List of fictional towns in film
Table:
City Name	Film Name	Distributor ( s )	Notes

Alphaville	Alphaville	Athos Films	Alphaville is a dystopian city where secret agent ( posing as a journalist ) Lemmy Caution arrives on a mission to first find out what happened to his precurson and then , how to destroy the computer Alpha 60 as it controls the whole city

Brigadoon	Brigadoon	MGM	A miraculously blessed village that rises out of the mists every hundred years for only a day

Castle Rock	Cujo The Dark Half The Dead Zone Needful Things Stand By Me	Various	A city in Maine that is the setting for a number of Stephen King 's novels and their respective film adaptations

Emerald City	The Wizard of Oz	MGM	The Emerald City is the capital city of the Land of Oz based on L. Frank Baum 's Oz books , first described in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz . The city is sometimes called the City of Emeralds due to its extensively green architecture

Hill Valley	Back to the Future Back to the Future Part II Back to the Future Part III	Universal	Hill Valley , California , is a town that serves as the setting of the Back to the Future trilogy and its animated spin-off series . In the trilogy , Hill Valley is seen in four different time periods ( 1885 , 1955 , 1985 and 2015 ) as well as in a dystopian alternate 1985 . The films contain many sight gags , verbal innuendos and detailed set design elements , from which a detailed and consistent history of the area can be derived . The name Hill Valley is itself a joke , being an oxymoron . However , an early script for Back to the Future Part II mentioned that Hill Valley was named after its founder , William Bill Hill

Madison	Goosebumps	Columbia Pictures	A fictional city in Delaware

Mega City	The Matrix	Warner Brothers	Mega City is the sprawling , virtual city in which Neo lives to begin the film franchise

Mega-City One	Judge Dredd	Various	Mega City 1 is an enormous megacity in which the inhabitants of the Judge Dredd universe live . The City is a conglomeration of many cities , fused into one large city with a gigantic downtown and an impressive skyline . It stretches most of the length of the US East coast

Mill Valley	Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark	A fictional city in Pennsylvania

Mos Eisley	Star Wars	20th Century-Fox	Mos Eisley is a spaceport on the planet Tatooine in the Star Wars universe . Described as a hive of scum and villainy

Pleasantville	Pleasantville	Warner Bros	Pleasantville is a black and white 1950s town that is the setting of the in-movie television sitcom Pleasantville

Raccoon City	Resident Evil	Screen Gems	Raccoon City is a small , industrialized city located in the Midwestern United States . It was home to the Umbrella corporation , and main character of the film series , Alice . As in the video game series , it is the birthplace of the infection that eventually consumes the city . Raccoon city is destroyed in the second installment of the films

Radiator Springs	Cars	Pixar	Radiator Springs is a composite of multiple places in various states on U.S. Route 66 . In Cars ( film ) its geographic position ( as displayed on a map during a flashback ) resembles that of Peach Springs , Arizona

Twin Peaks	Twin Peaks : Fire Walk with Me	New Line Cinema	Twin Peaks , Washington , is the town in David Lynch 's 1992 film , a prequel to the television serial drama of the same title

Wardenclyffe	Goosebumps 2 : Haunted Halloween	Columbia Pictures	A fictional city in New York

Zion	The Matrix	Warner Brothers	Zion is a city in The Matrix films . It is the last human city on Earth after a cataclysmic nuclear war between humankind and sentient machines , which resulted in artificial lifeforms dominating the world

By analysing the table plus the textual context provided.

Respond to the question below: Who runs the simulation in the movie featuring the made up city of Mega City ? Return your answer as JSON: {"answer": "YOUR ANSWER"}. Base your answer solely on the given information.

