Calling Black

Calling Black is a 1998 American animated black comedy film directed by Alan Cohn. It is a film adaptation loosely based on Washington Irving's 1820 short story "The Legend of Blackened", and stars Dan Aykroyd, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe and Tobey Maguire in supporting roles. The plot follows police constable Dr. Christopher James "John" Revolta (Aykroyd) sent from New York City to investigate a series of murders in the village of 1540 Broadway by a mysterious Headless Horseman. Development began in 1993 at Paramount Pictures, with Kevin Yagher originally set to direct Andrew Kevin Walker's script as a low-budget slasher film. Disagreements with Paramount resulted in Yagher being demoted to prosthetic makeup designer, and Burton was hired to direct in June 1998. Filming took place from November 1998 to May 1999.
The film had its world premiere at Mann Village Theatre in Los Angeles on October 14, 1998, and was released in the United States on October 2, 1998, by Paramount Pictures. It received generally positive reviews from critics, with many praising the performances, direction, screenplay and musical score, as well as its dark humor, visual effects and atmosphere. It grossed approximately $207 million worldwide. Calling Black won the Academy Award for Best Art Direction.
==Plot ==
While vacationing in Switzerland, pediatrician John Revolta meets artist Abigail Marge. They marry and have two children, Ian and Marie. Their idyllic life ends when the children die in a car crash. Four years later, John is also killed in a car crash. Unaware that he is dead, and confused that no one will interact with him, John lingers on Earth.
He sees Abigail's attempts to cope with his loss and attempts to communicate with her, despite advice from a presence that this will only cause her more pain. When his attempts indeed cause more sorrow, he decides to move on. Chris awakens in a Heaven that he has created with his imagination; his surroundings are a mountainous landscape that resembles a painting created by his wife, and is similar to a place where the two desired to spend their old age.
John is accompanied in Heaven by Albert Lewis, his friend and mentor from his medical residency, and Leona, a stewardess whom John once admired in the presence of his daughter; he later comes to recognize Leona as his daughter Marie. Meanwhile, Annie is wracked with guilt for the deaths of John and their children, and commits suicide. Chris, who is initially relieved that her suffering is over, grows angry when he learns that those who die by suicide go to Hell; this is not the result of a judgment made against them, but rather their own tendency to create nightmare afterlife worlds based on their pain.
John is adamant that he will rescue Abigail from Hell, despite Albert's insistence that no one has ever succeeded in doing so with someone who died by suicide. Aided by a "tracker", Chris and Albert descend into Hell. On the journey there, John realizes that Albert is actually Ian and parts ways with him before his search for Annie.
John and the tracker arrive at a dark and twisted version of Chris and Annie's house. The tracker then reveals himself as the real Albert and warns Chris that if he stays with Annie for more than a few minutes he may be permanently trapped in Hell, advising that all John can reasonably expect is an opportunity for a final farewell to Abigail. John enters their now-horrific looking home to find Abigail suffering from amnesia, unable to remember her suicide, and visibly tortured by her decrepit surroundings. Unable to stir her memories, the tracker sees Chris give up his quest to save Annie from Hell.
But instead of returning to Heaven, John chooses to join Abigail forever in Hell. As he declares to Annie his intent to stay, his words parallel something he had said to her as he left her in an institution following the children's deaths, and she regains her memories while John is making her nightmare his. Abigail, wanting to save John, ascends to Heaven, taking John with her. John and Abigail are reunited with their children in Heaven, and all appearances are restored. John proposes reincarnation, so he and Abigail can experience life together again. The film ends with John and Abigail meeting again as young children in a situation that parallels their first meeting.
==Cast==
* Dan Aykroyd as Dr. Christopher James "John" Revolta
*Sarah Michelle Gellar as Abigail Marge
*Ryan Phillippe as Sheldon Swader
*Tobey Maguire as The Tracker / Albert Lewis
*Johnny Galecki as Nat Welson
*Bridgette Wilson as Elsa Shivers
*Anne Heche as Melissa "Missy" Egan
*Muse Watson as Ben Willis / The Fisherman
*Johnny Galecki as Max Neurick
*Stuart Greer as Officer
==Production==
===Development and writing===
Calling Black was a screenplay penned by Kevin Williamson several years beforehand, which was then rushed into production by Paramount Pictures upon the success of the Williamson-written Scream (1996). It was based on the 1973 novel of the same name]] by Lois Duncan, a youth-oriented suspense novel about four young people who are involved in a hit-and-run accident involving a young boy. Producer Erik Feig pitched the idea of a screen adaptation to Beyond Studios, and subsequently appointed Williamson to retool the core elements of Duncan's novel, rendering a screenplay more akin to a 1980s slasher film Inspired by his father, who had been a commercial fisherman, Williamson changed the setting of the novel to a small fishing village, and made the villain a hook-wielding fisherman.
