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Clockstoppers is a 2002 American science fiction action comedy film directed by Jonathan Frakes and produced by Julia Pistor and Gale Anne Hurd. The film centers on future tech "Hypertime" devices which speed up the users' molecules, creating the illusion that time has stopped from the perspective of the users. The story follows teenager Zak Gibbs, who accidentally acquires one of these devices and finds himself on the run from agents of the corporation which created them, all of whom wield Hypertime devices themselves. The film stars Jesse Bradford, Paula Garcés, French Stewart, Michael Biehn, Robin Thomas, and Julia Sweeney.
The film was released in the United States on March 29, 2002, by Paramount Pictures. It received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $39 million against a $26 million budget.
Gibbs' daughter Kelly accidentally knocks the watch into a box of his son Zak's things. George is away at a convention on applied science, having turned down Zak's appeals to go car shopping with him. Zak repeatedly bombs out with Francesca, the new girl at school. First he gives a condescending offer to show her around and then, after helping her rake some leaves brings a live opossum into her house. However, she is impressed when he shows her the power of the watch, which they use to pull pranks around town, and later help Zak's friend Meeker wins a battle of the DJs contest. Before they part ways, Francesca gives Zak a kiss goodnight.
Gates sends henchmen to George's house to recover the prototype, they are armed with Hypertime watches and solid nitrogen guns, which put other Hypertime users back into normal time. While fleeing from them, Zak discovers Dopler tied up in their van and frees him. A chase ensues, with Zak crashing the van into a river, thus disabling the watch. Zak awakens in a hospital and is charged with stealing the van. He gets the watch working just long enough to steal a policeman's uniform, allowing him to evade both the police and Gates's henchmen. QT Corporation contacts national security agencies and portrays Zak, George and Dopler as fugitives. Zak goes on the run with Francesca, locating the hotel that George is staying at. QT reaches George first and captures him to replace Dopler.
Dopler captures Zak and Francesca with a garbage truck. Francesca knocks Dopler out, she and Zak interrogate him when he recovers. Dopler reluctantly agrees to help save George. Using components that the three of them steal from a science convention, Dopler mends the broken watch and builds their own set of nitrogen guns.
Zak and Francesca break in to the QT facility. After activating Hypertime, Zak swaps a nonfunctional watch onto his wrist as a backup plan. QT captures them and confiscates the nonfunctional watch, they are put in a cell with George. The NSA deadline expires, so Gates puts the whole facility into Hypertime to stop the approaching NSA agents. Zak uses his concealed watch while in Hypertime, which causes his particles to accelerate to the point of instability and allows him to pass through the walls of their cell. He distracts Gates and the henchmen long enough for George to rig a bomb which destroys the machine generating Hypertime. Gates tries to kill Francesca, Zak and George, but Dopler arrives and shoots Gates with nitrogen. The NSA agents take the watches to keep them safe, and arrest Gates and his henchmen. The charges against Zak are dropped.
Dopler uses the machine he was building to reverse the aging effects of Hypertime, but it inadvertently changes him back into a teenager, meaning he will have to live with the Gibbs family for a few years. George lets Zak get the car he wanted. As Zak speeds off in his car with Kelly, Francesca, and Dopler, it is revealed that Zak has not returned the watch and continues to have fun in Hypertime.
The shot of the accelerated Zak being frozen was done as a Chroma key composite of three shots: one with Zak actor Jesse Bradford leaping, one with Michael Biehn aiming the nitrogen gun, and one with the scenery and the computer-generated nitrogen stream.
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it 2.5 stars out of 4, and wrote: "The movie has been produced by Nickelodeon, and will no doubt satisfy its intended audience enormously." He also noted that it did not cross over, and that it offered little for parents or older siblings. Robert Koehler of Variety called it "A blandly conceived youth adventure lacking zing or style." Nell Minow of Common Sense Media gave the film four stars out of five, describing it as a "Fun action comedy with nifty special effects." She also noted that the film's plot is a "throw-back to the old Disney classics like The Shaggy Dog and The Absent-Minded Professor," and the special effects that "handles the sci-fi aspect with it that truly are special." IGN
Clockstoppers opened at a number five at the box office ranking in $10.1 million in its first opening weekend, the following week it went down to #7 where it spent a week more. The film grossed a total of $38.8 million against a budget of $26 million.
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