title: Dick Wolf

text: Wolf's future projects for NBC are an American adaption of the United Kingdom psychological legal drama series "Injustice" as well as a drama series revolving around a satanic cult, tentatively titled "The Church". Wolf is writing the latter project with Howard Franklin. Wolf also has an untitled pilot about an insurance investigator on USA Network.


title: Dick Wolf

text: With Wolf pursuing projects other than "Law & Order", he and current "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" showrunner/executive producer Warren Leight sometimes discuss the future of the "Law & Order" franchise and revitalizing it; Leight commenting "(Dick Wolf and I) sometimes talk in general terms of where (the franchise) could go. I'm curious to see if there's another iteration somewhere down the line."


title: Dick Wolf

text: In May 2021, NBC ordered a docuseries "LA Fire and Rescue". The series will follow the firefighters of the Los Angeles County Fire Department and will be executive produced by Wolf.


title: Dick Wolf

text: Wolf's personal honors include the Award of Excellence from the Banff Television Festival, the 2002 Creative Achievement Award from NATPE; the Anti-Defamation League's Distinguished Entertainment Industry Award, the Leadership and Inspiration Award from the Entertainment Industries Council, the Governor's Award by the New York Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the 1997 achievement award from the Caucus for Producers, Writers, and Directors, the 1998 Television Showman of the Year Award from the Publicists Guild of America, the 2002 Tribute from the Museum of Television and Radio, and a 2003 Special Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America. On March 29, 2007, Wolf received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7040 Hollywood Boulevard. In 2013 Wolf was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame. Wolf is also an Honorary Consul general of Monaco and is actively involved in the principality's prestigious annual Television Festival, and as its primary liaison with the entertainment community.


title: Dick Wolf

text: It was reported that Wolf contributed to Fred Thompson's campaign for the Republican nomination for president in 2008. The two had worked together since 2002, when Thompson joined the cast of "Law & Order" playing a district attorney.


title: Dick Wolf

text: "Community", a sitcom on NBC from 2009 to 2014 had an episode which parodied Dick Wolf's "Law & Order", with the title "Basic Lupine Urology" being a play on his name. Wolf is given a special thanks credit at the end of the episode.


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: Dawn of the Dead is a 2004 American action horror film directed by Zack Snyder in his feature directorial debut, with a screenplay by James Gunn. A remake of George A. Romero's 1978 horror film of the same name, it stars an ensemble cast that includes Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Jake Weber, and Mekhi Phifer. Scott Reiniger, Tom Savini, and Ken Foree from the original film also make cameo appearances. Set in Milwaukee, the film follows a group of survivors who take refuge in an upscale suburban shopping mall during a zombie apocalypse.


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: Producers Eric Newman and Marc Abraham developed the film rather as a "re-envisioning" of the original "Dawn of the Dead", aiming to reinvigorate the zombie genre for modern audiences. Newman and Abraham bought the rights from co-producer Richard P. Rubinstein (who produced the original), and hired Gunn to write the script, which adopted the original's basic premise but is oriented around the action genre. Intent on making the remake a straight horror, Snyder took over to direct with the goal of keeping every aspect of the production as grounded in reality as possible. Filming took place from June 9 to September 6 of 2003, on location in Toronto, Ontario, Canada where a now-defunct shopping mall that was slated for demolition was used. The special makeup effects for the film were created by David LeRoy Anderson, and the music was composed by Tyler Bates in his first collaboration with Snyder.


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: "Dawn of the Dead" was released by Universal Pictures on March 19, 2004, topping the box office in its United States opening weekend, and went on to gross $102.3 million worldwide against a budget of $26 million. Reviews were generally positive, citing improvements over the original in terms of acting, production values, and scares while finding it lacking in character development, excessively gory, and indifferent to Romero's preoccupation with consumerism. Retrospective reviews have called it Snyder's best film and placed it among the best zombie and horror films ever made. A spiritual successor, "Army of the Dead", was released on May 14, 2021.


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: After finishing a long shift as a nurse at a hospital, Ana Clark returns to her suburban neighborhood and her husband Luis. Caught up in a date night, they miss an emergency news bulletin. The next morning, Vivian, a girl from the neighborhood randomly enters their bedroom and bites Luis. Ana forces Vivian outside and tries to call for help. While she is dialing, Luis bleeds out, reanimates and attacks Ana. She flees in her car, crashes, and passes out. Upon waking she joins police sergeant Kenneth Hall, electronics salesman Michael Shaunessy, petty criminal Andre and his pregnant wife, Luda. They break into a nearby shopping mall and are attacked by a zombie security guard, who slightly bites Luda. Three guards — C.J., Bart, and Terry — make them surrender their weapons in exchange for refuge. They split into groups to secure the mall. On the roof, they see another survivor, Andy, who is stranded in his gun store across the zombie-infested parking lot. A broadcast from a television features a group of police officers burning the corpses of zombies and instructs the viewers to shoot zombies in the head to kill them quickly, prompting the survivors to heed this advice.


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: The next day a delivery truck carrying more survivors enters the lot, pursued by zombies. They include Norma, Steve, Tucker, Monica, Glen, Frank and his daughter, Nicole. Another woman is too ill to walk; she is wheeled inside, only to die and reanimate. After she is killed, the group determines the disease is passed by bites. Luda keeps her bite a secret from the group, though Andre knows. Frank, who has been bitten, elects to be isolated. When he reanimates, Kenneth shoots him.


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: Kenneth and Andy start a friendship by way of messages written on a whiteboard; romance buds between Ana and Michael, as well as Nicole and Terry. When the power goes out, a few of the survivors go to the parking garage to activate the emergency generator and find a friendly dog who is adopted by Nicole and named Chips. Zombies kill Bart, forcing the others to douse the zombies in gasoline and set them ablaze. Meanwhile, Luda — tied up by Andre — dies before giving birth. She reanimates and Norma kills her. This makes Andre snap; he exchanges gunfire with Norma and the two kill each other. The others find a zombie baby in Andre's arms delivered after Luda's death, which they reluctantly kill. Desperate and depressed after the event, the group decides it is better to escape and find something in the outside than stay in the mall and eventually die. They decide to fight their way to the marina and travel on Steve's yacht to an island on Lake Michigan. They reinforce two shuttle buses from the garage; welding on a snowplow, attaching metal bars and chains as well as stocking chainsaws, propane tanks and road flares.


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: To keep Andy from starving, the group straps some food onto Chips and lowers him into the parking lot; the zombies have no interest in him. Chips enters Andy's store safely, but a zombie follows and bites Andy. Pursuing Chips, Nicole crashes the delivery truck into the gun store, where she is trapped by a zombified Andy. A group of them reach the gun store via the sewers, kill Andy, and rescue Nicole. They grab ammunition and go back to the mall; along the way, Tucker breaks his legs, and at his request C.J. shoots him. Once inside, they are unable to lock the door because Steve temporarily abandoned his guard duty. Zombies storm the mall, forcing an evacuation via the buses.


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: While navigating the city, Glen loses control of a chainsaw, accidentally killing Monica. In the chaos, their bus crashes, killing Glen. Steve tries to flee on his own but is ambushed by a zombie. Ana kills the zombified Steve and retrieves his boat keys. At the marina, C.J. sacrifices himself by detonating a propane tank so the others can escape. Michael, after revealing a bite wound, kills himself as Ana, Kenneth, Nicole, Terry, and Chips flee on the yacht.


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: A footage from a camcorder found on the boat shows the group run out of supplies, arrive at an island and get attacked by a swarm of zombies. The camcorder drops, leaving their fate unknown.


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: Additional members of the cast include stuntman Ermes Blarasin as the bloated woman, Natalie Brown as a CDC reporter, and dog actor Blu as Nicole's adopted pet dog Chips. Director Zack Snyder cameos as a soldier battling zombies at the United States Capitol during the film's title sequence, as do Scott Reiniger, Tom Savini, and Ken Foree (who were in the original film) as a general, sheriff, and televangelist, respectively.


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: Plans to remake 1978's "Dawn of the Dead" were conceived by producer Eric Newman, a fan of zombie films who cited the George A. Romero horror film as the best in this genre. With the remake, Newman and producer Marc Abraham wanted to reinvigorate the zombie genre for modern audiences as well as "make the old fans happy and make a lot of new fans". Newman and Abraham bought the rights to "Dawn of the Dead" from its producer and rights holder Richard P. Rubinstein, who was reluctant at first as he was "concerned that somewhere along the way a studio would sanitize Newman's vision for producing a version with 'attitude'", but that it was "Marc Abraham's long track record in keeping the creative integrity of the studio distributed films he has produced intact that gave me reason to say 'yes'". Newman hired James Gunn to write the script, and the studio brought Gunn in despite not wanting to deliver them a signal idea for the film beforehand. Gunn, who had been a fan of the original since he was a young boy, had turned down the offer until he "kind of saw generally what [the film] could be".


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: The producers conceptualized the remake as more of a "re-envisioning" which would work in some references to the original but would primarily work on its own terms. Co-producer Eric Newman cited "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1978), "The Thing" (1982), and "The Fly" (1986) as influences on the remake, considering these to be "amazing updates" as well as "great movies that add to rather than diminish the original films". By way of respect to Romero's film, the producers cast the original's Tom Savini, Scott Reiniger, and Ken Foree in cameos; and incorporated visual references to Gaylen Ross and James A. Baffico.


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: In writing the script, Gunn retained the original's basic premise of a group of survivors taking refuge in a mall during the zombie apocalypse, but gave it a plot that was more action-oriented. To develop the plot, he declined to write a treatment in favor of a discovery writing method whereby he would devise hypothetical situations which would ultimately force the characters to evacuate the mall. He found it best that the origin of the zombie outbreak be left ambiguous to keep audiences guessing and reflect accordingly. The script was given uncredited rewrites by Michael Tolkin and Scott Frank; co-producer Richard P. Rubinstein said Tolkin further developed the characters while Frank provided some of the bigger, upbeat action scenes. Gunn revealed he had faced internet backlash over the film due to his past screenwriting credit on "Scooby-Doo" (2002), believing him to be unqualified for the job. However, film critic Harry Knowles, initially an opponent of the remake, read Gunn's script and gave it a positive response on his website Ain't It Cool News, which Gunn said helped eliminate doubts cast upon him by fans of the original.


