Journey to the Center of the Earth Information

Journey to the Center of the Earth (also promoted as Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D or Journey 3-D) is a 2008 American 3-D science fiction adventure film starring Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson, and Anita Briem. It refers to and may be considered a 21st-century sequel to the 19th-century novel of the same name by Jules Verne. It is the first film in the Journey film series.

Plot

In the opening scene, Max Anderson (Jean-Michel Paré) is being pursued by a dinosaur, a Giganotosaurus. Max falls to his death while calling out the name of his brother, Trevor.

Ten years later, Max's brother volcanologist Trevor Anderson (Brendan Fraser) is visited by Max's son/Trevor's 13-year-old nephew Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson). In a box of items that belonged to Max is a book, A Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne. Notes written by Max are found inside the book.

In Trevor's volcanology laboratory, a device shows activity on Snæfell, a dormant volcano in Iceland. Trevor and Sean travel to Iceland to investigate. They try to contact Icelandic volcanologist Sigurbjörn Ásgeirsson, but instead encounter his daughter Hannah Ásgeirsson (Anita Briem), her father having died some years earlier. It turns out that Sigurbjörn and Max were both Vernians, a group of people who believe the works of Jules Verne to be fact not fiction.

Hannah offers to help them climb the volcano. While the group is hiking up the volcano, a lightning storm forces them to take shelter in a cave. The cave entrance collapses, leaving them trapped in what appears to be an abandoned mine. They reach the bottom of a volcanic vent, the floor of the vent breaks, and they begin to fall towards the center of the Earth. The volcanic vent eventually becomes a water slide which drops them safely into a lake in the center of the Earth, which turns out to be a completely separate world contained within the Earth.

The group starts seeking a way back to the surface. Along the way, they find evidence that someone had been there a hundred years ago. Trevor remarks that some instruments found are Lidenbrock's (the name of a character in Jules Verne's book Journey to the Center of the Earth). This suggests that another group had previously made the journey, somehow returned to the surface and recounted the tale of their adventure to Verne. They find some of Max's things as well.

While Trevor and Sean are examining what they've found, Hannah discovers Max's body. They bury Max on the beach of the underground ocean and Trevor reads a letter to Sean found in Max's journal. Trevor discovers that his brother died due to dehydration because of hot magma surrounding the center of the Earth.

Using information from Max's journal, Trevor determines that they must find a geyser that can send them to the surface before the temperature rises to 200 °F (about 93 °C). Further, they must reach the geyser within 48 hours or the water for the geyser will have evaporated. They build a raft and begin crossing the underground ocean, but soon encounter a pack of Xiphactinus. They use makeshift clubs to bat them away, then a shoal of Elasmosaurus attacks. The raft's sail becomes loose. Sean tries to hold on, but is blown away and separated from the two adults.

A little bird guides Sean towards the river. Meanwhile, Trevor and Hannah decide to take a rest, but are attacked by carnivorous plants. Hannah is captured by the plants. Trevor defeats the plant that is holding Hannah captive, and they continue towards the geyser.

When they arrive at the river Trevor calls out to Sean but gets no response. Trevor says he is going to look for Sean, but tells Hannah she should continue on to the geyser and save herself. Meanwhile, Sean has entered a arid bone-filled land. He hears roars, looks up and sees a Giganotosaurus coming after him. Trevor saves him. When they get to a river, they find Hannah sailing a boat fashioned from a Giganotosaurus skull. They sail to a volcano with magma rising in its crater. They are too late; the water needed for the geyser has evaporated.

Sean notices that the crater walls are wet. Trevor hears water flowing on the other side of the walls and sees that the crater walls contain magnesium. After Trevor uses a flare to ignite the magnesium, a geyser shoots them up and out of the Center of the Earth. They emerge in Italy from Mount Vesuvius. When they fall they accidentally destroy a vineyard. To make amends, Sean gives the owner a diamond that he found while in the Center of the Earth. Trevor sees that Sean has many more diamonds in his backpack; he later uses them to fund his late brother's laboratory.

During the adventure, Hannah and Trevor gradually become closer and eventually share a kiss. After the adventure, Sean visits Trevor and Hannah in their new home purchased using some of the diamonds Sean took from the cave. Trevor hands Sean a book about another strange land, Atlantis: The Antediluvian World by Ignatius L. Donnelly, and suggests they get together during Sean's Christmas break. Sean reveals that he has brought the little bird back from the center of the Earth to keep as a pet. However, the bird flies away, ending the movie.

