Fantasy Island (film)

{{Infobox film | name = Fantasy Island | image = Fantasy Island poster.jpg | caption = Theatrical poster | director = Jeff Wadlow

| producer =

• Jason Blum
• Marc Toberoff
• Jeff Wadlow

| writer =

• Jeff Wadlow
• Chris Roach
• Jillian Jacobs

| based_on Template:The Moneys Paw/

Blumhouse's Fantasy Island (or simply Fantasy Island) is a 2020 American supernatural horror film directed and co-written by Jeff Wadlow. A horror reimagining it stars Michael Peña, Maggie Q, Lucy Hale, Austin Stowell, Portia Doubleday, Jimmy O. Yang, Ryan Hansen, and Michael Rooker. Produced by Wadlow and Marc Toberoff, as well as Jason Blum through his Blumhouse Productions banner, the film follows five people who visit the eponymous island, discovering that their dream fantasies brought to life begin to turn into horrific living nightmares they must try to survive.

Fantasy Island was released in the United States on February 14, 2020 by Sony Pictures Releasing. It was critically panned, but was a box office success, grossing $47 million worldwide against its $7 million production budget.

Plot

Gwen, Patrick, Melanie, and brothers JD and Brax, arrive by airplane at Fantasy Island after winning a contest. They are greeted by resort worker Julia, and speculate about how the resort will fulfill their fantasies. The island's proprietor, Mr. Roarke, arrives and explains that each of them will be given one fantasy and that they must see it through to its conclusion, even if its result is not as the wisher intended. Roarke then guides the guests to their wishes.

JD and Brax are taken to a mansion where they become the guests of honor at a party thrown by gorgeous models. After much partying, armed men storm the mansion and take the brothers hostage. The mansion had belonged to a drug dealer and the men are looking for money and illicit drugs.

Patrick, a police officer, is given a chance to live out his fantasy of serving in the military. However, he is soon captured by American special forces commandos who disbelieve his story. The commandos are on a mission to rescue American citizens being held hostage. They introduce him to their commander, who Patrick recognizes as his father. He realizes that he is taking part in the mission which lead to his father's death when Patrick was a child.

Roarke gives Gwen the chance to correct her greatest regret: turning down her boyfriend Allen's marriage proposal five years earlier. She is transported back to the restaurant where Allen proposed. This time she accepts his proposal and suddenly finds herself vacationing with Allen and their daughter.

Melanie is shown to an underground torture chamber where Sloane, a girl who had mercilessly bullied her in high school, is tied up. Melanie tortures Sloane, including posting a video of Sloane's infidelity on social media where her husband can see it. But when Melanie sees a video of Sloane being abducted, she realizes that this is all real and helps free her. The two of them escape from a demented surgeon named Dr. Torture and flee into the jungle.

The individual fantasies begin to converge. Brax manages to get into the mansion's armory and hold some of the drug dealers hostage with a grenade. Patrick manages to convince his father of his identity, and the team arrives at the mansion where they kill the drug dealers and rescue Brax. However, JD is shot and killed.

Melanie and Sloane confront their past and reconcile. They are then rescued by Damon, a private investigator who has been stuck on the island since he came there to investigate it. He shows them to an underground grotto with a magical stone which can show people their fantasies. The water in the grotto can grant fantasies when it is drunk. Damon tells them that he has a pilot waiting nearby and gives them a phone number to call for rescue. Damon is killed by the relentless Dr. Torture, but the two women escape back to the hotel where they phone the plane for rescue. There they reunite with Brax and Patrick.

Gwen becomes dissatisfied with her fantasy. Roarke explains that he is living out his own fantasy of being reunited with his wife, Julia, who had died while they were searching for the island. To keep her real, he must remain on the island forever. Grace realizes that her greatest regret is not rejecting Allen's proposal, but an event six years ago where she failed to save her neighbor Nick from a fire which she had accidentally started. The island takes her back in time to the night of the fire where she sees that Brax and JD also lived in the apartment and Patrick was a police officer who responded but who ignores her pleas to help save Nick. Gwen tries to rescue Nick but is overcome by smoke and must be rescued by Julia. Reuniting with the other guests, they flee into the jungle to avoid Roarke and his men.

Gwen realizes that they are all connected to Nick somehow, with Melanie having been a classmate of his who had agreed to a date with him but then changed his mind. They realize that someone brought them there for a revenge fantasy, with Melanie speculating that Julia might be Nick's mother. Melanie takes them down into the caverns, where the group becomes separated. Patrick is killed and Sloane confronts a clone of her cruel younger self, which she decisively rejects. The drug dealers arrive, taking everyone hostage. Melanie explains that this is really her fantasy. She had made a special connection with Nick, and had been supposed to go on a date with him that night, finally overcoming her crippling self esteem issues, and had been devastated when she saw that he died.

Roarke arrives and says that he cannot stop Melanie's fantasy, but reminds them that anyone who drinks the water will be granted a fantasy. Sloane drinks the water and reveals her fantasy: that Melanie and Nick should be together forever. Nick's charred corpse emerges and pulls Melanie into the water. With her fantasy ended, the drug dealers disappear. Sloane and Gwen board the plane to travel back to the mainland. Roarke informs Brax that he had merely partaken in his brother's fantasy and had not been granted one of his own. Brax decides that his fantasy is for his brother to be alive and return to the outside world. JD appears in the plane, which departs. Roarke warns Brax that for the fantasy to last, Brax must remain on the island forever. Brax agrees.

