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Knowing (film)

2009 film directed by Alex Proyas

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 28, 2026
Entity authorityQ244296 ↗
Source-derived summary

Knowing (stylized as KNOW1NG) is a 2009 science fiction thriller film directed and co-produced by Alex Proyas and starring Nicolas Cage. The film, conceived and co-written by Ryne Douglas Pearson, was originally attached to a number of directors under Columbia Pictures, but it was placed in turnaround and eventually picked up by Escape Artists. Production was financially backed by Summit Entertainment. Knowing was filmed in Docklands Studios Melbourne, Australia, using various locations to represent the film's Boston-area setting. The film centers on the discovery of a strange paper filled with numbers and the possibility that they somehow predict the details of various disasters.

Knowing was released on March 20, 2009, in the United States, while the DVD and Blu-ray media were released on July 7. The film grossed $186.5 million at the worldwide box office, plus $27.7 million with home video sales, against a production budget of $50 million, but was met with mixed-to-negative reviews, with praise for the acting performances, visual style and atmosphere, and criticism over some implausibilities and the ending.

Plot

In October 1959, an elementary school in Lexington, Massachusetts, celebrates its opening with a competition in which students draw what they believe will happen in the future. Lucinda Embry fills her paper with numbers while being guided by whispering voices. Her teacher, Miss Taylor, collects the drawing before she can write the final numbers.

Editorial summary

“Knowing (film)” enters the record as 2009 film directed by Alex Proyas. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Knowing, film and directed can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA useful identification and reception guide that helps separate the work itself from editions, performances, ownership and later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2009, 1959—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—2009-03-09, 2009-03-20, 2009-04-09—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Knowing, film and directed.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Knowing (film)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Knowing, film and directed provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q244296. VIAF identifies the subject as 316754178. The Library of Congress control number is no2013087209. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 3 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2009 and 1959.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Knowing (film)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Knowing (film) primary sources, Knowing (film) archive and Knowing research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Knowing (film)”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Knowing (film)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.