It grossed $28,106,731 on its opening day and ended its North American opening weekend with $70,885,301, breaking the record held by Ice Age: The Meltdown for the biggest opening weekend in the month of March and for a Spring release. [58][59] 300's opening weekend gross is the 24th-highest in box office history, coming slightly below The Lost World: Jurassic Park but higher than Transformers. Using the Hot Gates to their advantage, as well as their superior fighting skills, the Spartans repel wave after wave of the advancing Persian army. [110] Slovenian critic Slavoj Žižek pointed out that the story represents "a poor, small country (Greece) invaded by the army of a much large[r] state (Persia)," suggesting that the identification of the Spartans with a modern superpower is flawed. It was filmed mostly with a superimposition chroma key technique, to help replicate the imagery of the original comic book. King Leonidas of Sparta and a force of 300 men fight the Persians at Thermopylae in 480 B.C. A second 300 trailer, which was attached to Apocalypto, was released in theaters on December 8, 2006,[41] and online the day before. Universal Pictures once planned a similar parody, titled National Lampoon's 301: The Legend of Awesomest Maximus Wallace Leonidas. [139] Skits based upon the film have appeared on Saturday Night Live[140] and Robot Chicken, the latter of which mimicked the visual style of 300 in a parody set during the American Revolutionary War, titled "1776". Certain sequences were desaturated and tinted to establish different moods. I didn't want to render Sparta in overly accurate terms, because ultimately I do want you to root for the Spartans. "[18][25] Various computer programs, including Maya, RenderMan, and RealFlow, were used to create the "spraying blood". and served as an Expert In-Residence for a course on Graphic Novels
The New York Post's Kyle Smith wrote that the film would have pleased "Adolf's boys,"[105] and Slate's Dana Stevens compares the film to The Eternal Jew, "as a textbook example of how race-baiting fantasy and nationalist myth can serve as an incitement to total war. His plan involves building a wall in order to funnel the Persians into a narrow pass between the rocks and the sea: negating the Persian advantage in numbers, and giving the Greeks' heavy infantry the advantage over the vast waves of Persian light infantry. [18], 300 entered active production on October 17, 2005, in Montreal,[19] and was shot over the course of sixty days[18] in chronological order[16] with a budget of $60 million. A small Army of Greeks spearheaded by three hundred Spartans do … This was the first time in history that a world power had guaranteed the survival of the Jewish people, religion, customs and culture." The site's critical consensus read, "A simple-minded but visually exciting experience, full of blood, violence, and ready-made movie quotes. [28] The score was recorded at Abbey Road Studios and features the vocals of Azam Ali. [101]. Miller himself described the work as "naked propaganda" presented "without apology." University of Texas at Arlington. Since it's a product of the post-ideological, post-Xbox 21st century, 300 will instead be talked about as a technical achievement, the next blip on the increasingly blurry line between movies and video games. A polarizing figure, Miller's most recent comic book works have proven better at generating controversy than positive press. Collision Studios worked with Warner Bros. to capture the style of the film in the video game, which was released simultaneously with the film in the United States. The Arcadians retreat upon learning of Ephialtes' betrayal, but the Spartans stay. Essentially what he’s trying to say is that a future 300 film could act more as a spiritual successor than a genuine sequel. Ayende-No, an independent Iranian newspaper, said that "[t]he film depicts Iranians as demons, without culture, feeling or humanity, who think of nothing except attacking other nations and killing people". [121] Various Iranian officials condemned the film. which hosts his extensive episode guide for the television series
A. O. Scott of The New York Times describes 300 as "about as violent as Apocalypto and twice as stupid," while criticizing its color scheme and suggesting that its plot includes racist undertones; Scott also poked fun at the buffed bodies of the actors portraying the Spartans, declaring that the Persian characters are "pioneers in the art of face-piercing", but that the Spartans had access to "superior health clubs and electrolysis facilities". [136] Moaveni reported that the Iranians she interacted with were "adamant that the movie was secretly funded by the U.S. government to prepare Americans for going to war against Iran". On the third day, the Persians, led by Ephialtes, traverse the secret path, encircling the Spartans. The closest comparison you can draw in terms of our own military today is to think of the red-caped Spartans as being like our special-ops forces. Classical sources are certainly used, but exactly in all the wrong places, or quite naively. "[99], Dr. Kaveh Farrokh, in a paper entitled "The 300 Movie: Separating Fact from Fiction",[100] notes that the film falsely portrays "the Greco-Persian Wars in binary terms: the democratic, good, rational 'Us' versus the tyrannical, evil and irrational, 'other' of the ever-nebulous (if not exotic) 'Persia'". They can't believe it's as accurate as it is." Warner Bros. Pictures has great respect for Elliot, our longtime collaborator, and is pleased to have amicably resolved this matter. [42] On January 22, 2007, an exclusive trailer for the film was broadcast during prime-time television. Critics praised its visuals and style but criticised its depiction of the Persians, which some characterized as bigoted or Iranophobic. Nevertheless, he also said the film is "an opera, not a documentary. Still, realizing the threat of the Persians, and not wanting to appear as Persian sympathizers, the Spartan government—rather than Leonidas alone—decided to send Leonidas with his personal 300-strong bodyguard to Thermopylae. The sequel, 300: Rise of an Empire, was released on March 7, 2014. "Remember Us," from 300, is identical in parts to the "Finale" from Titus, and "Returns a King" is similar to the cue "Victorius Titus". What little spare time he has is
[135] Newspapers in Iran featured headlines such as "Hollywood declares war on Iranians" and "300 Against 70 Million" (Iran's population). Leonidas then visits the Ephors, proposing a strategy to drive back the numerically superior Persians through the Hot Gates. The composer had scored for a test scene that the director wanted to show to Warner Bros. to illustrate the path of the project. "[66], Since its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival on February 14, 2007, in front of 1,700 audience members, it received a standing ovation at the public premiere,[67] it was panned at a press screening hours earlier, where many attendees left during the showing and those who remained booed at the end. Moreover, it is absolutely impossible that Persians used African rhinoceros like that shown in the film, also given the impossibility of training them for any purpose, as borne out by animal behavior's scientists. That's what I say when people say it's historically inaccurate". With Richard Egan, Ralph Richardson, Diane Baker, Barry Coe. The Ephors consult the Oracle, who decrees that Sparta may not go to war during the Carneia. [135] Four Iranian Members of Parliament have called for Muslim countries to ban the film,[136] and a group of Iranian film makers submitted a letter of protest to UNESCO regarding the film's misrepresentation of Iranian history and culture. The press release also included an image of the first issue's cover, which depicts the Persian emperor Xerxes standing before a great fire. "[15] Snyder also added the subplot in which Queen Gorgo attempts to rally support for her husband. Since then 300's Spring release record was broken by Fast and Furious and 300's March record was broken by Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. [12], The film is a shot-for-shot adaptation of the comic book, similar to the film adaptation of Sin City. Marking his betrayal, the Council unanimously agrees to send reinforcements. Upwards of 600 costumes were created for the film, as well as extensive prosthetics for various characters and the corpses of Persian soldiers.