75-400: Last Action Hero is a 1993 American fantasy action comedy film directed and produced by John McTiernan and co-written by Shane Black and David Arnott . It is a satire of the action genre and associated clichés, containing several parodies of action films in the form of films within the film . The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as Jack Slater, a Los Angeles police detective within
150-562: A deaf ear on the grounds that the film would have lost millions of dollars in revenue for every weekend of the summer it ended up missing, also fearing that delaying the release would create negative publicity. He told the authors of Hit And Run that while everyone involved with the production had given their best effort, their attempt to appeal to both action and comedy fans resulted in a film that appealed to neither audience and ultimately succumbed to heavy competition. Last Action Hero received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes ,
225-420: A fantasy film, and Heaven Can Wait (1978) was a successful Bangsian fantasy remake of 1941's Here Comes Mr. Jordan (not 1943's Heaven Can Wait ). A few low budget "Lost World" pictures were made in the 1970s, such as 1975's The Land That Time Forgot . Otherwise, the fantasy genre was largely absent from mainstream movies in this decade, although 1971's Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Willy Wonka &
300-410: A film with a low-quality script, bad acting, and poor production values. Another important subgenre of fantasy films that has become more popular in recent years is contemporary fantasy . Such films feature magical effects or supernatural occurrences happening in the "real" world of today. Films with live action and animation such as Disney 's Mary Poppins , Pete's Dragon , Enchanted , and
375-473: A history almost as old as the medium itself. However, fantasy films were relatively few and far between until the 1980s , when high-tech filmmaking techniques and increased audience interest caused the genre to flourish. What follows are some notable Fantasy films. For a more complete list see: List of fantasy films In the era of silent film , the earliest fantasy films were those made by French film pioneer Georges Méliès from 1903. The most famous of these
450-448: A little more exciting. The 1940s then saw several full-color fantasy films produced by Alexander Korda , including The Thief of Bagdad (1940), a film on par with The Wizard of Oz , and Jungle Book (1942). In 1946, Jean Cocteau 's classic adaptation of Beauty and the Beast won praise for its surreal elements and for transcending the boundaries of the fairy tale genre. Sinbad
525-534: A modern Chinatown setting. Highlander , a film about immortal Scottish swordsmen, was released the same year. Jim Henson produced two iconic fantasy films in the 80s, the solemn The Dark Crystal and the more whimsical and lofty Labyrinth . Meanwhile, Robert Zemeckis helmed Who Framed Roger Rabbit , featuring various famous cartoon characters from animation's "Golden Age," including Mickey Mouse , Minnie Mouse , Donald Duck , Bugs Bunny , Daffy Duck , Droopy , Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner , Sylvester
600-476: A more richly developed fantasy world, and may also be more character-oriented or thematically complex. Often, they feature a hero of humble origins and a clear distinction between good and evil set against each other in an epic struggle. Many scholars cite J. R. R. Tolkien 's The Lord of the Rings novel as the prototypical modern example of high fantasy in literature, and the recent Peter Jackson film adaptation of
675-425: A movie, an $ 80 million-plus mishmash of fantasy, industry in-jokes, self-referential parody, film-buff gags and too-big action set-pieces." Halliwell's Film Guide described it as "a film that tries to have it both ways, simultaneously mocking and celebrating the conventions of action movies, which leaves audiences, as well as the actors and director, in a state of bewildered confusion". John Ferguson of Radio Times
750-752: A salary of $ 15 million for his role in the film. Some scenes were filmed in a dome adjacent to the RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, California . The exterior of the film's Pandora Theater was the Empire Theater on 42nd Street in New York. The interiors were filmed at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. Years after its release, the film was the subject of a scathing chapter called "How They Built The Bomb ", in
825-455: A series featuring Los Angeles cop Jack Slater at a condemned movie theatre owned by Nick. Nick gives Danny a golden ticket once owned by Harry Houdini and invites him to watch Jack Slater IV . During the film, the ticket stub (counterfoil) transports Danny into the fictional world, interrupting Slater during a car chase. Slater takes Danny to the LAPD headquarters, where Danny points out evidence of