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: With "Dawn of the Dead", Gunn wanted to explore the human condition as well as tell a wholly different story about redemption. He elaborated on the redemptive theme of the film in an interview with "IGN" during a press junket for "" released that same year:


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: I think that in the end, "Dawn of the Dead" is about redemption because it's about a bunch of people who have lived certain lives, who have maybe not been the best people, and suddenly they have everything that they've used to define themselves: Their careers, their churches, their jobs, their families are stripped away. They're gone. They start at nothing and they have to become who they really are in the face of all that and some of the people are redeemed and end up becoming good people and some of them are not redeemed and they end up, you know, not redeemed. And that's what kind of drove me throughout the story, was it was a story about redemption. I also think that there's a lot about how people survive and what people turn to in the face of such tragedy. The tragedy in this case being flesh-eating zombies. And really it's a group coming together to work as a community who wouldn't otherwise work together. So there is that foundation of love, that basic message, within even "Dawn of the Dead"...


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: Zack Snyder chose to direct the remake as his first feature film because it gave the television commercial director "a reason to care about every shot". Not wanting his version inevitably compared to George A. Romero's, he concurred with the producers on reimagining the latter film as opposed to doing it as a "remake", which, in his view, would have entailed re-shooting Romero's script. For that matter, he aimed to make his film a straight horror that was "as serious as a heart attack" and keep every aspect of its production as grounded in reality as possible. His approach included previsualizing the film with storyboards and introducing the concept of running zombies, which he said was his "fresh, new way" of giving it a sense of verisimilitude and rendering zombies as if they were real threats, especially when they attack in hordes. Gunn supported this concept, believing that the danger presented by running zombies would increase the stakes much higher than it would with lumbering zombies like those in the original. Snyder would also maintain Gunn's decision not to reveal the origin of the zombie outbreak, believing it was "obvious that in this fallen society, you wouldn't know where the whole plague started".


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: In searching for a suitable upscale mall location for the film, production designer Andrew Neskoromny looked for existing malls that were scheduled for demolition. His search yielded no results until he found the now-defunct Thornhill Square shopping mall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which measured approximately . Dubbed the "Crossroads Mall", the crew completely redid the mall over an eight-week period, adding an expensive water feature near the entrance, 14 stores, parking structures, and warehouse areas. Since Snyder wanted the stores palpable in terms of design and stood not merely as storefronts, Neskoromny's team accordingly built them as actual retail stores complete with merchandise. These stores were given fake names, since only two major retail brands agreed to be featured in the film.


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: The special makeup effects for the film were created by David LeRoy Anderson, with assistance from his actress wife Heather Langenkamp. Prior to accepting the job from Universal Studios' then-executive James D. Brubaker, Anderson had been in a two-year hiatus from working as a makeup effects artist to operate his company DLA Silverwear. Anderson completed his test makeups for the film over a four-week period, and then he and his team traveled to the Toronto set and set up their makeup effects lab next to the mall.


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: Since the filmmakers had decided that the zombies in the film would become more decomposed over time, Anderson accordingly researched on the appearance of decay following human death, looking through several medical books, war footages, and crime scene photographs showing graphic images of trauma victims in order to properly depict this appearance; he broke down the look of decomposition into three stages:


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: The first stage looks like someone who was just in the ER – pale, with lots of fresh blood. The second stage has moist wounds but the skin is beginning to break down. There is a lot of discoloration and mottling, mostly blues and greens. The third stage is the most intense, with the skeletal form coming through. The wounds are dried-up, the skin is sloughing off and colors are oily blacks.


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: Filming began on June 9, 2003, on location in various parts of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Hundreds of zombie extras had to be constantly available for the entire shoot. To handle the volume of willing extras, Anderson and his team built a large factory where painted extras would stay put until they are spoken for by either the main or second unit film crew. They built various makeup rooms for the artists to work in: one consisted of camper trailers where they would apply detailed prosthetic makeups to extras playing "hero zombies", a special type of zombie; and the other consisted of tents where they would produce painted masks for extras playing background zombies. Extras playing foreground zombies were painted with plain palette makeups in Anderson's mall lab. The makeup artists were given his concept images to work on as references. According to Anderson and Heather Langenkamp, the most extras they ever had in a given day sat between 200–400, with a total of 3,000 makeups completed when filming ended on September 6, 2003.


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: The visual effects for the film were provided by Canadian VFX studio Mr. X Inc., with its president Dennis Berardi serving as the film's co-VFX supervisor.


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: The production shot scenes for which Snyder wanted as many as 4,000 live-action zombies, which Berardi created rather as a combination of practical zombies and CG zombies which he built as 3D models with Autodesk Maya. One such scene involved tens of thousands of zombies at the mall's parking lot, which was shot with motion-control passes whose green screen elements of 200 extras, combined with the CG zombies, were later composited to create a "digital crowd simulation that looks realistic".


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: The score for "Dawn of the Dead" was composed by Tyler Bates, his first for a horror film. Bates became involved with the film after he was recommended to it by its music supervisor, G. Marq Roswell, who learned he made little money from his work on Mario Van Peebles's film "Baadasssss!" (2003), on which Roswell also served as music supervisor. The studio was not convinced with hiring Bates, as he was not an established composer at the time, but director Zack Snyder insisted on him, and he was ultimately hired.


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: In scoring the film, Bates avoided taking cues from the original's music by the band Goblin, finding its style to be incompatible with what Snyder had filmed. Bates's score combines elements of electronic music and 20th-century orchestra, which was influenced by the works of composers adept at creating dissonance, such as Béla Bartók and Krzysztof Penderecki. Bates employed these musical choices with the intention of making the audience "very, very uncomfortable".


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: Milan Records released Bates's score in physical format for the first time on October 23, 2012, a week after the record label released it digitally via iTunes Store and Amazon Music. The album comprises 31 tracks, all of which were composed by Bates. Bates's work on "Dawn of the Dead" also marked the beginning of a frequent collaboration between him and Snyder; he would later compose for the director on "300" (2006), "Watchmen" (2009), and "Sucker Punch" (2011).


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: "Dawn of the Dead" was marketed with its 10-minute opening sequence that was broadcast on cable television four nights before its theatrical release. Released on March 19, 2004, the film grossed $26.7 million in its United States opening weekend, claiming the No. 1 spot "The Passion of the Christ" formerly held for three consecutive weekends. "Dawn of the Dead" ended its theatrical run grossing $102.3 million worldwide (against a budget of $26 million), with a gross of $59 million in the United States and Canada and $43.3 million in other territories. "Variety" reported, "Some 63% of "Dawn" [audiences] were under age 25, with 57% of patrons male. Hispanic moviegoers comprised 21% of its supporters and African-Americans 14%."


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: The release of "Dawn of the Dead" in the U.S. nearly coincided with that of "Shaun of the Dead", another zombie film distributed by Universal Pictures. In a February 2004 "Variety" report, a spokesman at Universal revealed that the studio had greenlit "Shaun of the Dead" "with the condition that "Dawn of the Dead" would be released here in the U.S. first" in order to avoid this conflict.


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment released "Dawn of the Dead" on DVD, Blu-ray, and digital with director Zack Snyder's unrated director's cut of the film, which Snyder described as longer, gorier, and character-driven than the theatrical version. Bonus features found on the DVD and Blu-ray are Snyder and co-producer Eric Newman's audio commentary; the featurettes "Attack of the Living Dead", "Raising the Dead", "Drawing the Dead", "Splitting Headaches", "Surviving the Dawn", and "Andy's Lost Tape"; deleted scenes with optional commentary with Snyder and Newman; and the film's theatrical trailer.


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: On Halloween of 2017, Shout! Factory's horror sub-label Scream Factory released a two-disc collector's edition Blu-ray of "Dawn of the Dead", which contains the film's theatrical version and the director's cut. The Blu-ray, which is said to have been "derived from the digital intermediate archival negative", contains bonus features found in previous releases in addition to new and exclusive ones featuring interviews with actors Ty Burrell and Jake Weber, screenwriter James Gunn, and makeup effects artists David LeRoy Anderson and Heather Langenkamp. A 4K Ultra HD collector's edition Blu-ray from Scream Factory with extras ported over from the label's previous release was set for a January 31, 2023 release.


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: Upon its theatrical release, " Dawn of the Dead" was praised by film critics as a worthy remake of the original as well as a decent entry in the zombie genre. Lisa Schwarzbaum ("Entertainment Weekly") praised Zack Snyder's direction in a "killer feature debut", and Roger Ebert ("Chicago Sun-Times") gave it a positive review and said that anyone paying to see it are guaranteed to get their money's worth. Abundant praise was also given to the film's opening sequence; an otherwise negative review from "The Hollywood Reporter" called it "pulse-poundingly good". While some said the film exuded better acting, production values, and scares than the original, others felt its horror was not on par with that of the latter film. Another gripe from critics was the lack of witty humor of the original, although many found the scene in which a couple of male characters shoot zombified celebrity look-alikes with a sniper rifle to be funny, among other jokes; "The Hollywood Reporter" cited it as some of the film's "moments of inspired audacity".


