Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (film)

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Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
File:Pride and Prejudice and Zombies poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Burr Steers
Produced by <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Screenplay by Burr Steers
Based on Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
Starring <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Music by Fernando Velázquez
Cinematography Remi Adefarasin
Edited by Padraic McKinley
Production
companies
<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Distributed by <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Release dates
 <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
  • February 5, 2016 (2016-02-05) (United States)
  • February 11, 2016 (2016-02-11) (United Kingdom)
Running time
 108 minutes[1]
Country <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
  • United Kingdom[2]
  • United States
Language English
Budget $28 million[3]
Box office $16.4 million[4]

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (stylized as Pride + Prejudice + Zombies) is a 2016 British-American[2] comedy horror film based on the 2009 novel, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith that parodies the 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. The film is directed by Burr Steers, who wrote the adapted screenplay, and stars Lily James, Sam Riley, Jack Huston, Bella Heathcote, Douglas Booth, Matt Smith, Charles Dance and Lena Headey.

The film was released by Screen Gems on February 5, 2016 in the United States,[5] and by Lionsgate on February 11 in the United Kingdom and Ireland.[6] The film grossed just $16 million worldwide against a budget of $28 million, making it a box office bomb.[4]

Plot

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. In 19th century England, Colonel Darcy (Sam Riley) travels to the home of a wealthy family to investigate rumors of a newly-infected zombie. He arrives at the home and sits with the family before taking out a small vial containing carrion flies as a means to detect the undead. When the flies land on the house's patriarch, Darcy kills him. Assured that no one else could have been infected, he leaves. One of the young girls in the house retreats upstairs to check on the niece of the recently dispatched zombie. She discovers the niece devouring a servant; the niece then proceeds to attack her.

The Bennet sisters - Elizabeth (Lily James), Jane (Bella Heathcote), Kitty (Suki Waterhouse), Lydia (Ellie Bamber), and Mary (Millie Brady) - have all been sent to China by their father (Charles Dance) to learn in the art of weaponry and martial arts. Mrs. Bennet (Sally Phillips) wants her daughters to be married off to wealthy suitors. As it turns out, the Bingley family has moved in nearby and are throwing a ball, wherein Mrs. Bennet hopes that the young and handsome Mr. Bingley (Douglas Booth) will win over one of her girls. Elizabeth, on the other hand, doesn't want to seek a husband.

The Bennets attend the ball. Bingley instantly sets his eyes on Jane. When Elizabeth overhears a disparaging comment about herself from Mr. Darcy, she walks outside tearfully and encounters Mrs. Featherstone (Dolly Wells), now a zombie. Before Mrs. Featherstone can converse with Elizabeth, she is killed by Darcy. A horde of zombies then attack the party, prompting the Bennet sisters to fight them off. Mr. Darcy instantly becomes smitten with Elizabeth when he witnesses her in combat.

The Bingley sisters invite Jane over for tea at Netherfield. Mrs. Bennet forces her to go on horseback, thinking she will be invited to stay overnight due the oncoming rainstorm. While on the ride, Jane encounters a zombie and fires her gun. The gun backfires leaving a bite-like wound on her hand. She kills it but then spots a zombie woman with her child. Jane hesitates and is attacked by the zombie. At Netherfield, Mr. Darcy orders her confined to her room, in fear that she may have been bitten. While in Jane's room, Mr. Darcy releases his flies to detect a zombie, but Elizabeth catches each fly with her hand and returns them to Mr. Darcy.

The Bennets are visited by Parson Collins (Matt Smith), who intends to marry one of the sisters. He initially sets his eyes on Jane, though he is told that she is with Mr. Bingley. He then tries to seduce Elizabeth, and proposes to her, but states that she must give up her life as a warrior, something that she adamantly refuses to do. Mr. Collins later decides to settle with Elizabeth's friend Charlotte (Aisling Loftus).

After Jane recovers, the sisters attend another ball thrown by the Bingleys. There, Elizabeth meets a soldier named Wickham (Jack Huston), who seems to be charming and polite. He tells Elizabeth that he has history with Mr. Darcy and does not wish to further challenge him. Another group of zombies attack the party, resulting in Bingley injuring himself, and Mr. Darcy joining Elizabeth in fighting the horde.

