This document compares the films Atonement and Dear John. Both films are set during wartime and involve themes of longing and romance. Atonement, directed by Joe Wright and starring James McAvoy and Keira Knightley, made more money overall and received more positive reviews. Dear John, directed by Lasse Hallstrom and starring Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried, made more money in its opening weekend but received more mixed reviews. The document recommends targeting a romantic, historical film at females aged 16+ to capture the emotions of longing.

1. Atonement
Dear John

2. Atonement 2007 Dear John

3.  Empire - An adaptation at least as good as the novel -
complex, delicate and devastating. Gorgeous cinematography, a
lilting score and near-faultless performances, under Wright’s assured
direction, make this the first contender for next year’s Best Picture
Oscar.
 Time out London - A noble, well-made, superbly performed
and photographed (by Seamus McGarvey) semi-failure then, but still
one that shows Wright to be one of the more imaginative filmmakers
of his generation, capable of winning over large audiences with
daring endeavours.
 The Guardian - though it is probably in the long, languid
wordless summery scenes at the beginning that the film works
best. It's a film which aims at big ideas, and it treats us like
grownups.

4.  Empire - A touching melodrama illuminated by a solid turn
from Tatum.
 Time Out London - Enter 9/11, rudely upsetting the
course of true love. He re-enlists for another tour, she waits. War,
death, illness, this film has its fair share of all three.Even the
Dear John letter of the title is written in an act of heroic self-
sacrifice. A sucker for a cheap sob, it left me cold.
 The Guardian - This may be the first big weepie from the
war on terror – but that's its only claim to fame

5.  BothAtonement and Dear john are set in the
war time, which matches our idea for our
film opening.
 Bothfilms would give you a sense of longing
which is the kind of emotion that we want to
portray.
 Thetarget audience for this, i would say
would be 16+ as it is a teen film but an older
audience may be able to relate.

6. Atonement

7. Dear John

8.  Top 5 credits
 Joe Wright Director
 Writers Christopher Hampton Screenplay (adaptation )
 Iam McEwan Source Material (from novel: "Atonement")
Producers Liza Chasin Executive Producer
 Debra Hayward Executive producer
 Top 5 Cast
 James McAvoy Robbie Turner
 Keira Knightley Cecilia Tallis
 Saoirse Ronan Briony Tallis, aged 13
 Brenda Blethyn Grace Turner
 Vanessa Redgrave Older Briony

9.  Top 5 credits
 Lasse Hallstrom Director
 Writers - Jamie Linden Screenplay (adaptation)
 Nicholas Sparks Source Material (from novel: "Dear John")
 Producers - Tucker Tooley Executive Producer
 Jeremiah Samuels Executive Producer
 Top 5 Cast
 Channing Tatum John Tyree
 Amanda Seyfried Savannah Lynn Curtis
 Richard Jenkins Mr Tyree
 Henry Thomas Tim Wheddon
 D.J. Cotrona Noodles

10. Amount of money made worldwide $129,425,746
Amount of money made worldwide
$111,362,410

11. Atonement Dear John

12.  Genre – Drama/Romance
 More women may prefer it as it is a romantic
film, however men may like it as it is based
during the war.
 Atonement made more money overall as it
targets a wider audience.
 My primary research shows that more people
would watch this film as it targets both men
and women
 The majority of the reviews are positive and
rates the film quite highly.

13.  Genre – Drama/Romance
 More women will tend to prefer this film as it
is more like a ‘chick – flick’
 More people went to see Dear John in the
first weekend it was out and therefore made
more money through that.
 It was shown worldwide, so the film would
have a lot of recognition
 Less reviewers were as positive about this
film. There were both positive and negative
comments made.

14.  Our film should be targeted at females aged
16+
 It should contain romance and have
emotional aspects to it
 It should be historical as this could widen our
target audience