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#1732854635016900-401: A tremendous financial success, has achieved critical acclaim for its design, thematic sophistication and emotional depth, grittier realism and darkness, narrative complexity, and characterization, and boasts an enormous and loyal fanbase. Following the success of these ventures, Hollywood studios have greenlighted additional big-budget productions in the genre. These have included adaptations of
975-463: A week but you keep plodding along." Director James Cameron said that he had called Schwarzenegger the weekend after Last Action Hero opened and recalled that it was the only time he's "ever heard him down." Cameron continued, "He took it as a deep blow to his brand. I think it really shook him." Shane Black was very critical of the movie: "It was a mess. There was a movie in there, struggling to emerge, which would have pleased me. But what they'd made
1050-467: Is also a jury member for the digital studio Filmaka, a platform for undiscovered filmmakers to show their work to industry professionals. In July 2012, Avatar Press released the first issue of Penn's first comic book, Hero Worship . The six-issue series is co-written with Star Wars: The Clone Wars screenwriter Scott Murphy and drawn by Michael DiPascale. It centers on Zenith, an indestructible hero who has fans following every disaster, trying to catch
1125-578: Is an American screenwriter. Penn wrote and directed Incident at Loch Ness and The Grand , wrote the script for The Incredible Hulk , co-wrote the scripts for X2 , X-Men: The Last Stand , and the story for The Avengers . With Michael Karnow, Penn is the co-creator of the TV series Alphas on the Syfy network. Penn was born in New York . He is the son of New York businessman and lawyer Arthur Penn, who led
1200-678: Is considered a form of speculative fiction alongside science fiction films and horror films , although the genres do overlap. Fantasy films often have an element of magic, myth , wonder , escapism , and the extraordinary. Several sub-categories of fantasy films can be identified, although the delineations between these subgenres, much as in fantasy literature, are somewhat fluid. The most common fantasy subgenres depicted in movies are high fantasy and sword and sorcery . Both categories typically employ quasi-medieval settings, wizards, magical creatures and other elements commonly associated with fantasy stories. High fantasy films tend to feature
1275-509: The Himalayan fantasy kingdom of Shangri-La , where the residents magically never age. Other noteworthy fantasy films of the 30s include Tarzan the Ape Man in 1932 starring Johnny Weissmuller starting a successful series of talking pictures based on the fantasy-adventure novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs and the G. W. Pabst directed The Mistress of Atlantis from 1932. 1932 saw the release of
1350-637: The Jack Slater action film franchise, while Austin O'Brien co-stars as Danny Madigan, a boy magically transported into the Slater universe, and Charles Dance as Mr. Benedict, a ruthless assassin from the Slater universe who escapes to the real world. Schwarzenegger also served as the film's executive producer and plays himself as the actor portraying Jack Slater. The film also marked Art Carney and Tina Turner 's last feature film before their deaths in 2003 and 2023, respectively. Last Action Hero failed to meet
1425-541: The Robert Zemeckis film Who Framed Roger Rabbit are also fantasy films although are more often referred to as Live action/animation hybrids (2 of those are also classified as musicals). Fantasy films set in the afterlife , called Bangsian fantasy , are less common, although films such as the 1991 Albert Brooks comedy Defending Your Life would likely qualify. Other uncommon subgenres include historical fantasy and romantic fantasy , although 2003's Pirates of
1500-474: The Universal Studios monster movie The Mummy which combined horror with a romantic fantasy twist. more light-hearted and comedic affairs from the decade include films like 1934s romantic drama film Death Takes a Holiday where Fredric March plays Death who takes a human body to experience life for three days and 1937s Topper where a man is haunted by two fun-loving ghosts who try to make his life
1575-590: The themed-pinball machine by Data East was included and released on The Pinball Arcade and its spin-off Stern Pinball Arcade in 2016. In October 2019, Schwarzenegger revealed that he was willing to star in True Lies 2 and Last Action Hero 2 , possible legacy sequels to the two films of his 90s action roles. Fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually magic , supernatural events, mythology , folklore , or exotic fantasy worlds . The genre
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#17328546350161650-484: The 1950s that feature fantastic elements and are sometimes classified as fantasy are Harvey (1950), featuring a púca of Celtic mythology ; Scrooge , the 1951 adaptation of Charles Dickens ' A Christmas Carol ; and Ingmar Bergman 's 1957 masterpiece, The Seventh Seal . Disney's 1951 animated film Alice in Wonderland is also a fantasy classic. There were also a number of lower budget fantasies produced in