Elizabeth travels with Mr. Wickham to the In-Between, an area outside of walled-in London but inside a royal moat, to a church filled with zombies, who feed on pig brains to keep themselves from going completely savage. Mr. Wickham wants Elizabeth to join him in helping the zombies. He also suggests that she run away with him, but she remains conflicted. Elizabeth and Mr. Wickham then meet with Mr. Darcy's aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh (Lena Headey), a notorious zombie killer with major authority and wealth, to try and persuade her to come to peace with the more "civilized" zombies. Mr. Darcy and Lady Catherine blatantly refuse. When she arrives home, Elizabeth is told that Mr. Darcy has convinced the Bingleys to move away. When Mr. Darcy approaches Elizabeth with a proposal of his own, she expresses her outrage at his actions and fights him in a duel. Mr. Darcy pins her to the ground, but offended by her accusations and hatred towards him, he lets her go and leaves.

Mr. Darcy writes Elizabeth a letter to apologize for his actions and to state that he separated Jane and Mr. Bingley for fear that Jane only wanted to marry Mr. Bingley for his wealth, having overheard Mrs. Bennet drunkenly mention it. Mr. Darcy also mentions that Mr. Wickham had tried to elope with Darcy's fifteen-year-old sister for her fortune. Mr. Darcy's letter states that he is battling zombies in London, and that they have overrun the walled city. Elizabeth is then cornered by Lady Catherine and her bodyguard Wilhelm (Ryan Oliva). Lady Catherine states Mr. Darcy has been intended to marry her sickly daughter, Anne, from their youth and confronts Elizabeth about rumors over Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. When Elizabeth denies it, Lady Catherine instigates a fight between Elizabeth and Wilhelm in place of Lady Catherine who Elizabeth has refused to fight. Elizabeth overpowers Wilhelm. Afterwards, Lady Catherine decides to protect Elizabeth's family from approaching zombies and takes them to her estate. Elizabeth later finds out that Mr. Wickham ran off with her younger sister, Lydia and decides to go rescue her.

Elizabeth joins Mr. Darcy in London and helps him battle the undead. Mr. Darcy encounters Mr. Wickham at the old church and rescues Lydia in the basement. While fighting Mr. Wickham, Mr. Darcy impales him and reveals a bite mark on his chest, revealing Mr. Wickham has been undead all along. When a horde of zombies, who had been living normally until the pig brains they had been eating were switched with human brains by Mr. Darcy storm the cellar, Mr. Darcy escapes with Lydia.

While heading for the last bridge from London, Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickham fight once more with Wickham gaining the upper hand. Before Mr. Wickham can kill Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth rides in and chops Wickam's arm off and knocks him unconscious. Mr. Darcy rides with Elizabeth across the bridge as the army destroys the last remaining bridge to keep the zombies trapped within the In-Between on the inside of the moat. Mr. Darcy is injured in the explosion and is rendered unconscious. Elizabeth tearfully admits her love for him. After Mr. Darcy recovers, he finds Elizabeth and they share their first kiss, agreeing to marry. The two have a joint wedding with Mr. Bingley and Jane, officiated by Mr. Collins.

In a mid-credits scene, the now one-armed Mr. Wickham is leading the zombies toward them, ready for war.

Cast

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Production

Development

The film is based on the 2009 novel of the same name, which was billed as having been co-written by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. The project was first announced on December 10, 2009, in Variety, when it was revealed that Natalie Portman would both star in the role of Elizabeth Bennet and produce, and that Lionsgate would finance and distribute.[7] On December 14, David O. Russell was announced as the writer and director of the film.[8] On October 5, 2010, it was revealed that Russell had left the production due to scheduling conflicts.[9] Russell later revealed that he had disputes with Lionsgate over the budget.[10] The next day, it was announced that Portman had quit the role of Elizabeth Bennet, though she would still produce the film.[11] Following Russell's departure, Lionsgate offered Mike Newell and Matt Reeves the chance to take over from him, but both declined. On November 3, 2010, the Los Angeles Times reported that Lionsgate had held meetings with Mike White, Neil Marshall and Jeffrey Blitz as potential directors.[12] White was hired on November 5.[13] On January 19, 2011, it was announced that White had had to leave the film due to scheduling conflicts with a pre-existing commitment at HBO.[14]

