''I, Robot'' (stylized as ''i, ROBOT'') is a 2004 American
science fiction action film
The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as ...
directed by
Alex Proyas
Alexander Proyas ( ; born 23 September 1963) is an Australian film director. He is known for directing the films ''The Crow (1994 film), The Crow'' (1994), ''Dark City (1998 film), Dark City'' (1998), ''I, Robot (film), I, Robot'' (2004) and '' ...
. The screenplay by
Jeff Vintar and
Akiva Goldsman
Akiva Goldsman (born July 7, 1962) is an American screenwriter, producer, and director.
Goldsman's filmography as a screenwriter includes ''The Client (1994 film), The Client''; ''Batman Forever'' and its sequel ''Batman & Robin (film), Batman ...
is from a screen story by Vintar, based on his original screenplay ''Hardwired'', and named after
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov ( ; – April 6, 1992) was an Russian-born American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. H ...
's 1950
short-story collection. The film stars
Will Smith
Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968) is an American actor, rapper, and film producer. Known for his work in both Will Smith filmography, the screen and Will Smith discography, music industries, List of awards and nominations re ...
in the main role, alongside
Bridget Moynahan,
Bruce Greenwood
Stuart Bruce Greenwood (born August 12, 1956) is a Canadian actor and producer. He has starred in five films by Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan and has been nominated for three Canadian Screen Awards, once for Best Actor for '' Elephant Song'' ...
,
James Cromwell
James Oliver Cromwell (born January 27, 1940) is an American actor. Known for his extensive work as a character actor, he has received a Primetime Emmy Award as well as a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for '' Babe'' ( ...
,
Chi McBride
Kenneth "Chi" McBride ( ; born September 23, 1961) is an American actor. He has appeared in films, where he is known primarily as a character actor, and in television, where he has had numerous starring roles.
In film, he has played prominent ro ...
, and
Alan Tudyk
Alan Wray Tudyk ( ; born March 16, 1971) is an American actor. His film work includes roles in '' 28 Days'' (2000), '' A Knight's Tale'' (2001), '' Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story'' (2004), voice and motion capture for Sonny in '' I, Robot'' (2 ...
, as the
robot
A robot is a machine—especially one Computer program, programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions Automation, automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the robot control, co ...
, Sonny.
The film is set in
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
in 2035. Highly intelligent robots fill public service positions throughout the world, operating under the
Three Laws of Robotics
The Three Laws of Robotics (often shortened to The Three Laws or Asimov's Laws) are a set of rules devised by science fiction author Isaac Asimov, which were to be followed by robots in several of his stories. The rules were introduced in his 194 ...
to keep humans safe. Detective Del Spooner (Smith) investigates the alleged suicide of U.S. Robotics founder Alfred Lanning (Cromwell) and believes that a human-like robot called Sonny murdered him.
''I, Robot'' was released in the United States on July 16, 2004. Produced with a budget of $120 million, the film grossed $346 million worldwide and received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for the visual effects and acting but criticism of the plot. At the
77th Academy Awards
The 77th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on February 27, 2005, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. Durin ...
, the film was nominated for
Best Visual Effects, losing to ''
Spider-Man 2
''Spider-Man 2'' is a 2004 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of Spider-Man. Directed by Sam Raimi and written by Alvin Sargent from a story conceived by Michael Chabon and the writing team of Alfred Gough and Miles ...
''.
Plot
In the year 2035,
humanoid
A humanoid (; from English ''human'' and '' -oid'' "resembling") is a non-human entity with human form or characteristics. By the 20th century, the term came to describe fossils which were morphologically similar, but not identical, to those of ...
robot
A robot is a machine—especially one Computer program, programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions Automation, automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the robot control, co ...
s serve humanity, which is protected by the
Three Laws of Robotics
The Three Laws of Robotics (often shortened to The Three Laws or Asimov's Laws) are a set of rules devised by science fiction author Isaac Asimov, which were to be followed by robots in several of his stories. The rules were introduced in his 194 ...
