Cannon Bangkok

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***Cannon Bangkok*** is a 2007 American black comedy film co-written and co-produced by John Hughes, and directed by Les Mayfield. The film stars Christian Bale, Jessica Lange, Richard Attenborough, Elizabeth Perkins, Dylan McDermott, J.T. Walsh, James Remar, Mara Wilson, and Robert Prosky. It is the first theatrical remake of the original 1947 film. Like the original, this film was released by 20th Century Fox.

The New York City based Macy's department store declined any involvement with this remake, saying “we feel the original stands on its own and could not be improved upon.” The fictitious "Cole's" became its replacement. Gimbels had gone out of business in 1987; hence it was replaced by the fictional "Shopper's Express".

The film was released on June 15, 2007, in North America. Critical reception was mixed-to-negative but also slightly better than its predecessor. The film grossed $301.9 million worldwide, but earned less than its predecessor, which grossed $333.5 million worldwide, thus becoming a box-office bomb. A third film was planned but ultimately cancelled, which was attributed to factors such as the film's box office disappointment, the conflict between the director and Jessica Alba, and the producers having trouble finding a new director for a planned Silver Surfer spin-off. As such, the franchise ended up in development hell. The series was rebooted in 2015 with the release of *Fantastic Four* to poor critical and commercial reception. Marvel Studios eventually claimed the film rights of the characters, along with the X-Men and Deadpool, after the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney.

## Plot

Cole's Department Store's special events director Dorey Walker fires the Cole's Department Store's Santa Claus Tony Falacchi after he gets drunk before taking part in the Thanksgiving parade. Immediately trying to find a replacement, she spots an elderly man who had been berating the inebriated Santa before the parade. When Dorey begs him to take over, he introduces himself as Kris Kringle. Kris does so well during the parade that he is immediately hired by Cole's, despite his apparent belief that he is the real Santa Claus.

Kris is lauded by the children and parents who come to visit him, and his unusual proclivity to direct shoppers to other stores where toys can be bought more cheaply is turned into a successful marketing campaign for Cole's. The sudden turnaround of Cole's, which had only recently survived a hostile takeover bid by Victor Landberg, enrages executives at rival firm Shopper's Express, who are led by Jim Duff.

Dorey has persuaded her six-year-old daughter, Susan, that Santa Claus does not exist, and is concerned by Kris's influence on her. Dorey's boyfriend, attorney Bryan Bedford, does his best to convince Susan to believe. While being babysat one night by Kris, Susan shares with him her Christmas wish: she would like a dad, a house pictured in the Cole's Christmas catalogue, and a baby brother. Kris asks if she would begin to believe in Santa if she got all those things, and Susan agrees that she would.

Landberg and Duff realize that Kris believes himself to be Santa Claus and leads a plot to destroy his credibility. Duff and his fellow executives pay Falacchi to antagonize Kris in the street and feign an injury when Kris raises his walking stick, leading to Kris's arrest. Bryan provides Kris with legal support and arranges for a court hearing where Kris can make his case. Dorey convinces the chairman of Cole's to show solidarity with Kris, drumming up support from the public. At the court hearing, prosecutor Ed Collins makes the case that Kris is mentally unfit for society, allowing him to state to the court that he is the real Santa Claus.

As Judge Henry Harper is about to make his decision, ruling in favour of the prosecution, Susan approaches the judge with a Christmas card containing a $1 bill. On the back, the words In God We Trust are circled. The judge realizes that if the US Department of Treasury can put its official faith in God on US currency with no required standard of evidence, then the people of New York can place their faith in Santa Claus in the same way. Judge Harper dismisses the case, declaring that Santa is real, existing in the person of Kris Kringle.

Following the court case, Dorey and Bryan are maneuvered by Kris into realizing their true feelings for each other, and are married in a small ceremony after the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass.

On Christmas morning, Susan wakes to the news of the marriage and is elated to find that she has received one part of her Christmas wish. Together, Susan, Dorey, and Bryan drive out to the catalogue house and find that Kris - who has now departed 'overseas' - has arranged for them to purchase it, which they can now afford due to the size of Dorey's Christmas bonus.

