''Lucy'' is a 2014 English-language French
science fiction action film
Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...
written and directed by
Luc Besson
Luc Paul Maurice Besson (; born 18 March 1959) is a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He directed or produced the films '' Subway'' (1985), ''The Big Blue'' (1988), and '' La Femme Nikita'' (1990). Besson is associated with the ' ...
for his company
EuropaCorp
EuropaCorp S.A. (stylised in opening logo as EUROPA CORP.) is a French motion picture company headquartered in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris, and one of a few full service independent studios that both produces and distributes feature ...
, and produced by his wife,
Virginie Besson-Silla. It is an English-language film shot in
Taipei
Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...
,
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, and
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. It stars
Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett Ingrid Johansson (; born November 22, 1984) is an American actress. The world's highest-paid actress in 2018 and 2019, she has featured multiple times on the ''Forbes'' Celebrity 100 list. ''Time'' magazine named her one of the 100 ...
,
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, director, and narrator. He is known for his distinctive deep voice and various roles in a wide variety of film genres. Throughout his career spanning over five decades, he has received ...
,
Choi Min-sik
Choi Min-sik (born April 27, 1962) is a South Korean actor. He received critical acclaim for his roles in '' Oldboy'' (2003), ''I Saw the Devil'' (2010) and '' The Admiral: Roaring Currents'' (2014).
For his role in ''Oldboy'', he won the Best ...
, and
Amr Waked
Amr Waked ( ar, عمرو واكد ; born ) is an Egyptian film, television and stage actor. He is best known to international audiences and in Hollywood for his role in the 2005 film ''Syriana''. Other prominent roles include a Yemeni Sheikh calle ...
. Johansson portrays the titular character, a woman who gains
psychokinetic
Psychokinesis (from grc, ψυχή, , soul and grc, κίνησις, , movement, label=ㅤ), or telekinesis (from grc, τηλε, , far off and grc, κίνησις, , movement, label=ㅤ), is a hypothetical psychic ability allowing a person ...
abilities when a
nootropic
Nootropics ( , or ) (colloquial: smart drugs and cognitive enhancers, similar to adaptogens) are a wide range of natural or synthetic supplements or drugs and other substances that are claimed to improve cognitive function or to promote re ...
,
psychedelic
Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of ...
drug is absorbed into her bloodstream.
The film was released on 25 July 2014 and became a massive box office success,
grossing over $463 million, more than eleven times the budget of $39 million. It received generally positive, but also polarized, critical reviews. Although praise was given for its themes, visuals, and Johansson's performance, many critics found the plot nonsensical, especially its focus on the
ten percent of the brain myth
The 10 percent of the brain myth states that humans generally use only 10 percent (or some other small percentage) of their brains. It has been misattributed to many celebrated people of science and history, notably Albert Einstein. By extrapola ...
and resulting abilities.
Plot
Lucy is an American studying in
Taipei, Taiwan
Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...
. Her new boyfriend Richard tricks her into working as a
drug mule
A mule or courier is someone who personally smuggles contraband across a border (as opposed to sending by mail, etc.) for a smuggling organization. The organizers employ mules to reduce the risk of getting caught themselves. Methods of smuggli ...
for a South Korean ''
kkangpae
''Kkangpae'' (Korean: 깡패) is a romanization of the Korean for a 'gangster', 'thug', 'punk' or 'hoodlum', usually referring to members of unorganized street gangs. This is as opposed to mafiosos or members of organized crime gangs, which are kn ...
'' and drug lord, and she delivers a briefcase containing four packets of the highly valuable synthetic drug CPH4 to Mr. Jang.
After witnessing Richard being shot and killed, she is captured and a bag of the drug is forcibly sewn into her abdomen in order to transport the drug to
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
. While in captivity, she is kicked in the stomach, breaking the bag and releasing a large quantity of the drug into her system. She acquires increasingly enhanced physical and mental capabilities, such as
telepathy
Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic W ...
,
telekinesis
Psychokinesis (from grc, ψυχή, , soul and grc, κίνησις, , movement, label=ㅤ), or telekinesis (from grc, τηλε, , far off and grc, κίνησις, , movement, label=ㅤ), is a hypothetical psychic ability allowing a person ...
,
mental time travel
In psychology, mental time travel is the capacity to mentally reconstruct personal events from the past (episodic memory) as well as to imagine possible scenarios in the future (episodic foresight / episodic future thinking). The term was coine ...
, and the ability to feel no pain. She also becomes both ruthless and emotionless. Using her new abilities, she kills her captors and escapes.
Lucy travels to the nearby
Tri-Service General Hospital
The Tri-Service General Hospital (TSGH; ) is a medical center in Neihu District, Taipei, Taiwan. It is the teaching hospital of the National Defense Medical Center.
History
The hospital was originally established in 1946 as 801 Army General Ho ...
to get the bag of drugs removed from her abdomen. She is told by the operating doctor that natural CPH4 is produced in tiny quantities by pregnant women during their sixth week of pregnancy to
provide fetuses with the energy to develop. Growing heightened physical and mental abilities, Lucy returns to Mr. Jang's hotel, kills his bodyguards, assaults him, and telepathically extracts the locations of the three remaining drug mules from his brain.
Lucy begins researching her condition and contacts scientist Samuel Norman whose research may be the key to saving her. After Lucy speaks with Norman (and provides proof of her developed abilities) she flies to Paris and contacts local
police captain
A police captain is a police rank in some countries, such as the United States and France and in the Philippines.
