The Number 23
Encyclopedia
The Number 23 is a 2007 American psychological thriller film
written by Fernley Phillips and directed by Joel Schumacher
. The film starred Jim Carrey
, Virginia Madsen
, Danny Huston
, and Logan Lerman
. It was subsequently released on DVD on July 24, 2007 (23 July in the UK
), and premiered on HBO on Saturday April 19, 2008. The plot involves an obsession with the 23 enigma, an esoteric belief that all incidents and events are directly connected to the number 23, some permutation of the number 23, or a number related to 23. This is the second film to pair Schumacher and Carrey, the first being Batman Forever
. This is Carrey's first suspense thriller.
) is an animal control officer
married to Agatha (Virginia Madsen
); they have a son, Robin (Logan Lerman
). The film opens with Walter narrating the events of his recent birthday. He received a call to catch a dog
. Walter eventually corners the dog, and learns from his name tag that his name is Ned. The dog bites his arm and escapes again. Thanks to the delay caused by Ned, Walter is late meeting his wife and while she is waiting, she enters a bookstore where she looks through a book titled The Number 23 written by Topsy Kretts. When Walter arrives, Agatha announces that she is going to buy the book for him as a birthday present.
Walter starts reading the book, noticing odd similarities between himself and the main character, a detective who refers to himself as "Fingerling". The character explains that he got the name from an obscure children's book, one that Walter also enjoyed as a child. The book details Fingerling's meeting with the "Suicide Blonde", whose bizarre obsession with the number 23 drives her to murder her boyfriend and commit suicide. Walter begins to have dreams of murdering Agatha, which causes him to become extremely paranoid. After one such dream he drives off in the middle of the night. Walter winds up in the King Edward Hotel. Initially, he was issued room 27, but requests room 23. Walter spends the evening finishing the book only to discover that the book stops at chapter 22 with Fingerling standing on a balcony trying to decide whether or not to jump, after murdering his lover, Fabrizia.
The next day, Walter sees Ned the dog from the hotel room window and follows Ned back to the cemetery, where he meets a priest and the cemetery gardener, and learns that they have nicknamed Ned "The Guardian of the Dead" due to his fondness for sitting and watching the gravestones, with a special attention to the grave of Laura Tollins, a murder victim whose body was never found, so her grave lies empty. Walter returns home with a newspaper article about the murder of college student Laura Tollins (Rhona Mitra
) by her psychology professor, Kyle Flinch (Mark Pellegrino
), with whom she was having sexual relations; the circumstances of Laura's murder are almost exactly the same as the murder of Fabrizia in The Number 23. Walter thinks the professor wrote the book as a secret confession and goes to see him in jail. The man proclaims his innocence of the murder and of being the author, stating he would never choose a pen name like "Topsy Kretts," pointing out that it is an obvious homophone
for "Top Secrets."
Robin finds a PO Box address hidden in the back of the book and they send a shipment of 23 boxes to it hoping to draw out the book's author. They wait for Topsy Kretts (Bud Cort
), who, upon being confronted by Walter, becomes panicked, proclaims Walter should be dead and slits his own throat. Inside the man's pockets, Agatha finds an ID card belonging to a mental institution, showing the man is Dr. Sirius Leary. She goes to the abandoned asylum and finds Leary's old office. In a cell covered in calculations of the number 23, she finds an old box with Walter's name on it. Meanwhile, Robin and Walter discover that every 23rd word on every 23rd page of the book spells out two messages which lead them to "Casanova's Park." They arrive at the park late that night and go down a staircase marked "The Steps to Heaven" which consists of 23 steps. At the bottom, they dig deep in the ground and discover a human skeleton, presumably Laura Tollins, but when they return with a police officer, the bones have disappeared. Walter confronts Agatha about taking the bones and accuses her of writing the book. She admits to moving the skeleton to protect him, but tells Walter that it was he who wrote the book, and shows him the contents of the box from the Institute. In the box there is a manuscript of The Number 23 with Walter's name on it and an ankle bracelet that belonged to Laura Tollins.