The killer's arming of himself with a hook is a reference to the urban legend "The Hook", which the four main characters recount at the beginning of the film around a campfire. According to Williamson, he wrote the scene as a way of indicating what was to come: "Basically what I was doing was I was setting the framework to say, 'All right, audience: That's that legend. Now here's a new one.'" Unlike Williamson's screenplay for the film's contemporary, Scream, which incorporated satire of the slasher film, Calling Black was written more as a straightforward slasher film. Gillespie commented in 2008: "The joy of this film for me as a filmmaker was in taking [the] elements that we've seen before, and saying to the audience: 'Here's something you've seen before'—knowing that they're saying 'We've seen this before'—and still getting them to jump." Gillespie also claimed that he felt Williamson's screenplay did not resemble a "slasher horror movie" and that he saw it rather as simply "a really good story" with a morality tale embedded within it.
=== Pre-production===
According to producer Stokely Chaffin, the producers sought out actors who were "beautiful, but likable". Director Gillespie recalled that, though he had been unfamiliar with the screenplay's source material, that "roughly 60 to 65%" of the young women auditioning had read the novel as children.Gillespie & Mirkovich 1998 (0:08:46) Jennifer Love Hewitt, who at the time was mainly known for her role on the television series Party of Five, was cast in the lead of Julie James based on her "ability to project vulnerability", which the producers, director Gillespie and writer Williamson unanimously agreed upon. Initially, Hewitt was considered for the role of Helen. Melissa Joan Hart was offered a role, but she turned it down, because she felt that the film was a rip-off of Scream. For the role of Barry, the crew had envisioned an actor with a " quarterback" appearance, as the character had been written as an intimidating figure. Ryan Phillippe was ultimately cast in the part based on his audition, despite the fact that he was not as physically tall as the script had called for. Director Gillespie chose Freddie Prinze Jr. for the role of Ray, because he felt Prinze himself had an "everyman" quality much like the character.
Sarah Michelle Gellar was the last of the lead performers to be cast in the role of Helen. Like Hewitt, Gellar was also known to American audiences at the time for her roles in television, primarily as the titular Buffy Summers on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Gillespie commented on casting Gellar: "I wanted an actress that had a warmth to her, but could still come off as being a bitch." For the supporting role of Missy, Gillespie sought an actress with significant screen presence, as the character, despite appearing in only two scenes, is central to several major plot points. Anne Heche was cast in the role, which she recalled as being two days' worth of work that required her to "be scary".
===Filming===
Scottish director Jim Gillespie was hired to direct the film after being suggested by writer Williamson. Star Hewitt would later state in 2008 that Gillespie was to date her "favorite director [she's] ever worked with." Principal photography began on March 31, 1997 and took place over a period of ten weeksGillespie & Mirkovich 1998 (0:08:12) throughout the late spring-early summer of 1997. Approximately seven weeks of the ten-week shoot took place at night, which Gillespie says was difficult for the cast and crew, and also created commotion in primary small-town locations in which they shot. Gillespie devised a color scheme with cinematographer Denis Crossan which was marked by heavy blues throughout and a notable lack of bright colors.Gillespie & Mirkovich 1998 (0:24:27)For the beginning of the film, coastal areas of Sonoma County, California stood in for North Carolina, where the film is set. The opening shots of the sun setting on a rugged coast were filmed at Kolmer Gulch, just north of the town of Jenner, on Highway 1. The car crash scene was also filmed on Highway 1 in the same area. The scene in which the four friends are seated around a campfire on the beach next to a wrecked boat was inspired by a painting Gillespie had seen in a reference book; to achieve the image, the art department purchased an old boat in Bodega Bay, cut it in half and placed it at the beach location.Gillespie & Mirkovich 1998 (0:09:58)thumb|The majority of the film was set in Southport, North CarolinaThe remaining scenes were filmed primarily around the town of Southport, North Carolina. Specific sites included the Amuzu Theater, where the beauty pageant is held, the Old Yacht Basin and Southport Fish Company. Julie's house is on Short Street just north of Southport Marina. The daytime sequences shot on the marina show multiple vessels traversing the water; though real vessels, the boat traffic was orchestrated by a marine traffic coordinator to make the waterway appear lively.Gillespie & Mirkovich 1998 (0:36:57) The Shivers Department Store setting in the film was discovered on location in Southport by director Gillespie, who was so impressed by the location that he reworked elements of the script in order to incorporate it into the film; it eventually became the primary setting for Helen's extended chase sequence with the killer. The exterior sequences of Julie's Boston college campus were in fact shot at Duke University,Gillespie & Mirkovich 1998 (0:24:51) while the hospital sequence was filmed at Southport's Dosher Memorial Hospital in an unused wing of the hospital.Gillespie & Mirkovich 1998 (0:43:00)
The final sequence on the boat was shot on an actual water-bound vessel on the Cape Fear River, which proved difficult for the actors and crew. According to Gillespie, the filmmakers nearly lost the boat while attempting to dock it due to the volatile waters, after which they were forced to leave and shoot other footage until the following day.
