Madoka Magica (film)

Madoka Magica (released in Japan as Puella Magi Madoka Magica: New Movie) is a 2019 American-Japanese fantasy drama film written and directed by Guillermo Del Toro and starring Quvenzhane Wallis, Alisha Newton, Ryan Simpkins, Mackenzie Foy and Hailee Steinfeld. Based on the anime series Puella Magi Madoka Magica, the film follows the lives of five yonug girls who fight by night as "magical girls", defenders of humanity against the evils of Witches, creatures who cause disasters and despair.

After the film rights lingering in development hell for several years, Legendary Pictures and Del Toro announced they had picked up the rights at San Diego Comic-Con 2016 and that production would begin by mid-2017. Principal photography occured from August 2017 until February 2018. The film was released on July 26, 2019 in 2D, 3D and IMAX 3D and received a very positive reception from both critics and fans, praising the accuracy to the source material, the visual effects and the performances of the cast. The film grossed $206 million domestically and $494 million worldwide, becoming Del Toro's highest grossing film both domestically and worldwide.

The film won 2 Academy Awards for Best Costume Design and Best Visual Effects, and was nominated for Best Production Design and Best Original Score for Clint Mansell.

Plot
Madoka Kaname (Quvenzhane Wallis) is a middle school student who lives in Mitakihara, Japan with her best friends Sayaka Miki (Ryan Simpkins) and Hitomi Shizuki (Tatum McCann). One day in class, a new transfer student, named Homura Akemi (Alisha Newton), arrives in class and is exceptionally gifted in nearly everything. Madoka and Homura build up a rapport, where Homura confronts her about staying the way she is. Later in the day, Madoka hears a cry for help. Upon investigating, she finds Kyubey (voiced by Cassandra Lee) being tormented by Homura. Sayaka helps Madoka and Kyubey escape until they get trapped in a maze like place. Saved by Mami Tomoe (Hailee Steinfeld), she explains that it was a witch, a creature who causes despair wherever they go. Kyubey says that she is a magical girl, and that she would like to start a contract with Sayaka and Madoka to turn them into magical girls. He takes a specific interest in Madoka, who has "infinite potential".

Madoka and Sayaka become Mami's apprentices, and they learn how to hunt Witches. Mami explains that witches have Grief Seeds, which help "cleanse" a magical girls' Soul Gem. After visiting Kyosuke (Mason Cook) at the hospital, Sayaka discovers a witch about to hatch and contact Mami and Madoka. Homura comes along as well, but Mami traps her due to mistrust. The fight doesn't go as planned however and the witch kills Mami, forcing Homura to save both Sayaka and Madoka. Scared about what will happen to them, both Madoka and Sayaka vow to never become magical girls, but seeing Kyosuke's state, Sayaka relents and makes a contract with Kyubey. She ends up saving Hitomi and Madoka from a witch and becomes a magical girl full time. This puts her into conflict with Kyoko Sakura (Makenzie Foy), a rival magical girl who is more about the prize then the heroism.

Sayaka becomes obsessed with hunting witches and outdoing Kyoko, which catches the attention of Homura who tries to destabilize the situation. On the night of their battle, Madoka interferes by throwing Sayaka's Soul Gem onto the highway, which cause Sayaka's body to lose it's life. Kyubey reveals that the girls' bodies are no longer their actual bodies, but the Soul Gems. Sayaka, upon this realization, refuses to interact with Kyosuke anymore, afraid on how he will react, and Hitomi and Kyosuke end up together. Falling into despair, she becomes more and more violent, culminating in her killing two sexist men on a train. Kyoko attempts to help Sayaka to no avail, and she falls into despair and turns into a witch.

Realizing that all magical girls are destined to be witches, Madoka, Homura and Kyoko attempt to bring Sayaka out to no avail. Kyoko sacrifices herself to kill Sayaka's witch, leaving Homura and Madoka alone. Kyubey deduces that Madoka's potential comes from Homura's ability, which is time travel. Homura was initially a shy girl who became Madoka's best friend after she saved her from a witch. However, her death against a massive witch known as Walpurgis Natch made Homura form a contract with Kyubey so she can save Madoka's life. Her constant trips through time made Madoka's destiny to become far greater then initially intended.