He returns to the hotel to room 23, where he tears down the wallpaper and finds the missing 23rd chapter written all over the wall. The chapter explains that the story was Walter's confession and he remembers why he did everything: his father killed himself after the death of Walter's mother. His suicide note was just pages of things that added up to the number 23. Walter loved Laura Tollins and grew obsessed with 23 because of his father. Laura began sleeping with her professor. Walter tried to warn her about the number being dangerous and how it was going to come after her. She told him he was crazy, daring Walter to kill her. Walter went into a rage, stabbing her and burying her in the park, which Ned observed. The professor was the first to walk into the room where Laura was killed, and he picked up the knife, covering the weapon with his fingerprints and staining his hands with blood. With this evidence, he was convicted for the murder. Walter went to the hotel room, wrote The Number 23, placing the 23rd chapter on the walls, floor and every other part of the room, and then jumped off the balcony. He survived but suffered severe injuries and trauma. Walter ended up in the institute where Dr. Leary worked. Dr. Leary read the manuscript and, after publishing it, became obsessed with the number 23 himself. Because of the fall, Walter suffered memory loss and upon leaving the institute he met Agatha.
Agatha finds Walter at the hotel, and tries to assure him that he is no longer the person he was when he wrote the book. He insists that he is a killer, accepting the fact that he murdered Laura Tollins, and tells Agatha to leave before he kills her too. Agatha pushes a letter opener into Walter's hand, saying that if he is indeed a killer, he can easily kill again, and dares him to kill her. She tells him that she loves him. Walter tells her that she can't love him because no one can, mirroring an accusation made by Laura on the night of her murder. He leaves the hotel and runs into the street, where he nearly allows himself to be run over by a bus, but steps out of the way at the last minute when he realizes his son is watching. As he embraces his family, a voiceover by Walter tells the audience that he turned himself into the police and is awaiting sentencing, having been told that the judge will likely go easy on him since he turned himself in. A funeral procession takes place in front of Laura Tollins's grave, where it is implied her body has finally been laid to rest, as Flinch observes, finally a free man.
At the end of the film, viewers can see the Bible reading from Numbers 32:23: "Be sure your sin will find you out."
and a consensus stating "Jim Carrey
has been sharp in a number of non-comedic roles, but this lurid, overheated, and self-serious potboiler is not one of them. The Number 23 is clumsy, unengaging, and mostly confusing." Of the few critics who liked the film, Richard Roeper
and critic George Pennachio of KABC-TV
in Los Angeles
stand out, as they gave the film a "2 thumbs up" rating on the television show Ebert & Roeper (Pennachio was standing in for Roger Ebert
due to Ebert's recent illness).
However, Michael Phillips, filling in for Ebert on the Worst of 2007 show (aired January 12, 2008) put 23 at No. 7 in his list of the worst (Roeper did not include it in his list). Peter Travers
(of Rolling Stone
) declared the film the year's worst star vehicle
on his list of the Worst Movies of 2007, while Colm Andrew of the Manx Independent
said the film "delivers a rambling, confusing narrative with only a few stylistic elements thrown in".
For his performance, Jim Carrey
was nominated for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor at the 2008 Golden Raspberry Awards
, but lost the award to Eddie Murphy
for Norbit
.
which grossed $20 million. In total, the film grossed $35.2 million at the box office domestically. Worldwide, the film grossed $77.6 million. It was in release a mere 35 days.
s, such as a much more abstract alternate opening somewhat redolent of the opening of The Double Life of Véronique
, and an alternate ending that gives a few more details about Walter's prison sentence and hints at the possibility that the son could be subject to the same obsessions as his father. The disc also includes interviews with mathematicians, psychologists, and numerologists
. The DVD shows the film over a set of 23 chapters. As of August 24, 2007 The Number 23 has generated $27.7 million from DVD rental gross.
Psychological thriller
Psychological thriller is a specific sub-genre of the broad ranged thriller with heavy focus on characters. However, it often incorporates elements from the mystery and drama genre, along with the typical traits of the thriller genre...
written by Fernley Phillips and directed by Joel Schumacher
Joel Schumacher
Joel T. Schumacher is an American film director, screenwriter and producer.-Early life:Schumacher was born in New York City, the son of Marian and Francis Schumacher. His mother was a Swedish Jew, and his father was a Baptist from Knoxville, Tennessee, who died when Joel was four years old...
. The film starred Jim Carrey
Jim Carrey
James Eugene "Jim" Carrey is a Canadian-American actor and comedian. He has received two Golden Globe Awards and has also been nominated on four occasions. Carrey began comedy in 1979, performing at Yuk Yuk's in Toronto, Ontario...
