The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (film)

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Theatrical release poster
Directed byStephen Norrington
Screenplay byJames Dale Robinson
Based onThe League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
by Alan Moore, Kevin O'Neill
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyDan Laustsen
Edited byPaul Rubell
Music byTrevor Jones
Production
companies
  • Angry Films
  • International Production Company
  • JD Productions
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release dates
  • July 11, 2003 (2003-07-11) (United States)
  • October 17, 2003 (2003-10-17) (United Kingdom)
Running time
110 minutes[1]
Countries
  • Germany[2]
  • United States
LanguagesEnglish
German
Budget$78 million[3]
Box office$179.3 million[3]

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, also promoted as LXG, is a 2003 steampunk[4]/dieselpunk superhero film loosely based on the first volume of the comic book series of the same name by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill. Distributed by 20th Century Fox, it was released on 11 July 2003 in the United States, and 17 October in the United Kingdom. It was directed by Stephen Norrington and starred Sean Connery, Naseeruddin Shah, Peta Wilson, Tony Curran, Stuart Townsend, Shane West, Jason Flemyng, and Richard Roxburgh. It was Connery's final role in a theatrically released live-action film before his retirement in 2006 and death in 2020.

As with the comic book source material, the film features prominent pastiche and crossover themes[5] set in the late 19th century. It features an assortment of fictional literary characters appropriate to the period who act as Victorian era superheroes. It draws on the works of Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, Bram Stoker, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H. Rider Haggard, Ian Fleming, Herman Melville, Oscar Wilde, Robert Louis Stevenson, Edgar Allan Poe, Gaston Leroux, and Mark Twain, albeit all adapted for the film.

It received generally unfavorable reviews but was financially successful, grossing over $179 million worldwide in theaters, and earning rental revenue of $48.6 million and DVD sales (as of 2003) of $36.4 million, against its $78 million budget.[6]

  1. ^ "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (12A)". BBFC. July 11, 2003. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  2. ^ "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen". British Film Institute. London. Archived from the original on September 30, 2008. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
  3. ^ a b "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) – Box Office Mojo". boxofficemojo.com.
  4. ^ Poeter, Damon (July 6, 2008). "Steampunk's subculture revealed". The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved April 15, 2023.
  5. ^ Tobey, Matthew. "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen". Allmovie. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
  6. ^ "The Numbers: Box Office Data". Retrieved October 4, 2014.