Why did Ex Machina
succeed at the box office?
Ex Machina is a British Science
fiction thriller that was released in January 2015. It was a DNA and Film4
production. There are many things that went into the making of Ex Machina, in
this essay I will explore the possible factors and reasons it was successful at
the box office.
The film is about a coder called Caleb
(Domnhall Gleeson) working for a massive computer company who wins a
competition for a week’s stay in the company creator, Nathan’s (Oscar Isaac)
house. After Nathan reveals his project to Caleb he is asked to run tests on an
AI called Ava (Alicia Vikander). The film is then about Ava learning about
herself and using her emotion to use Caleb and escape.
Ex Machina made around $36.9m at
the US box office. It was a low budget film with around $15m gone into it so it
was very successful at the box office. The director of the film was Alex
Garland, a director who was relatively unknown. Many were intrigued to see what
Garland could achieve in his first serious directing role. As well as being a
screen writer, this was Alex Garlands first attempt at directing. A reason why
this film may have been successful is because various people will have wanted
to see how Alex Garland faired in his first directing role and therefore
bringing interest to the film. This British science fiction thriller is
Garlands first big hit film. The main cast of the film was Domhnall Gleeson who
played Caleb, Alicia Vikander who was Ava and Oscar Isaac who was Nathan.
A main factor that boosted Ex
Machina’s income was the genre of the film. Science fiction is a very popular
genre to many people and this film appealed to lots. It is a very original idea
and it may have been so successful because there is nothing else like it in the
world of film. Science fiction films are usually known to do well as it can’t
be compared to real life as the film is made to be unrealistic and people
watching it want to see something that isn’t real so they can’t complain about
it being unrealistic.
A large factor that was massive in
the making of this film was CGI. The developments of CGI meant that this film
could be made easier than it would of years ago. If the film was shot 10 years
ago then the effects would certainly be questionable and the film certainly
wouldn’t have been so successful. The making of Ava happened through the use of
CGI which generated a realistic look for her and it can encapture any viewer
with the sensational special effects. For a film with only $15,000,000 budget (which
is relatively small for a big hit movie) the special effects were so brilliant
that it seemed like the film was a multi-million pound movie. It is difficult
to realize what the special effects team had to do to get such amazing special
effects with only $15 million at their disposal.
Another reason why Ex Machina succeeded at the box
office was because of the actors included in the film. Domhnall Gleeson who
plays Caleb actually appeared in one of the Harry Potter films when he played
Bill Weasley. Obviously Harry Potter was an extremely successful set of films.
This means that fans of Harry Potter may off wanted to watch Ex Machina to see
how Gleeson performed. This could have been a reason why it was so successful
at the box office. Another actor was Alicia Vikander who played Ava. She is a Swedish,
young, upcoming actress who has not been in any big films so far in her career.
For her role in the film she was nominated for best actress in the 2015 Empire
awards. Many people may have heard of her and wanted to check out her role in
the film and see how she faired in her first bigger role in a film. The Swedish
actor is said to have lots of potential in the acting world and this is the
reason why many would want to see how good she is. This could add to the
reasons why Ex Machina was successful at the box office.
Ex Machina may have been successful because of its
location. The Sci’Fy film was shot in the Valdall valley in Norway. The extraordinary
scenery in this part of the world portrayed Nathans sense of wealth and freedom
as it seemed like every part of the vast landscape belonged to him. The scene
was meant to be shot in Alaska but as Norway was much closer and easier to
access then it would save lots of travel money and time to shoot it in Norway
which had equally as spectacular views and scenery.
The final factor for why Ex Machina was successful at
the box office was because of the marketing. The marketing team released a
series of trailers and teaser trailers where Ex Machina was shown as a short
movie. This would have certainly drawn in more people to watch the film.
Another unusual method that was used, was to create Ava an account on the
dating website ‘Tinder’ so that it got the knowledge to various people of Ava
and therefore the film Ex Machina.
Overall, Ex Machina was a huge successful at the box
office, generating over $36,000,000 from only a budget of $15,000,000 which is
quite an achievement. This was achieved from the films unusual advertising, extraordinary
special effects and upcoming exciting actors. Also it was a massive success due
to the times we are in currently. The times we’re in allowed the creators to
use special effects that made this film seem like one of the best science
fiction films in some time.
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