Sunshine On DVD – WTF!?!?
Posted by John Campeaon 17. 01. 2008in News Chat
Sometimes in life, you get so wrapped up in something, that something else big flies right under your nose and you never even notice it. That happens with movies sometimes for me. Sunshine is one of those situations.
For a while now I’ve been waiting for Sunshine to FINALLY hit theaters (it got delayed a couple of times)… but in all the waiting I stopped paying attention. Then today I’m reading a story about the DVD charts… and I notice a little footnote on the story that Sunshine debuted this week at #16. I said to myself: “That’s funny… another movie called Sunshine”. But then I realized it was indeed the same Danny Boyle film that I’ve been waiting for.
Perplexed by this, I checked the facts out… apparently Sunshine did indeed play on 461 screens in North America (none near me I guarantee you) and made $3 million dollars. Then… just as quietly as it slipped into theaters… it slipped right back out, and I was totally clueless it had even been released.
This was a film that a year ago I thought had “HIT” potential. The trailers were certainly solid. It’s a Sci-Fi epic. Why not??? But it creeps in and out of theaters… and then when it hits on DVD it only comes in at #6 for sale and all the way down at #16 for rentals.
I’m going to run out and rent this sucker today sometime, but I want to ask you guys… what happened to Sunshine? Did any of you see it? Did it suck and they just decided not to release it wide? What’s the story here folks?
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I also never got to see this in the theaters because it played at only one theater by me for only one week and had only one showtime. Thankfully I keep watch on the DVD releases and went out and picked it up on the day of its release.
Love the movie, I just wish more people knew about it and that it was given more of a chance at the theater.
I never even heard of it until now.
It played here for about one week back in November. Considering that I live in Huntsville, AL it’s actually pretty amazing that it came here at all.
Picked up the DVD last week. Pretty solid scifi film. Just a warning though John… this has to be one of the worst DVD transfers I’ve seen in quite a while. I’m serious… It’s pretty fuckin’ aweful! One of my buddies came over a few nights back to watch it and kept asking if I was sure there was something wrong with my tv. I had to put in another film just to prove to him that my set was calibrated properly and it was in fact the DVD that was the problem.
It’s a shame really. It’s such a beautifully shot film, they really should have tried to give it the best presentation possible.
I have it on DVD here in the UK. Amazing.
It doesn’t seem to have been marketed very well in the US.
What’s going on?
I saw this in the UK on cinema and it was by far my favourite cinema experience of the year.
It was just stunning and beautiful on the big screen.
My favourite movie of last year.
I saw it last april in germany and liked it very much. It was not great and surely won’t become a cult movie, but it was solid and especially because of the brilliant special effects I had a good time at the cinema.
Missed it in theaters, saw it as soon as it came out on DVD. I actually REALLY enjoyed the film. Not perfect by any means but definitely a breath of fresh air to the sci-fi genre.
living in the UK i saw this film last year and thought it was one of the best movies of the year. Beautifuly shot and directed and with most of Danny’s films , makes you think. Go and rent and watch you will enjoy it ,i mean it.
living in the UK i saw this film last year and thought it was one of the best movies of the year. Beautifuly shot and directed and with most of Danny’s films , makes you think. Go and rent and watch you will enjoy ,i mean it.
living in the UK i saw this film last year and thought it was one of the best movies of the year. Beautifuly shot and directed and with most of Danny’s films , makes you think. Go and rent and watch. You will enjoy ,i mean it.
whooops sorry
I saw it in US with my gf …….I have to be honest I was disappointed with the movie.
It was alright, but not the best movie I saw this year.
It did not come anywhere close to the awe I had when I saw 28 days later.
Sunshine was my second favorite film of the year, and I saw 146 2007 films. Yes, that’s praise.
It’s a good, solid movie. I always knew it was a smaller release film and I honestly can’t remember it playing in theaters – but then again, I was never going to see it in theaters, I was going to see it on DVD.
