''Zero Contact'' is a 2021 American thriller film directed by

Rick Dugdale Rick Dugdale is a Canadian film producer. He is the President and CEO of Enderby Entertainment, an independent film finance and production company. He is also co-founder of Vuele Career Dugdale joined Daniel Petrie, Jr. & Company as Vice Presi ...

and starring

Anthony Hopkins Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins (born 31 December 1937) is a Welsh actor, director, and producer. One of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actors, he is known for his performances on the screen and stage. Hopkins has received many accolad ...

. It was the first feature film to be released via Vuele, a non-fungible token platform. ''Zero Contact'' was released internationally on September 24, 2021, and was released in the United States on May 27, 2022, by

Lionsgate Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...

Cast

Production

In May 2020, it was announced Enderby Entertainment would commence production on a thriller titled ''92''. The film was shot in 17 countries. It was filmed entirely virtually via

Zoom Zoom may refer to: Technology Computing * Zoom (software), videoconferencing application * Page zooming, the ability to magnify or shrink a portion of a page on a computer display * Zooming user interface, a graphical interface allowing for image ...

and during the 2020

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. In September 2021, the film's first official trailer officially revealed production details including: Peter Toumasis and Cam Cannon, served as producers alongside Dugdale; Edd Lukas served as cinematographer; and Håkan Karlsson served as editor. It also stated that People in the Park Productions is credited in post-production.

Release

The film was released as an NFT via CurrencyWorks Inc.'s platform Vuele. In January 2022, it was announced that Lions Gate Entertainment had acquired distribution rights via its subsidiary Grindstone Entertainment, with a scheduled release date in May 2022. ''Zero Contact'' was released on May 27, 2022.

Marketing

The first trailer was released online, in September 2021. It notably announced many of the production details on-screen. In May 2021, following

's purchase of distribution rights, a new poster and trailer was released alongside the official announcement of the movie's official release date.

Reception

The film has a 10% rating on

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 ...

based on 10 reviews. Rich Cross of '' Starburst'' gave the film a positive review and wrote, "High-concept techno-thriller ''Zero Contact'' is the latest mainstream movie determined to make a virtue out of the necessity of the Covid lockdown." Frank Scheck of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

'' gave the film a negative review and wrote, "Let’s just say that 'The machine runs on dark matter reactor' is one of the script’s more coherent lines." Dennis Harvey 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), ...

'' gave the film a negative review, calling it "a steaming pile of nada."

Future

In January 2022, it was announced that two sequels will be filmed back-to-back.

will reprise his role from the first movie, which was filmed remotely via

. Director

revealed that principal photography had already commenced, with the projects in various degrees of production. The collaborative development with

is noted as being the first feature film to be produced on-location in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

. The production crew worked alongside

Sebastian Copeland Sebastian Copeland (born 3 April 1964) is a British-American-French photographer, polar explorer, author, lecturer, and environmental advocate. He has led numerous expeditions in the polar regions to photograph and film endangered environments. In ...

and David Hatcher Childress to ensure safety in the extreme conditions of the frozen

Tundra In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless mou ...

continent A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas t ...

. The production will also take place in 14 other geographical locations.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 12359080 American thriller films 2021 thriller films 2021 films 2020s English-language films 2021 directorial debut films 2020s American films English-language thriller films