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: Despite the general praise, critics took issue with how the film had downplayed key elements of its predecessor. Some argued that whereas George A. Romero had utilized the shopping mall location to satirize consumer culture and a range of sociopolitical issues, Snyder had used it merely as a convenient setting for his characters. Others complained that the film was content to indulge in bloody zombie killings at the expense of any nuance that was once present in the original, leaving the audience rather numbed and "less mercifully handled, even at the end-credits". In contrast, the "Los Angeles Times" critic Manohla Dargis opined that Romero's consumerist metaphor has lost its significance in the years since the original's release, "with the politics of consumption now an established academic field and shopping now considered a statement of identity", and attributed the film's appeal not to its bloody violence "but [to] the filmmakers' commitment to genre fundamentals". "IGN" praised the film's tonal shift, calling it a "calculated risk that paid off".


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: While some critics complimented James Gunn's script as "sharp" and propulsive, others took issue with its lack of plot development in addition to what one review believed to be his "ill-advised" decision to expand Romero's once-small group of survivors which brought little in the way of character development. The "Chicago Tribune" thought the characters were clichéd and about as dumb as the undead, though sympathized with the "tragic" dilemma faced by Mekhi Phifer's character. "ReelViews" owner and web-based critic James Berardinelli was lenient in this regard, however, stating that although there were moments in which the characters did show a lack of common sense, "it's inevitable that most of them end up as one-dimensional throw-aways whose sole purpose is to increase the body count", and that "not many people go to a horror film looking for character development and drama". Likewise, Ebert was personally not on board with the characters' "risky" plan to escape from the mall in lieu of awaiting the zombies' natural death, though remarked that "taking chances makes for good action scenes". Both Ebert and Berardinelli found the subplots of the Phifer and Ving Rhames characters to be "touching", with the latter critic saying that these were "handled with a deft hand".


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: Among the cast, which was praised as "superlative" and "respectable", Sarah Polley garnered the most attention from critics, who complimented her as a "perfect against-type heroine" with a "nice anxious stare". "IGN" was dismayed that least attention was given to Phifer's "naturally charismatic presence" with such a large cast, though felt that Rhames was effective as Polley's "quietly authoritative foil" and praised Jake Weber's performance in a "thankless role".


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: In 2005, George A. Romero spoke briefly of how dissatisfied he was with "Dawn of the Dead" during an interview with actor Simon Pegg for "Time Out". Romero said that although the remake could pass for a good action film, he felt it was aimless and "more of a video game" for that matter, as well as maintained that he was "not terrified of things running at me".


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: Reception to "Dawn of the Dead" in the years following its release has been favorable and it is often cited as Zack Snyder's best film. Revisiting the film on its 15th anniversary in 2019, Joe Lipsett wrote the following verdict for Bloody Disgusting:


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: Fifteen years later, "Dawn of the Dead" completely holds up. The film's flaws are mostly at the character level, though having a dumb zombie baby and a few undeveloped red shirts in the mix is hardly a deal breaker. The action – particularly the opening scene and the propane explosion climax – in addition to the fantastic special effects makeup, the brief flirtation with found footage, and the reverence for its source text while introducing something new makes 2004's "Dawn of the Dead" one of the best remakes on the market.


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: In a June 2018 article for "The Hollywood Reporter", Richard Newby opined that "Dawn of the Dead" helped revitalize the zombie genre along with "28 Days Later" at a time when the United States "was ripe for the re-emergence of zombie movies" following the September 11 attacks, which he believes to have contributed to Americans' "increased fear of biological weapons, fervent mass militarization and the burrowing question of who exactly are the people we call our neighbors". Likewise, author Stephen King, in the forenote of the 2010 edition of his book "Danse Macabre", saw what he believed to be Snyder's subtext conveying the horrors induced by terrorist attacks, drawing parallels between the zombie apocalypse and a post-9/11 America. King described "Dawn of the Dead" as "genius perfected" in terms of its standing in the zombie genre. " South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and South Korean filmmaker Yeon Sang-ho consider themselves to be fans of the film, and cited it as an influence upon their works "Night of the Living Homeless" and the "Train to Busan" series, respectively.


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: Numerous publications have ranked "Dawn of the Dead" as one of the best zombie films ever made, including number 3 by "Rolling Stone" (2012), number 12 by "Empire" (2020), by "Collider" (2021), and number 17 by IndieWire (2022); as well as one of the best horror films of the decade, including number 3 by Dread Central (2010), number 8 by Bloody Disgusting (2009), number 52 by "IGN", and number 55 by "Rolling Stone" (2020). The film made review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes's lists of "The 20 Scariest Opening Scenes in Horror Movie History" (at number 6), "The 25 Best Horror Movie Remakes" (at number 9), "The 30 Essential Zombie Movies" (at number 13), and "18 Memorable Horror Remakes".


title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

text: On March 25, 2007, "Variety" announced that Warner Bros. Pictures would produce a new zombie film from a screenplay written by Joby Harold, based on an original idea conceived by Snyder. In a statement, Snyder said that he wanted the film to feel similar to "Dawn of the Dead" and "300" and that it would center around a father in Las Vegas "who tries to save his daughter from imminent death in a zombie-infested world." At the time, Wesley Coller was attached to executive produce, with Snyder and his wife Deborah Snyder producing through Cruel & Unusual Films (now known as The Stone Quarry). Snyder got the idea during "Dawn of the Dead"s production and wanted to explore a new evolution of the zombies. The film is not a sequel to "Dawn of the Dead" but rather a spiritual successor. Snyder realized that he needed a new origin story to develop the plot and create a new incarnation of the living dead. He titled the project "Army of the Dead" as a tribute to the works of George A. Romero. After languishing for several years in development hell, the distribution rights to the film were acquired by Netflix in 2019, and Snyder began shooting that same year. "Army of the Dead" had a week-long limited theatrical release starting May 14 prior to its wider Netflix release on May 21, 2021.


title: Flag of China

text: The National Flag of the People's Republic of China, also known as the Five-star Red Flag, is a Chinese red field with five golden stars charged at the canton. The design features one large star, with four smaller stars in an arc set off towards the fly. It has been the national flag of China since the foundation of the People's Republic of China on 1 October 1949.


title: Flag of China

text: The red represents the Chinese Communist Revolution and the five stars and their relationships to each other represent the unity of the Chinese people under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The flag was first hoisted by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) on a pole overlooking Beijing's Tiananmen Square on 1 October 1949, at a ceremony proclaiming the establishment of the People's Republic of China.


title: Flag of China

text: The previous flag of China was the "Yellow Dragon Flag" used by the Qing dynasty — the last imperial dynasty in China's history — from 1865 until the overthrow of the monarchy during the Xinhai Revolution. The flag that was adopted in 1867 was triangular, but the dynasty adopted a rectangular version of the dragon flag in 1889.


title: Flag of China

text: The canton (upper corner on the hoist side) originated from the "Blue Sky with a White Sun flag" () designed by Lu Haodong, a martyr of the Xinhai Revolution. He presented his design to represent the revolutionary army at the inauguration of the Society for Regenerating China, an anti-Qing society in Hong Kong, on 21 February 1895. This design was later adopted as the KMT party flag and the Coat of Arms of the Republic of China. The "red Earth" portion was added by Sun Yat-sen in the winter of 1906, bringing the flag to its modern form. According to George Yeo, the then Foreign Minister of Singapore in 2011, in those days, the Blue Sky with a White Sun flag was sewn in the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall (formerly known as the "Sun Yat Sen Villa") in Singapore by Teo Eng Hock and his wife. The drafted design had ten stripes with the flag of the Kuomintang in the canton that resembled the flags of the United States, Malaysia, and Liberia.


title: Flag of China

text: During the Wuchang Uprising in 1911 that heralded the Republic, the various revolutionary armies had different flags. Lu Hao-tung's "Blue Sky with a White Sun" flag was used in the provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, and Guizhou. In Wuhan, a flag with 18 yellow stars was used to represent the 18 administrative divisions at the time. In Shanghai and northern China, a "Five-Colored Flag" () (Five Races Under One Union flag) was used of five horizontal stripes representing the five major nationalities of China: the Han (red), the Manchu (yellow), the Mongol (blue), the Hui (white), and the Tibetan (black).


title: Flag of China

text: When the government of the Republic of China was established on 1 January 1912, the "Five-Colored Flag" was selected by the provisional Senate as the national flag. The "" was adopted by the army and the modern flag was adopted as a naval ensign. Sun Yat-sen, however, did not consider the five-colored flag appropriate, reasoning that horizontal order implied a hierarchy or class like that which existed during dynastic times.


title: Flag of China

text: After President Yuan Shikai assumed dictatorial powers in 1913 by dissolving the National Assembly and outlawing the KMT, Sun Yat-sen established a government-in-exile in Tokyo and employed the modern flag as the national ROC flag. He continued using this design when the KMT established a rival government in Guangzhou in 1917. The modern flag was made the official national flag on 17 December 1928 after the successful Northern Expedition that overthrew the Beijing government, though the Five-Colored Flag still continued to be used by locals in an unofficial capacity. One reason for this discrepancy in use was lingering regional biases held by officials and citizens of northern China, who favored the Five-Colored Flag, against southerners such as the Cantonese/Hakka Sun Yat-sen.


title: Flag of China

text: During the Second Sino-Japanese War, the invading Japanese established a variety of puppet governments using several flag designs. The "Reform Government", established in March 1938 in Nanjing to consolidate the various puppet governments, employed the Five-Colored Flag. When Wang Jingwei was slated to take over the Japanese-installed government in Nanjing in 1940, he demanded to use the modern flag as a means to challenge the authority of the Nationalist Government in Chongqing under Chiang Kai-shek and position himself as the rightful successor to Sun Yat-sen. However, the Japanese preferred the Five-Colored flag. As a compromise, the Japanese suggested adding a triangular yellow pennant on top with the slogan "Peace, Anticommunism, National Construction" () in black, but this was rejected by Wang. In the end, Wang and the Japanese agreed that the yellow banner was to be used outdoors only until 1943, when the banner was abandoned, leaving two rival governments with the same flag, each claiming to be the legitimate national government of China.


