence the poster and the graphics behind it. We wouldn't have called it 'Knight and Day' if we weren't going for an adult audience." Film producer Don Carmody
commented negatively regarding the film's trailer, calling it "dull", and stated the film would not do well because of the age of its two stars, "Cameron Diaz I think was a star, but she's no longer a star. Some of those stars are getting a little up there (in age)." The Hollywood Reporter
noted, "potential viewers remain startlingly indifferent to whether they actually end up seeing it. And attention thus far is still drawn mostly by those under 25, which indicates that the fans who grew up with star Tom Cruise have moved on."
Fox attempted to increase word of mouth
advertising for the film by showing a sneak preview on June 19, 2010; the Los Angeles Times reported the same day that pre-release surveys determined that the film was likely to become a commercial flop
. Projections indicated that the film would only make $20 million at the box office
; the film cost $125 million to produce. Fox production President Emma Watts commented of the film's commercial prospects, "We aren't exactly where we hoped we would be." The Los Angeles Times noted, "In addition, Cruise and Diaz are not as popular with younger moviegoers, who often drive big opening weekends in the summer. ... Among teenage and college-age males, the movie is barely registering, according to people who have seen the survey results." New York
magazine reported the film was "tracking miserably" prior to its first week. New York magazine reported that an issue with Knight and Day was, "one of the film's biggest handicaps: its star, Tom Cruise". A Fox official commented to New York magazine regarding the film's pre-release polling data, "at those numbers, we can't open the movie right now. Hopefully, they'll change in the next few days."
Upon hearing that tracking data on June 22, 2010, showed the film was not likely to produce revenue over $30 million in its first five days on screen, a Fox executive told TheWrap he was "confounded", and commented, "Tracking says one thing, but our sneak previews this weekend said something totally different. ... but if you look at the empirical data, we're nowhere." New York magazine reported that the day prior to the film's release, a long scene
from Knight and Day was made available on iTunes
, in an attempt to improve the lackluster 28–31 percent "definite interest" level of the movie. After results were reported from the film's initial debut, Fox distribution executive Bruce Synder commented to The Hollywood Reporter, "It's an adult movie opening on a Wednesday, but we opened it there and snuck it on Saturday because we believe the word-of-mouth will be good, so we're set for a pretty good opening weekend. Remember, it's an original, adult movie, which we expect will run for quite a while."
3.8 million the day after its initial June 23, 2010, release in revenue from ticket sales in the United States
and Canada
. This was less than the film Toy Story 3
, which earned $13 million at the box office on the same day. Knight and Day did not place within the top 50 all-time Wednesday film openings. An analysis of the opening day results by Box Office Mojo
noted it was the worst attended action film debut for Tom Cruise since his appearance in the 1986 Legend
. It was the lowest-grossing opening day for Cruise in a leading role since his performance in the 1992 film Far and Away
. Cruise's last starring role prior to Knight and Day, in the 2008 film Valkyrie
, generated $8.5 million on its opening day. The previous film with Cameron Diaz and Cruise as the lead roles, Vanilla Sky
, garnered $8.9 million on its opening day. Moira Macdonald of The Seattle Times
characterized the film's initial revenue results as "a box-office disappointment"; Lou Lumenick of New York Post
commented, "Not great numbers"; journalist Roger Friedman noted for Hollywood News, "Bad reviews didn't help. K&D has registered only 52 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Even those reviews counted as positive weren't so good. They were stretching."; Nicole Sperling of Entertainment Weekly
noted, "audiences just aren't showing up the way Fox might have hoped"; and Ben Fritz of Los Angeles Times
called the film's debut a "soft" opening, and commented, "It wasn't a good first day or night at the box office for Knight and Day."
The film's revenues dropped nine percent on its second day of release, earning $3.5 million in ticket sales. During the same period that revenues dropped for Knight and Day, ticket sales for Toy Story only fell by three percent, The Karate Kid
dropped by six percent; while other films increased revenues at the same time, including, Shrek Forever After
, Sex and the City 2
, Get Him to the Greek
, Killers
, and Robin Hood
. In its first weekend, Knight and Day was paired up against Grown Ups
, a comedy film
starring Adam Sandler
, Kevin James, Chris Rock
, David Spade
and Rob Schneider
. The Friday of its first weekend after release, Knight and Day took third place at the box office, behind both Grown Ups and Toy Story 3. The film brought in a total of $6.35 million on its third day of release. Regarding the poor performance of Knight and Day in its first weekend at the box office, a Fox executive stated to Nikki Finke of Deadline, "It's an original movie aimed at adults that is really good. It takes longer to catch on with audiences. And this movie is doing that." In its debut outside of the U.S., the film earned $12.6 million. Knight and Day finished its total weekend box office take with $20.5 million – which was the worst result for an action film starring Tom Cruise in 20 years.
Multiple sources had characterized Knight and Day as a "box office bomb
" and a "flop
". Patrick Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times
described the film as "the supposed sure-thing romantic action comedy that did a belly flop at the box office". Writing for Forbes, Dorothy Pomerantz commented, "Tom Cruise's newest movie, Knight & Day, bombed at the box office". Star
noted that the movie "flopped" and observed, "Tom Cruise has officially lost his mojo." The New York Post
referred to it as "Flop Gun Tom". The Associated Press
noted that the film "fizzled" at the box office; Salon
carried the AP article with the headline, "Tom bombs while 'Toy Story 3,' Sandler soar". Writing for International Business Times
, Marc Espino noted, "Cruise's superstardom isn't working for him anymore as people no longer seem interested in seeing him on the big screen." Senior box office analyst with Exhibitor Relations, Jeff Bock, commented to BusinessWeek
regarding the poor performance of Knight and Day: "That's a big disappointment, especially for what was supposed to be a reboot of Tom Cruise's career." In July 2010 Parade Magazine listed the film as the #5 on its list of "Biggest Box Office Flops of 2010 (So Far)."
By its second week of release, Knight and Day fell to fifth place at the box office, behind The Karate Kid
. During its second weekend at the box office, Knight and Day remained in fifth place, with films The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and The Last Airbender
taking the top two spots. The film's box office take dropped 48 percent in its second weekend after release. With the opening of the film Despicable Me
in the top spot at the box office in its opening weekend, Knight and Day subsequently dropped to seventh place in ticket sales.
In territories outside the United States and Canada, Knight and Day grossed an estimated $146.5 million. In an August 10, 2010 report for Box Office Mojo
, Ray Subers reported, "Adding $11.3 million in 47 territories, Knight & Day showed few signs of slowing down. It had a decent $3.7 million debut in the UK, though that was less than half of what star Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible III opened to back in 2006. On Sunday, Knight & Day crossed the $200 million mark overseas." Its worldwide box-office earnings stand at roughly $262 million.
reported a rating of 53 percent "rotten" metric based upon 199 aggregated reviews. Rotten Tomatoes summarized the reviews received with, "Consensus: It's pure formula, but thanks to its breezy pace and a pair of charming performances from Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, Knight and Day offers some agreeably middle-of-the-road summer action." Another review aggretator, Metacritic
, which assigns a normalized
score from 0–100 from reviews from mainstream critics, calculated a "mixed or average" score of 47 based on 36 reviews.
The film received a negative review in Variety
; critic Justin Chang characterized the film as "a high-energy, low-impact caper-comedy that labors to bring a measure of wit, romance and glamour to an overworked spy-thriller template". Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter
summarized his review of the film with, "Bottom Line: Logic and plausibility take a holiday in this nonstop actioner that counts on stars Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz to sell the nonsense." Honeycutt wrote of the writing, "the script is too lazy to develop any of its characters – and that includes the leads", and commented, "laziness permeates the film from the inexplicable escapes to the neglected romance". Knight and Day received a rating of one and a half stars from a review by Michael Phillips in the Chicago Tribune
; which criticized multiple aspects of the film, including its script, directing, cinematography, set pieces, and action sequences. Phillips concluded, "A 21st Century Charade pumped up on all the wrong steroids, Knight and Day may well suffice for audiences desperate for the bankable paradox known as the predictable surprise, and willing to overlook a galumphing mediocrity in order to concentrate on matters of dentistry."
