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The Lost City (2022 film)
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Wikipedia article
'The Lost City' is a 2022 American action-adventure comedy film directed by the Nee brothers, who co-wrote the screenplay with Oren Uziel and Dana Fox, from a story conceived by Seth Gordon. It stars Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum as a romance novelist and her cover model, respectively, who must escape a billionaire (Daniel Radcliffe) and find the lost ancient city described in one of her books. The film co-stars Da'Vine Joy Randolph and Brad Pitt.
The project was announced in October 2020, with Bullock joining as producer and star and Tatum joining that December; the rest of the cast was announced the following year. Filming took place in the Dominican Republic from May to August 2021. The film premiered at South by Southwest on March 12, 2022, and was theatrically released by Paramount Pictures in the United States on March 25, 2022. It received generally positive reviews from critics and grossed $190 million worldwide against a $68 million budget.
Plot
Dr. Loretta Sage writes romance-adventure novels centered around a fictional heroine, Dr. Angela Lovemore, and her romantic interest, Dash McMahon. To promote the latest book on Lovemore, her publisher, Beth Hatten, insists that Loretta embark on a book tour with Alan Caprison, the book's cover model for Dash, despite her reclusiveness since the death of her husband.
After a disastrous start, mostly due to the popularity of Alan's Dash persona, Loretta is taken by Abigail Fairfax, a billionaire who realizes that Loretta based her books on actual historic research she did with her late archaeologist husband. Fairfax has discovered a lost city on a remote Atlantic island and is convinced the Crown of Fire, a priceless treasure, is located there. When she declines to help decipher an ancient map to the treasure, Fairfax, fearing an active volcano will destroy the site, chloroforms and takes Loretta to the island.
Alan, who is secretly enamored with Loretta, witnesses her kidnapping. He recruits Jack Trainer, a former Navy SEAL turned CIA operative, to meet him on the island and coordinate a rescue. Jack, with no assistance from Alan, breaches Fairfax's compound and frees Loretta, but is apparently killed before they can make it to the airport, forcing Loretta and Alan to escape into the jungle.
Loretta and Alan spend a day fighting off Fairfax's men before reaching a nearby village, where upon hearing a folk song from a local, Loretta deduces that the crown is hidden in a cenote in the jungle. Before they can leave however, Fairfax captures her again, so a chase by Alan to save Loretta ensues. The two are then forced to share the treasure's location with Fairfax.
Upon reaching the location, they discover the tomb is not a monument to Taha and Kalaman's power, but a hiding place for the queen to grieve for her husband. Her Crown of Fire was made of red seashells gathered by him as a sign of his love for her. The actual treasure of the legend was not a priceless jewel but the inseparable love between the king and queen.
Infuriated, Fairfax forces Loretta and Alan into the tomb as the volcano erupts, but Rafi, one of Fairfax's men, has a change of heart due to the cruelty he suffered from Fairfax and leaves a crowbar to help them escape before abandoning Fairfax on the island. Beth arrives with the local coast guard and Fairfax is arrested. Loretta's next book, based on her adventure with Alan, is a hit, and they share a kiss at the end of their next book tour.
In a mid-credits scene, Loretta and Alan attend a yoga class and find out that Jack survived being shot.
Cast
* Sandra Bullock as Loretta Sage, a successful yet depressed best-selling romance novelist. Bullock also plays Dr. Angela Lovemore, the heroine in her book series.
* Channing Tatum as Alan Caprison, a dimwitted cover model for Loretta's novel 'The Lost City of D'. Tatum also plays Dash McMahon, the hero in her book series.
* Daniel Radcliffe as Abigail Fairfax, an eccentric billionaire and wanted criminal who breaks the law and kidnaps Loretta, hoping she will lead him to an ancient city's lost treasure which is featured in one of her books.
* Da'Vine Joy Randolph as Beth Hatten, Loretta's publisher.
* Hctor Anbal as Rafi, one of Fairfax's men who is native to the island.
* Thomas Forbes-Johnson as Julian, Fairfax's brutish henchman.
* Oscar Nunez as Oscar, an eccentric cargo plane pilot.
* Patti Harrison as Allison, Loretta's social media manager.
* Brad Pitt as Jack Trainer, human tracker and action man.
