Benjamin Franklin Gates (character)
| National Treasure | |
|---|---|
Promotional poster for the first film of franchise
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| Directed by | Jon Turteltaub |
| Produced by |
Jerry Bruckheimer Jon Turteltaub |
| Written by |
Ted Elliott (1–2) Terry Rossio (1–2) Cormac Wibberley Marianne Wibberley (1–2) Aaron Benay (3) Matthew Benay (3) Carlo Bernard (3) Brian Koppelman (3) David Levien (3) Doug Miro (3) |
| Starring |
Nicolas Cage Harvey Keitel Jon Voight Diane Kruger Sean Bean (1) Justin Bartha Christopher Plummer Ed Harris (2) Bruce Greenwood (2-3) Helen Mirren (2-3) |
| Music by | Trevor Rabin |
| Cinematography |
Caleb Deschanel (1) John Schwartzman (2) Amir Mokri (2) |
| Edited by |
William Goldenberg David Rennie (2) |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures |
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Release date
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1: November 19, 2004 2: December 21, 2007 |
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Running time
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255 minutes (1–2) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget |
Total (2 films): 230 million |
| Box office |
Total (2 films): $804.9 million |
National Treasure is a series of political theatrical adventure mystery films produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and starring Nicolas Cage as Benjamin Gates, a treasure hunter who, with the help of his father, Patrick Henry Gates (Jon Voight), his girlfriend, Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger) and his loyal sidekick, Riley Poole (Justin Bartha), uncovers hidden troves and secrets from America's past. The films were distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. There are also a series of novels detailing the ancestors of Ben Gates, all written by Catherine Hapka.
The original National Treasure film centers on the Gates family legend of a fantastic treasure trove of artifacts and gold, hidden by the Founding Fathers of the United States, and the attempts by the scion of the family, Benjamin Franklin Gates, to find the treasure before his ex-friend, Ian Howe (Sean Bean), steals and destroys the Declaration of Independence.
In the sequel to the original 2004 film, black market dealer Mitch Wilkinson (Ed Harris) locates one of the 18 missing pages of John Wilkes Booth's diary and suggests that Ben's ancestor, Thomas Gates, was a conspirator in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, so Ben sets out to prove his innocence by kidnapping the current U.S. President (Bruce Greenwood) and by finding the disappeared hidden truth.
In December 2007, before the second film was released, Nicolas Cage showed interest in doing a third film, believing it should be more international. In early 2008, Disney registered the domains for NationalTreasure3DVD.com and NationalTreasure4DVD.com (both sites are now unregistered and the second link redirects). In May 2008, Director Jon Turteltaub said that the filmmaking team would take its time on another National Treasure sequel. In September 2008, Jerry Bruckheimer officially confirmed that they were in the process of developing a third film, and in November of that year, Bruckheimer said that the writers were in the process of writing the script to the film. In May 2010, Bruckheimer said that the first draft of the screenplay was completed.
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