Simon Birch is a 1998 American comedy-drama film loosely based on A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. It was directed and written for the screen by Mark Steven Johnson. The film stars Ian Michael Smith, Joseph Mazzello, Ashley Judd, Oliver Platt, and Jim Carrey. It omitted much of the latter half of the novel and altered the ending. The movie does not share the book's title at Irving's request; he did not believe that this novel could successfully be made into a film. The name "Simon Birch" was suggested by him to replace that of Owen Meany. The main plot centers around 12-year old Joe... Wenteworth and his best friend Simon Birch. The film opened at #5 at the North American box office making $3.3 million USD in its opening weekend. It had a 13% increase in gross earnings enough to keep the film at the fifth spot the following week. The bus crash scene was filmed near Ontario's French River. The film's quarry scenes were shot at Elora, Ontario. The church featured in many parts of the film is in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Its black borders were painted white for the film. At the end of the film when it switches to the future, the borders are black.
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| Release date: | September 11, 1998 |
| Directed by: | Mark Steven Johnson |
| Rated: |  |
| Runtime: | 113 Minutes |
| Producer: | Laurence Mark, Roger Birnbaum |
| Editor: | David Finfer |
| Music by: | Marc Shaiman |
| Cinematography: | Aaron Schneider |
| Screenplay by: | Mark Steven Johnson |
| Estimated budget: | $20,000,000 |
| Adapted from: | A Prayer for Owen Meany |
| Genre: | Comedy |