Introduction

Skyscraper is a 2018 American action thriller film written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber.

A security expert must infiltrate a burning skyscraper, 225 stories above ground, when his family is trapped inside by criminals.

Outline

Will Sawyer, a US Marine veteran turned FBI Hostage Rescue Team commander, loses his left leg below the knee when he and HRT colleague Ben Gillespie encounter a hostage taker with a suicide bomb.

Ten years later, Sawyer is a private security consultant who, on a recommendation from Gillespie, is hired to review security for the world’s tallest skyscraper, Hong Kong’s 3,500-feet (approximately 1,060-metres), 225-floor tower, “The Pearl”, for owner Zhao Long Ji. Sawyer is joined by his wife, Sarah, and twin children, Henry and Georgia, staying with him on the not-yet-opened residential floors. Sawyer meets with Zhao, Gillespie, security director Okeke and head insurance underwriter Pierce, to report that the computerised fire and security systems have passed his tests, though he needs to inspect the offsite security centre.

Zhao provides Sawyer with a tablet that gives him complete control over the Pearl’s systems. Sawyer and Gillespie head to the offsite facility, but a thief hired by international terrorist Kores Botha attempts to steal the tablet. Gillespie reveals he is also working for Botha and attacks Sawyer for the tablet, but the confrontation concludes with Gillespie dying.

Botha and a group of his men break into the Pearl and undermine the safety systems by using a water-reactive chemical to start a fire on the 96th floor, creating a barrier that renders it impossible to enter to or exit from the upper 130 floors. Sawyer tries to return to the Pearl, but is attacked by Xia, one of Botha’s associates.

Xia and her agents take the tablet and kill everyone at the offsite facility. They then use the tablet to disable the fire-extinguishing systems in the Pearl and activate the air vents to spread the fire to the upper floors. Zhao and Okeke send security guards to rescue Sawyer’s family, but the guards are killed by an explosion and the family is believed dead. Urged on by Pierce, Zhao orders the remaining personnel to evacuate via helicopter, but Pierce reveals he is also an agent for Botha, killing all but Zhao, who escapes into his penthouse apartment and subsequently locks it down from any intrusion.

HKPF Inspector Wu and his team attempt to secure the Pearl and capture Sawyer, who is believed to be behind the incidents. Sawyer evades them and makes his way into the Pearl above the fire barrier using a crane from an adjacent building. He kills Pierce before Pierce can kill his family, though Georgia is separated from the others. Sawyer has Sarah and Henry ride through the fire barrier in a free-fall elevator before applying the emergency brakes, letting them escape safely; Sarah immediately explains the situation to Wu and that Botha’s men will likely escape via parachute to a nearby landing zone.

Sawyer finds Georgia, but they are captured by Botha, who demands Zhao in return for Georgia. Sawyer is forced to dangerously scale the outside of the building to access the security panel for Zhao’s penthouse, then enters and confronts him. Zhao explains that Botha had extorted money from him during the $6 billion construction project, but he kept a detailed computer file of the transactions, which can reveal accounts and names of three crime syndicates Botha works for, so Botha instigated the attack to obtain the records.

Sawyer brings Zhao to Botha at the top of the skyscraper, acquiescing to the trade for Georgia. However, Zhao distracts Botha, so Sawyer and Zhao can kill Botha’s thugs. Botha grabs Georgia and threatens to drop her off the building, but Sawyer outsmarts him, rescues Georgia, and leaves Botha to die in a grenade explosion as he falls.

Wu leads an attack on the likely dropzone, securing Xia after Sarah subdues her and killing her thugs. Sarah recovers the tablet and uses it to restart the Pearl’s systems, extinguishing the blaze. Sawyer, Georgia, and Zhao are brought down safely by helicopter, and the Sawyer family happily reunites while Wu acknowledges and finally meets and greets Sawyer. Zhao states his intention to rebuild the Pearl, shown to have massive fire damage extending from the 96th floor to the roof.

