The successful and already fan-based book from nearly three decades ago has finally made it into the big screen. And as the film’s fan-base quickly develops, it looks like a new franchise is about to commence. That’s what you get when you combine experienced actors like Viola Davis and Harrison Ford, with young and talented actors like Asa Butterfield and Hailee Steinfield, just to name a few.

The film Ender’s Game surpasses the usual sci-fi expectations and takes audiences into a breathtaking journey to save planet earth. “The world of the planet is beautiful and worth saving but the political institution is becoming more militarized because of fear and paranoia. It’s definitely something that needs to be changed and part of Ender’s journey is to present questions,” said writer-director Gavin Hood.

Ender Wiggins, played by Asa Butterfield is an intelligent, complex, and brilliant 12-year-old boy who becomes rapidly promoted by Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford) to lead simulated war games against enemy forces. Although his promotion came rather quickly, Ender underwent a series of training that included battle school. Similarly, all of the young actors attended space camp and were trained by Cirque de Soleil stunt coordinators. “We got to know each other so well. We learned how to march and salute and do all the things that you would learn at military camp. It gives you an insight to what the characters were experiencing,” said Asa Butterfield.  Producers explained that they saw a lot of kids in a lot of countries. “The emotional demands on a young actor in this movie were enormous… and we saw some amazing young actors but not all of them could deliver up against Harrison Ford,” said Hood. After all the military and emotional training, the young stars had to put all the hard work into play. For Hailee Steinfield, who plays Petra (Ender’s best friend), working in front of a big green screen was a little “weird” but “so much fun”. “I was able to sort of use my imagination in a way that I never had to before so that was something that I really, really loved about this experience and that it was so completely different,” said Steinfield. During his final examination, Ender goes against the “enemy” with everything he’s got. Just like in the book written by Orson Scott, Ender is manipulated into thinking that this final examination is but another simulation and therefore chooses to destroy the entire Formic’s race. “He’s not only mad to feel that he made a morally bad choice, he also feels it’s strategically stupid to think that the way you win doesn’t matter,” said Hood.

Whether or not it is intended, this film raises plenty of awareness. The themes in this film are captivating and intriguing. In fact, when asked about the interest in the film, Ford said that “it was all together attractive” to him. “I thought it was an interesting subject that I hadn’t seen in film. I saw an interesting character that was responsible for supporting some questions about responsibility and military and relationships between young and old people. A lot of things intrigued me and when I met with the filmmakers I had a sense that they were very ambitious and focused on making a film that I thought would be useful to young audiences.”

As producer Robert Orci explains, Ender’s Game is not the ‘usual Hollywood ending’ but rather a real and true to the book film created to raise questions. As fans of the book, both Orci and producer Gigi Pritzker said they have been waiting a very long time to see this story on the big screen. “I got this book from my nephew when he was a young boy and he struggled with reading.  He came to me and he said I read this book and it was really great, and my first thought was ‘you read a book?’ and then I read the book and we talked and it was a great conversation. I remember very clearly thinking ‘this book allowed these two people: a young boy and a middle aged woman to have an incredibly interesting conversation and that’s really something,” said Pritzker.

Both the book and the film raise excellent questions that can be used to develop extraordinary parent-children relationships. This is mainly due to the reality behind Ender’s personality and the world he lives in. Director Gavin Hood describes this character as “a complex kid who is capable of tremendous compassion but also capable of real aggression, and at some point he has to find his own balance and take responsibility for his own moral choices.” These are the daily stories of so many kids and adults all around the world. Hood adds, “It’s a beautiful coming of age story. I’m hoping that it crosses over with parents and kids and forges a little bit of a conversation while still at the same time being visually entertaining.”

Ender’s Game will be in theatres and IMAX on November 1^st.