By country France
France uses the rank of ''capitaine'' for management duties in both uniformed and plain-clothed policing. The ...
Pierre Del Rio to help her find the remaining three packets of the drug. During the flight, she starts to disintegrate as her cells destabilize from consuming a sip of champagne. To stave off her disintegration Lucy ingests more of the drug. With the help of Del Rio, Lucy is able to recover the rest of the drugs. Meeting Norman and his colleagues, she agrees to share with them everything she knows.
In the professor's lab, Lucy discusses the nature of time and life and how people's humanity distorts their perceptions. At her urging, she is intravenously injected with the contents of all three remaining bags of CPH4. Her body changes into a black substance that begins spreading over computers and other electronic objects in the lab, transforming them all into one next-generation
supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second ( FLOPS) instead of million instructions ...
. She mentally begins a spacetime journey into the past, eventually reaching the oldest discovered ancestor of mankind,
Lucy
Lucy is an English feminine given name derived from the Latin masculine given name Lucius with the meaning ''as of light'' (''born at dawn or daylight'', maybe also ''shiny'', or ''of light complexion''). Alternative spellings are Luci, Luce, Lu ...
. She shares a quiet moment with ''australopithecus Lucy'' and the two touch fingertips, she then goes all the way to the beginning of time and witnesses the
Big Bang
The Big Bang event is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models of the Big Bang explain the evolution of the observable universe from the ...
. Meanwhile, Jang enters the lab and points a gun at Lucy's head. He shoots, but by that point Lucy has reached 100% of her brain capacity and promptly disappears, moving into the
spacetime continuum
In physics, spacetime is a mathematical model that combines the three dimensions of space and one dimension of time into a single four-dimensional manifold. Spacetime diagrams can be used to visualize relativistic effects, such as why diffe ...
. Only her clothes and the black supercomputer are left behind.
Del Rio enters and fatally shoots Jang. Norman takes a black flash drive offered by the supercomputer, after which it too disintegrates. Del Rio asks Norman where Lucy is, immediately after which Del Rio's cell phone sounds and he sees a text message: "I am everywhere." Lucy's voice is heard stating "Life was given to us a billion years ago. Now you know what to do with it."
Cast
*
Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett Ingrid Johansson (; born November 22, 1984) is an American actress. The world's highest-paid actress in 2018 and 2019, she has featured multiple times on the ''Forbes'' Celebrity 100 list. ''Time'' magazine named her one of the 100 ...
as Lucy Miller:
An unwilling drug mule who is accidentally dosed with a drug that activates myriad pre-encoded genetic conscious capabilities. The role of Lucy called for "an actress who could be believable as extremely vulnerable, as well as superpowered, when her exposure to an illicit substance inadvertently makes her acquire incredible skills." Impressed by Johansson's discipline, Besson considered her for the role, stating that she was immediately precise and professional, and he "enjoyed the way she talked about the film." He said, "She was excited for the right reason, which was the story. At that moment, it was a done deal for me. She was definitely the one."
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie (; born Angelina Jolie Voight; June 4, 1975) is an American actress, filmmaker, humanitarian and former Special Envoy to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award ...
is widely reported to have been originally cast as Lucy,
and as having dropped out of the role prior to filming.
Although Jolie was in "serious talks" with Besson since 2011 to star in his next directorial effort, then untitled,
he stated that she was not his first choice for the role of Lucy.
*
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, director, and narrator. He is known for his distinctive deep voice and various roles in a wide variety of film genres. Throughout his career spanning over five decades, he has received ...
as Professor Samuel Norman:
Producer
Virginie Silla stated that given Freeman's experience portraying a character of wisdom, "it was pretty obvious that he was the perfect actor" for the role of Professor Norman.
*
Choi Min-sik
Choi Min-sik (born April 27, 1962) is a South Korean actor. He received critical acclaim for his roles in '' Oldboy'' (2003), ''I Saw the Devil'' (2010) and '' The Admiral: Roaring Currents'' (2014).
For his role in ''Oldboy'', he won the Best ...
as Mr. Jang:
Besson said that Mr. Jang is the "best villain" he scripted since
Gary Oldman
Gary Leonard Oldman (born 21 March 1958) is an English actor and filmmaker. Known for his versatility and intense acting style, he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and three British Academy Fi ...
's character
Norman Stansfield
Norman Stansfield (billed as Stansfield) is a fictional character and the primary antagonist of Luc Besson's 1994 film '' Léon: The Professional''. Portrayed by Gary Oldman, the corrupt and mentally unhinged Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA ...
, adding that "Whereas Lucy is the ultimate intelligence, Mr. Jang is the ultimate devil." Besson and his film team "had to go and meet
hoiin Korea, talk with him and discuss the story. And it was only at the very end that he said, 'Okay, I'm interested, I want to be in.'"
*
Amr Waked
Amr Waked ( ar, عمرو واكد ; born ) is an Egyptian film, television and stage actor. He is best known to international audiences and in Hollywood for his role in the 2005 film ''Syriana''. Other prominent roles include a Yemeni Sheikh calle ...
as Pierre Del Rio:
Besson stated that "Del Rio represents the audience; he's basically you and me," and added that when Lucy has "lost all her emotions by being exposed to the drug," there exists "a tiny spark of emotion that's still there" when she is with Del Rio. Waked also said that Besson having written the script was enough for him to want to star in the film.
*
Julian Rhind-Tutt
Julian Alistair Rhind-Tutt (born 20 July 1967) is an English actor, best known for playing Dr "Mac" Macartney in the comedy television series ''Green Wing'' (2004–2006).
