2023 American film
65 is a 2023 American science fiction film starring Adam Driver and written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods. Driver stars as an astronaut who crashes on an unknown planet and attempts to escape while surviving with a young girl, played by Ariana Greenblatt. Beck and Woods produced with Sam Raimi, Deborah Liebling, and Zainab Azizi.
The film was announced in September 2020, with Driver set to star, alongside the announcement of the writers, directors, and producers. Greenblatt and Chloe Coleman joined the cast later that year. Filming went from December of that year to February 2021 in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Oregon, as well as Ireland for additional photography, with Salvatore Totino serving as director of photography. The film's score was initially composed by Danny Elfman, but was replaced with Chris Bacon.
65 was released in the United States by Sony Pictures Releasing on March 10, 2023. The film grossed $60 million worldwide on a budget of $45-$57 million, and received mixed reviews from critics.
Plot
Sixty-five million years ago, on the planet Somaris, pilot Mills is convinced by his wife that he should take on a two-year space expedition to earn the money needed to treat their daughter Nevine's illness. During the journey, his spaceship, the Zoic, is hit by a mass of asteroids and crash-lands on the alien-to-him planet, Earth. With his ship damaged beyond repair, he finds that his passengers have been killed and contemplates suicide until he finds a lone survivor, a young girl named Koa. Mills sends a distress beacon for rescue and decides to take care of Koa. However, they have difficulty communicating due to differing languages and a broken translator.
Mills later discovers a functioning escape shuttle from the Zoic has landed on top of a mountain. To encourage Koa to follow him, Mills lies about her family being atop the mountain, when in reality they perished in the crash. The pair quickly realize the planet is home to dangerous and aggressive alien creatures, which are actually Earth's dinosaurs. As Mills protects Koa, they begin to bond.
Koa watches several video messages sent by Nevine. The two are attacked by what appears to be a massive theropod, though Mills shoots it in the eye, which enrages it, forcing Koa and Mills to retreat further into a cave. After a rockfall separates them, Mills is attacked by an Oviraptor and Koa is attacked by a raptor-like creature which she traps in a fallen tree log; she uses bombs Mills had given her to kill the dinosaur. Mills kills the Oviraptor and escapes the cave, but falls into quicksand while searching for Koa. Koa rescues him and they continue up the mountain. Mills discovers that a huge asteroid, the same one whose debris his ship crashed into, will strike Earth in less than 12 hours.
The two reach the escape shuttle, but Koa is angry when she discovers that Mills lied to her. Mills opens up to Koa about losing Nevine, who had died of her illness while he was away, and promises to protect her. Upon learning rescue is on the way, the two board the escape shuttle, but the asteroid's debris causes it to fall down the mountain. A pair of marauding Tyrannosaurus rex harass Mills and Koa, though Mills successfully kills both of them. Suddenly, the same predator Mills had partially blinded earlier, which turns out to resemble a hybrid of a theropod and a rauisuchid, also attacks. Mills manages to lure it toward a large geyser field while Koa stabs it in its remaining good eye with a large dinosaur claw that she coated in poison berries earlier, blinding it. The now-blind carnivore then stumbles headfirst into a boiling hot geyser and is burned to death. The pair escapes just in time as the asteroid strikes Earth, causing a cataclysmic event and the extinction of the dinosaurs. With the pod set to meet up with a rescue vessel, the two relax and fly off into the stars.
In closing titles, the evolution of Earth is shown, at the spot where Mills and Koa left, through an ice age until the present day.
Production
Development
In September 2020, Adam Driver signed on to star in the film, to be produced, written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods; Sam Raimi would co-produce with Zainab Azizi and Debbie Liebling.[5][6][7][8][9] Two months later, Ariana Greenblatt joined the cast.[10] In December 2020, Chloe Coleman joined the cast.[11] Koa speaks a fictional alien language that was created for the film.[12]
Filming
Principal photography was expected to begin on November 16, 2020, in New Orleans,[13] eventually beginning by December 7, 2020.[14] Filming also occurred in the Kisatchie National Forest in Vernon Parish, Louisiana in January 2021, being halfway into production by January 16,[15][16] wrapping up on February 21, 2021.[17] Additionally, several locations in Oregon were used for filming, including Meyer’s Creek Beach in Gold Beach, Coos Bay, Whaleshead Beach in Brookings, Agness and Elk Creek Falls.[18] Additional photography occurred in Ireland, sometime following the film's first release delay.[19]
The visual effects were created by Framestore, and Ghost VFX with Chris Harvey serving as a visual effects supervisor.[20] Shot with a budget of $57 million,[3] the final cost of the film was $45 million after tax rebates.[2] Scroggins Aviation Mockup & Effects was contracted by Sony to build a spacecraft "Escape Vessel" and other set props for the mother spacecraft in the film.[21] The delayed release gave time for the visual effects to appear in more satisfactory quality.[19]
Music
In February 2021, it was announced that Danny Elfman was composing the score for the film, having previously collaborated with Raimi on his directed projects.[22] However, in March 2023, Chris Bacon, a frequent collaborator of Elfman, was revealed to have composed a new score earlier in the year; initially both composers were set to receive credit, but ultimately Bacon received sole credit, with Elfman labeled as a co-composer on select tracks.[23][24] Additionally, Michael Giacchino served as "score consultant", while Gad Emile Zeitune is credited with "additional music".[24]
Release
65 was released theatrically in the United States on March 10, 2023, by Sony Pictures Releasing.[25] The film had previously been scheduled for release, though with longer separation between announcement dates and release dates, for May 13, 2022,[26] April 29, 2022,[27] April 14, 2023,[28] April 28, 2023,[29] and March 17, 2023.[30]
Home media
The film was released digitally on April 7, followed by a Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K UHD release on May 30.[31] As part of Sony's 18-month deal with Netflix, the film began streaming on the platform on July 8, 2023.[32]
Reception
Box office
65 grossed $32.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $28.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $60.7 million.[4]
In the United States and Canada, 65 was released alongside Scream VI and Champions, and was projected to gross $7–9 million from 3,350 theaters in its opening weekend.[2][33] The film made $4.4 million on its first day, including $1.22 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to slightly over-perform, debuting to $12.3 million and finishing third at the box office.[34] It made $5.8 million in its second weekend, finishing in third.[35]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 36% of 128 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.8/10. The website's consensus reads: "Sodden sci-fi that somehow finds a way to bungle Adam Driver fighting dinosaurs, 65 is closer to zero."[36] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 40 out of 100, based on 27 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[37] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it an overall 54% positive score, with 37% saying they would recommend the film.[34]
