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A Monster Calls
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	J. A. Bayona
Screenplay by	Patrick Ness
Starring	Sigourney Weaver Felicity Jones Toby Kebbell Lewis MacDougall Liam Neeson
Cinematography	Óscar Faura
Edited by	Bernat Vilaplana Jaume Martí
Music by	Fernando Velázquez
Distributed by	Universal Pictures (Spain) Entertainment One Films (United Kingdom)
Release dates	10 September 2016 (2016-09-10) (TIFF) 7 October 2016 (2016-10-07) (Spain) 1 January 2017 (2017-01-01) (United Kingdom)
Running time	108 minutes
Countries	Spain United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$43 million
Box office	$47.3 million

A Monster Calls is a 2016 dark fantasy drama film directed by J. A. Bayona and written by Patrick Ness, based on his novel of the same name. The film stars Sigourney Weaver, Felicity Jones, Toby Kebbell, Lewis MacDougall, and Liam Neeson, and tells the story of Connor (MacDougall), a child whose mother (Jones) is terminally ill; one night, he is visited by a monster in the form of a giant anthropomorphic yew tree (Neeson), who states that he will come back and tell Connor three stories. The film is an international co-production between Spain and the United Kingdom.

A Monster Calls premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival on 10 September 2016. It was then released in Spain on 7 October 2016, and in the United Kingdom on 1 January 2017. In the United States, the film began a limited release in on 23 December 2016, followed by a wide release on 6 January 2017. It received positive reviews, being praised for its themes, directing, performances and visual effects, but underperformed at the box office, grossing $47 million worldwide on a budget of $43 million.

Plot

Twelve-year-old Connor O'Malley must face his mother's terminal cancer, his strict grandmother, his estranged father, and the school bully, Harry. One night at 12:07 a.m., Connor is visited by the tree-like Monster, who tells Connor it has come to tell him three true stories, after which Connor must tell the Monster his own story: the truth behind his nightmare, which Connor refuses to do.

First story

An old king who has lost his entire family (with his sons killed in fierce battles and his wife committing suicide in her grief) save a young grandson, remarries a beautiful young woman. He dies before the prince comes of age, and many believe the queen poisoned the king. Not wanting to hand the kingdom over to the prince in a year, she plots to marry the prince and remain queen. The prince runs away with a farm girl he loves. They stop and sleep under a yew tree (the Monster), but in the morning he finds the young woman murdered. The prince tells the villagers that the queen, a witch, must have done it, and they rally to overthrow her. Before the commoners can reach the queen, the Monster carries her away to a far-off land where she lives out the rest of her life in peace. Though she was indeed a witch, she did not kill the farm girl or the king, who actually died of old age. The prince had murdered the farm girl himself in order to inspire his people to back him into overthrowing the queen. After the queen was taken to safety by the Monster, the prince continued to rule the kingdom in the grandfather's place.

Second story

An apothecary follows old traditions and beliefs, using herbs and brews to cure ailments. His business becomes less popular as a local parson tells his congregation not to accept the apothecary's old ways and denying the apothecary use of an old Yew tree. When the parson's two daughters become sick, the parson asks the apothecary to save their lives after all other resources are exhausted. When the apothecary asks why he should help a man who has turned people away from his skills and denied him the yew tree, his best source of healing ingredients, the parson promises to give him the tree and deliver the parishioners to him as customers. Yet the apothecary says that he cannot help, and the girls die. The Monster awakens from the yew tree to destroy the parson's house and raze it to the ground as punishment.

While the apothecary was a greedy man, he was a healer and would have saved lives, including the girls', if the parson had allowed him his way of life. The parson was a man of belief but was willing to discard his beliefs when they were in the way. The healing traditions followed by the apothecary require belief in order to work; without the parson's, the apothecary was unable to treat the two girls. Belief is half the cure.

Third story

A man was invisible because no one ever saw him. Tired of this, he summoned the Monster to ensure people would notice him. Though people now notice him, the man finds himself more alone than before.

Fourth story

Connor must confront his nightmare to tell the fourth story. His mother has been pulled to the edge of a cliff by a sudden collapse of the ground, and Connor must hold her hand to save her from falling. Eventually, his grip fails and his mother falls. The Monster forces Connor to confess the truth: Connor loosened his grip on purpose. While he could have held on longer, he let go in order to stop the pain of having to hold on.

Through the Monster, Connor ultimately understands that although he does not want his mother to die, it is something he must accept, and he must not feel guilty for wanting it to be over so he does not have to feel pain anymore. After this, Connor returns, with the Monster by his side, to comfort his mother one last time, and she dies at 12:07. He returns home with his grandmother, with whom he has reached an understanding, and she gives Connor the room that used to be his mother's. In the room, he finds his mother's old art book, which depicts the stories that were told to him by the Monster, and a drawing of his mother as a child with the Monster.