title: Flag of China

text: The flag was specified in Article Six of the 1947 Constitution. During the Chinese Civil War (prior to October 1949), the flag system under CCP rule in China was very confusing - institutionally, the rival old government flag was recognized as a legitimate national flag, but was not encouraged to be flown. Communist forces and supporters tended to use the CCP flag, the red flag without a design, the army merit flag, and the official military flag that came later. In addition, some regions use the Soviet national flag as a substitute, a practice that is severely reprimanded in official CCP documents.After the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the ROC government led by Chiang Kai-shek relocated its government and its institutions to the island of Taiwan. On the mainland, CCP forces of Mao Zedong established the People's Republic of China (PRC) and adopted their own national flag. On 23 October 1954, the National Emblem and National Flag of the Republic of China Act () was promulgated by the Legislative Yuan to specify the size, measure, ratio, production, and management of the flag.


title: Flag of China

text: On 4 July 1949, the sixth working group of the Preparatory Committee of the New Political Consultative Conference (, PCNPCC) created a notice to submit designs for the national flag. After subsequent revisions, the notice was published in the papers "People's Daily", "Beiping Liberation News", "Xinmin News", "Dazhong Daily", "Guangming Daily", "Jinbu Daily" and "Tianjin Daily" during the period 15–26 July. The list of requirements for the national flag were also posted in the notice:


title: Flag of China

text: Zeng Liansong, a citizen from Wenzhou, Zhejiang, was working in Shanghai when the announcement came out; he wanted to create a flag design to express his patriotic enthusiasm for the new country. In the middle of July, he sat down in his attic over the course of several nights to come up with designs. His inspiration for the current design came from observing how stars shine in the night sky. He thusly thought of a Chinese proverb, "longing for the stars, longing for the moon" (, "pàn xīngxīng pàn yuèliàng"), which shows yearning. He viewed the CCP as the great savior (, "dà jiùxīng" "great saving star") of the Chinese people, symbolized by the flag's largest star. The idea for four small stars came from "On the People's Democratic Dictatorship", a speech by Mao Zedong, which defined the Chinese people as consisting of four social classes, also traditionally referred to in Asian cultures as the four occupations (, "shì nóng gōng shāng") ("Scholars, Peasants, Workers, Merchants"). The color yellow implies that China belongs to the Chinese people, a "yellow race". After working out the details of the placement of the stars and their sizes (he had tried to put all of the stars in the center, but thought this too dull), he sent his "Five Stars on a Field of Red" (, "hóng dì wǔxīng qí") design to the committee in the middle of August.


title: Flag of China

text: By 20 August, between 2,992 and 3,012 designs had been sent to the flag committee, including input from committee members themselves such as Guo Moruo and Tan Kah Kee. From 16 to 20 August, the designs were viewed at the Beijing Hotel and culled down to a list of 38. These designs are collected into a book named "A Reference of National Flag Designs" (). This book was then submitted to the newly established Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) for further discussion. However, Zeng's design was not included until Tian Han nominated it again.


title: Flag of China

text: On the morning of 23 September, the representatives of the CPPCC discussed the national flags, but came to no conclusion. Some disliked the symbolism which Zeng attached to the four smaller stars, and said it should not include the bourgeoisie. The design Mao and others liked had a giant golden star in the corner on a red flag that was charged with a golden horizontal bar. But this design was strongly opposed by Zhang Zhizhong, who saw the golden bar as symbolizing China being divided into two. That night, Peng Guanghan () recommended Zeng's design to Zhou Enlai. Zhou was satisfied with it and asked for the creation of a larger copy of the design. Tan Kah Kee also gave his advice to Mao and Zhou that the power characteristics take precedence over Chinese geography characteristics, so there was no need to insist on the golden bar that symbolized the Yellow River. Two days later, Mao had a meeting in his office about the flag. He persuaded everyone to adopt Zeng's design, with some slight modifications. According to earlier discussions at the Beijing Hotel, the hammer and sickle from Zeng's original design was removed since it was similar to the Flag of the Soviet Union. On 27 September 1949, Zeng's modified design was selected unanimously by the First Plenary Session of CPPCC, which changed the flag's name to "Five-star Red Flag".


title: Flag of China

text: On 29 September, the new flag was published in the "People's Daily", so the design could be copied by other local authorities. The flag was officially unveiled and raised for the first time by Mao Zedong in Beijing's Tiananmen Square on 1 October 1949, at the formal announcement of the People's Republic of China. The first flag flown over Tiananmen Square was sewn together by Zhao Wenrui (), a seamstress who finished the task around 1pm on 30 September. Zeng had a hard time believing that his design was picked, due to the missing hammer and sickle from the giant star. However, he was officially congratulated by the General Office of the Central People's Government as the designer of the flag and received 5 million yuan for his work.


title: Flag of China

text: According to the official government interpretation of the flag, the red background symbolizes the Chinese Communist Revolution. The five stars and their relationship represents the unity of Chinese people under the leadership of the CCP. The orientation of the stars shows that the unity should revolve around a center. The larger star symbolizes the CCP, and the four smaller stars that surround the big star symbolize the four social classes of China's New Democracy mentioned in Mao's "On the People's Democratic Dictatorship": the working class, the peasantry, the urban petite bourgeoisie, and the national bourgeoisie. It is sometimes stated that the five stars of the flag represent the five largest ethnic groups: Han Chinese, Zhuangs, Hui people, Manchus and Uyghurs. This is generally regarded as an erroneous conflation with the "Five Races Under One Union" flag, used 1912–28 by the Beiyang Government of Republic of China, whose different-colored stripes represented the Han Chinese, Hui people, Manchus, Mongols and Tibetans.


title: Flag of China

text: Flag desecration is prohibited in China. The penal code provides for imprisonment up to three years, criminal detention, public surveillance, or deprivation of political rights for "whoever desecrates the National Flag or the National Emblem of the People's Republic of China by intentionally burning, mutilating, scrawling on, defiling or trampling upon it in a public place". Some Taiwanese groups have burned the Chinese flag in protest of the PRC government.


title: Flag of China

text: The construction sheet for the national flag was published on 28 September 1949 by an order from the Presidium of the First Plenary Session of the CPPCC. The information can also be found in the document "GB 12982-2004: National flag" that was released by the Standardization Administration of China.


title: Flag of China

text: During the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, flags that failed to adhere to the regulations were used in connection with China. The flags, used during the opening ceremony and two medal ceremonies, featured the four small stars incorrectly angled in the same direction, eliciting both fury at and a subsequent apology from the Olympic organizers.


title: Flag of China

text: The mentions five possible sizes that could be made for the national flag: According to Article 4 of the Law On the National Flag, people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government are directed to authorize companies to make any copy of the national flag. Besides five official sizes for flying on flagpoles, there are another four smaller sizes for other purposes, such as decoration on cars or display in meeting rooms.


title: Flag of China

text: The colors of the national flag are stipulated in the document "GB 12983-2004: Standard Color Sample of the National Flag", and promulgated by the Standardization Administration of China. The colors are in specified in CIE 1964 xyY color space under standard illuminant D65.


title: Flag of China

text: For computer display, the National Flag Law defers to "standard" PNG images posted on the National People's Congress website. The specific colors used, in the sRGB space of the PNG file, are:


title: Flag of China

text: The current law about the national flag was passed by 14th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Seventh National People's Congress on 28 June 1990 and was enforced starting 1 October 1990. The main point of the law was to set down regulations on how to make the Chinese flag, what it looks like, where it can be flown and how it can be flown. The law also stresses that the national flag is "the symbol and hallmark of the People's Republic of China" and that everyone "shall respect and care for the National Flag".


title: Flag of China

text: The National Flag Law of the People's Republic of China has made detailed regulations on places or institutions for raising the national flag. Specifically, it stipulates the flag must be hung daily at Tiananmen Square, the , the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the State Council, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, immigration agencies, ports, railway stations and other ports of entry, among other places. The flag should be hung at various departments of the State Council, the standing committees of local people's congresses at all levels, courts, and local committees of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference or property belonging to said places or institutions on working days. National flags should be raised in full-time schools except on vacations and Sundays.


title: Flag of China

text: According to Article 15 of the , "the national flag, when raised or carried in a procession with another flag or flags, shall be in front of the other flag or flags." However, incidents violating the aforementioned provisions, such as the CCP flag leading the national flag, have occurred.


title: Flag of China

text: Flag desecration is prohibited in China. The penal code provides for imprisonment up to three years, criminal detention, public surveillance, or deprivation of political rights for "whoever desecrates the National Flag or the National Emblem of the People's Republic of China by intentionally burning, mutilating, scrawling on, defiling or trampling upon it in a public place".


title: Flag of China

text: On 29 September 2017, Hong Kong elected legislator Cheng Chung-tai was convicted of desecrating the flag under the National Flag and National Emblem Ordinance. He had been seen turning representations of the flags (not of standard dimensions) upside down in the legislative chamber in October of the previous year.


title: Flag of China

text: Due to an order passed by the CCP Central Committee General Office and General Office of the State Council, cities and provinces are no longer allowed to adopt their own symbols. However, both of the Hong Kong and Macau Special Administrative Regions of China have their own special flags. The precise use of the SAR flags are regulated by laws passed by the National People's Congress.


title: Flag of China

text: The Flag of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region features a stylized, white, five-petal "Bauhinia blakeana" flower in the center of a red field. On each petal is a red star; the stars demonstrate Hong Kong residents' love of their motherland, while the overall flag design signifies the reestablished link between postcolonial Hong Kong and China while demonstrating the "One country, two systems" political principle applied to the region. The flag of Hong Kong was adopted on 16 February 1990. On 10 August 1996, it received formal approval from the Preparatory Committee, a group which advised the People's Republic of China (PRC) on Hong Kong's transfer of sovereignty from the United Kingdom to the PRC in 1997. The flag was first officially hoisted on 1 July 1997, in the handover ceremony marking the transfer of sovereignty from the United Kingdom to China.


