The World's End (2013)

Five friends who reunite in an attempt to top their epic pub crawl from twenty years earlier unwittingly become humanity's only hope for survival.

Director:

Edgar Wright

Writers:

Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright

Stars:

Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Martin Freeman

4 wins & 27 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Thomas Law	...	Young Gary
Zachary Bailess	...	Young Andy
Jasper Levine	...	Young Steven
James Tarpey	...	Young Peter
Luke Bromley	...	Young Oliver
Sophie Evans	...	Becky Salt
Samantha White	...	Erika Leekes
Rose Reynolds	...	Tracy Benson
Richard Hadfield	...	Young Shane
Flora Slorach	...	Young Sam
Francesca Reidie	...	Teenage Twins
Charlotte Reidie	...	Teenage Twins
Pierce Brosnan	...	Guy Shepherd
David Bradley	...	Basil
Michael Smiley	...	Reverend Green

Storyline

20 years after attempting an epic pub crawl, five childhood friends reunite when one of them becomes hell bent on trying the drinking marathon again. They are convinced to stage an encore by mate Gary King, a 40-year old man trapped at the cigarette end of his teens, who drags his reluctant pals to their home town and once again attempts to reach the fabled pub, The World's End. As they attempt to reconcile the past and present, they realize the real struggle is for the future, not just theirs but humankind's. Reaching The World's End is the least of their worries.

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Plot Keywords:

paranoia | twin actresses for twin sisters | doppelganger | group therapy | alcoholic | 

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Taglines:

Drink responsibly.

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Genres:

Comedy | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for pervasive language including sexual references.

Did You Know?

Trivia

The fruit machine in "The King's Head" has the same tune as the fruit machines that are featured prominently in Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Hot Fuzz (2007). The machine featured in each movie is, Ooh, Aah Dracula.

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Goofs

In the fight between Gary and Andy in the World's End pub, Gary's hospital band gives his date of birth as 03-Jan-1972; this would have made Gary 18 in 1990. Assuming he was not kept back two years, his school leaving date should have been June 1988 when he was 16.

In England many pupils stay on at school for a further 2 years in the 6th Form to take their A level exams which means they leave age 18. The 5 clearly did this because: Andy went to University to study law, which requires A level qualifications; The legal drinking age in English pubs is 18; The minimum age to hold a UK driving licence is 17. Gary has already passed his test and owns a car.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Gary King: Ever have one of those nights that starts out like any other, but ends up being the *best* night of your life?

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Crazy Credits

People going to see the film at the Broadway Cinema in Letchworth, the location for the outside of The Mermaid, were shown a short clip beforehand featuring Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright and Nick Frost, welcoming them to the cinema and hoping they enjoyed watching it from inside one of the filming locations.

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Connections

Referenced in Drunk Fiction: Spider-Man (2017)

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Soundtracks

The Only One I Know
(John Baker (as Jon Baker), Martin Blunt (as Martin Victor Blunt), Jon Brookes, Tim Burgess (as Timothy Burgess), Rob Collins (as Robert James Collins))
Performed by The Charlatans
Courtesy of Warner/Chappell Music Ltd

User Reviews

A surprisingly witty satire for the summer doldrums of August

"We're going to see this through to the bitter end. Or... lager end." Gary King (Simon Pegg)

Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright are at it again satirizing pop culture, this time with an entertaining send up of zombie movies (even their own spoof, Shaun of the Dead) and boy-man buddy vacations like Hangover. Five middle-aged blokes, led by the perennially immature Gary King (still the "King," he'd like to think), return after 20 years to their hometown to finish the crawl to the 12th and final pub, The World's End.

The obvious allegory is fun to follow as robotic replicas of actual humans try to take over the world. Their mission is to make earth and humans perfect, a goal any lame brain knows is impossible. Aliens have been trying to conquer earth since movies began with little success given our need for independence and ingenuity finding the alien weaknesses.

The real strength of The World's End is in the dialogue with its rapid repartee. For example:

Gary King: And here we go! Just like the five musketeers. Steven Prince: Three musketeers wasn't it? Gary King: Well nobody knows how many there were really do they? Oliver: You do know that The Three Musketeers was a fiction right, written by Alexander Dumas. Gary King: A lot of people are saying that about the bible these days. Steven Prince: What, that it was written by Alexander Dumas. Gary King: Don't be daft, Steve; it was written by Jesus.

Covering authorship and ignorance issues while being amusingly clueless is the endearment of Pegg and Wright's democratic humor—after all, none of the players is exempt from stupidity.

Perhaps more importantly, however, is the thematic point about never being able to go home again. The protagonists grew up in the same town, and returning to finish their crawl reveals that no one remembers them! Of course, since the townies are almost all robots, they couldn't remember them anyway. Yet the point is figuratively well taken: Nobody cares about you after you're gone.

Details

Official Sites:

Focus Features [United States] Official Facebook

Country:

UK USA Japan

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 August 2013 (USA)

Also Known As:

The World's End

Filming Locations:

Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$8,811,790, 25 August 2013

Gross USA:

$26,004,851

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$46,091,271

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Focus Features, Relativity Media

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

Datasat Dolby Digital Dolby Surround 7.1 SDDS (uncredited) DTS (DTS: X)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1