Kidnapping Freddy Heineken
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Daniel Alfredson
Produced by	Judy Cairo Howard Meltzer Michael A. Simpson
Screenplay by	William Brookfield
Based on	Kidnapping Freddy Heineken  by Peter R. de Vries
Starring	Anthony Hopkins Sam Worthington Jim Sturgess Ryan Kwanten
Music by	Clay Duncan Lucas Vidal
Cinematography	Fredrik Bäckar
Edited by	Håkan Karlsson
Production company	European Film Company Informant Europe SPRL Umedia
Distributed by	Alchemy A Plus Films Signature Entertainment
Release dates	18 January 2015(Netherlands) 3 April 2015(United Kingdom)
Running time	95 minutes
Country	United Kingdom Netherlands
Language	English

Kidnapping Freddy Heineken (U.S. title Kidnapping Mr. Heineken) is a 2015 British-Dutch crime drama film directed by Daniel Alfredsonbased on the 1983 kidnapping of Freddy Heineken. The screenplay, based on the 1987 book by Peter R. de Vries, was written by William Brookfield. The role of Freddy Heineken is played by Anthony Hopkins, with Sam Worthington as Willem Holleeder, Jim Sturgess as Cor van Hout, Ryan Kwanten as Jan Boellaard, Thomas Cocquerel as Martin Erkamps and Mark van Eeuwen as Frans Meijer.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Plot[edit]

The film takes place in 1983, primarily in Amsterdam and centers in a group of five Dutch friends: Willem Holleeder, Cor van Hout, Jan Boellard, Martin Erkamps and Frans Meijer. Looking for easy money, they decide to kidnap Heineken owner, the tycoon Freddy Heineken in order to achieve a very high ransom. Although successfully capturing Heineken and his driver Ab Doderer, the group eventually face difficulties due to their lack of experience in crime. They fail to negotiate with the police, and Cor has to deal with the responsibilities of taking care of his pregnant wife, Sonja. After Heineken is finally released by the police, Willem and Cor flee to Paris and Willem frequently tells Cor to not call Sonja because the calls could be traced by the police. Although initially reluctant, Cor gives in to his emotions, resulting in the two being arrested by the French police while leaving their apartment.

Cast[edit]

• Anthony Hopkins as Freddy Heineken
• Sam Worthington as Willem Holleeder
• Jim Sturgess as Cor van Hout
• Ryan Kwanten as Jan Boellard
• Jemima West as Sonja Holleeder
• Thomas Cocquerel as Martin Erkamps
• Mark van Eeuwen as Frans Meijer
• David Dencik ad Ab Doderer
• Billy Slaughter as Junior Officer

Production[edit]

Filming began in Belgium in October 2013.^[7]

Reception[edit]

Kidnapping Mr. Heineken received generally unfavorable reviews from critics. The film holds a 33/100 score atMetacritic,^[8] and a 20% score at Rotten Tomatoes.^[9]

The Los Angeles Times commented: "Despite its true-events pedigree, Kidnapping Mr. Heineken is woefully captive to B-movie crime saga tropes."^[10]

Variety: "About as appealing as day-old beer littered with cigarette butts, the abysmal caper drama Kidnapping Mr. Heineken is one of those international co-productions produced for all the right tax-credit reasons and none of the right artistic ones."^[11]

Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter: "By the time the relatively brief but seemingly interminable proceedings reach their conclusion, viewers may feel like they've been held hostage themselves."^[12] Conversely, Rex Reed of The New York Observer gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, and commented: "Anthony Hopkins plays the king of the hops, and he is excellent. So is the rest of the movie, a sober, no-frills account about the highest ransom ever collected up to that time—$10 million and counting."^[13]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Official website
• Kidnapping Freddy Heineken at the Internet Movie Database

Halo 4
Developer(s)	343 Industries
Publisher(s)	Microsoft Studios
Director(s)	Josh Holmes
Producer(s)	Chris Lee
Designer(s)	Scott Warner
Artist(s)	Kenneth Scott
Writer(s)	Chris Schlerf[1]
Composer(s)	Neil Davidge Kazuma Jinnouchi
Series	Halo
Platform(s)	Xbox 360 Xbox One (MCC)
Release date(s)	WW November 6, 2012 JP November 8, 2012 Game of the Year Edition NA October 8, 2013
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player Multiplayer

Halo 4 is a 2012 first-person shooter video game developed by 343 Industries and published by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox 360 video game console. The seventh video game installment in the Halo franchise, the game was released worldwide in November 2012. Halo 4‍ '​s story follows a cybernetically enhanced human supersoldier, Master Chief, and his artificial intelligence construct Cortana, as they encounter unknown threats while exploring an ancient civilization's planet. The player assumes the role of Master Chief, who battles against rogue remnants of the military alliance of alien races known as the Covenant and warriors of the Forerunner empire known as the Prometheans. The game features a selection of weapons, enemies, and game modes not present in previous titles of the series.

Development of Halo 4 began in 2009 and continued until September 2012. Halo 4 is 343 Industries' first original title within the Halo series—previously, development of the main series was undertaken by Bungie, the creator of the franchise. In the developmental process, 343 Industries decided to explore the Forerunner fiction within the Halo universe, leading the team to design a new setting, enemies, and main antagonist. Existing characters and assets received visual overhauls and motion capture was used for animation within cutscenes. A goal for Halo 4‍ '​s story was to incorporate more human elements; to achieve this, the developers chose to delve more deeply into the relationship between the two protagonists, Master Chief and Cortana. Several external studios assisted 343 Industries with developing Halo 4, and over 350 people worked on the game in total.

The game was officially announced at Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011 (E3) on June 6. Prior to launch, Microsoft stated that Halo 4 was the most expensive video game title the company had created so far. The game was marketed with promotional events and videos, including the creation of a live-action film, Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn. Halo 4grossed US$220 million on its launch day and $300 million in its opening week—a record for the franchise. More than one million people played Halo 4 on Xbox Live within the first 24 hours of its release. The game received generally positive reviews from professional critics and received multiple nominations and awards from the press. It was rereleased as part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection for the Xbox One on November 11, 2014. A sequel, Halo 5: Guardians, is set to be released for the Xbox One on October 27, 2015.

Gameplay[edit]

Player character Master Chief attacks an enemy Promethean Knight with an assault rifle in Halo 4‍ '​s campaign mode

Halo 4 is a shooter game in which players predominantly experience gameplay from a first-person perspective; the game perspective switches to third-person when using certain weapons, abilities and vehicles. The player's head-up display (HUD) shows real-time information on the player character's armor system, such as shieldstatus, information on current weapons and abilities, and waypoints for goals and objectives. The HUD also has a motion tracker that detects allies, enemies, and vehicles within a certain radius of the player.^[2] The game sees the return of the alien Covenant as foes, and introduces a new type of enemy called the Prometheans, which are Forerunnerconstructs. There are three types of Prometheans: Knights serve as leaders of the group and are considered as the deadliest of the Promethean forces; Crawlers are a weaker class that often attack in packs; and Watchers offer support and have the ability to shield or revive Promethean allies.^[3][4]

Halo 4 features updated versions of many human and Covenant weaponry from previous Halo games, as well as introducing new weapons for the humans, Covenant and Prometheans.^[3][4] The game also features reusable equipment, called armor abilities, introduced in Halo: Reach. New armor abilities are autosentry; hardlight shield, which activates a protective barrier similar to a riot shield; Promethean vision, which diminishes environment detail and shows hidden players as silhouettes; regeneration field, which heals all players in close proximity and can emit a short range kinetic blast; and thruster pack, which allows the player to launch themselves several feet in a horizontal direction.^[5][6] Returning abilities include active camouflage; jetpack; and hologram, which creates a facsimile of the player running towards a target point. Sprinting returns in Halo 4, however players can now use it independently of their armor ability.^[7] New gameplay mechanics introduced to the series include throwing and catching, which has been implemented into the multiplayer game types: Oddball and Grifball.^[8]

Modes[edit]

Halo 4‍ '​s story or campaign mode can be played alone or cooperatively with one other player on the same console via split screen, and up to three other players through Xbox Live.^[9][10] Unlike in Halo 3 cooperative campaign where each player takes the role of a different character, in Halo 4 all players assume the role of Master Chief.^[10] Players can enable skulls in the campaign menu which act as gameplay modifiers such as increasing enemy health, changing NPC behavior or removing elements of the player's HUD.^[11] The campaign also features terminals which provide the player with additional backstory via videos viewed in the Halo Waypoint application on the Xbox 360.^[12]

In Halo 4‍ '​s multiplayer component, titled "Infinity", players assume the role of a customizable Spartan-IV super-soldier. Players can progress through ranks by earning experience points from completing matches and challenges. Gameplay items such as visual customizations, weapons, armor abilities, and various upgrades are unlocked and can be acquired by players when they gain ranks. Once players attain rank SR-50, they can enlist into a "Specialization", enabling them to unlock further cosmetic and gameplay-enhancing customizations for their Spartan.^[13] War Games is a competitive multiplayer matchmaking mode.^[13] There are various playlists with different game types ranging from standard deathmatch to objective oriented modes such as capture the flag.^[14] War Games can be played with up to sixteen players on Xbox Live and has up to four-player split screen support.^[9] In Halo 4, players are able to join certain multiplayer matchmaking sessions while they are in progress.^[7] Spartan Ops is a story-driven episodic game mode, that can be played solo or cooperatively like the campaign mode.^[9][15] It serves as a replacement for the Firefight game mode that featured in Halo: Reach and Halo 3: ODST.^[15] Ten episodes of content were released for Spartan Ops, each featured a cinematic and five objective-based missions.^[16] The first five episodes were delivered on a weekly basis following Halo 4‍ '​s launch, the final five episodes were released in early 2013.^[17]

Other game features include Forge, a map-editing tool first introduced in Halo 3. Like War Games it has both split screen and Xbox Live support. Using the tool, players can edit default multiplayer maps by adding or modifying spawn points, weapons and items, or create new ones using canvases. Forge in Halo 4 contains a new "magnet" feature for connecting forge pieces together.^[18] Theater mode allows players to view films, create video clips, and capture screen shots from recent matches in War Games or custom games.^[19] Halo 4 also offers a file sharing system that allows players to upload and share video clips, screenshots, custom maps and game variants.^[20]

Synopsis[edit]

Setting and characters[edit]

Halo 4 takes place in a futuristic science fiction setting in the year 2557, four years after the events of Halo 3.^[21]Backstory details that hundreds of thousands of years before the modern era, humans were one of several interstellar civilizations. Following a war with the parasitic Flood, the humans came into conflict with the Forerunners, a powerful race that upheld a policy of benevolent shepherding of other races known as the Mantle of Responsibility. After centuries of war the Forerunners defeated the humans and stripped them of their technology and empire. The Forerunners soon fought the Flood themselves; after exhausting every other strategic option available to them, the Forerunners activated weapons of mass destruction known as the Halo Array. The Array's firing killed all sentient life in the galaxy to deprive the Flood of their food. Life that the Forerunners catalogued was then reseeded throughout the galaxy.^[22][23]

In the 26th century, space-faring humanity (organized under the United Nations Space Command, or UNSC) comes under attack from the Covenant, an alien collective of species that worships the Forerunners as gods. The Covenant believe that activating the Halos will bring about salvation, not destruction.^[24] The human supersoldier Master Chief John-117, along with his artificial intelligence companion Cortana, are instrumental in stopping the Halos from being activated, and the Flood from once again menacing the galaxy. At the end of Halo 3, Chief and Cortana are left stranded in unknown space aboard the remains of the vessel Forward Unto Dawn.^[25] Much of Halo 4‍ '​s campaign and Spartan Ops' missions take place on or near the Forerunner planet Requiem. Part of the game also takes place on Ivanoff Research Station—a human base in orbit around the Halo ringworld Installation 03—and in Earth's orbit.