title: Flag of China

text: The Regional flag of the Macau Special Administrative Region is "Macau green" with a lotus flower above a stylized image of the Governor Nobre de Carvalho Bridge and water in white, beneath an arc of five gold, five-pointed stars: one large star in the center of the arc and four smaller ones. The lotus was chosen as the floral emblem of Macau. The Governor Nobre de Carvalho Bridge is a bridge linking the Macau Peninsula and the island of Taipa. The bridge is one of the most recognizable landmarks of the territory. The water beneath the lotus and the bridge symbolize Macau's position as a port and its role played in the territory. The five five-pointed stars echo the design of the national flag, symbolizing the relationship Macau has with its mother country. The design was chosen on 15 January 1993 by a committee that was drafting the Basic Law for the Macau SAR and was formally adopted by the Macau SAR Preparatory Committee on 16 January 1999. The flag was first officially hoisted on 20 December 1999, in the handover ceremony marking the transfer of sovereignty from Portugal to China.


title: Flag of China

text: There are six flags that are used by the People's Liberation Army (PLA). The main feature of these flags is a golden star at the top left corner and two Chinese characters "" to the right of the star, all placed on a red background. The characters "" (literally "eight one") pay homage to the events on 1 August 1927 (8th month, 1st day); this was when the PLA was created by the CCP to start their rebellion against the Kuomintang Government in Nanchang. The main flag of the PLA was created on 15 June 1949 by a decree issued from Mao. The flag has a ratio of 5 by 4, which has a white sleeve measuring of the flag's length. For ceremonies, a PLA flag with golden fringe is placed on a pole with gold and red spiral stripes and topped with a golden finial and red tassel. Each branch of the PLA, the Ground Forces, Navy, Air Force and Rocket Force, also have their own flags to use. In a 1992 order, the flags of the three branches were defined. The top of the flags is the same as the PLA flag; the bottom are occupied by the colors of the branches. The flag of the Ground Forces has a forest green bar at the bottom, the naval ensign has stripes of blue and white at the bottom, the Air Force uses a sky blue bar and the Rocket Force uses a yellow bar at the bottom. The forest green represents the earth, the blue and white stripes represent the seas, the sky blue represents the air and the yellow represents the flare of missile launching.


title: Flag of China

text: After the CCP was founded in 1920, various sections of the party made flags based on what the Bolsheviks used, producing various designs and patterns. The current flag of the CCP was not created until 28 April 1942. On that date, the CCP Central Committee Political Bureau issued a decree announcing the flag and the pattern it should follow. The design was further defined in the CCP Constitution in 1996. The flag has a red background that is charged with the emblem of the CCP in gold at the top left corner. The flag ratio is defined as two by three (24×36 units); the size of the emblem is eight units square, placed four units away from the hoist and three units away from the top of the flag.


title: Flag of China

text: The flag of the Communist Youth League of China was adopted on 4 May 1950. The design of the flag consists of the group emblem, a gold star surrounded by a ring of gold, charged on a red field. The construction of the flag consists of making the top hoist portion of the flag into twelve by eighteen units, placing the emblem in the middle of that rectangle. The radius of the emblem is four units.


title: Flag of China

text: The Young Pioneers of China currently uses two flags. The first flag is for pioneer battalions. The length of this flag is ; its width. A golden badge of the Young Pioneers is placed in the center of the flag. However, for a company, a second, modified flag is used. The flag has a length of and a width of . A triangle is cut out of the fly edge of the flag and the golden emblem is shifted closer towards the hoist.


title: Flag of China

text: The customs flag is the Chinese national flag with the emblem of customs at the lower right corner, which consists of a golden key and the Caduceus of Hermes, crossing each other. The current customs flag was officially adopted on 1 October 1953. The customs flag should be hung at the bow of the customs vessel.


title: Norman Conquest

text: The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conqueror.


title: Norman Conquest

text: William's claim to the English throne derived from his familial relationship with the childless Anglo-Saxon king Edward the Confessor, who may have encouraged William's hopes for the throne. Edward died in January 1066 and was succeeded by his brother-in-law Harold Godwinson. The Norwegian king Harald Hardrada invaded northern England in September 1066 and was victorious at the Battle of Fulford on 20 September, but Godwinson's army defeated and killed Hardrada at the Battle of Stamford Bridge on 25 September. Three days later on 28 September, William's invasion force of thousands of men and hundreds of ships landed at Pevensey in Sussex in southern England. Harold marched south to oppose him, leaving a significant portion of his army in the north. Harold's army confronted William's invaders on 14 October at the Battle of Hastings. William's force defeated Harold, who was killed in the engagement, and William became king.


title: Norman Conquest

text: Although William's main rivals were gone, he still faced rebellions over the following years and was not secure on the English throne until after 1072. The lands of the resisting English elite were confiscated; some of the elite fled into exile. To control his new kingdom, William granted lands to his followers and built castles commanding military strongpoints throughout the land. The Domesday Book, a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales, was completed by 1086. Other effects of the conquest included the court and government, the introduction of the Norman language as the language of the elites, and changes in the composition of the upper classes, as William enfeoffed lands to be held directly from the king. More gradual changes affected the agricultural classes and village life: the main change appears to have been the formal elimination of slavery, which may or may not have been linked to the invasion. There was little alteration in the structure of government, as the new Norman administrators took over many of the forms of Anglo-Saxon government.


title: Norman Conquest

text: In 911, the Carolingian French ruler Charles the Simple allowed a group of Vikings under their leader Rollo to settle in Normandy as part of the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte. In exchange for the land, the Norsemen under Rollo were expected to provide protection along the coast against further Viking invaders. Their settlement proved successful, and the Vikings in the region became known as the "Northmen" from which "Normandy" and "Normans" are derived. The Normans quickly adopted the indigenous culture as they became assimilated by the French, renouncing paganism and converting to Christianity. They adopted the langue d'oïl of their new home and added features from their own Norse language, transforming it into the Norman language. They intermarried with the local population and used the territory granted to them as a base to extend the frontiers of the duchy westward, annexing territory including the Bessin, the Cotentin Peninsula and Avranches.


title: Norman Conquest

text: In 1002, English king Æthelred the Unready married Emma of Normandy, the sister of Richard II, Duke of Normandy. Their son Edward the Confessor, who spent many years in exile in Normandy, succeeded to the English throne in 1042. This led to the establishment of a powerful Norman interest in English politics, as Edward drew heavily on his former hosts for support, bringing in Norman courtiers, soldiers, and clerics and appointing them to positions of power, particularly in the Church. Childless and embroiled in conflict with the formidable Godwin, Earl of Wessex and his sons, Edward may also have encouraged Duke William of Normandy's ambitions for the English throne.


title: Norman Conquest

text: When King Edward died at the beginning of 1066, the lack of a clear heir led to a disputed succession in which several contenders laid claim to the throne of England. Edward's immediate successor was the Earl of Wessex, Harold Godwinson, the richest and most powerful of the English aristocrats. Harold was elected king by the Witenagemot of England and crowned by the Archbishop of York, Ealdred, although Norman propaganda claimed the ceremony was performed by Stigand, the uncanonically elected Archbishop of Canterbury. Harold was immediately challenged by two powerful neighbouring rulers. Duke William claimed that he had been promised the throne by King Edward and that Harold had sworn agreement to this; King Harald III of Norway, commonly known as Harald Hardrada, also contested the succession. His claim to the throne was based on an agreement between his predecessor, Magnus the Good, and the earlier English king, Harthacnut, whereby if either died without an heir, the other would inherit both England and Norway. William and Harald at once set about assembling troops and ships to invade England.


title: Norman Conquest

text: In early 1066, Harold's exiled brother, Tostig Godwinson, raided southeastern England with a fleet he had recruited in Flanders, later joined by other ships from Orkney. Threatened by Harold's fleet, Tostig moved north and raided in East Anglia and Lincolnshire, but he was driven back to his ships by the brothers Edwin, Earl of Mercia, and Morcar, Earl of Northumbria. Deserted by most of his followers, Tostig withdrew to Scotland, where he spent the summer recruiting fresh forces. King Harold spent the summer on the south coast with a large army and fleet waiting for William to invade, but the bulk of his forces were militia who needed to harvest their crops, so on 8 September Harold dismissed them.


title: Norman Conquest

text: Hardrada invaded northern England in early September, leading a fleet of more than 300 ships carrying perhaps 15,000 men. Harald's army was further augmented by the forces of Tostig, who threw his support behind the Norwegian king's bid for the throne. Advancing on York, the Norwegians defeated a northern English army under Edwin and Morcar on 20 September at the Battle of Fulford. The two earls had rushed to engage the Norwegian forces before Harold could arrive from the south. Although Harold Godwinson had married Edwin and Morcar's sister Ealdgyth, the two earls may have distrusted Harold and feared that the king would replace Morcar with Tostig. The end result was that their forces were devastated and unable to participate in the rest of the campaigns of 1066, although the two earls survived the battle.


title: Norman Conquest

text: Hardrada moved on to York, which surrendered to him. After taking hostages from the leading men of the city, on 24 September the Norwegians moved east to the tiny village of Stamford Bridge. King Harold probably learned of the Norwegian invasion in mid-September and rushed north, gathering forces as he went. The royal forces probably took nine days to cover the distance from London to York, averaging almost per day. At dawn on 25 September Harold's forces reached York, where he learned the location of the Norwegians. The English then marched on the invaders and took them by surprise, defeating them in the Battle of Stamford Bridge. Harald of Norway and Tostig were killed, and the Norwegians suffered such horrific losses that only 24 of the original 300 ships were required to carry away the survivors. The English victory was costly, however, as Harold's army was left in a battered and weakened state, and far from the English Channel.