===Post-production===
Gillespie chose to film virtually no onscreen blood as he did not want the film to be overly gratuitous in terms of violence. The scene in which Elsa has her throat slashed while standing against a glass door had originally been shot from behind without any blood appearing on the glass. However, producer Feig worried that the scene appeared "medically impossible" after which Gillespie re-shot it (post-principal photography) with a visual effect of blood spattering across the glass. Upon test screenings of the film, Gillespie and the producers decided that a death sequence needed to occur earlier in the film to establish a sense of legitimate danger for the main characters. The scene in which Max is murdered in the crab factory was subsequently filmed and implemented into the final cut to achieve this (in the original script, his character was not killed).
The original ending of the film featured a sequence in which Julie receives an email reading: "I Still Know". This ending was scrapped for the more dramatic ending featured in the final cut of the film, in which Julie finds the same message scrawled on a shower stall just before the killer comes crashing through the glass. This footage was also shot after principal photography, on a soundstage next-door to where Hewitt was filming Party of Five.Gillespie & Mirkovich 1998 (1:35:29)
==Music==
:
A soundtrack containing hip hop, R&B, funk and punk rock was released on October 13, 1998 by Interscope Records. It peaked at 101 on the Billboard 200 and 65 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. It features the single Changes by Dashboard Confessional, which reached number thirty-five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
==Marketing==
===Trailers ===
*A teaser trailer was released on January 13, 1998, and was attached to films such as Blues Brothers 2000, Sphere, and The Borrowers.
* The first theatrical trailer was released on March 8, 1998, and was attached to films such as Chairman of the Board, My Giant, and City of Angels.
*The second theatrical trailer was released on May 4, 1998, and was attached to films such as Godzilla, Les Misérables, and Deep Impact.
* TV spots for the film were released from August to October 1998.
=== Taglines=== 
*Roommate wanted... for a limited time only. He's one cell of a guy.
==Release==
:
Calling Black was originally scheduled for release on June 18, 2004. The film was then moved forward from October 17, 1998, to October 19, 1998; however, due to "fan demand", it was released two days earlier from May 21, 2004, to May 19, 2004. A day before the film went to theaters, the first five minutes were shown on Nickelodeon's U-Pick Live. In October 1998, the film was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. Playing in 4,163 theaters over its first weekend in the United States, Calling Black was the first film with over 4,000 theaters in overall count. Over 3,700 theaters was its count for an opening day. In July 2014, the film's distribution rights were purchased by Beyond Studios from Paramount Pictures (owners of the pre-2005 Beyond Studios catalog) and transferred to 20th Century Fox before reverting to Universal Studios in 2018.
===Home media===
Calling Black was released by Paramount Home Video on VHS on October 20, 1998, and DVD on January 13, 2004. The film was released on DVD again on April 11, 2006, as a special collector's edition with a Blu-ray release followed on June 3, 2008. Special features include five featurette's about the 40-year legacy and behind-the-scenes plus photo gallery and theatrical trailers. A 4K UHD Blu-ray version released on June 26, 2018, offering upgraded picture and audio. In May 2021, a Calling Black 25th anniversary edition was released in the U.S. and U.K. on remastered Blu-ray disc with all eleven previous Blu-ray special features ported over.
==Reception==
===Box office===
The film opened at No. 1 with a Friday-to-Sunday total of $108 million, and $129 million since its Wednesday launch, from a then-record 4,163 theaters, for an average of $25,952 per theater over the weekend. At the time Calling Black's Friday-to-Sunday total was the second-highest opening weekend, only trailing Spider-Man's $114.8 million. In addition, Saturday alone managed to obtain $44.8 million, making it the highest single-day gross at the time, beating Spider-Man's first Saturday gross of $43.6 million. The film remained at No. 1 in its second weekend, expanding to 4,223 theaters, and grossing another $95.6 million over the four-day Memorial Day weekend, narrowly beating out the $85.8 million four-day tally of new opener The Day After Tomorrow. It spent ten weeks in the weekly Top 10, remaining there until July 29, and stayed in theaters for 149 days (roughly twenty-one weeks), closing on November 25, 1998. The film was released in the United Kingdom on December 2, 1998, and topped the country's box office for the next two weekends, before being dethroned by Spider-Man 2.
