Beowulf is a 2007 American computer-animated fantasy action film produced and directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary, and based on the Old English epic poem of the same name. Featuring the voices of Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, Robin Wright Penn, Brendan Gleeson, John Malkovich, Crispin Glover, Alison Lohman and Angelina Jolie, the film sees the rise and fall of a warrior, Beowulf, after he travels to Denmark to kill a monster. Produced by Shangri-La Entertainment and Zemeckis' ImageMovers, it features characters animated using motion-capture animation, which was previously used in ImageMovers' The Polar Express (2004) and Monster House (2006). Beowulf premiered at Westwood, Los Angeles on November 5, 2007 and was released theatrically in the United States on November 16, 2007, by Paramount Pictures, with Warner Bros. Pictures handling international distribution. The film received moderately positive reviews from critics, who complimented the CGI visual-effects, performance-capture, and voice acting, whilst criticizing aspects of the interpretation of the poem. The film underperformed at the box office, having earned only $196.4 million on a $150 million production budget (not including marketing costs). Plot In 507, the legendary Geatish warrior Beowulf travels to Denmark with his band of soldiers including his best friend Wiglaf to help King Hrothgar, who needs a hero to slay Grendel, a hideously malformed troll-like creature with insuperable strength and cunning who attacked and killed many of Hrothgar's warriors during a celebration in the mead hall Heorot. Upon arriving, Beowulf becomes attracted to Hrothgar's wife Queen Wealtheow. The men celebrate in Heorot to lure Grendel out while Beowulf strips naked and relaxes so that when the beast attacks, they can have a fair and equal fight. During the fight, Beowulf discovers that Grendel has hypersensitive hearing and ruptures the creature's eardrum. Grendel shrinks in size and manages to escape only after Beowulf severs his arm, mortally wounding him. In thanks for freeing his kingdom from the monster, Hrothgar gives Beowulf his golden drinking horn, which commemorates Hrothgar's victory over the mighty dragon Fafnir. In his cave, Grendel's mother swears revenge over his corpse. She travels to Heorot and slaughters Beowulf's men in the night. Hrothgar tells both Beowulf and Wiglaf that Grendel's mother is the last of the Water Demons. Hrothgar's adviser, Unferth, offers Beowulf his sword Hrunting to slay Grendel's mother. Beowulf and Wiglaf then travel to the demon's cave, where Beowulf enters alone