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In June 2014 Derrickson was chosen to direct the film He had written a 12 page scene for the film featuring Strange and an assailant fighting in the astral plane while a doctor attempts to save Strange s physical body in a hospital based on a sequence from the comic Doctor Strange The Oath Derrickson illustrated the sequence with his own concept art alongside storyboards from professional artists and an animatic which he presented in a 90 minute pitch to the studio This cost Derrickson an obnoxious amount of his own money but he felt it necessary to prove that I wanted the job more than anyone especially after Marvel told him that more people had lobbied to direct Doctor Strange than any of their other films Derrickson ultimately had eight meetings with Marvel for the film After he was hired Marvel bought the 12 page scene from Derrickson and it became one of the film s main set pieces On transitioning from horror films to a superhero film Derrickson said It was nice to work on something more positive And not have my headspace in something so dark for so long But it was also weirdly similar because of the fantastical nature of the movie In his horror films Derrickson tried to use real characters and real character drama played by good actors to encounter the fantastical and so he wanted actors of the same high caliber for Doctor Strange through which he could introduce the more fantastical elements to the MCU |
Derrickson and Marvel had originally discussed him writing the film alongside his Sinister cowriter C Robert Cargill with Derrickson also directing but Marvel felt that they would not be able to reach their intended release date of July 2016 if Derrickson filled both roles When Derrickson was chosen as director Marvel passed on Cargill as an individual writer with Jon Spaihts hired to rewrite the script instead Spaihts a big fan of Doctor Strange as a child had started pestering Marvel as soon as he read reports of the company searching for a director for the film This eventually led to him meeting with the studio before they actually began looking for writers for the film Spaihts said that they talked all afternoon and the fit was right but he received a call from Marvel several days later saying that they were not completely sure they wanted to take the film in the same direction as Spaihts and were going to look at other writers Spaihts told his agent to not take that answer Call them back tell them there s a lot of right answers and get me back in the room and after talking with Marvel for another three or four hours he was given the job Marvel never seriously looked at any other writer for the film Derrickson was already hired when Spaihts joined and the pair spent several months working on the film s story with Feige and executive producer Stephen Broussard They started writing the film from the beginning and initially were unsure whether it would be an origin story or if it would begin with Strange already as a fully formed sorcerer Spaihts ultimately felt that the origin story of this character as depicted in the comics is so operatic and beautiful and so tragic and epic in its sweep that it was unavoidable We had to tell that story and tell our best version of it Elements from Spaihts early drafts that he later stated were still in the final film include many of the film s set pieces such as the climactic battle which came straight from Derrickson as well as little things from Spaihts like a bandaged hand running down a row of prayer bells in a Nepalese temple Derrickson wanted Nightmare to be the film s antagonist along with the concept of nightmares themselves as being a dimension but Feige felt getting across the idea of the Dream Dimension as another dimension would have been challenging alongside everything else that the film introduces Dormammu the most present villain in the comics became the film s main villain |
During the early development process Marvel Derrickson and Spaihts all envisioned Benedict Cumberbatch playing the title role By the end of June Marvel had reportedly been looking at Tom Hardy and Jared Leto for the film s lead as well while dgar Ramrez who worked with Derrickson on 2014 s Deliver Us from Evil had discussed a possible role with the director In July after fans and the media had also championed Cumberbatch for the role of Doctor Strange the actor explained at the 2014 San Diego Comic Con International that he would be unable to accept the role due to commitments to other projects Feige stated that a lead actor would be announced relatively quickly and by the end of that month Joaquin Phoenix entered talks to play the character By September 2014 Marvel Studios was in negotiations to shoot Doctor Strange at Pinewood Shepperton in the UK with crews being assembled for a move into Shepperton Studios in late 2014 early 2015 for filming in May 2015 Negotiations with Phoenix ended in October 2014 as the actor felt that blockbuster films would never be fulfilling with too many requirements that went against his instincts for character Marvel then placed Leto Ethan Hawke Oscar Isaac Ewan McGregor Matthew McConaughey Jake Gyllenhaal Colin Farrell and Keanu Reeves on their shortlist for the character Ryan Gosling also had discussions to play the character while Reeves was not approached about the role and Cumberbatch was still considered to be in contention In October Cumberbatch entered negotiations to play the character and was officially cast in December Feige explained that Marvel had kept returning to him for the role while considering other actors with Derrickson noting that even during discussions with Phoenix he and Marvel still wanted to cast Cumberbatch in the role The company eventually decided to change the film s production schedule to fit around Cumberbatch s commitments allowing him to join the project |
With the film s new production schedule its intended release date was pushed back to November 2016 and Derrickson was able to do some work on the script himself He brought Cargill in to work with him on this as was originally planned Describing the film Cargill called it both a superhero film and a fantasy film saying it s a very magical fantasy universe but at the same time it plays by some of the superhero tropes that people enjoy Spaihts returned later in the process to do some more writing and help bring the movie home and said he was delighted by the work that Derrickson and Cargill had done in the interim Feige and Derrickson have noted that in addition to The Oath and Steve Ditko s original work on Doctor Strange an influence on all the film s writers was the Doctor Strange comic book Into Shamballa |
In January 2015 Chiwetel Ejiofor entered preliminary talks with Marvel for a role in the film later revealed to be Baron Mordo Ejiofor s role was confirmed during the 2015 D23 Expo In April Derrickson and members of the production team visited New York City to scout potential filming locations while Feige revealed that filming would begin that November A month later Tilda Swinton was in talks to play the Ancient One In June 2015 Derrickson announced that he was going to London to begin work on the film and Feige confirmed that Strange s Sanctum Sanctorum would appear located on Bleecker Street in New York City s Greenwich Village as in the comics Swinton confirmed her role in the film in July when Rachel McAdams was being considered for the female lead McAdams cautioned that it s still superearly and I do nt know where that s gon na go if it s gon na go anywhere at all but she ultimately confirmed her role during the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival Mads Mikkelsen entered into early negotiations to play a villain in August one of a number of actors being considered for the unspecified villianous role |
In September 2015 Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn stated that many of the crew that worked on that film were unable to return for its sequel because they had committed to Doctor Strange Derrickson also revealed that Gunn had provided notes on the script beyond the general conversing the MCU directors have between themselves for their films At the end of the month Feige stated that additional casting announcements would be made before the end of the year and by early November Michael Stuhlbarg entered negotiations to appear in the film as Nicodemus West a rival of Strange Derrickson had offered the role to Stuhlbarg because he was interested in working with the actor and he agreed to join the cast after reading some Doctor Strange comics and being drawn to the character s guilt ridden arc where West blames himself for ruining the surgery on Strange s hands and robbing him of his ability to operate |
