The Aviator is an Academy Award-winning 2004 biographical drama film, directed by Martin Scorsese, and based largely on the book "Hughes" by Richard Hack. It tells the story of the eccentric aviation pioneer Howard Hughes, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, following his life from the late 1920s through the 1940s, a time when Hughes was directing and producing Hollywood movies as well as test-piloting his own groundbreaking new aircraft. The film also illustrates Hughes's descent into obsessive compulsiveness and reclusiveness.
The Aviator was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, and went on to win 5, including Best Supporting Actress for Cate Blanchett. It also won the BAFTA Award for Best Film.
For the first fifty minutes of the film, scenes appear in shades of only red and cyan blue; green objects are rendered as blue. This was done, according to Scorsese, to emulate the look of early two-color movies, in particular the Multicolor process, which Hughes himself owned. Many of the scenes depicting events occurring after 1935 are treated to emulate the saturated appearance of three-strip Technicolor. Other scenes were stock footage colorized and incorporated into the film. The color effects were created by Legend Films.
The film received highly positive reviews with the review tallying website rottentomatoes.com reporting that 180 out of the 203 reviews they tallied were positive for a score of 89% and certification of fresh. The film grossed $102M at the U.S. box office and $111M at the foreign box office.
Box office
USA US$ 102,610,330 (48.0%)
Other US$ 111,131,129 (52.0%)
World US$ 213,741,459