Campaign[edit]

Four years after the events of Halo 3, UNSC Forward Unto Dawn drifts towards Requiem from the destroyed ring.^[26] Cortana wakes Master Chief from cryonic sleep shortly before rogue post-war Covenant forces board the vessel.^[27][28] The remnants of Forward Unto Dawn are caught in Requiem's gravity well and pass through an opening to crash-land on its interior. As Chief and Cortana explore Requiem, fighting hostile Covenant and Prometheans, Cortana malfunctions. She reveals that she is experiencing "rampancy", a declining mental state where AIs past their operating expectancies "think" themselves to death. Chief promises to get Cortana to Earth, believing that Cortana's creator, Doctor Catherine Halsey, can fix Cortana's condition.^[29] Chief and Cortana pick up garbled transmissions from a human ship, UNSC Infinity, who have picked up Dawn‍ '​s distress call.^[30] Cortana attempts to warn Infinity away from Requiem's gravity well and directs the Chief to deactivate what she believes are communications jammers.^[31] Instead, the Chief unwittingly releases the Didact, an ancient Forerunner warrior, from imprisonment.^[32] The Didact takes control of the Prometheans and Covenant and attacks Infinity after it is dragged into Requiem.^[33][34]

Chief makes contact with Infinity and helps repel the Didact's attack. Chief and Cortana recommend attacking the Didact while he is vulnerable, but Infinity captain Del Rio orders them to destroy the gravity well so their ship can escape.^[35] In the process, Chief is contacted by a Forerunner known as the Librarian—the wife of the Didact, as well as ancient humanity's protector.^[36][37] She explains that the Forerunners were divided on how best to combat the Flood. After failing to discover a way to immunize biological beings from the parasite, the Didact used a device called the Composer to convert the warriors under his command into digital versions immune to infection. Requiring more soldiers, the Didact forcibly converted captured humans into Prometheans, before being stopped and imprisoned by the Librarian.^[38] The Librarian, who has guided humanity's development, accelerates the Chief's evolution; this grants him immunity to the Composer.^[39]

After destroying the gravity well,^[40] Del Rio orders a retreat back to Earth, doubting the Chief and Cortana's testimony.^[41] The Master Chief disobeys orders to stand down and relinquish the malfunctioning Cortana, and stays behind to oppose the Didact.^[42] Infinity executive officer Commander Lasky gives Chief an armed transport and wishes him luck.^[43] Chief and Cortana attempt to sabotage the Didact's ship before he leaves, but when they are unsuccessful they follow the Didact to a Halo ring, Installation 03.^[44][45] The Composer has been moved from the ring onto the nearby Ivanoff Research Station, which the Covenant attack.^[46] The Chief defends Ivanoff, but the Didact retrieves the Composer and uses it on the station, composing every individual except the Chief.^[47]

Chief and Cortana use a fighter to follow the Didact's ship through slipspace towards Earth.^[48] Aided by Infinity, now commanded by Lasky, and the UNSC home fleet, the Chief boards the Didact's ship with a nuclear warhead.^[49]Cortana inserts copies of herself into the Didact's computer systems to overwhelm the Didact's shield, but not before the Didact directs the Composer at Earth.^[50] With the help of Cortana, the Chief defeats the Didact, who falls into a slipspace corridor generated underneath the Composer.^[51] The Master Chief activates the bomb but is saved by Cortana, who sacrifices herself. The Chief is found by a UNSC rescue team and is taken back to Infinity, where he, mourning the loss of Cortana, talks with Lasky about Earth, humanity, and what his duty as a soldier means.^[52]

In a post-credits cutscene, UNSC forces descend on the city of New Phoenix, the location the Didact used the Composer on, to find its inhabitants composed. In a narration, the Didact proclaims the Forerunner's role as custodians of the galaxy having to bear the Mantle of Responsibility, and humanity as the greatest threat in the galaxy.^[53] Master Chief removes his armor aboard Infinity; if the player completes the game on Legendary difficulty, the Chief's eyes are briefly shown.^[54]

Spartan Ops[edit]

The events of Spartan Ops take place six months after Halo 4‍ '​s campaign.^[55] Infinity returns to Requiem, where Covenant insurgents—led by Jul 'Mdama, who styles himself as "the Didact's Hand"—and Prometheans are still active.^[55][56] Sarah Palmer, commander of the Spartan-IVs, deploys Spartan squads to clear out the Covenant and Promethean forces in Requiem's interior in order to set up research bases.^[57] Crimson Squad recovers a mysterious artifact excavated by Covenant;^[58] Infinity scientist Doctor Glassman disappears after studying the device.^[59]

Catherine Halsey is brought to Infinity due to her knowledge of Forerunner technology.^[60] She is kept under guard by marines and Spartans including Gabriel Thorne, who lost his family during the Didact's attack on New Phoenix.^[61] While studying the artifact, Halsey begins receiving messages on her computer from an anonymous sender.^[62] The source of the transmissions is 'Mdama, who captures Glassman and forces him to work on a Forerunner device that supposedly contains the Librarian.^[63][64] Pursuing 'Mdama's troops, Crimson Squad recovers another artifact. When Halsey examines the device, it displays images Thorne recognizes as depicting New Phoenix. Lasky reveals to Halsey and the Spartans that the UNSC knows Prometheans are former humans.^[65] Approaching the artifact looking for answers, Thorne is teleported to Requiem and captured by Covenant.^[66] Palmer arrests Halsey for communicating with 'Mdama.^[67] Thorne escapes captivity outside 'Mdama's base, and escapes with Glassman; they are rescued by Majestic Squad.^[68]

Halsey uses an override code to force Infinity‍ '​s AI, Roland, to assist her.^[69] Seeking information withheld from her concerning the Librarian, Halsey learns that Master Chief is alive.^[70] Halsey contacts M'dama to try and strike a deal, as they both want to find the Librarian;^[71] Roland breaks free of Halsey's control and summons guards to apprehend Halsey. Lasky decides to place Halsey in cryogenic sleep to prevent further trouble,^[72] but Promethean forces invade Infinity, capture Halsey and teleport her to 'Mdama's base.^[73] Serin Osman, head of the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), orders Lasky to kill Halsey, but he is reluctant to do so.^[74] Palmer sets off to Requiem to kill Halsey; Lasky tells Majestic Squad to intervene and rescue Halsey from 'Mdama.^[75]

Halsey steps into the Forerunner device and makes contact with the Librarian. The Librarian gives Halsey the two pieces of the "Janus Key", an instrument that provides the location for all Forerunner technology in the galaxy, and instructs Halsey to use the key to advance humankind.^[76] Upon receiving the key, Halsey exits the device and 'Mdama takes half of the key from her. Halsey passes the second piece to Thorne as Majestic Squad and Palmer arrive. Palmer wounds Halsey in the arm just before a Promethean teleports 'Mdama and Halsey from the base.^[77]'Mdama sets Requiem to collide with the nearby sun and his forces evacuate the planet.^[78] Crimson and Majestic disable devices that anchor Infinity to Requiem, allowing the ship to escape before the installation is destroyed.^[79]Meanwhile, Halsey, who lost her wounded arm, tells 'Mdama she has been betrayed by the UNSC and offers to ally herself to exact revenge.^[80]

Development[edit]

In October 2007, shortly after the release of Halo 3, Halo developer Bungie split off from parent company Microsoft. Microsoft retained the intellectual property and rights to Halo, and Bungie continued developing Halogames until 2010. During this period of time Microsoft formed an internal division, 343 Industries, to manage the franchise and develop future games.^[81][82]

In 2008, while 343 Industries was still in formation, Microsoft approached Starlight Runner Entertainment to help assemble the "Halo bible". Starlight Runner is a New York-based company that specializes in creating and producing transmedia franchises. Their job was to examine all content of the Halo universe, clean it up, and make it coherent and understandable for the people involved with the creation of Halo games and media. Frank O'Connor, a content manager at Bungie, assisted the team with the creation of the "Halo bible" before moving to 343 Industries to become Halo franchise development director.^[83][84][85] Unlike the original trilogy, the story for Halo 4was designed to be part of a multi-game arc from the beginning.^[86] In addition, 343 Industries aimed for "a more complete connectivity between all of their future media than before"; relating Halo 4‍ '​s story to the Forerunner Sagaand Kilo-Five Trilogy novels as well as using terminals in Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary to introduce background knowledge on the Forerunners.^[83][86]

343 started with a staff of roughly a dozen people, but grew to nearly 200 through development.^[87] Halo 4‍ '​s development team included former employees of more than 25 triple-A studios. Prospective employees could not be told they were going to be working on Halo 4. "We had people who we hired who hated Halo because of 'X,'" said Frank O'Connor, 343 Industries' franchise development director. "But what that really meant was, 'I feel like this game could be awesome because of 'Y input' that I'm going to bring into it. I want to prove it, and I'm passionate about proving it.' So we ended up with a bunch of people who were genuinely passionate about the product. That is a huge advantage, and that helped in hiring and forming our team."^[88] This rapid hiring and growth occurred during development of the game, creating issues; because the team was committed to a delivery date, Halo 4executive producer Kiki Wolfkill said that the team was forced to make "necessary mistakes", with production difficulties and a team inexperienced with working together contributing to development difficulties.^[87] Nine months before ship, the developers restructured the game's production pipeline and gave individual teams more control due to bottlenecks in development. With so many developers from different backgrounds, forging a common goal and company culture was different. Creative director Josh Holmes recalled that an "epiphany moment" that proved the team was headed in the right direction was early in development, when the team completed a section of the game that was "very traditional [Halo]". Despite positive feedback from testers, 343 Industries discarded the prototype as too traditional, but felt that it showed the team could work together.^[88]