America
n film critic and professor
Emanuel Levy
was critical of the film's writing, calling it a "mindless flick"; he noted, "The story moves at a breakneck speed, as if to conceal the incongruities in the storytelling." Levy gave the film a grade of "C", and commented, "Preposterously plotted, the saga is dominated by long, energetic, uneven action sequences, but it lacks any logic and pays minimal attention to characterization. Repetitious in structure, and with humor that more often than not misses the mark, Knight and Day is characterized by nihilistic violence and amoral tone, which wouldn't have mattered had the movie been witty or fun to watch." The film received a rating of two stars out of four from critic Peter Howell in the Toronto Star
; the reviewer commented, "There is supposed to be romance in Knight and Day – and Diaz is up for it – but Cruise still looks as if he's taken charisma lessons from Al Gore." In a review for the Orlando Sentinel
, critic Roger Moore commented, "The blase plot devices (a gadget, the nerdy guy who invented it), the bland villains, the too-fast dash through exotic locales, don't matter so long as Cruise and Diaz click and spark their scenes – chases and embraces – to life. And Cruise, hurling himself at this as if his Mission: Impossible future and indeed his whole career depended on it, makes sure they do."
The Wall Street Journal
critic Joe Morgenstern commented, "Knight and Day woke me up to just how awful some summer entertainments have become. It isn't that the film is harmful, except to moviegoers' wallets and movie lovers' morale, but that it is truly phenomenal for the purity of its incoherence." Writing for the Chicago Sun-Times
, Roger Ebert
rated the movie 3 stars out of 4 and wrote, "Knight and Day aspires to the light charm of a romantic action comedy like Charade or Romancing the Stone
, but would come closer if it dialed down the relentless action. The romance part goes without saying after a Meet Cute
contrived in an airport, and the comedy seems to generate naturally between Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. But why do so many summer movies find it obligatory to inflict us with CGI
overkill? I'd sorta rather see Diaz and Cruise in action scenes on a human scale, rather than have it rubbed in that for long stretches, they're essentially replaced by animation." Ty Burr of The Boston Globe
stated, "The movie's a piece of high-octane summer piffle: stylish, funny, brainless without being too obnoxious about it, and Cruise is its manic animating principle." Writing for the Associated Press
, Christy Lemire commented, "Cruise's presence also helps keep things light, breezy and watchable when the action – and the story itself – spin ridiculously out of control."
Joshua Starnes of ComingSoon.net gave the film a rating of 6.5 out of 10, and concluded his review, "Instead of watching it, you're better off putting Knight and Day in a time capsule and singing some Don McLean, 'cause this is the day the movie star died." In a subsequent "mini review", Edward Douglas of ComingSoon.net gave the film a rating of 8 out of 10, and concluded, "The entertainment comes from how much fun it is watching [Cruise and Diaz] on screen together and that's what separates Knight and Day from previous attempts at mixing romance, comedy, and action." In a review for CNN
, Tom Charity commented, "there's a creeping anxiety about this project, a tendency to over-compensate that speaks to underlying inadequacies." Film critic Kenneth Turan
commented on the performance of Cruise, "If you doubt Cruise's skills in the star department, "'Knight and Day' should make you a believer. It's hardly a perfect film, not even close, but it is the most entertaining made-for-adults studio movie of the summer, and one of the reasons it works at all is the great skill and commitment Cruise brings to the starring role." Turan commented on Mangold's efforts as the film's director, "'Knight and Day' is also fortunate to have James Mangold in charge. As he demonstrated in 'Walk the Line' and '3:10 to Yuma,' Mangold is one of the few current directors who has an instinct for reasonably intelligent popular entertainment. His films don't end up on 10-best lists, but you walk out of them feeling you've gotten what you paid for, and that is an increasingly rare commodity."
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
and Cameron Diaz
Cameron Diaz
Cameron Michelle Diaz is an American actress and former model. She became famous during the 1990s with roles in the movies The Mask, My Best Friend's Wedding, and There's Something About Mary. Other high-profile credits include the two Charlie's Angels films, voicing the character Princess Fiona...
. The film is directed by James Mangold
James Mangold
James Allen Mangold is an American film director and screenwriter. He is perhaps best known for Walk the Line which he co-wrote and directed.-Life and career:...
.
The film went through a period of "development hell
Development hell
In the jargon of the media-industry, "development hell" is a period during which a film or other project is trapped in development...
"; which included a prior film director and multiple writers that worked on the script. Producers for Knight and Day went through multiple other actors for the lead roles before eventually settling on Cruise and Diaz. Will Smith
Will Smith
Willard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr. , also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor, producer, and rapper. He has enjoyed success in television, film and music. In April 2007, Newsweek called him the most powerful actor in Hollywood...
, Chris Tucker
Chris Tucker
Christopher "Chris" Tucker is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for playing the role of Detective James Carter in the Rush Hour film series.-Early life:...
, and Gerard Butler
Gerard Butler
Gerard James Butler is a Scottish actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television. A trained lawyer, Butler turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies , which he followed with steady work on television, most notably in...
were considered by the film's producers for the male lead that later went to Cruise, and Eva Mendes
Eva Mendes
Eva Mendes is an American actress.She began acting in the late 1990s, and after a series of minor roles and performances in several smaller films such as Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror and Urban Legends: Final Cut , she broke into the mainstream, appearing in leading roles in Hollywood...
was initially set for the role that Diaz later portrayed in the movie. The film's investors offset funding costs by paying Cruise a lower advance fee and neglecting to provide him with a share of the revenue until the financiers earn back their initial investment in the production. Filming took place in several locations, mainly in several cities located in Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, while other scenes were filmed in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and parts of Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
.
Knight and Day was released in the United States on June 23, 2010. The film received mixed reviews from film critics; it garnered a 53 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten 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 upon aggregated reviews, and a rating of "mixed or average reviews" at 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,...
. Knight and Day performed poorly at the box office
Box office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
in its debut, proceeded to fall nine percent in ticket sales in its second day after being released, and took third place behind films Toy Story 3
Toy Story 3
Toy Story 3 is a 2010 American 3D computer-animated comedy-adventure film, and the third installment in the Toy Story series. It was produced by Pixar and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Lee Unkrich. The film was released worldwide from June through October in Disney Digital...
and the comedy Grown Ups
Grown Ups (2010 film)
Grown Ups is a 2010 American buddy-comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan and starring Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, and Rob Schneider. Sandler and Fred Wolf wrote the script. The film was produced by Sandler's production company Happy Madison and was distributed by Columbia...
in its first Friday after release. At $20.5 million, the total U.S. weekend box office take for Knight and Day was the worst result for an action film starring Tom Cruise in 20 years.
However, the film was still a financial success. With a production budget of $107 million (after tax credits) Knight and Day went on to gross $261,924,837 worldwide, of which only an estimated $76.4 million was generated in the United States.
Plot
Knight and Day follows the adventures of Roy Miller (Tom CruiseTom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
), a spy on the run, and June Havens (Cameron Diaz
Cameron Diaz
Cameron Michelle Diaz is an American actress and former model. She became famous during the 1990s with roles in the movies The Mask, My Best Friend's Wedding, and There's Something About Mary. Other high-profile credits include the two Charlie's Angels films, voicing the character Princess Fiona...
), a car restorer. Miller is seen watching Havens, and he bumps into her a couple of times as they go through security at Wichita Airport
Wichita Mid-Continent Airport
Wichita Mid-Continent Airport is a commercial airport located in southwest Wichita, in Sedgwick County, Kansas, USA. It is the busiest airport in the state of Kansas . In 2008, passenger traffic continued to grow despite increased fuel prices and economic troubles, with 1,615,075 passengers...