When it WAS out or just prior to it being out, I always heard it as a “fantasy” film which I thought was weird. Heck, my dad (who is CLUELESS on movies – “who’s Tim Burton?”) even heard of this film and expressed interest in seeing it after hearing buzz from somewhere.
So I got it on DVD the day it came out and was really impressed – it was a really good sci-fi film and I enjoyed it. Well worth seeing, once you see the end of the film I guess I understand why it was referred to as a fantasy film by some.
I THINK it was out in theaters around here…I’d say yes for sure but like I said, I honestly can’t remember but it may have been…I seem to remember it was, but. Whatever.
Good movie. Worth a look.
It’s not really charming to see at home, because of the beatiful visuals.
And it has a good plot as well, nice twist.
Box office smochice
You know what?
I know why it went so poorly…
Everyone must had think “well i’ve already seen Solaris, no reason to watch it again”.
And with all holidays competition, it sunked.
That’s that.
Saw it last week. They should rename it Even Horizion 1 and 1/2.
Hey John,
You must have just let it slip under the radar as i saw this in Toronto last year, and not at one of those small crappy theatres.
it reminded me alot of Event Horizon (which i also liked) but i was expecting better….still a very cool movie
I’ve seen it here in austria some time ago in an english cinema.
I liked it a lot! Especially it has been a long time since the last solid scifi’n'space movie (serenity x)) and I am a big fan of more “realistic” interpretations on the whole space topic.
But I have to warn you! you must not expect some awesome action flick because this movie is likely more focused on the psychological aspect. I am saying that because the buddies I went to the movie with expected a little bit more action so they weren’t too excited :/
Anyway awesome movie mustsee! At least it is beautifully shot :P
JOHN
probably one of my top 5 films of last year without a doubt!! get it on blu ray it is quality!!!
THIS IS A MUST SEE!
I’ve seen better. Think “2010″ with a really big orange ball. I thought the ending was weak as hell.
It was dissapointing that the marketing in the US was so poor, also it had a largely unknown cast which means most zombiefied lard ass americans don’t bother with it. Shame really. And it didn’t get nominated for anything this year – which is a crime.. The cinematography, sound design and fx should have got at least a friggin nod. It’s all about mindless crap these days (transformers)and it’s getting worse.
I live in Brooklyn, and it played here in New York for about two weeks.
This was a beautifully shot, beautifully scripted, wonderfully acted sci-fi film that was pleasantly NOT a regurgitation of other beloved sci-fi films past. Many of them are, and this was deliciously original.
Unfortunately, it was also a film that shot itself in the foot in the last 20 minutes by violating it’s own canon via genre identity crisis in the ending. I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t seen it, but I would love to hear other opinions. Still, visually stunning and creepily quiet, and definitely worth watching.
Yeah, I saw this in Toronto too…the AMC near Hwy. 400 & 7, I believe..
The first three quarters I thought were great, then it fell very hard into Event Horizon insanity that didn’t match the rest of the flick. Awesome visually though.
saw it 1 month ago;
unappealing characters, unrealistic plot (this unprofessional, pubertal crew is the best on earth?!)
coz of some good moments i would rate it 4/10
i saw when it came out as well and its a great.
i didn’t think it was as wonderful as some people here are saying but i totally agree that the last 20 minutes belong to another film entirely.its not bad as such it is just jarring in the way it changes the film.
and as for it being original? i guess it would be if 2001, solaris, event horizon. alien and silent running didn’t exist but they do so it isn’t.
but its a great film.
The movie was great for the first 3/4 of the film. The last 1/4 was like, WTF? The movie had, in my opinion, one of the weakest climaxes I’ve seen in recent memory. It was kinda like the produces woke up on day 175 of a 200 day shoot and said, “Whoa, we’re way over budget because of the CGI. Let’s wrap this thing up today.” Ugh. So painful.
Hey Julie, nice summary – totally agree with you.
I don’t remember you reviewing this John, don’t know if i missed your more in depth thoughts on it.
