Heroes: A New Beginning (film)

Heroes: A New Beginning is a 2011 romantic-superhero science fiction based on the novel with the same name written by American author Joanne White. It will be the first film in the Heroes film series and directed by David Slade. It will star Emma Roberts as Amanda Humphrey, a normal girl who spots her love interest Mark Brown, played by Zac Efron, is a superhero after being rescued from getting killed by a falling piano. The movie was shot in Los Angeles, California and debuts in a theatrical release worldwide on November 25, 2011 in regular and IMAX theaters. The film features supporting cast of David Henrie, Kristin Davis, Sean Faris,  Emma Stone,Ashlee Simpson,  Chad Michael Murray, Avril Lavgine and T.I..

After earning favorable reviews, the film broke box office records including largest Thanksgiving weekend of all-time, and best three-day gross for a non-sequel film with a worldwide opening of $210 million. Warner Bros. said they are to say that the film has became a brand new blockbuster hit.

After its box office success, a second installment into the film series will be released on November 23, 2012, with David Henrie playing in a larger role. Also, a third installment The Ultimate Power is due July 19, 2013.

Plot

 * See also: Heroes: A New Beginning

Amanda Humphrey is a 17-year-old normal teenager whom goes to high school, have plenty of friends and have break up from her rude boyfriend Justin Bradford, whom begs her to come back to with him, but she refuses to. She lived with her mother Lisa Humphrey in Los Angeles where her father lives in New York City after their divorce. As Amanda has another school year left, she met a handsome young man 20-year-old Mark Brown whom begins his first day of school in Los Angeles High School. When she and Mark get close together, Mark believes that he’s not confortable being around with her because of his dark secret.

Meanwhile, while shopping with her friends, a building is being attacked and the piano falls from it about to strike Amanda. Mark appears to have smashed the piano into pieces with his fist. She follows him and is looking up information of how has he done to smash up heavy objects. She discovers that Mark had superpowers and is a superhero. After Amanda has found out his secret, Mark already knew that she was spying on him. Later, the two got along and begin a relationship.

Meanwhile, super villains Michael Williams, Stephanie McDonald and Tim Arnold are set to threaten and rule the world by destroying Mark his own nemesis. They discover that they find Mark found his true love Amanda and are out to destroy her. While Amanda, Mark and his adopted brothers and sister are playing volleyball, they are being attacked by Michael, Stephanie and Tim. Mark explains to Amanda that the super villains are murders and they are after Mark. He also envisions that they are set to kill Amanda, making him the only hope to protect her. As Amanda asks him to give her superpowers, he refused to because she must be at least 20 to gain one. She agrees and wait till her 20th to gain one.

Meanwhile, Amanda is attacked and kidnapped by Michael, Stephanie and Tim. Badly hurting her, Mark rescues her and led to the final showdown of good and evil. After the final showdown, the super villains bailed out. At the hospital, Mark tells Amanda that he is truly in love with her and will always be together with her for her protection as she is waiting until she turned 20 on her birthday to gain super abilities from Mark.

Cast

 * See also: List of Heroes (book) characters


 * Emma Roberts as Amanda Humphrey, a 17-year-old girl, who fell in love with her first boyfriend, 21-year-old Mark Brown. However, she discovers that he is a superhero after being rescued by a falling piano from the building during an attack. Within spending time with him, she is in danger from getting attack by three 25-year-old supervillains.
 * Zac Efron as Mark Brown, leader of the Brown family, his friends, but adoptive brothers and sisters. A love interst to Amanda, he quickly became her boyfriend. Although, he is discover that he's has superpowers after rescuing from getting killed by a falling piano. Within spending time with her, Mark is forced to protect from the 25-year-old evil supervillains.
 * David Henrie as Joe Osment, one of Amanda's friend.
 * Kristin Davis as Lisa Humphrey, Amanda's divorce mother, as she moves with her mother to Los Angeles.
 * Dean Cain as Jonathan Watson, Amanda's father, who stayed in New York following his divorce from Lisa.
 * Devon Bostick as Justin Bradford, Amanda's ex-boyfriend.
 * Danielle Campbell as Maria Gray, one of Amanda's friend. She is revealed that she has superpowers.
 * Raquel Castro as Tina Gordon, one of Amanda's friend.
 * Luis Armand Garcia as Orlando Adams, one of Amanda's friend. He has superpowers, like Joe.
 * Sean Faris as Greg Brown, Mark's brother, who is a superhero like Mark.
 * Boddy Edner as Kyle Brown, Mark's second brother.
 * Emma Stone as Lilly Brown, Mark's first sister.
 * Ashlee Simpson as Nathalie Brown, Mark's second sister.
 * Chad Michael Murray as Michael Williams, a 25-year-old villains, and leader of his two team Stephanie McDonald and Tim Arnold is set to destroy Amanda Humphrey and Mark Brown and his family.
 * Avril Lavgine as Stephanie McDonald, Michael's 25-year-old girlfriend, and member of his side alongside Tim Arnold, who is set to destroy Amanda, Mark and his family.
 * T.I. as Tim Arnold, Michael and Stephanie's 25-year-old friend, who is set to destroy Amanda, Mark and his family.