Cast

• Liam Neeson as the "Monster" (voice and motion capture), a giant humanoid yew tree.
  • Neeson also appears uncredited in a photograph as Connor's grandfather.
  • Tom Holland, who worked with Bayona on The Impossible, served as the stand-in for the Monster during one week of production.
• Lewis MacDougall as Connor O'Malley
  • Max Golds as 5-year-old Connor
• Sigourney Weaver as Mrs. Clayton (credited as "Grandma"), Connor's strict grandmother who has a tense relationship with him.
• Felicity Jones as Elisabeth "Lizzie" Clayton (credited as "Mom"), Connor's mother who is diagnosed with an unspecified terminal illness.
• Toby Kebbell as Mr. O'Malley (credited as "Dad"), Connor's father who is divorced from Lizzie and now lives in the United States.
• James Melville as Harry, a school bully who frequently targets Connor.
• Geraldine Chaplin as the head teacher of Connor's school.

Production

Focus Features bought the rights to the book in March 2014. Patrick Ness, the book's author, served as the film's screenwriter, with J. A. Bayona hired as director. On 23 April 2014, Felicity Jones joined the film to play the boy's mother. On 8 May, Liam Neeson was cast to voice the Monster, and on 18 August, Sigourney Weaver joined to play the boy's grandmother. On August 19, Toby Kebbell was also cast in the film. On 3 September, author Ness tweeted that Lewis MacDougall had been set for one of the lead roles as the boy in the film. On 30 September, Geraldine Chaplin joined the cast.

Filming

Principal photography began on 30 September 2014, in Spain and Britain. On 9 October, the filming began on location in Preston, Lancashire, Rivington Pike (Chorley/Horwich), Blackpool Pleasure Beach and Marsden, West Yorkshire

Liam Neeson, who voices the titular tree creature, was not on set throughout the shooting process, and completed his motion-capture performance during a two-week period beforehand, with MacDougall in the room. Tom Holland worked on set as The Monster with Neeson absent.

Release

Originally scheduled for an October 2016 release, the film was delayed in order to avoid competition from Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, Boo! A Madea Halloween, Ouija: Origin of Evil, and Keeping Up with the Joneses. It was rescheduled for a limited roll out on 23 December 2016, followed by a wide release on 6 January 2017. The film was released in the United Kingdom on 1 January 2017, by Entertainment One and Lionsgate, and in India on 6 January 2017, by B4U Relativity.

Reception

Box office

A Monster Calls grossed $3.7 million in the United States and Canada and $43.5 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $47.2 million, against a production budget of $43 million.

In North America, the film had its wide release alongside the opening of Underworld: Blood Wars and the wide expansions of Hidden Figures and Lion, and was initially expected to gross around $10 million from 1,523 theaters over the weekend. However, after making just $659,000 on its first day, weekend projections were lowered to $2 million, which it ended up grossing, finishing 13th at the box office. In its second weekend of wide release it grossed $537,262 (a drop of 74.2%) and in its third week made just $19,080 (a drop of 96.4%) after being pulled from all but 42 theaters, one of the biggest third week theater drops in history.

Critical response

The aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 86% based on 241 reviews, and an average rating of 7.6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A Monster Calls deftly balances dark themes and fantastical elements to deliver an engrossing and uncommonly moving entry in the crowded coming-of-age genre". UK film website, Movie Metropolis called the film "a masterpiece" and one of the finest movies of the year, rating it a full 5 stars out of 5. At Metacritic, the film has an average score of 76 out of 100 based on 40 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

Accolades

References

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31. Rahman, Abid (15 December 2016). "Denzel Washington's 'Fences' Leads Nominations for AARP's Movies for Grownups Awards". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
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33. "La La Land Leads with 12 Nominations for the 22nd Annual Critics' Choice Awards". criticschoice.com. Critics' Choice. 1 December 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
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37. "Guardonades - IX Premis Gaudí". Academia del Cinema. 29 January 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
38. "Golden Tomato Awards - Best of 2016". Rotten Tomatoes. 12 January 2017.
39. Rolfe, Pamela (14 December 2016). "Juan Antonio Bayona's 'A Monster Calls' Leads Goya Award Nominations". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 16, 2016.
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41. "La lista completa de ganadores de los premios Feroz 2017" (in Spanish). El Huffinton Post. 23 January 2017. Retrieved 25 January 2017. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
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45. "2016 StLFCA Annual Award Nominations". St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association. 12 December 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2016. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
46. "The 2016 WAFCA Awards Nominations". 3 December 2016. Retrieved 4 December 2016.

External links

• Official website
• A Monster Calls at IMDb 
• A Monster Calls at the TCM Movie Database
• A Monster Calls at Metacritic
• A Monster Calls at Rotten Tomatoes
• Template:AllMovie title

• 2016 films
• 2010s drama films
• 2010s fantasy films
• Spanish films
• Spanish drama films
• Spanish fantasy films
• British films
• British drama films
• British fantasy films
• English-language films
• Films about bullying
• Films about death
• Films based on American novels
• Films based on British novels
• Films based on fantasy novels
• Films directed by J. A. Bayona
• Motion capture in film
• Participant Media films
• Focus Features films
• Universal Pictures films
• Entertainment One films
• Films with live action and animation
• Giant monster films
• Films scored by Fernando Velázquez