Elysium (2013) Biography, Plot, Production, Box office, Trailer

Elysium (2013)

Elysium is a 2013 American dystopian science fiction action film written, produced and directed by Neill Blomkamp. It stars Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Alice Braga, and Sharlto Copley. The film takes place on both a ravaged Earth and a luxurious artificial world (Stanford torus design, one of the proposed NASA designs) called Elysium. The film itself offers deliberate social commentary that explores political and sociological themes such as immigration, overpopulation, transhumanism, health care, worker exploitation, the justice system, and social class issues. The film was released on August 9, 2013, by Sony Pictures Releasing through the TriStar Pictures label, in both conventional and IMAX Digital theaters. It received generally positive reviews from critics, even though many considered it a disappointment after Blomkamp’s first film District 9, and was a modest box office success. Elysium was released on DVD and Blu-ray on December 17, 2013.

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Plot.

In 2154, Earth is overpopulated and polluted. Most of the citizens live in poverty while the rich live on an orbiting space station named Elysium. A hacker named Spider runs flights to Elysium to smuggle people in to use their Med-Bays, devices that can heal any disease or condition. After Elysium’s Defense Secretary Delacourt is reprimanded for shooting down several of Spider’s spacecraft, she offers Armadyne Corp CEO John Carlyle defense contracts for life in exchange for a program that will allow Delacourt to conduct a coup and install herself as president. Carlyle writes the program and stores it inside his brain. Max Da Costa is working for Armadyne Corp as a laborer when he is accidentally exposed to a lethal dose of radiation. He is given medication and told he has five days to live.

Max and his friend Julio approach Spider and make a deal: a ride to Elysium in exchange for stealing information for Spider. Spider provides Max with a powered exoskeleton for his mission. Max and Julio shoot down Carlyle’s shuttle to Elysium and extract the program from his brain. Delacourt sends a black ops team led by Agent Kruger to retrieve it. Kruger kills Julio but an injured Max escapes with the data. Max seeks help from his childhood friend and nurse Frey, who patches him up. Max goes to Spider, who realizes what the data in Max’s head is worth. Delacourt locks down all flights up to Elysium, leaving Spider unable to take Max.

After Kruger kidnaps Frey and her daughter, Max approaches him and offers him the data in exchange for the use of a Med-Bay. Kruger accepts and the lockdown is lifted so they can travel to Elysium. During the flight, Kruger and Max fight over the data and a grenade explodes in Kruger’s face. The ship crashes and Max is arrested and taken to Delacourt, who orders a team to extract the data. Max escapes and heads to the armory to save Frey, who has been turned over to Kruger’s men. Kruger is revived by a Med-Bay and confronted by Delacourt, whom he fatally wounds. He orders his men to start killing the politicians on the torus while he hunts down Max.

Production.

Elysium was produced by Bill Block, Neill Blomkamp, and Simon Kinberg, and written and directed by Neill Blomkamp, the director and co-writer of District 9 (2009). It reunites Blomkamp with some of his District 9 crew, such as editor Julian Clarke, production designer Philip Ivey, cinematographer Trent Opaloch, and actor Sharlto Copley, playing one of the film’s antagonists. Elysium is a co-production of TriStar Pictures and MRC. Although the film’s story is set in 2154, Blomkamp has stated that it is a comment on the contemporary human condition. “Everybody wants to ask me lately about my predictions for the future,” the director has said, “No, no, no.

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This isn’t science fiction. This is today. This is now.” In January 2011, independent studio Media Rights Capital met with major studios to distribute Elysium, and Blomkamp shared art designs of his proposed science fiction film. The art designs won over the executives at Sony Pictures, who bought the film after making a more attractive offer than the other studios. With a production budget of $115 million, production began in July 2011. The film’s Earth-bound scenes were shot in a dump in the poor Iztapalapa district on the outskirts of Mexico City. The scenes for Elysium were shot in Vancouver and the wealthy Huixquilucan-Interlomas suburbs of Mexico City.

Matt Damon shaved his head for the role of Max. The main role was first offered to Watkin Tudor Jones (aka Ninja), a South African rapper, who despite being a fan of District 9 (he has a D9 tattoo on his inner lip) did not take the role. The role was then offered to rapper Eminem, but he wanted the film to be shot in Detroit. That was not an option for the two studios, so Blomkamp moved on to Damon as his next choice. Futuristic designs were executed by Philip Ivey after long periods of researching and studying older science fiction films. Ivey has continuously cited Syd Mead as a substantial influence for the film.

Box office.

Elysium grossed $93.1 million in North America and $193.1 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $286.1 million, against a production budget of $115 million. It made a net profit of $18 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues for the film. The film opened on August 9, 2013, and grossed $11.1 million on its opening day, ranking No. 1. It proceeded to rank No. 1 for the weekend, grossing $29.8 million.

Release.

When the film was first announced, Sony intended to release it in late 2012. It later set an official release date for March 8, 2013, before moving one week earlier to prevent competing against Oz the Great and Powerful. In October 2012, Sony then announced they had pushed back the release date to August 9, 2013. In April 2013, Sony also announced that the film would be specifically reformatted for IMAX theaters. By that time, two theatrical trailers and a TV spot had already been showcased. Elysium was originally released on DVD and Blu-ray on December 17, 2013 and later released on Ultra HD Blu-ray on February 9, 2021 by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.