Early life
Rhind-Tutt was born in West Drayton, Middlesex, the youngest o ...
as the polite British antagonist
who sews
drug packs into the mules
*
Pilou Asbæk
Johan Philip "Pilou" Asbæk (; born 2 March 1982) is a Danish actor. He is known for his role as troubled spin doctor Kasper Juul in the Danish television political drama '' Borgen'', and as Euron Greyjoy in the television series ''Game of Thro ...
as Richard,
Lucy's delinquent boyfriend in Taipei
*
Analeigh Tipton as Caroline,
Lucy's roommate in Taipei
* Nicolas Phongpheth as Jii,
Jang's top henchman
Speaking of Besson's "interest in making the film one about the way we interact with our environment, and socially as well," Silla said that one of the goals was to bring together a diverse cast to show the planet's diversity and a mixture of the different cultures. She stated, "So we have Scarlett Johansson, who is Caucasian, Morgan Freeman, who is African-American, Min-Sik Choi, who is from Korea, and Amr Waked, who hails from Egypt."
Production
Writing
Besson stated that he intended for the first part of ''Lucy'' to be like ''
Léon: The Professional'' (which he also wrote and directed), the second part to be like ''
Inception
''Inception'' is a 2010 science fiction action film written and directed by Christopher Nolan, who also produced the film with Emma Thomas, his wife. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a professional thief who steals information by infiltr ...
'' and the third part to be like ''
2001: A Space Odyssey.''
He was intrigued by the brain capacity of
Lucy
Lucy is an English feminine given name derived from the Latin masculine given name Lucius with the meaning ''as of light'' (''born at dawn or daylight'', maybe also ''shiny'', or ''of light complexion''). Alternative spellings are Luci, Luce, Lu ...
, a female ''
Australopithecus afarensis
''Australopithecus afarensis'' is an extinct species of australopithecine which lived from about 3.9–2.9 million years ago (mya) in the Pliocene of East Africa. The first fossils were discovered in the 1930s, but major fossil finds would not ...
'', stating that her brain size was only 400g, and modern
human brain
The human brain is the central organ of the human nervous system, and with the spinal cord makes up the central nervous system. The brain consists of the cerebrum, the brainstem and the cerebellum. It controls most of the activities of the ...
s weigh in around 1.4 kg. "I was very interested with all the science," he said. "When I learned one cell can send 1000 messages per cell per second and we have 100 billion cells in our body, for me, it's gigantic." He did not want to make "a documentary about the brain," and so he focused on making an entertaining film with scientific and ethical aspects, which he cited as "quite rare today." He said, "That was my goal: an action film with a purpose. When I was younger, the purpose I had was smaller. Basically, this is about us, our legacy and what we learn."'
A
computer-animated
Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes ( still images) and dynamic images (moving images), while computer animation refe ...
version of Australopithecus being in the film, "modeled on the dawn of Man sequence from ''2001: A Space Odyssey''", is one of several of ''Lucy''
's
homages.
"I live in a country of food, and you can't have a third star in a restaurant (the top
Michelin rating) without risk, invention or creativity", Besson said. "I'd rather take some risks, and maybe some people will say, 'What the fuck is this film?' But some others will embrace it. I totally understand that we can't take this kind of risk on every movie, but at the same time, you can't progress if there is not risk and novelty." He added, "I guess the film has the possibility to be a hit with the American audience. Of course, I would rather that it perform and the people are happy with it."
Budget and filming
''Lucy'' was the second largest budget French film production in 2013, with an estimate of 48 million euros. It is also one of the biggest productions for EuropaCorp, the company founded by Luc Besson in 2000. According to
EuropaCorp
EuropaCorp S.A. (stylised in opening logo as EUROPA CORP.) is a French motion picture company headquartered in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris, and one of a few full service independent studios that both produces and distributes feature ...
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
Christophe Lambert, this film had the highest budget in the company's history.
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...
started in September 2013 at the
Cité du Cinéma
The Cité du Cinéma or Studios of Paris is a film studio complex originally supported and founded by the film director and producer Luc Besson, located in Saint-Denis, in the northern suburbs of Paris, in a renovated power plant, commissioned in ...
, a new megastudio located on the outskirts of
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. On 5 September 2013, scenes were shot at the cliffs of
Étretat
Étretat () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of Northwestern France. It is a tourist and farming town situated about northeast of Le Havre, at the junction of the D 940, D 11 and D 139 roads. It is located on ...
in northern France. Filming in
Taipei
Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...
,
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
, began on 21 October 2013 and lasted for eleven days. One of the locations filmed at was
Taipei 101
Taipei 101 (; stylized as TAIPEI 101), formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center, is a supertall skyscraper in Taipei, Taiwan. This building was officially classified as the world's tallest from its opening in 2004 until the 2009 ...
, one of the world's tallest skyscrapers.
Select footage was filmed with IMAX cameras.
On 23 October ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' stated that Besson had become enraged by all the media attention the shoot was getting that day.
Besson was reported to be so frustrated with the constant disruptions that he considered leaving Taipei to film elsewhere. Meeting reporters in Taipei a day after he finished shooting the Taiwan part of the film, he stated, "We don't want pictures with new dresses of Scarlett. Sometime I lost a bit of my concentration because I'm bothered by that." Because of constant paparazzi intrusions he said that "shooting at night time was a nightmare". Besson singled out two unnamed agencies from Hong Kong for special condemnation. News reports emerged that he wanted to leave Taiwan early to register his disapproval of their actions, but Besson labelled these as incorrect.