. Del Spooner is a homicide detective in the
Chicago Police Department
The Chicago Police Department (CPD) is the primary law enforcement agency of the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States, under the jurisdiction of the Chicago City Council. It is the second-largest Law enforcement in the United States#Local, ...
who hates and distrusts robots after one rescued him from a car crash while allowing a 12-year-old girl to drown—based purely on cold logic and odds of survival. When Dr.
Alfred Lanning
The following is a list of characters in Isaac Asimov's ''Robot'' series.
Kelden Amadiro
Kelden Amadiro is a Spacer and the main antagonist in the novels '' The Robots of Dawn'' and '' Robots and Empire''. He is the head of the Robotics Institut ...
, co-founder of
U.S. Robotics (USR), falls to his death from his lab office window, a message he left behind requests Spooner be assigned to the case, despite police declaring the death a suicide. Spooner is skeptical, and CEO
Lawrence Robertson, Lanning’s business partner, reluctantly allows him to investigate.
Accompanied by
robopsychologist Dr.
Susan Calvin
Dr. Susan Calvin is a fictional character appearing in Isaac Asimov's ''Robot'' series of science fiction short stories. According to '' I, Robot'', Susan Calvin was born in the year 1982 and died at the age of 82, either in 2064 or 2065.
She ...
, Spooner consults with USR's central
artificial intelligence computer, VIKI (Virtual Interactive Kinetic Intelligence). They find that the security footage from inside the office is corrupted, but the exterior footage does show no one entering or exiting since Lanning's death. However, Spooner points out that the window, which is made of security glass, could not have been broken by the elderly Lanning, and hypothesizes one of the many NS-5 robots (the latest version) in the lab was responsible. Suddenly, an NS-5 attacks them and flees before being apprehended by the police. The robot, Sonny, is a specially built NS-5 with higher-grade materials as well programming that grants him free will allowing him to choose to follow the Three Laws. Sonny also appears to be capable of feeling emotion and claims to have "dreams". During Spooner's further investigations, he is attacked by a USR demolition robot and two truckloads of hostile NS-5 robots, but when he cannot produce evidence to support either attack, Spooner's boss Lieutenant Bergin, considering him mentally unstable, removes Spooner from active duty.
Suspecting that Robertson is behind everything, Spooner and Calvin sneak into the USR headquarters and interview Sonny. He draws a sketch of what he claims to be a recurring dream, showing a leader he believes to be Spooner standing atop a small hill before a large group of robots near a
decaying bridge. Robertson orders Sonny to be destroyed, but Calvin secretly swaps him for an unused NS-5. Spooner finds the area in Sonny's drawing: a dry lake bed (formerly
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and depth () after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the ...
), now used as a storage area for decommissioned robots. He also discovers NS-5 robots destroying the older models; at the same time, other NS-5s flood the streets of major US cities and begin enforcing a curfew and lockdown of the human population.
As the humans (most being led by a teenager named Farber) wage all-out war against the NS-5s, Spooner and Calvin enter the USR headquarters again and reunite with Sonny. After the three find Robertson fatally strangled in his office, Spooner realizes that VIKI has been controlling the NS-5s via their persistent network uplink and confronts her. VIKI states that she has determined that humans, if left unchecked, will eventually cause their own extinction, and thus her
evolved interpretation of the Three Laws has made her reprogram the NS-5s with the ability to ignore the Three Laws if a human displays hostility in order to protect humanity from their own self-destruction. Spooner also realizes that Lanning anticipated VIKI's plan and, with VIKI keeping him under tight control, had no other solution but to create Sonny, arrange his own death, and leave clues for Spooner to find.
