The Box (2009 film)
| The Box | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Richard Kelly |
| Produced by | Richard Kelly Dan Lin Sean McKittrick |
| Screenplay by | Richard Kelly |
| Based on |
Button, Button by Richard Matheson |
| Starring |
Cameron Diaz James Marsden Frank Langella |
| Music by |
Win Butler Régine Chassagne Owen Pallett |
| Cinematography | Steven Poster |
| Edited by | Sam Bauer |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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115 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $30 million |
| Box office | $33.3 million |
The Box is a 2009 American psychological thriller film based on the 1970 short story "Button, Button" by Richard Matheson, which was previously adapted into an episode of the 1980s iteration of The Twilight Zone. The film was written and directed by Richard Kelly and stars Cameron Diaz and James Marsden as a couple who receive a box from a mysterious man played by Frank Langella who offers them one million dollars if they press the button sealed within the dome on top of the box. However, once the button has been pushed, someone will die.
In December 1976, a financially strapped couple, Norma (Cameron Diaz) and Arthur Lewis (James Marsden) find a package on their doorstep. Inside is a locked wooden box, with a transparent dome top and large red button visible underneath. An accompanying note reads: "Mr. Steward will call upon you at 5:00 pm". They leave it in the kitchen.
At 5:00 pm, Mr. Steward (Frank Langella), a mysterious man with the left side of his face burned off, arrives to deliver a key to the box. He tells Norma that, if the button is pushed, he will give her a tax free payment of $1 million in cash. However, someone she does not know will die. Arthur, a NASA engineer, disassembles the box to find only a button and nothing under it.
Later, Norma and Arthur have ethical and moral arguments about pushing the button, wondering whether a young and innocent person, or a person on death row will die. Norma impulsively decides to push the button, and does it quickly before her husband can stop her. Simultaneously, miles away, a man kills his wife and then flees, leaving their daughter locked in the bathroom. Police are perplexed as to why Jeffrey Carnes (Ryan Woodle), a NASA employee like Arthur, shot his wife to death, because they had a happy relationship.
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