Visual effects
''Lucy'' has the most visual effects in a film directed by Besson,
with over 1,000 effects shots under senior visual effects supervisor
Nicholas Brooks.
The majority of visual effects were done by
Industrial Light & Magic
Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is an American motion picture visual effects company that was founded on May 26, 1975 by George Lucas. It is a division of the film production company Lucasfilm, which Lucas founded, and was created when he began pro ...
(ILM),
[
] with a team headed by supervisor Richard Bluff. Bluff described ''Lucy'' as "really fun because it wasn't a thousand shots of robots or things we typically do," instead relying on short sequences "that required a lot of new ways to problem-solve and to visualize them."
ILM began work on the project in July 2013, based on concept art provided by Besson’s Europacorp, such as Lucy sprouting the black tendrils and Lucy's disintegration effects.
Among the material ILM studied as reference for the effects were chemical reactions,
laser lighting display
A laser lighting display or laser light show involves the use of laser light to entertain an audience. A laser light show may consist only of projected laser beams set to music, or may accompany another form of entertainment, typically mus ...
s seen at raves, and the work of artist Perry Hall, who had previously worked with Brooks in ''
What Dreams May Come''. Another major contributor was
Rodeo FX
Rodeo FX is a visual effects company involved in projects in the film, television and advertising industry. The company currently has studios in Montreal, Quebec City, Munich and Los Angeles.
History
Rodeo FX was founded in 2006 in Montreal, Ca ...
, responsible for the Paris chase scene, Taipei
matte painting
A matte painting is a painting, painted representation of a landscape, set (film and TV scenery), set, or distant location that allows filmmaking, filmmakers to create the illusion of an environment that is not present at the filming location. H ...
s, and the visual representation of cell phones'
radio wave
Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic radiation with the longest wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum, typically with frequencies of 300 gigahertz (GHz) and below. At 300 GHz, the corresponding wavelength is 1 mm (short ...
s seen by Lucy's enhanced vision.
Music and soundtrack
The film's
original score was composed by
Éric Serra
Éric Serra (; born 9 September 1959) is a French composer. He is a frequent collaborator of film director Luc Besson.
Early life
Serra was born in Saint-Mandé. His father Claude was a famous French songwriter in the 1950s and '60s, and so ...
, who has scored all of Besson's films apart from ''
Angel-A'' and ''
The Family''. The soundtrack was released on 22 July 2014 by Back Lot Music.
Marketing
Several print and digital posters were issued by the distributor Universal Pictures for ''Lucy'', with the theatrical release poster including the tagline: "The average person uses 10% of their brain capacity. Imagine what she could do with 100%." On 15 August 2014 Universal Pictures released two advance posters for the upcoming comedy film ''
Dumb and Dumber To'' that spoofed the theatrical release poster for ''Lucy'', also a Universal Pictures-distributed film. The two spoof posters were made public via Tweets from the Twitter accounts of
Jim Carrey
James Eugene Carrey (; born January 17, 1962) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian and artist. Known for his energetic slapstick performances, Carrey first gained recognition in 1990, after landing a role in the American sketch comedy te ...
and
Jeff Daniels
Jeffrey Warren Daniels (born February 19, 1955) is an American actor, comedian, musician, and playwright, known for his work on stage and screen playing diverse characters switching between comedy and drama. He is the recipient of several accol ...
.
On 2 April 2014 the first
trailer for ''Lucy'' was released. It was described as having "hit the Internet with the force of a punch to the head,"
with reviewers stating that it is "promis
n a wild ride with Johansson rendering people unconscious with a flick of her wrist,"
"awesome" as "the girl who was once exploited becomes very, very dangerous,"
and "wonderfully insane as Johansson goes from a drug mule at the mercy of her captors to a superhuman with remarkable control over her body and a diminishing capacity for mercy."
James Luxford of ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' described a common theme evident in the trailer that has run through Johansson's past three films: characters who "evolve, mutate or vanish altogether". After the film premiered, however, its trailers were categorized as being starkly different from how the film actually plays out; for example, the film not being as action-packed.
A behind-the-scenes preview of the film was released on July 10.
In his 2014 book titled ''Great Myths of the Brain'', Christian Jarrett quotes directly from the film poster, dismissing it and the film's portrayal of the potential for "mastering all knowledge and hurling cars with her mind" as being fully speculative fiction.
Release
''Lucy'' grossed $126.7 million in North America and $336.7 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $463.4 million, against a budget of $40 million.
On July 25, ''Lucy'' opened at 3,172 theaters in the United States. It opened with $17,088,110, placing it in the top spot for the box office opening weekend, ahead of the competing film ''
Hercules
Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures.
The Romans adapted the Gr ...
'', which debuted in the number two spot with $11,058,454.
''Lucy'', described as "bringing a needed boost to the ailing summer box office,"
did financially better than expected,
as early box office estimates for the film placed it "on track for $14 million to $15 million on Friday, including $2.7 million from 2,386 late Thursday screenings."
It earned $43,899,340 at the domestic box office for the opening weekend, with ''Hercules'' remaining at second place with $29 million.
Globally, ''Lucy'' debuted at the number one box office spot in all markets it was released in outside of U.S. and Canada, as of August 8.
In Taipei, the film's performance has been credited to roughly half of the film having been shot there, and it having "boost
dTaiwan's popularity amid the country's efforts to bring itself to the world stage."
