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Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

Dawn of the Dead is a 2004 action horror film directed by Zack Snyder in his feature directorial debut, with a screenplay by James Gunn. A remake of George A. Romero's 1978 film of the same name, it stars an ensemble cast that includes Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Jake Weber, and Mekhi Phifer, with Scott Reiniger, Tom Savini, and Ken Foree from the original film appearing in cameos. Set in Milwaukee, the film follows a group of survivors who try to survive a zombie apocalypse holed up in a suburban shopping mall.

Producers Eric Newman and Marc Abraham developed the film rather as a "re-envisioning" of the original Dawn of the Dead, aiming to reinvigorate the zombie genre for modern audiences. They bought the rights from co-producer Richard P. Rubinstein (who produced the original) and hired Gunn to write the script, which oriented the original's premise around the action genre. Intent on making the remake a straight horror, Snyder took over to direct with the goal of keeping every aspect of the production as grounded in reality as possible. Filming took place from June to September 2003, on location at a Toronto shopping mall that was slated for demolition. The special makeup effects were created by David LeRoy Anderson, and the music was composed by Tyler Bates in his first collaboration with Snyder.

Dawn of the Dead was theatrically released on March 19, 2004, by Universal Pictures. Despite Romero's distaste for it, the film earned generally positive reviews from critics, who saw improvements over the original in terms of acting, production values, and scares. However they felt it lacked character development, was excessively gory and also indifferent to Romero's preoccupation with consumerism. Dawn of the Dead was a commercial success, grossing $102.3 million worldwide on a $26 million budget. Retrospective reviews have called it Snyder's best film. A spiritual successor, Army of the Dead, was released in 2021.

Plot
After finishing a long shift as a nurse in the Milwaukee area, Ana returns to her suburban neighborhood and her husband, Luis. Caught up in a scheduled date night, they unintentionally ignore an emergency news bulletin. The next morning, a zombified neighborhood girl, Vivian, enters their bedroom and kills Luis, who immediately reanimates and attacks Ana. She flees in her car, crashes, and passes out. Upon awakening, Ana joins police sergeant Kenneth Hall, electronics salesman Michael, petty criminal Andre and his pregnant wife, Luda. They break into a nearby mall and are attacked by a zombified security guard, who scratches Luda. Three living guards — C.J., Bart, and Terry — force them to surrender their weapons in exchange for refuge. They split into groups to secure the mall. On the roof, they see another survivor, Andy, who is stranded in his gun store across the zombie-infested parking lot. The group notices a military helicopter flying overhead and attempts to get the pilot's attention, but to no avail.

The next day, a delivery truck carrying more survivors enters the lot, pursued by zombies. C.J. and Bart wish to turn them away but are overruled and disarmed. The newcomers include Norma, Steve, Tucker, Monica, Glen, Frank and his daughter, Nicole. Another woman is too ill to walk; she is wheeled inside via wheelbarrow, only to die and reanimate. After she is killed, the group determines the disease is passed by bites. Andre leaves to see Luda, who has kept her scratch hidden from the group. They realize that Frank has been bitten and is a potential threat. After some debate, Frank elects to be isolated. When he dies and turns, Kenneth shoots him.

Kenneth and Andy start a friendship by way of messages written on a whiteboard; romance also buds between Ana and Michael, and Nicole and Terry. When the power goes out, C.J., Bart, Michael and Kenneth go to the parking garage to activate the emergency generator; they find a friendly dog named Chips, and worry about a breach. Zombies attack and kill Bart, forcing the others to douse the zombies in gas and set them ablaze. Meanwhile, Luda — tied up by Andre — gives birth and dies. She reanimates as Norma checks on the couple. When Norma kills the zombified Luda, Andre snaps; they exchange gunfire and both are killed. The others arrive to find a zombie infant, which they kill immediately. The group decides to fight their way to the local marina and travel on Steve's yacht to an island on Lake Michigan. They reinforce two shuttle buses from the parking garage for their escape.