Feige felt that the visuals of the film needed to be a Ditko Kubrick Miyazaki The Matrix mind trip and said that You do nt get into it in Harry Potter but if a scientist went to Hogwarts he d find out how some of that stuff is happening We re not going to spend a lot of time on that but there will be some of that And particularly for a character like Strange who goes from a man of science to a man of faith and who traverses both worlds In developing the film s magic Derrickson felt a responsibility to not repeat the representation of magic from previous films like Fantasia and Harry Potter wanting to find a new way to make it feel more tactical and real and surreal And to root it in gestures as opposed to spoken incantations and things like that Feige called Doctor Strange the doorway into the supernatural side of the MCU a role that Derrickson noted was also served by the character in the early comics when the Doctor Strange comics broke open the Marvel comic book universe into the Marvel multiverse Discussing the portrayal of other dimensions in the film Feige stated that it would not explore parallel realities like the comics Earth 616 and Earth 617 but would instead feature dimensions that are so mind bending that you can barely perceive them like the Astral plane Dark Dimension and Mirror Dimension |
Astrophysicist Adam Frank served as a scientific consultant on the film having already known Derrickson and been a Marvel fan since childhood Frank advised on the human experience of space and time helping Marvel conceive ideas for their cinematic multiverse and suggesting dialogue for characters based on their beliefs whether they were materialist rationalist reductionist or had this enlarged perspective He noted that modern movie goers may not necessarily understand these complex scientific ideas but do appear to appreciate that amazing things happen from science So by grounding your stories enough in science to not so much make them plausible but to allow that science to open up new possibilities people are used to that in their lives So I think it makes sense to them and it s exciting to them This was an aspect of previous MCU films that Frank called a great thing speaking as a scientist saying that they build a coherent and consistent universe that respects the scientific process and that uses enough of real science to make things plausible or build off them |
Principal photography began in Nepal on November 4 2015 under the working title Checkmate Ben Davis serving as cinematographer for the film after doing the same on Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers Age of Ultron described Doctor Strange as Marvel s Fantasia and noted that a lot of previsualization was required to figure out how to shoot the psychedelic MC Escher inspired imagery Davis used the Arri Alexa 65 camera for the film along with the Arri Alexa XT Plus Vision Research Phantom Flex 4Ks which shoot up to 1000 fps were used for high speed sequences like Strange s car crash |
Derrickson chose Nepal as a location to feature an Eastern city that would not be familiar to most audiences After scouting and deciding on locations in the country many of those areas were destroyed by the April 2015 Nepal earthquake Rather than choosing another country Derrickson and Cumberbatch felt that bringing attention and tourism to Nepal following the event was all the more reason to shoot there Cumberbatch said that shooting in Nepal was absolutely vital to this film I think not least because it s so based in something that is exotic It was a magical way to start the shoot It s important to a film like this which has a profound gearshift into a spiritual and otherworldly dimension that the portal for that be in a place that actually happens in itself to be incredibly spiritual and marvelous The eventual filming locations around the Kathmandu Valley included the Pashupatinath and Swayambhunath Temples Thamel and New Road in Kathmandu and the Patan Durbar Square in Patan |
Production moved to Longcross Studios in the UK on November 11 and was scheduled to stay there until March 2016 The real Kathmandu street that led into the fictional Kamar Taj courtyard was replicated at Longcross which production designer Charles Wood described as very hard because Kathmandu is a most beautiful city and it s steeped in history To transition from that level of detail and history with the shape of the streets the warping of the buildings these ancient bricks and these ancient tiles was a real challenge For authenticity the set was dressed with real food and populated with dogs pigeons and Nepalese extras many of whom were relatives of people who live on the real Kathmandu street The inside of Kamar Taj was also constructed at Longcross with sculptors creating beautiful columns and wall decorations and craftsmen building screens and doors to evoke the exotic feel of the ancient sanctuary Wood s goal was to make the set feel like the Ancient One and her disciples actually lived there and give it a truly spiritual truly magical feel while integrating it into a real building that the production filmed in Kathmandu This and the Kathmandu street were two of twenty one sets that the crew built at Longcross Others included Doctor Strange s Sanctum Sanctorum and a Hong Kong street complete with over 80 neon signs and a giant roof to keep the rain out |
Filming also took place in Hong Kong and in New York City s Hell s Kitchen neighborhood Additional New York City set scenes were shot at Shepperton Studios and later in London By the end of November the casting of Mikkelsen and Stuhlbarg was confirmed alongside Amy Landecker and Scott Adkins in unspecified roles Additionally Benedict Wong heard about the film from his friend Ejiofor and sought a role in it himself He was cast as Wong in January and immediately joined the production for filming Lamborghini provided six Huracn LP 610 4s for use in the film one of which the production wrecked during filming Lamborghini said that they felt there are a lot of characteristics of Doctor Strange that are connected with the Lamborghini philosophy The Lamborghini crash scene was filmed at Northfleet Kent by the River Thames Also in January 2016 filming took place at Exeter College Oxford The next month Feige revealed that the film originally had a prologue that took place in CERN due to the real world research being done at the facility on alternate dimensions and parallel universes Production moved to New York City s Flatiron District in April where set photos revealed that Zara Phythian had joined the cast Principal photography wrapped in New York City on April 3 2016 |
In June 2016 a Diamond Select Toys press release for Doctor Strange toys in their Marvel Minimates line named Mikkelsen s character Kaecilius and McAdams character Christine Palmer Mikkelsen s role was confirmed in an official tie in comic for the film while McAdams was confirmed at San Diego Comic Con 2016 Additionally Benjamin Bratt was revealed to have been cast as Jonathan Pangborn Adkins role was revealed to be Lucian a follower of Kaecilius and Landecker s role was later revealed to be anesthesiologist Dr Bruner The latter was mostly cut from the film with Landecker explaining that she had been cast in the small role for two scenes at the beginning of the film because Derrickson was a fan of her performance in A Serious Man which also starred Stuhlbarg After filming her first scene in which she assists Strange with a surgery Landecker asked not to be involved in the other scene because she had no lines for it and was only seen from behind and instead wished to attend a special premiere at the White House for her series Transparent The actress believed she was later cut from the first scene but she is still credited for a brief appearance Also Derrickson revealed that Lulu Wilson had been cast as Strange s sister for a scene depicting her drowning at a young age The scene had been shot and Derrickson thought it was great as a self contained scene but it did nt work with the rest of the film and was cut |
Also at San Diego Comic Con Derrickson noted that there were still a couple pickup shoots to do for the film to clarify the logic Further content for the film s training sequence was also shot during these reshoots as early test audiences loved the training portion of the film and wanted more Wong indicated that the reshoots had been completed in August Dan Harmon wrote material for these additional scenes which Derrickson described as script analysis and dialogue work not enough to receive credit in the film Feige said that in addition to any humor that Harmon could add to the film he was brought on to give us his opinions on the sci fi concepts Before the film s sets were demolished Thor Ragnarok director Taika Waititi took advantage by writing and filming a scene featuring Strange meeting Chris Hemsworth s Thor The scene was for Ragnarok and shot before that film began production Derrickson and Marvel felt the scene was kind of perfect to show Strange joining the wider MCU after his stand alone introduction and so added it to Doctor Strange as a midcredits scene A postcredits scene directed by Derrickson teases Mordo s role as an antagonist to Strange in a potential Doctor Strange sequel Stan Lee s cameo in the film was directed by Gunn on the set of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 This was alongside several other Lee cameos to limit the amount of travel he had to do for the next four MCU films Gunn contacted Derrickson during the shoot to ensure that the shot matched up with the respective Doctor Strange scene and kept throwing lines at Lee on the day to give Derrickson and Marvel plenty of options to choose from for the film Additional options Gunn filmed included Lee reading a book and asking a gentleman next to him if he knew what the word excelsior meant Lee laughing really hard and stating he was laughing for no reason being totally crazy and Lee laughing hysterically at a Garfield book noting how the character HATES Mondays but he LOVES lasagna Gunn felt the Garfield option was originally meant to appear in the final version of the film but ended up being too long for the scene By October 10 2016 Derrickson had completed the film |
