In about a week Disney launches its much-anticipated summer movie, ``Pearl Harbor".
Disney is spending a reported $5 million on a long weekend of events it hopes will make a major splash in the media and an even bigger box office after the film debuts nationwide on May 25.
Below are a few historical, storyline and production facts about the film to tied us over until the official release.
``Pearl Harbor'' started out as a ``Titanic''-sized flick with a proposed budget that topped $200 million, but Disney Chairman Michael Eisner choked on the high-price. Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay were forced to pare down the cost, and they agreed to cut their own fees -- as did Affleck -- to get the budget down.
Bay quit the movie project four times over various disputes, and had to be coaxed back into production.
Still, Bruckheimer said the luckiest part of the filmmaking was that amid all the bombs dropping on ships in the bay, only one pilot was hurt, suffering only a broken finger.
The battle sequence covering the Dec. 7, 1941 surprise attack by Japanese planes on American ships in Pearl Harbor takes up about 40 minutes of the over two-hour film. That's twice the time that Steven Spielberg spent in his epic beach storming scene from ``Saving Private Ryan.''
Bruckheimer promises ``a much different type of battle that is much larger in scale.''
Some 17 ships were blown up and in one scene, 350 bombs were dropped in seven seconds, Disney studio chief Peter Schneider told Newsweek magazine. And Bay and company utilized the huge water tank in Mexico that was used for ``Titanic'' to shoot one battleship capsizing in the harbor.
While the battle is a big part of the movie, ``Harbor'' really centers on a love triangle between two boyhood friends -- Affleck and Hartnett -- who grow up with a love of flying. When one goes off to fight in the Battle of Britain, the other falls in love with his girlfriend, portrayed by Beckinsale.
That sets up a drama among the threesome that picks up when the pilots are reunited in Hawaii before the fateful Japanese raid, which Bruckheimer said occurs midway through the film.
The remainder of the film resolves their conflict and climaxes as American flyers, under Maj. James Doolittle, bomb Tokyo in April 1942.
Disney is spending a reported $5 million on a long weekend of events it hopes will make a major splash in the media and an even bigger box office after the film debuts nationwide on May 25.
Below are a few historical, storyline and production facts about the film to tied us over until the official release.
``Pearl Harbor'' started out as a ``Titanic''-sized flick with a proposed budget that topped $200 million, but Disney Chairman Michael Eisner choked on the high-price. Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay were forced to pare down the cost, and they agreed to cut their own fees -- as did Affleck -- to get the budget down.
Bay quit the movie project four times over various disputes, and had to be coaxed back into production.
Still, Bruckheimer said the luckiest part of the filmmaking was that amid all the bombs dropping on ships in the bay, only one pilot was hurt, suffering only a broken finger.
The battle sequence covering the Dec. 7, 1941 surprise attack by Japanese planes on American ships in Pearl Harbor takes up about 40 minutes of the over two-hour film. That's twice the time that Steven Spielberg spent in his epic beach storming scene from ``Saving Private Ryan.''
Bruckheimer promises ``a much different type of battle that is much larger in scale.''
Some 17 ships were blown up and in one scene, 350 bombs were dropped in seven seconds, Disney studio chief Peter Schneider told Newsweek magazine. And Bay and company utilized the huge water tank in Mexico that was used for ``Titanic'' to shoot one battleship capsizing in the harbor.
While the battle is a big part of the movie, ``Harbor'' really centers on a love triangle between two boyhood friends -- Affleck and Hartnett -- who grow up with a love of flying. When one goes off to fight in the Battle of Britain, the other falls in love with his girlfriend, portrayed by Beckinsale.
That sets up a drama among the threesome that picks up when the pilots are reunited in Hawaii before the fateful Japanese raid, which Bruckheimer said occurs midway through the film.
The remainder of the film resolves their conflict and climaxes as American flyers, under Maj. James Doolittle, bomb Tokyo in April 1942.
