Hancock is a
2008 American superhero film directed by
Peter Berg and starring
Will Smith,
Jason Bateman, and
Charlize Theron. It tells the story of a vigilante superhero, John Hancock (Smith), from
Los Angeles whose reckless actions routinely cost the city millions of dollars. Eventually one person he saves, Ray Embrey (Bateman), makes it his mission to change Hancock's public image for the better.
The story was originally written by Vincent Ngo in 1996. It languished in
development hell for years and had various directors attached, including
Tony Scott,
Michael Mann,
Jonathan Mostow, and
Gabriele Muccino before going into production in 2007.
Hancock was filmed in
Los Angeles with a production budget of $150 million.
In the United States, the film was rated
PG-13 by the
Motion Picture Association of America after changes were made at the organization's request in order to avoid a "restricted" (R) rating, which it had received twice before. The film was widely released on July 2, 2008 in the United States and the United Kingdom by
Columbia Pictures.
Hancock has received mainly average reviews from film critics. To date,
Hancock has grossed $624,029,371 worldwide.