To rescue Andy, the group straps supplies onto Chips's body and lower him into the parking lot; the zombies have no interest in him. Chips enters Andy's store safely, but a zombie follows through the dog door. Nicole, fond of Chips, crashes the delivery truck into the gun store, where a now zombified Andy traps her. Kenneth, Michael, Tucker, Terry, and C.J. reach the gun store via the sewers, kill Andy, and rescue Nicole. They grab ammunition and go back to the mall; along the way, Tucker breaks his legs, and C.J. shoots him out of mercy. Once inside, they are unable to lock the door, forcing an evacuation via the buses.

While navigating through the city, Glen loses control of a chainsaw, accidentally killing himself and Monica; blood splatters on the windshield, causing their bus to crash. Steve leaves the group and is killed by a stowaway zombie. While C.J., Kenneth, and Terry look for survivors, Ana kills the zombified Steve and retrieves his boat keys. At the marina, C.J. sacrifices himself so the others can escape. Michael reveals a bite wound, killing himself as Ana, Kenneth, Nicole, Terry, and Chips flee on the yacht. Footage from a camcorder found on the boat shows Steve's escapades before the outbreak and concludes as the group runs out of supplies, approaches an island, and is attacked by a swarm of zombies before the camcorder drops.

Cast
Additional members of the cast include stuntman Ermes Blarasin as the bloated woman, Natalie Brown as a CDC reporter, and dog actor Blu as Nicole's adopted pet dog Chips. Director Zack Snyder cameos as a soldier battling zombies at the United States Capitol during the film's title sequence, as do Scott Reiniger, Tom Savini, and Ken Foree (who were in the original film) as a general, sheriff, and televangelist, respectively.

Development
Plans to remake 1978's Dawn of the Dead were conceived by producer Eric Newman, a fan of zombie films who cited the George A. Romero horror film as the best in this genre. With the remake, Newman and producer Marc Abraham wanted to reinvigorate the zombie genre for modern audiences as well as "make the old fans happy and make a lot of new fans". Newman and Abraham bought the rights to Dawn of the Dead from its producer and rights holder Richard P. Rubinstein, who was reluctant at first as he was "concerned that somewhere along the way a studio would sanitize Newman's vision for producing a version with 'attitude'", but that it was "Marc Abraham's long track record in keeping the creative integrity of the studio distributed films he has produced intact that gave me reason to say 'yes'". Newman hired James Gunn to write the script, and the studio brought Gunn in despite not wanting to deliver them a signal idea for the film beforehand. A fan of the original Dawn of the Dead since he was a young boy, Gunn explained that he took the job because he "kind of saw generally what it could be".

The producers conceptualized the remake as more of a "re-envisioning" which would work in some references to the original but would primarily work on its own terms. Co-producer Eric Newman cited Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), The Thing (1982), and The Fly (1986) as influences on the remake, considering these to be "amazing updates" as well as "great movies that add to rather than diminish the original films". By way of respect to Romero's film, the producers cast the original's Tom Savini, Scott Reiniger, and Ken Foree in cameos; and incorporated visual references to Gaylen Ross and James A. Baffico.

In writing the script, Gunn took an action-oriented approach while remaining faithful to the basic premise of Romero's version. To develop the plot, he declined to write a treatment in favor of a discovery writing method whereby he would devise hypothetical situations which would ultimately force the characters to evacuate the mall. Gunn decided to leave the origin of the zombie outbreak ambiguous, believing this would give not only equal consideration to each audience's viewpoint (scientific or otherwise) but also something to think about what they would do if they found themselves in a similar situation. The script was given uncredited rewrites by Michael Tolkin and Scott Frank; co-producer Richard P. Rubinstein said Tolkin further developed the characters while Frank provided some of the bigger, upbeat action scenes. Gunn revealed he received internet backlash over the film due to his past screenwriting credit on Scooby-Doo (2002), believing him to be unqualified for the job. However, film critic Harry Knowles, initially an opponent of the remake, read Gunn's script and gave it a positive response on his website Ain't It Cool News, which Gunn said helped eliminate doubts cast upon him by fans of the original.