Cast

• Brendan Fraser as Prof. Trevor Anderson
• Josh Hutcherson as Sean Anderson
• Anita Briem as Hannah Ásgeirsson
• Seth Meyers as Prof. Alan Kitzens
• Jean-Michel Paré as Max Anderson
• Jane Wheeler as Elizabeth Anderson
• Giancarlo Caltabiano as Leonard
• Garth Gilker as Sigurbjörn Ásgeirsson

Production

Filming

The film transposes the novel into the present day and is mostly live action, with only the landscape and creatures supplied by computer-generated graphics. The film is projected using Real D Cinema and Dolby 3D.

Marketing

The first trailer was shown before screenings of Meet the Robinsons, the re-release of The Nightmare Before Christmas and the release of Beowulf, with the Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert, and during the 2008 Kids' Choice Awards.

Warner Bros. marketed the film like a theme park attraction. However, the studio had to slightly tweak the campaign (including dropping "3D" from the title) when it became clear that the film would be shown in 3-D in far fewer theaters than anticipated.

Reception

Critical reception

The film received mixed to positive reviews. It received a 61% "Fresh" rating by Rotten Tomatoes, based on 155 reviews, with 94 "Fresh" reviews and 61 "Rotten". The sites concensusus is: "Modern visuals and an old fashioned storyline make this family adventure/comedy a fast-paced, kitschy ride". The performance of Brendan Fraser has been also praised. Prairie Miller, from News Blaze said: "Brendan Fraser's playful force of personality rules, 3D or no 3D, one of the few funny guys who could grab attention away from a dinosaur in assault mode, in the center of the earth or anywhere else on the planet". Metacritic gave the film a 57, indicating "Mixed or Average reviews."

Box office

Journey to the Center of the Earth opened #3 behind Hellboy II: The Golden Army and Hancock in North America. The film grossed $21,018,141 in 2,811 theaters in its first week of release with an average of $7,477. 57 percent of the opening gross was taken from theaters which showed the film in 3-D. In second weekend it dropped to $12,340,435 and in third to $9,717,217.

As of October 2009, the film has grossed $101,704,370 in the US and $139,157,146 foreign sales, with a total of $241,995,151 worldwide. The film has also enjoyed strong DVD sales.

Home media

Journey to the Center of the Earth was released on DVD and Blu-ray on October 28, 2008, in standard 2-D format as well as a magenta / green anaglyph. It opened at #2 at the DVD sales chart, selling 843,224 units in the 1st week which translates to $13,238,617 in revenue. As per the latest figures, 1,642,994 DVD units have been sold, bringing in $25,346,260 in revenue. This doesn't include Blu-ray Disc sales / DVD rentals.

The 2008 2-disc BD edition of the movie doesn't conform to the " only later established " Blu-ray 3D specifications, which means that this version doesn't take advantage of any dedicated 3D HDTVs, although it can be watched on them as well as on any other TV in anaglyph 3D by using red-cyan paper glasses (four pairs are included). A 3D Blu-ray version was released on January 17, 2012.

Theme parks

In May 2009, the film premiered as "Journey to the Center of the Earth 4-D" at Stone Mountain Park in Georgia. It also opened in the motion simulator at Dollywood under the same name on June 12, 2009. It also features in the new 4D Cinema at the recently reopened Weston Super-Mare Grand Pier in the U.K Also shown in Movieworld on the gold coast

Awards and nominations

Award	Year	Category	Result	Cast/Crew
Teen Choice Awards	2008	Choice Summer Movie: Action Adventure
Young Artist Award	2009	Best Performance in a Feature Film " Leading Young Actor		Josh Hutcherson
BMI Film & TV Awards	2009			Andrew Lockington

International Releases

• Brazil - July 11, 2008
• Canada - July 11, 2008
• Ireland - July 11, 2008
• UK - July 11, 2008
• USA - July 11, 2008
• Chile - August 7, 2008
• Singapore - August 7, 2008

Sequel

A sequel, entitled Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, was released in February 2012. Hutcherson reprises his role as Sean. Dwayne Johnson plays Sean's stepfather Hank Parsons and is forced to come along on a trip with Sean to find his missing grandfather Alexander Anderson (played by Michael Caine) on a mythical and monstrous island. Like the first film, the sequel was shot in 3D, and the script is loosely based on a Verne novel " this time The Mysterious Island.