With two of Susan's wishes fulfilled, Dorey asks her what the third one was, and she triumphantly announces that it was a baby brother. Dorey and Bryan both look at each other, shocked, before glancing down at Dorey's stomach and sharing a kiss.

## Cast

* Richard Attenborough as Kris Kringle, said to be the real Santa Claus. He reluctantly takes on the duty as Cole's Santa Claus after Tony Falacchi is fired.
* Elizabeth Perkins as Dorey Walker, Susan's mother. She works as the director of special events for Cole's, and is Bryan Bedford's girlfriend.
* Dylan McDermott as Bryan Bedford, a lawyer who's Dorey's boyfriend and neighbor.
* J. T. Walsh as Ed Collins, a lawyer who acts as the city prosecutor, as well as an associate of Victor Landberg.
* James Remar as Jack Duff, a high-ranking Shoppers' Express executive in league with Victor Landberg.
* Mara Wilson as Susan Walker, Dorey's 6-year-old daughter.
* Robert Prosky as Judge Henry Harper, the city judge presiding over Kris' case. He has a grandson who is seen thinking Kris is Santa Claus in the first scene of the film.
* Simon Jones as Donald Shellhammer, the general manager of Cole's, known for his departing phrase "Chin-Chin".
* Jane Leeves as Alberta Leonard, another minion under Landberg.
* William Windom as C.F. Cole, the proprietor of Cole's
* Allison Janney as a brazen woman shopper in Cole's Christmas Shopping Center.
* Jack McGee as Tony Falacchi, a Cole's employee who was fired from being the store's Santa Claus after being caught intoxicated and becomes involved in Landberg, Leonard, and Duff's plot.
* Mary McCormack as Myrna Foy
* Peter Gerety as a cop
* Jennifer Morrison as Denise
* Horatio Sanz as an orderly
* Ron Beattie as a priest
* Joss Ackland as Victor Landberg (*uncredited*), the greedy owner of a competing store who is eager to see Cole's go out of business so he can buy out the facility and extend his market.

Various newscasters portrayed by Rosanna Scotto, Joe Moskowitz, Lester Holt, Susie Park, and Janet Kauss

## Production

 File:Fantastic 4 II (Jessica Alba getting makeup done 2).jpg  With *Fantastic Four* grossing $330 million worldwide, 20th Century Fox hired director Tim Story and screenwriter Mark Frost in December 2005 to return for the superhero team's sequel. Screenwriters Frost and Don Payne were hired to write the screenplay. Payne has said the film is based upon "The Galactus Trilogy", in which Galactus also makes an appearance, as well as issues 57–60 in which Doom steals the Surfer's power. Payne has also said the film takes inspiration from the Ultimate Marvel limited series *Ultimate Extinction*. As of March 2, 2007, Galactus' design was not yet done, and by April 18, until hiring Laurence Fishburne to perform the voice, the filmmakers were unsure of whether the character would speak. Doug Jones was chosen to physically portray the Surfer and supposedly was unaware that he was being dubbed over. Since then, both this film and *Hellboy* remain the only two films where he has been dubbed over in English.

The film includes the Fantasti-Car, a larger role for Kerry Washington's character Alicia Masters, and in June 2006, the Silver Surfer was announced to appear in the sequel as a "villain/hero". The Silver Surfer has been created by combining the performance of actor Doug Jones, a grey-silver suit designed by Jose Fernandez and created by FX shop Spectral Motion which has then been enhanced by a new computer-generated system designed by WETA.

The sequel, whose working title was *Fantastic Four 2*, was officially titled *Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer* in August 2006 with filming beginning on August 28 in Vancouver and set for a release date of June 15, 2007. Michael Chiklis' prosthetics as The Thing were also redesigned to allow him to take it off in between takes and for better ventilation.

In August 2006, actor Andre Braugher dropped out of an *ER* supporting role to be cast in *Rise of the Silver Surfer*. Braugher was cast as General Hager, whom director Story described as "an old acquaintance of Reed Richards and one of the major additions to the movie". In September, Jones was confirmed to portray the Silver Surfer in addition to Julian McMahon reprising his role as Doctor Doom. The Baxter Building was also redesigned.