title: Norman Conquest

text: William assembled a large invasion fleet and an army gathered from Normandy and all over France, including large contingents from Brittany and Flanders. He mustered his forces at Saint-Valery-sur-Somme and was ready to cross the Channel by about 12 August. The exact numbers and composition of William's force are unknown. A contemporary document claims that William had 726 ships, but this may be an inflated figure. Figures given by contemporary writers are highly exaggerated, varying from 14,000 to 150,000 men. Modern historians have offered a range of estimates for the size of William's forces: 7000–8000 men, 1000–2000 of them cavalry; 10,000–12,000 men; 10,000 men, 3000 of them cavalry; or 7500 men. The army would have consisted of a mix of cavalry, infantry, and archers or crossbowmen, with about equal numbers of cavalry and archers and the foot soldiers equal in number to the other two types combined. Although later lists of companions of William the Conqueror are extant, most are padded with extra names; only about 35 individuals can be reliably claimed to have been with William at Hastings.


title: Norman Conquest

text: William of Poitiers states that William obtained Pope Alexander II's consent for the invasion, signified by a papal banner, along with diplomatic support from other European rulers. Although Alexander did give papal approval to the conquest after it succeeded, no other source claims papal support before the invasion. William's army assembled during the summer while an invasion fleet in Normandy was constructed. Although the army and fleet were ready by early August, adverse winds kept the ships in Normandy until late September. There were probably other reasons for William's delay, including intelligence reports from England revealing that Harold's forces were deployed along the coast. William would have preferred to delay the invasion until he could make an unopposed landing.


title: Norman Conquest

text: The Normans crossed to England a few days after Harold's victory over the Norwegians at Stamford Bridge on 25 September, following the dispersal of Harold's naval force. They landed at Pevensey in Sussex on 28 September and erected a wooden castle at Hastings, from which they raided the surrounding area. This ensured supplies for the army, and as Harold and his family held many of the lands in the area, it weakened William's opponent and made him more likely to attack to put an end to the raiding.


title: Norman Conquest

text: Harold, after defeating his brother Tostig and Harald Hardrada in the north, left much of his force there, including Morcar and Edwin, and marched the rest of his army south to deal with the threatened Norman invasion. It is unclear when Harold learned of William's landing, but it was probably while he was travelling south. Harold stopped in London for about a week before reaching Hastings, so it is likely that he took a second week to march south, averaging about per day, for the nearly to London. Although Harold attempted to surprise the Normans, William's scouts reported the English arrival to the duke. The exact events preceding the battle remain obscure, with contradictory accounts in the sources, but all agree that William led his army from his castle and advanced towards the enemy. Harold had taken up a defensive position at the top of Senlac Hill (present-day Battle, East Sussex), about from William's castle at Hastings.


title: Norman Conquest

text: Contemporary sources do not give reliable data on the size and composition of Harold's army, although two Norman sources give figures of 1.2 million or 400,000 men. Recent historians have suggested figures of between 5000 and 13,000 for Harold's army at Hastings, but most agree on a range of between 7000 and 8000 English troops. These men would have comprised a mix of the "fyrd" (militia mainly composed of foot soldiers) and the "housecarls", or nobleman's personal troops, who usually also fought on foot. The main difference between the two types was in their armour; the "housecarls" used better protecting armour than that of the "fyrd". The English army does not appear to have had many archers, although some were present. The identities of few of the Englishmen at Hastings are known; the most important were Harold's brothers Gyrth and Leofwine. About 18 other named individuals can reasonably be assumed to have fought with Harold at Hastings, including two other relatives.


title: Norman Conquest

text: The battle began at about 9 am on 14 October 1066 and lasted all day, but while a broad outline is known, the exact events are obscured by contradictory accounts in the sources. Although the numbers on each side were probably about equal, William had both cavalry and infantry, including many archers, while Harold had only foot soldiers and few archers. The English soldiers formed up as a shield wall along the ridge, and were at first so effective that William's army was thrown back with heavy casualties. Some of William's Breton troops panicked and fled, and some of the English troops appear to have pursued the fleeing Bretons. Norman cavalry then attacked and killed the pursuing troops. While the Bretons were fleeing, rumours swept the Norman forces that the duke had been killed, but William rallied his troops. Twice more the Normans made feigned withdrawals, tempting the English into pursuit, and allowing the Norman cavalry to attack them repeatedly. The available sources are more confused about events in the afternoon, but it appears that the decisive event was the death of Harold, about which different stories are told. William of Jumieges claimed that Harold was killed by the duke. The Bayeux Tapestry has been claimed to show Harold's death by an arrow to the eye, but this may be a later reworking of the tapestry to conform to 12th-century stories that Harold had died from an arrow wound to the head. Other sources stated that no one knew how Harold died because the press of battle was so tight around the king that the soldiers could not see who struck the fatal blow. William of Poitiers gives no details at all about Harold's death.


title: Norman Conquest

text: The day after the battle, Harold's body was identified, either by his armour or marks on his body. The bodies of the English dead, who included some of Harold's brothers and his "housecarls", were left on the battlefield, although some were removed by relatives later. Gytha, Harold's mother, offered the victorious duke the weight of her son's body in gold for its custody, but her offer was refused. William ordered that Harold's body be thrown into the sea, but whether that took place is unclear. Another story relates that Harold was buried at the top of a cliff. Waltham Abbey, which had been founded by Harold, later claimed that his body had been buried there secretly. Later legends claimed that Harold did not die at Hastings, but escaped and became a hermit at Chester.


title: Norman Conquest

text: After his victory at Hastings, William expected to receive the submission of the surviving English leaders, but instead Edgar the Ætheling was proclaimed king by the Witenagemot, with the support of Earls Edwin and Morcar, Stigand, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Ealdred, the Archbishop of York. William therefore advanced, marching around the coast of Kent to London. He defeated an English force that attacked him at Southwark, but being unable to storm London Bridge he sought to reach the capital by a more circuitous route.


title: Norman Conquest

text: William moved up the Thames valley to cross the river at Wallingford, Berkshire; while there he received the submission of Stigand. He then travelled north-east along the Chilterns, before advancing towards London from the north-west, fighting further engagements against forces from the city. Having failed to muster an effective military response, Edgar's leading supporters lost their nerve, and the English leaders surrendered to William at Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire. William was acclaimed King of England and crowned by Ealdred on 25 December 1066, in Westminster Abbey. The new king attempted to conciliate the remaining English nobility by confirming Morcar, Edwin and Waltheof, the Earl of Northumbria, in their lands as well as giving some land to Edgar the Ætheling. William remained in England until March 1067, when he returned to Normandy with English prisoners, including Stigand, Morcar, Edwin, Edgar the Ætheling, and Waltheof.


title: Norman Conquest

text: Despite the submission of the English nobles, resistance continued for several years. William left control of England in the hands of his half-brother Odo and one of his closest supporters, William fitzOsbern. In 1067 rebels in Kent launched an unsuccessful attack on Dover Castle in combination with Eustace II of Boulogne. The Shropshire landowner Eadric the Wild, in alliance with the Welsh rulers of Gwynedd and Powys, raised a revolt in western Mercia, fighting Norman forces based in Hereford. These events forced William to return to England at the end of 1067. In 1068 William besieged rebels in Exeter, including Harold's mother Gytha, and after suffering heavy losses managed to negotiate the town's surrender. In May, William's wife Matilda was crowned queen at Westminster, an important symbol of William's growing international stature. Later in the year Edwin and Morcar raised a revolt in Mercia with Welsh assistance, while Gospatric, the newly appointed Earl of Northumbria, led a rising in Northumbria, which had not yet been occupied by the Normans. These rebellions rapidly collapsed as William moved against them, building castles and installing garrisons as he had already done in the south. Edwin and Morcar again submitted, while Gospatric fled to Scotland, as did Edgar the Ætheling and his family, who may have been involved in these revolts. Meanwhile, Harold's sons, who had taken refuge in Ireland, raided Somerset, Devon and Cornwall from the sea.


title: Norman Conquest

text: Early in 1069 the newly installed Norman Earl of Northumbria, Robert de Comines, and several hundred soldiers accompanying him were massacred at Durham; the Northumbrian rebellion was joined by Edgar, Gospatric, Siward Barn and other rebels who had taken refuge in Scotland. The castellan of York, Robert fitzRichard, was defeated and killed, and the rebels besieged the Norman castle at York. William hurried north with an army, defeated the rebels outside York and pursued them into the city, massacring the inhabitants and bringing the revolt to an end. He built a second castle at York, strengthened Norman forces in Northumbria and then returned south. A subsequent local uprising was crushed by the garrison of York. Harold's sons launched a second raid from Ireland and were defeated at the Battle of Northam in Devon by Norman forces under Count Brian, a son of Eudes, Count of Penthièvre. In August or September 1069 a large fleet sent by Sweyn II of Denmark arrived off the coast of England, sparking a new wave of rebellions across the country. After abortive raids in the south, the Danes joined forces with a new Northumbrian uprising, which was also joined by Edgar, Gospatric and the other exiles from Scotland as well as Waltheof. The combined Danish and English forces defeated the Norman garrison at York, seized the castles and took control of Northumbria, although a raid into Lincolnshire led by Edgar was defeated by the Norman garrison of Lincoln.


title: Norman Conquest

text: At the same time resistance flared up again in western Mercia, where the forces of Eadric the Wild, together with his Welsh allies and further rebel forces from Cheshire and Shropshire, attacked the castle at Shrewsbury. In the southwest, rebels from Devon and Cornwall attacked the Norman garrison at Exeter but were repulsed by the defenders and scattered by a Norman relief force under Count Brian. Other rebels from Dorset, Somerset and neighbouring areas besieged Montacute Castle but were defeated by a Norman army gathered from London, Winchester and Salisbury under Geoffrey of Coutances. Meanwhile, William attacked the Danes, who had moored for the winter south of the Humber in Lincolnshire, and drove them back to the north bank. Leaving Robert of Mortain in charge of Lincolnshire, he turned west and defeated the Mercian rebels in battle at Stafford. When the Danes attempted to return to Lincolnshire, the Norman forces there again drove them back across the Humber. William advanced into Northumbria, defeating an attempt to block his crossing of the swollen River Aire at Pontefract. The Danes fled at his approach, and he occupied York. He bought off the Danes, who agreed to leave England in the spring, and during the winter of 1069–70 his forces systematically devastated Northumbria in the Harrying of the North, subduing all resistance. As a symbol of his renewed authority over the north, William ceremonially wore his crown at York on Christmas Day 1069.