Feige described the film s use of 3D as serving the storytelling saying hopefully it helps bend people s minds even more than with just the flat screen He said that there are sequences of the film that 3D is actually necessary to tell the dimensional story that is happening through visuals However he noted that during visual effects reviews for the film it became apparent that these sequences were adversely affecting the story when viewed in 2D which necessitated adjustments so the sequences would work in all formats Over one hour of footage in the film was specially formatted for IMAX |
Visual effects for Doctor Strange were provided by Industrial Light Magic ILM Method Studios Framestore Lola VFX Luma Pictures Rise FX Crafty Apes and SPOV contributing to 1450 effects shots Previsualization was handled by The Third Floor All vendors worked on the common magical elements mandalas magical runes shields whips stalks and aerial lily pads and portals Visual effects supervisor Stephane Ceretti who also worked on Guardians of the Galaxy explained the similarities and differences between the two films saying there s some resemblance in some of the things that we ve done In the same way it s a totally different world In Guardians it s more sci fi oriented and crazy colors More of a comedy kind of take on things as well This one is a little bit more serious It s also a little bit more trippy We use very different techniques actually Guardians was also for us a huge animation film This one was less of it This one was more about the environments and effects |
Further discussing the film s visuals Derrickson described influences as the Steve Ditko Stan Lee comics which were all about these weird visuals as well as a fair amount of surrealist art and photography and MC Escher Additional inspiration for the film s visuals came from a bunch of experimental fractal videos from YouTube that Derrickson found and the mobile video game Monument Valley Derrickson s ambition was to use cutting edge visual effects to do things that are fresh and new to not just blow things up Feige explained that one of the more difficult areas to be inventive was the action sequences as Derrickson did not want them to simply be someone shoots a bolt of lightning and someone blocks a ball of lightning so someone throws another bolt of lightning Instead they tried to incorporate the use of different dimensions into the action in the interest of creating a visual tapestry that is totally different in terms of an action scene we ve seen in any other movies On the film s set pieces Derrickson reiterated that the film s astral fight scene was based on The Oath comic while adding that the end fight was an attempt to capture the quality of that artwork from the original comics and the mirror dimension chase was an attempt to take Inception to the Nth degree and take it way more surreal and way farther But I certainly owe something to that movie Specifically for the climax of the film Derrickson wanted to play on the superhero trope of a big fight scene where they re tearing up a city and there s a portal opening up and they have to close it subverting it by having the villain defeated with an intelligent use of power rather than showing which CGI thing can hit the other CGI thing harder |
ILM worked on the folding Manhattan mirror sequence chosen because of their work creating a digital New York in The Avengers and the time fight sequence in Hong Kong which consisted of 200 and 150 shots respectively They began work on the film 10 months before filming began to plan out the Manhattan sequence it was mainly CGI though some New York location shots were used The sequence was mainly handled by ILM s San Francisco and Vancouver offices The Hong Kong time sequence was done mainly by ILM s London office ILM also created digital doubles for many of the actors which were shared with the other vendors Method Studios who worked on the Quantum Realm in Ant Man worked on the magical mystery tour sequence with Strange hurtling through various dimensions The sequence was handled by Method s Los Angeles studio with their Vancouver studio contributing the opening shot of the sequence The only shot Method did not work on in the sequence was the one that linked to Dormammu as Luma Pictures assisted in his creation they handled his other appearances in the film Method created 7 dimensions for the sequence the initial wormhole to the Speaker Cone the Bioluminesce world the fractals of soft solid world a version of the Quantum Realm Strange falling through his own eye and Cosmic Scream the Dark Dimension and the Shape Shifting realm The Shape Shifting realm originally had Strange morphing and changing shape but that was ultimately removed as Derrickson felt the audience needed to see Cumberbatch Method s Vancouver studio created Strange s car crash the rooftop training and the sequence in which Strange experiments with time on an apple in the Kamar Taj library The car crash blended the high speed photography and some green screen sequences with digital assets for both Cumberbatch and the car In total Method worked on 270 effects shots |
Framestore was chosen to work on the Cloak of Levitation due to their work creating Rocket in Guardians of the Galaxy Ceretti called Cloak s actions kind of scripted but not as deeply as the end result and said that during the previsualization process we had a big discussion about the arc of the story of the Cloak in the film Framestore also worked on environment shots the Mandelbrot set sequences high resolution digital doubles the astral form and the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak restraint for Kaecilius totaling over 365 shots Alexis Wajsbrot Framestore s CG Supervisor called the astral form one of the hardest effects we ve had to deal with at Framestore finding the right balance of a look that was subtle but also beautiful Lola VFX worked on the Zealots eyes supplementing the make up work with effects based on a geode They also created digital tears for Kaecilius when he is in the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak In addition to Dormammu and the Dark Dimension Luma Pictures also created the first mirror sequence at the beginning of the film In creating Dormammu Ceretti stated that they wanted to avoid the fiery head look from the comics as it had been done before The whole idea is he s a character that lives in between dimensions He can also take whatever shapes he wants to take When he is talking to Strange you can feel all these ripples in his face and all that stuff these kind of opening windows to other dimensions and all the reflective qualities of it We really wanted to add the evocation of that fire but we did nt want to do fire so we went for a multicolored approach to try and keep the psychedelic look of the entire space On the Dark Dimension Ceretti said We tried to make it alive all the time the whole idea of the Dark Dimension is that it s a dynamic environment with the Luma team referencing the Ditko art and a poster that when lit with a blacklight it becomes very saturated with colors crazy blacklight colors He continued It was all about finding the right balance between all these elements to pay homage to and to tribute the work of Steve Ditko but to make it more current to the 21st century If you look at the detail of the shapes that we have in the Dark Dimension you can almost point to things in the comic books that we really tried to be faithful to |
In May 2016 Michael Giacchino revealed that he would score the film Derrickson called the score magic in the literal sense of the word adding Giacchino is doing what good scorers do which is he is not just creating music that supports the images he s adding a third thing to the movie It becomes something new with his music in there that it did nt have with temp music The score was recorded at Abbey Road Studios During a recording session Paul McCartney heard one of Giacchino s cues being recorded and likened it to The Beatles song I Am the Walrus Derrickson a Bob Dylan fan looked for a place in the film to include one of his songs but could not find one However he was able to include the song Interstellar Overdrive by Pink Floyd Derrickson had hoped to use either Interstellar Overdrive or The Jimi Hendrix Experience s Are You Experienced for the film s credits but the royalties to use either in the credits were too expensive resulting in Giacchino creating the track The Master of the Mystic End Credits A soundtrack album from Hollywood Records was released digitally on October 21 2016 with a physical release on November 18 2016 |
