National Treasure (film)
National Treasure is a 2004 American action-adventure film released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was written by Jim Kouf and the Wibberleys, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Jon Turteltaub. It is the first film in the "National Treasure" film series and stars Nicolas Cage, Harvey Keitel, Jon Voight, Diane Kruger, Sean Bean, Justin Bartha, and Christopher Plummer. Cage plays Benjamin Franklin Gates, a historian and amateur cryptographer searching for a huge lost treasure of precious metals, jewelry, artwork, statues, and many other historic artifacts accumulated over time, becoming a massive stockpile. All of it  was eventually hidden away by American Freemasons during the American Revolutionary War. A coded, unseen map, placed on the back of the Declaration of Independence points to the secret location of this "national treasure", but Gates is not alone in his quest: Whoever can steal the Declaration, find the map, and decode it first, will discover the greatest treasure ever accumulated in history. "National Treasure" was released worldwide on November 19, 2004. The film grossed $347 million worldwide and received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the action scenes, entertainment value, and acting performances, but criticized the premise and  screenplay. A sequel, titled "", was released in December 2007. Plot. Benjamin Franklin Gates is an American historian, cryptographer, and treasure hunter. When Ben was young, his grandfather John told him that Charles Carroll passed on a secret to their ancestor in 1832 of a fabled national treasure hidden in America by the Knights Templar, Founding Fathers, and Freemasons. The clue leading to the treasure is the phrase “the secret lies with Charlotte.” While Ben is convinced by the story, his skeptical father, Patrick, dismisses it as nonsense. Thirty years later, Ben and his friend, computer expert Riley Poole, head an  expedition financed by wealthy Ian Howe to find the "Charlotte", revealed to be a ship lost in the arctic. Within, they find a meerschaum pipe, whose engravings reveal the next clue is on the Declaration of Independence. When Ian reveals himself to be a crime boss and suggests stealing the Declaration, a fight ensues, and the group splits. Ben and Riley report Ian's plan to the FBI and Dr. Abigail Chase of the National Archives, but no one believes their claim. Ben decides to protect the Declaration by removing it from the Archives’ preservation room during a gala event . Obtaining Abigail's fingerprints, Ben successfully obtains the Declaration, only to be spotted by Ian's group just as they break in to steal it. Ben tries to leave via the gift shop but has to buy the Declaration when the clerk mistakes it for a souvenir copy. Abigail, suspecting something is amiss, confronts Ben and takes back the document. Ian promptly kidnaps her, but Ben and Riley rescue Abigail, tricking Ian by leaving behind a souvenir copy of the Declaration. FBI Agent Sadusky begins tracking Ben down. Going to Patrick's house, the trio studies the Declaration and discovers  an Ottendorf cipher written in invisible ink. The message refers to the Silence Dogood letters written by Benjamin Franklin. Patrick formerly owned them, but donated them to the Franklin Institute. Paying a schoolboy to view the letters and decipher the code for them, Ben, Riley, and Abigail discover a message pointing to the bell tower of Independence Hall. Pursued by Ian, they find a hidden cache containing a pair of glasses with multiple colored lenses, which, when used to read the back of the Declaration, reveal a clue pointing to the Trinity Church. Ian's associates chase the trio through  Philadelphia until Ben is arrested by the FBI. Abigail and Riley lose the Declaration to Ian; however, Abigail convinces Ian to help them rescue Ben in exchange for the next clue. Ian agrees, arranging a meeting at the USS Intrepid, where they help Ben evade the FBI. Ian returns the Declaration and asks for the next clue, but when Ben remains coy, Ian reveals he has kidnapped Patrick as a hostage. They travel to the Trinity Church, where they find an underground passage that appears to lead to a dead end, lit by a lone lantern. Patrick claims it is  a reference to the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, pointing Ian to the Old North Church in Boston. Ian traps Ben, Abigail, Riley, and Patrick in the chamber, heading for Boston, which was Patrick's intent as the clue was fictitious. Ben then finds a notch which the meerschaum pipe fits into, opening a large chamber containing the treasure, with a staircase to the surface. Ben contacts Sadusky, who is actually a Freemason, and willingly surrenders the Declaration and the treasure's location. Thanks to a tip from Ben, Ian is arrested by the FBI and sent to prison in  Ben's place. Later, Ben and Abigail have started a relationship, while Riley is somewhat upset that Ben turned down the 10% finder's fee for the treasure so the entire collection could go to museums. However, the 1% he did accept has still netted them all significant wealth. Cast. Additionally, Jack Koenig portrays a young version of Founding Father Charles Carroll; David Dayan Fisher appears as Shaw, Stewart Finlay-McLennan as Powell, Oleg Taktarov as Viktor Shippen, and Stephen Pope as Phil McGregor (all four being Ian's henchmen); Annie Parisse, Mark Pellegrino, Armando Riesco, and Erik King play  agents Dawes, Ted Johnson, Hendricks, and Colfax, respectively. Jason