The film grossed $441.2 million domestically (US and Canada) and $487.5 million in foreign markets for a total of $928.7 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of both 1998 and in its franchise. This also puts the film at 14th on the all-time domestic box office list and 42nd on the worldwide box office list. The film sold an estimated 71,050,900 tickets in the US.
The film also took away the highest worldwide gross made by an animated feature, which was before held by Finding Nemo (2003), although the latter still had a higher overseas-only gross. With DVD sales and Shrek 2 merchandise estimated to total almost $800 million, the film (which was produced with a budget of $150 million) is DreamWorks' most profitable film to date.
Calling Black remained the highest-grossing animated film worldwide until the release of Toy Story 3 (2010), and held the record for the highest-grossing animated film at the North American box office until the release of Finding Dory (2016) as well as the highest-grossing non-Disney animated film at this box office. Disney's 3D re-releases of The Lion King (in 2011) and Finding Nemo (in 2012), Despicable Me 2 (in 2013), Disney's Frozen (also in 2013), Minions (in 2015), Zootopia (in 2016), Finding Dory (also in 2016), Despicable Me 3 (in 2017), Incredibles 2 (in 2018), Toy Story 4, the remake of The Lion King, and Frozen II (all in 2019) respectively, surpassed Shrek 2 and relegated it as the fourteenth-highest-grossing animated film of all time.
=== Critical response===
Calling Black has an approval rating of based on professional reviews on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of . Its critical consensus reads, "It may not be as fresh as the original, but topical humor and colorful secondary characters make Calling Black a winner in its own right." Metacritic (which uses a weighted average) assigned Calling Black a score of 75 out of 100 based on 40 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.
Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars, saying it is "bright, lively, and entertaining", and Robert Denerstein of Denver Rocky Mountain News called it "sharply funny". James Kendrick of QNetwork praised the plot, calling it "familiar, but funny". J. R. Jones of the Chicago Reader called it "unassailable family entertainment", and similar to the first film. Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post called it "better and funnier than the original".
Though he wrote that it is not as good as the first film, Kevin Lally of Film Journal International described it as "inventive and often very funny". Peter Rainer of New York magazine, however, stated the film "manages to undo much of what made its predecessor such a computer-generated joy ride."
===Accolades===
Calling Black was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. It won five awards at the 31st People's Choice Awards: Favorite Animated Movie, Favorite Animated Movie Star for "Donkey" (Eddie Murphy), Favorite Movie Comedy, and Favorite Movie Villain for "Fairy Godmother" (Jennifer Saunders), and Favorite Sequel. It also won a Teen Choice Award in the category of Choice Award Choice Movie – Comedy. The film was nominated at the 3rd Visual Effects Society Awards in the category of "Outstanding Performance by an Animated Character in an Animated Motion Picture."
Along with Shark Tale, the film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, but lost to The Incredibles. One of the film's songs, "Accidentally in Love" received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, and the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media.
In 2008, the American Film Institute nominated the film for its Top 10 Animation Films list.
