3. Pre-production

4. The idea
Life of Pi originally a book, which was published
in September 2001. This book was then adapted
by director Ang Lee, basing it on the adapted
screenplay by David Mangee.

5. Financial backing
The financial backers of the film were Twentieth
Century Fox Corporation, who mainly distributed
the film in most countries, except for Warner
Bros. who distributed it in the Netherlands.

6. The production company
Twentieth Century Fox were the production
company behind the Life of Pi. They have a
decent track record, due to being a well known
production company and for being around for a
long time.

7. The producer
There were three producers of the film. They
are, Ang Lee, Gil Netter and David Womark.

8. The director
The director, who also was the producer, is Ang
Lee.

9. During the production

10. The difficulties
In an interview, Ang Lee said that the Life of Pi was his
most challenging film yet. He said “Water, kid, tiger, a
new language I was not familiar with – 3D – and it does
have a tricky ending that sort of pulls the rug under the
audience‟s feet. That was quite scary”. As you can
see, Lee had problems with filming, with the
scenery, actors and even communication.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-
entertainment/films/news/ang-lee-filming-life-of-pi-was-
far-from-easy-as-pie-8381377.html

11. Shot on location
The filming locations were (India), Motreal
Quebec (Canada), Kenting (Taiwan), Munar
Kerala India, Pndicherry (India), Taichung
(Taiwan). As you can see, most of the film was
shot in India.

12. Shot in studio
The film was also shot in Rhythm & Hues studios
and Fox 2000 Pictures.

13. Acquiring stars
Over 3000 men were auditioned for the leading
role, but they went with Suraj Sharma, who was
a 17 year old student and an acting newcomer.
He had to undergo training in ocean survival, as
well as yoga and meditation for the part.

14. The budget
Gil Netter proposed for a budget of $70 million
and the production company hesitated and the
development went on hold. The final budget they
received was $120 million.

15. People involved in production
These are some of the people involved:
David Lee (co-producer), David Womark
(producer), Ang Lee (producer), Mychael Danna
(music), Claudio Miranda (cinematographer), Tim
Squyres (editing), Avy Kaufman (casting), Arjun
Bhasin (costume), Kirstin Chalmers (makeup),

16. Distribution

17. Distributors
The film was distributed by 20th Century
Fox, who have a good track record due to their
long lasting time in the film industry and due to
being well known.

18. The release date
The release date of Life of Pi was November
21st, 2012. This was because they were trying to
get the film closest as it could to the Christmas
season so more people would be able to go and
see the film due to it being a PG rating.

19. Marketing strategy
The Life of Pi was marketed as “the next Avatar”
in the trailers and TV spots. They also re-
released the novel in a movie tie-in edition. The
film was not led by big name stars and faces
over the other winter blockbusters. They used
TV, posters, billboards, internet.

20. Other publicity gained
The film gained publicity due to the natural
disaster that was Hurricane Sandy. The film had
a massive storm in the storyline, and it was said
that the Sandy would affect the box office
revenue, due to its devastation.

21. Exhibition
The film was first released in the USA on the 23rd
of November 2013 in 2927 screens.

22. Film classification
The film received the rating of a PG, due to it
containing mild language and threat.

23. Critics
The critics response to the film was positive. The
film received a 8.3 out of 10 on IMDb. It also
scored a Metascore of 79/100, showing that the
film has been a success through the eyes of the
critics.

24. In the news
The film made the news when it crossed the
$300 million overseas and closing towards $400
million worldwide. It also made the news when
people found out about the storm scene, and
due to it being after Hurricane Sandy caused a
small debate, but the scene remained in the film.

25. Box office
The film has made $492,809,000 worldwide as of
January 21st 2013. It received $22,451,514 on
the opening weekend. The film was considered a
commercial success, even thought it was stated
that it might fail like the film „Hugo‟ and that
people may not understand it.

26. Running time
The film is still in the cinema (21st January 2013)
even though it was released in November
moving past its two month date in the cinema.