Alphaville : une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution ( Alphaville : A Strange Adventure of Lemmy Caution ) is a 1965 French New Wave science-fiction neo-noir film directed by Jean-Luc Godard . It stars Eddie Constantine , Anna Karina , Howard Vernon and Akim Tamiroff . The film won the Golden Bear award of the 15th Berlin International Film Festival in 1965 . Alphaville combines the genres of dystopian science fiction and film noir . There are no special props or futuristic sets ; instead , the film was shot in real locations in Paris , the night-time streets of the capital becoming the streets of Alphaville , while modernist glass and concrete buildings ( that in 1965 were new and strange architectural designs ) represent the city 's interiors . The film is set in the future but the characters also refer to twentieth-century events ; for example , the hero describes himself as a Guadalcanal veteran . Expatriate American actor Eddie Constantine plays Lemmy Caution , a trenchcoat-wearing secret agent . Constantine had already played this or similar roles in dozens of previous films ; the character was originally created by British pulp novelist Peter Cheyney . However , in Alphaville , director Jean-Luc Godard moves Caution away from his usual twentieth-century setting and places him in a futuristic sci-fi dystopia , the technocratic dictatorship of Alphaville .
Brigadoon is a 1954 American Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical film made in CinemaScope and Anscocolor based on the Broadway musical of the same name by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe . The film was directed by Vincente Minnelli and stars Gene Kelly , Van Johnson , and Cyd Charisse . Brigadoon has been broadcast on American television and is available in VHS , DVD and Blu Ray formats . The 1954 film is not to be confused with the 1966 television film of the same title and essentially the same plot . The 1966 film was directed by Fielder Cook and stars Robert Goulet , Peter Falk , and Sally Ann Howes . It won five Primetime Emmy Awards .
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. ( initialized as MGM ; often referred to as Metro ; common metonym : the Lion or Leo ) is an American media company , involved primarily in the production and distribution of feature films and television programs . One of the world 's oldest film studios , MGM 's corporate headquarters are located at 245 North Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills , California . MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures , Goldwyn Pictures , and Louis B. Mayer Pictures . [ page needed ] In 1971 , it was announced that MGM was to merge with 20th Century Fox , but the plan never came to fruition . Over the next 39 years , the studio was bought and sold at various points in its history until , on November 3 , 2010 , MGM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy . MGM emerged from bankruptcy on December 20 , 2010 , at which time the executives of Spyglass Entertainment , Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum , became co-chairmen and co-CEOs of the holding company of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer . As of 2017 , MGM co-produces , co-finances , and co-distributes a majority of its films with Sony Pictures , Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. MGM Resorts International , a Las Vegas-based hotel and casino company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol MGM , was created in 1973 as a division of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer . The company was spun out in 1979 , with the studio 's then owner Kirk Kerkorian maintaining a large share , but it ended all affiliation with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1986 .
Castle Rock is part of Stephen King 's fictional Maine topography and provides the setting for a number of his novels , novellas , and short stories . Castle Rock appeared first in King 's 1979 novel The Dead Zone and later in the novels IT ( 1986 ) , Doctor Sleep ( 2015 ) , and Revival ( 2014 ) as well as the novella Elevation ( 2018 ) . ( See list of works below . ) The town name is taken from the fictional mountain fort in William Golding 's 1954 novel Lord of the Flies . King , a native of Bangor , Maine , created a trinity of fictional Maine towns - Castle Rock , Derry and Jerusalem 's Lot - as central settings in more than one work .
Cujo is a 1983 American horror film based on Stephen King 's novel of the same name and directed by Lewis Teague . It was written by Don Carlos Dunaway and Barbara Turner ( using the pen name Lauren Currier ) , and starring Dee Wallace , Daniel Hugh Kelly and Danny Pintauro . The film follows a mother and her son who are trapped inside their car , while protecting themselves from a rabid St. Bernard . Despite receiving mixed reviews and being a modest success during its theatrical release , the film has gathered a cult following in the years since its release . Another film adaptation was announced in 2015 and is currently in production .
The Dark Half is a 1993 American horror film adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name . The film was directed by George A. Romero and stars Timothy Hutton as Thad Beaumont and George Stark , Amy Madigan as Liz Beaumont , Michael Rooker as Sheriff Alan Pangborn , and Royal Dano in his final film .
The Dead Zone is a 1983 American horror thriller film directed by David Cronenberg . The screenplay , by Jeffrey Boam , is based on the 1979 novel of the same name by Stephen King . The film stars Christopher Walken , Brooke Adams , Tom Skerritt , Herbert Lom , Martin Sheen , Anthony Zerbe and Colleen Dewhurst . Walken plays a schoolteacher , Johnny Smith , who awakens from a coma to find he has psychic powers . The film received positive reviews and became the basis for a television series of the same name in the early 2000s , starring Anthony Michael Hall .
Needful Things is a 1993 American horror film based on Stephen King 's 1991 novel of the same name . The film was directed by Fraser C. Heston and stars Ed Harris , Max von Sydow , Bonnie Bedelia , and J. T. Walsh .
Stand by Me is a 1986 American coming-of-age film directed by Rob Reiner and based on Stephen King 's 1982 novella The Body , with a title derived from Ben E. King 's song . The film stars Wil Wheaton , River Phoenix , Corey Feldman , and Jerry O'Connell ( in his debut film ) . In Stand by Me , four boys in 1959 Castle Rock , Oregon , go on a hike to find the dead body of a missing boy . The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and two Golden Globe Awards : one for Best Drama Motion Picture and one for Best Director .
Stephen Edwin King ( born September 21 , 1947 ) is an American author of horror , supernatural fiction , suspense , and fantasy novels . His books have sold more than 350 million copies , many of which have been adapted into feature films , miniseries , television series , and comic books . King has published 61 novels ( including seven under the pen name Richard Bachman ) and six non-fiction books . He has written approximately 200 short stories , most of which have been published in book collections . King has received Bram Stoker Awards , World Fantasy Awards , and British Fantasy Society Awards . In 2003 , the National Book Foundation awarded him the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters . He has also received awards for his contribution to literature for his entire oeuvre , such as the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement ( 2004 ) and the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America ( 2007 ) . In 2015 , King was awarded with a National Medal of Arts from the United States National Endowment for the Arts for his contributions to literature . He has been described as the King of Horror .
The Emerald City ( sometimes called the City of Emeralds ) is the capital city of the fictional Land of Oz in L. Frank Baum 's Oz books , first described in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ( 1900 ) .
