Knight and Day is a 2010 American funny action movie directed by James Mangold and starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. This was the second movie in which Cruise and Diaz worked together, following Vanilla Sky (2001). The story follows June Havens (Diaz), a person who fixes old cars, who accidentally becomes involved with Roy Miller (Cruise), a quirky secret agent who is running from the CIA.

The movie’s investors helped pay for the film by giving Cruise a smaller payment upfront and sharing profits with him only after the investors were paid back their money. Filming happened in many places, mostly in several cities in Massachusetts, with other scenes shot in Spain, Austria, and Jamaica.

Knight and Day was released in the United States on June 23, 2010. Critics gave it mixed reviews, praising the action scenes and the acting of Cruise and Diaz, but criticizing the script. The film earned $262 million worldwide and was later remade in Hindi as Bang Bang!, with Hrithik Roshan and Katrina Kaif playing the main roles.

Plot

June Havens is returning home to Boston after buying car parts in Wichita. She collides with Roy Miller at the airport and is moved to a later flight. John Fitzgerald, a CIA agent, believes June is working with Roy and places her back on the plane.

While June is in the restroom on the plane, Roy overpowers the passengers and crew, who are agents working for Fitzgerald. Roy crash-lands the plane in a cornfield. He drugs June and warns her that agents will pursue her. Later, June wakes up at home and prepares for her sister April’s wedding.

June learns that April wants to sell their father’s 1966 Pontiac GTO tri-power, which June had planned to restore as a wedding gift. Fitzgerald and his agents take June into custody. Roy rescues her and kills several agents during a highway chase.

June flees to her ex-boyfriend Rodney, a firefighter, before Roy arrives. Roy pretends to take June hostage and shoots Rodney. He tells June she is safer with him and explains that he has the Zephyr, a perpetual energy battery. Roy was assigned to protect the battery’s inventor, Simon Feck, until Fitzgerald tried to steal it and framed Roy.

In Brooklyn, June and Roy find a clue that Feck is hiding in the Alps. They are attacked by henchmen from Antonio Quintana, a Spanish arms dealer. June is drugged again and becomes drowsy as they are captured. They later escape to Roy’s remote island.

June accidentally leads Quintana’s men to the hideout after answering a call from her sister. Roy and June escape from Quintana’s drone using a helicopter. Roy knocks June unconscious to help her overcome her fear of flying in the small helicopter.

June wakes up on a train in Austria, where Roy has reunited with Feck. They kill Bernhard, an assassin hired by Quintana. After staying at a hotel in Salzburg, June follows Roy to a meeting with Naomi, Quintana’s henchwoman, where Roy offers to sell the Zephyr.

Fitzgerald and CIA Director Isabel George find June and reveal that Roy used her at the airport to smuggle the Zephyr past security. Heartbroken, June leads them to the hotel. Roy flees across rooftops and is shot, falling into a river with the Zephyr.

Feck is kidnapped from CIA custody by Fitzgerald, who is the real traitor, and sent to Spain. June attends her sister’s wedding and visits an address Roy had been monitoring, where she meets Roy’s parents and learns his real name is Matthew Knight.

Roy’s parents believe their son, an Army sergeant and Eagle Scout, was killed in action and have won lotteries and sweepstakes they do not remember entering. June leaves a message on her answering machine stating she has the Zephyr. She is taken by Quintana’s men to Seville.

After being drugged with a prototype truth serum, June explains that Roy’s deal with Quintana was meant to alert the CIA so June would return home in time for the wedding. Roy tracks Fitzgerald, rescues June, and leads Quintana and his men on a car chase.

Quintana is killed by a bull stampede, and Roy trades the Zephyr to Fitzgerald for Feck. Fitzgerald shoots at Feck, but Roy takes the bullet. After Feck reveals the battery is unstable, it explodes, killing Fitzgerald.

Roy is hospitalized in Washington, D.C., where George tells him June has moved on and welcomes him back to the CIA. However, George’s coded language suggests Roy will be killed. June, disguised as a nurse, drugs Roy and helps him escape the hospital.

Roy wakes up in the rebuilt GTO and drives toward Cape Horn with June. Roy’s parents unexpectedly receive tickets to Cape Horn as well.

Production

Before film director James Mangold joined the movie Knight and Day, the project was originally planned by director Tom Dey. More than 12 writers helped create the film. The Writers Guild of America, West, decided that only Patrick O'Neill, who worked on the early outline of the script, would receive credit for writing. Other writers who contributed to the script included Scott Frank, Laeta Kalogridis, Ted Griffin, Dana Fox, and Simon Kinberg.