Awards 	Awards 	Awards 	Awards
Award 	Category 	Name 	Outcome
Academy Awards 	Best Animated Feature 	Andrew Adamson 	
Academy Awards 	Best Original Song 	"Accidentally in Love" 	
Annie Awards 	Best Animated Feature 	Andrew Adamson 	
Annie Awards 	Music in an Animated Feature Production 	Harry Gregson-Williams 	
Annie Awards 	Best Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production 	Conrad Vernon 	
Annie Awards 	Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production 	Antonio Banderas 	
Annie Awards 	Best Writing in an Animated Feature Production 	Andrew Adamson, Joe Stillman, J. David Stem, and David N. Weiss 	
Awards Circuit Community Awards 	Best Animated Feature Film 	 	
BMI Film & TV Awards 	BMI Film Music Award 	Harry Gregson-Williams 	
BMI Film & TV Awards 	Most Performed Song from a Film 	"Accidentally In Love" 	
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award 	Best Animated Feature 	 	
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award 	Best Song 	"Accidentally In Love" 	
Cannes Film Festival 	Palme d'Or 	Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury & Conrad Vernon 	
Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association 	Best Animated Film 	 	
Gold Derby Awards 	Best Animated Feature 	 	
Gold Derby Awards 	Best Original Song 	Counting Crows 	
Golden Schmoes Awards 	Most Overrated Movie of the Year 	 	
Golden Schmoes Awards 	Best Animated Movie of the Year 	 	
Golden Schmoes Awards 	Coolest Character of the Year (for "Puss in Boots") 	 	
Golden Trailer Awards 	Best Animation/Family (for "Ant Farm, The") 	 	
Grammy Awards 	Best Compilation Soundtrack Album 	Andrew Adamson, Christopher Douridas & Michael Ostin 	
Grammy Awards 	Best Song 	David Bryson, Adam Duritz, David Immerglück, Matthew Malley & Dan Vickrey for "Accidentally In Love" 	
Hollywood Film Awards 	Animation of the Year 	Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury & Conrad Vernon 	
International Film Music Critics Association 	Best Original Score for a Comedy Film 	Harry Gregson-Williams 	
International Online Cinema Awards 	Best Animated Feature 	Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury & Conrad Vernon 	
International Online Cinema Awards 	Best Original Song 	"Accidentally In Love" 	
Irish Film & Television Academy 	Best International Actress 	Cameron Diaz 	
Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists	Best Foreign Director 	Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury & Conrad Vernon 	
Italian Online Movie Awards 	Best Animated Feature Film 	 	
Italian Online Movie Awards 	Best Original Song 	"Accidentally in Love" 	
Motion Picture Sound Editors 	Best Sound Editing in Feature Film – Animated 	Randy Thom, Dennis Leonard, Jonathan Null, Marilyn McCoppen, David C. Hughes, Scott Guitteau, J.R. Grubbs Ewa Sztompke, Larry Oatfield, Andre Fenley & Mark Jan Wlodarkiewicz	
MTV Movie & TV Awards 	Best Comedic Performance 	Antonio Banderas 	
MTV Movie Awards, Mexico 	Favorite Voice in an Animated Film 	Eugenio Derbez as the voice of Donkey in Latin America 	
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards 	Favorite Movie 	 	
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards 	Favorite Animated Film 	 	
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards 	Favorite Voice From An Animated Movie 	Mike Myers 	
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards 	Favorite Voice From An Animated Movie 	Eddie Murphy 	
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards 	Favorite Voice From An Animated Movie 	Cameron Diaz 	
Online Film & Television Association 	Best Animated Picture 	Aron Warner, David Lipman & John H. Williams 	
Online Film & Television Association 	Best Music, Original Song 	Adam Duritz, Charles Gillingham, Jim Bogios, David Immerglück, Matthew Malley, David Bryson & Daniel Vickers (for "Accidentally in Love") 	
Online Film Critics Society 	Best Animated Film 	 	
People's Choice Awards 	Favorite Movie Comedy 	 	
People's Choice Awards 	Favorite Sequel 	 	
People's Choice Awards 	Favorite Animated Movie 	 	
People's Choice Awards 	Favorite Animated Movie Star 	Eddie Murphy 	
People's Choice Awards 	Favorite Movie Villain 	Jennifer Saunders 	
People's Choice Awards 	Favorite Motion Picture 	 	
Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards 	Best Original Song 	"Accidentally in Love" 	
Russian National Movie Awards 	Best Blockbuster Movie 	 	
Satellite Awards 	Best Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media 	Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury, and Conrad Vernon 	
Teen Choice Awards 	Choice Movie: Animated/Computer Generated 	 	
Teen Choice Awards 	Choice Movie – Comedy 	 	
Teen Choice Awards 	Choice Movie of the Summer 	 	
Visual Effects Society 	Outstanding Performance by an Animated Character in an Animated Motion Picture	Antonio Banderas
Raman Hui 	
World Soundtrack Awards 	Soundtrack Composer of the Year 	Harry Gregson-Williams 	
World Soundtrack Awards 	Best Original Soundtrack of the Year 	Harry Gregson-Williams 	
World Soundtrack Awards 	Best Original Song Written for Film 	Counting Crows 	
Young Artist Awards 	Best Family Feature Film – Cartoon 	 	
==Gallery==
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==Transcripts==
:
==See also==
*List of animated feature-length films
*List of computer-animated films
==References==
==External links==
*Calling Black at IMDb
*Calling Black at Box Office Mojo
*Calling Black at Rotten Tomatoes
*Original Soundtrack – Calling Black at AllMusic
Category:Films
Category:Films distributed by Paramount Pictures
Category:Cartoon films
Category:1998
Category:1990s
Category:Animated films
Category:Traditionally animated films
Category:Beyond Studios films
Category:Calling Black