Far in Time Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ice Age

The "Ice Age" film franchise started in 2002 and continued with several popular sequels starring Ray Romano as Manny the Mammoth, Denis Leary as Diego the Saber-Toothed Tiger, and John Leguizamo as Sid the Sloth. In the first film, the main characters were fully in the unspecified ice age but as the sequels plodded on and unthawed, not only did the ice start to melt away, but the continent started to split up.

By the third sequel released in 2012, "Continental Drift", the continents started to form.

The films, as a franchise, have grossed over $300,000,000; they were created by the animators at Blue Sky Studios, also known for "Robots" (2005).

Answer: Troy

An Ancient Greek epic film from Wolfgang Petersen, "Troy" followed classical Greek figures from "The Iliad" including Achilles, Agamemnon, Helen of Troy, Odysseus, Hector, and Paris. Released in 2004 it ended up earning nearly $500,000,000 (an epic amount in itself).

The film featured famous pseudo-historical moments including the famous Trojan horse and the wounding of Achilles in Troy, and preceded Odysseus' departure to Ithaca. The movie was exceedingly expensive to film, but the payout was high enough to allow Petersen to direct the "Poseidon" remake in 2006.

The time period of the film would have set it in the 7th or 8th century B.C.

Answer: 300

Based on a graphic novel written by Frank Miller, "300" featured King Leonidas' Spartan army as they led the charge against evil invader Xerxes' massive forces. Despite their historical loss on the battlefield, the movie followed the noble warriors in a number of their gruesome, stylized exploits.

The film sparked an immense interest in the adaptation of graphic novels (including Miller's "The Spirit" and "Sin City", and Alan Moore's "Watchmen") and became star Gerard Butler's most famous early role. Director Zack Snyder went on to film the equally-stylized "Watchmen" and "Sucker Punch"; "300" made over $450,000,000 internationally.

Answer: Army of Darkness

After the plot of "Evil Dead II", Ash ended up getting sent back through time by the Necronomicon only to wind up in the medieval era. Here, although out of place, he proved his worth by protecting himself and others from demons, not unlike those he encountered in the 1980s in a cabin in the woods.

The end of the film later returned him to his local S-Mart in the current time. "Army of Darkness" was Sam Raimi's final horror film until "Drag Me to Hell" in 2009. "Army of Darkness" made only $21,000,000 in the box office, and it took over 20 years before another "Evil Dead" film was made - a remake without Raimi or Campbell (well... they produced). "Army of Darkness" (and the preceding two films) became cult classics, and seminal entries in the horror canon.

Answer: Gangs of New York

Heading into the mid-19th century in "Gangs of New York", Martin Scorsese directed this Oscar-nominated movie (which lost out to "Chicago" in 2002). The film started out in 1846 but the bulk of it took place in the early 1860s at the breakout of the Civil War; freedom fighters played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz fought against Daniel Day-Lewis' Bill 'The Butcher' Cutting.

Although out of place temporally in Scorsese's filmography, the movie depicted a different type of historical gang violence.

The movie earned nearly $200,000,000 in the box office and, as is typical for Scorsese, was met with critical praise.

Answer: Inglourious Basterds

"Inglourious Basterds" was set during the final months of World War II; when a group of Nazi hunters led by Brad Pitt's Lt. Aldo Raine were called in to hunt down Hitler and one of his most important, sadistic colonels, Hans Landa, a horrible event sparked and set ablaze at a Paris movie screening.

In the end of the film, the Basterds, sure enough, killed Hitler in a rain of machine gun bullets before the entire theater burned to the ground. The movie was nominated for several Oscars including Best Picture. Christoph Waltz won his first Oscar for his role (he would win another in Tarantino's next film, "Django Unchained").

The movie earned over $300,000,000 in the box office.

Answer: The Spy Who Shagged Me

The time machine addition allowed Powers (played by Mike Myers) to jump into the swinging sixties to follow Dr. Evil (also played by Mike Myers) and prevent him from wreaking havoc from his secret volcano lair (and his moon base). All the while, Powers has had his mojo stolen by Scottish henchman Fat Bastard (played by... surprise... Mike Myers).

The second sequel, "Goldmember", sent Austin back into the 1970s to assist his secret agent father played by Michael Caine and a time-sensitive love interest played by Beyonce Knowles in an early film role.

Answer: Terminator 2: Judgment Day

A sequel to Cameron's earlier film, "The Terminator" (released in 1984), "Judgment Day" was actually more highly-received. Making Arnold Schwarzenegger's T-101 a hero rather than the villain he was in the first movie, the film pitted John and Sarah Connor against Skynet's latest, eeriest creation, the T-1000 made of liquid metal, able to shift at will and emulate any being.

Although they were able to destroy the Skynet facility and end the nightmare for a brighter future, it caught up with them in the next sequel, "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines". Later sequels brought the series even further into the future.

Answer: Looper

"Looper", released in 2012 by Rian Johnson, became a very well-received sci-fi hit in the box office earning nearly $175,000,000 during its run. Joseph Gordon-Levitt played a man in 2074 hired to kill people sent back through time to be executed. When his job was no longer necessary he would then be required to kill his future self to receive a cash payout. Of course, then would begin the waiting game, expecting his inevitable death at his own hands.

When his future self escaped, however, he needed to close the loop, but at what cost? It was considered one of the early front-runners for best sci-fi films of the 2010s.

Answer: The Fifth Element

Bruce Willis certainly plods along through time, doesn't he? "The Fifth Element" was a sci-fi/action/comedy released by Luc Besson in 1997; it starred Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, Milla Jovovich, and Chris Tucker (as RUBY RHOD!). It has since become a cult classic for its outlandishness and frequent memes (multipass?!).

At the same time it illustrated a colorful future in which our mortality would be threatened by ugly aliens, rich corporate fiends and unknown darkness from outside the solar system. Korben Dallas was sent to a far-away luxury cruise planet to obtain the five elements needed to stop the evil but he discovered that the fifth was actually Leeloo, a young woman created in a lab with DNA from the elements' original site.

The movie, Luc Besson's eighth, earned over $250,000,000 in the box office.