Posted by Britta DeVore | Published
We’ve become incredibly used to having all the media at our fingertips, with streamers like Netflix offering huge amounts of TV shows and movies for the price of a subscription. However, some titles have yet to reach streaming platforms. At a time when less than fifty percent of households have access to a DVD or Blu-Ray player, that means it won’t be watched. And if a movie can’t be watched, it will be forgotten.
That is exactly what is happening City of Embera 2008 steampunk fantasy film. Apart from a star-studded cast led by Bill Murray, the movie is not available for streaming anywhere except as an expensive rental on Apple TV. It’s worth paying that price to see.
The film, based on Jeanne DuPrau’s 2003 novel, City of Embera fairy tale lover’s dream as it takes the audience underground to the venerable city. Using a generator that has served its purpose for over a century, time is running out, and with it, the lights inside the deep cave begin to dim and flicker.
Taking matters into their own hands and seeing themselves as the city’s only hope to restore light to even its darkest corners, two teenagers, Lina Mayfleet (Saoirse Ronan) and Doon Harrow (Harry Treadaway) embark on a dangerous but exciting journey to turn the lights back on.
After receiving an Oscar for his work Atonement, City of Ember was another important stepping stone in Saoirse Ronan’s career, which would eventually lead her to win three more Academy Awards and dozens of accolades for her work in projects such as in Brooklyn, Miss Birdagain Little Women. The cast behind the on-screen adaptation of the legend were on their A-game for the show, as they also called up names including Bill Murray (Lost in Translation) and Tim Robbins (The Shawshank Redemption).
Just as it was a pivotal moment in the career of its star Saoirse Ronan, City of Ember it was an equally big moment for director Gil Kenan. Two years earlier, Kenan had paired up with Columbia Pictures for the horror drama, Monster Housegiving him the preparation and connections he needed to make the leap into live-action filmmaking City of Ember.
From there, Kenan’s hold on Hollywood continued to grow when the assistant was attached to the 2015 remake of the horror classic. Poltergeistthe paleness of a holiday dream, A Boy Called Christmasand, more recently, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.
City Of Ember’s Box Office Disaster
Unfortunately for Kenan’s first live-action film, all the big names there (including Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman as producers) couldn’t save the production from being a financial disaster. Despite making a concerted effort to release the movie shortly after the last book in the DuPrau series hit the shelves, City of Ember couldn’t keep the lights on in the box office. After spending $55 million on the feature’s production, the film would only gross $17.0 million, marking it as a phenomenal business.
City of Ember it didn’t bomb because it was bad; a bomb exploded because no one knows what it should be. Released in 2008 with a modest budget and almost no marketing pressure, the film suffered from a problem of complete identity. It looked like a children’s movie, played like a dystopian thriller, and was based on a book that had no built-in studios for the intended audience.
Saoirse Ronan wasn’t a box office hit, and the rest of the cast, while solid, didn’t give audiences a reason to show up on opening weekend. Add in a dark, grim visual tone that detracts from its family appeal and a release window full of serious, loud competition. City of Ember he just got buried, one of those cases where a decent movie disappears because the studio didn’t figure out how to sell it.
Why the Critics Were Wrong
Obviously, City of Ember he fell into that frustrating middle ground; reviewers generally agree that it’s well-made, but not compelling enough to matter. But those critics judged it for what it was not instead of noticing what it really was.
The review was defeated that “low things” and very simple, but that restraint is the point; the film isn’t trying to be a bombastic dystopian spectacle, it’s a slow-burning mystery about decay, curiosity, and survival. What critics call thin plotting is really a deliberate understatement, allowing the world itself to carry the tension.
The production design wasn’t just impressive; it was a film, creating a living, dying civilization that many films with budgets fail to achieve. And Saoirse Ronan backs it up with a grounded human performance, well suited to the scale of the story. City of Ember he was sincere, patient, and rich in looks, qualities critics thought were weaknesses when in fact they were the film’s greatest qualities.
Why You Can’t Watch Ember City
Unfortunately, with weak box office and mediocre reviews, making City of Ember available for streaming has never been a priority for anyone. Not available on any streaming service.
Right now, it’s the only way to stream City of Ember with Apple TV, where you have to pay a lot of money if you want it. If you haven’t seen it yet, pay and watch it before it’s gone.