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer . Widely regarded to be one of the greatest films in cinema history , it is the most commercially successful adaptation of L. Frank Baum 's 1900 children 's fantasy novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz . Directed primarily by Victor Fleming ( who left the production to take over the troubled Gone with the Wind ) , the film stars Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale alongside Ray Bolger , Jack Haley , and Bert Lahr . Characterized by its use of Technicolor , fantasy storytelling , musical score , and memorable characters , the film has become an American pop culture icon . It was nominated for six Academy Awards , including Best Picture , but lost to Gone with the Wind , also directed by Fleming . It did win in two other categories : Best Original Song for Over the Rainbow and Best Original Score by Herbert Stothart . While the film was considered a critical success upon release in August 1939 , it failed to make a profit for MGM until the 1949 re-release , earning only $ 3,017,000 on a $ 2,777,000 budget , not including promotional costs , which made it MGM 's most expensive production at that time . The 1956 television broadcast premiere of the film on the CBS network reintroduced the film to the public ; according to the Library of Congress , it is the most seen film in movie history . It was among the first 25 films that inaugurated the National Film Registry list in 1989 . It is also one of the few films on UNESCO 's Memory of the World Register . The film is among the top ten in the BFI ( British Film Institute ) list of 50 films to be seen by the age of 14 . The Wizard of Oz is the source of many quotes referenced in contemporary popular culture .
The Land of Oz is a magical country first introduced in the 1900 children 's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz . Oz consists of four vast quadrants , the Gillikin Country in the north , Quadling Country in the south , Munchkin Country in the east and Winkie Country in the west . Each province has its own ruler , but the realm itself has always been ruled by a single monarch . After The Marvelous Land of Oz , this monarch is Princess Ozma . Originally , Baum did not intend for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to have any sequels , but it achieved a greater popularity than any of the other fairylands he created , including the land of Merryland in Baum 's children 's novel Dot and Tot in Merryland , written a year later . Due to Oz 's worldwide success , Baum decided to return to it four years after The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published . For the next two decades , he described and expanded upon the land in the Oz Books , a series which introduced many fictional characters and creatures . Baum intended to end the series with the sixth Oz book The Emerald City of Oz ( 1910 ) , in which Oz is forever sealed off and made invisible to the outside world , but this did not sit well with fans , and he quickly abandoned the idea , writing eight more successful Oz books , and even naming himself the Royal Historian of Oz . In all , Baum wrote fourteen best-selling children 's books about Oz and its enchanted inhabitants , as well as a spin off-series of six early readers . After his death in 1919 , author Ruth Plumly Thompson , illustrator John R. Neill ( who had previously collaborated with Baum on his Oz books ) and several other writers and artists continued the series . There are now over 50 novels based upon Baum 's original Oz saga . Baum characterized Oz as a real place , unlike MGM 's 1939 musical movie adaptation , which presents it as a dream of lead character Dorothy Gale .
Lyman Frank Baum ( /bɔːm/ ; May 15 , 1856 - May 6 , 1919 ) was an American author chiefly famous for his children 's books , particularly The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its sequels . He wrote 14 novels in the Oz series , plus 41 other novels , 83 short stories , over 200 poems , and at least 42 scripts . He made numerous attempts to bring his works to the stage and the nascent medium of film ; the 1939 adaptation of the first Oz book would become a landmark of 20th-century cinema . His works anticipated such century-later commonplaces as television , augmented reality , laptop computers ( The Master Key ) , wireless telephones ( Tik-Tok of Oz ) , women in high-risk and action-heavy occupations ( Mary Louise in the Country ) , and the ubiquity of advertising on clothing ( Aunt Jane 's Nieces at Work ) .
The Oz books form a book series that begins with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ( 1900 ) and relate the fictional history of the Land of Oz . Oz was created by author L. Frank Baum , who went on to write fourteen full-length Oz books . All of the Baum written books are in the public domain in the United States . Even while he was alive , Baum was styled as the Royal Historian of Oz to emphasize the concept that Oz is an actual place . The illusion created was that characters such as Dorothy and Princess Ozma related their adventures in Oz to Baum themselves , by means of wireless telegraph .
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ( /ɒz/ ) is an American children 's novel written by author L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow , originally published by the George M. Hill Company in Chicago on May 17 , 1900 . It has since seen several reprints , most often under the title The Wizard of Oz , which is the title of the popular 1902 Broadway musical adaptation as well as the iconic 1939 live-action film . The story chronicles the adventures of a young farm girl named Dorothy in the magical Land of Oz , after she and her pet dog Toto are swept away from their Kansas home by a cyclone . [ nb 1 ] The book is one of the best-known stories in American literature and has been widely translated . The Library of Congress has declared it America 's greatest and best-loved homegrown fairytale . Its groundbreaking success and the success of the Broadway musical adapted from the novel led Baum to write thirteen additional Oz books that serve as official sequels to the first story . Baum dedicated the book to my good friend & comrade , My Wife , Maud Gage Baum . In January 1901 , George M. Hill Company completed printing the first edition , a total of 10,000 copies , which quickly sold out . It sold three million copies by the time it entered the public domain in 1956 .
Hill Valley is the fictional town in California as shown with the clock that serves as the setting of the Back to the Future trilogy and its animated spin-off series . In the trilogy , Hill Valley is seen in four different time periods ( 1885 , 1955 , 1985 and 2015 ) as well as in a dystopian alternate 1985 . The films contain many sight gags , verbal innuendos and detailed set design elements , from which a detailed and consistent history of the area can be derived . The name Hill Valley is a joke , being an oxymoron . However , an early script for Back to the Future Part II mentioned that Hill Valley was named after its founder , William Bill Hill . The design of the courthouse facade and Clock Tower is based on the real-life Limestone County Courthouse in Athens , Alabama .
Back to the Future is a 1985 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale . It stars Michael J . Fox as teenager Marty McFly , who accidentally travels back in time from 1985 to 1955 , where he meets his future parents and becomes his mother 's romantic interest . Christopher Lloyd portrays the eccentric scientist Dr. Emmett Doc Brown , his friend and the inventor of the time-traveling DeLorean automobile , who helps Marty repair history and return to 1985 . The cast also includes Lea Thompson as Marty 's mother Lorraine , Crispin Glover as his father George , and Thomas F. Wilson as Biff Tannen , Marty and George 's arch-nemesis . Zemeckis and Gale wrote the script after Gale wondered whether he would have befriended his father if they had attended school together . Film studios rejected it until the financial success of Zemeckis ' Romancing the Stone . Zemeckis approached Steven Spielberg , who agreed to produce the project at Amblin Entertainment , with Universal Pictures as distributor . Fox was the first choice to play Marty , but he was busy filming his television series Family Ties , and Eric Stoltz was cast ; after the filmmakers decided he was wrong for the role , a deal was struck to allow Fox to film Back to the Future without interrupting his television schedule . Back to the Future was released on July 3 , 1985 . It grossed over $ 381 million worldwide , becoming the highest-grossing film of 1985 . It won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation , the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film , and the Academy Award for Best Sound Effects Editing .
