The World's End is a 2013 apocalyptic science fiction comedy film directed by Edgar Wright from a screenplay by Wright and Simon Pegg. It is the third and final installment in the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, after Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Hot Fuzz (2007). It stars Pegg, Nick Frost, Paddy Considine, Martin Freeman, Eddie Marsan, Rosamund Pike, and Pierce Brosnan. In the film, five friends return to their hometown to reattempt a pub crawl they failed twenty-three years earlier, only to discover the town is in the midst of an alien invasion.
The film entered initial development in 1995 after Wright wrote a screenplay titled Crawl about teenagers on a pub crawl; after deciding it was better suited as a comedic exploration of young adulthood and aging, he reworked the screenplay with Pegg in the early 2010s. The film was produced by Relativity Media, Big Talk Productions, and Working Title Films. Principal photography began on 28 September 2012 and lasted until that December, with filming locations including Elstree Studios, Letchworth Garden City, and Welwyn Garden City. The film's stunts were coordinated by members of Jackie Chan Stunt Team, and The World's End is considered a social science fiction film.
The World's End premiered at Leicester Square in London on 10 July 2013, and was first theatrically released in the United Kingdom by Universal Pictures nine days later. It was later released in the United States by Focus Features on 23 August. The film received positive reviews from critics, with praise for the screenplay, performances of the cast, humour, and Wright's direction. It won Best British Film at the 19th Empire Awards, and was nominated for Best Comedy at the 19th Critics' Choice Awards. The World's End was also a commercial success, grossing $46.1 million worldwide.
Plot
Gary King, an immature 40-year-old alcoholic, decides to recapture his youth by contacting his boyhood friends Oliver Chamberlain, Peter Page, Steven Prince, and Andrew Knightley, and inviting them to complete the "Golden Mile", a pub crawl encompassing the 12 pubs of their hometown of Newton Haven, the last of them being the World's End. The group attempted the crawl as teens in 1990, but failed to reach the final three pubs. Andy, now a teetotaller due to a drunk driving incident years before involving himself and Gary, reluctantly agrees to join after Gary lies about his mother dying.
The group encounters Oliver's sister, Sam, who Gary and Steven fought over in school. In the fourth pub, Gary goes to the toilet, where he gets into a fight with a teenager and knocks his head off, exposing him as an android. As Gary's friends find him in the bathroom, they encounter several other androids and fight them off. They realize the town has been replaced by androids (which they dub "Blanks.")
Gary urges them to continue the pub crawl to avoid suspicion. The group bumps into Sam once more, and she Gary, and Steven fight Blank versions of Sam's childhood friends, known as the "twins". She tags along with them, and Steven is told by Basil, another resident who has not yet been replaced by a Blank, that the Blanks are trying to build a galactic conglomerate, and that any humans refusing will be replaced with identical simulants. The Blanks attempt to convince the humans to join their assimilation. Unwilling to lose their humanity and, finding out that both Oliver and their old school teacher, Mr. Shepherd, have been replaced, the group fights a bar full of Blanks.
Gary lets Sam escape Newton Haven by herself; Pete gets captured after attacking the Blank that has replaced his childhood bully; and, when Andy and Steven try to escape, Gary ditches them to finish the Golden Mile alone. Andy and Steven chase after Gary, as does the rest of Newton Haven, as Steven is captured.
In The World's End, Andy confronts Gary and reveals that his marriage is troubled, while Gary reveals a recent suicide attempt. Andy tries to stop Gary from drawing his final pint, but Gary clings to completing the Mile, as he believes it's all he has.