title: Norman Conquest

text: In early 1070, having secured the submission of Waltheof and Gospatric, and driven Edgar and his remaining supporters back to Scotland, William returned to Mercia, where he based himself at Chester and crushed all remaining resistance in the area before returning to the south. Papal legates arrived and at Easter re-crowned William, which would have symbolically reasserted his right to the kingdom. William also oversaw a purge of prelates from the Church, most notably Stigand, who was deposed from Canterbury. The papal legates also imposed penances on William and those of his supporters who had taken part in Hastings and the subsequent campaigns. As well as Canterbury, the see of York had become vacant following the death of Ealdred in September 1069. Both sees were filled by men loyal to William: Lanfranc, abbot of William's foundation at Caen, received Canterbury while Thomas of Bayeux, one of William's chaplains, was installed at York. Some other bishoprics and abbeys also received new bishops and abbots and William confiscated some of the wealth of the English monasteries, which had served as repositories for the assets of the native nobles.


title: Norman Conquest

text: In 1070 Sweyn II of Denmark arrived to take personal command of his fleet and renounced the earlier agreement to withdraw, sending troops into the Fens to join forces with English rebels led by Hereward the Wake, at that time based on the Isle of Ely. Sweyn soon accepted a further payment of Danegeld from William, and returned home. After the departure of the Danes the Fenland rebels remained at large, protected by the marshes, and early in 1071 there was a final outbreak of rebel activity in the area. Edwin and Morcar again turned against William, and although Edwin was quickly betrayed and killed, Morcar reached Ely, where he and Hereward were joined by exiled rebels who had sailed from Scotland. William arrived with an army and a fleet to finish off this last pocket of resistance. After some costly failures the Normans managed to construct a pontoon to reach the Isle of Ely, defeated the rebels at the bridgehead and stormed the island, marking the effective end of English resistance. Morcar was imprisoned for the rest of his life; Hereward was pardoned and had his lands returned to him.


title: Norman Conquest

text: William faced difficulties in his continental possessions in 1071, but in 1072 he returned to England and marched north to confront King Malcolm III of Scotland. This campaign, which included a land army supported by a fleet, resulted in the Treaty of Abernethy in which Malcolm expelled Edgar the Ætheling from Scotland and agreed to some degree of subordination to William. The exact status of this subordination was unclear – the treaty merely stated that Malcolm became William's man. Whether this meant only for Cumbria and Lothian or for the whole Scottish kingdom was left ambiguous.


title: Norman Conquest

text: In 1075, during William's absence, Ralph de Gael, the Earl of Norfolk, and Roger de Breteuil the Earl of Hereford, conspired to overthrow him in the Revolt of the Earls. The exact reason for the rebellion is unclear, but it was launched at the wedding of Ralph to a relative of Roger's, held at Exning. Another earl, Waltheof, despite being one of William's favourites, was also involved, and some Breton lords were ready to offer support. Ralph also requested Danish aid. William remained in Normandy while his men in England subdued the revolt. Roger was unable to leave his stronghold in Herefordshire because of efforts by Wulfstan, the Bishop of Worcester, and Æthelwig, the Abbot of Evesham. Ralph was bottled up in Norwich Castle by the combined efforts of Odo of Bayeux, Geoffrey of Coutances, Richard fitzGilbert, and William de Warenne. Norwich was besieged and surrendered, and Ralph went into exile. Meanwhile, the Danish king's brother, Cnut, had finally arrived in England with a fleet of 200 ships, but he was too late as Norwich had already surrendered. The Danes then raided along the coast before returning home. William did not return to England until later in 1075, to deal with the Danish threat and the aftermath of the rebellion, celebrating Christmas at Winchester. Roger and Waltheof were kept in prison, where Waltheof was executed in May 1076. By that time William had returned to the continent, where Ralph was continuing the rebellion from Brittany.


title: Norman Conquest

text: Once England had been conquered, the Normans faced many challenges in maintaining control. They were few in number compared to the native English population; including those from other parts of France, historians estimate the number of Norman landholders at around 8000. William's followers expected and received lands and titles in return for their service in the invasion, but William claimed ultimate possession of the land in England over which his armies had given him "de facto" control, and asserted the right to dispose of it as he saw fit. Henceforth, all land was "held" directly from the king in feudal tenure in return for military service. A Norman lord typically had properties scattered piecemeal throughout England and Normandy, and not in a single geographic block.


title: Norman Conquest

text: To find the lands to compensate his Norman followers, William initially confiscated the estates of all the English lords who had fought and died with Harold and redistributed part of their lands. These confiscations led to revolts, which resulted in more confiscations, a cycle that continued for five years after the Battle of Hastings. To put down and prevent further rebellions the Normans constructed castles and fortifications in unprecedented numbers, initially mostly on the motte-and-bailey pattern. Historian Robert Liddiard remarks that "to glance at the urban landscape of Norwich, Durham or Lincoln is to be forcibly reminded of the impact of the Norman invasion". William and his barons also exercised tighter control over inheritance of property by widows and daughters, often forcing marriages to Normans.


title: Norman Conquest

text: A measure of William's success in taking control is that, from 1072 until the Capetian conquest of Normandy in 1204, William and his successors were largely absentee rulers. For example, after 1072, William spent more than 75 per cent of his time in France rather than England. While he needed to be personally present in Normandy to defend the realm from foreign invasion and put down internal revolts, he set up royal administrative structures that enabled him to rule England from a distance.


title: Norman Conquest

text: A direct consequence of the invasion was the almost total elimination of the old English aristocracy and the loss of English control over the Catholic Church in England. William systematically dispossessed English landowners and conferred their property on his continental followers. The Domesday Book of 1086 meticulously documents the impact of this colossal programme of expropriation, revealing that by that time only about 5 per cent of land in England south of the Tees was left in English hands. Even this tiny residue was further diminished in the decades that followed, the elimination of native landholding being most complete in southern parts of the country.


title: Norman Conquest

text: Natives were also removed from high governmental and ecclesiastical offices. After 1075 all earldoms were held by Normans, and Englishmen were only occasionally appointed as sheriffs. Likewise in the Church, senior English office-holders were either expelled from their positions or kept in place for their lifetimes and replaced by foreigners when they died. By 1096 no bishopric was held by any Englishman, and English abbots became uncommon, especially in the larger monasteries.


title: Norman Conquest

text: Following the conquest, many Anglo-Saxons, including groups of nobles, fled the country for Scotland, Ireland, or Scandinavia. Members of King Harold Godwinson's family sought refuge in Ireland and used their bases in that country for unsuccessful invasions of England. The largest single exodus occurred in the 1070s, when a group of Anglo-Saxons in a fleet of 235 ships sailed for the Byzantine Empire. The empire became a popular destination for many English nobles and soldiers, as the Byzantines were in need of mercenaries. The English became the predominant element in the elite Varangian Guard, until then a largely Scandinavian unit, from which the emperor's bodyguard was drawn. Some of the English migrants were settled in Byzantine frontier regions on the Black Sea coast and established towns with names such as New London and New York.


title: Norman Conquest

text: Before the Normans arrived, Anglo-Saxon governmental systems were more sophisticated than their counterparts in Normandy. All of England was divided into administrative units called shires, with subdivisions; the royal court was the centre of government, and a justice system based on local and regional tribunals existed to secure the rights of free men. Shires were run by officials known as shire reeves or sheriffs. Most medieval governments were always on the move, holding court wherever the weather and food or other matters were best at the moment; England had a permanent treasury at Winchester before William's conquest. One major reason for the strength of the English monarchy was the wealth of the kingdom, built on the English system of taxation that included a land tax, or the geld. English coinage was also superior to most of the other currencies in use in northwestern Europe, and the ability to mint coins was a royal monopoly. The English kings had also developed the system of issuing writs to their officials, in addition to the normal medieval practice of issuing charters. Writs were either instructions to an official or group of officials, or notifications of royal actions such as appointments to office or a grant of some sort.


title: Norman Conquest

text: This sophisticated medieval form of government was handed over to the Normans and was the foundation of further developments. They kept the framework of government but made changes in the personnel, although at first the new king attempted to keep some natives in office. By the end of William's reign most of the officials of government and the royal household were Normans. The language of official documents also changed, from Old English to Latin. The forest laws were introduced, leading to the setting aside of large sections of England as royal forest. The Domesday survey was an administrative catalogue of the landholdings of the kingdom, and was unique to medieval Europe. It was divided into sections based on the shires, and listed all the landholdings of each tenant-in-chief of the king as well as who had held the land before the conquest.


title: Norman Conquest

text: One of the most obvious effects of the conquest was the introduction of Anglo-Norman, a northern dialect of Old French with limited Nordic influences, as the language of the ruling classes in England, displacing Old English. Norman French words entered the English language, and a further sign of the shift was the usage of names common in France instead of Anglo-Saxon names. Male names such as William, Robert, and Richard soon became common; female names changed more slowly. The Norman invasion had little impact on placenames, which had changed significantly after earlier Scandinavian invasions. It is not known precisely how much English the Norman invaders learned, nor how much the knowledge of Norman French spread among the lower classes, but the demands of trade and basic communication probably meant that at least some of the Normans and native English were bilingual. Nevertheless, William the Conqueror never developed a working knowledge of English and for centuries afterwards English was not well understood by the nobility.