, Virginia Madsen
Virginia Madsen
Virginia Madsen is an American actress and documentary film producer. She came to fame during the 1980s, having appeared in several films aimed at a teenage audience...
, Danny Huston
Danny Huston
-Early life:Huston was born in Rome, Italy. He hails from the illustrious Huston acting and filmmaking dynasty. He is the son of legendary director John Huston, half-brother of actress Anjelica Huston and screenwriter Tony Huston, uncle of actor Jack Huston, stepbrother of Allegra Huston, and...
, and Logan Lerman
Logan Lerman
Logan Wade Lerman is an American actor, known for playing the title role in the 2010 fantasy-adventure Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. He appeared in commercials in the mid 1990s, before starring in the series Jack & Bobby , and the movies The Butterfly Effect and Hoot...
. It was subsequently released on DVD on July 24, 2007 (23 July in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
), and premiered on HBO on Saturday April 19, 2008. The plot involves an obsession with the 23 enigma, an esoteric belief that all incidents and events are directly connected to the number 23, some permutation of the number 23, or a number related to 23. This is the second film to pair Schumacher and Carrey, the first being Batman Forever
Batman Forever
Batman Forever is a 1995 American superhero film directed by Joel Schumacher and produced by Tim Burton. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is a sequel to Batman Returns , with Val Kilmer replacing Michael Keaton as Batman...
. This is Carrey's first suspense thriller.
Plot
Walter Sparrow (Jim CarreyJim Carrey
James Eugene "Jim" Carrey is a Canadian-American actor and comedian. He has received two Golden Globe Awards and has also been nominated on four occasions. Carrey began comedy in 1979, performing at Yuk Yuk's in Toronto, Ontario...
) is an animal control officer
Animal control officer
Historically, Dog whippers were charged with keeping dogs out of churches in 16th- to 19th- century Europe; they also sometimes filled a general animal-control role in villages, confining strays...
married to Agatha (Virginia Madsen
Virginia Madsen
Virginia Madsen is an American actress and documentary film producer. She came to fame during the 1980s, having appeared in several films aimed at a teenage audience...
); they have a son, Robin (Logan Lerman
Logan Lerman
Logan Wade Lerman is an American actor, known for playing the title role in the 2010 fantasy-adventure Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. He appeared in commercials in the mid 1990s, before starring in the series Jack & Bobby , and the movies The Butterfly Effect and Hoot...
). The film opens with Walter narrating the events of his recent birthday. He received a call to catch a dog
American Bulldog
The American Bulldog is a breed of working dog that was developed in the United States. There are generally considered to be three types of American bulldog: the Bully or Classic type , the Standard or Performance type , and the Hybrid type...
. Walter eventually corners the dog, and learns from his name tag that his name is Ned. The dog bites his arm and escapes again. Thanks to the delay caused by Ned, Walter is late meeting his wife and while she is waiting, she enters a bookstore where she looks through a book titled The Number 23 written by Topsy Kretts. When Walter arrives, Agatha announces that she is going to buy the book for him as a birthday present.
Walter starts reading the book, noticing odd similarities between himself and the main character, a detective who refers to himself as "Fingerling". The character explains that he got the name from an obscure children's book, one that Walter also enjoyed as a child. The book details Fingerling's meeting with the "Suicide Blonde", whose bizarre obsession with the number 23 drives her to murder her boyfriend and commit suicide. Walter begins to have dreams of murdering Agatha, which causes him to become extremely paranoid. After one such dream he drives off in the middle of the night. Walter winds up in the King Edward Hotel. Initially, he was issued room 27, but requests room 23. Walter spends the evening finishing the book only to discover that the book stops at chapter 22 with Fingerling standing on a balcony trying to decide whether or not to jump, after murdering his lover, Fabrizia.
The next day, Walter sees Ned the dog from the hotel room window and follows Ned back to the cemetery, where he meets a priest and the cemetery gardener, and learns that they have nicknamed Ned "The Guardian of the Dead" due to his fondness for sitting and watching the gravestones, with a special attention to the grave of Laura Tollins, a murder victim whose body was never found, so her grave lies empty. Walter returns home with a newspaper article about the murder of college student Laura Tollins (Rhona Mitra
Rhona Mitra
Rhona Natasha Mitra , sometimes credited as Rona Mitra, is an English actress, model and singer.-Early life:Mitra was born in Paddington, London, England, the daughter of Anthony Mitra, a cosmetic surgeon, and Nora Downey...