Emily Osment was originally auditon to set to play as Amanda Humphrey for a planned Heroes film franchise. But within does not decided to join another franchise where she's busy with another project, and than she might join another frnachise. Instead, Emma Roberts decided to join this Heroes franchise where she is set to play as Amanda Humphrey replacing Osment. About 40 actresses arer auditioning to play the role of Amanda including Dakota Fanning, Miranda Cosgrove, Jennette McCurdy, Debby Ryan, Victoria Justice, Alyson Stoner and Amy Tammie. On April 2010, it was announced that the role goes to Roberts.

Zac Efron will play as Mark Brown. David Henrie will play as Joe Osment. Also Alyson Stoner, originally set to play as Maria Gray, but her Camp Rock co-star Meghan Jette Martin has already taken her role as Maria. Also,Taylor Dooley as Tina Gordon and Luis Armand Garcia as Orlando Adams.

Ryan Sheckler originally as Greg Brown, and Aaron Carter originally as Kyle Brown, Sean Faris and Bobby Edner took over the boys to play as Greg Brown and Kyle Brown.

Emma Stone as Lilly Brown and Brooke Hogan as Nathalie Brown. Kristin Davis and Dean Cain will play as Amanda Humphrey's parents Lisa Humphrey and Jonathan Watson. Chad Michael Murray, Avril Lavigne and Usher will play as the three supervillains Michael Williams, Stephanie McDonald and Tim Arnold. Also, casting was confirmed and the sequel is already greenlighted before production has began.

Development
Walt Disney Pictures is developing the film adaptation for Heroes: A New Beginning, but cancels it because of the book too scary for the studio. Instead, Warner Bros. is beginning to devloping to make the film franchise of the book franchise. Therehfore, Disney than plans for making a A BFF With Ghost Imagination franchise.

A New Beginning will be directed by David Slade, who previously done Hard Candy, 30 Days of Night and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. The film's production budget is an estimated $100 million. Warner Bros. also puts three films The New Heroes, The Ultimate Power and The Final Battle in works. These are yet to begin the same production for the first film.

Joanne White states: "the movie must be at least for all boys and girls. I want this for everyone that they really enjoy. Boys like violence, and Girls like romances. Boys like action, and hopefully Girls will like some catfight." White said that the film is mixed between Batman and Twilight. Warner Bros. expected this movie and the other three future films to be a box office hit, and is making sure that this movie will be "a little romantic and alot action packed".

David Slade will be directing the first installment, and might be returning for the next three films. He also said that the film will have a coule of stunts. During casting, Zac Efron gets a call that he wants to do the film franchise to see if he is still popular outside of his High School Musical era.

Filming
Filming for Heroes: A New Beginning begins on July 23, 2010, and set to wrap in late October. Filming will take place in Los Angeles, and several of action sequences and special effects will be used in the film, from according to the book. For sequels, it is expecting to start the same production like this one. Production wrapped up on October 29, 2010, where Roberts and Efron filmed their kissing scene on the final day.

Soundtrack

 * Main article: Heroes: A New Beginning (soundtrack)

The soundtrack will be scored by Harry Gregson-Williams for the entire film and the film's theme song for a planned franchise.

It has been comfirmed that Lady Gaga's "Yoü and I" will be part of the film's soundtrack. Also, Joe Jonas's "See No More" will be featured in the film's soundtrack. It will be released on November 15, 2011.

Release
Heroes: A New Beginning will have a regular and IMAX release worldwide on November 23, 2011, where it is expecting to become a box office success, and might break records throughout its 5-day Thanksgiving weekend release to make possibly $100 million in five days to broke a new record. The film will be released under Warner Bros. commands. On July 25, 2010, the promotion for the film is held at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con, where Emma Roberts, Zac Efron and David Henrie attends. Warner Bros. confirms that the film's teaser trailer will be released before Red Riding Hood beginning on March 11, 2011, eight months before the film's release, but has not been shown at all. The TV spot is set to release during the premiere of Super Bowl XLV on February 6, 2011. A first look was released on Yahoo! Movies on January 14, 2011.

A teaser poster debuts on April 18, 2011. A teaser trailer was released online on June 1, 2011, and was set to release in front of X-Men: First Class. On July 12, Warner Bros. released the theatrical poster featuring Roberts and Efron's characters in the forest with a tagline reading "It's Not Just Action... It was Love".