Including contractors, 350 people worked on the game.^[87] 343 Industries contracted Certain Affinity, an independent video game development studio, to help with the development of Halo 4; they started work on the game in early 2011.^[89] Certain Affinity has worked alongside Bungie and 343 Industries on producing multiplayer content for previous Halo titles.^[18] The studio developed the Forge mode, co-developed War Games and created a number of maps and multiplayer modes for Halo 4.^[89]

Halo 4 and Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary were both officially announced on June 6, 2011, at the E3 2011.^[90]Halo 4 is the first installment in the Reclaimer Saga of Halo games.^[91] The studio's creative team, which included nearly 200 people led by creative director Josh Holmes, started developing the game as early as 2009.^[83][86] Prior to the release of the game, Microsoft Studios Vice President Phil Spencer stated that the Halo franchise is the "most important entertainment product in the company" and that Halo 4 was the most expensive game that Microsoft had made.^[81] A demonstration of the game's campaign was first shown at E3 2012. The developers described it as a pivotal moment in development, as it was the first time the game had been shown publicly. The positive reaction was a morale boost for the team, who were unsure how the public would react.^[88] On July 7, 2012, a pre-release build of Halo 4‍ '​s Forge mode was showcased by 343 Industries and Certain Affinity at RTX which took place at theAustin Convention Center.^[18][89][92] On September 26, 2012, O'Connor announced that the game's development was complete.^[93]

Design[edit]

Following Halo 4‍ '​s announcement, O'Connor reported that both Master Chief and Cortana would undergo "radical" changes in appearance for the game, some of them attributed to better graphics and others to story elements.^[94]The studio wanted Master Chief's appearance to convey an imposing mass and weight, to show that one of his characteristics is his 800-pound (360 kg) armor.^[95][96] They studied the armor changes that were made for the Spartans in Halo: Reach, which were much bulkier than renditions in previous Halo games.^[96] Character and concept artists began redesigning the Master Chief by creating sketches; these sketches would be rendered into 3D models so the team could analyse the design from every possible angle. The team would then return to creating sketches to make adjustments, and repeat the process until the main structure for the Master Chief was created. The team then worked on the finer details of his appearance.^[95][97][98]

During the concepting process of Halo 4, O'Connor decided it would be best for the franchise to explore the Forerunner fiction of the Halo universe, which had remained largely a mystery before 343 Industries' involvement in the franchise.^[83] This ultimately led to the creation of a new race of enemy, the Prometheans, warriors of the Forerunner empire.^[99] Given that the Forerunners themselves had never been featured in previous Halo games, the design process for the appearance of the Prometheans was long and tedious. The art team produced a large number of sketches, which were presented to other member's of the studio to get feedback and reactions. Many variations of different character models were concepted before the team decided on a final design.^[95][98][99] The main goal when designing their appearance was to make them resonate with the player, and evoke the image of the Forerunner architecture and language that had been portrayed in previous Halo media. Upon death, the Promethean Knight dissolves from the point where it was last shot; this visual effect also occurs when certain enemies are killed by Promethean weapons. From a gameplay standpoint the design for the Prometheans also needed to fit in well with the sandbox so they would be suitable enemies to fight. A goal when designing their behaviour was to make them highly adaptive from a tactical standpoint. For example, the Promethean Knight can phase in and out of space, allowing it to retreat or charge the player at any given moment; this changes the way that a player engages in a combat encounter.^[99]

Holmes explained that one of the goals for Halo 4‍ '​s campaign was to incorporate more human elements into the story. To accomplish this the team wrote a B story that explored Master Chief's relationship with his AI partner, Cortana, who would break down into a dementia like state.^[100] The development team realized that Halo 4‍ '​s narrative could be dense and hard to approach, making it inaccessible for new players.^[87] They found that implementing such a storyline into an action game to be extremely challenging and considered dropping it during development. Holmes was adamant about including it; he took inspiration from his mother's battle with dementia, which she was diagnosed with near the start of the game's development. This led Holmes to want to capture the emotion and tell "a perfect story".^[100]

A piece of concept art showing the gravity-defying architecture and scenery of the Forerunner planet, Requiem

The senior art director for Halo 4 is Kenneth Scott; he described the visual style of Halo 4 as being more ingrained in the expanded universe fiction, and more "mature" than before.^[86][101] With the game's increased focus on the Forerunners, the artists invested heavily into the look and feel of Forerunner technology. The game also features more diversity in Forerunner structures, including fully active Forerunner technology as opposed to the mostly inert and abandoned structures seen in the earlier games.^{[86][102][103]}The majority of the game is lit statically using lightmaps; this allowed the art team to achieve realistic lighting effects with full global illumination andambient occlusion. Image-based lighting is also used to ground scenes and make everything fit together better.^[101]

The cooperative Spartan Ops mode originally began as a Firefight-type mode, similar to that featured in Halo: Reach, but was composed of different objective-oriented mission types. Over the course of development, changes were made to Spartan Ops to include a narrative that would tie Halo 4‍ '​s multiplayer together. The missions were designed primarily for four player co-op. The Spartan Ops development team worked with the narrative team to use ideas and storylines to shape the mode such that the cinematics would tie in with the missions.^[104]

Glasgow based animation studio, Axis Animation, assisted 343 Industries on the creation of CGI cinematics for the Spartan Ops game mode. Axis have produced animations for numerous video games, including the award-winning announcement trailer for Dead Island. To make each Spartan Ops episode as engaging as possible the team at Axis shot and edited episodes in live action using performance capture. The team then used the reference cameras at the live action shoot to create a performance edit, before shooting with CG cameras to provide more coverage of all scenes and a greater selection of shots for the editorial team. The shading team at Axis made use of the 3D animation package, Houdini, to procedurally generate the environment in the cinematics. Axis worked with Glasgow based audio post production company Savalas on sound design and the final mix for the Spartan Ops cinematics.^[105] Facial motion capture was also utilized to take the movements and facial expressions from actors and apply them to the in-game cinematics for both Spartan Ops and campaign. Performance capture for both campaign and Spartan Ops cutscenes was directed and recorded at Giant Studios.^[97][105] Axis worked in conjunction with Giant Studios and Cubic Motion to develop a special facial motion capture solution that would retain facial expressions from the actors when creating the animation.^[105]

Visual effects house The Sequence Group, who had previously developed animation for Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary‍ '​s terminals,^[106] returned to create additional animation for Halo 4. The Terminals feature a painterly artistic style, which Sequence president Ian Kirby felt appealed to gamers familiar with the style of concept art. In addition to creating the visuals for the Halo 4 terminals, their work appeared in one of the game's main cinematics. To save time and expense using traditional motion capture methods to animate the 3D characters, The Sequence Group used twin Microsoft Kinect infrared sensors to create a home-made solution.^[107]

The game utilizes much of the "sandbox" that has been featured across all six prior Halo games and other media, in addition to introducing new characters, weapons, vehicles, and other elements.^[86] The game engine used is a heavily modified version of the engine established by Bungie. Unlike previous games in the Halo series, Halo 4 runs natively in 720p resolution.^[108] The game itself comes on two discs and requires 4GB of available storage space either on a 8GB USB flash drive or Xbox 360 hard drive to play the multiplayer component.^[108][109] Disc two is used to install the multiplayer content and disc one is used for launching the game.^[9] Due to rendering issues and significant engine changes, Theater support for Halo 4‍ '​s campaign and Spartan Ops was not featured in the game on launch; however 343 Industries expressed that this feature may be implemented in the future.^[9][110]

As with previous Halo titles, 343 Industries provides a statistic tracking service for players of Halo 4.^[111] Player data such as game history, character progression, and various statistics can be accessed in game or via the Halo Waypoint website.^[111] The web services team at 343 Industries utilized the Windows Azure Service Bus messaging infrastructure to relay data from the Xbox Live network to back-end databases, where player data and information is stored.^[111] Halo 4 player data can also be accessed via the Xbox SmartGlass application.^[112]

Audio[edit]

On April 11, 2012, it was announced that British record producer and composer Neil Davidge would be writing the music for Halo 4.^[113] Davidge is best known for his work as a co-writer and producer for the band Massive Attack, and has also composed the scores for numerous films.^[114] Davidge intended to add "a touch of romance" to the score as well as adding more electronic sounds while keeping Halo‍ '​s style.^[114]

Sotaro Tojima, best known for his work on Konami's Castlevania: Circle of the Moon and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, serves as Halo 4‍ '​s audio director.^[86] The team performed many live audio recording sessions, several of which occurred in Tasmania, Australia. Some of these recording sessions took place in generally inhospitable environments, such as underwater, in fire, and in ice, through the use of specially designed microphones;^[86] other recording sessions have utilized "home made" explosives.^[115] Tojima intended for the game's audio to be clearly grounded in the Halo universe, while also having a more realistic quality than in past titles.^[86]

Kazuma Jinnouchi, also formerly from Konami, contributed several additional tracks for the game. He would later go on to be the sole composer of the game's sequel, Halo 5: Guardians.