) by her psychology professor, Kyle Flinch (Mark Pellegrino
Mark Pellegrino
Mark Ross Pellegrino is an American actor of film and television. He is best known for his work on Lost as Jacob and for playing Lucifer on Supernatural.-Career:...
), with whom she was having sexual relations; the circumstances of Laura's murder are almost exactly the same as the murder of Fabrizia in The Number 23. Walter thinks the professor wrote the book as a secret confession and goes to see him in jail. The man proclaims his innocence of the murder and of being the author, stating he would never choose a pen name like "Topsy Kretts," pointing out that it is an obvious homophone
Homophone
A homophone is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning. The words may be spelled the same, such as rose and rose , or differently, such as carat, caret, and carrot, or to, two, and too. Homophones that are spelled the same are also both homographs and homonyms...
for "Top Secrets."
Robin finds a PO Box address hidden in the back of the book and they send a shipment of 23 boxes to it hoping to draw out the book's author. They wait for Topsy Kretts (Bud Cort
Bud Cort
Bud Cort is an American film and stage actor, writer, and director. He is best known for his portrayals of Harold in Hal Ashby's 1971 film Harold and Maude and the titular hero in Robert Altman's 1970 film Brewster McCloud...
), who, upon being confronted by Walter, becomes panicked, proclaims Walter should be dead and slits his own throat. Inside the man's pockets, Agatha finds an ID card belonging to a mental institution, showing the man is Dr. Sirius Leary. She goes to the abandoned asylum and finds Leary's old office. In a cell covered in calculations of the number 23, she finds an old box with Walter's name on it. Meanwhile, Robin and Walter discover that every 23rd word on every 23rd page of the book spells out two messages which lead them to "Casanova's Park." They arrive at the park late that night and go down a staircase marked "The Steps to Heaven" which consists of 23 steps. At the bottom, they dig deep in the ground and discover a human skeleton, presumably Laura Tollins, but when they return with a police officer, the bones have disappeared. Walter confronts Agatha about taking the bones and accuses her of writing the book. She admits to moving the skeleton to protect him, but tells Walter that it was he who wrote the book, and shows him the contents of the box from the Institute. In the box there is a manuscript of The Number 23 with Walter's name on it and an ankle bracelet that belonged to Laura Tollins.
He returns to the hotel to room 23, where he tears down the wallpaper and finds the missing 23rd chapter written all over the wall. The chapter explains that the story was Walter's confession and he remembers why he did everything: his father killed himself after the death of Walter's mother. His suicide note was just pages of things that added up to the number 23. Walter loved Laura Tollins and grew obsessed with 23 because of his father. Laura began sleeping with her professor. Walter tried to warn her about the number being dangerous and how it was going to come after her. She told him he was crazy, daring Walter to kill her. Walter went into a rage, stabbing her and burying her in the park, which Ned observed. The professor was the first to walk into the room where Laura was killed, and he picked up the knife, covering the weapon with his fingerprints and staining his hands with blood. With this evidence, he was convicted for the murder. Walter went to the hotel room, wrote The Number 23, placing the 23rd chapter on the walls, floor and every other part of the room, and then jumped off the balcony. He survived but suffered severe injuries and trauma. Walter ended up in the institute where Dr. Leary worked. Dr. Leary read the manuscript and, after publishing it, became obsessed with the number 23 himself. Because of the fall, Walter suffered memory loss and upon leaving the institute he met Agatha.
Agatha finds Walter at the hotel, and tries to assure him that he is no longer the person he was when he wrote the book. He insists that he is a killer, accepting the fact that he murdered Laura Tollins, and tells Agatha to leave before he kills her too. Agatha pushes a letter opener into Walter's hand, saying that if he is indeed a killer, he can easily kill again, and dares him to kill her. She tells him that she loves him. Walter tells her that she can't love him because no one can, mirroring an accusation made by Laura on the night of her murder. He leaves the hotel and runs into the street, where he nearly allows himself to be run over by a bus, but steps out of the way at the last minute when he realizes his son is watching. As he embraces his family, a voiceover by Walter tells the audience that he turned himself into the police and is awaiting sentencing, having been told that the judge will likely go easy on him since he turned himself in. A funeral procession takes place in front of Laura Tollins's grave, where it is implied her body has finally been laid to rest, as Flinch observes, finally a free man.
