| Sanctum 3D | |
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Promotional poster |
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| Directed by | Alister Grierson |
| Produced by | Andrew Wight |
| Screenplay by | John Garvin Andrew Wight |
| Story by | Andrew Wight |
| Starring | Rhys Wakefield Richard Roxburgh Ioan Gruffudd Alice Parkinson Daniel Wyllie |
| Music by | David Hirschfelder |
| Cinematography | Jules O'Loughlin |
| Editing by | Mark Warner |
| Studio | Relativity Media Wayfare Entertainment |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 3 February 2011 (Australia) 4 February 2011 (US) |
| Running time | 109 minutes |
| Country | Australia[1] |
| Language | English |
| Budget | US$30 million[2] |
| Box office | $108,609,310 [2] |
Sanctum is a 2010 Australian 3D adventure drama film, loosely based on a true story [The Nullarbor cave expedition], directed by Alister Grierson from a screenplay by John Garvin and Andrew Wight, and story by Wight. It stars Rhys Wakefield, Richard Roxburgh, Ioan Gruffudd, Alice Parkinson and Daniel Wyllie.
Contents |
17-year-old Josh McGuire (Rhys Wakefield), expedition bank-roller Carl Hurley (Ioan Gruffudd) and his girlfriend, Victoria (Alice Parkinson), travel to the Esa'ala Cave, an underwater cave exploration site in Papua New Guinea. Josh's father Frank (Richard Roxburgh), a master diver, has already established a forward base camp at a lower level inside the cave, where the team has been exploring for weeks.
While exploring a section of the cave known as Devil's Restriction, Frank and diver Judes (Allison Cratchley) meet with an accident which results in Judes' death, fueling arguments and speculation among the group.
Unaware that a fierce storm has developed topside, it is discovered that communications with the surface have broken down. The storm causes a portion of the cave system to collapse, trapping the remaining divers below. With the water level quickly rising, the group must now attempt to find an exit route through the unexplored depths of the cave, in the hopes of finding a path that leads to the sea.
The end credit paid a tribute to Wesley C. Skiles.
Sanctum was inspired by the film's co-writer Andrew Wight's experience with a cave diving expedition in Australia that resulted in 13 cavers becoming trapped in one of the worlds largest underwater cave systems after a freak storm collapsed the entrance.[3] James Cameron served as executive producer.[4]
Shot on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, Sanctum employs 3D photography techniques Cameron developed to film Avatar. All of the underwater sequences took place in a large water tank at the Village Roadshow Studios in Queensland. Real caves were also filmed in South Australia's cave-diving region around Mount Gambier.[4]
Stunt diver Agnes Milowka, who appears as a double in the already-released film, drowned in one of these caves on 27 February 2011 when she reportedly ran out of air.[5]
Universal Studios and Relativity Media paid $12 million for rights to distribute the film in the United States and Canada, and in several foreign countries.[6]
Sanctum opened with $9.2 million in its first weekend,[7] coming in second behind The Roommate.[8] CinemaScore polls indicated a C+ rating from audiences.[1] As of March 2011, Sanctum was the tenth-highest-grossing Australian film at the international box office.[9] By 19 October 2011, it had taken a worldwide gross of $108,943,221.[10]
The film received mixed reviews. Rotten Tomatoes reports that 30% of 155 critics rated the film positively with an average score of 4.5/10. The consensus states that "Sanctum is beautifully photographed, and it makes better use of 3-D technology than most, but that doesn't make up for its ham-handed script and lifeless cast." It has a Metacritic rating of 42 out of 100. However, in the rest of the world, where the major part of the gross take occurred[2], some reviews were positive. In Australia, Jim Schembri gave it 3 1/2 stars[11] whilst the UK's Daily Express gave it 3/5.[12]
Universal Studios Home Entertainment released Sanctum on DVD, Blu-ray, and Blu-ray 3D on 7 June 2011.[13]
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