. Havens is making her way back home to Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
from Wichita, Kansas
Wichita, Kansas
Wichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas.As of the 2010 census, the city population was 382,368. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area...
after picking up spare parts for her deceased father's classic Pontiac GTO
Pontiac GTO
The Pontiac GTO is an automobile built by Pontiac Division of General Motors in the United States from 1964 to 1974, and by GM subsidiary Holden in Australia from 2004 to 2006. It is considered an innovative, and now classic muscle car of the 1960s and 1970s...
car, that she is restoring for her sister as a wedding gift. Even though she has a confirmed reservation for her flight, she is told at the gate that it is overbooked. Miller, able to board, whispers to her that "sometimes things happen for a reason". Unbeknownst to Havens, Federal agent Fitzgerald (Peter Sarsgaard
Peter Sarsgaard
John Peter Sarsgaard is an American film and stage actor. He landed his first feature role in the movie Dead Man Walking in 1995. He then appeared in the 1998 independent films Another Day in Paradise and Desert Blue. That same year, Sarsgaard received a substantial role in The Man in the Iron...
) is monitoring Miller's movements and, believing she is working with Miller, puts her back on the flight list.
On board the flight, Havens notices that there are only four or five other people present. She relaxes with a drink, and chats about her dream of someday driving to Cape Horn while Miller checks out the other passengers. She is charmed, and goes to the restroom to freshen up. While she is occupied, Miller is attacked by the remaining passengers and crew. Miller kills them all, including the pilots
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
. After she emerges from the restroom Miller calmly informs her that everyone onboard is dead. Thinking that he is joking, Havens plays along until Miller enters the cockpit
Cockpit
A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft, from which a pilot controls the aircraft. Most modern cockpits are enclosed, except on some small aircraft, and cockpits on large airliners are also physically separated from the cabin...
. In a spell of turbulence
Clear Air Turbulence
Clear Air Turbulence is an album by British jazz-rock fusion band Ian Gillan Band, released in 1977 with cover by Chris Foss. The album was reissued in 1989 by Virgin Records on CD.- Track listing :...
, she notices the dead bodies falling over in their seats, and spilling into the aisle. Miller lands the plane on a highway, but skids off the road into a corn field trying to avoid a semi-trailer Truck. Miller gives Havens a drink, and explains that she may be questioned by various officials. She is not to get in any vehicle with them, nor accompany them if they suggest taking her away to a "safe" place. Havens passes out due to a knock-out drug in the drink, but awakes at home amongst clues that Miller brought her there, ensuring her safety.
Havens struggles through the day trying on bridesmaid dresses for her sister, April's (Maggie Grace
Maggie Grace
Margaret Grace Denig , best known as Maggie Grace, is an American actress. Originally from Worthington, Ohio, she dropped out of high school to move to Los Angeles with her mother after her parents' divorce. While struggling financially, she landed her first role as the title character in the...
) wedding
Wedding
A wedding is the ceremony in which two people are united in marriage or a similar institution. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes...
. Talking over what to do with their dad's GTO car Havens is shocked to learn that April wants to sell it. She is lured out of the shop and is accosted by a group seeming to be FBI special agents who, with assurances that she will be safe, drive her away. She is shown some files pertaining to Miller, and is questioned by the agents to determine if she is working with him. Suddenly, Miller shows up, and with much shooting and acrobatics, "rescues" Havens.
Havens doesn't know who or what to believe and flees to the firehall, where her former boyfriend, Rodney (Marc Blucas
Marc Blucas
Marcus Paul "Marc" Blucas is an American actor, known for playing Riley Finn in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.-Early life:...
), works as a firefighter
Firefighter
Firefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous fires that threaten civilian populations and property, to rescue people from car incidents, collapsed and burning buildings and other such situations...
. Upon hearing her story he thinks she is merely stressed from the wedding, and takes her out for pie. While they are chatting, Miller arrives and kidnaps Havens. He handcuffs her and shoots Rodney in the leg, telling him this will all turn him into an overnight hero and virtually guarantee his desired promotion to lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
.
Miller explains that Havens is safer with him; and Havens agrees to follow him as they go to pick up Simon Feck (Paul Dano
Paul Dano
Paul Franklin Dano is an American actor and producer. He has appeared in films such as L.I.E. , The Girl Next Door , Little Miss Sunshine , There Will Be Blood , and Where the Wild Things Are .-Early life:Dano was born in New York City, the son of Gladys and Paul Dano...
), a genius inventor who created a perpetual energy
Perpetual motion
Perpetual motion describes hypothetical machines that operate or produce useful work indefinitely and, more generally, hypothetical machines that produce more work or energy than they consume, whether they might operate indefinitely or not....
battery called the Zephyr. They arrive at a safe house in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
where he left Feck. He is missing, but has left clues that he can be found on a train in Austria. The two are immediately ambushed by men belonging to Antonio (Jordi Mollà
Jordi Mollà
Jordi Mollá Perales is a Spanish actor, filmmaker, writer and artist.Mollà's artwork is represented in the Carmen De la Guerra Gallery in Madrid, Picasso Mio Gallery in Madrid and Barcelona and Cold Creation Gallery in Barcelona...
), a Spanish
Spanish people
The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....
arms dealer. After Miller again drugs Havens, she drifts in and out of consciousness between their capture and escape from Antonio's men. Miller brings her to an island that is off the grid, which he calls his home. After leaving Miller in frustration to wander the island, Havens notices a message on Miller's cell phone with a Boston address. While studying this, her cell phone rings, showing her sister's caller ID
Caller ID
Caller ID , also called calling line identification or calling number identification or Calling Line Identification Presentation , is a telephone service, available in analog and digital phone systems and most Voice over Internet Protocol applications, that transmits a caller's number to...
. In answering the phone, she accidentally leads Antonio's group to the hideaway. They try to kill Miller and Havens with a remote drone.
Again knocking out Havens, this time with a neck pinch
Vulcan nerve pinch
In the fictional Star Trek universe, the Vulcan nerve pinch is a technique used mainly by Vulcans to render unconsciousness by pinching a pressure point at the base of the victim’s neck...
, Miller transports them to a train heading through the Alps
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
. Havens awakes alone and, missing a message from Miller, leaves to get breakfast in the dining car where she encounters Bernhard (Falk Hentschel
Falk Hentschel
Falk Hentschel was born in Leipzig, East Germany.With his parents, Joerg Hentschel, Martina Hentschel and his brother Uwe Hentschel, he escaped the socialistic regime 7 months before the Berlin wall came down....
), a German assassin whom she believes is Feck. When she finds the message stuck to the bottom of her shoe, she realizes that Feck is with Miller, and Bernhard is someone else. Using tricks learned from Miller, Havens manages to survive, and Bernhard is eventually knocked out of a window by Miller and killed by a train coming from the opposite direction.
Miller puts Havens and Feck up in a hotel in Salzburg, Austria
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
, and heads to a meeting with a mysterious beautiful woman. Havens follows him, and hears him make a deal to sell the Zephyr to Antonio. Havens is picked up by the CIA and meets the director of counter-intel, who confirms that Miller is a rogue agent, and gives her a pen transmitter to signal them when she is with Miller and the Zephyr. Miller meets her back at the hotel, and shows her the Zephyr, which is now showing signs of overheating. Havens uses the pen to notify the agents, which Miller notes "hurts more than I thought it would," but Miller escapes to the roof-tops. After leading the CIA agents on a chase, Miller is apparently shot and falls into the Salzach
Salzach
The Salzach is a river in Austria and Germany. It is a right tributary of the Inn and is 225 kilometres in length.The river's name is derived from the German word Salz, meaning "salt". Until the 19th century shipping of salt down the river was an important part of the local economy...
River. His body is not recovered, nor is the Zephyr.