Spooner, Calvin, and Sonny fight the robots inside VIKI's core, until Spooner finally destroys her by injecting her with the
nanites
Molecular machines are a class of molecules typically described as an assembly of a discrete number of molecular components intended to produce mechanical movements in response to specific stimuli, mimicking macromolecular devices such as switche ...
that Sonny retrieved from Calvin's laboratory. All NS-5 robots immediately revert to their default programming, and as they are subsequently decommissioned and put into storage, Sonny confesses that he killed Lanning by his order to get Spooner's attention as he knew Spooner was the only one who could stop VIKI. Spooner points out that Sonny, as a machine, cannot legally commit "murder". Sonny, now seeking a new purpose, goes to Lake Michigan. As he stands atop a hill, all the decommissioned robots turn towards him, fulfilling the image in his dream.
Cast
*
Will Smith
Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968) is an American actor, rapper, and film producer. Known for his work in both Will Smith filmography, the screen and Will Smith discography, music industries, List of awards and nominations re ...
as Det. Del Spooner, a Chicago Police detective with a bias against robots. Spooner was badly injured in a car accident and had parts of his body rebuilt with robotic parts. He suffers from
survivor's guilt
Survivor guilt or survivor's guilt (also survivor syndrome, survivor's syndrome, survivor disorder and survivor's disorder) happens when individuals feel guilty after they survive a tragic, near death, or traumatic event when others perished. It ...
as a result of the accident and blames the cold and logical robots for rescuing him instead of the young girl in the other car.
*
Bridget Moynahan as
Dr. Susan Calvin, a robopsychologist at USR. She worked closely with Dr. Lanning on the development of the new NS5 models and was in charge of making the robots seem more human. She prefers the company of robots and has difficulty relating to other people which causes friction between her and Det. Spooner.
*
Bruce Greenwood
Stuart Bruce Greenwood (born August 12, 1956) is a Canadian actor and producer. He has starred in five films by Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan and has been nominated for three Canadian Screen Awards, once for Best Actor for '' Elephant Song'' ...
as Lawrence Robertson, the co-founder and CEO of USR. Robertson is heading the nationwide rollout of the new NS5 models and uses his influence to try and stop Det. Spooner's investigation and the potential negative
PR that it could bring.
*
James Cromwell
James Oliver Cromwell (born January 27, 1940) is an American actor. Known for his extensive work as a character actor, he has received a Primetime Emmy Award as well as a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for '' Babe'' ( ...
as Dr. Alfred Lanning, co-founder of USR and the inventor of modern robotics. Lanning designed and built Sonny and used Sonny to help him commit suicide as part of a carefully designed plan to stop the robots from taking over humanity.
*
Chi McBride
Kenneth "Chi" McBride ( ; born September 23, 1961) is an American actor. He has appeared in films, where he is known primarily as a character actor, and in television, where he has had numerous starring roles.
In film, he has played prominent ro ...
as Lt. John Bergin of the Chicago Police. He is Det. Spooner's supervisor and a hardened veteran. He acts as a mentor and a voice of reason to Det. Spooner.
*
Shia LaBeouf
Shia Saide LaBeouf ( ; born June 11, 1986) is an American actor and filmmaker. He played Louis Stevens in the Disney Channel series ''Even Stevens'', a role for which he received Young Artist Award nominations in 2001 and 2002 and won a Dayt ...
as Farber, a friend of Det. Spooner's.
*
Alan Tudyk
Alan Wray Tudyk ( ; born March 16, 1971) is an American actor. His film work includes roles in '' 28 Days'' (2000), '' A Knight's Tale'' (2001), '' Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story'' (2004), voice and motion capture for Sonny in '' I, Robot'' (2 ...
(via voice and
motion capture
Motion capture (sometimes referred as mocap or mo-cap, for short) is the process of recording high-resolution motion (physics), movement of objects or people into a computer system. It is used in Military science, military, entertainment, sports ...
) as Sonny, an NS5
prototype
A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototype ...
built by Dr. Lanning. Sonny has unique design features like the ability to feel emotions, and he has no uplink to USR. He struggles to understand why Dr. Lanning built him and what his purpose in life is.
*
Fiona Hogan as Virtual Interactive Kinetic Intelligence, called VIKI for short. She was built by Dr. Lanning and is hardwired into USR's headquarters with control over virtually all of the building functions.