Cast[edit]

Voice actors returning to reprise their roles in Halo 4 include Steve Downes as Master Chief, and Jen Taylor as both Cortana and Halsey.^[97][116] Voices for new characters include Mark Rolston as Captain Andrew Del Rio, Darren O'Hare as Thomas Lasky, Jennifer Hale as Sarah Palmer, Adrienne Barbeau as Dr. Tillson, Keith Szarabajka as the Didact, Travis Willingham as Jul 'Mdama, and Lori Tritel as the Librarian.^[116][117] Additional voices provided includeConan O'Brien, Andy Richter, and Jason Bradbury.^{[116][118][119]} Employees of Rooster Teeth Productions' have cameo roles in Spartan Ops, as characters from the Halo machinima Red vs. Blue.^[120] Bruce Thomas was the performance capture actor playing the role of Master Chief and actress Mackenzie Mason played the performance role of Cortana.^[97][116] Taylor served as the motion capture source for Halsey.^[121]

Marketing[edit]

On January 19, 2012, McFarlane Toys announced that they would be creating action figures for Halo 4, bringing new characters, weapons and vehicles from the video game to the fans.^[122] McFarlane Toys CEO and founder, Todd McFarlane said that he was "really excited to be working with the all-star team of 343 Industries".^[122] McFarlane also stated that they would continue and expand their previous figure line which would be rebranded as Halo Universe.^[122] On February 14, 2012, toy company Mega Brands revealed a new product series in their Mega BloksHalo Universe collector's line.^[123] Both McFarlane Toys and Mega Brands revealed their figures at the 2012American International Toy Fair.^[123][124] Jada Toys launched a new line of Halo 4 die-cast toys in August 2012;^[125]Sideshow Collectibles also revealed a Halo 4 Premium Cortana Figure.^[126] Toy manufacturer Funko released Master Chief, Cortana and Spartan-IV figures for their Pop! Vinyl toyline on November 8, 2012.^[127] On June 11, 2012, video game console peripherals manufacturer, Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. announced that they had signed a deal with Microsoft Studios to create a Halo 4-branded gaming headset; the product shipped on October 30, 2012.^[128][129]

343 Industries and Microsoft also created a Halo 4 art book, titled Awakening: The Art of Halo 4; it was published by Titan Books and released on November 6, 2012.^[130][131] The book contains a collection of concept art and sketches accompanied by commentary from the artists at 343 Industries.^[130][131] A limited edition version of the book was also released with only a thousand copies available worldwide.^[131] Another book, Halo 4: The Essential Visual Guide was created by 343 Industries in collaboration with DK Publishing and was released September 24, 2013.^[132] It contains annotated artwork and profiles on characters, items, and locations within the Halouniverse.^[132]

Microsoft once again partnered up with PepsiCo, having done so previously while promoting Halo 3.^[13][133] In the United States players were able to earn double experience in Halo 4 by purchasing Mountain Dew and Doritos and then redeem product codes found on the packaging using an iOS and Android app game called Halo 4: King of the Hill Fueled by Mountain Dew.^{[13][133][134]} Players were able to redeem product codes from October 15, 2012, on websites that PepsiCo set up for the promotion.^[13][133] In the United Kingdom, a promotion ran from September 24, 2012, until December 4, 2012, where purchasers of Mountain Dew were able to redeem codes to have a chance of winning copies of Halo 4, Xbox 360 avatar items and a trip to Seattle to attend a tour around the studio of 343 Industries.^[135] Microsoft also partnered with Pizza Hut branches in the United Kingdom; people who entered the contest via an official website had a chance of winning Halo 4-themed prizes.^[136] The contest was open from October 22, 2012, until December 30, 2012; entering participants also received a free code for a Halo 4 Xbox 360 avatar outfit.^[136] Microsoft partnered with American Express to offer a promotion for eligible card holders in the United States and United Kingdom.^[137] Card holders who sync their American Express card with their Xbox Live account receive coupons and credits and are also rewarded with additional credits and coupons for obtainingachievements in Halo 4.^[137] Microsoft also offered Halo 4 armor, for Xbox Live avatars, to people who watched at least thirty minutes of footage from the 2012 United States presidential debates on their Xbox 360.^[138]

On October 31, 2012, Microsoft and government-owned organization Liechtenstein Marketing transformed the countryside of Liechtenstein for a special live action event for fans and members of the press.^{[139][140][141][142]} The Gutenberg Castle was transformed into a military fortification where guests tried out Halo 4 for the first time.^{[139][140][141][142]} A nearby countryside had a United Nations Space Command military camp installed and Balzers Quarry was transformed into a battleground where fifteen actors played out a two-hour-long adventure.^{[139][140][141][142]}

Promotional videos[edit]

Halo 4 was announced with a trailer at E3 2011, titled "Awakening".^[143] It was directed by Joseph Kosinski and visual effects were created by animation company Digital Domain.^[143][144] Kosinski and Digital Domain had collaborated previously on the Halo 3 "Starry Night" commercial.^[145] The trailer is set on the UNSC frigate Forward Unto Dawn during the opening events of Halo 4. It depicts the Master Chief being awakened from cryonic sleep by Cortana, as the remnants of the frigate drift towards Requiem.^[143] The trailer was short-listed in the Visual Effects and Design categories at the 2012 AICP Show and NEXT Awards.^[146]

On April 30, 2012, it was announced that a web series, titled Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, would play on Machinima Prime and Halo Waypoint during the weeks leading up to the release for Halo 4.^[147] The series debuted on October 5, 2012, and contained five 15-minute live action shorts.^{[147][148][149]} It was directed by Stewart Hendlerand the project was Microsoft's largest investment in a live action promotion.^[147][148] The series is set in 2526, 31 years before the events of Halo 4 at the beginning of the Human/Covenant war.^[10][92] The plot is centered around the character Thomas Lasky, who appears in the video game, he is primarily portrayed by Australian actor Tom Green in the live action series.^[149] The series also ties in with the plot of the Halo 4 campaign and Spartan Ops mode.^[10] The Master Chief is featured in the latter part of the series, and is played by actor Daniel Cudmore.^[149]

A full-size model of the Halo 4Warthog at the Microsoft booth of E3 2012

At E3 2012, the presentation of Halo 4 was preceded with a live action segment called "The Commissioning".^[150] The video was directed by Nicolai Fuglsig and filmed over two and a half days, with four weeks of post-production and visual effects were added by Method Studios.^[150] Music in the trailer was scored by Neil Davidge.^[117] The video shows the UNSCInfinity vessel being pulled within the confines of the planet Requiem. Mark Rolston portrays Captain Andrew Del Rio in the live action video.^[117]

On October 18, 2012, the Halo 4 launch trailer, titled "Scanned", premiered on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. The trailer was produced by David Fincherand directed by Tim Miller. The trailer was filmed in Prague and features both CGI and live action sequences.^[151] It shows Master Chief, bound by aforce shield, being approached by an enemy. The enemy moves toward John, scanning his mind to find the source of his strength and search for weaknesses. A live action sequence proceeds with flashbacks of John's past; showing him being kidnapped as a child, the Spartan-II augmentation procedure, and him being suited into his MJOLNIR armor. The trailer then shows John attacking Promethean Knights, before returning to the scene of him bound and being faced by his enemy, the Didact.^[152] On October 23, 2012, the Halo 4 launch gameplay trailer was revealed; it featured segments of gameplay footage from the campaign and multiplayer.^[153]

In October 2012, visual effects company Framestore assisted advertising agency McCann London in producing live TV adverts for Halo 4. The adverts aired on November 9, 2012; they featured live data on how many people were playing Halo 4 online, correct to within five minutes of the broadcast.^[154]

Release[edit]

Halo 4 was released worldwide in all territories except Japan on November 6, 2012;^[155] the Japanese version was released on November 8.^[10] Microsoft initially released the game in two separate retail versions, branded as "Standard" and "Limited" editions. The Limited Edition includes digital items for Xbox 360 avatars and in-game Spartan-IVs, as well as access to future downloadable content in the form of three competitive multiplayer map packs, containing a total of nine maps. It also includes a 90-minute extended version of the live action digital series,Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn and a UNSC Infinity Briefing Packet.^[156] At launch, two Specializations were available to all players; only owners of the Halo 4 Limited Edition had access to all eight Specializations.^[156][157] However, 343 Industries later granted access to players, in certain countries, who participated in an online multiplayer match during the opening fortnight. For the remaining players, the Specializations were gradually unlocked in the months following launch.^[157]

Microsoft produced a Xbox 360 Limited Edition Halo 4 console bundle that launched alongside the game. The bundle features two custom designed controllers, a standard edition of Halo 4, a wired headset, exclusive downloadable content and a Halo 4-themed Xbox 360 containing a 320GB hard drive. It was also announced that Microsoft would be releasing a standalone Xbox 360 Halo 4 Limited Edition wireless controller featuring a different design to the one included in the console bundle.^[158][159]

Microsoft reported that their security teams and law enforcement were investigating the possibility of Halo 4content being leaked on the internet in October 2012.^[160] Jessica Shea, Community Manager at 343 Industries, warned fans to be wary of Halo 4 spoilers that were posted on the internet.^[161] O'Connor stated at New York Comic Con that leaks of the game and footage would not have any impact on how the game is released or marketed and that piracy of high-profile games is inevitable.^[162]

Over ten thousand stores across forty countries opened for the midnight launch of Halo 4.^[163] On the evening before the release of the game, a fifty-foot diameter illuminated Didact glyph was flown by a helicopter over theRiver Thames in London, from the Greenwich Peninsula to Tower Bridge.^[164][165] The glyph was created by a team of over fifty designers, engineers and fabricators and took approximately eight weeks to design and construct.^[165]Following the release of the game, New Zealand censors declared many copies of Halo 4 illegal, after deciding to label it with an R13 rating, restricting it to buyers aged 13 and over. Many copies of the game had already gone on sale with an unrestricted M certificate, but these copies are in breach of the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993.^[166]

On February 5, 2013, a digital version of the game was released via the Xbox Live Games on Demand service.^[167] A game of the year edition of Halo 4, featuring the season pass and Champion's Bundle DLC, pre-order bonuses, special avatar prop and the entire first season of Spartan Ops, was released on October 8.^[168]

Sales[edit]

Halo 4 grossed US$220 million on its launch day and $300 million in its opening week. The gross was a new record for the franchise,^[169] surpassing Halo: Reach‍ '​s $200 million first-day gross.^[170] More than one million people played Halo 4 on Xbox Live within the first 24 hours of release.^[171] While Halo 4 debuted at the top of the UK Video Games Chart and became the eighteenth biggest launch ever in the UK, it failed to beat the week one sales records of Halo 3 and Halo: Reach.^[172] U.S. retail tracking firm NPD reported that Halo 4 was the second most sold retail video game of November 2012, the third most sold retail video game of December 2012, and the third most sold retail video game of the year.^[173][174] In the United States Halo 4 became the best-selling Microsoft Studios title for sales counted during respective launch years.^[175] In 2012, Halo 4 was the third most played game on Xbox Live based on average unique users per day.^[176]

Post-release[edit]

Halo 4 supports downloadable content (DLC), which is available to download via the Xbox Live Marketplace. Three War Games map packs, each containing three maps, can be purchased individually, or bought together with theHalo 4 War Games Pass. The pass is included in the Limited Edition version of the game and is available to purchase on the Xbox Live Marketplace.^[177] The first map package, the "Crimson Map Pack", was released on December 10, 2012.^[178] Players who were awarded early access to Specializations received complimentary access to the Crimson Map Pack for a limited time.^[20] The "Majestic Map Pack" was released on February 25, 2013,^[179]followed by the "Castle Map Pack" on April 8.^[180] Forge Island, a map designed for Forge mode creations was made available at no cost to Xbox Live users on March 29.^[181] Microsoft released additional DLC on August 20 that could be purchased together as the Champions Bundle or separately. The three DLC packs include: the "Bullseye Pack" containing two multiplayer maps and early access to the Ricochet gametype; the "Steel Skin Pack", which offers steampunk-themed skins for weapons; and the "Infinity Armor Pack", which includes new armor for customizing the player's Spartan.^[182]