It never came to Buffalo, or if it did it was only here for a day or two.
I saw it in UK where it def got a general release… It was awesome (and sorry to say it is definite one of those films that needs seeing on a big screen!)
I really loved this film. I bought the Blu-Ray for it :). As for the movie itself, the last 15-20 minutes are the weakest part of the movie (like everybody said). I really liked how the film was shot, the score, and the premise seemed sound.
As for it’s theatrical release, it was only shown one week here at my theatre. It was a disappointing release. Too many movies out at the time. It was competiting against some blockbuster movie. I can’t remember on the top of my head.
That’s weird. I’m surprised it only made $3 million. You sure about that? When it came out (quite a long time ago) it was in a bunch of theaters around here (most of the multi-plexes had it). I’m also surprised it slipped under your radar. I heard it talked about on several movie podcasts and there were reviews for it all over the place.
Oh well. Yeah, check it out though. It won’t work as well on the small screen, but the first 80- minutes or so are gorgeous awesomeness. The last 30 minutes is complete ASS.
It was a gorgeous movie, but not that memorable.
It didn’t play near me, and my little sister was devastated. She REALLY wanted to see this after we saw the trailer. I’ll have to buy this for her.
It played in the LA/OC area for two maybe three weeks and I was unable to make it to the theater before it was gone. I saw the other day that it is out on DVD, so I think I’m going to pick it up for tonight.
It came out the same day as The Simpsons movie where I live- that mighta hurt it.
I really enjoyed it. It had a creepy sci-fi horror feel to it. Another thing I enjoyed was the not knowing who was going to live in this film. Though many had issues with the the last 20 mins. of the movie, I was wondering if Danny Boyle cut out alot of this film. It was missing something.
I saw it, I have to say that while I was a little disappointed with where the movie went at the end- The style of the film and the characters were amazingly well done. This is a problem with most of Boyle’s films I find, where his style is so epic that the story itself lets you down because it doesn’t match how awesome a director he is- Sunshine was a bit like this where the story just didn’t satisfy me as much as I would have liked. That said- It is a beautiful film. Much like how 28 days later restylized zombie films, so will Sunshine have an impact on the Space/Sci-Fi genre.
I saw it play in Bethesda, Maryland, and it was one of my top 3 movies of the year, with 28 weeks later, 3:10 to Yuma. This was an amazing movie, though the 3rd act was a bit on the wacky end.
Still totally awesome though.
It sucked only because the ending SUCKED. Period.
I absolutely loved this movie. It was my #3 flick for 2007 and should’ve been a classic. (A lot of people will complain about the third act, and while it didn’t necessarily live up to the first two acts, it was hardly catastrophic.) The marketing machine just gave up on this one before it even began. I have no idea why. They dumped it into less than 500 theaters this past summer with no fanfare whatsoever. I guess because there were no huge bankable stars? Whatever it was, it deserved a heck of a lot better, because it’s brilliant.
Ah I see you made news about this film as well…I sorta mentioned it in the 3:10 to Yuma one. I came away disappointed with that film but this film was soooo incredible.
It really deserves multiple viewings to fully appreciate it. Anyone that didn’t like the ending but enjoyed the rest of the film must not of fully understood the it and just like the pretty pictures. The ending is set up several times and when the little twist occurs (tho I wouldn’t call it a twist…just used that for lack of a better word) the movie just goes crazy and bumped it up several notches for me.
I’ve only seen a couple Danny Boyle films, this and 28 Days Later but I think Sunshine was definitely the best.
I was pretty surprised by this movie and even more surprised but the actors in it. I’m upset it didn’t have a more larger presence in theaters here in the states. I never even knew it had released, like John I remember seeing some trailers but nothing after that. Kind of odd and I think it requires more reasons as to why from the studio, at least for my own curiosity.
Seems a bit strange that it didn’t open anywhere near you…Vancouver even managed a fairly decent opening and it stuck around here for at least 2 weeks.