Theme
With Dawn of the Dead, Gunn wanted to explore the human condition as well as tell a wholly different story about redemption. He elaborated on the redemptive theme of the film in an interview with IGN during a press junket for Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed released that same year:

"[...] Dawn of the Dead is about redemption because it's about a bunch of people who have lived certain lives, who have maybe not been the best people, and suddenly they have everything that they've used to define themselves: Their careers, their churches, their jobs, their families are stripped away. They're gone. They start at nothing and they have to become who they really are in the face of all that and some of the people are redeemed and end up becoming good people and some of them are not redeemed and they end up, you know, not redeemed. And that's what kind of drove me throughout the story, was it was a story about redemption. I also think that there's a lot about how people survive and what people turn to in the face of such tragedy. The tragedy in this case being flesh-eating zombies. And really it's a group coming together to work as a community who wouldn't otherwise work together. So there is that foundation of love, that basic message, within even Dawn of the Dead..."

Pre-production
Zack Snyder chose to direct the remake as his first feature film because it gave the television commercial director "a reason to care about every shot". Not wanting his version inevitably compared to George A. Romero's, he concurred with the producers on reimagining the latter film as opposed to doing it as a "remake", which, in his view, would have entailed re-shooting Romero's script. For that matter, he aimed to make his film a straight horror that was "as serious as a heart attack" and keep every aspect of its production as grounded in reality as possible. His approach included previsualizing the film with storyboards and introducing the concept of running zombies, which he said was his "fresh, new way" of giving it a sense of verisimilitude and rendering zombies as if they were real threats, especially when they attack in hordes. Snyder maintained Gunn's decision not to reveal the origin of the zombie outbreak, believing it was "obvious that in this fallen society, you wouldn't know where the whole plague started".

Set design
In searching for a suitable upscale mall location for the film, production designer Andrew Neskoromny looked for existing malls that were scheduled for demolition. His search yielded no results until he found the now-defunct Thornhill Square shopping mall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which measured approximately 45,000 sqft. Dubbed the "Crossroads Mall", the crew completely redid the mall over an eight-week period, adding an expensive water feature near the entrance, 14 stores, parking structures, and warehouse areas. Since Snyder wanted the stores palpable in terms of design and stood not merely as storefronts, Neskoromny's team accordingly built them as actual retail stores complete with merchandise. These stores were given fake names, since only two major retail brands agreed to be featured in the film.

Makeup and practical effects
The special makeup effects for the film were created by David LeRoy Anderson, with assistance from his actress wife Heather Langenkamp. Prior to accepting the job from Universal Studios' then-executive James D. Brubaker, Anderson had been in a two-year hiatus from working as a makeup effects artist to operate his company DLA Silverwear. Anderson completed his test makeups for the film over a four-week period, and then he and his team traveled to the Toronto set and set up their makeup effects lab next to the mall.

To depict a heightened realistic look to the zombies, Anderson researched on the appearance of decay following human death, looking through several medical books, war footages, and crime scene photographs showing graphic images of trauma victims; he broke down the look of decomposition into three stages:

"The first stage looks like someone who was just in the ER – pale, with lots of fresh blood. The second stage has moist wounds but the skin is beginning to break down. There is a lot of discoloration and mottling, mostly blues and greens. The third stage is the most intense, with the skeletal form coming through. The wounds are dried-up, the skin is sloughing off and colors are oily blacks."

Head hits were done practically through various methods, such as bullet hit squibs covered with prosthetic scalps and attached to the back of the actor's head to be detonated. Concerned about the risk thereof, Anderson developed an alternative method in which his team would attach wires to the scalps loaded with blood packs and yank them with a remote-controlled "air ratchet system", lending a similar gruesome effect as with the squibs sans potential harm.

Principal photography
Filming began on June 9, 2003, on location in various parts of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Hundreds of zombie extras had to be constantly available for the entire shoot. To handle the volume of willing extras, Anderson and his team built a large "factory" where painted extras would stay put until they are spoken for by either the main or second unit film crew. They built various makeup rooms for the artists to work in: one consisted of camper trailers where they would apply detailed prosthetic makeups to extras playing "hero zombies", a special type of zombie; and the other consisted of tents where they would produce painted masks for extras playing background zombies. Extras playing foreground zombies were painted with plain palette makeups in Anderson's mall lab. The makeup artists were given his concept images to work on as references. According to Anderson and Heather Langenkamp, the most extras they ever had in a given day sat between 200 and 400, with a total of 3,000 makeups completed when filming ended on September 6, 2003.

