Fox Searchlight PicturesDanny Boyle has since recovered his crown as the king of British cinema, thanks to the Oscar-winning success of Slumdog Millionaire (the most unlikely "feel-good hit" we've ever seen) and his star turn as director of the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony, but there was a time when his stock seemed to be falling a bit. The low budget zombie flick - shut up, they're totally zombies - 28 Days Later was a surprise hit, following that up first with heartwarming family drama Millions and then his first really big-budget Hollywood film Sunshine. Inspired by some of the best movies in the sci-fi canon, citing 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien and Solaris as direct influences, Sunshine coupled Boyle's distinct directorial style with an apocalyptic scenario and an international cast including Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne, Chris Evans (that guy again!), Benedict Wong and Michelle Yeoh. It was generally met with critical acclaim on its release, audiences and reviewers alike being won over by the intense, dark story of the Icarus II, a ship sent to reignite the dying sun by dropping a nuclear bomb the size of Manhattan into it. Whilst it did decent business in Britain the film fared poorly in other overseas markets, to the degree that Fox Searchlight Pictures got scared and pushed the US release of Sunshine back from April to July, and ended up dumping it in just ten theaters initially (eventually growing to 492 the next week, before rapidly declining back down) and barely even heralded it through advertising or trailers. Not a massive box office bomb in the end, but certainly one that could've - should've - done a lot better than it ever got chance to.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
Fox Searchlight PicturesDanny Boyle has since recovered his crown as the king of British cinema, thanks to the Oscar-winning success of Slumdog Millionaire (the most unlikely "feel-good hit" we've ever seen) and his star turn as director of the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony, but there was a time when his stock seemed to be falling a bit. The low budget zombie flick - shut up, they're totally zombies - 28 Days Later was a surprise hit, following that up first with heartwarming family drama Millions and then his first really big-budget Hollywood film Sunshine. Inspired by some of the best movies in the sci-fi canon, citing 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien and Solaris as direct influences, Sunshine coupled Boyle's distinct directorial style with an apocalyptic scenario and an international cast including Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne, Chris Evans (that guy again!), Benedict Wong and Michelle Yeoh. It was generally met with critical acclaim on its release, audiences and reviewers alike being won over by the intense, dark story of the Icarus II, a ship sent to reignite the dying sun by dropping a nuclear bomb the size of Manhattan into it. Whilst it did decent business in Britain the film fared poorly in other overseas markets, to the degree that Fox Searchlight Pictures got scared and pushed the US release of Sunshine back from April to July, and ended up dumping it in just ten theaters initially (eventually growing to 492 the next week, before rapidly declining back down) and barely even heralded it through advertising or trailers. Not a massive box office bomb in the end, but certainly one that could've - should've - done a lot better than it ever got chance to.