Aside from map packs, the game is supported by regular matchmaking playlist updates.^[183] These updates make playlist and balance changes, sandbox tweaks and fix minor glitches. A title update to fix various game issues and glitches was released in December 2012.^[184] Spartan Ops went on a mid-season break that December and resumed on January 21, 2013; the back half of the season was made available as a free download from the Xbox Live Marketplace.^{[17][185][186]} On January 29, an in-game search feature was implemented for Halo 4‍ '​s file sharing system;^[17] a web version of the Halo 4 file browser was made available on February 27, 2013.^[187] On April 8, 343 Industries launched a competitive skill ranking system akin to that featured in Halo 2 and Halo 3.^[188][189]

During Spartan Ops' mid-season break, a free-to-enter Halo 4 tournament, titled Halo 4 Infinity Challenge, was launched by Microsoft in partnership with Virgin Gaming. Players could register on the Halo 4 Infinity Challenge website to participate in the tournament, giving them the opportunity to win various prizes.^[190][191] On July 3, 2013, 343 Industries announced a second tournament in partnership with Virgin Gaming, titled Halo 4 Global Championship. The tournament spanned a period of five weeks with a grand prize of $200,000. The tournament began on July 5 at RTX 2013, and on July 15 on Xbox Live.^[192] The tournament finals took place on September 1 at the 2013 Penny Arcade Expo; the event was streamed live and was hosted by Larry Hryb, Blair Herter, and Jessica Chobot.^[193]

Halo 4 was re-released as part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection for the Xbox One on November 11, 2014.^[194] A sequel, Halo 5: Guardians, is set to be released for the Xbox One on October 27, 2015.^[195]

Reception[edit]

Critical reception[edit]

Reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 88%[196] Metacritic 87/100[197] Review scores Publication Score 1UP.com A−[7] CVG 8/10[198] Edge 8/10[199] Eurogamer 8/10[200] G4 4.5/5[201] Game Informer 9.25/10[202] GameSpot 9.0/10[204] GamesRadar [205] GameTrailers 9.0/10[203] IGN 9.8/10[19] OXM 9.5/10[206] Polygon 9.5/10[207]

Halo 4 received positive reviews from critics, with aggregate review websites GameRankings and Metacritic assigning scores of 87.61% and 87/100, respectively.^[196][197] Many reviewers were impressed by 343 Industries' debut effort and considered it a worthy addition to the series.^{[7][19][201][204]} Ryan McCaffrey of IGN gave Halo 4 a very positive review, considering it to be the best game of the series to date and the best Xbox 360 game of 2012; he called it "a bar-raising triumph for the entire first-person shooter genre."^[19] Eurogamer gave this game a score of "8/10", saying "Their delicate yet sprawling work may be more continuation than true expansion - and perhaps the true test comes in the next step - but for now, Halo returns with a bang, not a whimper.".^[200] Wesley Yin-Poole of Eurogamer remarked that although he was initially sceptical of changes being made to the formula, 343's greatest achievement was managing to stay true to what Halo is. He was enthusiastic to see what the developer would do with Halo 5 and expected them to deviate further while retaining the series' "magic".^[208]

Halo 4‍ '​s campaign received a varied reception from critics. Reviewers enjoyed Master Chief's return as the protagonist, and the emotional connection between Master Chief and Cortana was highly praised.^{[199][202][204][209]} Mike Mahardy of Game Informer complimented the characterization improvements of Chief and Cortana, calling their evolved love story more "focused" and "relatable" to the player, in comparison to the "cloudy and impersonal" stories from the prior games of the franchise.^[210] GameSpot editor, Chris Watters, described the "thrilling and emotional return of Master Chief and Cortana" as the highlight of game.^[204]GamesRadar maintained that the narrative was enthralling and the campaign's structure was much better than its predecessors.^[205] GameTrailers stated "The decision to alter the multiplayer while essentially leaving the campaign structure alone is a curious one that will resonate with fans more than the casual observer."^[203] IGN's McCaffrey praised the game's lighting, movements, animations, and lauded the campaign for its pacing, "deftly mixing on-foot combat, vehicle sequences, quiet story moments, and key Chief-and-Cortana interactions." Although Neil Davidge's work on the musical composition was noted as a "bold shift", McCaffrey claimed the music seemed "complementary rather than additive."^[19]

1UP.com reviewer Jose Otero was critical of Halo 4‍ '​s story, writing that the ending of the game "doesn't make a lot of sense". He also remarked that while the narrative tied the main plot lines together well, it was disappointing to see some of the smaller story points were ignored entirely.^[7] Both G4 and Official Xbox Magazine agreed that the plot became convoluted on occasions and might be difficult to understand for new players of the franchise.^[201][206]G4 reviewer, Adam Rosenburg, also stated that while the soundtrack had some memorable moments, he was disappointed that composer Neil Davidge had chosen to ditch the familiar theme of previous games.^[201] Michael Gapper of Computer and Video Games drew a comparison between Halo 4 and Halo 2. He stated that the hardware limitations of the Xbox 360 had negatively impacted Halo 4‍ '​s campaign, in the same way that they had throttled Bungie's ambitions for Halo 2 on the original Xbox. He explained that although the game was visually stunning, this had detracted from the scale and spectacle that was present in Halo 3‍ '​s campaign. He found the spaces within the campaign to be narrow and constrained which led to a lack of tactical options in encounters.^{[198][211][212]}

Competitive multiplayer was well received by critics. Chris Watters of GameSpot welcomed the new armor abilities and gameplay tweaks introduced in multiplayer. He praised the continuing robustness of Custom Game options and the accessibility of level editing in Forge.^[204] CVG's Gapper stated that the new scoring system alone made Halo 4multiplayer the best in the series, emphasising that recognition for assists and completing objective tasks was a positive change.^[198] Polygon writer, Arthur Gies, said that the new game mode Dominion was the best addition toHalo multiplayer since the introduction of Xbox Live. He also thought that the multiplayer component was more approachable to people outside of the core player-base without dumbing anything down.^[207]

Reception towards Spartan Ops was less favorable than multiplayer and campaign; some reviewers expressed their disappointment in Spartan Ops replacing the cooperative Firefight mode.^[7][202] Criticisms were aimed at the brevity of missions and lack of replay value.^[19][204] Despite any shortcomings, IGN said the mode was a must-play for the "incredible pre-episode cinematics" which open up "a number of interesting narrative possibilities for future episodes and seasons."^[19] Martin Robinson of Eurogamer complained about the repetition of environments within the first half of the season and noted that missions quickly become a chore. He felt that Spartan Ops was a "weak, bloated alternative" compared to Firefight.^[213] 1UP.com found that while the short length felt odd initially, the mode was still fun to play and offered more opportunities to play Halo cooperatively.^[7]

Accolades[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Halo 4 at Halo Waypoint

Avengers: Age of Ultron
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Joss Whedon
Produced by	Kevin Feige
Written by	Joss Whedon
Based on	The Avengers  by Stan Lee Jack Kirby
Starring	Robert Downey Jr. Chris Hemsworth Mark Ruffalo Chris Evans Scarlett Johansson Jeremy Renner Don Cheadle Aaron Taylor-Johnson Elizabeth Olsen Paul Bettany Cobie Smulders Anthony Mackie Hayley Atwell Idris Elba Stellan Skarsgård James Spader Samuel L. Jackson
Music by	Brian Tyler Danny Elfman
Cinematography	Ben Davis
Edited by	Jeffrey Ford Lisa Lassek
Production company	Marvel Studios
Distributed by	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Release dates	April 13, 2015(Dolby Theatre) May 1, 2015 (United States)
Running time	141 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$279.9 million1
Box office	$1.403 billion[2]

Avengers: Age of Ultron is a 2015 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team the Avengers, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to 2012's The Avengers and the eleventh installment in theMarvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was written and directed by Joss Whedon and features an ensemble cast that includes Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Aaron Taylor-Johnson,Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Cobie Smulders, Anthony Mackie, Hayley Atwell, Idris Elba, Stellan Skarsgård, James Spader, and Samuel L. Jackson. In Avengers: Age of Ultron, the Avengers must work together to defeat Ultron, a mechanical artificial intelligence bent on human extinction.

The sequel was announced in May 2012, after the successful release ofThe Avengers. Whedon, the director of the first film, was brought back on board in August and a release date was set. By April 2013, Whedon had completed a draft of the script, and casting began in June with the re-signing of Downey. Second unit filming began in February 2014 in South Africa with principal photography taking place between March and August 2014. The film was primarily shot at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, England, with additional footage filmed in Italy,South Korea, Bangladesh, New York, and various locations around England. While in post production, the film was converted to 3D and over 3,000 visual effects shots were added.

Avengers: Age of Ultron premiered in Los Angeles on April 13, 2015, and was released on May 1, 2015 in North America, in 3D and IMAX 3D. The film received positive reviews from critics with most enjoying its extravagant albeit unmemorable action sequences and villain.Avengers: Age of Ultron grossed over $1.4 billion worldwide, making it the third-highest-grossing film of 2015 and the sixth-highest-grossing film of all time. Two sequels, Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1 andAvengers: Infinity War – Part 2, are scheduled to be released on May 4, 2018, and May 3, 2019, respectively.

Plot[edit]

In the Eastern European country of Sokovia, the Avengers – Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Thor, Bruce Banner (Hulk),Natasha Romanoff, and Clint Barton – raid a Hydra outpost led by Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, who has been experimenting on humans using the scepter previously wielded by Loki. They encounter two of Strucker's experiments – twins Pietro, who has superhuman speed, and Wanda Maximoff, who can manipulate minds and project energy – and apprehend Strucker, while Stark retrieves Loki's scepter.