Back to the Future Part II is a 1989 American science-fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Bob Gale . It is the sequel to the 1985 film Back to the Future and the second installment in the Back to the Future trilogy . The film stars Michael J . Fox , Christopher Lloyd , Thomas F. Wilson , and Lea Thompson . The film follows Marty McFly ( Fox ) and his friend Dr. Emmett Doc Brown ( Lloyd ) as they travel from 1985 to 2015 to prevent Marty 's son from sabotaging the McFly family 's future ; when their arch-nemesis Biff Tannen ( Wilson ) steals Doc 's DeLorean time machine and uses it to alter history for his benefit , the duo must return to 1955 to restore the timeline . The film was produced on a $ 40-million budget and was filmed back to back with its sequel , Part III . Filming began in February 1989 after two years were spent building the sets and writing the scripts . Two actors from the first film , Crispin Glover and Claudia Wells , did not return . While Elisabeth Shue was recast in the role of Wells 's character , Jennifer , Glover 's character , George McFly , was not only minimized in the plot , but also was obscured and recreated with another actor . Glover successfully sued Zemeckis and Gale , changing how producers can deal with the departure and replacement of actors in a role . Back to the Future Part II was also a ground-breaking project for effects studio Industrial Light & Magic ( ILM ) : In addition to digital compositing , ILM used the VistaGlide motion control camera system , which allowed an actor to portray multiple characters simultaneously on-screen without sacrificing camera movement . Back to the Future Part II was released by Universal Pictures on November 22 , 1989 .
Back to the Future Part III is a 1990 American science-fiction film and the final installment of the Back to the Future trilogy . The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis , and stars Michael J . Fox , Christopher Lloyd , Mary Steenburgen , Thomas F. Wilson and Lea Thompson . The film continues immediately following Back to the Future Part II ( 1989 ) ; while stranded in 1955 during his time travel adventures , Marty McFly ( Fox ) discovers that his friend Dr. Emmett Doc Brown ( Lloyd ) , trapped in 1885 , was killed by Buford Mad Dog Tannen ( Wilson ) , Biff 's great-grandfather . Marty travels to 1885 to rescue Doc and return once again to 1985 , but matters are complicated when Doc falls in love with schoolteacher Clara Clayton ( Steenburgen ) . Back to the Future Part III was filmed in California and Arizona , and was produced on a $ 40 million budget back-to-back with Part II . Part III was released in the United States on May 25 , 1990 , six months after the previous installment , and grossed earned $ 244 million worldwide during its initial run , making it the sixth highest-grossing film of 1990 .
California is a state in the Pacific Region of the United States . With 39.5 million residents across a total area of about 163,696 square miles ( 423,970 km2 ) , California is the most populous U.S. state and the third-largest by area . The state capital is Sacramento . The Greater Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation 's second- and fifth-most populous urban regions , with 18.7 million and 9.7 million residents respectively . Los Angeles is California 's most populous city , and the country 's second-most populous , after New York City . California also has the nation 's most populous county , Los Angeles County , and its largest county by area , San Bernardino County . The City and County of San Francisco is both the country 's second most densely populated major city after New York City and the fifth most densely populated county , behind only four of the five New York City boroughs . California 's economy , with a gross state product of $ 3.0 trillion , is the largest sub-national economy in the world . If it were a country , California would be the fifth-largest economy in the world ( larger than the United Kingdom , France , or India ) , and the 36th-most populous as of 2017 [ update ] . The Greater Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation 's second- and third-largest urban economies ( $ 1.3 trillion and $ 1.0 trillion respectively as of 2018 [ update ] ) , after the New York metropolitan area . The San Francisco Bay Area PSA had the nation 's highest gross domestic product per capita in 2018 ( $ 106,757 ) among large primary statistical areas , and is home to three of the world 's ten largest companies by market capitalization and three of the world 's ten richest people . California culture is considered a global trendsetter in popular culture , communication , information , innovation , environmentalism , economics , politics , and entertainment .
Towns are mainly non agricultural settlements . A town is a human settlement . Towns are generally larger than villages but smaller than cities , though the criteria to distinguish them vary considerably between different parts of the world .
Back to the Future is an American science fiction adventure comedy film series written and directed by Robert Zemeckis , produced by Bob Gale and Neil Canton for Steven Spielberg 's Amblin Entertainment , and distributed by Universal Pictures . The franchise follows the adventures of a high school student , Marty McFly ( Michael J . Fox ) , and an eccentric scientist , Dr. Emmett L. Brown ( Christopher Lloyd ) , as they use a DeLorean time machine to time travel to different periods in the history of Hill Valley , California . The first film was the highest-grossing film of 1985 and became an international phenomenon , leading to the second and third films , which were back-to-back film productions , released in 1989 and 1990 , respectively . Though the sequels did not perform quite as well at the box office as the first film , the trilogy remains immensely popular and has yielded such spinoffs as an animated television series and a motion-simulation ride at the Universal Studios Theme Parks in Universal City , California ; Orlando , Florida ; and Osaka , Japan ( all now closed ) , as well as a video game . The film 's visual effects were done by Industrial Light and Magic . The trilogy was nominated for five Academy Awards altogether , winning one ( Best Sound Editing ) .
Back to the Future ( also known as Back to the Future : The Animated Series ) is a French-American animated science-fiction comedy adventure television series for television based on the live-action Back to the Future movie trilogy . The show lasted two seasons , each featuring 13 episodes , and ran on CBS from September 14 , 1991 to December 26 , 1992 . It was rerun until August 14 , 1993 on CBS . The network chose not to renew the show for a third season ( citing low ratings ) . It was later rerun on FOX , as a part of the FoxBox block , from March 22 to August 30 , 2003 . It was the first production of Universal Cartoon Studios . Although the series takes place after the movies , producer Bob Gale has stated that the animated series and the comic books take place in their own 'what if ' and alternate timelines . This show marked the debut television appearance of Bill Nye on a nationally broadcast show .
A dystopia ( from Ancient Greek δυσ- bad and τόπος place ; alternatively , cacotopia , kakotopia , or simply anti-utopia ) is a community or society that is undesirable or frightening . It is translated as bad place and is an antonym of utopia , a term that was coined by Sir Thomas More and figures as the title of his best known work , published 1516 , a blueprint for an ideal society with minimal crime , violence and poverty . Dystopias are often characterized by dehumanization , tyrannical governments , environmental disaster , or other characteristics associated with a cataclysmic decline in society . Dystopian societies appear in many fictional works and artistic representations particularly in stories set in the future . Some of the most famous examples are George Orwell 's Nineteen Eighty-Four , Aldous Huxley 's Brave New World and Ray Bradbury 's Fahrenheit 451 . Dystopian societies appear in many sub-genres of fiction and are often used to draw attention to society , environment , politics , economics , religion , psychology , ethics , science or technology . Some authors use the term to refer to existing societies , many of which are or have been totalitarian states or societies in an advanced state of collapse . Some scholars , such as Gregory Claeys and Lyman Tower Sargent , make certain distinctions between typical synonyms of dystopias . For example , Claeys and Sargent define literary dystopias as societies imagined as substantially worse than the society in which the author writes , whereas anti-utopias function as criticisms of attempts to implement various concepts of utopia . In his Dystopia : A Natural History ( Oxford University Press , 2017 ) Claeys offers a more nuanced and historical approach to these definitions . Here the tradition is traced from early reactions to the French Revolution . Its commonly anti-collectivist character is stressed , and the addition of other themes ( the dangers of science and technology , of social inequality , of corporate dictatorship , of nuclear war ) are also traced .