The film went through many changes in its lead actors while the project was stuck in a difficult phase called "development hell." Before finalizing Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz as the leads, the movie was titled Wichita and offered a starring role to comedian Adam Sandler. He refused, saying, "I just don't see me with a gun." The movie was first developed by Revolution Studios, but later moved to Sony Pictures. At Sony, actors Chris Tucker and Eva Mendes were originally planned to star in the film, which was titled Trouble Man and meant to be a romantic story for them.

After Tucker and Mendes left the project, Cameron Diaz joined Sony Pictures to star in the film. Actor Gerard Butler met with the production team about playing the other lead role but instead chose to star in The Bounty Hunter with Jennifer Aniston. Tom Cruise, who was auditioning for parts in five other films, including Salt and The Tourist, decided to take the lead role in Knight and Day. He also wanted to change the character's story to match his own ideas.

The film's production partners, New Regency and Dune Entertainment, helped fund the movie by paying Tom Cruise a lower advance fee than usual. Cruise normally received $20 million or more for an advance, but for Knight and Day, he received $11 million. He also agreed not to receive first-dollar gross, which was his usual arrangement. This meant he would not get money from the film's profits until the investors who funded the movie were paid back. The total cost to make the film was more than $125 million.

Principal photography began in mid-September 2009 in Boston and Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Scenes in an airport terminal were filmed at Worcester Regional Airport. Other filming locations included Melrose, Danvers, and New Bedford, Massachusetts, as well as Seville and Cádiz in Spain, Salzburg in Austria, and Port Antonio in Jamaica.

The Black Eyed Peas wrote a theme song for the film called "Someday."

Marketing

The movie Knight and Day was originally scheduled to release on June 25, 2010. However, FOX moved the premiere to June 23, 2010, after early data showed low interest in the film. The New York Observer examined the marketing strategy, which included an online video featuring the two main stars. Journalist Christopher Rosen described the publicity campaign as "intrusive and desperate," noting it was more aggressive than other major film releases. Film producer Don Carmody criticized the movie's trailer, calling it "dull," and stated the film might not succeed due to the ages of the two lead actors. He said, "Cameron Diaz was a star, but she is no longer a star. Some of those stars are getting a little older." The Hollywood Reporter reported that potential viewers showed little interest in the film, and younger audiences were the main group paying attention. This suggested that fans who grew up with actor Tom Cruise had moved on to other movies.

FOX tried to improve word-of-mouth advertising by showing a sneak preview on June 19, 2010. The Los Angeles Times reported the same day that early surveys predicted the film would likely fail commercially. Projections estimated the film would earn only $20 million at the box office, far below its production cost of $125 million. FOX production President Emma Watts said, "We aren't exactly where we hoped we would be." The Los Angeles Times noted that younger moviegoers, who often drive strong summer openings, were not interested in the film. New York Magazine reported the film was "tracking miserably" before its release, with Tom Cruise being a major challenge. A FOX official told New York Magazine, "At those numbers, we can't open the movie right now. Hopefully, they'll change in the next few days."

On June 22, 2010, a FOX executive told TheWrap that early tracking data showed the film was unlikely to make over $30 million in its first five days. The executive said, "Tracking says one thing, but our sneak previews this weekend said something totally different. … but if you look at the empirical data, we're nowhere." The day before the film's release, a long scene from Knight and Day was made available on iTunes to increase interest. After the film's debut, FOX distribution executive Bruce Snyder told The Hollywood Reporter, "It's an adult movie opening on a Wednesday, but we opened it there and snuck it on Saturday because we believe the word-of-mouth will be good, so we're set for a pretty good opening weekend. Remember, it's an original, adult movie, which we expect will run for quite a while."

Alternative versions

A longer version of the movie, which includes eight minutes of new scenes and a new opening that shows June Haven's job as a car restorer, was released on video-on-demand in North America. As of January 2011, this version had not been released on DVD in Region 1, but it was available in Regions 2, 3, and 4.