Havens is sent home by the agents in time to stand at her sister's wedding. When Havens hears the song that Miller used as his ring-tone, she heads to the address she remembered from his iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
. She meets the people at the address, and realizes that they are Miller's parents. Havens learns that Miller's real name is Matthew Knight and the couple believe their son, a former Army Ranger
Army Ranger
Army Ranger can refer to:* Canadian Rangers, a component of the army of the Canadian Forces* Irish Army Rangers* Pakistan Army Rangers* United States Army Rangers* Vietnamese Rangers, part of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam...
Captain
Captain (OF-2)
The army rank of captain is a commissioned officer rank historically corresponding to command of a company of soldiers. The rank is also used by some air forces and marine forces. Today a captain is typically either the commander or second-in-command of a company or artillery battery...
and Eagle Scout
Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America)
Eagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the Boy Scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America . A Scout who attains this rank is called an Eagle Scout or Eagle. Since its introduction in 1911, the Eagle Scout rank has been earned by more than 2 million young men...
, is dead, and they are fabulously wealthy from winning lotteries and sweepstakes
Sweepstakes
The United States consumer sales promotion known as a sweepstake has become associated with marketing promotions targeted toward both generating enthusiasm and providing incentive reactions among customers by enticing consumers to submit free entries into drawings of chance...
they don't remember entering. They mention that their son was an excellent swimmer who could hold his breath for an amazing length of time, which leads Havens to realize Miller is still alive.
Havens leaves the Knights, and calls her own voice mail, leaving a message that she has the Zephyr. She is quickly captured by Antonio's men and taken to Spain. She is drugged with truth serum
Truth Serum
Truth Serum is an independent comic book series created, written and drawn by author Jon Adams.-Overview:Originally published as a mini comic in 2001 and given away for free, it appeared as a three-issue mini series published by Slave Labor Graphics in 2002...
, which makes her relaxed and happy and leads her to reveal that Miller feigned his selling of the Zephyr and his death to allow her to return home. Antonio realizes that she doesn't have the Zephyr, and the only way he can get the device is to pay Fitzgerald who has kidnapped Feck. Miller has been following Feck using a tracking app on his iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
, and stumbles upon Havens in the Spaniard's compound. Havens is rescued as she is being taken out for execution. They pursue Fitzgerald and Feck on a motorcycle, while eluding Antonio's men during the Running of the Bulls, during which Antonio is trampled to death by some bulls.
Fitzgerald is able to escape in an amphibious plane with the now extremely hot Zephyr while Miller is hit in the chest by a bullet as he saves Feck. Feck comments that the battery is unstable. As they watch the plane climb, the battery explodes, killing Fitzgerald.
Miller collapses from the gunshot wound, but wakes in a hospital. He receives an apology from the director (Viola Davis
Viola Davis
Viola Davis is an American actress.Known primarily as a stage actress, Davis won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play and a Drama Desk Award for her role in King Hedley II . She won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for her role in the...
), who tells him that he rooted out a corrupt team. He asks about Havens, and is told that she has returned home. He is warned that he can't be distracted, and must forget her to continue with his job. The Director also explains to Miller that the agency will "transfer you to a secure facility tomorrow, for your safety" using the same wording that he warned Havens about. As they leave, a nurse enters, and gives Miller his medication. Miller realizes that he's been drugged, but then sees that the nurse is Havens.
Miller comes to in the rebuilt classic car that belonged to Havens' father. After he asks what day it is, Havens kisses him and says it's someday. She drives off, traveling along a coastal road past a signpost for Cape Horn. The final scene shows Roy's mother telling her husband that they have just received two tickets to Cape Horn. Though she blames her husband for ordering them by mistake, she insists that they go.
Cast
- Tom CruiseTom CruiseThomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
- Roy Miller - Cameron DiazCameron DiazCameron Michelle Diaz is an American actress and former model. She became famous during the 1990s with roles in the movies The Mask, My Best Friend's Wedding, and There's Something About Mary. Other high-profile credits include the two Charlie's Angels films, voicing the character Princess Fiona...
- June Havens - Peter SarsgaardPeter SarsgaardJohn Peter Sarsgaard is an American film and stage actor. He landed his first feature role in the movie Dead Man Walking in 1995. He then appeared in the 1998 independent films Another Day in Paradise and Desert Blue. That same year, Sarsgaard received a substantial role in The Man in the Iron...
- Fitzgerald - Jordi MollaJordi MollàJordi Mollá Perales is a Spanish actor, filmmaker, writer and artist.Mollà's artwork is represented in the Carmen De la Guerra Gallery in Madrid, Picasso Mio Gallery in Madrid and Barcelona and Cold Creation Gallery in Barcelona...
- Antonio - Viola DavisViola DavisViola Davis is an American actress.Known primarily as a stage actress, Davis won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play and a Drama Desk Award for her role in King Hedley II . She won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for her role in the...
- Isabel George - Paul DanoPaul DanoPaul Franklin Dano is an American actor and producer. He has appeared in films such as L.I.E. , The Girl Next Door , Little Miss Sunshine , There Will Be Blood , and Where the Wild Things Are .-Early life:Dano was born in New York City, the son of Gladys and Paul Dano...
- Simon Feck - Falk HentschelFalk HentschelFalk Hentschel was born in Leipzig, East Germany.With his parents, Joerg Hentschel, Martina Hentschel and his brother Uwe Hentschel, he escaped the socialistic regime 7 months before the Berlin wall came down....
- Bernhard - Marc BlucasMarc BlucasMarcus Paul "Marc" Blucas is an American actor, known for playing Riley Finn in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.-Early life:...
- Rodney - Maggie GraceMaggie GraceMargaret Grace Denig , best known as Maggie Grace, is an American actress. Originally from Worthington, Ohio, she dropped out of high school to move to Los Angeles with her mother after her parents' divorce. While struggling financially, she landed her first role as the title character in the...
- April Havens - Rich ManleyRich ManleyRich Manley is an American actor. He has played roles in several movies, including A.J. Carson in the indie comedy film BoyBand with Michael Copon; Nathan Anderson in the Wild West style drama Gem of the West ; and Danny in the action-comedy blockbuster Knight and Day , starring Tom Cruise and...
- Danny - Dale DyeDale DyeDale Adam Dye is an American actor, presenter, businessman, and retired U.S. Marine captain who served in combat during the Vietnam War.-Early life & Marine service:...
- Frank Knight - Celia WestonCelia WestonCelia Weston is an American actress of stage, film and television, and a character actress. Professionally, she may be best known for her role as Jolene Hunnicutt on Alice.-Life and career:...
- Molly Knight - Gal GadotGal GadotGal Gadot is an Israeli actress and model. She won the Miss Israel title in 2004 and went on to represent Israel at the 2004 Miss Universe beauty pageant...
- Naomi - Nicholas ArtNicholas Art-Life and career:Art was born in Milford, Connecticut, the son of Sharon and Richard Art. He is currently in the 6th grade.He had a recurring role as Zach Spaulding on the long-running CBS daytime drama Guiding Light, and has had guest appearances on many television shows, commercials, and roles in...
- Airport Kid - Christian FinneganChristian FinneganFletcher Christian Finnegan , better known as Christian Finnegan, is an American stand-up comedian, writer and actor based in New York City.-Early life:Finnegan was born in Albany, New York...
- Ticket Agent - Sara Underwood - Newscaster
Development
Before film director James Mangold signed on to Knight and Day, it was previously associated with director Tom DeyTom Dey
Thomas Ridgeway "Tom" Dey is an American film director. His credits include Shanghai Noon, Showtime, Failure to Launch and Marmaduke....