At the end of the film, viewers can see the Bible reading from Numbers 32:23: "Be sure your sin will find you out."
Cast
- Jim CarreyJim CarreyJames Eugene "Jim" Carrey is a Canadian-American actor and comedian. He has received two Golden Globe Awards and has also been nominated on four occasions. Carrey began comedy in 1979, performing at Yuk Yuk's in Toronto, Ontario...
as Walter Paul Sparrow / Detective Fingerling- Paul ButcherPaul Butcher (actor)Paul Butcher, Jr. is an American actor and singer.Butcher is best known for playing the role of Dustin Brooks, brother of Zoey Brooks, in the four seasons of the TV show Zoey 101....
as young Walter / Fingerling
- Paul Butcher
- Virginia MadsenVirginia MadsenVirginia Madsen is an American actress and documentary film producer. She came to fame during the 1980s, having appeared in several films aimed at a teenage audience...
as Agatha Pink-Sparrow / Fabrizia - Logan LermanLogan LermanLogan Wade Lerman is an American actor, known for playing the title role in the 2010 fantasy-adventure Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. He appeared in commercials in the mid 1990s, before starring in the series Jack & Bobby , and the movies The Butterfly Effect and Hoot...
as Robin Sparrow - Danny HustonDanny Huston-Early life:Huston was born in Rome, Italy. He hails from the illustrious Huston acting and filmmaking dynasty. He is the son of legendary director John Huston, half-brother of actress Anjelica Huston and screenwriter Tony Huston, uncle of actor Jack Huston, stepbrother of Allegra Huston, and...
as Isaac French / Dr. Miles Phoenix - Rhona MitraRhona MitraRhona Natasha Mitra , sometimes credited as Rona Mitra, is an English actress, model and singer.-Early life:Mitra was born in Paddington, London, England, the daughter of Anthony Mitra, a cosmetic surgeon, and Nora Downey...
as Laura Tollins - Bud CortBud CortBud Cort is an American film and stage actor, writer, and director. He is best known for his portrayals of Harold in Hal Ashby's 1971 film Harold and Maude and the titular hero in Robert Altman's 1970 film Brewster McCloud...
(uncredited) as Dr. Leary - Chris Lajoie as Benton
- Mark PellegrinoMark PellegrinoMark Ross Pellegrino is an American actor of film and television. He is best known for his work on Lost as Jacob and for playing Lucifer on Supernatural.-Career:...
as Kyle Finch - Lynn CollinsLynn CollinsViola Lynn Collins , better known as Lynn Collins, is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Kayla Silverfox in the live-action film X-Men Origins: Wolverine.-Life and career:...
as Isobel Lydia Hunt / Mrs. Dobkins / "The Suicide Blonde" / young Fingerling's mother - Michelle ArthurMichelle Arthur-Movies:She appeared as the Thorpe Sisters in the 1986 film adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Northanger Abbey. Arthur also appeared in the James Bond film Goldeneye as "Anna"...
as Sybil - Ed LauterEd LauterEdward Lauter is an American actor. He has appeared in numerous movies and was a stand up comic before getting into acting.Lauter was born in Long Beach, Long Island, New York...
as Father Sebastian - Corey StollCorey StollCorey Daniel Stoll is an American stage and screen actor. He received a Drama Desk Award nomination as Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play for Intimate Apparel, opposite Tony winner and Oscar nominee Viola Davis. He graduated from Oberlin College in 1998...
as Sergeant Burns - Tom LenkTom LenkThomas Loren "Tom" Lenk is an American stage and television actor best known for his recurring role as Andrew Wells in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel.-Early life:...
as Bookstore clerk - Bob ZmudaBob ZmudaBob Zmuda is an American writer, comedian, producer and director best known as the sidekick, co-writer and friend of cult personality Andy Kaufman....
as Desk clerk - K.T. Rowe (uncredited) as The Girlfriend
Reception
The film has received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics, with a current rating of 8% on Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
and a consensus stating "Jim Carrey
Jim Carrey
James Eugene "Jim" Carrey is a Canadian-American actor and comedian. He has received two Golden Globe Awards and has also been nominated on four occasions. Carrey began comedy in 1979, performing at Yuk Yuk's in Toronto, Ontario...
has been sharp in a number of non-comedic roles, but this lurid, overheated, and self-serious potboiler is not one of them. The Number 23 is clumsy, unengaging, and mostly confusing." Of the few critics who liked the film, Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Richard E. Roeper is an American columnist and film critic for The Chicago Sun-Times and now a co-host on The Roe Conn Show on WLS-AM...
and critic George Pennachio of KABC-TV
KABC-TV
KABC-TV, channel 7, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, licensed to Los Angeles, California. KABC-TV's studios are located in Glendale, California...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
stand out, as they gave the film a "2 thumbs up" rating on the television show Ebert & Roeper (Pennachio was standing in for Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
due to Ebert's recent illness).