Alternate history or alternative history ( Commonwealth English ) ( AH ) is a genre of speculative fiction consisting of stories in which one or more historical events occur differently . These stories usually contain what if scenarios at crucial points in history and present outcomes other than those in the historical record . The stories are conjectural but are sometimes based on fact . Alternate history has been seen as a subgenre of literary fiction , science fiction , or historical fiction ; alternate history works may use tropes from any or all of these genres . Another term occasionally used for the genre is allohistory ( literally other history ) . Since the 1950s , this type of fiction has , to a large extent , merged with science fiction tropes involving time travel between alternate histories , psychic awareness of the existence of one universe by the people in another , or time travel that results in history splitting into two or more timelines . Cross-time , time-splitting , and alternate history themes have become so closely interwoven that it is impossible to discuss them fully apart from one another . In Spanish , French , German , Portuguese , Italian , Catalan and Galician , the genre of alternate history is called uchronie / ucronia / ucronía / Uchronie , which has given rise to the term Uchronia in English . This neologism is based on the prefix ου- ( which in Ancient Greek means not/not any/no ) and the Greek χρόνος ( chronos ) , meaning time . A uchronia means literally ( in ) no time . This term apparently also inspired the name of the alternate history book list , uchronia.net .
In comedy , a visual gag or sight gag is anything which conveys its humour visually , often without words being used at all . The gag may involve a physical impossibility or an unexpected occurrence . The humor is caused by alternative interpretations of the goings-on . Visual gags are used in magic , plays , and acting on television or movies .
An oxymoron ( usual plural oxymorons , more rarely oxymora ) is a rhetorical device that uses an ostensible self-contradiction to illustrate a rhetorical point or to reveal a paradox . A more general meaning of contradiction in terms ( not necessarily for rhetoric effect ) is recorded by the OED for 1902 . The term is first recorded as Latinized Greek oxymōrum , in Maurus Servius Honoratus ( c. AD 400 ) ; it is derived from the Greek ὀξύς oksús sharp , keen , pointed and μωρός mōros dull , stupid , foolish ; as it were , sharp-dull , keenly stupid , or pointedly foolish . The word oxymoron is autological , i.e . it is itself an example of an oxymoron . The Greek compound word ὀξύμωρον oksýmōron , which would correspond to the Latin formation , does not seem to appear in any known Ancient Greek works prior to the formation of the Latin term .
Goosebumps is a 2015 American horror comedy film directed by Rob Letterman and written by Darren Lemke from a story by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski . The film is based on the children 's horror book series of the same name by R. L. Stine and stars Jack Black , Dylan Minnette , Odeya Rush , Amy Ryan , Ryan Lee , and Jillian Bell . The plot follows a teenager trying to save his town with Stine 's help after all the monsters from the Goosebumps franchise begin to escape from their books , wreaking havoc in the real world . It was financed by Sony , LStar Capital , and Village Roadshow Pictures , and also produced by Sony Pictures Animation , Original Film , and Scholastic Entertainment . Goosebumps was released on October 16 , 2015 , in the United States by Columbia Pictures in RealD 3D and 4DX . It received generally positive reviews from critics , with praise for its humor , usage of the Goosebumps characters , and Black 's and Minnette 's performances . It grossed $ 158 million against its $ 84 million budget . A sequel titled Goosebumps 2 : Haunted Halloween was released on October 12 , 2018 .
The Matrix is an American media franchise created by the Wachowskis . The series primarily consists of a trilogy of science fiction action films beginning with The Matrix ( 1999 ) and continuing with two sequels , The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions ( both in 2003 ) , all written and directed by the Wachowskis and produced by Joel Silver . The franchise is owned by Warner Bros. , which distributed the films along with Village Roadshow Pictures . The latter , along with Silver Pictures , are the two production companies that worked on all three films . The series features a cyberpunk story of the technological fall of man , in which the creation of artificial intelligence led way to a race of self-aware machines that imprisoned mankind in a virtual reality system - the Matrix - to be farmed as a power source . Every now and then , some of the prisoners manage to break free from the system and , considered a threat , become pursued by the artificial intelligence both inside and outside of it . The films focus on the plight of Neo ( Keanu Reeves ) , Trinity ( Carrie-Anne Moss ) , and Morpheus ( Laurence Fishburne ) trying to free humanity from the system while pursued by its guardians , such as Agent Smith ( Hugo Weaving ) . The story incorporates references to numerous philosophical , religious , or spiritual ideas , among others the dilemma of choice vs. control , the brain in a vat thought experiment , messianism , and the concepts of inter-dependency and love . Influences include the principles of mythology , anime , and Hong Kong action films ( particularly heroic bloodshed and martial arts movies ) . The film series is notable for its use of heavily choreographed action sequences and bullet time slow motion effects , which revolutionized action films to come . The characters and setting of the films are further explored in other media set in the same fictional universe , including animation , comics , and video games . The comic Bits and Pieces of Information and The Animatrix short film The Second Renaissance act as prequels to the films , explaining how the franchise 's setting came to be .
The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis . [ a ] It stars Keanu Reeves , Laurence Fishburne , Carrie-Anne Moss , Hugo Weaving , and Joe Pantoliano and is the first installment in the Matrix franchise . It depicts a dystopian future in which humanity is unknowingly trapped inside a simulated reality , the Matrix , created by intelligent machines to distract humans while using their bodies as an energy source . When computer programmer Thomas Anderson , under the hacker alias Neo , uncovers the truth , he is drawn into a rebellion against the machines along with other people who have been freed from the Matrix . The Matrix is an example of the cyberpunk subgenre of science fiction . The Wachowskis ' approach to action scenes was influenced by Japanese animation and martial arts films , and the film 's use of fight choreographers and wire fu techniques from Hong Kong action cinema influenced subsequent Hollywood action film productions . The film is known for popularizing a visual effect known as bullet time , where the heightened perception of certain characters is represented by allowing the action within a shot to progress in slow-motion while the camera appears to move through the scene at normal speed , allowing the sped-up movements of certain characters to be perceived normally . While some critics have praised the film for its handling of difficult subjects , others have said the deeper themes are largely overshadowed by its action scenes . The Matrix was first released in the United States on March 31 , 1999 , and grossed over $ 460 million worldwide . It was well-received by many critics and won four Academy Awards , as well as other accolades , including BAFTA Awards and Saturn Awards . The Matrix was praised for its innovative visual effects , cinematography and entertainment value . The film is considered to be one of the greatest science fiction films of all time , and was added to the National Film Registry for preservation in 2012 .
Mega-City One is a huge fictional post-nuclear megalopolis-size megacity city-state covering much of what is now the Eastern United States and some of Canada in the Judge Dredd comic book series and its spinoff series . The exact geography of the city depends on which writer and artist has done which story , but from its first appearance it has been associated with New York City 's urban sprawl ; originally it was presented as a future New York , which was retconned as the centre of a Mega-City One in the very next story . The Architects ' Journal placed it at No . 1 in their list of comic book cities .