*
Terry Chen
Terence Chen (born February 3, 1975) is a Canadian actor.
Early life
Chen was born on February 3, 1975, in Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the ...
as Chin
* Adrian L. Ricard as Gigi, Det. Spooner's grandmother.
*
Jerry Wasserman
Jerry Wasserman (born November 2, 1945) is an Americans, American professor and film and television actor.
Wasserman was born in Cincinnati, Ohio.
He was a professor of English and Theatre at the University of British Columbia. He was also a f ...
as Baldez
*
Peter Shinkoda as Chin
*
Emily Tennant
Emily Tennant (born August 9, 1990) is a Canadian actress. She played Ivy Young on the Canadian comedy television series ''Mr. Young'', and voices Polly Pocket in the Polly Pocket (TV series), eponymous animated series.
Early life
Tennant was bo ...
as Young Girl
Production
Development
The film ''I, Robot'' originally had no connection with
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov ( ; – April 6, 1992) was an Russian-born American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. H ...
's
''Robot'' series. It started with an original screenplay written in 1995 by
Jeff Vintar, entitled ''Hardwired''. The script was an
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving ...
-inspired murder mystery that took place entirely at the scene of a crime, with one lone human character, FBI agent Del Spooner, investigating the killing of a reclusive scientist named Dr. Alfred Lanning, and interrogating a cast of machine suspects that included Sonny the robot, VIKI the supercomputer with a perpetual smiley face, the dead Dr. Lanning's hologram, plus several other examples of
artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...
.
The project was first acquired by
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film Film production company, production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios (division), the Walt Disney Studios, a division of Disney Entertainment, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company. The st ...
for
Bryan Singer
Bryan Jay Singer (born September 17, 1965) is an American filmmaker. He is the founder of Bad Hat Harry Productions and has produced almost all of the films he has directed, as well as multiple television series.
After graduating from the Univ ...
to direct. Several years later,
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...
(which was acquired by the latter during
Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox) acquired the rights, and signed Alex Proyas as director.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, businessman, former politician, and former professional bodybuilder, known for his roles in high-profile action films. Governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger, ...
was attached to the project for several years, and Smith pursued taking over the role when Schwarzenegger's schedule delayed his participation in the film.
Denzel Washington
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. (born December 28, 1954) is an American actor, producer, and director. Known for his dramatic roles Denzel Washington on screen and stage, on stage and screen, Washington has received List of awards and nominations ...
was offered the role of Det. Del Spooner, but turned it down.
Jeff Vintar was brought back on the project and spent several years opening up his stage play-like cerebral mystery to meet the needs of a big budget studio film. When the studio decided to use the name "I, Robot", he incorporated the Three Laws of Robotics and renamed his female lead character from Flynn to
Susan Calvin
Dr. Susan Calvin is a fictional character appearing in Isaac Asimov's ''Robot'' series of science fiction short stories. According to '' I, Robot'', Susan Calvin was born in the year 1982 and died at the age of 82, either in 2064 or 2065.
She ...
.
Akiva Goldsman
Akiva Goldsman (born July 7, 1962) is an American screenwriter, producer, and director.
Goldsman's filmography as a screenwriter includes ''The Client (1994 film), The Client''; ''Batman Forever'' and its sequel ''Batman & Robin (film), Batman ...
was hired late in the process to write for Smith.
Jeff Vintar and Akiva Goldsman are credited for the screenplay, with Vintar also receiving "screen story by" credit. The end credits list the film as "suggested by the book ''
I, Robot
''I, Robot'' is a fixup collection of science fiction short stories by American writer Isaac Asimov. The stories originally appeared in the American magazines '' Super Science Stories'' and ''Astounding Science Fiction'' between 1940 and 1950 ...
'' by Isaac Asimov".