Cast

• Dwayne Johnson as Will Sawyer, a former US Marine, FBI Hostage Rescue Team leader and amputee, who now assesses security for skyscrapers.
• Neve Campbell as Sarah Sawyer, Will’s wife, a former US Navy surgeon.
• Chin Han as Zhao Long Ji, a wealthy Chinese tech entrepreneur and financier of the Pearl.
• Roland Møller as Kores Botha, a South African terrorist kingpin who plans to control the Pearl skyscraper by starting a fire in random places so he will withdraw millions of dollars in shakedown payments.
• Noah Taylor as Mr. Pierce, an insurance executive, secretly working for Botha.
• Byron Mann as Inspector Wu, leader of the HKPF response team.
• Hannah Quinlivan as Xia, Botha’s henchwoman.
• Pablo Schreiber as Ben Gillespie, Will’s former colleague and friend, secretly works for Botha.
• Tzi Ma as Fire Chief Sheng.
• McKenna Roberts as Georgia Sawyer, Will and Sarah’s daughter and Henry’s twin sister.
• Noah Cottrell as Henry Sawyer, Will and Sarah’s son and Georgia’s twin brother.
• Elfina Luk as HKPF Sergeant Han.
• Adrian Holmes as Ajani Okeke, Zhao’s head-of-security and personal bodyguard.
• Matt O’Leary as the Skinny Hacker, Botha’s computer expert.
• Kevin Rankin as Ray, the father who holds his family hostage in the film’s opening.

Production

On 26 May 2016, it was announced that Legendary Entertainment had won the bidding war for a Chinese-set action adventure film, Skyscraper, in which Dwayne Johnson was set to play the lead. Rawson Marshall Thurber was attached as the film’s scriptwriter, director and producer, with Beau Flynn producing the film through his Flynn Picture Company, alongside Johnson’s Seven Bucks Productions, with Universal Pictures handling distribution rights. On 22 June 2017, it was reported that Neve Campbell had signed on to play the wife of Johnson’s character, a role where Maggie Q, Rachel Bilson, Jaimie Alexander and Mira Sorvino were also considered. In July 2017, Chin Han and Pablo Schreiber joined the cast. In August 2017, Byron Mann, Hannah Quinlivan, Noah Taylor, and Roland Møller were added to the cast.

Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture consulted the film production on the design of the fictitious 225-story megatall skyscraper, with Adrian Smith quoted as saying that “the producer wanted this to be a tower based on real possibilities”. Smith advised “on issues that tall buildings face in real life and design aspects like wind behaviour, tower movement, elevator systems and how supertall towers can become cities within the tower”. The architectural rendering of the skyscraper was based on Chinese inspirations, particularly a twisting dragon with a pearl in its mouth. According to the New York Post, “production designer Jim Bissell and his team researched local myths for inspiration and came upon a Chinese fable they could work with.” The skyscraper is located where the real-life Hong Kong Cultural Centre is situated.

Principal photography on the film began on 14 August 2017, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Additional photography and exteriors were filmed at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.

During post-production, the visual effects were provided by Moving Picture Company, Method Studios, Image Engine and Industrial Light & Magic; the visuals were supervised by Craig Hammack, Jose Burgos, Bernhard Kimbacher and Jason Billington.

Music

Steve Jablonsky composed the film’s score which uses elements of guitars, synthesised drums and traditional orchestra. The soundtrack was digitally released on 13 July 2018 by Milan Records with the physical soundtrack being released later on 03 August 2018. British singer and songwriter Jamie N Commons performed the song “Walls” which plays in the end credits of the film.

Release

Skyscraper was released in the United States on 13 July 2018, by Universal Pictures. The film also secured a 20 July 2018 release date in China, a rarity as mainstream Hollywood films are seldom released there during the month of July, to make room for domestic films. Skyscraper premiered in Beijing, on 01 July 2018 and also held a screening in Hong Kong on 07 July 2018. Skyscraper was released digitally on September 25, 2018, and released on Blu-ray, DVD, Blu-ray 3D and Ultra HD Blu-ray on 02 October 2018.

