Skyscraper (2018)

Skyscraper is a 2018 American action thriller film written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber. Produced by Legendary Pictures, Seven Bucks Productions and FlynnPictureCo., the film stars Dwayne Johnson in the lead role, Neve Campbell, Chin Han, Roland Møller, Noah Taylor, Byron Mann, Pablo Schreiber, and Hannah Quinlivan. The film follows Will Sawyer as a former FBI agent who must rescue his family from a newly built Hong Kong skyscraper, the tallest in the world, after it is taken over by terrorists and set on fire, led by Kores Botha, who plans to steal the tablet. The first non-comedy of Thurber’s career, it also marks his second collaboration with Johnson, following Central Intelligence (2016). Filming began in September 2017 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Plot.

William “Will” Sawyer, a Marine veteran turned FBI Hostage Rescue Team leader, loses his left leg below the knee when he and HRT colleague Ben Gillespie encounter a hostage taker with a suicide bomb. Ten years later, Sawyer is a private security consultant who, on a recommendation from Gillespie, is hired to review security for the world’s tallest skyscraper, Hong Kong’s 3,500 feet (1,060 meter), 225 floor tower, “The Pearl”, for owner Zhao Long Ji. Sawyer is joined by his wife, Sarah, and twin children, Georgia and Henry, staying with him on the not-yet-opened residential floors. Sawyer meets with Zhao, Gillespie, security director Okeke and head insurance underwriter Pierce, to report that the computerized fire and security systems have passed his tests, though he needs to inspect the offsite security center. Zhao provides him with a tablet that gives Sawyer complete control over the Pearl’s systems.

Sawyer and Gillespie head to the offsite facility, but a thief hired by international terrorist Kores Botha attempts to steal the tablet. Gillespie reveals he is also working for Botha and attacks Sawyer for the tablet, ending with Gillespie’s death. Botha and a group of his men break into the Pearl and undermine the safety systems by using a water-reactive chemical to start a fire on the 96th floor, creating a barrier that renders it impossible to enter to or exit from the upper 130 floors. Sawyer tries to return to the Pearl, but is attacked by Xia, one of Botha’s associates. Xia and her agents take the tablet and kill everyone at the offsite facility. They then use the tablet to disable the fire-extinguishing systems in the Pearl and activate the air vents to spread the fire to the upper floors. Zhao and Okeke send security guards to rescue Sawyer’s family, but the guards are killed by an explosion and the family is believed dead.

Urged on by Pierce, Zhao orders the remaining personnel to evacuate via helicopter, but Pierce reveals he is also an agent for Botha, killing all but Zhao, who escapes into his penthouse apartment, locking it down from any intrusion. Inspector Wu leads the local police to secure the Pearl and capture Sawyer, who is believed to be behind the incidents. Sawyer evades them and makes his way into the Pearl above the fire barrier using a crane from an adjacent building. Sawyer kills Pierce before Pierce can kill Sawyer’s family, though Georgia is separated from the others. Sawyer has Sarah and Henry ride through the fire barrier in a free-fall elevator before applying the emergency brakes, letting them escape safely; Sarah immediately explains the

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situation to Wu and that Botha’s men will likely escape via parachute to a nearby landing zone. Sawyer searches for Georgia, and after finding her they are captured by Botha, who demands Zhao in return for Georgia. Sawyer is forced to dangerously scale the outside of the building to access the security panel for Zhao’s penthouse, then enters and confronts Zhao. Zhao explains that Botha had extorted money from him during the $6 billion construction project, but Zhao kept a detailed computer file of the transactions, which can reveal accounts and names of three crime syndicates Botha works for; Botha instigated the attack to obtain the records.

Production.

On May 26, 2016, it was announced that Legendary Entertainment had won the bidding war for a Chinese-set action adventure film, Skyscraper, in which Dwayne Johnson was set to play the lead.[6] Rawson Marshall Thurber was attached as the film’s scriptwriter, director and producer, with Beau Flynn producing the film through his Flynn Picture Company, alongside Johnson’s Seven Bucks Productions, with Universal Pictures handling distribution rights. On June 22, 2017, it was reported that Neve Campbell had signed on to star with Johnson, who plays the head of security for the skyscraper. Maggie Q, Rachel Bilson, Jaimie Alexander and Mira

Sorvino were also considered. In July 2017, Chin Han and Pablo Schreiber joined the cast. In August 2017, Byron Mann, Hannah Quinlivan, Noah Taylor, and Roland Møller were added to the cast. Principal photography on the film began on August 14, 2017, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Additional photography and exteriors were filmed at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. The architectural rendering of the 225-story tall skyscraper was based on Chinese inspirations. According to the New York Post, “production designer Jim Bissell and his team researched local myths for inspiration and came upon a Chinese fable they could work with.”

Marketing, Release.

Universal released the first official trailer in February 2018 and the second trailer on May 23, 2018. Promo posters in the form of The Towering Inferno (1974) and Die Hard (1988) were created, referencing the stylistic links between those films and Skyscraper. Skyscraper was released in the United States, as well as several international territories, in 3D and standard formats on July 13, 2018, by Universal Pictures. The film also secured a July 20, 2018 release date in China, a rarity as mainstream Hollywood films are seldom released there during the month of July, to make room for domestic films. Skyscraper premiered in Beijing, on July 1, 2018 and also held a screening in Hong Kong on July 7, 2018. Skyscraper was released digitally on September 25, 2018, and released on Blu-ray, DVD, Blu-ray 3D and 4K Blu-ray on October 2, 2018.

Box office.

Skyscraper grossed $68.4 million in the United States and Canada, and $236.4 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $304.9 million, against a production budget of $125 million. In the United States and Canada, Skyscraper was released alongside the opening of Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation, as well as the wide expansion of Sorry to Bother You, and was initially projected to gross $32–40 million from 3,782 theaters in its opening weekend. However, after making $1.95 million during Thursday night screenings (down from the $2.4 million made by Johnson’s Rampage the past April) and $9.3 million on its first day, weekend estimates were lowered to $24 million. The film ended up debuting to $24.9 million, finishing third, behind Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation and Ant-Man and the Wasp.

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Cast:

Dwayne Johnson as Will Sawyer, a former US Marine skyscrapers.
Neve Campbell as Sarah Sawyer, Will’s wife
Chin Han as Zhao Long Ji
Roland Møller as Kores Botha, a South African terrorist.
Noah Taylor as Mr. Pierce
Byron Mann as Inspector Wu
Pablo Schreiber as Ben Gillespie
Hannah Quinlivan as Xia, Botha’s henchwoman.
Tzi Ma as Fire Chief Sheng.
McKenna Roberts as Georgia Sawyer
Noah Cottrell as Henry Sawyer
Elfina Luk as HKPF Sergeant Han.
Adrian Holmes as Ajani Okeke
Matt O’Leary as the Skinny Hacker
Kevin Rankin as Ray.

Skyscraper (2018) Biography, Plot, Marketing, Production, Release, Trailer.