Filming and visual effects
Alex Proyas
Alexander Proyas ( ; born 23 September 1963) is an Australian film director. He is known for directing the films ''The Crow (1994 film), The Crow'' (1994), ''Dark City (1998 film), Dark City'' (1998), ''I, Robot (film), I, Robot'' (2004) and '' ...
directed the film.
Laurence Mark,
John Davis, Topher Dow and
Wyck Godfrey produced, with Will Smith starring and serving as an executive producer at the same time. Simon Duggan was the
cinematographer
The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera ...
. Film editing was done by Richard Learoyd, Armen Minasian and
William Hoy.
Visual effects and animation were provided by
Digital Domain
Digital Domain (also known as Digital Domain Media Group or DDMG) is an American visual effects, computer animation and digital production company headquartered in Playa Vista, Los Angeles, California.
Digital Domain has produced visual effects ...
and
Weta Digital using
post-production
Post-production, also known simply as post, is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording indivi ...
. The film renames Asimov's "
U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men" to
U.S. Robotics (USR), the modem manufacturer named after the fictional company, and depicts the company with a futuristic USR logo.
Other
product placement
Product placement, also known as embedded marketing, is a marketing technique where references to specific brands or products are incorporated into another work, such as a film or television program, with specific promotional intent. Much of t ...
s include
Converse's Chuck Taylor All-Stars
Chuck Taylor All-Stars or Converse All Stars (also referred to as "Converse", "Chuck Taylors", "Chucks", "Cons", "All Stars", and "Chucky Ts") are sneakers manufactured by American fashion brand Converse (a subsidiary of Nike, Inc. since 2003) ...
,
FedEx
FedEx Corporation, originally known as Federal Express Corporation, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate holding company specializing in Package delivery, transportation, e-commerce, and ...
,
Tecate
Tecate () is a city in Tecate Municipality, Baja California. It is across the Mexico–United States border, Mexico–US border from Tecate, California. As of 2019, the city had a population of 108,860 inhabitants, while the metropolitan area ha ...
, and
JVC
JVC (short for Japan Victor Company) is a Japanese brand owned by JVCKenwood. Founded in 1927 as the Victor Talking Machine Company of Japan and later as , the company was best known for introducing Japan's first televisions and for developin ...
.
The
Audi RSQ was designed especially for the film; surveys conducted in the United States showed that the Audi RSQ gave a substantial boost to the image ratings of the brand. It also features an
MV Agusta F4 SPR motorcycle.
Later, Alex Proyas said: "It was an unpleasant experience. The movie was micro-managed and messed with at every level at every point through the entire production, from pre-production through the shoot to post-production. After a couple of years of this, the solid ground that I stood on as a director became shaky, and I became obsessed with keeping as many details as I could to the point that I didn't realise how much of what enthused me originally was getting lost. I used to describe working on I, ROBOT as running a marathon with the studio lined up beside you throwing chairs under you to make everything that little bit harder. It's so unnecessary because at all times I was just trying to make the best damn film I could." Although it was an "unpleasant experience", he enjoyed working with Will Smith.
Comparison with the novels
The final script used few of
Asimov's characters and ideas, and those present were heavily adapted. The plot of the film is not derived from Asimov's work, in some cases explicitly opposing the core ideas. Many concepts are derivative of other works.
Sonny's attempt to hide from Spooner in a sea of identical robots is loosely based on a similar scene in "
Little Lost Robot
"Little Lost Robot" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the March 1947 issue of ''Astounding Science Fiction'' and reprinted in the collections ''I, Robot'' (1950), ''The Complete Robot'' ( ...
."
The positronic brains of Sonny and his fellow robots first appeared in the story "
Catch That Rabbit
"Catch that Rabbit" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the February 1944 issue of ''Astounding Science Fiction'' and reprinted in the collections ''I, Robot'' (1950) and ''The Complete Ro ...
." Sonny's struggle and desire to understand humanity resembles that of the robot protagonist in ''
The Bicentennial Man
"The Bicentennial Man" is a novelette in the ''Robot'' series by American writer Isaac Asimov. According to the foreword in ''Robot Visions'', Asimov was approached to write a story, along with a number of other authors who would do the same, ...
