Although The Night Watch movie received mixed reviews, the movie did seem to capture the essence of the book by Stieg Larsson. In fact, there are actually several things you didn’t know about The Night Watch movie that even the film’s stars were unsure of before filming began. Here are five of those secrets from The Night Watch movie that you might not be aware of.
1) The movie was released in Russia in 2004
The Night Watch movie is a 2004 Russian fantasy film directed by Timur Bekmambetov. It was the first in a trilogy, followed by Day Watch (2006) and Twilight Watch (2008). A sequel, titled FinalWatch, was released in 2015. Based on the novel of the same name by Sergei Lukyanenko, its story takes place in modern-day Moscow, mostly at night.
The film tells the story of two opposing groups of magicians:
Others who use magic for good and Night Watchers who employ sorcery for evil. The protagonist is Anton Gorodetsky, an elderly man who finds himself drawn into the middle of a power struggle between these two groups. He does this because he wants to protect his family from being persecuted by Night Watchers due to his past association with them as a youth when he had to make some difficult decisions in order to protect his family from others with less noble intentions.
2) It is based on the book by Sergei Lukyanenko
The Night Watch movie is based on the book of the same name by Sergei Lukyanenko. The Russian author’s novel was first published in 1997 and has since been adapted into two movies: a 2004 Russian film and this 2006 English-language version.
The plot of the novel is set in Moscow, with the key events occurring at night.
It tells the story of an eternal struggle between forces of light and dark, who are respectively called the Others or Others, and the Light Ones. In addition to its plot, the book also offers a great deal of commentary on human nature, including what people do when they know that time is limited and how they react to different types of adversity.
3) The movie was directed by Timur Bekmambetov
The highest grossing Russian film of all time is a 2004 post-apocalyptic science fiction movie by Timur Bekmambetov. It follows the story of an ordinary man who has been assigned to night watch duty in Moscow and must stop a zombie invasion before it takes over the world.
1) It is based on a novel by Sergei Lukyanenko, who co-wrote the screenplay with Timur Bekmambetov.
2) It stars Konstantin Khabenskiy as Anton Gorodetsky, along with Maria Poroshina, Renat Davletyarov and Vladimir Menshov.
3) The director’s cut was released on DVD in Russia only.
4) No English release date has yet been announced.
5) When shown at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, it won two awards: Grand Prix des Amériques and Special Jury Prize.
4) The movie grossed over $24 million
Russian writer Sergei Lukyanenko wrote the screenplay and published the graphic novel, Night Watch movie, in Russia in 1994. The book was translated into English by Andrew Bromfield and published by Dark Horse Comics in 2004. It was adapted for film by Timur Bekmambetov in 2004 with a budget of $10 million. The movie grossed over $24 million on a budget of $10 million. One estimate places it as high as $80 million at the box office, not including DVD sales.
The script is based on the 2003 Russian live-action television series ‘Day Watch’. The character Rasputin appears throughout both stories. There are two versions of this story: Day Watch (or Solar Power) versus Night Watch (or Magic). In Day Watch, Light Guardians protect humans from dark forces while they sleep; while in NightWatch, these Guardians protect humans during the day while they’re awake.
5) It is the highest grossing Russian film of all time
The Night Watch is one of Russia’s most popular films. It was released in 2004, and it quickly became the highest grossing Russian film of all time. It was written and directed by Timur Bekmambetov, who also wrote and directed Wanted and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. One of the major themes in The Night Watch is love, which happens to be a common theme for this director. One major way that love is displayed throughout this movie is when Yegor falls for Svetlana (Ksenia Rappoport).
They eventually get married and have a child together. Another example of this theme can be seen through Captain Anton’s (Sergey Pokhodaev) storyline about his daughter Anna (Elizaveta Golubeva). He does everything he can to protect her from getting recruited as a soldier to fight against supernatural beings because he doesn’t want her to die like his wife did during World War II fighting against Nazis and vampires.