Doctor Strange held its world premiere in Hong Kong on October 13 2016 and had its premiere in Hollywood at the TCL Chinese Theatre and El Capitan Theatre on October 20 2016 The film was released in the United Kingdom on October 25 2016 alongside a total of 33 markets in its first weekend with 213 IMAX screens in 32 of those markets It was screened at the EW PopFest on October 28 2016 in Los Angeles Doctor Strange s North America release on November 4 took place in 3882 venues of which 3530 were in 3D along with 379 IMAX theaters 516 premium large format Disney s biggest release in that format to date and 189 D Box locations Overall Doctor Strange had the widest IMAX release ever globally along with being the first film to release on more than 1000 IMAX screens It was previously reported to have been scheduled for a July 8 2016 release before the production schedule shifted to accommodate Cumberbatch s other commitments |
In August 2015 a concept art trailer narrated by Derrickson was shown at the D23 Expo The images showed artwork of Cumberbatch in a traditional Doctor Strange outfit from the comics as well as a rough sequence of the plot highlighting points such as Strange s accident his journey for healing and fighting Ejiofor as Mordo before the character was moved away from a villainous role in the film per discussions between Derrickson and the actor The trailer was met with a very big reaction from the gathered crowd |
On April 12 2016 the first teaser trailer for the film debuted on Jimmy Kimmel Live Clark Collis of Entertainment Weekly compared the series of kaleidoscopic world bending scenes featured in the trailer to the film Inception as did Scott Mendelson of Forbes Forbes added that the structure of the trailer resembled early marketing for the film Batman Begins The Hollywood Reporter s Graeme McMillian criticised these similarities as well as similarities to The Matrix and between Cumberbatch s American accent and that of Hugh Laurie s Gregory House from House calling them not necessarily a real problem of course but there s nothing there outside the derivative aspects due to the nature of the trailer there s no story beyond the white man finds enlightenment in Asia trope and barely any dialogue to let audiences decide that maybe the performances will elevate the material McMillian did enjoy the visual effects and the visual of Tilda Swinton literally knock ing Benedict Cumberbatch s soul out of his body but concluded as an introduction to not only a brand new franchise for Marvel but a potential new genre this feels far less bold and assured than the first trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy |
In July 2016 Marvel Comics released a prelude tie in comic written by Will Corona Pilgrim with art by Jorge Forns The issue sees four Masters of the Mystic Arts Kaecilius Wong Tina Minoru and Daniel Drumm pursue a woman who has stolen a mystical relic A second issue centered on the Ancient One training apprentices in the magical arts at Kamar Taj was released a month later Derrickson Cumberbatch Swinton Ejiofor McAdams Mikkelsen and Wong attended San Diego Comic Con 2016 where they debuted an exclusive clip and the second trailer for the film The next month the same Comic Con clip was screened at the Asia Pop Comic Convention Manila In September 2016 an additional prelude comic was released centered on Kaecilius while behind the scenes footage was released as a special feature on the Captain America Civil War Blu ray Also in September Marvel in partnership with Dolby Laboratories Broadcom Synchrony Bank and Society for Science the Public announced The Magic of STEM Challenge aimed at females aged 15 through 18 in STEM Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics education fields The challenge was for contestants to submit videos of them finding mentors to explore ideas once thought to only be possible with magic Five winners would attend the world premiere of the film and receive a tour of Walt Disney Studios as well as a 1000 saving account from Synchrony Bank with one grand prize winner receiving a mentorship with Walt Disney Studio s Digital Team |
On October 10 2016 approximately 15 minutes of footage was screened at 115 IMAX 3D locations in North America and select 3D and IMAX 3D locations worldwide Fans attending the event received an exclusive IMAX poster for the film Umberto Gonzales of TheWrap called the footage stunning to behold He added that a sequence shown in which the Ancient One sends Strange on his first trippy tour through the multiverse was where the IMAX 3D really shines The audience is given an incredible visual tour of the multiverse which features other dimensions and other realities It really is something to behold in IMAX 3D concluding that after being shown only 15 minutes of incredible preview footage IMAX 3D is the definitive format to see the film Britt Hayes for Screen Crush felt the footage was dizzying and far weirder and wilder than the trailers are letting on though felt it was a bit difficult to judge some of what was shown out of context especially earlier scenes Regarding the same sequence where the Ancient One sends Strange through the multiverse Hayes said Seth Rogen s comedic drug trip sequences have nothing on the psychedelic visuals employed here It s astounding elaborate stuff and easily provides the most entertaining moments in the footage IGN s Terri Schwartz said the sequences shown were where Derrickson s horror aesthetics shine through |
Marvel provided Twitter stickers Giphy content Facebook Live Snapchat lenses and filter Tumblr stunts and Instagram special content related to the film Additionally Microsoft Surface had a promotional sponsorship of the film due to the use of the device in the filmmaking process A partnership with Google s Tilt Brush app featured a Mixed Reality stunt with artists across Los Angeles London and Hong Kong inspired by different dimensions in Doctor Strange and recreating the worlds in VR for an immersive visual experience |
Doctor Strange was released on digital download by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on February 14 2017 and on Blu ray Blu ray 3D and DVD on February 28 2017 The digital and Blu ray releases include behind the scenes featurettes audio commentary deleted scenes a blooper reel an exclusive preview of the Phase Three films Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 Thor Ragnarok Black Panther and Avengers Infinity War and Team Thor Part 2 a continuation of the mockumentary short film Team Thor that was directed by Waititi Best Buy released an exclusive collector s edition steelbook case for the regular and 3D Blu ray release featuring art based on the Book of Cagliostro and the Eye of Agamotto Target s Blu ray versions have an additional exclusive featurette while the digital version also features an exclusive featurette |
Doctor Strange grossed 2326 million in the United States and Canada and 4451 million in other territories for a worldwide total of 6777 million The film became the biggest IMAX opening in November domestically 122 million internationally 24 million and globally 242 million overtaking Interstellar s records By November 27 2016 the film had become the biggest single character introduction film in the MCU Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be 12265 million accounting for production budgets PA talent participations and other costs with box office grosses and ancillary revenues from home media placing it 11th on their list of 2016 s Most Valuable Blockbusters |
Doctor Strange earned 326 million on its opening day in the United States and Canada including Thursday previews with a total weekend gross of 851 million IMAX contributed 122 million to the opening weekend gross with 3D contributing 24 million The film was the number one film for the weekend and became the second largest opening in November for Disney Initial projections for the film in late August 2016 had it earning as low as 50 million to as high as 88 million in its opening weekend with projections revised to 65 75 million closer to the film s release Doctor Strange remained the top film in its second weekend and fell to second in its third behind Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them In its fourth weekend Doctor Strange was the third highest grossing film behind Fantastic Beasts and Moana It fell to fifth in its fifth and sixth weekends and by its seventh weekend had fallen to the ninth highest grossing place It was projected to earn 255 million for its total domestic gross |