Visual effects and title sequence
The visual effects for the film were provided by Canadian VFX studio Mr. X Inc., with its president Dennis Berardi serving as the film's co-VFX supervisor.

The production shot scenes for which Snyder wanted as many as 4,000 live-action zombies, which Berardi created rather as a combination of practical zombies and CG zombies which he built as 3D models with Autodesk Maya. One such scene involved tens of thousands of zombies at the mall's parking lot, which was shot with motion-control passes whose green screen elements of 200 extras, combined with the CG zombies, were later composited to create a "digital crowd simulation that looks realistic".

Kyle Cooper designed the title sequence for the film, using real human blood.

Film score
The score for Dawn of the Dead was composed by Tyler Bates, his first for a horror film. Bates became involved with the film after he was recommended to it by its music supervisor, G. Marq Roswell, who learned he made little money from his work on Mario Van Peebles's film Baadasssss! (2003), on which Roswell also served as music supervisor. The studio was not convinced with hiring Bates because they felt he was not an established composer at the time, but director Zack Snyder insisted on him, and he was ultimately hired.

In scoring the film, Bates avoided taking cues from the original's music by the band Goblin, finding its style to be incompatible with what Snyder had filmed. Bates's score combines elements of electronic music and 20th-century orchestra, which was influenced by the works of composers adept at creating dissonance, such as Béla Bartók and Krzysztof Penderecki. Bates employed these musical choices with the intention of making the audience "very, very uncomfortable".

Milan Records released Bates's score in physical format for the first time on October 23, 2012, a week after the record label released it digitally via iTunes Store and Amazon Music. The album comprises 31 tracks, all of which were composed by Bates. Dawn of the Dead also marks the first of several collaborations between him and Snyder: he would later compose for the director on 300 (2006), Watchmen (2009), and Sucker Punch (2011).

Other songs
In a 2023 interview with Total Film, Snyder revealed he had lobbied for the inclusion of the Richard Cheese cover of "Down with the Sickness", originally sung by the heavy metal band Disturbed, which plays in a montage where the characters relieve boredom in the mall. According to Snyder, the studio originally declined the Richard Cheese version in favor of the Disturbed version, but he managed to convince them that the former was appropriate for the scene. Snyder also stated his rationale behind the decision to play "People Who Died" by The Jim Carroll Band at the end of the film: "I really love that [opening chords of 'People Who Died'] DANG! DANG! DANG, DANG, DANG! I thought that it was cool as a way to end the movie because it's so dark. It's a bleak ending, in a cool way."

Box office
Dawn of the Dead was marketed with its 10-minute opening sequence that was broadcast on cable television four nights prior to its theatrical release. Entertainment Weekly projected that it would outperform The Passion of the Christ in its United States opening weekend, with an audience base comprising largely young males and estimated gross of $22 million.

In the U.S. and Canada, the film was released alongside Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Taking Lives, on March 19, 2004. Dawn of the Dead ended up performing above projections, debuting to $27.3 million in its U.S. opening weekend and claiming the top spot The Passion of the Christ held for three consecutive weekends. Variety reported, "Some 63% of Dawn [audiences] were under age 25, with 57% of patrons male. Hispanic moviegoers comprised 21% of its supporters and African-Americans 14%." Dawn of the Dead ended its theatrical run as a commercial success, grossing $102 million worldwide on a $26 million budget; it grossed $59 million in the United States and Canada and $43.3 million in other territories.

The release of Dawn of the Dead in the U.S. nearly coincided with that of Shaun of the Dead, another zombie film distributed by Universal Pictures. In a February 2004 Variety report, a spokesman at Universal revealed that the studio had greenlit Shaun of the Dead "with the condition that Dawn of the Dead would be released here in the U.S. first" in order to avoid this conflict.

Dawn of the Dead was screened out of competition at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.