Warner Bros. confirmed that a full trailer for the film will be released when Abduction, starring Taylor Lautner, was released in theaters on September 23, 2011. It will than premiere online on 7 pm. On September 23, 2011, MPPA reported a PG-13 rating for the film due to "violence and language". The film's runtime was also confirmed. The film's world premiere will be held in Florida on November 17, 2011, including the UK premiere in London on November 21. A featurette for the film will most likely be released when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 was released on DVD on November 11.

Warner Bros. announced that tickets will begin to go on sale one month before the film's release. It was confirmed that they begin selling tickets early beginning on September 15, 2011, two months before the film's release. As of November 11, 2011, it sold out 1,300 theatrs to sell tickets. 'The film opens opens on November 23, 2011 in 4,015 theaters and 255 IMAX theaters. Box Office Reports states that the film projected to gross more than $100 million in five days, which could set a new Thanksgiving weekend record. At the box office, the film has indeed set a new Thanksging weekend record earning $138.5 million in five days.

Critical reception
The film was strongly gave a positive review. The film ranked in 91% from Rotten Tomatoes, making this year's best rating film to date since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. This is based on 124 reviews with an average score of 7.9/10. It was said that Heores: A New Beginning is sexy, smart and perfect movie for a loving couple.

On Metacritic, the film scored a 75% from 32 reviews out of 100%, calling it "supernaturually romantic and sexy" Metacritic also praised on the performances of both Roberts and Efron stating they are the next Kristen Steawrt and Robert Pattinsion from The Twilight Saga. Stephanie Henry from The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a positive review calling the film "magical".

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times describes Heroes: A New Beginning a "dramatic film for teenagers that only focuces on romance and action".

Box Office
As of December 16, 2011, Heroes: A New Beginning grossed $276,350,051 in North America, with a overseas overall of $595,200,000, for a total of $871,350,051 worldwide. It ranked 6th highest-grossing 2011 film, and highest-grossing non-sequel 2011 film. It also ranked 34th most successful ever at the worldwide chart.

North America
The film broke a new record by earning for a non-sequel film by earning $15.3 million in midnight screenings from 3,215 theaters. It was also the fifth biggest of 2011 so far. It also includes $1.9 million in IMAX midnight screenings, making it the second biggest IMAX midnight gross in history behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 ($2 million). It earned $2.5 million on its opening day at the foreign box office. On its opening day in North America, the film grossed $45.2 million. This made it the biggest single day gross for a non-sequel (surprising Alice in Wonderland ($40.1 million) and fifth biggest Wednesday opening, bringing its five-day total to $101 million, a new Thanksgiving weekend record previously held by Toy Story 2 ($80.4 million), but fell short to both AliCE and Spider-Man ($135.6 million) for non-sequel.

In it's IMAX opening weekend, the film grossed $11.1 million, for a worldwide total to $17.1 million. The film topped the weekend for three weeks earning $37 million, bringing its total to $202.3 million, and $19 million bringing its total to $229 million. As of December 11, 2011, the film grossed $229 million, which already became the eighth highest-grossing 2011 release in North America.

Foreign Markets
The film breaks record for a non-sequel from around the world. It debuts at No. 1 grossing $111 million in its opening weekend in 50 markets, bringing a worldwide opening to $212 million.

It stayed at the top for three weeks. In its second weekend, it bumped up 56 percent with $203 million bringing its total to $318 million, for a worldwide total to $516 million. In its third week, it fell 62 percent earning another $112.2 million, for a total of $447.2 million, for a worldwide total to $676 million.

In Australia, the film grossed a massive $14.2 million, making it the biggest opening for a non-sequel in the country surprising Alice in Wonderland ($9.4 million), and stayed at the top for two weeks. In Brazil, the film earned $8.8 million, and stayed at the top for two weeks. In Germany, the film grossed $10.2 million, marking it the second biggest opening for a non-sequel behind Spider-Man ($11.1 million) in that country.

In Italy, the film grossed an impressive $9.2 million, making it the biggest debut of 2011, and topped it for two weeks. United Kingdom, the film grossed a massive $17.1 million, making it the biggest debut for an American film released in the country for a non-sequel surprising Alice ($15.6 million), where it stayed at the top for two weeks.

Home media
Heroes: A New Beginning will be released on a Blu Ray Combo Pack which will include UltraViolet.

Sequels

 * Main article: Heroes: The New Heroes (film)

Warner Bros. has already greenlighted a sequel titling Heroes: The New Series because of it's planning to put the rights of the books into film adaptations. Roberts and Efron are both interested on reprising their roles for the sequel. David Henrie will play in a bigger role as Joe Osment. Filming is scheduled to begin in summer, for a November 21, 2012. Eclipse David Slade will not return for a sequel, and will be replaced by Iron Man director Jon Favreau.