Cast

• Michael Peña as Mr. Roarke, the enigmatic "keeper" of Fantasy Island and Julia's husband.
• Maggie Q as Gwen Olsen, a businesswoman who visits the island to realize her fantasy of accepting a marriage proposal.
• Lucy Hale as Melanie Cole, a disturbed girl who visits the island to realize her fantasy of taking revenge on a childhood bully.unaware its real.
• Austin Stowell as Patrick Sullivan, a former police officer who visits the island to realize his fantasy of enlisting on a war in honor of his late father.
• Portia Doubleday as Sloane Madison, Melanie's childhood bully, who was kidnapped and sent to the island to be a prisoner in a fantasy.
• Jimmy O. Yang as Brax "T" Weaver J. D.'s gay younger brother, who visits the island to realize his fantasy of "having it all".
• Ryan Hansen as J. D. Weaver, Brax's older brother, who visits the island to realize his fantasy of "having it all".
• Michael Rooker as Damon, a private investigator sent to investigate the true intentions of Fantasy Island, and not allowed to leave.
• Parisa Fitz-Henley as Julia Roarke, Roarke's deceased wife, who reappears on the island as his personal assistant on his fantasy.
• Mike Vogel as Lieutenant Sullivan, Patrick's deceased father, who reappears as part of his fantasy on his last war mission before dying.
• Evan Evagora as Nick Taylor, Melanie's crush, who died in a fire involving the other guests of the island.
• Robbie Jones as Allen Chambers, Gwen's ex-boyfriend, to whom he proposed marriage.
• Kim Coates as Devil Face, the leader of the drug cartel that seeks to kill J. D. and Brax.
• Ian Roberts as Dr. Torture, brought to the island to torture, and possibly kill, Sloane .
• Charlotte McKinney as Chastity, a party girl who appears as part of J. D. and Brax's fantasy of "having it all".

Production

It was announced in July 2018 that a horror film adaptation of the Fantasy Island television series was being developed at Blumhouse Productions and Sony Pictures, described as a mix of Westworld and The Cabin in the Woods. Jeff Wadlow was set to direct as well as co-write the screenplay, and co-produce.

In October 2018, Michael Peña, Jimmy O. Yang, Dave Bautista and Lucy Hale joined the cast. In November 2018, during an interview, Wadlow disclosed that Maggie Q, Portia Doubleday and Ryan Hansen were added as well, though Bautista was no longer to appear in the film.

Michael Rooker, Charlotte McKinney, Parisa Fitz-Henley and Austin Stowell were cast in January 2019.

Filming locations

The majority of the filming took place in Navodo Bay in Fiji. Minor scenes were filmed in New York and Mississippi.

Music

Fantasy Island: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by Bear McCreary
Released	February 14, 2020
Genre	Soundtrack
Length	1:11:01
Label	Madison Gate
Producer	Bear McCreary
Bear McCreary chronology
Eli (2019) Fantasy Island: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2020)

On February 14, 2020, Madison Gate Records released the score soundtrack for the film composed by Bear McCreary. Jared Lee performed a track titled "Don’t Wish Your Life Away", which appeared in the film's end credits and was released as a single on January 31, 2020.

All tracks are written by Bear McCreary

No.	Title	Length
1.	"You Are One of My Guests"	1:37
2.	"Arrival"	3:45
3.	"Regret Is a Disease"	2:26
4.	"Your Fantasy Begins Now"	5:47
5.	"No Soldier"	5:45
6.	"The Life You Wanted"	2:51
7.	"Panic Room"	2:30
8.	"Dog Tags"	3:26
9.	"Brax Makes His Move"	2:44
10.	"You Deserve It"	2:04
11.	"The Heart of the Island"	4:38
12.	"Fighting"	4:28
13.	"A Devil, a Pig and a Clown"	6:36
14.	"Not My Fantasy"	2:58
15.	"The Island’s Secret"	8:49
16.	"In the Cave"	4:24
17.	"Hate in My Heart"	3:05
18.	"Every Guest Gets a Fantasy"	6:01
19.	"What Happens Now"	2:40
Total length:		1:11:01

Release

Fantasy Island was released on February 14, 2020. It originally was scheduled to open on February 28, 2020, before being moved up, with another Blumhouse production, The Invisible Man, being set for its original date.

Home media

Fantasy Island was released on digital on April 14, 2020. Later, the film released on Blu-ray and DVD on May 12, 2020.

Reception

Box office

Fantasy Island grossed $26.4 million in the United States and Canada, and $20.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $47.3 million, against a production budget of $7 million.

In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside Sonic the Hedgehog, The Photograph and Downhill, and was projected to gross $13–20 million from 2,770 theaters in its opening weekend. It made $5.7 million on its first day, and went on to debut to $12.6 million for its first three days, and a total $14 million over four, finishing third at the box office.

Critical response

As of September 2020, on Rotten Tomatoes, the film had an approval rating of 8% based on 104 critics and an average rating of 3.2/10. The site's critics consensus read: "Fantasy Island tries to show audiences the dark side of wish fulfillment, but mainly serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of exhuming long-dead franchises." On Metacritic, as of September 2020, the film had a score of 22 out of 100 based on 29 critic reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C−" on an A+ to F scale.

Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times called the film "inane" and "contrived," and wrote that "it feels like someone planted about a half-dozen different scripts all over this Fantasy Island." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film zero out of five stars, writing, "If crimes against cinema merited prosecution, Blumhouse's Fantasy Island would go directly to death row...The only genuine, blood-curdling scream incited by this stupefyingly dull time- and money-waster comes at the end, when the notion dawns that [the film] is meant to spawn sequels. Stop it now, before it kills again." Peter Sobczynski of RogerEbert.com wrote that the film "contains less raw terror in its entirety than Sonic the Hedgehog during any five minutes of its running time," calling it "utterly boring" and "no sane person's fantasy of a half-decent movie."

External links

• Official website
• Fantasy Island at IMDb