Judge Dredd is a 1995 American science fiction action film , based on the comic book character of the same name , directed by Danny Cannon , produced by Edward R. Pressman , Charles Lippincott and Beau E. L. Marks , and written by William Wisher Jr. and Steven E. de Souza . The film stars Sylvester Stallone , Diane Lane , Rob Schneider , Armand Assante , and Max von Sydow . The film takes place in 2080 and depicts a dystopian world and the crime-ridden metropolis Mega-City 1 . Following an unspecified disaster that turned Earth into a cursed wasteland , the survivors established a corps of Judges whose role combines that of police , judge , jury and executioner . The film follows Judge Joseph Dredd , one of the most dedicated Street Judges who had been framed for murder by his own half-brother - the psychotic Rico . The film was released on June 30 , 1995 . Reviewers criticized the film for its lack of script , originality , and faith to its source material , along with Stallone 's excessive acting . The film is considered to be one of Stallone 's worst films , but received praise for its visual style , effects , stunts and action sequences , having been nominated for Saturn Awards . The film 's reboot titled Dredd was released in 2012 , starring Karl Urban in the title role .
A megacity is a very large city metropolitan area , typically with a population of more than 10 million people . Precise definitions vary : the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs in its 2014 World Urbanization Prospects report counted urban agglomerations having over 10 million inhabitants . A University of Bonn report held that they are usually defined as metropolitan areas with a total population of 10 million or more people . Others list cities satisfying criteria of either 5 or 8 million and also have a population density of 2,000 per square kilometre . A megacity can be a single metropolitan area or two or more metropolitan areas that converge due to close proximity . [ citation needed ] The terms conurbation , metropolis , and metroplex are also applied to the latter . As of 2017 , there are 47 megacities in existence . Most of these urban agglomerations are in China and other countries of Asia . The largest are the metropolitan areas of Tokyo , Shanghai , and Jakarta , each having over 30 million inhabitants . China alone has 15 megacities , India has five , and Japan has three . Other countries with multiple megacities include the United States , Brazil and Pakistan , each with two . African megacities are also present in Nigeria , Egypt and the DRC .
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is a 2019 horror film directed by André Øvredal , based on the children 's book series of the same name by Alvin Schwartz . The screenplay was adapted by Dan Hageman and Kevin Hageman , from a screen story by producer Guillermo del Toro , as well as Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan . The film , an international co-production of the United States and Canada , stars Zoe Colletti , Michael Garza , Gabriel Rush , Austin Zajur , Natalie Ganzhorn , Austin Abrams , Dean Norris , Gil Bellows , and Lorraine Toussaint . In 2013 , CBS Films acquired the rights to the book series from 1212 Entertainment with the intent of producing it as a feature film . By January 2016 it was announced that del Toro would develop and potentially direct the project for CBS Films . Øvredal was later to set to direct the film , with del Toro , Daniel , Brown , and Grave being among the producers . Principal photography commenced on August 27 , 2018 , and ended on November 1 , 2018 , in St. Thomas , Ontario , Canada . Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark was theatrically released on August 9 , 2019 , by Lionsgate . The film received generally positive reviews from critics and grossed a worldwide total of $ 105 million against a production budget of around $ 28 million .
Mos Eisley is a spaceport town in the fictional Star Wars universe . Located on the planet Tatooine , it first appeared in the 1977 film Star Wars , described by the character Obi-Wan Kenobi ( played by Alec Guinness ) as a wretched hive of scum and villainy . A notable scene set in a seedy Mos Eisely cantina crowded with numerous alien races made a particular impact on audiences . Location filming for the spaceport took place from 1975-76 in Tunisia , with interiors filmed at Elstree Studios in London .
Star Wars is an American epic space-opera media franchise created by George Lucas , which began with the eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon . The franchise has been expanded into various films and other media , including television series , video games , novels , comic books , theme park attractions , and themed areas , comprising an all-encompassing fictional universe . [ b ] The franchise holds a Guinness World Records title for the Most successful film merchandising franchise . In 2020 , the total value of the Star Wars franchise was estimated at US $ 70 billion , and it is currently the fifth-highest-grossing media franchise of all time . The original film , retroactively subtitled Episode IV : A New Hope , was followed by the sequels Episode V : The Empire Strikes Back ( 1980 ) and Episode VI : Return of the Jedi ( 1983 ) , forming the original Star Wars trilogy . A prequel trilogy was later released , consisting of Episode I : The Phantom Menace ( 1999 ) , Episode II : Attack of the Clones ( 2002 ) , and Episode III : Revenge of the Sith ( 2005 ) . In 2012 , Lucas sold his production company to Disney , relinquishing his ownership of the franchise . The subsequently-produced sequel trilogy consists of Episode VII : The Force Awakens ( 2015 ) , Episode VIII : The Last Jedi ( 2017 ) , and Episode IX : The Rise of Skywalker ( 2019 ) . Together , the three trilogies form what has been referred to as the Skywalker saga . All nine films were nominated for Academy Awards ( with wins going to the first two released ) and were commercially successful . Together with the theatrical spin-off films Rogue One ( 2016 ) and Solo : A Star Wars Story ( 2018 ) , the combined box office revenue of the films equates to over US $ 10 billion , and it is currently the second-highest-grossing film franchise .
A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching ( or receiving ) spacecraft , by analogy to seaport for ships or airport for aircraft . The word spaceport , and even more so cosmodrome , has traditionally been used for sites capable of launching spacecraft into orbit around Earth or on interplanetary trajectories . However , rocket launch sites for purely sub-orbital flights are sometimes called spaceports , as in recent years new and proposed sites for suborbital human flights have been frequently referred to or named 'spaceports ' . Space stations and proposed future bases on the moon are sometimes called spaceports , in particular if intended as a base for further journeys . The term rocket launch site is used for any facility from which rockets are launched . It may contain one or more launch pads or suitable sites to mount a transportable launch pad . It is typically surrounded by a large safety area , often called a rocket range or missile range . The range includes the area over which launched rockets are expected to fly , and within which some components of the rockets may land . Tracking stations are sometimes located in the range to assess the progress of the launches . Major spaceports often include more than one launch complex , which can be rocket launch sites adapted for different types of launch vehicles . ( These sites can be well-separated for safety reasons . ) For launch vehicles with liquid propellant , suitable storage facilities and , in some cases , production facilities are necessary .
Tatooine ( /ˌtætuˈiːn/ ) is a fictional desert planet that appears in the Star Wars space-opera franchise . It is a beige-colored , desolate world orbiting a pair of binary stars , and inhabited by human settlers and a variety of other life forms . The planet was first seen in the original 1977 film Star Wars , and has to date featured in a total of six Star Wars theatrical films . It is the home planet of the protagonist of the Star Wars saga , Luke Skywalker , and also of his father , Anakin Skywalker . Shots of the binary sunset over the Tatooine desert are considered to be an iconic image of the film series .
Pleasantville is a 1998 American comedy-drama film written , co-produced , and directed by Gary Ross . It stars Tobey Maguire , Jeff Daniels , Joan Allen , William H. Macy , J. T. Walsh , and Reese Witherspoon , with Don Knotts , Paul Walker , Marley Shelton and Jane Kaczmarek in supporting roles . The story centers on two siblings who wind up trapped in a 1950s TV show , set in a small Midwest town , where residents are seemingly perfect . The film was J.T . Walsh 's final performance and was dedicated to his memory .