Marketing

Universal released the first official trailer in February 2018 and the second trailer on 23 May 2018. Promo posters in the form of The Towering Inferno (1974) and Die Hard (1988) were created, referencing the stylistic links between those films and Skyscraper.

Box Office

Skyscraper grossed $68.4 million in the United States and Canada and $236.4 million in other territories for a total worldwide gross of $304.9 million against a production budget of $125 million.

In the United States and Canada, Skyscraper was released alongside the opening of Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation, as well as the wide expansion of Sorry to Bother You, and was initially projected to gross $32-40 million from 3,782 theatres in its opening weekend. However, after making $1.95 million during Thursday night screenings (down from the $2.4 million made by Johnson’s Rampage the past April) and $9.3 million on its first day, weekend estimates were lowered to $24 million. The film ended up debuting at $24.9 million, finishing third, behind Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation and Ant-Man and the Wasp. Deadline Hollywood attributed the low figure to audiences having seen the plot before in other films and the July release date being at the height of the crowded summer movie season, as well as the possibility that filmgoers had become tired of seeing Johnson so frequently (although the site noted that 72% of people who bought tickets to Skyscraper did so because of him). In its second weekend, the film made $11.4 million and finished sixth, and in its third, made $5.4 million, finishing ninth.

The film debuted at $47.7 million in China, finishing first at the country’s box office and bringing the two-week global foreign total to $132.8 million. In its third weekend of international release, the film added another $17.8 million, including $7 million in China (for a running-total of $86 million).

Skyscraper concluded 2018 as the 31st-highest-grossing film of the year worldwide.

Trivia

• When Will Sawyer and Zhao first meet, Sawyer greets him with some Mandarin, and Zhao replies in the same language but there are no subtitles on the screen.
  • He is asking in jest, “Your Mandarin is quite good; how is your English?”.
• Architect Adrian Smith was brought in to consult during the writing process.
  • Smith led the work on Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, which at the time of this movie’s release is the tallest building in the world, and Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah Tower, the building proposed to surpass the record held by the former.
• Production designer Jim Bissell said in an interview with the New York Post that the skyscraper is named for, and designed after, a Chinese myth of a boy who found and swallowed a pearl, and ultimately transforms into a great dragon.
  • The building resembles this dragon, with its copper coloured tail spiralling to the bottom, clutching the mythical pearl in its jaws at the top of the tower.
• At the beginning of the movie, The Pearl and the Victoria Harbour in the back can be seen with the Bank of China Tower, Central Plaza, Two International Finance Centre and International Commerce Centre, the tallest four skyscrapers in Hong Kong; each one surpassing the other since 1990.

Production & Filming Details

• Director(s):
  • Rawson Marshall Thurber
• Producer(s):
  • Chen On Chu … line producer: October Pictures Limited (as Chu Chen On)
  • Beau Flynn … producer (produced by) (p.g.a.)
  • Dany Garcia … executive producer
  • Hiram Garcia … producer (produced by) (p.g.a.)
  • Eric Hedayat … executive producer
  • Petra Holtorf-Stratton … co-producer
  • Wendy Jacobson … executive producer
  • Dwayne Johnson … producer (produced by)
  • Eric McLeod … executive producer
  • Rawson Marshall Thurber … producer (produced by) (p.g.a.)
• Writer(s):
  • Rawson Marshall Thurber
• Music:
  • Steve Jablonsky
• Cinematography:
  • Robert Elswit … director of photography
• Editor(s):
  • Julian Clarke
  • Michael L. Sale … (as Mike Sale)
• Production:
  • Legendary Entertainment (Legendary Pictures, presents)
  • Flynn Picture Company
  • Seven Bucks Productions
  • The Third Floor (previsualisation)
• Distributor(s):
  • United Universal Pictures.
• Release Date: 11 July 2018.
• Running time: 102 minutes.
• Rating: 12A.
• Country: US.
• Language: English.

Video Link(s)