It opened at twenty two Taipei theaters, grossing NT$14.3 million (US$478,000) from 57,900 admissions, and, after two days there, made NT$25.6 million (US$854,000) in the capital, later earning over NT$38 million (US$1.27 million) from seventy five locations nationwide, making it the fourth best opening day in Taiwan, after ''
Transformers: Age of Extinction'', ''
Iron Man 3
''Iron Man 3'' (titled onscreen as ''Iron Man Three'') is a 2013 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Iron Man, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to ''Ir ...
'' and ''
The Avengers'', the best opening day for
United International Pictures
United International Pictures (UIP) is a joint venture of Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures that distributes their films outside the United States and Canada. UIP also had international distribution rights to certain Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer an ...
(UIP), and the best August opening day of all-time.
''Lucy'' is also the second most successful debut for a French action film.
The audience for ''Lucy'' was split evenly between men and women, with 65 percent being over age 25.
Nikki Rocco, president for domestic distribution at
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
, said, "To have a female lead in an original property absolutely made a difference. Scarlett is a star, and her presence
n the film
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
made it a lot more appealing for women."
Michael Bodey of ''
The Australian
''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...
'' commented that women having comprised half the audience is "a seemingly new precedent for an action film" and that, because of its box office performance, ''Lucy'' is the film out of all of Besson's film work "likely to have the greatest cultural impact."
Thewire.com
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
's David Sims stated that Johansson's success with ''Lucy'' at the box office would be "no mean feat given that it's a European R-rated action movie opening against a PG-13 epic with a more proven action star" in
Dwayne Johnson
Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972), also known by his ring name The Rock, is an American actor and former professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he was integral to the developm ...
(The Rock). "She's obviously had supporting roles in Marvel blockbusters but
ohanssonhas never opened a blockbuster as an above-the-title star," he stated, adding that ''
The Island'' was her first real attempt at doing so, but was a
flop
In computing, floating point operations per second (FLOPS, flops or flop/s) is a measure of computer performance, useful in fields of scientific computations that require floating-point calculations. For such cases, it is a more accurate meas ...
, and that if "tracking holds, ''Lucy'' will solidify this new phase in Johansson's career as a marquee name."
In U.S. and Canada, ''Lucy'' earned $61 million in ticket sales in 3,173 theaters, and attracted 7.6 million viewers in its opening week.
Rocco said that widespread interest from ticket buyers indicated that ''Lucy'' brought "a different side to an action film," and that Universal Studios "had maintained high hopes for the 'R-rated original concept female-driven action movie.'"
Leading in the weekend's ticket sales on online ticket service
Fandango
Fandango is a lively partner dance originating from Portugal and Spain, usually in triple meter, traditionally accompanied by guitars, castanets, or hand-clapping. Fandango can both be sung and danced. Sung fandango is usually bipartite: it has ...
, ''Lucy'' outsold action thrillers ''
Oblivion'', ''
Elysium
Elysium (, ), otherwise known as the Elysian Fields ( grc, Ἠλύσιον πεδίον, ''Ēlýsion pedíon'') or Elysian Plains, is a conception of the afterlife that developed over time and was maintained by some Greek religious and philos ...
'' and ''
Edge of Tomorrow
''Edge of Tomorrow'' (also known as ''Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow'') is a 2014 American science fiction action film starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt with Bill Paxton and Brendan Gleeson in supporting roles. Directed by Doug Liman wi ...
'' "at the same point in the sales cycle."
It additionally outsold ''
The Bourne Legacy'' ($38.1 million) and ''
Salt
Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...
'' ($36 million), compared to their opening weekend spots, but failed to surpass the opening weekend grosses for ''Wanted'' ($50.9 million) and ''
Taken 2
''Taken 2'' is a 2012 English-language French action-thriller film directed by Olivier Megaton and starring Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Rade Šerbedžija, Leland Orser, Jon Gries, D.B. Sweeney and Luke Grimes. It follows Bryan ...
'' ($49.5 million).
Ray Subers of
Box Office Mojo
Box Office Mojo is an American website that tracks box-office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. The site was founded in 1998 by Brandon Gray, and was bought in 2008 by IMDb, which itself is owned by Amazon.
History
Brandon Gray began ...
stated, "The fact that it even came close, though, is a fairly remarkable feat for this moderately-budgeted original action movie."
Subers said that there are a few contributing factors to ''Lucys success, commenting, "First, the movie had an intriguing premise (what if we could use more than 10% of our brains?) that was front-and-center in action-packed, visually-stunning advertisements." He said that this helped Johansson's lead role of Lucy appear to be "a natural extension of the butt-kicking brand she's built" as
Black Widow in ''The Avengers'' and ''
Captain America: The Winter Soldier'', and that "recognizing that audiences were connecting with the material, Universal made the savvy decision to move ''Lucy'' up from mid-August," where it instead would have been competing with ''
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Guardians of the Galaxy is a fictional superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
It may more specifically refer to:
Comic book teams
* Guardians of the Galaxy (1969 team), the original 31st-century team fr ...
'', ''
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' is an American media franchise created by the comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Leonardo, Michelangelo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Miche ...
'', and ''
The Expendables 3
''The Expendables 3'' is a 2014 American action film directed by Patrick Hughes and written by Creighton Rothenberger, Katrin Benedikt and Sylvester Stallone. It is the third installment in ''The Expendables'' franchise and the sequel to '' Th ...
'', a contrast to "this less-competitive late July date."
