Martian Child

Martian Child
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Menno Meyjes
Produced by	Ed Elbert Drew Barrymore David Kirschner Toby Emmerich Nancy Juvonen
Screenplay by	David Gerrold
Based on	The Martian Child by David Gerrold
Starring	John Cusack Bobby Coleman Amanda Peet Sophie Okonedo Oliver Platt Joan Cusack
Music by	Aaron Zigman
Cinematography	Robert D. Yeoman
Edited by	Bruce Green
Production company	Flower Films MERADIN Zweite Productions
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release dates	November 2, 2007 (2007-11-02)
Running time	106 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$27 million
Box office	$9.4 million[1]

Martian Child is a 2007 American comedy-drama film directed by Menno Meyjes and written by David Gerrold based on his 1994 novelette of the same name. The film stars John Cusack as a writer who adopts a strange young boy (Bobby Coleman) who believes himself to be from Mars. The film was theatrically released on November 2, 2007 by New Line Cinema.

Plot

David Gordon, a popular science fiction author, was widowed when his wife Mary died as they were trying to adopt a child. Two years later, David is finally matched with a young boy named Dennis. Socially awkward, Dennis believes he is from Mars and only goes outdoors when under the cover of a large box to block out the sun's harmful rays. Although initially hesitant to adopt a boy by himself, David recognizes a part of him in Dennis and slowly coaxes him out of the box and into his home.

With the help of David's friend Harlee and sister Liz, David and Dennis begin an arduous process of learning about each other, from Dennis's incessant photo-taking habits, his inclination to eat only Lucky Charms, and his perpetual stealing, to David's continuing love of his wife, his love of baseball and his own struggles to be accepted by others.

As David teaches Dennis how to be an "Earthling", father and son earn each other's trust and eventually find someone who will love them unequivocally.

Cast

• John Cusack as David Gordon
  • Zak Ludwig as young David
• Bobby Coleman as Dennis
• Amanda Peet as Harlee
• Sophie Okonedo as Sophie
• Oliver Platt as Jeff
• Joan Cusack as Liz Gordon
• Anjelica Huston as Tina
• Richard Schiff as Lefkowitz
• Howard Hesseman as Dr. Berg
• David Kaye as Andy

Production

Despite persistent misperceptions, this film is not based on David Gerrold's semi-autobiographical novelette The Martian Child, but rather is based on his Hugo and Nebula Award-winning short story of the same name, which has caused much confusion about the source material, especially for Gerrold's fans in segments of the gay community. The short story does not reveal the fictionalized protagonist's homosexuality. Only when, years later, Gerrold rewrote and expanded his story to novella length did he choose to reveal his sexuality. While Gerrold had, in real life, adopted a son as an openly gay man, in the film the protagonist is straight and has a female love interest. Though Gerrold has acknowledged not mentioning the fictionalized protagonist's sexuality in his short story, and despite the fact that the short story won awards as a work of fiction, numerous members of the gay community criticized the film because the protagonist wasn't changed to gay, and even though the novella is not the source on which the film is based.^[2][3][4]

Release

Box office

Martian Child opened in 2,020 venues on November 2, 2007 and earned $3,376,669 in its first weekend, ranking seventh in the domestic box office and third among the weekend's new releases.^[5] The film closed six weeks later on December 13, having grossed $7,500,310 domestically and $1,851,434 overseas, totaling $9,351,744 worldwide.^[1] Based on its estimated $27 million budget, the film was a box office bomb.

Critical reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 33% score, based on 106 reviews, with an average rating of 5/10. The site's consensus states: "Despite some charms, overt emotional manipulation and an inconsistent tone prevents Martian Child from being the heartfelt dramedy it aspires to be."^[6] Metacritic reports a 48 out of 100 rating, based on 26 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[7]

Home media

Martian Child was released on DVD on February 12, 2008. It opened at #20 the DVD sales chart, selling 69,000 units for revenue of $1.3 million. As per the latest figures, 400,000 DVD units have been sold, acquiring revenue of $7,613,945. This does not include DVD rentals/Blu-ray sales.^[8]

Awards

References

External links

• Martian Child at the Internet Movie Database
• Martian Child at Box Office Mojo
• Martian Child at Rotten Tomatoes
• Martian Child at Metacritic