Outside the United States and Canada Doctor Strange earned 877 million in its first weekend from 33 markets becoming the top film in all markets except Lithuania and Finland South Korea was the top market overall with 181 million locally the biggest opening weekend ever for an original Marvel release along with an all time best opening for an IMAX film IMAX garnered a record 78 million the best international IMAX debut for a film in the month of October with Russia seeing its biggest Saturday IMAX gross for a Marvel film Additionally Hong Kong 32 million Thailand 25 million Malaysia 24 million and Singapore 22 million also had the biggest opening weekend ever for an original Marvel film In its second weekend the film opened in 22 additional markets becoming the top film in China with 444 million the highest 3 day opening weekend for a first installment superhero film there China s opening was also the third highest for an MCU film behind Avengers Age of Ultron and Captain America Civil War as well as the best 3 day opening for an IMAX film in November with 63 million IMAX also set November opening records in India Chile Colombia and Ecuador Brazil was also a top market earning 79 million Doctor Strange remained the number one film in its third weekend for the third consecutive week in Denmark the Netherlands the United Kingdom Australia Hong Kong South Korea Malaysia New Zealand and Singapore and number one for the second week in China and Russia It also became the highest grossing original MCU release in India Hong Kong South Korea the Philippines Singapore Thailand and Vietnam Its fourth weekend saw China s total gross surpass 100 million an increasingly rare feat in 2016 The next weekend Doctor Strange opened in Argentina where it was the number one film and earned 1 million The film s fourteenth weekend saw it open in Japan where it was number one with 45 million As of December 4 2016 the film s largest markets were China 1103 million South Korea 413 million and the United Kingdom and Ireland 279 million |
The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports an 89 approval rating based on reviews from 317 critics with an average rating of 73 10 The website s critical consensus reads Doctor Strange artfully balances its outr source material against the blockbuster constraints of the MCU delivering a thoroughly entertaining superhero origin story in the bargain On Metacritic the film holds a score of 72 out of 100 based on reviews from 49 critics indicating generally favorable reviews Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of A on an A to F scale while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it a 91 overall positive score and a 73 definite recommend |
The Hollywood Reporter s Todd McCarthy called Doctor Strange an engaging smartly cast and sporadically eye popping addition to the franchise adding this action movie ostensibly rooted in the mind expanding tenets of Eastern mysticism is different enough to establish a solid niche alongside the blockbuster combine s established money machines McCarthy in addition to praising the acting felt that there were certain sequences that go far beyond Inception in visual spectacle and that the time manipulation sequences seen to outstanding advantage in 3D were what mind trip seeking audiences back in Doctor Strange s origin days would have called far out but today s fans will simply deem amazing Peter Debruge of Variety called the film Marvel s most satisfying entry since Spider Man 2 and wrote that despite having the same look feel and fancy corporate sheen as the other MCU films it boasts an underlying originality and freshness missing from the increasingly cookie cutter comic book realm of late Debruge also praised the casting along with the multitude of visual effects the film was able to achieve Alonso Duralde reviewing for TheWrap said True Doctor Strange is an origin story and occasionally hemmed in by the genre s narrative requirements but it s smart enough to bring in great British actors to make the predictable paces and life lessons feel fresh and fascinating Regarding the film s visuals Duralde praised them exclaiming In a year where bloated empty spectacles have induced a crushing level of CG fatigue this funny freaky adventure reminds us of how effective VFX can be when they ve got some imagination behind them Manohla Dargis of The New York Times said The giddily enjoyable Doctor Strange is part of Marvel s strategy for world domination yet it s also so visually transfixing so beautiful and nimble that you may even briefly forget the brand Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times said Within the familiar narrative contours of the origin story writer director Scott Derrickson crams in enough out of body experiences spatial temporal shenanigans and dazzlingly kaleidoscopic visuals to make you wonder if he and his cowriters were dropping acid behind the scenes |
Conversely Angelica Jade Bastin writing for RogerEbertcom said For all of its wondrous world building and trippy effects Doctor Strange is nt the evolutionary step forward for Marvel that it needs to be storytellingwise Underneath all of its improvements the core narrative is something we ve seen countless times Mara Reinstein of US Weekly called the film joyless and wrote Despite Benedict Cumberbatch s alluring powers he ca nt save an overly convoluted film that relies on a galaxy of derivative 3 D special effect tricks Nobody is having much fun here save for the doctor s Cloak of Levitation that has its own devilish personality and can whisk him out of scary situations Rex Reed of the New York Observer called Doctor Strange an awkwardly clich riddled mix of hamstrung imagination and bizarro reality and said None of it makes any sense For characterization dialogue narrative arc acceptable acting and coherence go elsewhere Adam Graham of The Detroit News said Cumberbatch is wildly charismatic in the lead role But that s the thing He s a better party guest than he is a host Doctor Strange is a fine introduction but by the end you re not sad to be headed for the door |
In April 2016 cowriter Cargill stated that Marvel felt some initial ideas for the film from him and Derrickson highlighted too much of the weird stuff associated with the character to feature in an origin story but told the duo to hold onto them for potential future films In October 2016 Derrickson confirmed he had plans for a sequel saying I love the character I love the visual possibilities and I know the comics so well the first movie is the tip of an iceberg There s so much progress that can be made He would like to follow the example of The Dark Knight and bring in a villain where you really got to go deep and have a more visceral experience Cumberbatch added that he had signed on for at least one more Doctor Strange solo film Derrickson hoped to feature Nightmare in a potential sequel and expressed interest in further exploring the characters Jonathan Pangborn and Hamir in a sequel after their smaller roles in the first film He also explained that he is kept in the loop on how the Avengers films will use Strange because of his close relationships with Feige and codirector Joe Russo Spaihts has also expressed interest in seeing Clea appear in a potential sequel By April 2017 it was reported that Derrickson would return for a potential sequel beginning work on it after fulfilling his commitments to the television series Locke Key |
The United States five dollar bill 5 is a denomination of United States currency The current 5 bill features the 16th US President 1861 65 Abraham Lincoln s portrait on the front and the Lincoln Memorial on the back All 5 bills issued today are Federal Reserve Notes |
The 5 bill is sometimes nicknamed a fin The term has German Yiddish roots and is remotely related to the English five but it is far less common today than it was in the late 19th and early 20th centuries |
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing says the average life of a 5 bill in circulation is 55 years before it is replaced due to wear Approximately 6 of all paper currency produced by the US Treasury s Bureau of Engraving and Printing in 2009 were 5 bills |
The redesigned 5 bill was unveiled on September 20 2007 and was issued on March 13 2008 during a ceremony at President Lincoln s Cottage |
New and enhanced security features make it easier to check the new 5 bill and more difficult for potential counterfeiters to reproduce The redesigned 5 bill has |
The five dollar bill lacks the Optically variable ink of higher denomination US bills |
The new 5 bills remain the same size and use the same but enhanced portraits and historical images The most noticeable difference is the light purple coloring of the center of the bill which blends into gray near the edges |
Similar to the recently redesigned 10 20 50 and 100 bills the new 5 bill features an American symbol of freedom printed in the background The Great Seal of the United States featuring an eagle and shield is printed in purple to the right of the portrait and an arc of purple stars surround both it and the portrait |
When the Lincoln Memorial was constructed the names of 48 states were engraved on it The picture of the Lincoln Memorial on the 5 bill only contains the names of 26 states These are the 26 states that can be seen on the front side of the Lincoln memorial which is what is pictured on the 5 bill |