. The script originated with writer Patrick O'Neill, a friend of producer Steve Pink, who originally wrote the script as a serious thriller involving an older male character (battery creator) and a younger man (spy) and that the script had the tone of "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" and was titled All New Enemies. There are even rumors that Gene Hackman and Justin Long were attached to that version of the story. The script was later refined and became a romantic comedy action romp titled Trouble Man that had Chris Tucker and Eva Mendes attached. As the script progressed into being Wichita, Adam Sandler
Adam Sandler
Adam Richard Sandler is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, musician, and film producer.After becoming a Saturday Night Live cast member, Sandler went on to star in several Hollywood feature films that grossed over $100 million at the box office...
became involved but passed. Then, new screenwriters were brought on, beginning with Scott Frank whose draft attracted Cameron Diaz. She became attached and then brought on writer Dana Fox, whom she had worked with on What Happens in Vegas. Gerard Butler was offered the lead, before he passed, and then Diaz sent the script to Tom Cruise and from there, James Mangold became involved, followed by seven more writers. In subsequent drafts, the title Wichita, which had previously not been a part of the script at all, had been worked into the story. However, the obscure title was always being discussed about, being changed. Shortly after production began, Tom Rothman, an exec over at Fox, came up with the title idea of Knight and Day, which they ended up sticking with. All-in-all, over ten writers contributed to the film, and the Writers Guild of America, West
Writers Guild of America, west
Writers Guild of America, West is a labor union representing film, television, radio, and new media writers. The Guild was formed in 1954 from five organizations representing writers, which include the Screen Writers Guild...
decided due to this large number of contributors, to only credit Patrick O'Neill – who was the original screenwriter that wrote and sold the script on spec back in 2004. Despite delays and studio changes, producer Steve Pink
Steve Pink
Steve Pink is an American actor, screenwriter and director. He is the director of the comedy films Accepted and Hot Tub Time Machine, and the co-writer of the films Grosse Pointe Blank and High Fidelity....
pointed to the core concept of a "shifty protagonist" and the film's original script as reasons Knight and Day overcame obstacles to release. Nine other writers who worked on the film's script included Scott Frank
Scott Frank
Scott Frank is an American screenwriter & director.- Filmography :*Plain Clothes *Dead Again *Little Man Tate *Malice *Get Shorty...
, Laeta Kalogridis
Laeta Kalogridis
Laeta Elizabeth Kalogridis is a screenwriter and an executive producer. She is a graduate of Davidson College in Davidson, NC and University of Texas at Austin and attended UCLA's prestigious film school. She has written scripts for Alexander , Night Watch , Pathfinder and Shutter Island...
, Ted Griffin and Nick Griffin, Timothy Dowling, Dana Fox
Dana Fox
Dana Fox is an American screenwriter best known as the writer of the 2005 film The Wedding Date and the 2008 film What Happens in Vegas.-Career:...
, Don Payne, Simon Kinberg
Simon Kinberg
Simon Kinberg is an English-born American screenwriter of American films.-Life and career:He was born in London, England. He is Jewish. His family moved later on to the United States. Kinberg attended Brentwood School in Los Angeles, California and graduated in 1991...
and finally director James Mangold
James Mangold
James Allen Mangold is an American film director and screenwriter. He is perhaps best known for Walk the Line which he co-wrote and directed.-Life and career:...
.
Casting
The film changed lead cast members multiple times while the production was mired in a period known as "development hellDevelopment hell
In the jargon of the media-industry, "development hell" is a period during which a film or other project is trapped in development...
". Prior to the finalization of actors Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
and Cameron Diaz
Cameron Diaz
Cameron Michelle Diaz is an American actress and former model. She became famous during the 1990s with roles in the movies The Mask, My Best Friend's Wedding, and There's Something About Mary. Other high-profile credits include the two Charlie's Angels films, voicing the character Princess Fiona...
, comedian and actor Adam Sandler
Adam Sandler
Adam Richard Sandler is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, musician, and film producer.After becoming a Saturday Night Live cast member, Sandler went on to star in several Hollywood feature films that grossed over $100 million at the box office...
was offered to star in the film when it was titled Wichita, but declined explaining, "I just don't see me with a gun." Wichita was developed under production at Revolution Studios
Revolution Studios
Revolution Studios is an American production company founded in 2000 by Joe Roth, a former chairman of Walt Disney Studios and 20th Century Fox. Revolution was formerly a strategic partner of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which distributed and marketed Revolution's films. The company's film division...
; the film was later moved to Sony Pictures. At Sony Pictures, actors Chris Tucker
Chris Tucker
Christopher "Chris" Tucker is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for playing the role of Detective James Carter in the Rush Hour film series.-Early life:...
and Eva Mendes
Eva Mendes
Eva Mendes is an American actress.She began acting in the late 1990s, and after a series of minor roles and performances in several smaller films such as Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror and Urban Legends: Final Cut , she broke into the mainstream, appearing in leading roles in Hollywood...
were slated to portray the two lead roles in the film; it was titled Trouble Man and intended as a romantic vehicle film for Tucker and Mendes.
After Tucker and Mendes dropped out of the lead roles, Diaz signed on to the film with Sony Pictures, and actor Gerard Butler
Gerard Butler
Gerard James Butler is a Scottish actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television. A trained lawyer, Butler turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies , which he followed with steady work on television, most notably in...
met with production staff regarding starring opposite Diaz. Butler instead decided to take on the lead role in the film The Bounty Hunter
The Bounty Hunter (2010 film)
The Bounty Hunter is a 2010 American action comedy film directed by Andy Tennant, starring Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler. The story centers on a bounty hunter hired to retrieve his ex-wife who has skipped bail...
, opposite actress Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Joanna Aniston is an American actress, film director, and producer, best known for her role as Rachel Green on the television sitcom Friends, a role which earned her an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.Aniston has also enjoyed a successful film career,...
. Tom Cruise considered accepting a role in the film; at the time he was audition
Audition
An audition is a sample performance by an actor, singer, musician, dancer or other performing artist.Audition may also refer to:* The sense of hearing* Adobe Audition, audio editing software...
ing for parts in five films including Salt, and The Tourist. Cruise decided he wished to star in Knight and Day, and had a vision for the film which included modifying the male lead character with his own ideas. Other actors cast in the film included Maggie Grace
Maggie Grace
Margaret Grace Denig , best known as Maggie Grace, is an American actress. Originally from Worthington, Ohio, she dropped out of high school to move to Los Angeles with her mother after her parents' divorce. While struggling financially, she landed her first role as the title character in the...
, Peter Sarsgaard
Peter Sarsgaard
John Peter Sarsgaard is an American film and stage actor. He landed his first feature role in the movie Dead Man Walking in 1995. He then appeared in the 1998 independent films Another Day in Paradise and Desert Blue. That same year, Sarsgaard received a substantial role in The Man in the Iron...
, Marc Blucas
Marc Blucas
Marcus Paul "Marc" Blucas is an American actor, known for playing Riley Finn in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.-Early life:...
, Paul Dano
Paul Dano
Paul Franklin Dano is an American actor and producer. He has appeared in films such as L.I.E. , The Girl Next Door , Little Miss Sunshine , There Will Be Blood , and Where the Wild Things Are .-Early life:Dano was born in New York City, the son of Gladys and Paul Dano...
, Viola Davis
Viola Davis
Viola Davis is an American actress.Known primarily as a stage actress, Davis won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play and a Drama Desk Award for her role in King Hedley II . She won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for her role in the...
, and Jordi Mollà
Jordi Mollà
Jordi Mollá Perales is a Spanish actor, filmmaker, writer and artist.Mollà's artwork is represented in the Carmen De la Guerra Gallery in Madrid, Picasso Mio Gallery in Madrid and Barcelona and Cold Creation Gallery in Barcelona...
.
Financing
The film's production partners, New Regency and Dune Entertainment, offset financing for the film by paying Tom Cruise a lower advance fee than he normally received. Cruise previously garnered $20 million or higher in an advance fee, but the Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
reported he only received $11 million for Knight and Day. Cruise will also not receive "first dollar gross", which was customary for him. This means that Cruise will not receive a share of the film's revenue
Revenue
In business, revenue is income that a company receives from its normal business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services to customers. In many countries, such as the United Kingdom, revenue is referred to as turnover....