Home media
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment released Dawn of the Dead on DVD, Blu-ray, and digital with director Zack Snyder's unrated director's cut of the film: he described this version as longer, gorier, and more character-driven than the theatrical one. Bonus features found on the DVD and Blu-ray include Snyder and co-producer Eric Newman's audio commentary; the featurettes Attack of the Living Dead, Raising the Dead, Drawing the Dead, Splitting Headaches, Surviving the Dawn, and Special Report: Zombie Invasion; the short film The Lost Tape: Andy's Terrifying Last Days Revealed; deleted scenes with optional commentary by Snyder and Newman; and the film's theatrical trailer.

On Halloween of 2017, Shout! Factory's horror sub-label Scream Factory released a two-disc collector's edition Blu-ray of Dawn of the Dead, which contains the film's theatrical version and the director's cut. The Blu-ray, which is said to have been "derived from the digital intermediate archival negative", contains bonus features found in previous releases in addition to new and exclusive ones featuring interviews with actors Ty Burrell and Jake Weber, screenwriter James Gunn, and makeup effects artists David LeRoy Anderson and Heather Langenkamp. A 4K Ultra HD collector's edition Blu-ray from Scream Factory with extras ported over from the label's previous release was released on January 31, 2023.

Theatrical
Dawn of the Dead garnered generally positive reviews upon its release, with critics praising it as a worthy remake of the original and a fine addition to the zombie genre. The film was considered by most to be an improvement over the original in terms of acting, production values, and scares,  but Variety and Derek Malcolm felt that it was only intermittently scary. Despite giving it a negative review, Variety said that the film was otherwise "more palatable" than the "atrocious" Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake released the previous year. Michael Gingold stated, "[...] Dawn of the Dead joins The Ring and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre as an update that both honors its source and emerges as an effective horror film in its own right," a sentiment also shared by IGN. Lisa Schwarzbaum praised Snyder's direction in a "killer feature debut", and Roger Ebert said in a positive review that anyone paying to see it is guaranteed to get their money's worth.

Abundant praise was given to the film's opening sequence, which an otherwise negative review from The Hollywood Reporter called "pulse-poundingly good". Gingold found Snyder's camerawork utilizing a first-person video-game perspective at the beginning of the film to be praiseworthy, more so than those of the video game films Resident Evil and House of the Dead. The lack of dark humor of the original was a subject of criticism, although the scene in which survivors shoot zombified celebrity look-alikes with a sniper rifle was considered by most to be funny, among other jokes;   The Hollywood Reporter cited it as some of the film's "moments of inspired audacity". Many noted that the "fast zombies" of Dawn of the Dead were similar to those of 28 Days Later, but felt that the Danny Boyle film was "darker and creepier", "smarter, more rigorously structured", and could pass for a remake of the original.

Despite the general praise, some critics said the film gave scant consideration to George A. Romero's satirical critique of consumerism, among other sociocultural issues. Ebert and Variety argued that whereas Romero used the zombie-infested shopping mall to stage a metaphor about consumer society, Snyder used it merely as a convenient shelter for his characters. Gingold lamented that unlike Romero's film, Snyder's provided no social commentary on racism through its black characters Kenneth and Andre as well as the interracial relationship between Andre and Luda. In contrast, Manohla Dargis opined that Romero's consumerist metaphor has lost its significance in the years since the original's release, "with the politics of consumption now an established academic field and shopping now considered a statement of identity". IGN praised the film's tonal departure from Romero's, calling it a "calculated risk that paid off".

The Hollywood Reporter and Chicago Tribune complained that Dawn of the Dead was content to indulge in bloody zombie killings devoid of meaning and introspection once present in the original, leaving the audience rather numbed and "less mercifully handled, even at the end-credits". Wesley Morris gave a negative review in which he said the film "feels like the product of the PlayStation era" than a reverence for Romero. Elvis Mitchell had similar objections, writing that "[t]he flesh-eaters are picked off like video-game targets". Conversely, the BBC complimented the film as a "stylish, gore-drenched shoot-em-up", and Dargis attributed its appeal not to the bloody violence but "[to] the filmmakers' commitment to genre fundamentals". Writing in a positive review, web-based critic James Berardinelli said that fans of "tight, tense, graphic horror" should be able to enjoy the same aplenty in Dawn of the Dead.