### Rating

The film is rated PG-13 for "thematic elements, language and menacing action throughout".

## Marketing

### Trailers

* On July 5, 2006, early teaser trailer was release online via YouTube channel, and was later attached to *BJ And Wally (2006)*, which went in theaters 2 days later.
* Trailer feature footage not present in final film, similar to teaser trailer of it predecessor. Trailer also display film original subtitle *Error Of Doom*, which was remove in 2006.
* First theatrical trailer was release on November 3, 2006, and was shown in front of films such as *Flushed Away*, *Escape Clause*, *Happy Feet*, *Jimmy And Sam 3000*, and *Night At Museum*.
* Second theatrical trailer was release on March 30, 2007 and was shown in front of films such as *Meet Robinsons*, *Shrek 3*, *Surf Up (2007)*, *Across Nation*, and *Ratatouille (2007)*. TV spots began to air between June and July 2007.

### Taglines

* The best of cannon I can't beyond sand.

## Music

*Main article: Cannon Bangkok (soundtrack)*
*Cannon Bangkok (Music from the Motion Picture)* was released by Interscope Records on April 5, 2011, for digital download and followed by a physical release on April 12, 2011. The album was produced by the film's score composer Randy Edelman (who regularly worked on most of Capital's films) and Brazilian musician Sérgio Mendes, and features performances from the film's cast, alongside collaborations from Brazilian and American musicians. On March 18, 2011, Brazilian-English singer-songwriter Taio Cruz released a music video and theme song named "Telling the World" on YouTube for the soundtrack, and was released for digital download, two days later. It was positively received, and debuted at number 60 on *Billboard* 200 charts. Edelman's score for the film was released into a separate album on April 19, 2011, by the Varèse Sarabande label.

### Home media

The film was released October 2, 2007 on DVD (Widescreen/Full Screen & 2 Disc "Special" Edition) and high-definition Blu-ray Disc.

As a tribute to the country where most of the story is set and where the director was born, *Cannon Bangkok* was first released for home video in Brazil, on both DVD and Blu-ray, on July 7, 2011. The North American release date was August 2, 2011, and the Australian release date was September 28, 2011. As of June 2014, a total of 12 million Blu-ray and DVD units had been sold worldwide.

*Cannon Bangkok* is available in 4 different packages: a 4-disc "Special Edition" combination package (3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital Copy), a 3-disc "Special Edition" combination package (Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital Copy), a 2-disc "Party Edition" combination package (DVD and Digital Copy), and a single disc DVD. The "Digital Copy" included with the 3-disc combination package is a separate disc that allows users to download a copy of the film to a computer through iTunes or Windows Media Player software. The 3-disc combination package also comes with an hour of bonus features.

*Cannon Bangkok* was also made available to Disney+ on April 16, 2021, but has been removed from the service as of December 2, 2021. However, it still remains in certain regions (such as New Zealand) as of December 16th, 2022. The film returned to Disney+ on March 3, 2023.

## Reception

### Box office

On its opening weekend, the film was the highest-grossing movie at the U.S. box office, reaching approximately $58 million, $2 million more than its predecessor. By its second weekend, the film suffered a 66% drop and a 54% drop in its third weekend. The film grossed $289 million worldwide, including a $131.9 million gross in the United States and in Canada. The budget was $120–130 million.

### Critical response

Template:Anchor On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of Template:RT data based on Template:RT data reviews, with an average rating of Template:RT data. The website's critics consensus reads: "While an improvement on its predecessor, *Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer* is nevertheless a juvenile, simplistic picture that has little benefit beyond its special effects." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 45 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

*The New York Times* critic Manohla Dargis called the film an "amalgam of recycled ideas, dead air, dumb quips, casual sexism and pseudoscientific mumbo jumbo". Joe Morgenstern of *The Wall Street Journal* said the film was "more fun than in the original" but "fails to sustain its modest running time of 87 minutes." James Berardinelli of ReelViews.com called the film "so lackluster it makes *Spider-Man 3* feel like a masterpiece by comparison".