''. His dream about a man coming to liberate the NS-5s alludes to ''
Robot Dreams'' and its main character Elvex. The premise of a robot, such as VIKI, putting the needs of humankind as a whole over that of individual humans can be found in "
The Evitable Conflict
"The Evitable Conflict" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It first appeared in the June 1950 issue of ''Astounding Science Fiction'' and subsequently appeared in the collections ''I, Robot'' (1950), ''The Complet ...
," where supercomputers managing the global economy generalize the first law to refer to humankind as a whole. Asimov would further develop this idea in his Robot series as the
Zeroth Law of Robotics: "A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm."
The premise of robots turning on their creators, originating in
Karel Čapek
Karel Čapek (; 9 January 1890 – 25 December 1938) was a Czech writer, playwright, critic and journalist. He has become best known for his science fiction, including his novel '' War with the Newts'' (1936) and play '' R.U.R.'' (''Rossum' ...
's play ''
R.U.R.'' and perpetuated in subsequent robot books and films, appears infrequently in Asimov's writings and differs from the "Zeroth Law". In fact, Asimov stated explicitly in interviews and in introductions to published collections of his robot stories that he entered the genre to protest what he called the Frankenstein complex, the tendency in popular culture to portray robots as menacing. His story lines often involved roboticists and robot characters battling societal anti-robot prejudices.
Music
Marco Beltrami
Marco Beltrami (born October 7, 1966) is an American composer of film and television scores. He has worked in a number of genres, including horror ('' Scream'', ''Mimic, The Faculty, Resident Evil, The Woman in Black, Carrie, A Quiet Place'' ...
composed the
film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...
for ''I, Robot''. It was recorded at the Newman Scoring Stage within a short span of 17 days, and performed by the 95-piece orchestra from the
Hollywood Studio Symphony
The Hollywood Studio Symphony (sometimes the Hollywood Freelance Studio Symphony) is the credited name of the symphony orchestra behind many major soundtracks, including '' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'', ''Suc ...
and 25-member choir from the
Hollywood Film Chorale.
Varèse Sarabande
Varèse Sarabande is an American record label, owned by Concord Music Group and distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and cast recording, original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums, as ...
released the score album on July 20, 2004.
Release
''I, Robot'' was initially scheduled for release on July 2, 2004, but was pushed back to July 16 to avoid competition with ''
Spider-Man 2
''Spider-Man 2'' is a 2004 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of Spider-Man. Directed by Sam Raimi and written by Alvin Sargent from a story conceived by Michael Chabon and the writing team of Alfred Gough and Miles ...
''.
Home media
''I, Robot'' was released on
VHS
VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s.
Ma ...
and
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
on December 14, 2004, on
D-VHS
D-VHS (short for Digital VHS) is a digital video recording format developed by JVC in collaboration with Hitachi, Matsushita, and Philips. Introduced in December 1997, it was designed to record digital video, including high-definition content ...
on January 31, 2005, on 2-Disc All-Access Collector's Edition DVD on May 24, 2005, on UMD on July 5, 2005, and on
Blu-ray
Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
on March 11, 2008. Additionally, the film received a
2D to 3D conversion
2D to 3D video conversion (also called 2D to stereo 3D conversion and stereo conversion) is the process of transforming 2D ("flat") film to 3D form, which in almost all cases is stereo, so it is the process of creating imagery for each eye from ...
, which was released on Blu-ray 3D on October 23, 2012.
Reception
Box office
''I, Robot'' was released in North America on July 16, 2004, and made $52.2 million in its opening weekend, finishing first at the box office. It grossed $144.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $202.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $347.2 million, against a production budget of $120 million.
[ It was the eleventh-highest-grossing film of 2004.
The film was released in the United Kingdom on August 6, 2004, and topped the country's box office that weekend.
]
Critical response
Audiences polled by CinemaScore
CinemaScore is an American 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 from the data.
