The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | Garth Jennings |
Produced by | |
Screenplay by | |
Based on |
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams |
Starring | |
Narrated by | Stephen Fry |
Music by | Joby Talbot |
Cinematography | Igor Jadue-Lillo |
Edited by | Niven Howie |
Production
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Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures |
Release date
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Running time
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109 minutes |
Country |
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Language | English |
Budget | $45–50 million |
Box office | $104.5 million |
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | |
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Soundtrack album by Stephen Fry, Joby Talbot | |
Released | 12 April 2005 |
Genre | Soundtrack |
Label | Hollywood |
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a 2005 British-American science fiction comedy film directed by Garth Jennings, based upon previous works in the media franchise of the same name, created by Douglas Adams. It stars Martin Freeman, Sam Rockwell, Mos Def, Zooey Deschanel and the voices of Stephen Fry and Alan Rickman.
Adams, who co-wrote the screenplay with Karey Kirkpatrick, died in 2001, before production began; the film is dedicated to him. The film grossed over $100 million worldwide.
The film begins with a Broadway-style number, "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish", sung by the dolphins of the world, who are aware of the Earth's impending doom. At the end, they all jump out of the oceans and fly off into space, leaving Earth for good.
One Thursday morning, Arthur Dent discovers that his house is to be immediately demolished to make way for a bypass. He tries delaying the bulldozers by lying down in front of them. Ford Prefect, a friend of Arthur's, convinces him to go to a pub with him. Over a pint of beer (as "muscle relaxant"), Ford explains that he is an alien from a planet in the vicinity of Betelgeuse, and a journalist working on the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a universal guide book, and that the Earth is to be demolished later that day by a race called Vogons, to make way for a hyperspace bypass. Suddenly, a Vogon Constructor Fleet appears in the sky and destroys the planet. Ford saves himself and Arthur by stowing away on a Vogon ship. When discovered, they are thrown out of an airlock, but are picked up by the starship Heart of Gold. They find Ford's "semi-cousin" Zaphod Beeblebrox, the President of the Galaxy. He has stolen the ship along with Tricia "Trillian" McMillan, an Earth woman whom Arthur had met previously, and Marvin the Paranoid Android, a clinically depressed robot that constantly complains about life.