Intended to stop Madoka from becoming a magical girl, Homura heads out to fight Walpurgis alone, however Madoka follows her and forms a contract with Kyubey on the condition that no magical girl ever become a witch again. This causes her to ascend to a higher plane of existence - one that makes her unknown to everyone except Homura. The Law of Cycles is born, and the universe is rewritten. In the rewritten universe, Kyoko and Mami are still alive and Sayaka is no longer a witch, instead having ascended to the same realm as Madoka. Homura now fights on against a new enemy, wraiths, and promises to keep Madoka's sacrifice known and alive.

Cast
Quvenzhane Wallis as Madoka Kaname, a kind and sweet girl who gets wrapped up in events around her. Del Toro cast Wallis due to her performances in Beasts of the Southern Wild and Annie, stating she had the type of energy and innocence required for the role. Wallis spoke about Madoka, saying "I love her dedicated she is, and how much she cares about her friends. I think most people will be able to relate to her."

Alisha Newton as Homura Akemi, the mysterious transfer student and magical girl. Newton, a relative newcomer, was cast based on her lookalike with the character. Newton said about Homura, "She's a pretty conflicted and complex character... she is always looking for the peaceful solution when everyone around her is fighting and it makes her quite jaded and dark."

Ryan Simpkins as Sayaka Miki, the tomboyish best friend of Madoka and eventual magical girl. Del Toro discussed about her character as "a tragic figure. Her story is the crux of the film, and it's also where most of the revelations take place." Ryan Simpkins spoke about Sayaka, saying "she's kinda naive in a way, almost like she wants to be the hero of the story, when in reality she is just the supporting character. It's almost poetic in a way."

Makenzie Foy as Kyoko Sakura, the aggressive and hot-tempered rival to Sayaka and magical girl. Makenzie Foy lobbied for the role of Kyoko, being a fan of the series. She said "Kyoko is my favourite character - she's sassy and doesn't take anything from anybody... but she also has a softer side, and that's what make her so compelling and interesting to play."

Hailee Steinfeld as Mami Tomoe, Madoka and Sayaka's mentor and magical girl. Similar to Foy, Hailee fought for a role in the film, however was initially interested in Homura. Due to her older age, she was cast as Mami. She said "Mami is the classic mentor character: kind, loving but also brave and badass... but she also has her breaking point, and we see that here and it's pretty dark."

Cassandra Lee as the voice of Kyubey, the creature who creates magical girls. Cassandra Lee originally voiced Kyubey in the English dub of the original anime, and was requested by SHAFT to reprise her role in the film. Emiri Kato, the Japanese voice of Kyubey, reprised her role in the film as well in the Japanese dub.

Tatum McCann as Hitomi Shizuki

Mason Cook as Kyosuke Kamijo

Development
The rights to a live action Madoka Magica movie had been in talks since the anime's inception. Atushiro Iwakami said "We've seen franchise potential for Madoka, and a live action movie seems to be the way to go". However, a lack of interest in the project as well the expected dark tone turned many studios off. Legendary Pictures, in need of a hit after Crimson Peak 's weak performance at the box office, turned Studio SHAFT in hopes of acquiring the rights to Madoka Magica. A deal was made and at San Diego Comic-Con 2016, Legendary Pictures announced the film along with Del Toro who was confirmed to be directing and writing the film. The press release for the film stated "We at Studio SHAFT are pleased to announce our partnership with Legendary Pictures in bringing the Madoka series to life on the big screen using the best technology possible!"

Casting
Del Toro was initially interested in casting an entirely unknown cast for the film, believing it would be a good career launching pad and help add realism as well to the equation. However, after seeing Wallis' audition combined with her previous performances, Del Toro cast her. Hailee Steinfeld was the next one to be cast, followed by Makenzie Foy. Ryan Simpkins was initially cast in another film, but dropped out in order to do Madoka Magica. Simpkins later watched the entirety of the series in preparation for the film.