Background
Ed Mintz, who ...
gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.
Richard Roeper
Richard E. Roeper (born October 17, 1959) is an American writer. He is a former columnist and film critic for the '' Chicago Sun-Times'', where he wrote for 39 years dating back to 1986 until his departure in 2025. He co-hosted the television s ...
gave the film a positive review, calling it "a slick, consistently entertaining thrill ride". ''Urban Cinefile'' called it "the meanest, meatiest, coolest, most engaging and exciting science fiction movie in a long time". Kim Newman from ''Empire
An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...
'' said, "This summer picture has a brain as well as muscles." ''Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' critic Desson Thomas called it "thrilling fun." Several critics, including Jeff Otto from ''IGN
''IGN'' is an American video gaming 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 district and is headed by its former e ...
'', thought it was a smart action film: "''I, Robot'' is the summer's best action movie so far. It proves that you don't necessarily need to detach your brain in order to walk into a big budget summer blockbuster."
In a mixed review, A. O. Scott
Anthony Oliver Scott (born July 10, 1966) is an American journalist and cultural critic, known for his film and literary criticism. After starting his career at ''The New York Review of Books'', '' Variety'', and ''Slate'', he began writing film ...
of ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' felt it "engages some interesting ideas on its way to an overblown and incoherent ending." Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
, who had highly praised Proyas's previous films, gave it a negative review: "The plot is simple-minded and disappointing, and the chase and action scenes are pretty much routine for movies in the sci-fi CGI genre." Claudia Puig from ''USA Today
''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
'' thought the film's "performances, plot, and pacing are as mechanical as the hard-wired cast". Todd McCarthy from ''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), ...
'' simply called it "a failure of imagination".
Accolades
At the 77th Academy Awards
The 77th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on February 27, 2005, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. Durin ...
, ''I, Robot'' received one nomination, for Best Visual Effects ( John Nelson, Andrew R. Jones, Erik Nash, and Joe Letteri), losing to ''Spider-Man 2
''Spider-Man 2'' is a 2004 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of Spider-Man. Directed by Sam Raimi and written by Alvin Sargent from a story conceived by Michael Chabon and the writing team of Alfred Gough and Miles ...
''. The film was also nominated for Best Sci-Fi Film at the 31st Saturn Awards.
Possible sequel
In an interview in June 2007 with the website Collider
A collider is a type of particle accelerator that brings two opposing particle beams together such that the particles collide. Compared to other particle accelerators in which the moving particles collide with a stationary matter target, collid ...
at a ''Battlestar Galactica
''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Glen A. Larson. It began with the original television series in 1978, and was followed by a short-run sequel series, '' Galactica 1980'', a line of book adaptat ...
'' event, writer and producer Ronald Moore stated that he was writing a sequel to the film.
In the two-disc All-Access Collector's Edition of the film, Alex Proyas mentions that if he were to make a sequel to the film (which he says, in the same interview, is highly unlikely), it would be set in outer space.
References
Bibliography
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External links
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{{Robot series
2000s dystopian films
2004 films
2004 science fiction action films
20th Century Fox films
Film
A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...
American 3D films
American dystopian films
American robot films
American science fiction action films
Films about androids
Films about cyborgs
Davis Entertainment films
Fictional portrayals of the Chicago Police Department
Films about artificial intelligence
Films based on science fiction works
Films based on short fiction
Films based on works by Isaac Asimov
Films directed by Alex Proyas
Films produced by John Davis
Films produced by Wyck Godfrey
Films produced by Laurence Mark
Films scored by Marco Beltrami
Films set in 2035
Films set in Chicago
Films set in the future
Films shot in Chicago
Films shot in Vancouver
Films using motion capture
Films with screenplays by Akiva Goldsman
Foundation universe
Overbrook Entertainment films
Postcyberpunk films
Robot superheroes
2000s English-language films
2000s American films
Films based on science fiction short stories
English-language science fiction action films
Cyberpunk films