The Thing (2011 film)

Did You Know?

• Dark Horse Comics released a three-part digital-only prequel comic called The Thing: The Northman Nightmare on September 21, 2011, written by Steve Niles and drawn by Patric Reynolds.
• Plans for a sequel set on an oil platform near the South Pole were abandoned following the film's critical and financial failure.
• In 2020, social media hashtags #ReleaseThePilotVersion and #ReleaseTheStudioADIcut were started in response to Zack Snyder's Justice League and released behind-the-scenes footage from Studio ADI.

Plot

In the winter of 1982, members of the Norwegian research station Thule discover an alien spacecraft and a nearby alien body buried in the Antarctic ice. Dr. Sander Halvorson and his assistant Adam Finch recruit American paleontologist Kate Lloyd to investigate. Together with pilots Sam Carter, Derek Jameson, and crewman Griggs, they fly to Thule Station and meet station chief Edvard Wolner and his team. The body, encased in a block of ice, is transported to Thule Station. While the team celebrates, Jameson witnesses the Thing burst from the ice block. The team splits up to search for the alien and find Lars' dog dead. The alien drags Henrik into itself, spattering blood on Olav. The group kills the alien by igniting spilled fuel beneath it. An autopsy reveals that the alien's cells were copying Henrik's. Olav falls ill. As Carter, Jameson, and Griggs take off in the helicopter to take Olav to a medical facility, Griggs transforms into a Thing and attacks Olav, causing the helicopter to crash. Kate discovers dental fillings in a bloodied shower and alerts the team that the alien can assimilate and imitate its victims. Edvard orders the team to drive to the closest base; however, Juliette and Kate want to prevent anyone from leaving. After going with Kate to get the keys, Juliette transforms and attempts to kill her. Kate escapes and the Juliette-Thing kills Karl. Lars kills the Juliette-Thing with a flamethrower and the team resolves to quarantine themselves. That night, Carter and Jameson stagger back from the crash. Suspected of being infected, they are kept in isolation. Kate proposes everyone be checked for dental fillings, as the alien does not assimilate inorganic material. The test clears all but Sander, Edvard, Adam, and Colin, as they have no metallic fillings.

Cast

Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays Kate Lloyd, an American vertebrate paleontologist graduate from Columbia University, written to have similar traits to Ellen Ripley from the Alien film series. Joel Edgerton portrays Sam Carter, an American helicopter pilot and Vietnam War veteran running a supply operation to the bases. Ulrich Thomsen plays Dr. Sander Halvorson, the arrogant Danish leader of alien research who orders a sample obtained despite Kate's warnings; Norwegian actor Dennis Storhøi was initially hired but replaced by Thomsen after a week of filming, requiring digital effects to put Thomsen's face on Storhoi's body for already-shot scenes. Eric Christian Olsen plays Adam Finch, a young Canadian scientist working as Dr. Sander's research assistant who invites Kate to the base. Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje plays Derek Jameson, an American helicopter co-pilot and Vietnam veteran who is Carter's best friend. Paul Braunstein plays Griggs, a crew-chief member of the American helicopter transport team. Trond Espen Seim plays Edvard Wolner, a notable Norwegian geologist who is the station commander and an old friend of Sander. Kim Bubbs plays Juliette, a French geologist. Jørgen Langhelle plays Lars, an ex-soldier who works as the dog keeper and is the only Norwegian base member who does not speak English; he is revealed to be the Norwegian shooter in the original film. Kristofer Hivju plays Jonas, a nervous but friendly Norwegian polar ice researcher. Jan Gunnar Røise plays Olav, a Norwegian Snowcat vehicle driver and guide. Stig Henrik Hoff plays Peder, a Norwegian rifle-toting camp member who is Edvard's right-hand man. Jo Adrian Haavind plays Henrik, another Norwegian base member. Carsten Bjørnlund plays Karl, a Norwegian geologist. Jonathan Lloyd Walker plays Colin, an eccentric English radio operator. Ole Martin Aune Nilsen plays Matias, the helicopter pilot of the Norwegian base currently on a mission to restock kerosene at Halley; he is revealed to be aboard the Norwegian helicopter in the 1982 film.

Production

After working on the Dawn of the Dead remake, producers Marc Abraham and Eric Newman searched Universal Studios' catalog for their next project. They came across John Carpenter’s 1982 film The Thing and persuaded the studio to make a prequel rather than a remake, arguing that redoing Carpenter’s work would be like adding a mustache to the Mona Lisa. Newman explained that once they saw there was a fresh story to tell within the same setting and characters, but from a different angle, they embraced the challenge. In early 2009, Variety announced a prequel project, with Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. directing and Ronald D. Moore writing. Van Heijningen Jr. got involved after his first planned film, a zombie sequel to the Dawn of the Dead remake set in Las Vegas called Army of the Dead, was canceled by the studio three months before shooting. Starting over, he asked his agent if a The Thing project was in development, since Alien and The Thing are his favorite movies. As a European, he had always been curious about what happened at the Norwegian camp. In March 2009, Moore described his script as a companion piece to Carpenter’s film, not a remake. He said it tells the story of the Norwegian camp that discovered the Thing before the group led by Kurt Russell.

Reception

The Thing grossed $8,493,665 over its opening weekend, finishing third on the box office chart. It was distributed to 2,996 theaters and spent one week on the top 10 chart before dropping to 16th position in its second week. Its domestic run totaled $16,928,670. Box Office Mojo called its box office collections an outright disappointment, noting that the film was at a disadvantage because a vague thing does not give prospective audiences much to latch on to. The film grossed $14,576,617 in foreign countries, bringing the worldwide total to $31,505,287. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 34% based on 171 reviews, with an average rating of 5/10. The site's critical consensus states that it serves the bare serviceable minimum for a horror flick but is all boo-scares and a slave to the far superior John Carpenter version. Metacritic assigned a weighted average score of 49 out of 100 based on 31 critics, indicating mixed or average reviews. CinemaScore polls gave the film a B− on an A+ to F scale.