1725-611: The 1950s, typically based on Greek or Arabian legend. The most notable of these may be 1958's The 7th Voyage of Sinbad , featuring special effects by Ray Harryhausen and music by Bernard Herrmann . Harryhausen worked on a series of fantasy films in the 1960s, most importantly Jason and the Argonauts (1963). Many critics have identified this film as Harryhausen's masterwork for its stop-motion animated statues, skeletons, harpies , hydra , and other mythological creatures. Other Harryhausen fantasy and science fantasy collaborations from
1800-429: The 1993 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards , the film received two nominations without wins: Worst Picture and Worst Actor (Schwarzenegger). The film was also nominated for seven Saturn Awards for Best Fantasy Film, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Writing, Best Performance by a Young Actor, Best Costume, and Best Special Effects, again winning nothing. A video game based on the film was released in 1994 on video game consoles,
1875-643: The 2000s, such as The Lord of the Rings films, the 1st and 3rd Narnia adaptations, and the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 7th Harry Potter adaptations have most often been released in November and December. This is in contrast to sci-fi films , which are often released during the northern hemisphere summer (June–August). All 3 of the Pirates of the Caribbean films, however, were released in July 2003, July 2006, and May 2007 respectively, and
1950-624: The Barbarian followed by Krull and Fire and Ice in 1983, as well as a boom in fairy tale -like fantasy films such as The Neverending Story (1984), Ladyhawke (1985), The Princess Bride (1987), and Willow (1988). The 1980s also started a trend in mixing modern settings and action film effects with exotic fantasy-like concepts. Big Trouble in Little China (1986), directed by John Carpenter and starring Kurt Russell , combined humor, martial arts and classic Chinese folklore in
2025-570: The Caribbean also saw success at the box office. The early 2010s saw a continuation of the book to screen adaptation fad of the 2000s. Also prevalent in the decade were remakes of older fantasy films especially from Walt Disney Pictures . The 2020s as of 2023 have shown an increasing interest by studios to adapt games into film with Monster Hunter , Sonic the Hedgehog , The Super Mario Bros. Movie , and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Zak Penn Zak Penn (born March 23, 1968)
2100-523: The Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl successfully incorporated elements of both. As noted above, superhero movies and fairy tale films might each be considered subgenres of fantasy films, although most would classify them as altogether separate movie genres. As a cinematic genre, fantasy has traditionally not been regarded as highly as the related genre of science fiction film. Undoubtedly,
2175-646: The Cat , Tweety Pie , and Jiminy Cricket , among others. The 90s saw the Disney Renaissance in which many successful adaptations of written fantasy works were released by Disney Animation . The 2000s saw a boom in the genre. This was compounded by the success of Lord of The Rings and Harry Potter , which spurred a movement in film adaptations of fantasy literary works including The Chronicles of Narnia , Tales from Earthsea , Eragon , Inkheart , and The Golden Compass . The Star Wars prequel trilogy and Pirates of
2250-593: The Chocolate Factory were two fantasy pictures in the public eye the former being predominantly from the same team who did Mary Poppins the latter again being from Roald Dahl in both script and novel. 1980s fantasy films were initially characterized by directors finding a new spin on established mythologies. Ray Harryhausen brought the monsters of Greek legends to life in Clash of the Titans while Arthurian lore returned to
2325-494: The Nancy Griffin book Hit and Run which detailed misadventures at Sony Pictures in the early to mid-1990s. Among the details presented in this chapter were: The film was scored by composer Michael Kamen and peaked at No. 7 on The Billboard 200 chart. The album, which was positively received by active rock radio outlets, was certified platinum on August 24, 1993. Shipments figures based on certification alone. At
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2400-461: The Rings and J. K. Rowling 's Harry Potter series. Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy is notable due to its ambitious scale, serious tone, and thematic complexity. These pictures achieved phenomenal commercial and critical success, and the third installment of the trilogy became the first fantasy film ever to win the Academy Award for Best Picture . The Harry Potter series has been
2475-522: The Ripper. Benedict shoots Slater, critically injuring him. Danny disarms Benedict, allowing Slater to shoot Benedict in his explosive glass eye , killing him; however, the blast causes the stub to be lost. With Slater losing blood, Danny knows the only way to save him is to return him to the fictional world, where his injury will become a flesh wound. The ticket stub falls in front of a theatre playing The Seventh Seal , where The Figure of Death emerges from