However, Michael Phillips, filling in for Ebert on the Worst of 2007 show (aired January 12, 2008) put 23 at No. 7 in his list of the worst (Roeper did not include it in his list). Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Peter Travers is an American film critic, who has written for, in turn, People and Rolling Stone. Travers also hosts a celebrity interview show called Popcorn on ABC News Now and ABCNews.com.-Career:...
(of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
) declared the film the year's worst star vehicle
Star vehicle
A star vehicle has historically been a movie, play, TV series, or other production whose primary purpose, besides turning a profit, is to enhance someone's career. Vehicles are most commonly produced when a young or inexperienced actor has signed a long-term contract with a major studio...
on his list of the Worst Movies of 2007, while Colm Andrew of the Manx Independent
Manx Independent
The Manx Independent is a tabloid weekly newspaper in the Isle of Man. It is published every Friday.It is owned by Isle of Man Newspapers, which is now part of Johnston Press....
said the film "delivers a rambling, confusing narrative with only a few stylistic elements thrown in".
For his performance, Jim Carrey
Jim Carrey
James Eugene "Jim" Carrey is a Canadian-American actor and comedian. He has received two Golden Globe Awards and has also been nominated on four occasions. Carrey began comedy in 1979, performing at Yuk Yuk's in Toronto, Ontario...
was nominated for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor at the 2008 Golden Raspberry Awards
Golden Raspberry Awards
A Golden Raspberry Award, or Razzie for short, is an award presented in recognition of the worst in movies. Founded by American copywriter and publicist John J.B. Wilson in 1981, the annual Razzie Awards ceremony in Los Angeles precedes the corresponding Academy Awards ceremony by one day...
, but lost the award to Eddie Murphy
Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan "Eddie" Murphy is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, singer, director, and musician....
for Norbit
Norbit
Norbit is a 2007 American comedy film directed by Brian Robbins and starring Eddie Murphy and Thandie Newton. Produced by Davis Entertainment and Tollin/Robbins Productions, the film also stars Terry Crews, Clifton Powell, Lester "Rasta" Speight, Eddie Griffin, Katt Williams, Marlon Wayans, and...
.
Box office
On its opening weekend, The Number 23 took in $14.6 million, coming in behind Ghost RiderGhost Rider (film)
Ghost Rider is a 2007 superhero film written and directed by Mark Steven Johnson. Based on the character of the same name which appeared in Marvel Comics, the film stars Nicolas Cage as Johnny Blaze, a stunt motorcyclist who sells his soul to the Devil and transforms into thevigilante Ghost...
which grossed $20 million. In total, the film grossed $35.2 million at the box office domestically. Worldwide, the film grossed $77.6 million. It was in release a mere 35 days.
Home media
The film was released on Region 1 DVD on July 24, 2007; the release includes deleted sceneDeleted scene
In Entertainment, especially the film and television industry, Deleted scenes are parts of a film removed or censored from or replaced by another scene in the final "cut", or version, of a film...
s, such as a much more abstract alternate opening somewhat redolent of the opening of The Double Life of Véronique
The Double Life of Véronique
The Double Life of Véronique is a 1991 French- and Polish-language film directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski, co-written by Kieślowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz, starring Irène Jacob, with original music by Zbigniew Preisner. The film was Kieślowski's first to be produced partly outside Poland.A...
, and an alternate ending that gives a few more details about Walter's prison sentence and hints at the possibility that the son could be subject to the same obsessions as his father. The disc also includes interviews with mathematicians, psychologists, and numerologists
Numerology
Numerology is any study of the purported mystical relationship between a count or measurement and life. It has many systems and traditions and beliefs...
. The DVD shows the film over a set of 23 chapters. As of August 24, 2007 The Number 23 has generated $27.7 million from DVD rental gross.