Race to Witch Mountain is a re-imagining of the 1975 film Escape to Witch Mountain. Both versions of the film are based on the 1968 novel Escape to Witch Mountain by author Alexander Key. The film is directed by Andy Fickman and stars Dwayne Johnson, AnnaSophia Robb, Alexander Ludwig, and Carla Gugino.

Filming began in Los Angeles in March 2008. Race to Witch Mountain was released on March 13, 2009.

Jack Bruno (Dwayne Johnson) is a cab driver in Las Vegas, who is picking up and dropping off passengers to the UFO convention at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino. One of his passengers is Dr. Alex Friedman (Carla Gugino), a failed scientist who is giving speeches about legitimate scientific theories of UFOs and outer space.

The next day, Bruno notices two children, Sara (AnnaSophia Robb) and Seth (Alexander Ludwig) sitting in the back seat of his cab. They tell him they need to go to a certain destination and are willing to pay all they have ($15,000) to get there. They lead him to a run down house in the middle of nowhere. Meanwhile, Major Henry Burke (Ciaran Hinds) is searching for information on the two aliens that landed some days earlier.

When they arrive at the house, Bruno follows them out of concern and curiosity to the basement. There the kids retrieve their objective, a device contained within alien flora.

When leaving they are attacked by a "Siphon", a creature built to destroy a certain target. The Siphon pursues them until its spaceship crashes into a train, and the creature is wounded. The trio eventually find themselves in a small town, Stony Creek, where they encounter Tina the waitress (Tia from the original movie) and the sheriff (Tony from the original movie), now both grown and settled in the town to which they escaped in the original movie. The children explain to Bruno that they are aliens from a distant planet, who are sent to Earth by their parents because the government of their dying planet intends to attack and invade Earth so that their kind may live on there. They also explain that the object they obtained at the house contains the results of an experiment which their parents set up. The research from this experiment will save their planet without having to attack and invade Earth. However their planet's military prefer the idea of invading Earth and sent the Siphon assassin to stop them. They are next pursued by government agencies trying to retrieve the children for experiments.

They are joined by Dr. Friedman at the UFO Expo. With help of one of Dr. Friedman's friends, the kids discover that their crashed spaceship has been relocated to a government base at Witch Mountain. While preparing to leave the UFO Expo, the Siphon arrives; Sara uses her powers to knock him through a wall. The group, now including Dr. Friedman, after evading the pursuing government agents eventually arrive at Witch Mountain. At first the children are captured along with Bruno and Friedman. Nevertheless the two humans escape and come to rescue the kids. The Siphon causes a distraction by attacking the base. They manage to free the children and reach their ship. By running the Siphon over they escape but the Siphon hangs on and gets on board. Bruno and Seth battle the Siphon, unmasking him in the fight. Finally, Bruno knocks him into the ships engine. The kids drop Jack and Alex off and after a tearful goodbye, they head back to their ship, but give Bruno and Alex a device that will allow the kids to always find them. And Sara gives Jack the power to use his brain to the mind reading ability.

In the post-credits scene, Bruno and Dr. Friedman (now a couple) are speaking at a UFO convention about their new successful book called "Race to Witch Mountain". The last scene shows them driving off in a car Bruno dreamed of getting honestly as he had mentioned to Friedman earlier—a Mustang similar to that driven by Steve McQueen in Bullitt. As they are about to leave, the device the kids gave Bruno activates, indicating that they may be returning.

Production

In July 2007, Walt Disney Pictures hired Andy Fickman to direct Witch Mountain, a "modern re-imagining" of Escape to Witch Mountain, using a script by Matt Lopez.[4] The following August, actor Dwayne Johnson (most notably famous for portraying The Rock in the WWE) was cast into a lead role, with filming scheduled to begin in March 2008.[5] Fickman did not describe the film as a remake, defining his production as "a new chapter within the world of Witch Mountain". The director also described the book in which the films are based as "a very cool dark thriller" and anticipated drawing elements from it that did not exist in the 1975 film.[6] By March 2008, filmmakers were using a new script written by Mark Bomback.[7] The film was re-titled Race to Witch Mountain, and it began filming in Los Angeles in the same month.[8]

The convention center in Pomona, California was converted into the film's UFO Expo 9, and the interior of Witch Mountain was designed using photographs from a tour of NORAD's Cheyenne Mountain.[9] A cabin for the story was also built in Agua Dulce, California.[10] The director sought assistance from UFO experts, the military, and CIA advisers to shape the elements of the film.[11] He also introduced a new element in the remake, an extraterrestrial creature called Siphon. The creature was conceived by the design team who created the look for Alien and Predator.[12]

Cast

• Dwayne Johnson as Jack Bruno, a Las Vegas cab driver and former convict.[5] The director wrote in a cab driver as a main character because there was a unique relationship between the driver and his passengers. Fickman explained, "When Dwayne's driving and two aliens appear in his cab, he's stuck with them, there is an implied contract that I will get you to your destination, because that's what he does."[13]

This is Dwayne Johnson's second Disney movie, the first one was the 2007 family comedy The Game Plan, also directed by Andy Fickman.

• AnnaSophia Robb as Sara, sister of Seth, a girl with telekinetic and telepathic powers.[14] Fickman chose Robb based on her performance in Bridge to Terabithia (2007).[15]
• Alexander Ludwig as Seth, brother of Sara, a boy with the power to control his molecular density.[14]
• Ciarán Hinds as Henry Burke, the main villain of the movie.[8] Hinds described his character as a man in black, explaining, "I'm the head of the operation who's contacted directly by a man you never see...[It] is about protecting the country. He's responsible for it, and he'll do whatever needs to be done. That's how he sees it."[16]
• Carla Gugino as Dr. Alex Friedman,[13] a discredited astrophysicist.[14] Fired from her university, she is relegated to giving a lecture at a UFO conference about hard science. She also becomes Jack's love interest.[16] Fickman cast Gugino into the role since he was a fan of the short-lived television series Threshold, in which the actress starred.[17]
• Garry Marshall as a government fringe scientist and UFO conspiracy theorist.[14]
• Cheech Marin as the auto mechanic.[9]
• Chris Marquette as Pope.[9]
• Kim Richards as a roadhouse waitress. Richards portrayed the girl, Tia Malone, in the 1975 film.[18][19]
• Ike Eisenmann as a sheriff. Eisenmann portrayed the boy, Tony Malone, in the 1975 film.[18][19]
• William J. Birnes, the host of UFO Hunters, in a cameo.[9]
• Whitley Strieber, author of Communion, in a cameo.[9][12]

Music

The score to Race to Witch Mountain was composed by Trevor Rabin, who recorded his score with a 78-piece ensemble of the Hollywood Studio Symphony and a 24-person choir at the Sony Scoring Stage.[20] Two of the songs in the movie were written and performed by country and western band Brokedown Cadillac, which appears briefly in an opening scene.

The movie also features the hit single "Emergency" by Hollywood Records artist Steve Rushton, featured on the soundtrack.

Reception

Reviews for Race to Witch Mountain have been mixed. Based on 74 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, the film currently has a 38% approval rating from critics, with an average score of 5.1/10.[21] By comparison, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 50, based on 23 reviews. [22]

Despite its mixed criticism, the film opened #1 at the box office becoming the first Disney film to open #1 in 2009 [23] grossing $24.4 million.[24] So far it has grossed $64,482,666 domestic, with $29,600,000 international for a worldwide total of $94,082,666