Credits
Distributed by
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
Production companies
Touchstone Pictures
Spyglass Entertainment
The Zanuck Company
Directed by
Rob Bowman
Screenplay by
Gregg Chabot
Kevin Peterka
Matt Greenberg
Story by
Gregg Chabot
Kevin Peterka
Produced by
Richard D. Zanuck
Lili Fini Zanuck
Gary Barber
Roger Birnbaum
Starring
Matthew McConaughey
Christian Bale
Izabella Scorupco
Gerard Butler
Cinematography
Adrian Biddle
Edited by
Declan McGrath
Thom Noble
Music by
Edward Shearmur
Brad Wagner
Grant Claytor
Mad at Gravity
Synopsis
Soon after the start of the 21st century, during construction on the London Underground, workers penetrate a cave and a huge dragon emerges from hibernation, incinerating the workers with its breath. The only survivor is a boy, Quinn Abercromby (Ben Thornton), whose mother, Karen (Alice Krige)—the project engineer—is crushed to death protecting him. The dragon flies out of the Underground, and soon more dragons appear. Years later, Quinn (Christian Bale), now an adult, records the events that transpired after the first dragon sighting. Scientists discovered that dragons were the species responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs and most plant life on the planet when they razed it with fire; the ash from this event caused the first Ice age before the dragons disappeared, presumably in a cycle of hibernation. Once re-emerged, the population surged to several million, prompting most militaries to use increasingly devastating weapons, finally leading to targeting the largest population areas with nuclear weapons in 2010; however, this only hastened the destruction, and by 2020, humans are nearly extinct. The dragons, now starving as well, are dying off and increasingly aggressive in search of food. Quinn, along with his best friend Creedy (Gerard Butler) leads a community of survivors at Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland where he plans to outlast dragons until they go back into hibernation; as insurance, he shares his notes and plans with Jared (Scott Moutter) an orphan he rescued as a child and is grooming to lead the community. The community is short on supplies and in a state of unrest pending the harvest of their meager crops. Eddie (David Kennedy) and his group steal a truck to pilfer the crops early, but they are attacked by a dragon. One man is killed and the rest are surrounded by fire. Quinn, Creedy, and Jared rescue them with old fire engines, but the dragon kills Eddie's son before escaping and burns the majority of the crops, leaving the community without a means to feed itself. Van Zan and Jensen return and free everyone trapped in the bunker. Quinn leaves Jared in charge and decides to help Van Zan and Alex hunt down the male dragon as their best chance at survival. They fly to London and find hundreds of small dragons, one of which is cannibalized by the larger male. This scatters the smaller dragons and leaves the male undefended. Without the support needed for a major battle, Van Zan coordinates a simplified plan: split up, bait the male into attacking, and then shoot explosives down the dragon's throat. The plan initially works, but the dragon manages to detonate the explosives early; Van Zan sacrifices himself as a distraction while Quinn and Alex gather the last explosives. Together, they lure the dragon to ground level, where Quinn fires another explosive into the dragon's mouth, killing it. Later, Quinn and Alex erect a radio tower on a hill overlooking the North Sea. There has been no dragon sighting for over three months. Jared arrives to say they have contacted a group of French survivors who want to speak to their leader. Quinn officially makes Jared the community leader and dedicates himself to rebuilding civilization with Alex.
