The Alamo (2004 film)

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The Alamo
Directed by John Lee Hancock
Produced by Ron Howard
Mark Johnson
Written by Leslie Bohem
Stephen Gaghan
John Lee Hancock
Starring Dennis Quaid
Billy Bob Thornton
Jason Patric
Patrick Wilson
Emilio Echevarría
Jordi Mollà
Leon Rippy
Tom Davidson
with Marc Blucas
and Robert Prentiss
Music by Carter Burwell
Cinematography John O'Connor
Dean Semler
Editing by Eric L. Beason
Distributed by Touchstone Pictures
Release date(s) April 9, 2004
Running time 137 min.
Language English
Budget $95 million
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

The Alamo is a 2004 film about the Battle of the Alamo during the Texas Revolution. It is the second major studio film about the battle, following John Wayne's 1960 film of the same name. The film was directed by Texan director John Lee Hancock, and produced by Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, and Mark Johnson. It was produced and distributed by Touchstone Pictures.

The screenplay is credited to John Lee Hancock, John Sayles, Stephen Gaghan and Leslie Bohem. In contrast to the earlier 1960 film, the 2003 script makes an effort to depict the political points of view of both the Mexican and Texan sides; Santa Anna is a more prominent character.

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[edit] Production

The film was originally set up with Imagine Entertainment with Ron Howard in the director's chair and producing partner Brian Grazer as producer. Russell Crowe was originally cast as Sam Houston, Ethan Hawke as William Barret Travis and Billy Bob Thornton as Davy Crockett. But there were financial and creative disagreements between Imagine and Disney, particularly with Howard wanting a $200 million budget. Disney rejected Imagine's proposal for the film, and Howard, Grazer, Crowe and Hawke left the project. Disney opted to go with director John Lee Hancock instead with a budget of $95 million. Thornton was the only member of the original team to remain throughout the project.

The film was shot near Austin, Texas between January and June 2003, mostly on a local property named Reimers Ranch. The film's art direction focused on historical accuracy and verisimilitude; for instance, the mission's facade does not feature the well-known "hump" at the top, a detail that was actually added years after the battle during a restoration.

The film was shot in 2003 and scheduled for release in December of that year, but was then rescheduled for release in April 2004.

[edit] Cast

Many of the extras that took part in the film were actual descendants of the Alamo defenders.

[edit] Box office

The film was highly unsuccessful at the box office, opening on Easter weekend to mostly middling reviews and a low box office turnout. In its first weekend, it was defeated in box office numbers by a resurgent The Passion of the Christ. It cost over $140 million USD to make and market the film but earned only $9.1 million USD in its first weekend. By its second month of release, the film had yet to muster $30 million USD in domestic earnings. It ended its theatrical run with a worldwide gross of slightly less than $26 million [1].

[edit] See also

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