It’s a great film though the ending is pretty disappointing. The visuals though, top notch.
Don’t get too excited about the alternate ending though…highly disappointing. Still well worth seeing!
I totally saw it in theaters out here in Phoenix, Arizona when it was out…heck, I even had it as one of my DVD picks on my blog when it came out a few weeks ago.
Fun movie, I really liked it, even if it wasn’t a huge success. I like this kind of sci-fi.
Caught this at a small theater in St. Louis during its theatrical run, and frankly, I was blown away. I had seen some trailers online and knew that I had to make seeing this film on the big screen happen. The release coincided with my anniversary, so the wife and I took a little road trip and checked it out during our festivities.
Overall I was incredibly impressed. I thought that the story maintained plausibility most of the way through, and I wasn’t really put off by the ending at all. They set it up very well as far as I was concerned and I kind of saw it coming. Was it as strong as it could have been? Perhaps not, but I found it at least satisfying. The final few scenes (in my opinion, the real ending, not the Event Horizon-esque switch-up that most of the commenters are referring to) of Murphy were particularly great. Granted, the film loses its epic 2001 vibe during the last act, but only barely and only for a few moments. And, really, if you look closely at the characters and their actions in addition to what Boyle and Gardner are saying, it actually makes sense.
I know one person said the transfer was pretty bad, but I have a 1080p upconverting philips player and a Westinghouse 42″ LCD and thought that it looked pretty great. Vibrant when it needed to be, subdued when it needed to be. Perhaps not awesome quality, but certainly passable and very watchable.
Ultimately, a really fantastic film. Boyle is proving quickly that he is comfortable in any genre and brings a thoughtfulness with him to his projects that gives his films a poignancy that many directors of his generation (90s subculture pseudo-punk) lack. Sunshine stuck with me long after I saw it in the theater, and I will likely watch this DVD over and over again.
this just shows how little you know about the movie biz. The fact that you had no idea this was playing in theaters is an indictment against you.
yeah Sunshine came and went pretty quick; i caught it on the last day it was playing at my usual stomping grounds and i really liked it. didn’t think it was AWESOME but it was definitely GOOD. dark, sinister and tense but at the end, i knew i was happy with it and would buy it on DVD as soon as it hit the shelves
the one part i thought was kinda questionable was Cillian Murphy fighting with Chris Evans. man, Johnny Storm would whoop Scarecrow’s ass all the way around the solar system without breaking a sweat
@ Killswitch. You’re an idiot. Yeah, because someone let one of the 742 films that got released this year fly under his radar. A film that didn’t even get a wide release.
For the record, even I didn’t know it had a theatrical run until about 3 weeks ago when I saw it was coming out on DVD. And I’ve been looking for it ever since my sister saw it in the UK last year.
And also for the record. Brilliant fucking movie. I concur with those on the board who complain about the last act, but the first two acts were serious strong and held it up in spite of the last act, which really wasn’t horrible, just not up to snuf with the first part.
my fav movie ever.
Given the little promotion that it had ( I don’t think the distributor had much faith in it) and the limited screens, it didn’t have to find the audience; the audience had to find “it”.
I love this movie. The photographies are impressive!
dunno why you guys have trouble finding it. I’m in Alabama and knew about the movie coming to theaters. I didn’t get a chance to see it however and have been waiting for it to come out on DVD. I knew a month or so in advance when it was being released on DVD and rented it when it came out. The movie store had about half a shelf of rentals for it which is a good amount. If it were a small movie that no one cared about it would only have mabey one row.
I agree with the comments about the ending, it TOTALLY did not jive with the rest of the film. I was kinda sitting there like, “wtf” the whole last part.
Yea I saw it. I thought it was great. It was at the Arclight in Hollywood. Feel bad you missed it, man.
Sunshine was AMAZING. My favorite film of last year, FOX did NO advertising for the film whatsoever.
The theater that played it where I saw, only had it in for 3 days, and took it away, because that was they kinda screening it was.