2550-467: The Sailor (1947), starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. , has the feel of a fantasy film though it does not actually have any fantastic elements. Several other pictures featuring supernatural encounters and aspects of Bangsian fantasy were produced in the 1940s during World War II . These include Beyond Tomorrow , The Devil and Daniel Webster , and Here Comes Mr. Jordan , all from 1941, Heaven Can Wait
2625-567: The United States and Canada. The film was released in the United Kingdom on July 30, 1993, on 266 screens and again opened at number two behind Jurassic Park (on 435 screens) with a gross of $ 1.34 million for the weekend. In France it opened at number one with a gross of 21 million French franc ($ 3.6 million) in its opening week. It grossed $ 87,202,095 overseas, for a worldwide total of $ 137,298,489. In an A&E biography of Schwarzenegger,
2700-596: The acquisition of the Capital Markets Assurance Corporation from Citicorp . Zak Penn graduated from Wesleyan University in 1990. His screenplay for PCU was based on his experiences at the Eclectic Society house. Films that Penn has been involved in writing include Last Action Hero , X2 , X-Men: The Last Stand , and Elektra . Penn wrote early drafts of Hulk , The Incredible Hulk , The Avengers and Free Guy . Penn
2775-413: The actor (who was also the film's executive producer ) says that the film could have done better if not for bad timing, since it came out a week after Jurassic Park which went on to break box-office records as one of the top-grossing films of all time. Schwarzenegger states that he tried to persuade his coproducers to postpone the film's June 18 release in the United States by four weeks, but they turned
2850-631: The advent of sound films , audiences of all ages were introduced from 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to 1939's The Wizard of Oz . Also notable of the era, the iconic 1933 film King Kong borrows heavily from the Lost World subgenre of fantasy fiction as does such films as the 1935 adaptation of H. Rider Haggard's novel She about an African expedition that discovers an immortal queen known as Ayesha "She who must be obeyed". Frank Capra 's 1937 picture Lost Horizon transported audiences to
2925-409: The ancient crown of Italy), with war, cruelty, betrayal, heroism, sex, magic and mysticism, a whirl of events taken from every possible fairy tale and legend source Blasetti could find. This movie is unlike anything done before; indeed, considering that it was finished fifteen years before the publication of Lord Of The Rings, its invention of a vast, national epic mythology is an act of genius. And while
3000-486: The books is a good example of the high fantasy subgenre on the silver screen. Sword and sorcery movies tend to be more plot-driven than high fantasy and focus heavily on action sequences, often pitting a physically powerful but unsophisticated warrior against an evil wizard or other supernaturally endowed enemy. Although sword and sorcery films sometimes describe an epic battle between good and evil similar to those found in many High fantasy movies, they may alternately present
3075-428: The conventions of the action genre, he still manages to slip in some spectacular set pieces." About the film's failure and critical response, John McTiernan said: Initially, it was a wonderful Cinderella story with a nine-year-old boy. We had a pretty good script by Bill Goldman, charming. And this ludicrous hype machine got hold of it, and it got buried under bullshit. It was so overwhelmed with baggage. And then it
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3150-583: The decade include the 1961 adaptation of Jules Verne 's Mysterious Island , the critically panned One Million Years B.C. starring Raquel Welch , and The Valley of Gwangi (1969). Capitalising on the success of the sword and sandal genre several Italian B-movies based on classical myth were made, including the Maciste series. Otherwise, the 1960s were almost entirely devoid of fantasy films. The fantasy picture 7 Faces of Dr. Lao , in which Tony Randall portrayed several characters from Greek mythology,
3225-430: The differences between the two worlds. Danny and Nick bond while reminiscing their past, while Slater drives away on the screen, waving goodbye. Last Action Hero was an original screenplay by Zak Penn and Adam Leff, meant to parody typical action-film screenplays of writers such as Shane Black . Penn himself noted that the studio ironically then had Black rewrite the script. The original screenplay differs heavily from
3300-403: The fact that until recently fantasy films often suffered from the " Sword and Sandal " afflictions of inferior production values, over-the-top acting, and decidedly poor special effects was a significant factor in fantasy film's low regard. Since the early 2000s, however, the genre has gained new respectability in a way, driven principally by the successful adaptations of Tolkien 's The Lord of