Reception

The movie Knight and Day earned $76.4 million in the United States and Canada and $185.5 million in other countries, totaling $261.9 million worldwide. It did not do well on its first day, making $3.8 million in the United States and Canada on June 24, 2010, after it first opened on June 23. This amount was much less than the movie Toy Story 3, which earned $13 million on the same day. Knight and Day did not rank in the top 50 movies with the highest opening earnings on a Wednesday. Box Office Mojo said this was the least attended action movie debut for Tom Cruise since his 1986 movie, Legend. It was also the lowest-grossing opening day for Cruise in a leading role since his 1992 movie, Far and Away. Cruise’s previous starring role in the 2008 movie Valkyrie made $8.5 million on its opening day. The earlier movie with Cameron Diaz and Cruise as leads, Vanilla Sky, earned $8.9 million on its opening day.

Moira Macdonald from The Seattle Times said the movie’s first earnings were “a box-office disappointment.” Roger Friedman from Hollywood News wrote, “Bad reviews didn’t help. K&D has registered only 52% on Rotten Tomatoes. Even those reviews counted as positive weren’t so good. They were stretching.” Nicole Sperling from Entertainment Weekly noted, “Audiences just aren’t showing up the way Fox might have hoped.” Ben Fritz from Los Angeles Times called the film’s debut a “soft” opening and said, “It wasn’t a good first day or night at the box office for Knight and Day.”

The movie’s earnings dropped 9% on its second day, making $3.5 million in ticket sales. During the same time, Toy Story 3’s ticket sales dropped 3%, The Karate Kid dropped 6%, while other movies like Shrek Forever After, Sex and the City 2, Get Him to the Greek, Killers, and Robin Hood increased their earnings. In its first weekend, Knight and Day was shown with Grown Ups, a comedy starring Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, and Rob Schneider. On the first Friday of its release, Knight and Day ranked third at the box office, behind Grown Ups and Toy Story 3. The movie made $6.4 million on its third day of release.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie has an approval rating of 51% based on 230 reviews and an average rating of 5.60/10. The site’s summary says, “It’s pure formula, but thanks to its breezy pace and a pair of charming performances from Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, Knight and Day offers some agreeably middle-of-the-road summer action.” On Metacritic, the movie has a score of 46 out of 100 based on 38 critics, indicating “mixed or average” reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the movie an average grade of “B+” on an A+ to F scale.

Justin Chang from Variety described the movie as “a high-energy, low-impact caper-comedy that labors to bring a measure of wit, romance, and glamour to an overworked spy-thriller template.” Kirk Honeycutt from The Hollywood Reporter wrote, “Bottom Line: Logic and plausibility take a holiday in this nonstop actioner that counts on stars Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz to sell the nonsense.” Honeycutt criticized the writing, saying, “the script is too lazy to develop any of its characters – and that includes the leads,” and noted, “laziness permeates the film from the inexplicable escapes to the neglected romance.” Michael Phillips from The Chicago Tribune criticized the script, direction, cinematography, set pieces, and action sequences. Phillips concluded, calling it “A 21st Century Charade pumped up on all the wrong steroids, Knight and Day may well suffice for audiences desperate for the bankable paradox known as the predictable surprise, and willing to overlook a galumphing mediocrity in order to concentrate on matters of dentistry.”

Emanuel Levy criticized the film’s writing, calling it a “mindless flick”; he noted, “The story moves at a breakneck speed, as if to conceal the incongruities in the storytelling.” Levy gave the film a grade of “C” and commented, “Preposterously plotted, the saga is dominated by long, energetic, uneven action sequences, but it lacks any logic and pays minimal attention to characterization. Repetitious in structure, and with humor that more often than not misses the mark, Knight and Day is characterized by nihilistic violence and amoral tone, which wouldn’t have mattered had the movie been witty or fun to watch.” Simon Abrams from Slant Magazine gave the film a rating of two stars out of four and commented of the film’s director and writer, “Clearly O’Neill and Mangold are trying to give viewers what producers would undoubtedly like to sell as ‘something for everybody,’ but there’s no consistency to the thing and no chemistry whatsoever between Cruise and Diaz, making the alternating tug-of-war between girly and manly elements of the film seem extraordinarily forced.” Rene Rodriguez from The Miami Herald wrote that there was “no chemistry between Cruise and Diaz,” and commented regarding Cruise’s acting, “Tom Cruise spends much of Knight and Day looking as if he’s waiting for someone to pour casting mold over his head to make an action figure.” Peter Howell in the Toronto Star commented, “There is supposed to be romance in Knight and Day—and Diaz is up for it—but Cruise still looks as if he’s taken charisma lessons from Al Gore.”

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