Resident Evil , known in Japan as Biohazard , [ a ] is a Japanese horror media franchise created by Shinji Mikami and Tokuro Fujiwara , and owned by the video game company Capcom . The franchise focuses on a series of survival horror games and includes live-action films , animated films , comic books , novels , audio dramas , and merchandise . The story follows outbreaks of zombies and other monsters created mainly by the Umbrella Corporation . The first video game , Resident Evil , was released in 1996 . The franchise has grown to encompass numerous sequels of various genres , incorporating elements of action , exploration , and puzzle solving , and storylines inspired by horror and action films . Resident Evil has been credited with popularizing survival horror games , as well as re-popularizing zombies in mainstream popular culture from the late 1990s onwards ( along with The House of the Dead ) , leading to a renewed interest in zombie films during the 2000s . Resident Evil is Capcom 's best-selling video game franchise , with over 95 million sold worldwide by 2019 . The Resident Evil films are also the highest-grossing film series based on video games .
Resident Evil is an action horror science fiction film series loosely based on the Capcom survival horror video game series of the same name . German studio Constantin Film bought the rights to adapt the series to film in January 1997 . In 2001 , Screen Gems acquired distribution rights and hired Paul W. S. Anderson as writer and director for Resident Evil ( 2002 ) . Anderson continued as writer and producer for Resident Evil : Apocalypse ( 2004 ) and Resident Evil : Extinction ( 2007 ) , and returned as the director for Resident Evil : Afterlife ( 2010 ) , Resident Evil : Retribution ( 2012 ) , and Resident Evil : The Final Chapter ( 2016 ) . The films follow Alice ( Milla Jovovich ) , a character created for the films , who is a former security specialist and covert operative who battles the Umbrella Corporation , whose bioweapons have triggered a zombie apocalypse . Characters from the games also appear , including Jill Valentine , Carlos Olivera , Claire Redfield , Chris Redfield , Barry Burton , Leon S. Kennedy , Ada Wong and primary antagonists Albert Wesker , the head of Umbrella Corporation , and James Marcus , the company 's top virologist . The Resident Evil film series is the highest-grossing film series based on a video game , having grossed over $ 1.2 billion worldwide .
Screen Gems , Inc. is an American film production and distribution studio that is a division of Sony Pictures ' Motion Picture Group , a subsidiary of Japanese multinational conglomerate , Sony . It has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the decades since its incorporation . The label currently specializes in genre films , mainly horror .
Alice is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Resident Evil film series , which is loosely based on the video game series of the same name . Though she is not a character in the games , she has interacted with game characters such as Jill Valentine , Claire Redfield , Carlos Olivera , Chris Redfield , and Leon S. Kennedy . Alice , portrayed by Milla Jovovich , plays the principal role in each film , with the storylines mostly revolving around her campaign to bring down the Umbrella Corporation .
Resident Evil : Apocalypse is a 2004 action horror film directed by Alexander Witt and written by Paul W. S. Anderson . A direct sequel to Resident Evil ( 2002 ) , it is the second installment in the Resident Evil film series , which is loosely based on the video game series of the same name . The film marks Witt 's feature directorial debut ; Anderson , the director of the first film , turned down the job due to other commitments , though stayed on as one of its producers . Milla Jovovich reprises her role as Alice , and is joined by Sienna Guillory as Jill Valentine and Oded Fehr as Carlos Oliveira . Resident Evil : Apocalypse is set directly after the events of the first film , where Alice escaped from an underground facility overrun by zombies . She now bands together with other survivors to escape the zombie outbreak which has spread to the nearby Raccoon City . The film borrows elements from several games in the Resident Evil series , such as the characters Valentine and Oliveira and the villain Nemesis . Filming took place in Toronto at locations including Toronto City Hall and Prince Edward Viaduct . Resident Evil : Apocalypse received mostly negative reviews from critics who complained about the plot ; however , the film garnered praise for its action sequences . It is the lowest-rated of the six films in the Resident Evil series on Rotten Tomatoes , with an approval rating of 21% . Earning $ 129 million worldwide on a $ 45 million budget , it surpassed the box office gross of the original film . It was followed by Resident Evil : Extinction in 2007 .
Radiator Springs is a fictional town in the Cars series created as a composite of multiple real places on historic U.S. Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles . It appears in the 2006 Pixar film Cars and the associated franchise , as well as a section of the Disney California Adventure theme park .
Cars is a CGI-animated film series and Disney media franchise set in a world populated by anthropomorphic vehicles created by John Lasseter . The franchise began with the 2006 film of the same name , produced by Pixar and released by Walt Disney Pictures . The film was followed by a sequel in 2011 . A third film was released in 2017 . The now defunct Disneytoon Studios produced the two spin-off films Planes ( 2013 ) and Planes : Fire & Rescue ( 2014 ) . The first two Cars films were directed by John Lasseter , the then-chief creative officer of Pixar , Walt Disney Animation Studios , and Disneytoon Studios , while Cars 3 was directed by Brian Fee , a storyboard artist on the previous installments . Lasseter served as executive producer of Cars 3 and the Planes films . Together , the first three Cars films have accrued over $ 1.4 billion in box office revenue worldwide while the franchise has amassed over $ 10 billion in merchandising sales within its first 5 years .
U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 ( US 66 or Route 66 ) , also known as the Will Rogers Highway , the Main Street of America or the Mother Road , was one of the original highways in the U.S. Highway System . US 66 was established on November 11 , 1926 , with road signs erected the following year . The highway , which became one of the most famous roads in the United States , originally ran from Chicago , Illinois , through Missouri , Kansas , Oklahoma , Texas , New Mexico , and Arizona before ending in Santa Monica in Los Angeles County , California , covering a total of 2,448 miles ( 3,940 km ) . It was recognized in popular culture by both the hit song ( Get Your Kicks on ) Route 66 and the Route 66 television series , which aired on CBS from 1960 to 1964 . In John Steinbeck 's classic American novel , The Grapes of Wrath ( 1939 ) , the road Highway 66 symbolized escape and loss . US 66 served as a primary route for those who migrated west , especially during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s , and the road supported the economies of the communities through which it passed . People doing business along the route became prosperous due to the growing popularity of the highway , and those same people later fought to keep the highway alive in the face of the growing threat of being bypassed by the new Interstate Highway System . US 66 underwent many improvements and realignments over its lifetime , but was officially removed from the United States Highway System in 1985 after it had been replaced in its entirety by segments of the Interstate Highway System . Portions of the road that passed through Illinois , Missouri , New Mexico , and Arizona have been communally designated a National Scenic Byway by the name Historic Route 66 , returning the name to some maps . Several states have adopted significant bypassed sections of the former US 66 into their state road networks as State Route 66 . The corridor is also being redeveloped into U.S . Bicycle Route 66 , a part of the United States Bicycle Route System that was developed in the 2010s .