3375-806: The fantasy genre. In the 1950s there were a few major fantasy films, including Darby O'Gill and the Little People and The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. , the latter penned by Dr. Seuss . Jean Cocteau's Orphic Trilogy , begun in 1930 and completed in 1959, is based on Greek mythology and could be classified either as fantasy or surrealist film, depending on how the boundaries between these genres are drawn. Russian fantasy director Aleksandr Ptushko created three mythological epics from Russian fairytales, Sadko (1953), Ilya Muromets (1956), and Sampo (1959). Japanese director Kenji Mizoguchi 's 1953 film Ugetsu Monogatari draws on Japanese classical ghost stories of love and betrayal. Other notable pictures from
3450-637: The fictional nature of Slater's world, such as the presence of numerous attractive women and a cartoon cat detective named Whiskers. Danny says that Slater's friend John Practice should not be trusted as he "killed Mozart " (since he is played by the same actor as Antonio Salieri in Amadeus ). Though Slater dismisses this as Danny's imagination, Slater's supervisor, Lieutenant Dekker, assigns Danny as his partner and instructs them to investigate criminal activities related to mafia boss Tony Vivaldi. Danny guides Slater to Vivaldi's mansion, recognising its location from
3525-539: The film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale. Roger Ebert gave the film 2.5 stars out of 4, writing that despite some entertaining moments, Last Action Hero "plays more like a bright idea than like a movie that was thought through. It doesn't evoke the mystery of the barrier between audience and screen the way Woody Allen did in The Purple Rose of Cairo , and a lot of the time it simply seems to be standing around commenting on itself." Vincent Canby likened
3600-474: The film has an approval rating of 40% based on 53 reviews and an average rating of 5.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, " Last Action Hero has most of the right ingredients for a big-budget action spoof, but its scattershot tone and uneven structure only add up to a confused, chaotic mess." On Metacritic , the film has a weighted average score of 44 out of 100 based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave
3675-510: The film its chance to reach new audiences unencumbered by the bad press. In Netflix's three-part docuseries Arnold (released in 2023), the actor recalled how the failure of the movie affected him. "When Last Action Hero came out I had reached my peak after Terminator 2 , having the most successful movie of the year worldwide, I cannot tell you how upset that I was [about the negative Last Action Hero reviews]. It hurts you. It hurts your feelings. It's embarrassing. I didn't want to see anyone for
3750-472: The film to "a two-hour Saturday Night Live sketch" and called it "something of a mess, but a frequently enjoyable one". Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly wrote: " Last Action Hero makes such a strenuous show of winking at the audience (and itself) that it seems to be celebrating nothing so much as its own awfulness. In a sense, the movie's incipient commercial failure completes it aesthetically." Variety called it "a joyless, soulless machine of
3825-447: The finished film and is widely available to read online. Although it was still a parody of Hollywood action films, it was set almost entirely in the film world and focused largely on the futile cycle of violence displayed by the hero and the effect it had on people around him. Due to the radical changes, Penn and Leff were eventually credited with the story of the film, but not the screenplay. Several script doctors did uncredited work on
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#17328546350163900-556: The first, second, and third books in C. S. Lewis ' The Chronicles of Narnia and the teen novel Eragon , as well as adaptations of Susan Cooper 's The Dark Is Rising , Cornelia Funke 's Inkheart , Philip Pullman 's The Golden Compass , Holly Black 's The Spiderwick Chronicles , Nickelodeon's TV show Avatar: The Last Airbender , and the Fantasia segment (along with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 's original poem) The Sorcerer's Apprentice Many fantasy movies starting in
3975-403: The hero as having more immediate motivations, such as the need to protect a vulnerable maiden or village, or even being driven by the desire for vengeance. The 1982 film adaptation of Robert E. Howard 's Conan the Barbarian , for example, is a personal (non-epic) story concerning the hero's quest for revenge and his efforts to thwart a single megalomaniac—while saving a beautiful princess in
4050-711: The latest releases in the Harry Potter series were released in July 2007 and July 2009. The huge commercial success of these pictures may indicate a change in Hollywood's approach to big-budget fantasy film releases. Screenwriter and scholar Eric R. Williams identifies fantasy films as one of eleven super-genres in his screenwriters taxonomy , claiming that all feature length narrative films can be classified by these super-genres. The other 10 super-genres are action , crime , horror , romance , sci-fi , slice of life , sports , thriller , war and western . Fantasy films have