In February 2011, Craig Gillespie took over as director.[15] Gillespie revealed he was attracted to the project by the mashing of genres.[16] In May 2011, screenwriter Marti Noxon was hired to rewrite Russell's script.[17] On October 27, 2011, it was announced that Gillespie had left the film.[18] The project then stalled until March 2013, when Panorama Media joined to produce, finance and handle foreign sales.[19] In May, it was announced that Burr Steers would take over as director.[20] Steers did a rewrite of the script, saying that he had reinserted "all the Pride and Prejudice beats”.[21]

Filming

Principal photography began on September 24, 2014 at West Wycombe House & Park, Buckinghamshire.[22] During the Halloween weekend, actors were spotted shooting some scenes at Hatfield House in Hertfordshire.[23] In early November, crews were filming at Basing House in Old Basing.[24] On November 13, filming shifted to Frensham in Surrey, where they shot until November 21.[25]

Soundtrack

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
File:Pride and Prejudice and Zombies Cover.jpg
Film score by Fernando Velázquez
Released February 5, 2016
Recorded 2015
Genre Soundtrack
Length 58:06
Label Varèse Sarabande

The film's soundtrack was released digitally on February 5, 2016, and physically on February 12 by Varèse Sarabande.[26] The soundtrack features the film’s original score, composed and conducted by Fernando Velázquez.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
No. Title Length
1. "Darcy"   4:00
2. "An Illustrated History of England 1700-1800"   2:20
3. "Dressing for the Dance"   0:36
4. "The Man from Uribe"   2:11
5. "Dance of the Ponderous Distaff"   1:29
6. "We Are Under Attack!!"   2:27
7. "Carriage Ride"   1:05
8. "Orphans"   1:47
9. "The Soldiers of Meryton"   1:10
10. "Menuet Des Mortes Vivants"   1:35
11. "Orphan Attack"   3:34
12. "Don’t Go Into the Woods Alone"   1:29
13. "St Lazarus"   2:43
14. "Rosings Park"   1:15
15. "Midnight Walk"   1:08
16. "Flirt Lovers Fight"   2:45
17. "The Letter / Siege of London"   4:09
18. "The In-Between"   5:36
19. "Darcy Is Saved"   1:59
20. "Back to St Lazarus"   2:13
21. "Zombies Are Fed / Attack / Showdown"   5:13
22. "After the Explosion"   2:40
23. "Happy Ending?"   4:42
Total length:
 58:06

Release

On March 30, 2015, Screen Gems originally set the film a release date for February 19, 2016.[27] However, on April 22, 2015, Screen Gems pushed back the film's release date for February 5, 2016. The film was released by Lionsgate in the United Kingdom and Ireland on February 11.[6]

Marketing

In October 2014, Entertainment Weekly published the first photo from the production.[21] In July 2015, Lily James, Sam Riley, Bella Heathcote, Douglas Booth, Jack Huston, Matt Smith, Burr Steers and Seth Grahame-Smith appeared at a panel at Comic-Con to promote the film, where the first trailer debuted.[28] On October 9, 2015, the UK teaser trailer and poster were released.[29] On October 22, 2015, Screen Gems released the first official US trailer and poster.[30] On November 26, 2015, Lionsgate UK released a full-length trailer and the film's first official British poster.[6]

Reception

Box office

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies grossed $10.9 million in North America and $5.5 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $16.4 million, against a budget of $28 million.[4]

The film was released in North America on February 5, 2016, alongside Hail, Caesar! and The Choice. The film was projected to gross $10–12 million from 2,931 theaters in its opening weekend.[3] It earned $300,000 from previews showing on Thursday night and $5.3 million in its opening weekend, finishing below expectations and 6th at the box office.[31]