, until Knight and Day funding investors have first gained back their investment in the production. In total, production costs for the film exceeded $117 million, however with a $10 million tax credit for filming in Massachusetts, the costs were down to $107 million.
Filming
Principal photography began on September 15, 2009 in BostonBoston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
and Bridgewater, Massachusetts
Bridgewater, Massachusetts
For geographic and demographic information on the census-designated place Bridgewater, please see the article Bridgewater , Massachusetts.The Town of Bridgewater is a city in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States, 28 miles south of Boston. At the 2000 Census, the population was 25,185...
. Airport terminal scenes were filmed in Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester, Massachusetts
Worcester is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city's population is 181,045, making it the second largest city in New England after Boston....
at Worcester Regional Airport. Filming also took place in Melrose
Melrose, Massachusetts
-Government:Robert J. Dolan is the mayor. Melrose is represented in the Massachusetts House of Representatives by Paul Brodeur . Katherine Clark is the state senator for wards 1 through 5 and Thomas McGee is the state senator for wards 6 and 7. Melrose is part of the seventh Congressional...
, Danvers
Danvers, Massachusetts
Danvers is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. Located on the Danvers River near the northeastern coast of Massachusetts, Danvers is most widely known for its association with the 1692 Salem witch trials, and for its famous asylum, the Danvers State Hospital.-17th century:The land...
, and New Bedford, Massachusetts
New Bedford, Massachusetts
New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, located south of Boston, southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and about east of Fall River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 95,072, making it the sixth-largest city in Massachusetts...
. Spanish cities Cadiz
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
and Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
, as well as Austrian city Salzburg
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
, were also chosen as locations that were used in filming in November and December 2009.
Filming continued through late January 2010, with filming in Long Beach, California. Filming then moved to the Frenchman's Cove of Portland, Jamaica, where shooting took place for one week in February 2010.
Re-shoots were done in late April 2010, in Long Beach, California, where shots of Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
riding the Ducati with Cameron Diaz
Cameron Diaz
Cameron Michelle Diaz is an American actress and former model. She became famous during the 1990s with roles in the movies The Mask, My Best Friend's Wedding, and There's Something About Mary. Other high-profile credits include the two Charlie's Angels films, voicing the character Princess Fiona...
on the back was filmed. More re-shoots were done in late May 2010, at Silver Cup Studios in New York City for a day or two of pick-up shots.
Soundtrack
The Black Eyed PeasThe Black Eyed Peas
The Black Eyed Peas are an American pop group , formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1995. The group includes rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap, and Taboo, and singer Fergie. Since the release of their third album Elephunk in 2003, the group has sold an estimated 56 million records worldwide...
recorded a theme song for the movie, titled, "Someday". The soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
to Knight and Day was released on July 9, 2010. In a review of the soundtrack for Almasry Alyoum
Almasry Alyoum
Al-Masry Al-Youm is an Egyptian privately owned daily newspaper that was first published in June 2004. It is published in Arabic and has a website in both Arabic and English...
, journalist Ahmed Ramadan commented, "The soundtrack, enjoyable and suiting to the film's action sequences, is one of the redeeming factors of Knight and Day, with its theme song 'Someday' by The Black Eyed Peas a cool, up-beat anthem."
Marketing
Knight and Day had been set for a June 25, 2010, release date, but Fox moved its debut up two days to June 23; in the face of poor initial tracking numbers. The New York Observer analyzed the marketing for the film, which included an attempt at pushing a "viral video" of the two main stars; journalist Christopher Rosen commented on the desperation level of the publicity campaign, "the marketing for this thing has seemed more intrusive and desperate than any other big-ticket release in some time." In an interview with the Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, Fox co-president of marketing Tony Sella discussed the publicity strategy for the film. Sella explained that the film was marketed towards older moviegoers, "If you're over 40, this movie was a rock star – the whole concept, the Nick and Nora of it all. It's a grown up film. That was the whole theory behind selling the film, that it was a cool, adult movie, hence the poster and the graphics behind it. We wouldn't have called it 'Knight and Day' if we weren't going for an adult audience." Film producer Don Carmody
Don Carmody
Don Carmody has been producing films for nearly 40 years. He was vice-president of production for Canada’s Cinepix , where he co-produced David Cronenberg’s early shockers THEY CAME FROM WITHIN and RABID as well as the popular comedy MEATBALLS.Starting his own production company in 1980, Carmody...
commented negatively regarding the film's trailer, calling it "dull", and stated the film would not do well because of the age of its two stars, "Cameron Diaz I think was a star, but she's no longer a star. Some of those stars are getting a little up there (in age)." The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
noted, "potential viewers remain startlingly indifferent to whether they actually end up seeing it. And attention thus far is still drawn mostly by those under 25, which indicates that the fans who grew up with star Tom Cruise have moved on."
Fox attempted to increase word of mouth
Word of mouth
Word of mouth, or viva voce, is the passing of information from person to person by oral communication. Storytelling is the oldest form of word-of-mouth communication where one person tells others of something, whether a real event or something made up. Oral tradition is cultural material and...
advertising for the film by showing a sneak preview on June 19, 2010; the Los Angeles Times reported the same day that pre-release surveys determined that the film was likely to become a commercial flop
Box office bomb
The phrase box office bomb refers to a film for which the production and marketing costs greatly exceeded the revenue regained by the movie studio. This should not be confused with Hollywood accounting when official figures show large losses, yet the movie is a financial success.A film's financial...
. Projections indicated that the film would only make $20 million at the box office
Box office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
; the film cost $125 million to produce. Fox production President Emma Watts commented of the film's commercial prospects, "We aren't exactly where we hoped we would be." The Los Angeles Times noted, "In addition, Cruise and Diaz are not as popular with younger moviegoers, who often drive big opening weekends in the summer. ... Among teenage and college-age males, the movie is barely registering, according to people who have seen the survey results." New York
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
magazine reported the film was "tracking miserably" prior to its first week. New York magazine reported that an issue with Knight and Day was, "one of the film's biggest handicaps: its star, Tom Cruise". A Fox official commented to New York magazine regarding the film's pre-release polling data, "at those numbers, we can't open the movie right now. Hopefully, they'll change in the next few days."
Upon hearing that tracking data on June 22, 2010, showed the film was not likely to produce revenue over $30 million in its first five days on screen, a Fox executive told TheWrap he was "confounded", and commented, "Tracking says one thing, but our sneak previews this weekend said something totally different. ... but if you look at the empirical data, we're nowhere." New York magazine reported that the day prior to the film's release, a long scene
Scene (film)
In TV and movies, a scene is generally thought of as the action in a single location and continuous time. Due to the ability to edit recorded visual works, it is typically much shorter than a stage play scene....
from Knight and Day was made available on iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
, in an attempt to improve the lackluster 28–31 percent "definite interest" level of the movie. After results were reported from the film's initial debut, Fox distribution executive Bruce Synder commented to The Hollywood Reporter, "It's an adult movie opening on a Wednesday, but we opened it there and snuck it on Saturday because we believe the word-of-mouth will be good, so we're set for a pretty good opening weekend. Remember, it's an original, adult movie, which we expect will run for quite a while."
Box office
Knight and Day performed poorly at the box office in its debut, with a take of US$United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
3.8 million the day after its initial June 23, 2010, release in revenue from ticket sales in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. This was less than the film Toy Story 3
Toy Story 3
Toy Story 3 is a 2010 American 3D computer-animated comedy-adventure film, and the third installment in the Toy Story series. It was produced by Pixar and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Lee Unkrich. The film was released worldwide from June through October in Disney Digital...
