Nim's Island is a 2008 adventure film written and directed by Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin, and based on the children's story of the same name by Wendy Orr. A young girl alone on a remote island seeks help from an agoraphobic San Franciscan author. While the author attempts to overcome her agoraphobia to search for her, Nim tries to overcome her fear of losing her father. It stars Abigail Breslin, Jodie Foster, and Gerard Butler, and was released on 4 April 2008 by 20th Century Fox. The film received mixed reviews from critics and earned $100.1 million on a $37 million budget. Plot 11-year-old Nim (Abigail Breslin) lives with her widower marine biologist father Jack Rusoe (Gerard Butler) on a South Pacific island. Jack has told Nim that her mother Emily died when she was swallowed by a blue whale after it was scared by a ship called The Buccaneer. Nim has several native animals for company: Selkie the sea lion, Fred the bearded dragon, Chica the sea turtle, and Galileo the pelican. Jack takes the boat for a two-day scientific mission to find Protozoa nim, a new species of plankton he has named after her. He wants to take Nim along but she convinces him she can manage on her own and must stay to oversee the imminent hatching of Chica's eggs. They will be able to communicate by satellite phone. Nim is fond of "Alex Rover" adventure books written by Alexandra Rover (Jodie Foster). Nim receives an email addressed to her father from "Alex Rover" enquiring about Jack's field of knowledge. She imagines it is from the explorer but is actually from the author. The author, in turn, is a neurotic agoraphobe who imagines she is speaking to her fictional hero Alex Rover (also portrayed by Butler). An email conversation follows. Jack’s sailboat has a problem in a cyclone and cannot return on the planned day, nor communicate with Nim. Galileo brings Jack things he needs to fix his ship as sharks begin to circle. Nim tells Alex her father has not returned as planned but she feels powerless to help, given that she can hardly even open her own door. The island is visited by uncouth tourists who Nim believes to be pirates, as the name of their cruise liner is The Buccaneer. She attempts to make the island unattractive to them by catapulting lizards to