title: Norman Conquest

text: An estimated 8000 Normans and other continentals settled in England as a result of the conquest, although exact figures cannot be established. Some of these new residents intermarried with the native English, but the extent of this practice in the years immediately after Hastings is unclear. Several marriages are attested between Norman men and English women during the years before 1100, but such marriages were uncommon. Most Normans continued to contract marriages with other Normans or other continental families rather than with the English. Within a century of the invasion, intermarriage between the native English and the Norman immigrants had become common. By the early 1160s, Ailred of Rievaulx was writing that intermarriage was common in all levels of society.


title: Norman Conquest

text: The impact of the conquest on the lower levels of English society is difficult to assess. The major change was the elimination of slavery in England, which had disappeared by the middle of the 12th century. There were about 28,000 slaves listed in "Domesday Book" in 1086, fewer than had been enumerated for 1066. In some places, such as Essex, the decline in slaves was 20 per cent for the 20 years. The main reasons for the decline in slaveholding appear to have been the disapproval of the Church and the cost of supporting slaves who, unlike serfs, had to be maintained entirely by their owners. The practice of slavery was not outlawed, and the "Leges Henrici Primi" from the reign of King Henry I continue to mention slaveholding as legal.


title: Norman Conquest

text: Many of the free peasants of Anglo-Saxon society appear to have lost status and become indistinguishable from the non-free serfs. Whether this change was due entirely to the conquest is unclear, but the invasion and its after-effects probably accelerated a process already under way. The spread of towns and increase in nucleated settlements in the countryside, rather than scattered farms, was probably accelerated by the coming of the Normans to England. The lifestyle of the peasantry probably did not greatly change in the decades after 1066. Although earlier historians argued that women became less free and lost rights with the conquest, current scholarship has mostly rejected this view. Little is known about women other than those in the landholding class, so no conclusions can be drawn about peasant women's status after 1066. Noblewomen appear to have continued to influence political life mainly through their kinship relationships. Both before and after 1066 aristocratic women could own land, and some women continued to have the ability to dispose of their property as they wished.


title: Norman Conquest

text: Debate over the conquest started almost immediately. The "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle", when discussing the death of William the Conqueror, denounced him and the conquest in verse, but the king's obituary notice from William of Poitiers, a Frenchman, was full of praise. Historians since then have argued over the facts of the matter and how to interpret them, with little agreement. The theory or myth of the "Norman yoke" arose in the 17th century, the idea that Anglo-Saxon society had been freer and more equal than the society that emerged after the conquest. This theory owes more to the period in which it was developed than to historical facts, but it continues to be used to the present day in both political and popular thought.


title: Norman Conquest

text: In the 20th and 21st centuries, historians have focused less on the rightness or wrongness of the conquest itself, instead concentrating on the effects of the invasion. Some, such as Richard Southern, have seen the conquest as a critical turning point in history. Southern stated that "no country in Europe, between the rise of the barbarian kingdoms and the 20th century, has undergone so radical a change in so short a time as England experienced after 1066". Other historians, such as H. G. Richardson and G. O. Sayles, believe that the transformation was less radical. In more general terms, Singman has called the conquest "the last echo of the national migrations that characterized the early Middle Ages". The debate over the impact of the conquest depends on how change after 1066 is measured. If Anglo-Saxon England was already evolving before the invasion, with the introduction of feudalism, castles or other changes in society, then the conquest, while important, did not represent radical reform. But the change was dramatic if measured by the elimination of the English nobility or the loss of Old English as a literary language. Nationalistic arguments have been made on both sides of the debate, with the Normans cast as either the persecutors of the English or the rescuers of the country from a decadent Anglo-Saxon nobility.


title: Mac Jones

text: Michael McCorkle "Mac" Jones (born September 5, 1998) is an American football quarterback for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Alabama, where he set the NCAA season records for passer rating and completion percentage as a junior en route to winning the 2021 College Football Playoff National Championship. Selected by the Patriots in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft, Jones led the team to a playoff berth during his rookie season and earned Pro Bowl honors.


title: Mac Jones

text: Michael McCorkle Jones was born on September 5, 1998, to Gordon and Holly Jones in Jacksonville, Florida. His father played tennis at Florida State University and Flagler College. Mac's brother, Will, played soccer at Mercer University; his sister Sarah Jane played tennis for the College of Charleston. He worked as a child model and actor making appearances in commercials.


title: Mac Jones

text: Jones played high school football at The Bolles School in Jacksonville, Florida, under head coach Corky Rogers. During his junior year in 2015, Jones led Bolles to the state regional final. As a senior in 2016, Jones led Bolles to the Florida 4A title, throwing for 1,532 yards and 29 touchdowns.


title: Mac Jones

text: After originally committing to the University of Kentucky, Jones accepted a scholarship offer from the University of Alabama to play for the Crimson Tide. He arrived as an early enrollee, but was redshirted his freshman season in 2017. Jones was charged with driving under the influence (DUI) and was suspended for the following game against LSU. After throwing for 289 yards and two touchdowns in the Crimson Tide's spring game, he was named A-Day MVP.


title: Mac Jones

text: In the 2018 season, Jones appeared in 14 of the Crimson Tide's 15 games, mostly as a holder on special teams. He added his name to the Alabama record book with a 94-yard touchdown pass to Jaylen Waddle, the second-longest in school history, in a win against Louisiana.


title: Mac Jones

text: Jones served as the starting quarterback near the end of the 2019 season after Tua Tagovailoa suffered a severe hip injury. He made four starts for the Crimson Tide, beating Arkansas and Western Carolina before falling to Auburn in the Iron Bowl. Jones threw for 335 yards, four touchdowns, and two interceptions in the 48–45 defeat. Following the Iron Bowl, Jones led Alabama to a 35–16 win over Michigan in the Citrus Bowl. He finished the 2019 season with 1,503 passing yards, 14 touchdowns, and three interceptions in 11 games and four starts.


title: Mac Jones

text: During his sophomore year, Jones earned a bachelor's degree in communication studies with a 4.00 GPA. After the commencement ceremony, he announced he would return to Alabama as a graduate student.


title: Mac Jones

text: With Tagovailoa departing for the 2020 NFL Draft, Jones took over as the starting quarterback for Alabama. In a game against the #3 ranked Georgia Bulldogs, he threw for 417 yards and four touchdowns, helping Alabama win 41–24. On October 31, Jones and the Crimson Tide shut out Mississippi State 41–0. Jones threw for 291 yards and four touchdowns, all of which went to DeVonta Smith. In the Iron Bowl against Auburn, Jones threw for 302 yards and five touchdowns. The following week, Jones threw for 385 yards and four touchdowns against LSU. With the win, the Crimson Tide clinched a berth in the 2020 SEC Championship Game against Florida. There, Jones threw for 418 yards and five touchdowns, with Alabama winning 52–46. Alabama went 11–0 in a schedule featuring only in-conference opponents due to the COVID–19 pandemic.


title: Mac Jones

text: Alabama was selected to take on Notre Dame in the 2021 Rose Bowl semifinal game, where Jones threw four touchdown passes on route to a 31–14 win. Alabama would go on to win the 2021 College Football Playoff National Championship game against the Ohio State Buckeyes 52–24, with Jones throwing for 464 yards and five touchdowns. Jones finished the season throwing for 4,500 yards with 41 touchdowns and four interceptions. His 203.1 passer rating and 77.4 completion percentage were both NCAA season records. He was named the recipient of the Davey O'Brien, Johnny Unitas Golden Arm, and Manning Awards. Jones finished third for the Heisman Trophy, which went to his teammate Smith. Having earned his master's degree in sports hospitality with a 4.00 GPA, Jones also received Academic All-American of the Year honors from the College Sports Information Directors of America in both Division I football and all Division I sports for the 2020–21 school year. Following the season, Jones announced that he would forgo his final year of eligibility and enter the 2021 NFL Draft.


title: Mac Jones

text: One of the top quarterback prospects of the 2021 NFL Draft, Jones was projected to be taken in the first round. Although many analysts predicted he would be selected third overall by the San Francisco 49ers, Jones was selected 15th overall by the New England Patriots after the 49ers drafted North Dakota State quarterback Trey Lance. He was the last of five quarterbacks and the fourth of six Alabama players taken in the first round. Jones was also the first quarterback drafted in the first round by the Patriots since Drew Bledsoe in 1993. He signed his four-year rookie contract, worth $15.6 million fully guaranteed, on July 6, 2021.


title: Mac Jones

text: Following the preseason, Jones was named the Patriots' starter for 2021. Jones beat out incumbent starting quarterback Cam Newton, who was released during the final roster cuts. He became New England's first rookie quarterback to start a season opener since Bledsoe in 1993.


title: Mac Jones

text: In his NFL debut, Jones completed 29 of 39 passes for 281 yards and made his first touchdown pass to wide receiver Nelson Agholor in a 17–16 loss against the Miami Dolphins. He also set the NFL completion percentage record for a debuting rookie at 74.4. His first win came the following week over the New York Jets and he became the first rookie quarterback to convert over 70% of 60 passes in his first two starts by obtaining a 73.3 completion rate. Jones struggled during a Week 3 loss to the New Orleans Saints, in which he had three interceptions, including his first to safety P. J. Williams. The following week, Jones made his "Sunday Night Football" debut against the defending Super Bowl LV champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers and former Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. Although the Patriots lost 19–17, Jones had 19 consecutive completions, the most for an NFL rookie since 1991 and tying the franchise record set by Brady in 2015. Jones had his first fourth quarter comeback and game-winning drive during Week 5 against the Houston Texans when he helped the Patriots rally from a 22–9 deficit to win 25–22. Two weeks later, Jones won his first home game during a 54–13 rout of the Jets, throwing for 307 yards and two touchdowns before backup Brian Hoyer relieved him in the final minutes.