, which earned $13 million at the box office on the same day. Knight and Day did not place within the top 50 all-time Wednesday film openings. An analysis of the opening day results by Box Office Mojo
Box Office Mojo
Box Office Mojo is a website that tracks box office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. Brandon Gray started the site in 1999. In 2002, Gray partnered with Sean Saulsbury and they grew the site to nearly two million readers when, in July 2008, the company was purchased by Amazon.com through...
noted it was the worst attended action film debut for Tom Cruise since his appearance in the 1986 Legend
Legend (film)
Legend is a 1985 fantasy film released by Universal Pictures, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, and Tim Curry. Though not a very notable success when first released, it received a single Academy Award nomination for Best Makeup, and since its initial release, has developed...
. It was the lowest-grossing opening day for Cruise in a leading role since his performance in the 1992 film Far and Away
Far and Away
Far and Away is a 1992 adventure-drama-romance film directed by Ron Howard from a script by Howard and Bob Dolman, and stars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. Cinematography by Mikael Salomon, with a music score by John Williams...
. Cruise's last starring role prior to Knight and Day, in the 2008 film Valkyrie
Valkyrie (film)
Valkyrie is a 2008 American historical thriller film set in Nazi Germany during World War II. The film depicts the 20 July plot in 1944 by German army officers to assassinate Adolf Hitler and to use the Operation Valkyrie national emergency plan to take control of the country...
, generated $8.5 million on its opening day. The previous film with Cameron Diaz and Cruise as the lead roles, Vanilla Sky
Vanilla Sky
Vanilla Sky is a 2001 American psychological thriller film directed, co-produced and co-written by Cameron Crowe. The film is an English-language remake of the 1997 Spanish movie Abre los ojos , the screenplay for which was written by Alejandro Amenábar and Mateo Gil...
, garnered $8.9 million on its opening day. Moira Macdonald of The Seattle Times
The Seattle Times
The Seattle Times is a newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, US. It is the largest daily newspaper in the state of Washington. It has been, since the demise in 2009 of the printed version of the rival Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Seattle's only major daily print newspaper.-History:The Seattle Times...
characterized the film's initial revenue results as "a box-office disappointment"; Lou Lumenick of New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
commented, "Not great numbers"; journalist Roger Friedman noted for Hollywood News, "Bad reviews didn't help. K&D has registered only 52 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Even those reviews counted as positive weren't so good. They were stretching."; Nicole Sperling of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
noted, "audiences just aren't showing up the way Fox might have hoped"; and Ben Fritz of Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
called the film's debut a "soft" opening, and commented, "It wasn't a good first day or night at the box office for Knight and Day."
The film's revenues dropped nine percent on its second day of release, earning $3.5 million in ticket sales. During the same period that revenues dropped for Knight and Day, ticket sales for Toy Story only fell by three percent, The Karate Kid
The Karate Kid (2010 film)
The Karate Kid is a 2010 American martial arts film and remake of the 1984 film of the same name. Directed by Harald Zwart, produced by Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, the film stars Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan...
dropped by six percent; while other films increased revenues at the same time, including, Shrek Forever After
Shrek Forever After
Shrek Forever After, taglined as The Final Chapter, is a 2010 animated fantasy-comedy film, and the fourth and final installment in the Shrek film series, produced by DreamWorks Animation. The film was released by Paramount Pictures in cinemas on May 20, 2010 in Russia, and on May 21 in the United...
, Sex and the City 2
Sex and the City 2
Sex and the City 2 is a 2010 American romantic comedy film directed by Michael Patrick King. It is the sequel to the 2008 film Sex and the City, which is based on the HBO TV series of the same name....
, Get Him to the Greek
Get Him to the Greek
Get Him to the Greek is a 2010 American comedy film written, produced, and directed by Nicholas Stoller and starring Jonah Hill and Russell Brand. The film was released on June 4, 2010. Get Him to the Greek is a spin-off sequel of Stoller's 2008 film Forgetting Sarah Marshall, reuniting director...
, Killers
Killers (2010 film)
Killers is a 2010 American romantic comedy action film starring Katherine Heigl, Ashton Kutcher, Tom Selleck and Catherine O'Hara. The film was released in the United States and Canada on June 4, 2010...
, and Robin Hood
Robin Hood (2010 film)
Robin Hood is a 2010 British/American adventure film based on the Robin Hood legend, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett...
. In its first weekend, Knight and Day was paired up against Grown Ups
Grown Ups (2010 film)
Grown Ups is a 2010 American buddy-comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan and starring Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, and Rob Schneider. Sandler and Fred Wolf wrote the script. The film was produced by Sandler's production company Happy Madison and was distributed by Columbia...
, a comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
starring Adam Sandler
Adam Sandler
Adam Richard Sandler is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, musician, and film producer.After becoming a Saturday Night Live cast member, Sandler went on to star in several Hollywood feature films that grossed over $100 million at the box office...
, Kevin James, Chris Rock
Chris Rock
Christopher Julius "Chris" Rock III is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, television producer, film producer and director. He was voted in the US as the 5th greatest stand-up comedian of all time by Comedy Central...
, David Spade
David Spade
David Wayne Spade is an American actor, comedian and television personality who first became famous in the 1990s as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, and from 1997 until 2003 when he starred as Dennis Finch on Just Shoot Me!. He also starred as C.J...
and Rob Schneider
Rob Schneider
Robert Michael "Rob" Schneider is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and director. A stand-up comic and veteran of the NBC sketch-comedy series Saturday Night Live, Schneider has gone on to a successful career in feature films, including starring roles in the comedy films Deuce Bigalow:...
. The Friday of its first weekend after release, Knight and Day took third place at the box office, behind both Grown Ups and Toy Story 3. The film brought in a total of $6.35 million on its third day of release. Regarding the poor performance of Knight and Day in its first weekend at the box office, a Fox executive stated to Nikki Finke of Deadline, "It's an original movie aimed at adults that is really good. It takes longer to catch on with audiences. And this movie is doing that." In its debut outside of the U.S., the film earned $12.6 million. Knight and Day finished its total weekend box office take with $20.5 million – which was the worst result for an action film starring Tom Cruise in 20 years.
Multiple sources had characterized Knight and Day as a "box office bomb
Box office bomb
The phrase box office bomb refers to a film for which the production and marketing costs greatly exceeded the revenue regained by the movie studio. This should not be confused with Hollywood accounting when official figures show large losses, yet the movie is a financial success.A film's financial...
" and a "flop
Flop
- Terms :*Flop, a box office bomb in the entertainment world*Flop, as verb or noun, referring to flophouse, cheap rooms in a transients' hotel*Flop , a poker term describing the first three cards dealt to the board...
". Patrick Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
described the film as "the supposed sure-thing romantic action comedy that did a belly flop at the box office". Writing for Forbes, Dorothy Pomerantz commented, "Tom Cruise's newest movie, Knight & Day, bombed at the box office". Star
Star (magazine)
Star is an American celebrity tabloid magazine.-History:Star was founded by Rupert Murdoch in 1974 as competition to the tabloid National Enquirer with its headquarters in New York City. In the late 1980s it moved its offices to Tarrytown, NY and in 1990 Murdoch sold the magazine to The Enquirers...
noted that the movie "flopped" and observed, "Tom Cruise has officially lost his mojo." The New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
referred to it as "Flop Gun Tom". The Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
noted that the film "fizzled" at the box office; Salon
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
carried the AP article with the headline, "Tom bombs while 'Toy Story 3,' Sandler soar". Writing for International Business Times
International Business Times
The International Business Times is an online global business newspaper, published in 17 editions in 10 languages across 13 countries. The publication, sometimes called IBTimes, offers news, analysis and editorial commentary on business and business related stories...
, Marc Espino noted, "Cruise's superstardom isn't working for him anymore as people no longer seem interested in seeing him on the big screen." Senior box office analyst with Exhibitor Relations, Jeff Bock, commented to BusinessWeek
BusinessWeek
Bloomberg Businessweek, commonly and formerly known as BusinessWeek, is a weekly business magazine published by Bloomberg L.P. It is currently headquartered in New York City.- History :...
regarding the poor performance of Knight and Day: "That's a big disappointment, especially for what was supposed to be a reboot of Tom Cruise's career." In July 2010 Parade Magazine listed the film as the #5 on its list of "Biggest Box Office Flops of 2010 (So Far)."
