The Box (2009 film)

Plot

A CIA internal memo describes Arlington Steward, a man who survived severe burns from a lightning strike and now distributes items connected to the Mars project. In December 1976, Norma and Arthur Lewis wake early to find a package on their doorstep. It contains a wooden box with a glass-domed button, a key, and a note saying Mr. Steward will visit at 5:00 p.m. The couple has breakfast with their son, Walter, then Arthur goes to work at NASA, where he designs optics and helped create the camera for the Viking Mars probe. He learns he failed the psychological exam and was rejected from the astronaut program. Norma, a literature teacher at an elite private school, shows her disfigured right foot to her class during a discussion of Jean-Paul Sartre’s concept of Hell. Her boss tells her the tuition discount for Walter’s school is canceled, creating financial strain. Later, Arlington Steward, his face badly disfigured, arrives as promised. He offers a deal: press the button, someone unknown to them will die, and they receive one million dollars. He gives them 24 hours to decide. After thinking it over, Norma impulsively presses the button. Steward returns with the money, hinting that someone close to them might die. Arthur tries to give the money back, but Steward leaves quickly. At a wedding rehearsal dinner, Arthur sees a student of Norma’s with a box like theirs, containing a photo of Steward. Arthur investigates Steward and finds his car is registered to the NSA. Meanwhile, a stranger in a supermarket warns Norma to check a library call number and not to trust Arthur. Steward scolds Norma for involving the police, since Arthur asked her father, a police officer, to run Steward’s license plate. At home, the babysitter, Dana, reveals she is not who she seems, tells Arthur to look in the mirror for answers, and then vanishes. Arthur also finds Steward’s photo in a picture from his NASA work.

Production

Director Richard Kelly wrote a script based on the 1970 short story 'Button, Button' by author Richard Matheson, which had previously been turned into a Twilight Zone episode of the same name. Kelly's screenplay expands significantly upon the story, notably adding plot elements of conspiracy theory and alien life not present in the original. The project had a budget of over $30 million provided by Media Rights Capital. Kelly described his intent for the film: 'My hope is to make a film that is incredibly suspenseful and broadly commercial, while still retaining my artistic sensibility.' Actress Cameron Diaz was cast in the lead role in June 2007. Actor Frank Langella was cast in October 2007, and production began on the film the following month. Prior to production, actor James Marsden was cast in a lead role opposite Diaz. It was the second time Marsden and Langella worked together, the first being Superman Returns and re-teaming again in Robot & Frank. Most of the filming took place in the Boston, Massachusetts, area, with scenes shot in downtown Boston, South Boston, Waltham, Ipswich, Winthrop, Milton, Medfield, Quincy, Kingston, and North Andover, as well as other localities. Some filming took place on the Milton Academy campus and at Boston Public Library. A large indoor set was built inside a former Lucent Technologies building in North Andover to recreate a NASA laboratory. The production crew also journeyed to NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, to shoot a number of scenes for the film. Richard Kelly's father had worked at NASA Langley in the 1970s and 80s. Filming also took place in Richmond, Virginia, including overhead shots of the city, including 95 South passing the train station. Many background extras were reused in different scenes, and people with period-correct 60s and 70s cars were encouraged to participate. Arlington Steward's car, in particular, is a Buick Electra, although characters in the movie refer to it as Lincoln Town Car (an entirely different car model, which was not yet in production at the time the movie is set). The film was shot digitally using the Panavision Genesis camera, according to Kelly. Production concluded by February 2008.

Release

The Australian premiere of The Box happened on October 29, 2009. Its U.S. release was initially set for October 30, 2009, but on July 31, 2009, the date was pushed back to November 6, 2009. On opening weekend, the film earned $7,571,417 across 2,635 theaters, averaging $2,873 per screen. It landed at number six at the box office, trailing behind A Christmas Carol, The Men Who Stare at Goats, and The Fourth Kind. Domestically, the total gross reached $15,051,977, with a worldwide haul of $32,924,206. In the U.S., the movie arrived on DVD, Blu-ray, and digital download on February 23, 2010.

Reception

According to Rotten Tomatoes, 42% of 153 critics gave The Box a positive review, with an average score of 5.2 out of 10. The site's summary calls it "Imaginative but often preposterous," adding that it offers some thrills but feels too disjointed. On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 47 out of 100 based on 24 critic reviews. Audience reaction was harsh: CinemaScore reported an F grade from opening-day viewers, and its president Ed Mintz blamed the ending, saying, "People really thought this was a stinker."

Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times gave the film one star out of five, calling it a "painfully sluggish new sci-fi morality play." She noted that director Richard Kelly usually has "the touch when it comes to the subversive" and praised the staging and lighting, but concluded the effort was "all for naught, because the narrative is so fractured and foolish." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone liked Kelly's ideas but criticized the exposition and pacing, writing that instead of pulling viewers along, "The Box just sits there like something unclaimed at lost and found. Damaged goods."

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times was more positive, awarding three out of four stars and saying, "This movie kept me involved and intrigued, and for that I'm grateful." Jordan Mintzer of Variety noted that "Kelly's trademark mix of sci-fi, surrealism and suburbia occasionally entertains." Keith Uhlich of Time Out New York ranked The Box as the ninth-best film of 2009, describing it as "a defiantly personal project that solidifies writer-director Richard Kelly's talent, even as it surely pushes him further toward the filmmaking fringe." The film received a nomination at the 8th Visual Effects Society Awards for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture, but lost to Sherlock Holmes.