4125-529: The musical Cabin in the Sky (1943), the comedy The Horn Blows at Midnight and romances such as The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), One Touch of Venus and Portrait of Jennie , both 1948. An astonishing anticipation of the full "sword and sorcery" genre was made in 1941 in Italy by Alessandro Blasetti. La Corona di Ferro presents the struggles of two imaginary kingdoms around the legendary Iron Crown (historically
4200-478: The novel Ayesha: The Return of She both produced by Hammer Film Productions . The musical fantasy film Mary Poppins was released in 1964, and 1968 saw the release of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang based on a story by Ian Fleming with a script from Roald Dahl . Fantasy elements of Arthurian legend were again featured, albeit absurdly, in 1975's Monty Python and the Holy Grail . Harryhausen also returned to
4275-495: The process. Some critics refer to such films by the term Sword and Sandal rather than sword and sorcery, although others would maintain that the Sword and Sandal label should be reserved only for the subset of fantasy films set in ancient times on the planet Earth, and still others would broaden the term to encompass films that have no fantastic elements whatsoever. To some, the term Sword and Sandal has pejorative connotations, designating
4350-504: The release very well. It came out more or less at the same time as something very big", referring to Jurassic Park . "But it was fun to do." He also praised Schwarzenegger: "Arnold is a very smart man, oh yes. Very definitely. And very funny, and very aware." The film was nominated for six Golden Raspberry Awards : Worst Picture, Worst Actor (Arnold Schwarzenegger), Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, Worst New Star (Austin O'Brien), and Worst Original Song ("Big Gun"), but it did not win any. At
4425-459: The screen in John Boorman 's 1981 Excalibur . Films such as Ridley Scott 's 1985 Legend and Terry Gilliam 's 1981–1986 trilogy of fantasy epics ( Time Bandits , Brazil , and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen ) explored a new artist-driven style featuring surrealist imagery and thought-provoking plots. The modern sword and sorcery boom began around the same time with 1982's Conan
4500-423: The screen. Death is curious: Jack Slater is missing from his lists of when people will die, and Danny is slated to die as a grandfather. Death then suggests searching for the other half of the ticket. Danny finds it and takes Slater back into his movie, where his wounds instantly heal. Danny returns to the real world before the portal closes. A recovered Slater then embraces the true nature of his reality, appreciating
4575-458: The script, including Carrie Fisher , Larry Ferguson , and William Goldman . Penn and Leff disliked various parts of the final film, including the idea of a magic golden ticket. In their draft, the story would not explain how Danny got transported into the film world. John McTiernan originally turned down the offer to direct the film, Robert Zemeckis was under consideration to direct, but McTiernan later changed his mind. Schwarzenegger received
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#17328546350164650-582: The silver screen in the 1970s with two additional Sinbad fantasies, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974) and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977). The animated movie Wizards (1977) had limited success at the box office but achieved status as a cult film . There was also The Noah (1975) which was never released theatrically but became a cult favorite when it was finally released on DVD in 2006. Some would consider 1977's Oh God! , starring George Burns to be
4725-403: The start of the movie. There, they meet Vivaldi's henchman, Mr. Benedict. Vivaldi and Benedict killed Slater's second cousin, but Slater has no evidence and is forced to leave with Danny; however, Benedict is curious as to how Danny knew, and he and several hired guns follow Slater and Danny back to Slater's home. There, Slater, his daughter Whitney, and Danny thwart the attack, though Benedict gets
4800-597: The storytelling is rough - due to the need to insert everything - and the resources limited, Blasetti shows how to make a little go a long way through beautifully staged and designed battle and crowd scenes. Although it's not classified as a fantasy film, Gene Kelly 's Anchors Aweigh had a fantasy sequence called "The King who Couldn't Dance" in which Gene did a song and dance number with Jerry Mouse from Tom and Jerry . Because these movies do not feature elements common to high fantasy or sword and sorcery pictures, some modern critics do not consider them to be examples of