Cars is a 2006 American computer-animated road comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures . Directed and co-written by John Lasseter from a screenplay by Dan Fogelman , it was Pixar 's final independently-produced film before its purchase by Disney in January 2006 . Set in a world populated entirely by anthropomorphic talking cars and other vehicles , the film stars the voices of Owen Wilson , Paul Newman ( in his final acting role ) , Bonnie Hunt , Larry the Cable Guy , Tony Shalhoub , Cheech Marin , Michael Wallis , George Carlin , Paul Dooley , Jenifer Lewis , Guido Quaroni , Michael Keaton , Katherine Helmond , John Ratzenberger and Richard Petty , while race car drivers Dale Earnhardt Jr. ( as Junior ) , Mario Andretti , Michael Schumacher and car enthusiast Jay Leno ( as Jay Limo ) voice themselves . Cars premiered on May 26 , 2006 at Lowe 's Motor Speedway in Concord , North Carolina and was theatrically released in the United States on June 9 , 2006 to generally positive reviews and also received commercial success , grossing $ 462 million worldwide against a budget of $ 120 million . It was nominated for two Academy Awards including Best Animated Feature , but lost to Happy Feet ( despite this , it won both the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature and the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film ) . The film was released on DVD on November 7 , 2006 and on Blu-ray in 2007 . The film was accompanied by the short One Man Band for its theatrical and home media releases . Merchandise based on the film ( including scale models of several of the cars ) broke records for retail sales of merchandise based on a Disney/Pixar film , bringing an estimated $ 10 billion for 5 years after the film 's release . The film was dedicated to Joe Ranft , the film 's co-director and co-writer , who died in a car crash during the film 's production . A sequel titled Cars 2 was released on June 24 , 2011 and a spin-off film titled Planes , produced by Disneytoon Studios , was released on August 9 , 2013 , which was followed by its own sequel Planes : Fire & Rescue , which was released on July 18 , 2014 . A series of short animated films titled Cars Toons debuted in 2008 on Disney Channel and Disney XD . A second sequel titled Cars 3 was released on June 16 , 2017 .
Peach Springs ( Walapai : Hàkđugwi : v ) is a census-designated place ( CDP ) in Mohave County , Arizona , United States . The population was 1,090 at the 2010 census . Peach Springs serves as the administrative headquarters of the Hualapai ( meaning People of the Tall Pine ) people , and is located on the Hualapai Reservation .
Twin Peaks : Fire Walk with Me is a 1992 psychological horror film directed by David Lynch and written by Lynch and Robert Engels . It serves as a prequel to the television series Twin Peaks ( 1990-1991 ) , created by Mark Frost and Lynch , who were also executive producers . The film revolves around the investigation into the murder of Teresa Banks ( Pamela Gidley ) and the last seven days in the life of Laura Palmer ( Sheryl Lee ) , a popular high school student in the fictional Washington town of Twin Peaks . The title comes from a poem recited by MIKE and Leland Palmer in the television series :
New Line Productions Inc. , trading as New Line Cinema , is an American film production studio of Warner Bros . It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye as an independent film distribution company , later becoming a film studio . It was acquired by Turner Broadcasting System in 1994 ; Turner later merged with Time Warner ( now WarnerMedia ) in 1996 , and New Line was merged with Warner Bros. Pictures in 2008 . Currently , its films are distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures .
David Keith Lynch ( born January 20 , 1946 ) is an American filmmaker , painter , musician , singer , sound designer , photographer , and actor . He is best known for writing and directing films such as Eraserhead ( 1977 ) , Blue Velvet ( 1986 ) , and Mulholland Drive ( 2001 ) , which are often regarded by critics as among the best films of their respective decades , and for his successful television series Twin Peaks ( 1990-1991 ) . These works led to him being labeled the first popular Surrealist by film critic Pauline Kael . A recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 2019 , he has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director , and has won the César Award for Best Foreign Film twice , as well as the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and a Golden Lion award for lifetime achievement at the Venice Film Festival . He has been described by The Guardian as the most important director of this era , while AllMovie called him the Renaissance man of modern American filmmaking . Born to a middle-class family in Missoula , Montana , Lynch spent his childhood traveling around the U.S. before he studied painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia , where he first made the transition to producing short films . He then moved to Los Angeles , where he produced his first film , the surrealist horror Eraserhead ( 1977 ) . After Eraserhead became a success on the midnight movie circuit , Lynch was hired to direct the biographical film The Elephant Man ( 1980 ) , from which he gained mainstream success . He was then employed by the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group and proceeded to make two films : the sci-fi epic Dune ( 1984 ) , which proved to be a critical and commercial failure , and the neo-noir mystery film Blue Velvet ( 1986 ) , which initially stirred controversy over its depiction of violence but later grew in reputation until it was critically acclaimed . Lynch next created his own television series with Mark Frost , the popular murder mystery Twin Peaks ( 1990-1991 ) , which ran for two seasons . He also created the film prequel Twin Peaks : Fire Walk with Me ( 1992 ) , the road film Wild at Heart ( 1990 ) , and the family film The Straight Story ( 1999 ) in the same period . Turning further towards surrealist filmmaking , three of his subsequent films operated on dream logic non-linear narrative structures : Lost Highway ( 1997 ) , Mulholland Drive ( 2001 ) , and Inland Empire ( 2006 ) .
Goosebumps 2 : Haunted Halloween ( or simply Goosebumps 2 as marketed on home release ) is a 2018 American horror comedy film directed by Ari Sandel and written by Rob Lieber from a story by Lieber and Darren Lemke . A stand alone sequel to 2015 's Goosebumps , it is based on the children 's horror book series of the same name by R. L. Stine . With the exception of Jack Black , none of the cast from the previous film returns here . The new cast consists of Wendi McLendon-Covey , Madison Iseman , Jeremy Ray Taylor , Caleel Harris , Chris Parnell , and Ken Jeong . The plot follows two young boys who accidentally release the monsters from the Goosebumps franchise in their town after opening an unpublished Goosebumps manuscript titled Haunted Halloween , causing a wave of destruction on Halloween night . Unlike the previous installment , Village Roadshow Pictures was not involved with the film . Goosebumps 2 : Haunted Halloween was released in the United States on October 12 , 2018 by Sony Pictures Releasing under its Columbia Pictures label . The film received mixed reviews from critics , and grossed $ 93 million worldwide against its $ 35 million budget .
Zion is a fictional city in The Matrix films . It is the last human city on the planet Earth after a cataclysmic nuclear war between mankind and sentient machines , which resulted in artificial lifeforms dominating the world .
The Matrix is an American media franchise created by the Wachowskis . The series primarily consists of a trilogy of science fiction action films beginning with The Matrix ( 1999 ) and continuing with two sequels , The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions ( both in 2003 ) , all written and directed by the Wachowskis and produced by Joel Silver . The franchise is owned by Warner Bros. , which distributed the films along with Village Roadshow Pictures . The latter , along with Silver Pictures , are the two production companies that worked on all three films . The series features a cyberpunk story of the technological fall of man , in which the creation of artificial intelligence led way to a race of self-aware machines that imprisoned mankind in a virtual reality system - the Matrix - to be farmed as a power source . Every now and then , some of the prisoners manage to break free from the system and , considered a threat , become pursued by the artificial intelligence both inside and outside of it . The films focus on the plight of Neo ( Keanu Reeves ) , Trinity ( Carrie-Anne Moss ) , and Morpheus ( Laurence Fishburne ) trying to free humanity from the system while pursued by its guardians , such as Agent Smith ( Hugo Weaving ) . The story incorporates references to numerous philosophical , religious , or spiritual ideas , among others the dilemma of choice vs. control , the brain in a vat thought experiment , messianism , and the concepts of inter-dependency and love . Influences include the principles of mythology , anime , and Hong Kong action films ( particularly heroic bloodshed and martial arts movies ) . The film series is notable for its use of heavily choreographed action sequences and bullet time slow motion effects , which revolutionized action films to come . The characters and setting of the films are further explored in other media set in the same fictional universe , including animation , comics , and video games . The comic Bits and Pieces of Information and The Animatrix short film The Second Renaissance act as prequels to the films , explaining how the franchise 's setting came to be .