On the back of the bill a larger purple numeral 5 appears in the lower right corner to help those with visual impairments to distinguish the denomination This large 5 also includes the words USA FIVE in tiny white letters |
The oval borders around President Lincoln s portrait on the front and the Lincoln Memorial vignette on the back have been removed Both engravings have been enhanced |
On April 20 2016 Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew announced that the 5 10 and 20 would all undergo redesign prior to 2020 The changes would add new features to combat counterfeiting and make them easier for blind citizens to distinguish Lew said that while Lincoln would remain on the obverse the reverse would be redesigned to depict various historical events that had occurred at the Lincoln Memorial Among the planned designs are images from the Martin Luther King Jr I Have a Dream speech and the 1939 concert by opera singer Marian Anderson |
approximately 74218 3125 in 189 79 mm |
614 261 in 156 66 mm |
A bag of holding is a fictional magical item in the Dungeons Dragons roleplaying game capable of containing objects larger than its own size Since its introduction it has appeared in other media |
A bag of holding appears to be a common cloth sack of about 2 by 4 feet 061 by 122 m in size It opens into a nondimensional space similar to a magic satchel or a pocket dimension making the space larger inside than it is outside Each bag of holding always weighs the same amount between 15 and 60 pounds 68 and 272 kg regardless of what is put into it It can store a combined weight of up to forty times its own weight and a combined volume of 30 to 250 cubic feet 085 to 708 m A living creature put in a bag of holding will suffocate after about 10 minutes |
If a bag of holding is overloaded or if a sharp object pierces it from outside or inside the bag will rupture and be ruined the contents lost forever in nilspace |
Other magical bags similar to the bags of holding include |
Some bags outwardly indistinguishable from a bag of holding have highly undesirable qualities They are created by spellcasters either purposefully especially in the case of a bag of devouring or as a result of a failed spell in the process of creating a bag of holding |
Essentially a bottomless pit in a bag this bag appears to be a normal sack like a bag of holding and seems to be a bag of holding on closer inspection However the bag is a lure used by an extradimensional creature it is one of its feeding orifices Issue 271 of Dragon featured an article titled The Ecology of a Bag of Devouring that discussed the nature of such a creature |
Any substance of animal or vegetable matter put into the bag has a chance of being swallowed over time Even a person reaching in to retrieve or place an item after the initial time has a chance of being completely dragged into the bag and swallowed The bag of devouring will act as a bag of holding but every hour it has an increasing chance of swallowing the contents Any plants or animals swallowed by the bag in this way are transported to the creature s stomach digested and lost forever while inedible items are swallowed and spat into another plane |
This magical sack will perform as a bag of holding for 2 10 uses At some point however the magical field will waver causing precious metals and gems stored in the bag to be turned into common metals and worthless stones Any magical items placed in the bag will become ordinary lead glass or wood as appropriate once the transmuting effects have begun |
In the physics of Dungeons Dragons putting a bag of holding inside a portable hole will cause a rift to be opened to the Astral Plane and both items will be lost forever If a portable hole is placed within a bag of holding it instead opens a gate to the Astral Plane sucking in every creature in a ten foot radius and destroying both the bag and hole The contents of the bags are either scattered throughout the Astral Plane or destroyed Placing bags of holding into one another or within a Heward s handy haversack or vice versa has no adverse effects in the 4th edition of the game and would allow one to store an unlimited quantity of items each bag of holding being limited in total weight capacity to roughly 40 additional bags depending on the size of each |
In earlier editions of Dungeons Dragons putting one bag of holding inside another would have the same effect as placing a portable hole into a bag of holding Interactions with portable holes had the effects listed above |
The Bagworld is the basis of especially capacious holding devices eg the fanny pack of hefty capacity in the Knights of the Dinner Table HackMaster roleplaying game originally a fictionalized form of Dungeons Dragons Bagworld is another planet possibly located on another plane of reality that is accessed via bag devices enabling characters to cache enormous amounts of materials Bagworld possesses its own apparently infinite breathable atmosphere but no known native lifeforms thus a living creature placed inside is in no danger of suffocation though death by starvation and or dehydration is possible if the creature is not supplied with provisions From the Bagworld point of view there are a great many holes in the sky from which giants deposit and retrieve items a creature or object that completely enters the bag device will shrink to Bagworld s scale once inside If a bag device connected to Bagworld is placed inside another such device the device placed inside is destroyed and the contents of all remaining connected devices are shuffled with each device s contents moved to the accessible space of another random storage device |
In the roguelike computer game NetHack a bag of holding has slightly different properties |
In the first person shooter video game Heretic a bag of holding is a collectible item that permanently doubles the player s ammunition capacity |
In Terry Pratchett s Discworld novel Making Money wizard Ponder Stibbons is placed in charge of the Cabinet of Curiosity which he describes as a classic Bag of Holding but with n mouths where n is the number of items in an eleven dimensional universe which are not currently alive not pink and can fit in a cubical drawer 1414 inches 359 mm on a side divided by P To ask what P is is the wrong sort of question The Cabinet manifests as a tree of drawers within drawers within drawers that open in an unfolding fractal pattern of iterations Iteration one is a simple cabinet but by the time of the novel they have managed to increase the number of drawers until the Cabinet fills a cathedral sized room actually a standard sized room but the wizards increased the space by decreasing time asking how is the wrong kind of question Each drawer holds an apparently random object If any objects are removed from the cabinet for longer than 1414 hours it ceases to work limiting its usefulness |
Also in Discworld is the Luggage a variant of Heward s handy haversack However the Luggage has the added benefit that any clothes put in will come out pressed folded and smelling faintly of lavender Additionally it will attack with murderous mindlessness anyone who threatens its owner by stomping on them with its hundreds of little feet It is also possible that the Luggage will swallow an assailant and it has been described as having rows of teeth like a shark which can appear and disappear as needed It also has command of a possibly infinite number of dimensions thus anyone it swallows will disappear to a separate dimension from the clothes it carries It has also been known to lure people into leaning into it by filling itself with gold and gems |
In Robert Heinlein s fantasy Glory Road book a similar magic object although not a bag a fold box is a little black box about the size and shape of a portable typewriter that can be opened again and again unfolding its sides and letting them down until it is the size of a small moving van when folded back up it does not weigh more than a few pounds even though tons of materials may be carried around in it |
Though its appearance is never described the Thing Your Aunt Gave You Which You Do nt Know What It Is in The Hitchhiker s Guide to the Galaxy computer game is a Bag of Holding that can hold any number of other items and never becomes too heavy to carry Only one item the player encounters in the game will not fit inside it Also if dropped the Thing mysteriously reappears in the player s possession several turns later even if the player is already holding as much as they can carry so dropping it essentially increases the player s carrying capacity by one item each time it is dropped |
A bag of holding is used to allow use of a universe destroying Ice 9 spell the enemy is thrown into the bag and the spell fired after them destroying only the bag s pocket universe rather than the regular universe |
A later strip bears the odd title I turned my bag of holding inside out wrapped it around me and walked out through the dungeon walls which is apparently a reference to either a comedy skit by Dead Alewives or a website parodying bad DD ideas |