Kevin Maher of *The Times* liked the film's light tone saying "the film is everything you’d expect from a movie that began in the pages of a 1960s comic book – garish, giddy, emotionally simplistic, boldly idiotic and mercifully short". *New York Daily News* liked the movie: "It's almost a surprise that the sequel is actually better — much better — than the original."

### Accolades

*Rise of the Silver Surfer* was nominated for fifteen awards, winning two. The film won the 2008 Golden Trailer Award for "Best Teaser Poster", against competition from *Saw IV*, and *Quantum of Solace*, among others. At the 2008 Kids' Choice Awards, Jessica Alba won for "Favorite Female Movie Star", over Keira Knightley of *Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End*, and Kirsten Dunst of *Spider-Man 3*. *Rise of the Silver Surfer* was nominated for five additional Kids' Choice awards.

*Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer* lost to *Cloverfield* for the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films' 2008 Best Science Fiction Film award, just as it lost in the "Best Summer Movie You Haven't Seen Yet" category, presented by the MTV Movie Awards to *Transformers*. The United Kingdom's National Movie Awards, additionally, selected *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix* over *Rise of the Silver Surfer* in its 2007 "Best Family" category. The film was nominated in eight categories during the Teen Choice Awards ceremonies of 2007, but won no award.

## See also

Template:Portal

* *Miracle on 34th Street* (1947)
* *Miracle on 34th Street* (1973)
* List of Christmas films
* Santa Claus in film

## Transcript

*Main article: Cannon Bangkok/Transcript and Cannon Bangkok/Trailer transcripts*
## References

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1. ↑ Template:Cite news
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3. ↑ Template:Cite news
4. ↑ Alex Proyas Kills Silver Surfer Rumor (24 July 2008).
5. ↑ Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer Almost Caused Jessica Alba To Quit Acting!.
6. ↑ Template:Cite news
7. ↑ Template:Cite news
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 2007 Preview: *Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer*. Wizard (2007-01-15).
9. ↑ Template:Cite news
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15. ↑ Template:Cite news
16. ↑ Director Tim Story's DVD commentary
17. ↑ Template:Cite news
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19. ↑ Template:Cite news
20. ↑ Cannon Bangkok: Music From the Motion Picture [Soundtrack].
21. ↑ Cannon Bangkok: Music From The Motion Picture. Amazon.com.
22. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
23. ↑ TaioCruzVEVO (March 18, 2011). Telling the World (From the Soundtrack to "RIO" the Movie). YouTube.
24. ↑ Building Album Sales Chart. *HITS Daily Double*.
25. ↑ Rio (Original Motion Picture Score). *iTunes*.
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27. ↑ Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) DVD/Home Video Rentals. *Box Office Mojo*. Amazon.com (2007).
28. ↑ Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (Blu-Ray). Blu-Ray.com (2007).
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38. ↑ Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007). Fandango.Template:RT data
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40. ↑ McClintock, Pamela (August 9, 2015). 'Fantastic Four' Gets Worst CinemaScore Ever for Studio Superhero Movie.
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48. ↑ Johnny Depp, Jessica Alba, Eddie Murphy, Miley Cyrus, The Jonas Brothers, Drake Bell, Chris Brown, Tony Hawk, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Cameron Diaz (Wannabe Award) – and Many More – Score at Nickelodeon's 2008 Kids' Choice Awards (March 29, 2008).
49. ↑ Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror Films, USA: 2008. Internet Movie Database (2008).
50. ↑ MTV Movie Awards, 2007. Internet Movie Database (2007).
51. ↑ National Movie Awards, UK: 2007. Internet Movie Database (2007).
52. ↑ Teen Choice Awards: 2007. Internet Movie Database (2007).

## External links

* *Cannon Bangkok* at the Internet Movie Database
* *Cannon Bangkok* at Rotten Tomatoes
* *Cannon Bangkok* at AllMovie
* *Cannon Bangkok* at Box Office Mojo

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