4875-511: The stub to escape into the real world, pursued by Slater and Danny. Slater becomes despondent upon learning the truth but cheers up after spending time with Irene. Meanwhile, Benedict devises a plan to kill the actor portraying Slater in the movie, Arnold Schwarzenegger , bring other movie villains into the real world, and take over. To help, Benedict brings the Ripper, the villain of Jack Slater III , to Jack Slater IV 's premiere to assassinate Schwarzenegger. Slater saves Schwarzenegger and kills
4950-482: The studio's expectations at the box office, and was both a critical and commercial disappointment. Since its release Last Action Hero gained a cult following , with some noting it as underrated in Schwarzenegger's catalogue. Ten-year-old Danny Madigan lives in a crime-ridden area of New York City with his widowed mother, Irene. Following his father's death, Danny takes comfort in watching action movies, especially
5025-427: The ticket stub and discovers that it can transport him into the real world. Slater deduces Vivaldi's plan to murder the rival mob by releasing a lethal gas. He and Danny go to stop it but are waylaid by Practice, who reveals that Danny was right: he is working for Vivaldi. Whiskers kills Practice, saving Slater and Danny, who prevent any deaths from the gas release. After Vivaldi's plan fails, Benedict kills him and uses
5100-499: The time of its release, the film was billed as "the next great summer action movie" and many movie insiders predicted it would be a huge blockbuster , especially following the success of Schwarzenegger's previous film, Terminator 2: Judgment Day . The film premiered in Westwood, Los Angeles on June 13, 1993, and entered general release in the United States five days later. It introduced the 1993 Columbia Pictures logo. Last Action Hero
5175-578: Was 1902's A Trip to the Moon . In the Golden Age of Silent film (1918–1926) the most outstanding fantasy films were Douglas Fairbanks ' The Thief of Bagdad (1924), Fritz Lang 's Die Nibelungen (1924), and Destiny (1921). Other notables in the genre were F.W. Murnau 's romantic ghost story Phantom , Tarzan of the Apes starring Elmo Lincoln , and D. W. Griffith 's The Sorrows of Satan . Following
5250-564: Was a jarring, random collection of scenes." In the years since the release of Last Action Hero , the film has developed a strong cult following. Schwarzenegger singled out that movie as his most underrated: " Last Action Hero was great – it wasn't fantastic, but it was underrated. Now, more and more people are seeing it and saying, "I love this movie." I'm getting the residual checks, so I know it's true. It made money – that's always an important thing for me. Because it's show business, right?" Later, Charles Dance said: "I think they just didn't time
5325-458: Was more positive, awarding it four stars out of five and stating, "An Arnold Schwarzenegger backlash had been on the cards for some time and when this extravaganza was released the knives were well and truly out. It was actually all a little unfair, because this is a smart, funny blockbuster [...] Schwarzenegger has rarely been better and he is backed up by a never-ending stream of star names in cameo roles [...] And, although McTiernan has fun spoofing
5400-474: Was released in 1964. But the 1967 adaptation of the Broadway musical Camelot removed most of the fantasy elements from T. H. White 's classic The Once and Future King , on which the musical had been based. The 1960s also saw a new adaption of Haggard's She in 1965 starring Ursula Andress as the immortal "She who must be obeyed" and was followed by a sequel in 1968 The Vengeance of She based loosely on
5475-560: Was released on VHS and LaserDisc on January 26, 1994, and on DVD on October 7, 1997. On February 3, 2009, Last Action Hero was reissued on DVD by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment in a double-feature set with the 1986 film Iron Eagle . It was released on the high-definition Blu-ray Disc format on January 12, 2010. The film double-featured with Hudson Hawk on Blu-ray and released by Umbrella Entertainment on September 4, 2019, in Australia only. An Ultra HD Blu-ray restored version
5550-610: Was released on May 18, 2021, and featured a director's commentary track, deleted scenes, an alternative ending, and the original theatrical trailer, all in 4K. The film was re-released with Cliffhanger in a 2-Movie Collection Blu-ray pack on November 2, 2021. The film grossed approximately $ 1.1 million in previews on the evening of Thursday, June 17, 1993, and opened at number two at the US box office, behind Jurassic Park ' s second weekend, grossing $ 14.2 million on its opening weekend from 2,306 theaters. It ended its run with $ 50,016,394 in
5625-567: Was whipped out unedited, practically assembled right out of the camera. It was in the theater five or six weeks after I finished shooting. It was kamikaze, stupid, no good reason for it. And then to open the week after Jurassic Park —God! To get to the depth of bad judgment involved in that, you'd need a snorkel. Later Schwarzenegger blamed the film's poor performance on bad press and the election of Democratic president Bill Clinton , which he said influenced audiences to see 1980s action film stars as lowbrow. In 2017, he said streaming services gave
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