* Bowen Yang as Ray, the moderator for the book conference.
* Joan Pringle as Nana, Beth's grandmother.
Additionally, Raymond Lee appears as Officer Gomez, Adam Nee appears as Officer Sawyer, and Stephen Lang (credited as Slang) appears as the fantasy villain imagined by Loretta.
Production
In October 2020, it was announced Sandra Bullock would star in the film 'The Lost City of D', with Aaron and Adam Nee directing from a screenplay by Seth Gordon and Dana Fox, with Bullock serving as a producer under her Fortis Films banner, and Paramount Pictures to distribute. Bullock originally passed on the project because she felt the story was "outdated" due to it being in development for seven years. That December, Channing Tatum was cast as the male lead. Between March and April 2021, Patti Harrison, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Daniel Radcliffe, Brad Pitt, and Oscar Nunez joined the cast, with Pitt and Lang appearing in cameo roles.
Principal photography began in May 2021 in the Dominican Republic, including Saman, Santo Domingo, Casa de Campo, Monte Plata Province and Pinewood Dominican Republic Studios. It wrapped on August 16, 2021.
Release
'The Lost City' premiered at the South by Southwest film festival on March 12, 2022. In October 2021, it was announced that 'The Lost City of D' had been retitled 'The Lost City', and that it would be theatrically released on March 25, 2022, after previously having been set for April 15, 2022. On March 1, 2022, the film's release in Russia was canceled due to the country's invasion of Ukraine. The film became available to stream on Paramount+ on May 10, 2022. It was also released on EPIX on the same day as part of Paramount's pay-one window deal with the company. According to data from Samba TV, 1.5 million US households watched 'The Lost City' in its first six days of streaming. It was released on Blu-ray, DVD, and Ultra HD Blu-ray on July 26 by Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment.
Reception
Box office
'The Lost City' grossed $105.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $85.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $190.8 million.In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside 'Infinite Storm' and 'RRR', and was projected to gross $2034 million from 4,228 theaters in its opening weekend. The film grossed $11.5 million on its first day, including $2.5 million from Thursday preview screenings. It went on to debut to $30.5 million, topping the box office by displacing 'The Batman'. Its debut was the second-largest for Paramount during the COVID-19 pandemic, behind 'A Quiet Place Part II.' It also posted the highest opening weekend for an original film since the pandemic. In its second weekend, the film made $14.7 million for a fall of 52%, and was placed second at the box office behind 'Morbius'. It then made $9 million in its third weekend, finishing third. In the film's tenth weekend of release it made $2.3 million, crossing the $100 million domestic mark in the process.
Outside the US and Canada, the film grossed $3.7 million from sixteen international markets in its opening weekend.
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 79% based on 260 reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "'The Lost City' doesn't sparkle quite as brightly as some classic treasure-hunting capers, but its stars' screwball chemistry make this movie well worth romancing." At Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, the film received a score of 60 out of 100 based on 53 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it an 81% positive score, with 61% saying they would definitely recommend it.Manohla Dargis of 'The New York Times' said "It's too bad that 'The Lost City' isn't more ambitious, because a woman writing her dreams into reality is a potentially rich riff on the Pygmalion and Galatea myth... While 'Raiders' transcends its inspirations with wit and Steven Spielberg's filmmaking and 'Romancing' tries hard to do the same, 'The Lost City' remains a copy of a copy." Siddhant Adlakha of IGN giving film a 6/10, saying "'The Lost City' is a decent action-comedy that coasts on the presence of its stars."
Peter Debruge of 'Variety' said, "The result can feel a little rickety in places, but the Nee brothers who share screenplay credit with Oren Uziel and Dana Fox have punched it up with off-color jokes, looped over moments when the characters' mouths are off-camera. In this and myriad other ways, 'The Lost City' proves they do in fact make 'em like they used to." Writing for 'Rolling Stone', David Fear said "The movie itself is trying to excavate a long-lost genre: the big-budget action-adventure movie-star rom-com. It wants to be a modern 'Romancing the Stone' so badly you can almost see the flop-sweat dripping down the screen."
'The Week UK' called it "silly but enjoyable adventure".
See also
* 'Romancing the Stone', 1984 film with a similar premise
* 'The Lost City of Z'
* 'Nim's Island'
References
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