Stark and Banner discover an artificial intelligence within the scepter's gem, and secretly use it to complete Stark's "Ultron" global defense program. The unexpectedly sentient Ultron, believing he must eradicate humanity to save Earth, eliminates Stark's A.I., J.A.R.V.I.S., and attacks the Avengers at their headquarters. Escaping with the scepter, Ultron uses the resources in Strucker's Sokovia base to upgrade his rudimentary body and build an army of robot drones. Having killed Strucker, he recruits the Maximoffs, who hold Stark responsible for their parents' deaths by his weapons. Together, they go to the base of arms dealer Ulysses Klaue in an African shipyard to obtain Wakandanvibranium. The Avengers pursue them, but Wanda subdues the Avengers with haunting visions, causing the Hulk to rampage until Stark stops him with his anti-Hulk armor.²

A worldwide backlash over the resulting destruction, and the fears Wanda's hallucinations incited, send the team into hiding at Barton's safehouse. Thor departs to consult with Dr. Erik Selvig on the meaning of the apocalyptic future he saw in his hallucination, while Romanoff and Banner plan to flee together after realizing a mutual attraction. However, Nick Fury arrives and encourages the team to form a plan to stop Ultron. In Seoul, Ultron forces the team's friend Dr. Helen Cho to use her synthetic-tissue technology, together with vibranium and the scepter's gem, to perfect a new body for him. As Ultron uploads himself into the body, Wanda is able to read his mind; discovering his plan for human extinction, the Maximoffs turn on Ultron. Rogers, Romanoff, and Barton find Ultron and retrieve the synthetic body, but Ultron captures Romanoff.

The Avengers fight amongst themselves when Stark secretly uploads J.A.R.V.I.S. – who is still operational after hiding from Ultron inside the Internet – into the synthetic body. Thor returns to help activate the body, explaining that the gem on its brow – one of the six Infinity Stones, the most powerful objects in existence – was part of his vision. This "Vision" and the Maximoffs accompany the Avengers to Sokovia, where Ultron has used the remaining vibranium to build a machine to lift a large part of the capital city skyward, intending to crash it into the ground to cause global extinction. Banner rescues Romanoff, who awakens the Hulk for the battle. The Avengers fight Ultron's army while Fury arrives in a Helicarrier with Maria Hill, James Rhodes and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to evacuate civilians. Pietro dies when he shields Barton from gunfire, and a vengeful Wanda abandons her post to destroy Ultron's primary body, which allows one of his drones to activate the machine. The city plummets, but Stark and Thor overload the machine and shatter the landmass. In the aftermath, the Hulk, unwilling to endanger Romanoff by being with her, departs in a Quinjet, while the Vision confronts Ultron's last remaining body.

Later, with the Avengers having established a new base run by Fury, Hill, Cho, and Selvig, Thor returns to Asgard to learn more about the forces he suspects have manipulated recent events. As Stark and Barton also leave, Rogers and Romanoff prepare to train new Avengers: Rhodes, the Vision, Sam Wilson, and Wanda.

In a mid-credits scene, Thanos, dissatisfied by the failures of his pawns, dons a gauntlet³ and vows to personally retrieve the Infinity Stones.

Cast[edit]

Cast of Avengers: Age of Ultron at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con International.

• Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man:

The benefactor of the Avengers,^[3][4][5] who is a self-described genius, billionaire, playboy, and philanthropist with electromechanical suits of armor of his own invention.^[6] On how his character evolves after the events of Iron Man 3, Downey said, "...I think he realizes that tweaking and making all the suits in the world—which is what he has been doing—still didn't work for that thing of his tour of duty that left him a littlePTSD. So his focus is more on how can we make it so that there's no problem to begin with. That, you know, there's a bouncer at our planet's rope. That's the big idea."^[7]

• Chris Hemsworth as Thor:

An Avenger and the crown prince of Asgard, based on the Norse mythological deity of the same name.^[8]Regarding Thor's place in the film, Hemsworth stated that Thor has remained on Earth since Thor: The Dark World and has begun to feel at home here so he considers the threat from Ultron to be a personal attack.^[9]Hemsworth stated that he had to work harder to bring new elements to the character to avoid repeating himself saying, "It gave us room to kind of make him a little more grounded and human and have him in some civilian clothes and mixing it up at a party."^[10] Hemsworth noted that this is the first MCU film in which he did not work closely with Tom Hiddleston so Thor's motivation in this film is completely different as it was previously driven by his relationship with Loki.^[5]

• Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner / Hulk:

An Avenger and a genius scientist who, because of exposure to gamma radiation, transforms into a monster when enraged or agitated.^[11] Ruffalo worked with motion capture performer Andy Serkis' The Imaginarium Studios in preparation for the role.^[12] Ruffalo stated that the role grew from the previous film and is a bit "more complex."^[13] Ruffalo explained that a confrontation is brewing between Banner and the Hulk saying, "There's a very cool thing happening: Hulk is as afraid of Banner as Banner is afraid of Hulk.. and they have got to come to peace somehow with each other."^[14] While filming in London, Ruffalo said that Whedon still had not given him any of the Hulk's lines.^[15] Whedon later explained that he writes the Hulk's dialogue spontaneously, saying, "What makes the Hulk so hard to write is that you're pretending he's a werewolf when he's a superhero. You want it vice versa... So the question is, how has he progressed? How can we bring changes on what the Hulk does? And that's not just in the screenplay, that's moment to moment."^[16]

• Chris Evans as Steve Rogers / Captain America:

The leader of the Avengers^[3][5] and a World War II veteran, who was enhanced to the peak of human physicality by an experimental serum and frozen in suspended animation before waking up in the modern world.^[17][18] Evans stated that since the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Rogers has been left to depend on his Avenger teammates without the structure of military life and is now "looking to understand where he belongs, not just as a soldier, as Captain America, but as Steve Rogers, as a person."^[10]Evans said that he was able to maintain the strength he built up for Captain America: The Winter Soldier by working out up to an hour a day.^[19] Regarding Captain America's fighting style, Evans felt he did not want to take a step back from the skills shown in The Winter Soldier, making sure Rogers' fight style advanced, showing "a consistent display of strength" and having Rogers utilizing his environment.^[20]

• Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow:

An Avenger who formerly worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. as a highly trained spy.^[21] Producer Kevin Feige stated that more of the character's backstory is explored in the film.^[22] Johansson elaborated, "In Avengers 2 we go back... we definitely learn more about Widow's backstory, and we get to find out how she became the person you see. All of these characters have deep, dark pasts, and I think that the past catches up to some of us a little bit."^[23]On where the film picks up Widow's story, Johansson felt it was a continuation of what was seen for her character in The Winter Soldier, with the fact that "'[Widow] never made an active choice. [She's] a product of other people's imposition.' That's going to catch up with her. That's bound to have a huge effect. There's got to be a result of that realization... You'll see her actively making some choices in her life, for better or worse."^[24] A mixture of close-ups, concealing costumes, stunt doubles and visual effects were used to help hide Johansson's pregnancy during filming.^[25]

• Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton / Hawkeye:

An Avenger and master archer who previously worked as an agent for S.H.I.E.L.D.^[26] Whedon said that Hawkeye interacts more with the other characters in the film, as opposed to the first film where the character had been "possessed pretty early by a bad guy and had to walk around all scowly."^[27] As the character did not appear in any other of Marvel's Phase Two films, Whedon stated Age of Ultron sheds light on to what the character was doing since the end of The Avengers.^[16] Renner described the character as "kind of a loner" and "a team player only 'cause he sort of has to be. He's not really a company man. Captain America can be that guy. In [Age of Ultron] you'll understand why [Hawkeye] thinks the way he thinks."^[20]

• Don Cheadle as James "Rhodey" Rhodes / War Machine: An officer in the U.S. Air Force and Tony Stark's close personal friend who operates the War Machine armor.^[28][29]
• Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Pietro Maximoff / Quicksilver:

The twin brother of the Scarlet Witch, who can move at superhuman speed.^[30] Taylor-Johnson felt Pietro was defined by the fact that he and his sister were abandoned by their family, and they both had to grow up "in Eastern Europe defending and looking out for themselves and each other," that they both look to the other for guidance. Taylor-Johnson also said that Quicksilver was "very overprotective" of Scarlet Witch and has "real anger frustration", which results in him being easily bored because of a short attention span.^[31] Feige stated exploring Quicksilver's relationship with his sister and his backstory growing up in Eastern Europe would help differentiate the character from Evan Peters' version in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014).^[32] Taylor-Johnson stated that the running style for Quicksilver went through multiple iterations, saying, "The running style we tested early on was just very one-dimensional and boring to look at, but if you try to do free running, like parkour, then that's very much Captain America's style... You have to find your own place in the stunt world."^[5]Much of Taylor-Johnson's scenes were filmed outdoors to give "life" to his running, as opposed to running indoors in front of a green screen.^[33]

• Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch:

The twin sister of Quicksilver, who can harness magic and engage in hypnosis and telekinesis.^[30][34] Olsen felt Wanda was "overly stimulated" rather than "mentally insane" because "she has such a vast amount of knowledge that she's unable to learn how to control it. No one taught her how to control it properly... she can connect to this world and parallel worlds at the same time, and parallel times."^[34] Describing her character's mind control powers, Olsen said that the character is able to do more than manipulating someone's mind, with Scarlet Witch able to "feel and see what they feel and see" by projecting visions that they have never seen. Olsen expanded saying, "What I love about her is that, in so many superhero films, emotions are kind of negated a bit, but for her everything that someone else could feel—like their weakest moments—she physically goes through that same experience with them, which is pretty cool."^[35] Olsen drew on her relationship with her older brother and her sisters to prepare for the role,^[34] as well as looking to the comics for inspiration.^[5] Olsen revealed that Whedon was inspired by dancers as a way to visually represent how the character moves. As such, Olsen mostly trained with a dancer in lieu of traditional stunt training.^[36] Olsen is signed for this film and another.^[33]

• Paul Bettany as J.A.R.V.I.S. and Vision:

Bettany, who voiced J.A.R.V.I.S., Stark's A.I. companion in previous films, was cast again as the Vision,^[37][38] anandroid created by Ultron.^[39] Bettany stated that he was surprised when Whedon asked him if he wanted to be the Vision because once an actor has been cast as a particular character in the MCU, they usually are not cast as another.^[40] On what intrigued him about the Vision, Bettany said, "The thing that appealed to me is that this sort of nascent creature being born, being both omnipotent and totally naive, the sort of danger of that and complex nature of a thing being born that is that powerful and that created in a second and the choices he makes morally are really complex and interesting. They've really managed to maintain all of that".^[40] Bettany also stated that the Vision feels paternal and protective to a number of people in the film, particularly Scarlet Witch, and has the ability to change his density. Bettany did wire work for the part.^[40] Whedon stated he wanted to include the Vision in a second Avengers film before he signed onto the first film.^[16] Bettany's make-up, which consisted of a mix of face paint and prosthetics, took two-hours to apply with make-up artists Jeremy Woodhead and Nik Williams citing the correct hue of the Vision's skin as the hardest thing to figure out.^[41]

• Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill:

A former high-ranking S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who now works for Stark.^[42][43][44] Describing Hill's situation in the film, Smulders said that after The Winter Soldier, Hill does not "really know who's a good guy and who's a bad guy and she's trying to figure out that throughout this film." She added, "She's not getting any sleep. She's doing all the work. She doesn't have the kind of manpower that she had in S.H.I.E.L.D.,"^[45] instead working for Tony Stark at the Avenger's headquarters "trying to keep everything running as smoothly as possible... it's an entirely different vibe for her."^[46]

• Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson / Falcon:

A former pararescueman trained by the military in aerial combat using a specially designed wing pack and a friend of Steve Rogers.^[47] Discussing the relationship between Wilson and Rogers, Mackie said that the two characters have a mutual "soldier respect", which is explored in the film and in Captain America: Civil War^[48]Feige said that it was decided to reshoot the final scene of the film to incorporate the new Falcon suit designed for Ant-Man, which released after Age of Ultron, as Falcon was originally shot in his original suit from The Winter Soldier.^[49]

• Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter: A retired officer with the Strategic Scientific Reserve and a co-founder of S.H.I.E.L.D., who is a former love interest of Steve Rogers.^[50]
• Idris Elba as Heimdall: The all-seeing, all-hearing Asgardian sentry of the Bifröst Bridge, based on the mythological deity of the same name.^[51]
• Stellan Skarsgård as Erik Selvig: An astrophysicist and a friend of Thor.^[52]
• James Spader as Ultron:

An artificial intelligence repurposed by Tony Stark and Bruce Banner for a pilot peace program that is overwhelmed with a god complex, and now desires to pacify the Earth by eradicating humanity.^{[39][53][54][55][56][57]} Director Joss Whedon stated that Spader was his "first and only choice" for the role, because of his "hypnotic voice that can be eerily calm and compelling" while also being very human and humorous.^[58] Feige clarified that Spader's face and body were motion captured "to create a whole performance... We did not hire James Spader to do a robot voice."^[59] Extensive scans were taken of Spader's head and body in preparation for the role.^[60] About the character Whedon said, "He's always trying to destroy the Avengers, goddamn it, he's got a bee in his bonnet. He's not a happy guy, which means he's an interesting guy. He's got pain. And the way that manifests is not going to be standard robot stuff."^[61] Whedon added that Ultron is "not a creature of logic—he's a robot who's genuinely disturbed. We're finding out what makes him menacing and at the same time endearing and funny and strange and unexpected, and everything a robot never is."^[62] Whedon compared Ultron to Frankenstein's monster, saying, "It's our new Frankenstein myth [...] We create something in our own image and the thing turns on us. It has that pain of 'Well, why was I made? I want to kill Daddy.'"^[63] Spader called the character "self-absorbed" and added, "I think he sees the Avengers as being part of a problem, a more comprehensive problem in the world. He sees the world from a very strange, [biblical] point of view because he's brand new, he's very young... He's immature, and yet has knowledge of comprehensive, broad history and precedent, and he has created in a very short period of time a rather skewed worldview."^[64]

• Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury:

The former director of S.H.I.E.L.D. who originally recruited the Avengers and continues to be a mentor and leader for the team.^[56][65] Jackson described the role as a cameo, saying, "I'm just kind of passing by there ... Because, it's another one of those 'people who have powers fighting people who have powers'. That's why I didn't get to New York in The Avengers. There's not a lot I could do except shoot a gun."^[66]

Thomas Kretschmann and Henry Goodman reprise their roles as Baron Wolfgang von Strucker and Dr. List,^[67][68]Hydra leaders who specialize in human experimentation, advanced robotics, and artificial intelligence from Captain America: The Winter Soldier.^[56] Linda Cardellini portrays Laura Barton, Hawkeye's wife.^[69][70] Claudia Kim portrays Helen Cho, a world-renowned geneticist who helps the Avengers from her office in Seoul,^[56][71] and Andy Serkisportrays Ulysses Klaue, a black-market arms dealer, smuggler and gangster, who is a former acquaintance from Stark's weapons-dealing days.^[29][56][72] Julie Delpy appears as Madame B., who mentored Black Widow into becoming an assassin.^[73] Kerry Condon voices the artificial intelligence F.R.I.D.A.Y., a replacement for J.A.R.V.I.S.^[74]Josh Brolin makes an uncredited appearance during the mid-credits scene as Thanos.^[75] Avengers co-creator Stan Lee makes a cameo appearance in the film as a military veteran who attends the Avengers' victory party.^[76] Tom Hiddleston was cast as Loki, but his scenes did not make the theatrical cut of the film.^[77]

Production[edit]

Development[edit]

In October 2011, Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios said the studio was beginning to look at their Phase Two films, which would start with Iron Man 3 and would culminate in a second Avengers film.^[79] In March 2012, Joss Whedon, director of the first film, stated that he would want a sequel to be "smaller. More personal. More painful. By being the next thing that should happen to these characters, and not just a rehash of what seemed to work the first time. By having a theme that is completely fresh and organic to itself."^[80] Despite the production of the film becoming increasingly wider in scope, Feige maintained that this was not their intention, always looking to see where the team wanted to take the characters, over how to make it bigger than The Avengers.^[81]

At the premiere of The Avengers, Feige said the studio had an optionfor Whedon to return as director.^[82] In May 2012, after the successful release of the first film, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced a sequel was in development.^[83] Most of the film's cast members were under contract to potentially appear in the sequel; however, Robert Downey Jr. was not, as his four picture deal with Marvel expired after Iron Man 3.^[84]

At the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con International, Whedon said he was undecided about directing^[85] However in August 2012, Iger announced that Whedon would return to write and direct the sequel and develop the Marvel television series, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., for ABC.^[86] Later in the month, Disney set a May 1, 2015 release date.^[87]When asked about his decision to return, Whedon said, "Avengers 2, it wasn't a tough decision. For a long time I thought, 'Well, it's just not going to happen.' Then when I actually started to consider it, it became so clear that I desperately wanted to say more about these characters, it would've been an easy no and it was a spectacularly easy yes. There was no wrestling."^[88] Whedon said that they intended for the film's production to not be as rushed as the first one.^[89]

In December 2012, Whedon stated that he had completed an outline for the film.^[90] In February, at the 2013Jameson Dublin International Film Festival, Whedon said that death would play a theme in the sequel,^[91] and in March, he said that he looked to The Empire Strikes Back and The Godfather Part II as inspirations.^[92]

Feige revealed that Captain Marvel, who is scheduled to appear in her own MCU film in 2018, appeared in an early draft of the screenplay, but was removed since the character had not yet been cast, saying, "It didn't feel like the time. We didn't want to introduce her fully formed flying in a costume before you knew who she was or how she came to be."^[93] Whedon went so far as to shoot visual effects plates for Captain Marvel to fly into Avengers Tower at the end of the film; those shots were reused, however, for Scarlet Witch instead.^[94]

Pre-production[edit]

By April 2013, filming was scheduled to begin in early 2014 at Shepperton Studios in England.^[95] At the Hollywood premiere of Iron Man 3, Whedon said that he had completed a draft of the script, started the storyboard process, and met with actors. Whedon also mentioned that he wrote with Downey in mind and included a "brother/sister act" from the comic books,^[96] later confirming that he was referring to Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch.^[97][98] Whedon explained his rationale for including the characters in the film saying, "their powers are very visually interesting. One of the problems I had on the first one was everybody basically had punchy powers... [Quicksilver]'s got super speed. [Scarlet Witch] can weave spells and a little telekinesis, get inside your head. There's good stuff that they can do that will help sort of keep it fresh,"^[99] though cautioned he was not throwing in more characters for the sake of doing that.^[62] Whedon stated that the twins allowed him to add more conflict: "They don't like America, and they don't like the Avengers... The Avengers are like a world power, and not everybody's on board with the Avengers coming in and starting fights, even in the name of justice. So you need that dissenting voice, and you need to understand it and sympathize with it."^[33] Because Marvel Studios shares the film rights to Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch with 20th Century Fox and had to avoid conflict with Fox's X-Men films, Whedon introduced two important characters into the Marvel Cinematic Universe completely on his terms for the first time, which allowed him to connect their origin stories to the universe that they created and avoid the concept of mutants.^[33] Whedon relished at the storytelling opportunities by introducing a character with telepathic powers, explaining, "it meant we could spend a little time inside the Avengers' heads—either their past or their impressions of what's going on, or their fears, or all of the above."^[33] By May, Downey had entered negotiations to extend his contract with Marvel Studios and reprise his role as Iron Man in the film.^[100] A month later, Downey signed on to return for the then-untitledAvengers sequel, as well as a third Avengers film.^[6]

Whedon promoting the film at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con International.

At the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con International, Whedon announced the film would be subtitled Age of Ultron.^[101] Despite the subtitle, the film is not based on the 2013 comic book miniseries Age of Ultron. Feige explained that they simply just liked the title Age of Ultron but the plot was taken from decades of Avengers story arcs.^[102] Whedon added that Ultron's origin would differ from his comics roots, and that Hank Pym would not be involved with Ultron's creation. Whedon disclosed that Edgar Wright had rights to the character first through his inclusion in Ant-Man, which was already in development. He also thought that Ultron needed to be conceived through the Avengers and since they already had Tony Stark and Bruce Banner on the team, it would not make sense to bring in a third scientist.^[103] Whedon also said the film would have a darker tone due to Ultron's involvement.^[104][105]

The title of the film came as a surprise to many fans who were expecting Thanos, the mastermind behind the events of the first film, to be the main villain in the sequel, with Whedon saying, "Thanos was never meant to be the next villain. He's always been the overlord of villainy and darkness."^[106] Commenting on finding the right balance between technology- and fantasy-based heroes in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Feige said "Iron Man is a very technological hero his movies are always technologically based. The first Thor was all about introducing Asgard and Thor in that more fantastical realm into the more reality-based MCU... As we go into Ultron clearly he does come out of technology, but we're using all of our tools at our disposal that we've established so far as part of the MCU to build the storyline of Age of Ultron."^[107]