BUY IT John. It is an experience you can’t miss. I am sorry you had to miss it on the big screen.
I’m fuzzy.
What’s wrong with the ending?
The chase?
The other…?
I’m not seeing it.
My local Wal-Mart was selling it a week early.
I shall be picking this and 3:10 to Yuma today …
The one good thing about being sick is the ability to sit still to watch more than one movie at a time – mostly because you have little choice unless you want to watch daytime TV -shutter-.
Anyway…I finally got to see this film today, I was happy my little video store was carrying a copy. I’m a fan of Danny Boyle and he’s yet to disappoint. I really enjoyed this film though I did feel the third act came a little out of nowhere, well perhaps not completely, but it did feel a bit off. Still it was a solid sci-fi flick and I was happy with the film on the whole. I also liked how it didn’t drag out, in fact it was almost too quick to end.
Effing Hell! I live in Australia and saw this twice at the cinemas, absolutely loved it! An absolute travesty that it got shafted in the US…I pity you John for not having the opportunity to see this in the big screen, it was a great experience
I watched it at the movies and bought the Blue-Ray disc :-)
Actually, I doubt that the dvd experience comes close, because the atmosphere lies in its pictures, which is why you need a big screen and a high resolution.
P.S. This reminds me to order the 28 weeks later blue-ray today
Hi John!
I write reviews for a swedish movie blog called bloggywood.se, this is my review of Sunshine, translated for your viewing pleasure!
It’s easy to be blinded by the magnificent visual effects in Sunshine – but you need to raise your hand to your face and there, in the shadow, you will also find good acting in a sometimes claustrofobic environment.
To make a movie like this “work” it needs to feel credible. In contrast to the stinker Mission to Mars you need to have a spaceship that makes you believe that it can actually handle the trip and a crew as well. You also need said crew to show signs of the enormous, incredible, pressure they must feel considering they’re mankinds last hope.
Sunshine succeeds in all of this. It also succeeds in planting a real threat, one that also feels credible. One that forces everyone involved to even more face their inner demons, look death in the eye and yet stay calm – all for the good of mankind. After the movie was over I found myself thinking – would I have done the same? Would I have been as brave? I hope so. I hope we all would be.
If there’s anything I was slightly annoyed by, and there was, then it’s the fact that Sunshine doesn’t really find it’s pace. Or rather, it’s to evenly paced. Also – the ending. The first part of the ending is an almost religious experience, as in ”good”, but is deflated by the second part of the ending that feels as if they put it in there because they had too instead of having the guts to leave us imagining our own ending – if that makes any sense at all. Well, it will when you’ve seen it.
3,5 out of 6
I saw in the theaters here in Philly; I think it may have been in the theaters for maybe two weeks. It played in one of the art house theater & it really didn’t get any kind of buzz. Oh, & plus the movie sucked?
It sucks.
You’ll love it.
Sunshine is kind of like Apocalypse Now, except Coppola was actually willing to go through the agony of making sure he could pull off the Kurtz character. Boyle basically figured he wouldn’t be bothered. To say to yourself, “oh, he goes crazy and kills everybody” is just laziness as a director. You can get away with that when it comes to zombies but not actual people.
Really worth a watch. Boyle consistently pumps out great stuff and is constantly trying different things. But overall it is a bit out there on the sci-fi plane and I can understand the US marketing machine not giving it a fair shake. I think this could have some seriously life on DVD.
Hey i just rented and am in the process of watching the movie. I noticed something a little disturbing. There are two, that i have noticed so far, freaky faces that appear for a quick second in the middle of the movie. Right as the Icarus 2 docks with Icarus 1 and the crew walks through the airlock there are two freakish looking faces inbeaded into the movie. Has anyone else noticed this or maybe it’s just this DVD. WTF!!!!!!
Hey Pen – the faces are part of the movie. When I was watching it a couple of days ago I was totally caught off guard wondering if I was seeing things at first, but nope they’re really there.