The First Amendment Amendment I to the United States Constitution prevents Congress from making any law respecting an establishment of religion prohibiting the free exercise of religion or abridging the freedom of speech the freedom of the press the right to peaceably assemble or to petition for a governmental redress of grievances It was adopted on December 15 1791 as one of the ten amendments that constitute the Bill of Rights |
The Bill of Rights was originally proposed to assuage AntiFederalist opposition to Constitutional ratification Initially the First Amendment applied only to laws enacted by the Congress and many of its provisions were interpreted more narrowly than they are today Beginning with Gitlow v New York 1925 the Supreme Court applied the First Amendment to states a process known as incorporation through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment |
In Everson v Board of Education 1947 the Court drew on Thomas Jefferson s correspondence to call for a wall of separation between church and State though the precise boundary of this separation remains in dispute Speech rights were expanded significantly in a series of 20th and 21st century court decisions which protected various forms of political speech anonymous speech campaign financing pornography and school speech these rulings also defined a series of exceptions to First Amendment protections The Supreme Court overturned English common law precedent to increase the burden of proof for defamation and libel suits most notably in New York Times Co v Sullivan 1964 Commercial speech however is less protected by the First Amendment than political speech and is therefore subject to greater regulation |
The Free Press Clause protects publication of information and opinions and applies to a wide variety of media In Near v Minnesota 1931 and New York Times v United States 1971 the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment protected against prior restraint prepublication censorship in almost all cases The Petition Clause protects the right to petition all branches and agencies of government for action In addition to the right of assembly guaranteed by this clause the Court has also ruled that the amendment implicitly protects freedom of association |
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances |
In 1776 the second year of the American Revolutionary War the Virginia colonial legislature passed a Declaration of Rights that included the sentence The freedom of the press is one of the greatest bulwarks of liberty and can never be restrained but by despotic Governments Eight of the other twelve states made similar pledges However these declarations were generally considered mere admonitions to state legislatures rather than enforceable provisions |
After several years of comparatively weak government under the Articles of Confederation a Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia proposed a new constitution on September 17 1787 featuring among other changes a stronger chief executive George Mason a Constitutional Convention delegate and the drafter of Virginia s Declaration of Rights proposed that the Constitution include a bill of rights listing and guaranteeing civil liberties Other delegates including future Bill of Rights drafter James Madison disagreed arguing that existing state guarantees of civil liberties were sufficient and that any attempt to enumerate individual rights risked the implication that other unnamed rights were unprotected After a brief debate Mason s proposal was defeated by a unanimous vote of the state delegations |
For the constitution to be ratified however nine of the thirteen states were required to approve it in state conventions Opposition to ratification AntiFederalism was partly based on the Constitution s lack of adequate guarantees for civil liberties Supporters of the Constitution in states where popular sentiment was against ratification including Virginia Massachusetts and New York successfully proposed that their state conventions both ratify the Constitution and call for the addition of a bill of rights The US Constitution was eventually ratified by all thirteen states In the 1st United States Congress following the state legislatures request James Madison proposed twenty constitutional amendments and his proposed draft of the First Amendment read as follows |
The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship nor shall any national religion be established nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner or on any pretext infringed The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak to write or to publish their sentiments and the freedom of the press as one of the great bulwarks of liberty shall be inviolable The people shall not be restrained from peaceably assembling and consulting for their common good nor from applying to the Legislature by petitions or remonstrances for redress of their grievances |
This language was greatly condensed by Congress and passed the House and Senate with almost no recorded debate complicating future discussion of the Amendment s intent The First Amendment along with the rest of the Bill of Rights was submitted to the states for ratification on September 25 1789 and adopted on December 15 1791 |
Thomas Jefferson wrote with respect to the First Amendment and its restriction on the legislative branch of the federal government in an 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists a religious minority concerned about the dominant position of the Congregational church in Connecticut |
Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man his God that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only not opinions I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof thus building a wall of separation between Church State Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties |
In Reynolds v United States 1878 the Supreme Court used these words to declare that it may be accepted almost as an authoritative declaration of the scope and effect of the amendment thus secured Congress was deprived of all legislative power over mere religious opinion but was left free to reach only those religious actions which were in violation of social duties or subversive of good order Quoting from Jefferson s Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom the court stated further in Reynolds |
In the preamble of this act religious freedom is defined and after a recital that to suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion and to restrain the profession or propagation of principles on supposition of their ill tendency is a dangerous fallacy which at once destroys all religious liberty it is declared that it is time enough for the rightful purposes of civil government for its officers to interfere only when religious principles break out into overt acts against peace and good order In these two sentences is found the true distinction between what properly belongs to the church and what to the State |
Originally the First Amendment applied only to the federal government and some states continued official state religions after ratification Massachusetts for example was officially Congregational until the 1830s In Everson v Board of Education 1947 the US Supreme Court incorporated the Establishment Clause ie made it apply against the states |
The establishment of religion clause of the First Amendment means at least this Neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church Neither can pass laws which aid one religion aid all religions or prefer one religion to another in the words of Jefferson the First Amendment clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect a wall of separation between church and State That wall must be kept high and impregnable We could not approve the slightest breach |
In Torcaso v Watkins 1961 the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution prohibits states and the federal government from requiring any kind of religious test for public office In the Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School District v Grumet 1994 The Court concluded that government should not prefer one religion to another or religion to irreligion In a series of cases in the first decade of the 2000s Van Orden v Perry 2005 McCreary County v ACLU 2005 and Salazar v Buono 2010 the Court considered the issue of religious monuments on federal lands without reaching a majority reasoning on the subject |
Everson used the metaphor of a wall of separation between church and state derived from the correspondence of President Thomas Jefferson It had been long established in the decisions of the Supreme Court beginning with Reynolds v United States in 1879 when the Court reviewed the history of the early Republic in deciding the extent of the liberties of Mormons Chief Justice Morrison Waite who consulted the historian George Bancroft also discussed at some length the Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments by James Madison who drafted the First Amendment Madison used the metaphor of a great barrier |