The hardest casting choice was Homura. Over 5,000 young actresses were tested for the role, with Alisha Newton winning the role due to her lookalike appearance. Newton had never even heard of the show before making the movie, believing it to be an original project.

There was some controversy over the race-bending of the cast, specifically Wallis being black while Madoka is supposed to be Asian. SHAFT spoke out against critics, saying "The film was cast with the intention of bringing the best possible actors to the role, regardless of race. The cast is phenomenal and we hope you find them phenomenal as well."

Filming
Principal photography was initially set to begin in May 2017, however budgetary concerns forced production to be pushed back to August 2017. Originally, Legendary wanted a budget of $100 million, but Del Toro wanted $150 million and wanted to rely more on practical effects rather then CGI. Legendary eventually relented and allowed Del Toro to use the higher budget. Filming lasted until February 2018 and secondary photography was done in late 2018.

Simpkins, Newton and Steinfeld all did their own stunts, as well Foy for certain sequences (the fight against Octavia was done with mainly a double due to unforseen scheduling conflicts).

Post-Production
Del Toro wanted "dreamlike" imagery for the witch sequences, referring to the visuals of Inception and Doctor Strange as major influences. He said "Witches are other worldly, almost alien in their design and look. We wanted to keep that element intact in the final film." The witches in the final film look more like their original anime counterparts, they were initially supposed to be brand new designs however SHAFT was against it.

The fight against Walpurgis was stated to be "hell" and one of the longest post-production periods in film history. The sequence was finished only 2 days before the world premiere, and only finished rendering hours before the screening. Del Toro initially planned on showing an incomplete cut of the film, however was delighted that the film had been completed on time.

Marketing
A test reel of the film was shown at San Diego Comic Con 2017 to a very positive reception, with commentators describing it as one of the standouts of the event. Scott Mendelson of Forbes called it "a visually stunning and almost psychedelic reel that has us rest assured that the acclaimed series is in the right hands.

The official teaser for the film premiered on November 13, 2018 online and was later shown with screenings of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2. The teaser received a much more mixed reception then the test reel and was criticized for being "misaimed". Much of the criticism came from the fact that the trailer looked more like a young adult film in the vein of Hunger Games or Divergent. Graeme McMillian of The Hollywood Reporter called the trailer "underwhelming" and "uninspired". Many fans reacted negatively towards the trailer, and the film received instant criticism.

The official full length was released in front of showings of Fast and Furious 9 and received a much more positive reception then the teaser, with some calling it one of the best trailers of 2019. Scott Mendelson said this trailer "looked more like the test footage we saw at Comic-Con" and that it was "mesmerizing". Fans were much more positive as well, with much praise being given to the unique visuals.

Rating
The film initially received an R rating from the MPAA, however Legendary demanded cuts to the final film. Del Toro fought the MPAA for a PG-13, stating that the R rating was only due to the scene where Sayaka fights one of the witches. The MPAA later retracted the rating and now the film is rated PG-13 for "intense sequences of surreal fantasy violence throughout, brief language and a disturbing scene." The film received a 14A rating in Canada for Violence and Gory Scenes.

Box Office
The film opened with $41 million in it's opening weekend, which was lower then projected due to competition from Indiana Jones 5 and Inhumans. With it's budget of $150 million, many people wrote the film off as a box office flop. However, in it's second week of release, the film dropped only 5%, making $39 million bringing it's domestic total to $80 million. This was due to impressive word-of-mouth as well positive critical reception.

The film eventually grossed $206 million domestically and $494 million worldwide, and is the most successful film in Del Toro's career thus far.

Reception
The film received nearly universal critical praise from critics. Rotten Tomatoes, on an average of 223 reviews, gave the film a 94% positive rating, with the consensus being "Madoka Magica is both visual feast for the eyes as well as thought-provoking piece of the brain." The film was praised for it's surreal and mesmerizing visuals, it's faithful script and storytelling, and the performances of the main cast, especially from Newton, Simpkins and Steinfeld.