Casting continued into August 2013, with the announcement that James Spader would play Ultron.^[53] In November, Marvel confirmed that Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson would play the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, respectively.^[30] Taylor-Johnson had been in negotiations since as early as June,^{[108][109][110]} while Olsen's potential involvement was first reported in August.^[111][112] By the end of the year, Mark Ruffalo,^[11] Chris Evans,^[17] Samuel L. Jackson,^[65] Chris Hemsworth,^[8] Scarlett Johansson,^[21] Jeremy Renner^[26] and Cobie Smulders^[42] were confirmed to be returning to their roles from the first film, and Don Cheadle, who portrayed James Rhodes in the Iron Man films, had committed to a part in the film.^[28] In the early months of 2014, Thomas Kretschmann was cast as BaronWolfgang von Strucker,^[67] Claudia Kim was cast in an unspecified role,^[113] and Paul Bettany, who voiced J.A.R.V.I.S.in previous MCU films, was cast as the Vision.^[38] Whedon said "juggling" all the characters in the film was "a nightmare" explaining, "They're very disparate characters. The joy of the Avengers is they really don't belong in the same room. It's not like the X-Men, who are all tortured by the same thing and have similar costumes. These guys are just all over the place. And so it's tough. Honestly, this is as tough as anything I've ever done."^[114]

On January 24, 2014, the Forte di Bard Association announced that filming would take place at Fort Bard in theAosta Valley region of Italy in March 2014, as well as other locations in Aosta Valley including Aosta, Bard, Donnas,Pont-Saint-Martin, and Verrès.^[115] The next month, the Gauteng Film Commission announced that action sequences would be filmed in Johannesburg, South Africa and other locations in Gauteng, beginning in mid-February.^[116] A few weeks later Marvel announced that portions of the film would be shot in South Korea. Feige cited the nation's "cutting-edge technology, beautiful landscapes and spectacular architecture" as ideal for the film.^[117] Gyeonggi Province and its capital, Seoul were selected as filming locations with South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism reimbursing up to 30% of the studio's expenditures, as part of a state-funded incentive program.^[113]

Filming[edit]

Members of the Korea Film Commission and executives from Marvel Studios signing amemorandum of understanding in Seoul in March 2014 with actressClaudia Kim (center) in attendance.

Filming began on Tuesday, February 11, 2014 in Johannesburg, South Africa, having been postponed that Monday.^[116][118] Second unit crews shot action sequences without the main cast, to be used as background plates for scenes featuring the Hulk, in the Central Business District of Johannesburgfor a period of two weeks.^[119][120] By mid-March, principal photography had begun at Shepperton Studios near London and was scheduled to film there for at least four months.^[121][122] Filming at Shepperton as well as other locations in England allowed Whedon to get a "number of different looks and textures and moods" to give the film a different palette and fresh aesthetic from its predecessor.^[62] Production designer Charles Wood built an enormous, new Avengers Tower set, one of the largest sets ever built for a Marvel film. The set featured multiple connected environments and levels.^[123] On March 22, production moved to Fort Bard, Italy and continued in the Aosta Valley region through March 28. The region doubled as the fictional Eastern European nation of Sokovia,^[33] with crews replacing local storefronts with Cyrillic script.^[124] Filming in South Korea began on March 30 on the Mapo Bridge^[125] and continued through April 14 at various locations in Seoul.^[126] While in Seoul, the production was able to attach cameras to drones and race cars to get unique camera angles and footage.^[123] An artificial island on the Han River known as the Saebit Dungdungseom served as the headquarters of an IT institute featured in the film.^[127] Scenes involving Ultron's attack on parts of the city were shot in the Gangnam District.^[126]

On April 8, shooting began in the Hawley Woods in Hampshire, England.^[128] In mid-April, Hayley Atwell, who played Peggy Carter in previous MCU films, was on set at the Rivoli Ballroom in London to film a 1940s flashback sequence.^[50] In mid-June, scenes were shot at the University of East Anglia in Norwich and at Dover Castle in Kent, with Dover Castle used for interior shots of Strucker's Hydra base in Sokovia.^{[129][130][131]} In July, filming took place at a training facility for London's Metropolitan Police Service, which doubled as a city in Sokovia.^[10][33] Additional filming took place in Chittagong, Bangladesh, including the Chittagong Ship Breaking Yard^[132][133] and in New York.^[134][135] On August 6, Whedon announced on social media that he had completed principal photography onAvengers: Age of Ultron.^[136]

Cinematographer Ben Davis, who also worked with Marvel on Guardians of the Galaxy, shot the film with a main unit of three Arri Alexa cameras. Davis said, "Although the Alexa was Marvel's preferred camera, we weren't locked into that choice from the start. What wasn't negotiable was the fact that we were shooting digital: that's how Marvel shoots all of its films." Davis also used Blackmagic Design's Pocket Cinema Cameras to meet the needs of the second unit kit explaining, "The second unit typically needs a fleet of smaller cameras that are less expensive and are rugged enough to handle the various trials by fire, as it were, that we throw at them."^[137] About the camera system, Whedon stated that this film was shot very differently from the first one; using lots of long lenses, and that he aimed to shoot the film almost like a documentary.^[114] To create the scenes depicting how Quicksilver views the world, scenes were shot with an ultra-high-speed camera and later combined with shots of Taylor-Johnson moving through the same scene at normal speed.^[33]

Post-production[edit]

The original shot (top) of the new Avengers training facility and the completed shot (bottom) with CG interiors added by Method Studios.^[138]

In June 2014, the IMAX Corporation announced that the IMAX release of the film would be converted to IMAX 3D.^[139] Following the completion of principal photography several more cast members were revealed including,Stellan Skarsgård,^[52] Anthony Mackie,^[47] Idris Elba and Tom Hiddleston, who all reprise their roles from previous MCU films.^[51] However, Hiddleston's scenes did not make the theatrical cut of the film, with Whedon saying what was shot "didn't play" and he did not want the film to feel "overstuffed".^[77]According to Hiddleston, "In test screenings, audiences had overemphasized Loki's role, so they thought that because I was in it, I was controlling Ultron, and it was actually imbalancing people's expectations."^[140] Whedon later explained that Elba and Atwell appear in the film because of exploring the psyches of the Avengers from Scarlet Witch's power.^[33] In December 2014, Kim's role was revealed as Dr. Helen Cho.^[71][141] Additional scenes were scheduled to be filmed in January 2015 at Pinewood Studios.^[142] In February 2015, Marvel confirmed through promotional material that Serkis portraysUlysses Klaue in the film.^[29][56] In early April 2015, Linda Cardellini and Julie Delpy were confirmed to be part of the film's cast.^[69][73] At the same time, Whedon stated that the film would not contain a post-credits scene, which had become customary for MCU films. Whedon tried to come up with a post-credit scene but felt that he could not top the "Shawarma scene" in The Avengers explaining, "It didn't seem to lend itself in the same way, and we wanted to be true to what felt right. The first rule of making a sequel is take the best moments and do something else. Don't do the Indiana Jones gun trick again differently. Just go somewhere else. Don't try to hit the same highs, because people will sense it." However Feige clarified, "There will be a tag [shortly after the credits start]. But there's not a post-post-credit scene."^[69]

In May 2015, Whedon revealed he was in conflict with Marvel executives and the film's editors about certain scenes in the film. The executives were not "thrilled" with the scenes at Hawkeye's farm or the dream sequences the Avengers experience because of Scarlet Witch. Also, Whedon had originally shot a much longer scene with Thor and Selvig in the cave, compromising with including a reduced amount of the total footage shot, as test audiences did not respond to it.^[143] In the scene, Thor would be possessed by a Norn, a goddess of destiny, while Selvig would quiz her about Thor's hallucination.^{[144][145][146]} Additionally, Whedon reiterated he had wanted to include Captain Marvel and Spider-Man at the end, but deals for each character (signing of an actress and a deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment, respectively) were not completed in time for their inclusion.^[143]

The film contains 3,000 visual effects shots,^[147] completed by ten different visual effects studios, including Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), Trixter, Double Negative, Animal Logic, Framestore, Lola VFX, Territory, Perception, Method Studios, Luma Pictures and The Third Floor.^[148] ILM opened a facility in London, citing Avengers: Age of Ultron as a catalyst for the expansion,^[149] and developed a new motion capture system for the film called Muse, which can better capture an actor's performance and combine different takes.^[150] About the motion capture process, Ruffalo called it "more of a collaboration" since the technology is advancing, with "the face capture and the motion capture can now [being] put together, [allowing] you [to] get a lot more latitude as a performer... you're no longer constricted by the attributes that you have as a person: your age, or weight, or size. None of that matters anymore. And so there's this whole exciting place to go that is kind of unknown."^[15] Visual effects supervisor Christopher Townsend said that the visual effects team considered depicting the Hulk when manipulated by Wanda Maximoff as being grey skinned with red eyes, but eventually decided against it, as they did not want to confuse audiences who might associate it with "Joe Fixit", the grey Hulk from the comics.^[151]

Method Studios created the interior of the new Avengers training facility by digitally designing the training facility, extracting the characters from the original set and placing them into the new CG environment. Method also contributed to Iron Man's new Mark 45 suit and played a key role in creating Scarlet Witch's CG mind control effect.^[138] Following the trend in recent years, most of the computer screens in Stark's lab, Dr Cho's laboratory, the Quinjet and other locations in the film were not added in post-production but were actually working screens on set, adding to the realism of the film and saving some on the post-production budget. London-based Territory Studiodelivered the screen visuals filled with unique imagery and animations that matched the character using them.^[148]Perception worked on the main-on-end and main titles for the film. Before settling on the marble monument depiction for the main-on-end titles, Perception created three other versions, which were based on Ultron’s hive mind ability from the film, "renderings of power and pure energy" inspired by classic comic panels, and classic moments for each character. The final design was inspired by war monuments such as the Iwo Jima memorial. For the main titles, Marvel wanted the typeface to be a direct continuation of the first film. Perception made the typeface a marble texture to mimic the main-on-end titles and changed the title's rotation (away from the camera instead of towards the camera in The Avengers), before "Age of Ultron" overtakes "Avengers" in a vibranium texture.^[152]

Music[edit]

In March 2014, Brian Tyler signed on to compose the film's score, replacing the composer for the first film, Alan Silvestri, while also marking his third film collaboration with Marvel following Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark Worldin 2013.^[153] Tyler stated that the score pays homage to John Williams' scores for Star Wars, Superman, and Raiders of the Lost Ark and references the scores for the Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America films in order to create a similar musical universe, saying, "That's the goal for sure. You have to build in nostalgia and do it upfront so you can relate to it."^[154] Danny Elfman also contributed music to the score,^[155] using Silvestri's theme from the first film to create a new hybrid theme.^[156] Hollywood Records released the album digitally on April 28, 2015, and in physical formats on May 19.^[157]