In the near future, a hostile alien race, The Formics, have attacked Earth. If not for the legendary heroics of International Fleet Commander Mazer Rackham, all would have been lost. In preparation for the next attack, the highly esteemed Colonel Hyrum Graff and the International Military are training only the best young children to find the future Mazer.
Ender Wiggin, a shy, but strategically brilliant boy is pulled out of his school to join the elite. Arriving at Battle School, Ender quickly and easily masters increasingly difficult war games, distinguishing himself and winning respect amongst his peers. Ender is soon ordained by Graff as the military's next great hope, resulting in his promotion to Command School. Once there, he's trained by Mazer Rackham, himself, to lead his fellow soldiers into an epic battle that will determine the future of Earth and save the human race.
Ender's siblings, Valentine and Peter are almost cut out of the movie.
Ender Wiggin’s timeline is changed drastically in the film. In the novel, we first meet Ender at age six and he progresses into young adulthood and then adulthood by the end of the text. In the film, Ender is already an older child and Hood speeds up the urgency of the battle for humanity so that our protagonist can remain the same age throughout the film.
This film is set in the future, but not a post-apocalyptic one as far as Earth is concerned
Making it look as if the actors were weightless involved both physical and digital means. Mr. Butterfield and Aramis Knight were fitted with harnesses, and, with the help of cables and motorized arms, suspended above the ground. The astronaut Greg Chamitoff advised the filmmakers on how to move. Even so, Mr. Butler had to digitally manipulate some of the footage to make the movement feel more fluid and weightless.
The filmmakers used the glow emanating from the stars to illuminate the actors as most of the battle room scenes were in low light. Each of the stars contained around 2,000 LEDs inside them.
While the trailers for Ender's Game suggest this is an action-oriented story full of epic space battles, the book is actually much more psychological in their exploration of the lead hero and his rise through Battle School and Command School. One of the central themes the novel deals with is the idea of games. As mentioned, Battle School students encounter an advanced simulation called the Mind Game. Ender and other characters use games as a way of contextualizing their experiences and making sense of their very adult world.
'Ender's Game' is one of the most expensive independent movies ever made, with a budget of more than $100 million.
The movie is the anticipated big-screen adaptation of the popular 1985 book "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card.
Ender's Game is the first co-production of the visual effects house, Digital Domain.
Special wheel harnesses that allowed free range in motion were fitted to actors, for filming of Battle Room scenes. Because these scenes are supposed to take place in a null gravity environment, the actors had to carefully choreograph their movements, to give the accurate illusion of floating.
The city featured in the propaganda poster "Never Again" is Central Hong Kong
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