Oliver Gettell of ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' commented similarly, citing five reasons for the film's successful opening weekend: A catchy sci-fi hook (the ten percent of brain myth), Johansson as an action star, Besson as a crowd-pleaser (known for films that please audiences, especially ones that craft strong female characters), a summer of strong women (previous successful female-driven films in the year being ''
Maleficent
Maleficent ( or ) is a fictional character who appears as the main antagonist in Walt Disney Productions' 16th animated feature film, ''Sleeping Beauty'' (1959). She is represented as an evil fairy and the self-proclaimed " Mistress of All Evil ...
'' and ''
The Fault in Our Stars
''The Fault in Our Stars'' is a novel by John Green. It is his fourth solo novel, and sixth novel overall. It was published on January 10, 2012. The title is inspired by Act 1, Scene 2 of Shakespeare's play ''Julius Caesar'', in which the noble ...
''), and a slick marketing campaign (the trailers for the film emphasizing a high concept narrative, action and mayhem while de-emphasizing "philosophical and metaphysical pontificating").
Reception
Early reviews for the film were positive and mixed,
and later generally positive.
''Lucy'' was categorized as entertaining and silly, but also polarizing, by critics.
On
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, it holds an approval rating of 66% based on 240 reviews, with an average rating of 6.00/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Enthusiastic and silly, ''Lucy'' powers through the movie's logic gaps with cheesy thrills plus Scarlett Johansson's charm – and mostly succeeds at it."
On review aggregator
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 61 out of 100, based on 45 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Audiences polled by
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data.
Background
Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave the film an average grade of "C+" on a A+ to F scale.
Based on 14 press reviews, French website
AlloCiné gave the film an average rating of 2.6 out of 5.
The film received a score of 84% on French website Cinémur.
In France, the film received 14 press reviews. Regarding the positive reception, Danielle Attali wrote in ''
Le Journal du dimanche
''Le Journal du dimanche'' (English: ''Sunday's newspaper'') is a French weekly newspaper published on Sundays in France.
History and profile
''Le Journal du Dimanche'' was created by Pierre Lazareff in 1948. He was managing editor of ''France ...
'' that "Luc Besson's thriller shows a successful talent to entertain and keep in suspense".
In ''
Voici
''Voici'' is a French language weekly celebrity and gossip magazine published in Paris, France.
History and profile
''Voici'' was founded in 1987. The magazine is published on a weekly basis and is based in Paris. The weekly is owned by the Germ ...
'', the reviewer also appreciated the work of Besson, stating that he "returns to action films with this wacky cross between a superhero film and film about Asian gangsters, amped up by the always sexy Scarlett Johansson".
In ''
Le Parisien
''Le Parisien'' (; French for "The Parisian") is a French daily newspaper covering both international and national news, and local news of Paris and its suburbs. It is owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, better known as LVMH.
Histor ...
'', Magali Gruet stated, "Some have called this a feminist film, and though we will not go that far, it would be wrong to deny that a woman is portrayed as the source of solutions intended to save the world."
''
Libération
''Libération'' (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Initially positioned on the far-left of France's ...
'' wrote, "Beyond the success or embellishment which adorns each new scene with a spectacular swagger of violence and improbable turns, there is a strong feeling that Luc Besson now makes films from a position beyond merely marketing considerations."
''
Le Nouvel Observateur
(), previously known as (1964–2014), is a weekly French news magazine. Based in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris, it is the most prominent French general information magazine in terms of audience and circulation. Its current editor is Cécil ...
'' wrote, "It was unclear how such a contrived portrayal can delude audiences once the novelty becomes dissipated."
Among U.S. reviews,
Christopher Orr of
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
reviewed it through the list of 26 points, in an article published in ''The Atlantic'' under title "The Dumbest Movie Ever Made About Brain Capacity". Orr begins with describing it as "mind-bendingly miscalculated sci-fi vehicle for Scarlett Johansson" whom he sees as "moderately charismatic", and film's 89 minutes length as "mercifully brief", although noting that "quantity of inanity" squeezed into this screen time "beggars that of awful movies of substantially greater length". He ultimately explains his choice of review format through points by calling the film "so idiotic that the only way to properly convey its flaws is to enumerate them".
Justin Chang of ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' called ''Lucy'' "a slickly engineered showcase for a kickass heroine whom we instinctively, unhesitatingly root for" and an enjoyable, "agreeably goofy, high-concept" speculative narrative devoid of self-importance because "it pays deft, knowing homage to any number of Hollywood sci-fi head-trip classics, embedding its ideas in a dense labyrinth of cinematic references that somehow end up feeling sly rather than shopworn."
Jordan Hoffman of ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' called the film "mindless and mixed up, but propulsive and fun" and added that "Scarlett Johansson shines in this pseudo-intellectual action flick that represents Luc Besson's finest work" since the film ''
The Fifth Element
''The Fifth Element'' is a 1997 English-language French science fiction action film conceived and directed by Luc Besson, as well as co-written by Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. It stars Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, Chris Tucker, and Milla ...
''; he gave ''Lucy'' 3/5 stars,
while
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
's Jim Vejvoda rated the film a 7.2 and said "this movie is all about Johansson, who's in almost every scene. She ably plays the title character as she transforms from average person to omnipotent entity" and "ultimately, more of ''Lucy'' works than doesn't. It's a fun movie even if its 'science' more than strains suspension of disbelief. It's a credit to Besson's style and Johansson's performance that ''Lucy'' isn't a train wreck."
The ''
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
s Mick LaSalle said, "You can scoff at Besson's philosophies and hypotheses, but to do that would miss what's in front of you. ''Lucy'' is an impeccably realized vision of Besson's view of things."