By its second week of release, Knight and Day fell to fifth place at the box office, behind The Karate Kid
The Karate Kid (2010 film)
The Karate Kid is a 2010 American martial arts film and remake of the 1984 film of the same name. Directed by Harald Zwart, produced by Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, the film stars Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan...
. During its second weekend at the box office, Knight and Day remained in fifth place, with films The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and The Last Airbender
The Last Airbender
The Last Airbender is a 2010 American fantasy adventure film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It is a live-action film adaptation of the first season to the Nickelodeon animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender....
taking the top two spots. The film's box office take dropped 48 percent in its second weekend after release. With the opening of the film Despicable Me
Despicable Me
Despicable Me is a 2010 American computer-animated 3D comedy film from Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment that was released on July 9, 2010 in the United States. The film features the voices of Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Julie Andrews, Will Arnett, Kristen Wiig, and...
in the top spot at the box office in its opening weekend, Knight and Day subsequently dropped to seventh place in ticket sales.
In territories outside the United States and Canada, Knight and Day grossed an estimated $146.5 million. In an August 10, 2010 report for Box Office Mojo
Box Office Mojo
Box Office Mojo is a website that tracks box office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. Brandon Gray started the site in 1999. In 2002, Gray partnered with Sean Saulsbury and they grew the site to nearly two million readers when, in July 2008, the company was purchased by Amazon.com through...
, Ray Subers reported, "Adding $11.3 million in 47 territories, Knight & Day showed few signs of slowing down. It had a decent $3.7 million debut in the UK, though that was less than half of what star Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible III opened to back in 2006. On Sunday, Knight & Day crossed the $200 million mark overseas." Its worldwide box-office earnings stand at roughly $262 million.
Critical reception
Knight and Day received mixed reviews; 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...
reported a rating of 53 percent "rotten" metric based upon 199 aggregated reviews. Rotten Tomatoes summarized the reviews received with, "Consensus: It's pure formula, but thanks to its breezy pace and a pair of charming performances from Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, Knight and Day offers some agreeably middle-of-the-road summer action." Another review aggretator, 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,...
, which assigns a normalized
Normalization (statistics)
In one usage in statistics, normalization is the process of isolating statistical error in repeated measured data. A normalization is sometimes based on a property...
score from 0–100 from reviews from mainstream critics, calculated a "mixed or average" score of 47 based on 36 reviews.
The film received a negative review in Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
; critic Justin Chang characterized the film as "a high-energy, low-impact caper-comedy that labors to bring a measure of wit, romance and glamour to an overworked spy-thriller template". Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
summarized his review of the film with, "Bottom Line: Logic and plausibility take a holiday in this nonstop actioner that counts on stars Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz to sell the nonsense." Honeycutt wrote of the writing, "the script is too lazy to develop any of its characters – and that includes the leads", and commented, "laziness permeates the film from the inexplicable escapes to the neglected romance". Knight and Day received a rating of one and a half stars from a review by Michael Phillips in the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
; which criticized multiple aspects of the film, including its script, directing, cinematography, set pieces, and action sequences. Phillips concluded, "A 21st Century Charade pumped up on all the wrong steroids, Knight and Day may well suffice for audiences desperate for the bankable paradox known as the predictable surprise, and willing to overlook a galumphing mediocrity in order to concentrate on matters of dentistry."
America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
n film critic and professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy is an American film critic and professor.-Life:Emanuel Levy began his studies at Tel Aviv University, where he received B.A. in sociology, anthropology and political science. He did graduate work in sociology, film, and culture studies at Columbia University, where he earned a Ph.D...
was critical of the film's writing, calling it a "mindless flick"; he noted, "The story moves at a breakneck speed, as if to conceal the incongruities in the storytelling." Levy gave the film a grade of "C", and commented, "Preposterously plotted, the saga is dominated by long, energetic, uneven action sequences, but it lacks any logic and pays minimal attention to characterization. Repetitious in structure, and with humor that more often than not misses the mark, Knight and Day is characterized by nihilistic violence and amoral tone, which wouldn't have mattered had the movie been witty or fun to watch." The film received a rating of two stars out of four from critic Peter Howell in the Toronto Star
Toronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
; the reviewer commented, "There is supposed to be romance in Knight and Day – and Diaz is up for it – but Cruise still looks as if he's taken charisma lessons from Al Gore." In a review for the Orlando Sentinel
Orlando Sentinel
The Orlando Sentinel is the primary newspaper of the Orlando, Florida region. It was founded in 1876. The Sentinel is owned by Tribune Company and is overseen by the Chicago Tribune. As of 2005, the Sentinel’s president and publisher was Kathleen Waltz; she announced her resignation in February 2008...
, critic Roger Moore commented, "The blase plot devices (a gadget, the nerdy guy who invented it), the bland villains, the too-fast dash through exotic locales, don't matter so long as Cruise and Diaz click and spark their scenes – chases and embraces – to life. And Cruise, hurling himself at this as if his Mission: Impossible future and indeed his whole career depended on it, makes sure they do."
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
critic Joe Morgenstern commented, "Knight and Day woke me up to just how awful some summer entertainments have become. It isn't that the film is harmful, except to moviegoers' wallets and movie lovers' morale, but that it is truly phenomenal for the purity of its incoherence." Writing for the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
, Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
rated the movie 3 stars out of 4 and wrote, "Knight and Day aspires to the light charm of a romantic action comedy like Charade or Romancing the Stone
Romancing the Stone
Romancing the Stone is a 1984 American action-adventure romantic comedy. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, it stars Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito. The film was followed by a 1985 sequel, The Jewel of the Nile....
, but would come closer if it dialed down the relentless action. The romance part goes without saying after a Meet Cute
Meet cute
A meet-cute is a situation in which a future romantic couple meets for the first time in a way that is considered adorable, entertaining, or amusing....
contrived in an airport, and the comedy seems to generate naturally between Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. But why do so many summer movies find it obligatory to inflict us with CGI
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
overkill? I'd sorta rather see Diaz and Cruise in action scenes on a human scale, rather than have it rubbed in that for long stretches, they're essentially replaced by animation." Ty Burr of The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
stated, "The movie's a piece of high-octane summer piffle: stylish, funny, brainless without being too obnoxious about it, and Cruise is its manic animating principle." Writing for the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
, Christy Lemire commented, "Cruise's presence also helps keep things light, breezy and watchable when the action – and the story itself – spin ridiculously out of control."
Joshua Starnes of ComingSoon.net gave the film a rating of 6.5 out of 10, and concluded his review, "Instead of watching it, you're better off putting Knight and Day in a time capsule and singing some Don McLean, 'cause this is the day the movie star died." In a subsequent "mini review", Edward Douglas of ComingSoon.net gave the film a rating of 8 out of 10, and concluded, "The entertainment comes from how much fun it is watching [Cruise and Diaz] on screen together and that's what separates Knight and Day from previous attempts at mixing romance, comedy, and action." In a review for CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, Tom Charity commented, "there's a creeping anxiety about this project, a tendency to over-compensate that speaks to underlying inadequacies." Film critic Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan is an American film critic and Lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California.-Background:...
commented on the performance of Cruise, "If you doubt Cruise's skills in the star department, "'Knight and Day' should make you a believer. It's hardly a perfect film, not even close, but it is the most entertaining made-for-adults studio movie of the summer, and one of the reasons it works at all is the great skill and commitment Cruise brings to the starring role." Turan commented on Mangold's efforts as the film's director, "'Knight and Day' is also fortunate to have James Mangold in charge. As he demonstrated in 'Walk the Line' and '3:10 to Yuma,' Mangold is one of the few current directors who has an instinct for reasonably intelligent popular entertainment. His films don't end up on 10-best lists, but you walk out of them feeling you've gotten what you paid for, and that is an increasingly rare commodity."