The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010)

Wide	07/14/2010
AMC Loews Meth...	07/14/2010 - 08/19/2010	37 days
Showcase Cinem...	07/14/2010 - 08/05/2010	23 days
Laemmle's Clar...	07/14/2010 - 07/29/2010	16 days
DVD	11/30/2010

Trailer: Click for trailers

Genre: Fantasy

Rated: PG for fantasy action violence, some mild rude humor and brief language.

Synopsis

From Walt Disney Studios, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Jon Turteltaub comes "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" -- an innovative and epic adventure about a sorcerer and his hapless apprentice who are swept into the center of an ancient conflict between good and evil.

Balthazar Blake (NICOLAS CAGE) is a master sorcerer in modern-day Manhattan trying to defend the city from his arch-nemesis, Maxim Horvath (ALFRED MOLINA). Balthazar can't do it alone, so he recruits Dave Stutler (JAY BARUCHEL), a seemingly average guy who demonstrates hidden potential, as his reluctant protege. The sorcerer gives his unwilling accomplice a crash course in the art and science of magic, and together, these unlikely partners pit their powers against those of the fiercest -- and most ruthless -- practitioners of all time. It'll take all the courage Dave can muster to survive his training, save the city and get the girl as he becomes "The Sorcerer's Apprentice."

"I love the world of magic, and to be able to bring that to a contemporary audience was really appealing to me," says Bruckheimer. "I've always liked stories that have a magical element, and 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' is one of the great magical stories of all time. We thought it would be tremendously exciting to develop the core of that concept into a brand-new story set in the modern world."

Set in modern-day Manhattan, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" might have some New Yorkers looking over their shoulders. "The idea is that sorcerers and the ancient art of sorcery are alive and well in present day New York City," says Turteltaub. "It's much more entertaining to show audiences the magic in things they recognize than to create something." Indeed, filmmakers took full advantage of the best the Big Apple has to offer, shooting in such iconic locations as Times Square, the Chrysler Building, Wall Street, Chinatown, Greenwich Village and Rockefeller Center. Bruckheimer, Turteltaub and team transformed New York into a vortex of science and magic, home to battling sorcerers and playground for their powers.

"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" comes to the big screen thanks in part to the 'sorcerer' himself and his search for magic. Nicolas Cage, who embarks on his seventh collaboration with producer Jerry Bruckheimer and third with director Jon Turteltaub, says he was ready to try something new. "I was making another movie at the time and I wanted to explore a more magical and fantastic realm, where I could play a character who had mystical abilities."

And while the film isn't a remake of the classic Disney piece from "Fantasia," "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" pays proper homage to it, a fact that didn't escape the director. "'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' has such a great Disney pedigree to it," says Turteltaub, "and I knew right away that I'd be dealing with something that had to be excellent, had to be special, had to live up to its important role within Disney and the history of film. That piece from 'Fantasia' is as iconic as any eight minutes of film that has ever been created, so to be part of that was really exciting. You think, 'all right, where do you go with that' -- and that's where all the creativity starts jumping."

This new sorcerer and his apprentice are a far cry from Mickey and the blue hat. The live-action film is a contemporary take on the ancient art of sorcery, exploring good versus evil in a city where magic is abound in plain sight. "It's a story about two quests," explains Bruckheimer. "Balthazar has been searching the world through the centuries for his apprentice, and Dave then has to discover his true potential as a human being. Dave is a very serious student, and doesn't need or want Balthazar in his life, or to be a sorcerer. If someone showed up at your door, and said that you're really a sorcerer, you wouldn't believe them either. But Balthazar is like a fly that keeps buzzing around, tormenting this poor kid until he succumbs to becoming this magical character, which I think every kid would want to be."

Jay Baruchel, seen in projects as diverse as "Knocked Up," "Tropic Thunder," "Million Dollar Baby," and most recently "She's Out of My League" and "How to Train Your Dragon," was intrigued by the character of Dave Stutler. "I dug the arc that Dave goes on; it's a great hero's journey. Dave gravitates towards physics, which is the discipline he gives his life to. When he meets up with Balthazar, the sorcerer tells Dave that it was no coincidence that he drifted towards physics because although illusion and magic are different, magic and science are the same thing. To be able to track from the kind of nerdy, nebbish guy to what Dave becomes was exciting for me."

"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" also stars TERESA PALMER, MONICA BELLUCCI and TOBY KEBBELL. The executive producers are TODD GARNER, NICOLAS CAGE, MIKE STENSON, CHAD OMAN, NORM GOLIGHTLY and BARRY WALDMAN. The screenplay is written by MATT LOPEZ and DOUG MIRO & CARLO BERNARD, from a screen story by Lopez and Larry Konner & Mark Rosenthal. The visual effects supervisor is Academy Award®-winner John Nelson ("Gladiator").