By contrast, John DeFore of ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' stated that "plenty of films and novels have envisioned what would happen if we gained conscious control over our entire brain," but that "it's hard to recall one whose ideas were more laughable than this one." He stated that the audience may "roll with the film" as Lucy does things beyond human capability, but that the film does not justify "Lucy's increasingly godlike abilities, which soon include time travel and levitation. Every now and then, a nugget of real philosophy is dropped into the screenplay, but it's surrounded by so much blather that even a generous viewer has trouble using it to justify what Lucy experiences."
Writing for ''
LA Weekly
''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose paren ...
'',
Amy Nicholson stated that Besson "must think the audience is operating with even fewer synapses
han the capacity of ten percent Here, his style is slick but hand-holdingly literal" and "as the newly bionic Lucy seeks vengeance, Besson even tries to convince us she's a strong female character, which to the majority of male action directors simply means a sexy, silent badass. The real females in the audience may wonder why a genius would limp across a multi-continental gunfight in five-inch Louboutins."
Among the main criticisms of the film were the
ten percent of brain myth, Lucy becoming less empathetic and more robotic as her brain capacity increases, her invincibility,
and the use of animal imagery to convey "obvious points."
Ralph Blackburn of ''
Belfast Telegraph
The ''Belfast Telegraph'' is a daily newspaper published in Belfast, Northern Ireland, by Independent News & Media. Its editor is Eoin Brannigan. Reflecting its unionist tradition, the paper has historically been "favoured by the Protestant po ...
'' called the notion of only using ten percent of the brain an "often-quoted idea" that "has obvious Hollywood potential," but, according to leading
neuroscientist
A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist who has specialised knowledge in neuroscience, a branch of biology that deals with the physiology, biochemistry, psychology, anatomy and molecular biology of neurons, Biological neural network, n ...
s, is "nothing more than an urban myth." He cited neuropsychology professor
Barbara Sahakian
Barbara Jacquelyn Sahakian, is Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology at the Department of Psychiatry and Medical Research Council (MRC)/Wellcome Trust Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge. She is also an Ho ...
, quoting that "it's impossible to work out how much of our brain we are using quantitatively. However, it is definitely much more than 10 per cent."
Chang stated that because Besson "seems more interested in engaging, playfully yet seriously, with the various biological, philosophical and metaphysical riddles that
he film
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
raises," the story is lacking as an action film and is not "much of a thriller – it's virtually an anti-thriller, devoid of suspense or any real sense of danger due to the fact that its heroine is more or less invincible," and that "at times it's hard to shake the sense that a smarter, more unbridled picture might have found a way to slip the bonds of genre altogether."
Like Chang, DeFore felt that one of the flaws with the film is Lucy's invincibility because it "nullifies much of the drama to come."
Michael Phillips of the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'' said that the first twenty minutes of the film are good, but that by half an hour of runtime, the audience will realize that Lucy has no limits, which makes the film dull after a while with a "limited payoff".
''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
s
Ty Burr
Ty Burr (born August 17, 1957) is an American film critic, columnist, and author who currently writes a film and popular culture newsletter "Ty Burr's Watchlist" on Substack. Burr previously served as film critic at ''The Boston Globe'' for two ...
, on the other hand, stated of the criticisms: "who comes to a Besson movie seeking logic? ''Lucy'' stays true to its own invented physics."
Besson said he knew of the ten percent myth, and that the film uses it as a metaphor,
while
Robbie Collin
Robbie Collin is a British film critic.
Collin studied aesthetics and the philosophy of film at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. He edited the university's student newspaper, '' The Saint''.
Collin has been the chief film critic at ''The D ...
for ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
'' concluded the film is based on the
Kantian
Kantianism is the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher born in Königsberg, Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia). The term ''Kantianism'' or ''Kantian'' is sometimes also used to describe contemporary positions in philosophy of mind, ...
model of
transcendental idealism
Transcendental idealism is a philosophical system founded by German philosopher Immanuel Kant in the 18th century. Kant's epistemological program is found throughout his '' Critique of Pure Reason'' (1781). By ''transcendental'' (a term that des ...
, where the human mind imposes order on the world to make sense of it, and without it all relations between objects in space and time would cease to exist.
''Lucy'' has been compared to various films; common examples include ''
Akira'',
''
2001: A Space Odyssey'', ''
The Matrix
''The Matrix'' is a 1999 science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is the first installment in ''The Matrix'' film series, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, and Joe Pantolia ...
'', ''
The Tree of Life
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'', ''
Transcendence'', and especially ''
Limitless''.
Chang said, "Lucy's gradual rise to omniscience and omnipotence recalls Neo's own such journey in ''The Matrix'', while her many black-suited Korean opponents suggest another army of Agent Smiths," and added that, when Lucy "uploads herself, Big Brother-style, to every computer and TV screen in the vicinity," the film suggests "a livelier, less ponderous remake" of ''Transcendence.''
Hoffman said, "The end of the movie goes completely off the rails, but in a way that is charming in its stupidity. It's like ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' for those with short attention spans, and those people need to have their minds blown, too, I suppose."
Matt Prigge of ''
Metro New York
''Metro New York'' was a free daily newspaper in New York City.
Background
It was launched on May 5, 2004 by Metro International.
''Metro New York'' was primarily distributed by " hawkers" paid to station themselves in areas with high pedest ...
