The Scroll

The Scroll is a drama thriller film by Charles Napier. It was produced by Magnitude Productions and released in the United States by Warner Bros. on May 8, 2009. It was a critical and financial success, grossing $243 million on a $50 million budget.

Plot
An interior designer finds an ancient scroll.

Production
The Scroll was first announced by Warner Independent Pictures in July 2006, with a release date of August 2008. Charles Napier was put on board as director. The Scroll originally had a budget of $22 million, which was increased in February 2007 to $34 million, and then $40 million. This reportedly upset Charles, as he felt the budget was too high, and behind-the-scenes politics occurred. The film's final budget was $50 million. Filming started in mid-June 2007 and finished in early August. Post-production lasted for three months.

In December 2007 however, Charles Napier announced that production on The Scroll would temporarily halt due to Charles's first son being born.

Production on The Scroll resumed and then finished later in February 2008, and it was now set to release on May 8, 2009. On May 8, 2008, exactly a year before The Scroll was released, Warner Independent Pictures suddenly shut down, and so The Scroll was transferred to Warner Bros.

In October 2008, Magnitude Productions announced that it would co-finance The Scroll with Warner Bros. The timing was incredibly unusual for a film, as financing usually occurs before filming starts, not after the film is finished. A teaser trailer was released in November 2008, and a trailer, as well as a poster, was released in January 2009.

Critical reception
The film has a "certified fresh" approval rating of 79% with an average rating of 7.4/10 based on 56 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. It also has a 76 out of 100 rating based on 27 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", at Metacritic.

Box office
On a budget of $50 million, the film opened at number one with a gross of $29,408,017 over the weekend from 2,556 theaters for an average of $4,819 per theater. It ended up with a gross of $164,631,460 in the United States and Canada. It made an additional $78 million internationally for a total of $243,154,872 worldwide.