Critical response

The film received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 42%, based on 149 reviews, with an average rating of 5.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies manages to wring a few fun moments out of its premise, but never delivers the thoroughly kooky mashup its title suggests."[32] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 45 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[33] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B–" on an A+ to F scale.[34]

Rafer Guzmán of Newsday wrote positively about the film, giving the film three out of four stars, calling it "an unexpected and off-kilter treat, thanks to a BBC-quality cast and (un)deadpan humor."[35] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film 2 out of 4 stars, commenting that "PP&Z is rated PG-13, so the zombie gore is decidedly decorous. But before repetition dulls the party, the movie gets in a few juicy innings."[36] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle gave the film two out of four stars saying "Compared with other Jane Austen movies, it isn't much, but compared with other zombie apocalypse movies, it's an intelligent, literate effort."[37] Jesse Hassenger of The A.V. Club gave the film a C, commenting "That this particular retelling of the Jane Austen novel feels like a Cliffs Notes version is understandable; that its zombie bits are equally rudimentary, though, is more disappointing."[38] Clark Collis of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B, saying "If more inventive than scary, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies breathes fresh life into the hugely popular, but now desperately predictable, undead genre."[39] Mark Kermode of The Guardian gave the film two out of five stars, saying "Yet torn between Austen and the undead, Steers seems unsure how straight to play either element, blunting comedy, horror and romance alike. The result lacks bite – the one element that zombies and Austen should have in common."[40] Helen O'Hara of The Telegraph also gave two out of five stars, saying "If it had been more elegant in its storytelling, it could have been a fun genre crossover, but the best efforts of Steers and his cast can’t turn the overstuffed book into a film that makes any real sense."[41] Manohla Dargis of the New York Times gave the film a mixed review, saying "Both pride and prejudice still play their parts, but now in service to one tediously repeated joke: the sight of a gentleman or a lady, together or alone, playing cards or ballroom dancing, fatally swarmed by devouring zombies."[42]

Christy Lemire of RogerEbert.com gave the film one and a half out of four stars, saying "Like the novel “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,” the movie “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” is predicated on a simple, single gimmick: It’s “Pride and Prejudice” … with zombies. This is a vaguely amusing idea which somehow got stretched out to an entire book, which somehow became a best seller, which inevitably means it had to be made into a film."[43] Keith Uhlich of Hollywood Reporter gave the film a negative review, calling the film "Lumbering, lifeless and -- strange thing to say about a cadaver -- almost entirely charmless."[44] Lindsey Bahr of Associated Press also gave a negative review, saying "This story might have been better suited to a television adaptation. The characters would have been allowed to breathe for a beat in that case. Here, the action and violence take up the space that would have generally been used for character development."[45] Stephen Whitty of New York Daily News gave the film two out of 5 stars, saying "The hungry monsters in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies are looking for nice big brains. Well, they won't find any here."[46] Stephanie Merry of Washington Post gave the film one and a half stars out of four, commenting ""Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" delivers what its title promises: a little romance and some undead villains, plus a bit of comedy. But this overly busy riff on Austen's winning formula doesn't justify all the tinkering."[47] Britton Peele of Dallas Morning News gave the film a B-, calling the film "Fun, funny, gory and yet still strangely romantic."[48]

Literary scholar and Austen professor Devoney Looser stated in Entertainment Weekly magazine her opinion that the film's first half, and especially Matt Smith's Mr. Collins, were comic, jarring, and enjoyable. She assessed the film overall with, "I laughed a lot and I shrieked. I was wavering between B+ and A–. I’m willing to bump it up for its originality and live with my grade-inflation reputation: A–." Zombie expert Clark Collis did not rate the film quite as high: "I enjoy genre movies that attempt something different -- and this does -- but I didn't find it all that scary. I'd give it a 'B'".[49]

References

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  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  39. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  43. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  44. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  45. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  46. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  47. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  48. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  49. ↑ Clark Collis and Devoney Looser. "The Ultimate Fan Face-Off," Entertainment Weekly, 2-12-2016, p52. http://www.ew.com/article/2016/02/04/pride-prejudice-zombies

External links

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