'', while calling the film "stupid, smart and awesome," stated that it "smartly goes in a wildly different direction than the amusingly amoral ''Limitless'', in which Bradley Cooper's character abused a similar drug, but used it to gain success, money and power. He was selfish. Lucy is selfless." Prigge added, "If ''Lucy'' is ''Limitless'', it's ''Limitless'' with more than a dash of ''The Tree of Life'', and even a bit" of the film ''
Under the Skin'', which also stars Johansson.
Burr commented that "where a fully juiced cerebellum just made Cooper's character really, really capable, Lucy undergoes a metaphysical makeover that, by the film's midpoint, has started to rearrange time, space, and her body."
Comparing Lucy's powers to characters
Professor X
Professor X (Charles Francis Xavier) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is depicted as the founder and sometimes leader of the X-Men. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writ ...
,
The Doctor,
Dr. Manhattan,
Galactus
Galactus () is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Formerly a mortal man, Galactus is a cosmic entity who consumes planets to sustain his life force, and serves a functional role in the upkeep of ...
, God from ''
Bruce Almighty
''Bruce Almighty'' is a 2003 American fantasy comedy film directed by Tom Shadyac and written by Steve Koren, Mark O'Keefe and Steve Oedekerk. The film stars Jim Carrey as Bruce Nolan, a down-on-his-luck television reporter who complains to God ...
'',
Scarlet Witch
Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby. Her first appearance was in ''The X-Men'' #4 (March 1964) ...
, and Tetsuo from ''Akira'',
Hollywood.com
Hollywood.com is an entertainment news website covering popular culture topics including movies, television, music and celebrities. Hollywood.com is principally owned by Mitchell Rubenstein and Laurie S. Silvers, who previously founded Sci-Fi Ch ...
's Jordan Smith stated that "Lucy may be the most powerful film character ever created," but indicated that Tetsuo's powers might match hers.
Accolades
Graphic novel and future
Hollywood journalist
Nikki Finke
Nikki Jean Finke (December 16, 1953 – October 9, 2022) was an American blogger, journalist, publisher, and writer. She was a consultant to Penske Business Media LLC and senior editorial contributor for PBM run by media owner Jay Penske. She f ...
reported in a July 2014 post on her film industry blog that: "In August, a ''Lucy'' graphic novel will be released online with four chapters appearing every other day for one week." The first chapter of the semi-animated graphic novel was published on the international version of the movie's official website and features the same story material as seen in trailers with picture elements that move as scrolling takes place.
In an April 2014
WonderCon
WonderCon is an annual comic book, science fiction, and film convention held in the San Francisco Bay Area (1987–2011), then—under the name WonderCon Anaheim—in Anaheim, California (2012–2015, 2017–present), and WonderCon Los Angel ...
interview, Besson was asked about the possibility of a ''Lucy'' sequel and stated, "With ''Lucy'', you'll see the end of the film. I don’t know how we can make a sequel, but if the film is huge, then I will think about it." In August, while promoting the film in Taipei, where scenes were shot, Besson commented further about the possibility of a sequel: "I don't see how we can do one. It's not made for that. If I find something good enough, maybe I will, but for now I don't even think about it." In June 2015, it was reported that a sequel was in development. In October 2017, it was rumored that Besson had completed the script, but on 5 October he announced on his Facebook page that he is not working on a sequel for ''Lucy''.
On October 31, 2022, a spin-off series was announced to be in development by EuropaCorp and
Village Roadshow
Village Roadshow Limited is an Australian company which operates cinemas and theme parks, and produces and distributes films. Before being acquired by private equity company BGH Capital, the company was listed on the Australian Securities Ex ...
with Freeman in talks to reprise his role.
See also
*
Posthuman
Posthuman or post-human is a concept originating in the fields of science fiction, futurology, contemporary art, and philosophy that means a person or entity that exists in a state beyond being human. The concept aims at addressing a variety of ...
*
Pseudoscience
Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or falsifiability, unfa ...
* ''
Charly
''Charly'' (marketed and stylized as ''CHAЯLY'') is a 1968 American drama film directed and produced by Ralph Nelson and written by Stirling Silliphant. It is based on ''Flowers for Algernon'', a science-fiction short story (1958) and subseque ...
'', a 1968 film based on the 1959 short story and novel ''
Flowers for Algernon
''Flowers for Algernon'' is a short story by American author Daniel Keyes, later expanded by him into a novel and subsequently adapted for film and other media. The short story, written in 1958 and first published in the April 1959 issue of ''T ...
'', about a man whose IQ gets tripled.
* "
Understand
Understanding is a psychological process related to an abstract or physical object, such as a person, situation, or message whereby one is able to use concepts to model that object.
Understanding is a relation between the knower and an object ...
", a 1991 novelette by
Ted Chiang
Ted Chiang (born 1967) is an American science fiction writer. His work has won four Nebula awards, four Hugo awards, the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and six Locus awards. His short story "Story of Your Life" was the basis of the ...
about a man who's made super-intelligent by an experimental drug.
* ''
Phenomenon
A phenomenon ( : phenomena) is an observable event. The term came into its modern philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon, which ''cannot'' be directly observed. Kant was heavily influenced by Gottfried W ...
'', a 1996 film in which
John Travolta
John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. He came to public attention during the 1970s, appearing on the television sitcom ''Welcome Back, Kotter'' (1975–1979) and starring in the box office successes ''Carrie'' (19 ...
is mysteriously turned into a genius with telekinetic powers.
* ''
Limitless'', a 2011 film and
2015 television series in which a drug allows a man to realize his potential.
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lucy
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