In Everson the Court adopted Jefferson s words The Court has affirmed it often with majority but not unanimous support Warren Nord in Does God Make a Difference characterized the general tendency of the dissents as a weaker reading of the First Amendment the dissents tend to be less concerned about the dangers of establishment and less concerned to protect free exercise rights particularly of religious minorities |
Beginning with Everson which permitted New Jersey school boards to pay for transportation to parochial schools the Court has used various tests to determine when the wall of separation has been breached Everson laid down the test that establishment existed when aid was given to religion but that the transportation was justifiable because the benefit to the children was more important In the school prayer cases of the early 1960s Engel v Vitale and Abington School District v Schempp aid seemed irrelevant the Court ruled on the basis that a legitimate action both served a secular purpose and did not primarily assist religion In Walz v Tax Commission 1970 the Court ruled that a legitimate action could not entangle government with religion in Lemon v Kurtzman 1971 these points were combined into the Lemon test declaring that an action was an establishment if |
The Lemon test has been criticized by justices and legal scholars but it remains the predominant means by which the Court enforces the Establishment Clause In Agostini v Felton 1997 the entanglement prong of the Lemon test was demoted to simply being a factor in determining the effect of the challenged statute or practice In Zelman v Simmons Harris 2002 the opinion of the Court considered secular purpose and the absence of primary effect a concurring opinion saw both cases as having treated entanglement as part of the primary purpose test Further tests such as the endorsement test and coercion test have been developed to determine whether a government action violated the Establishment Clause |
In Lemon the Court stated that the separation of church and state could never be absolute Our prior holdings do not call for total separation between church and state total separation is not possible in an absolute sense Some relationship between government and religious organizations is inevitable the court wrote Judicial caveats against entanglement must recognize that the line of separation far from being a wall is a blurred indistinct and variable barrier depending on all the circumstances of a particular relationship |
Accommodationists in contrast argue along with Justice William O Douglas that w e are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being This group holds that the Lemon test should be applied selectively As such for many conservatives the Establishment Clause solely prevents the establishment of a state church not public acknowledgements of God nor developing policies that encourage general religious beliefs that do not favor a particular sect and are consistent with the secular government s goals |
Freedom of religion means freedom to hold an opinion or belief but not to take action in violation of social duties or subversive to good order In Reynolds v United States 1878 the Supreme Court found that while laws can not interfere with religious belief and opinions laws can regulate some religious practices eg human sacrifices and the now obsolete Hindu practice of suttee The Court stated that to rule otherwise would be to make the professed doctrines of religious belief superior to the law of the land and in effect permit every citizen to become a law unto himself Government would exist only in name under such circumstances In Cantwell v Connecticut 1940 the Court held that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment applied the Free Exercise Clause to the states While the right to have religious beliefs is absolute the freedom to act on such beliefs is not absolute |
In Sherbert v Verner 1963 the Supreme Court required states to meet the strict scrutiny standard when refusing to accommodate religiously motivated conduct This meant that a government needed to have a compelling interest regarding such a refusal The case involved Adele Sherbert who was denied unemployment benefits by South Carolina because she refused to work on Saturdays something forbidden by her Seventh day Adventist faith In Wisconsin v Yoder 1972 the Court ruled that a law that unduly burdens the practice of religion without a compelling interest even though it might be neutral on its face would be unconstitutional |
The need for a compelling governmental interest was narrowed in Employment Division v Smith 1990 which held no such interest was required under the Free Exercise Clause regarding a neutral law of general applicability that happens to affect a religious practice as opposed to a law that targets a particular religious practice which does require a compelling governmental interest In Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v City of Hialeah 1993 the Supreme Court ruled Hialeah had passed an ordinance banning ritual slaughter a practice central to the Santera religion while providing exceptions for some practices such as the kosher slaughter Since the ordinance was not generally applicable the Court ruled that it needed to have a compelling interest which it failed to have and so was declared unconstitutional |
In 1993 the Congress passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act RFRA seeking to restore the compelling interest requirement applied in Sherbert and Yoder In City of Boerne v Flores 1997 the Court struck down the provisions of RFRA that forced state and local governments to provide protections exceeding those required by the First Amendment on the grounds that while the Congress could enforce the Supreme Court s interpretation of a constitutional right the Congress could not impose its own interpretation on states and localities According to the court s ruling in Gonzales v UDV 2006 RFRA remains applicable to federal laws and so those laws must still have a compelling interest |
The First Amendment bars Congress from abridging the freedom of speech or of the press US Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens commented about this phraseology in a 1993 journal article I emphasize the word the in the term the freedom of speech because the definite article suggests that the draftsmen intended to immunize a previously identified category or subset of speech Stevens said that otherwise the clause might absurdly immunize things like false testimony under oath Like Stevens journalist Anthony Lewis wrote The word the can be read to mean what was understood at the time to be included in the concept of free speech But what was understood at the time is not 100 clear In the late 1790s the lead author of the speech and press clauses James Madison argued against narrowing this freedom to what had existed under English common law |
The practice in America must be entitled to much more respect In every state probably in the Union the press has exerted a freedom in canvassing the merits and measures of public men of every description which has not been confined to the strict limits of the common law |
Madison wrote this in 1799 when he was in a dispute about the constitutionality of the Alien and Sedition Laws which was legislation enacted in 1798 by President John Adams Federalist Party to ban seditious libel Madison believed that legislation to be unconstitutional and his adversaries in that dispute such as John Marshall advocated the narrow freedom of speech that had existed in the English common law |
The Supreme Court declined to rule on the constitutionality of any federal law regarding the Free Speech Clause until the 20th century For example the Supreme Court never ruled on the Alien and Sedition Acts three Supreme Court justices riding circuit presided over sedition trials without indicating any reservations The leading critics of the law Vice President Thomas Jefferson and James Madison argued for the Acts unconstitutionality based on the First Amendment and other Constitutional provisions Jefferson succeeded Adams as president in part due to the unpopularity of the latter s sedition prosecutions he and his party quickly overturned the Acts and pardoned those imprisoned by them In the majority opinion in New York Times Co v Sullivan 1964 the Court noted the importance of this public debate as a precedent in First Amendment law and ruled that the Acts had been unconstitutional Although the Sedition Act was never tested in this Court the attack upon its validity has carried the day in the court of history |
During the patriotic fervor of World War I and the First Red Scare the Espionage Act of 1917 imposed a maximum sentence of twenty years for anyone who caused or attempted to cause insubordination disloyalty mutiny or refusal of duty in the military or naval forces of the United States Specifically the Espionage Act of 1917 states that if anyone allows any enemies to enter or fly over the United States and obtain information from a place connected with the national defense they will be punished Hundreds of prosecutions followed In 1919 the Supreme Court heard four appeals resulting from these cases Schenck v United States Debs v United States Frohwerk v United States and Abrams v United States |