Earles portrays Thomas Gates. Production. Development. By early 1999, it was revealed that Jon Turteltaub was developing "National Treasure" based upon an idea developed by Oren Aviv and Charles Segars in 1997, with the script penned by Jim Kouf. By 2001, the project was relocated to Touchstone Pictures. In May 2003, Nicolas Cage was cast as lead in the film. New drafts were written by nine scribers, including Cormac and Marianne Wibberley, E. Max Frye and Jon Turteltaub. By October, Sean Bean was cast. Filming locations. "National Treasure" was filmed primarily  in Washington, New York, Philadelphia and Utah. Most scenes were filmed on location, with the exceptions of the Independence Hall scene, which was filmed at the replica of Independence Hall at Knott's Berry Farm, and the Arctic scene, which was filmed in Utah. Portrayal of Declaration of Independence. The film's suggestion that the original Declaration of Independence still has clearly visible ink is inaccurate. The document's ink would dry over time due to exposure to damaging lighting, with little ink still existing by 1876. However, viewers are often surprised to learn that many plot points in "National  Treasure" and its sequel are inspired by true, often little-known, events in history. Since 2020, an independent podcast called the "National Treasure Hunt" has conducted deep-dives into many of these historical points, drawing attention to aspects that are historically accurate versus embellished. Reception. Box office. "National Treasure" earned $11 million on its opening day in the United States, ahead of Paramount & Nickelodeon's "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie" (which earned $9,559,752). It grossed a combined total of $35,142,554 during its opening weekend, on 4,300 screens at 3,243 theaters, averaging $11,648 per venue, again ahead of  The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. The film had the best opening weekend for a Disney film released in November, until it was surpassed by "Chicken Little" in 2005. It held on to the No. 1 spot for three weekends. In Japan "National Treasure" bested out the double-billing "MegaMan NT Warrior: Program of Light and Dark" and "Duel Masters: Curse of the Deathphoenix" by grossing $11,666,763 in its first week. The film closed on June 2, 2005 with its domestic gross being $173,008,894 while earning $174,503,424 internationally. Worldwide, "National Treasure" grossed over $347,512,318, against a budget of  $100 million. Critical reception. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 46% based on 179 reviews, and an average rating of 5.30/10. The site's consensus reads, ""National Treasure" is no treasure, but it's a fun ride for those who can forgive its highly improbable plot." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 39 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale. Roger Ebert gave the film 2/4 stars, calling it "so silly  that the Monty Python version could use the same screenplay, line for line." Academic David Bordwell has expressed a liking for the film, placing it in the tradition of 1950s Disney children's adventure movies, and using it as the basis for an essay on scene transitions in classical Hollywood cinema. Home media. "National Treasure" was released on Disney DVD in May 2005. In keeping with the theme of the movie, the DVD contains a "Bonus Treasure Hunt": viewers who watch the Special Features on the disc are rewarded with puzzles and codes that unlock more features. Collector's Edition  DVD. To help promote "Book of Secrets", a special collector's edition, two-disc DVD set of the movie was released on December 18, 2007. The set features a bonus disc containing additional deleted scenes and documentaries. Blu-ray Disc. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released Blu-ray Disc versions of "National Treasure" and its sequel, "National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets", on May 20, 2008. Sequels. Although the DVD commentary stated that there were no plans for a sequel, the film's box office gross of an unexpected $347.5 million worldwide warranted a second film, which was given  the green light in 2005. "" was released on December 21, 2007. In 2008, director Jon Turteltaub said that the filmmaking team would take its time on another "National Treasure" sequel. In October 2013, Turteltaub confirmed that the studio, himself, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and the actors all want to do the third film, saying: "We want to do the movie, Disney wants to do the movie. We're just having the damnedest time writing it. I'll bet that within two years, we'll be shooting that movie. I'd say we're about half-way there." In May 2016, Nicolas  Cage confirmed the film was still in the writing process, and in July 2018, Turtletaub reiterated that a script for a possible third film was "close," but Disney still was not completely sold by the idea. In January 2020, it was announced that Chris Bremner, the writer of "Bad Boys for Life", would write a new script for it. In May 2020, Jerry Bruckheimer had confirmed that, not only was there a third film in development with the original cast returning, but also that a Disney+ series was in the works with the series having the same premise as the  original, but focusing on a much younger cast. In April 2022, Nicolas Cage was hosting an AMA (Ask Me Anything) thread on Reddit where he commented on the possibility of future installments: "No, the priority was to turn it into a TV show so I would say probably not."