While Schwarzbaum and Dargis complimented James Gunn's script as "sharp" and propulsive, respectively, others took issue with what they believed to be the lack of plot and character developments. Morris found most of the characters to be too irritating that he believed audiences might want them "thrown from the mall roof to the throngs of undead". The Chicago Tribune said that the characters were clichéd and about as dumb as the undead, though sympathized with the "tragic" dilemma faced by Andre. Conversely, Berardinelli said that although there are moments in which the characters show a lack of common sense, "it's inevitable that most of them end up as one-dimensional throw-aways whose sole purpose is to increase the body count" and that "not many people go to a horror film looking for character development and drama". He and Ebert found the subplots of Kenneth and Andre to be "touching", with Berardinelli saying that these were "handled with a deft hand". Although Ebert was personally not on board with the characters' "risky" plan to escape from the mall in lieu of awaiting the zombies' natural death, he remarked that "taking chances makes for good action scenes". Mitchell criticized the plot as "strictly by the numbers" and said that the climactic gun store scene "shows why zombie pictures aren't unsettling anymore".

The ensemble cast was generally praised: comments ranged from "superlative" and "convincing down the line" to "respectable" and "annoying". Schwarzbaum and the Chicago Tribune described Sarah Polley's screen presence as a "perfect against-type heroine" with a "nice anxious stare". IGN was dismayed that least attention was given to Phifer's "naturally charismatic presence" with such a large cast, though felt that Rhames was effective as Polley's "quietly authoritative foil" and praised Jake Weber's performance in a "thankless role". While giving equal praise to Polley, Phifer, and Rhames, Gingold lauded Weber's existentialist role as "the best of all", as did the BBC, who also credited the actor with "bringing a redoubtable decency and charisma to a potentially bland part, like the young Roy Scheider in Jaws".

, Dawn of the Dead is Zack Snyder's highest-rated film on the website. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

Retrospective
In 2005, George A. Romero spoke briefly of how dissatisfied he was with Dawn of the Dead during an interview with actor Simon Pegg for Time Out. Romero said that although the remake could pass for a good action film, he felt it was aimless and "more of a video game" for that matter, as well as maintained he was "not terrified of things running at me".

Numerous publications have named Dawn of the Dead as Zack Snyder's best film, with Den of Geek considering it his magnum opus. Revisiting the film on its 15th anniversary in 2019, Joe Lipsett wrote the following verdict for Bloody Disgusting:

"Fifteen years later, Dawn of the Dead completely holds up. The film's flaws are mostly at the character level, though having a dumb zombie baby and a few undeveloped red shirts in the mix is hardly a deal breaker. The action – particularly the opening scene and the propane explosion climax – in addition to the fantastic special effects makeup, the brief flirtation with found footage, and the reverence for its source text while introducing something new makes 2004's Dawn of the Dead one of the best remakes on the market."

Likewise, Dawn of the Dead has appeared on several lists of the top zombie films, including number 3 by Rolling Stone (2012), number 12 by Empire (2020), by Collider (2021), number 17 by IndieWire (2022), and by Variety (2023); as well as the best horror films of the decade, including number 3 by Dread Central (2010), number 8 by Bloody Disgusting (2009), number 52 by IGN, and number 55 by Rolling Stone (2020). The film made review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes's lists of "The 20 Scariest Opening Scenes in Horror Movie History" (at number 6), "The 25 Best Horror Movie Remakes" (at number 9), "The 30 Essential Zombie Movies" (at number 13), and "18 Memorable Horror Remakes".

In a June 2018 article for The Hollywood Reporter, Richard Newby opined that Dawn of the Dead helped revitalize the zombie genre along with 28 Days Later at a time when the United States "was ripe for the re-emergence of zombie movies" following the September 11 attacks, which he believes to have contributed to the Americans' "increased fear of biological weapons, fervent mass militarization and the burrowing question of who exactly are the people we call our neighbors". Likewise, author Stephen King, in the forenote of the 2010 edition of his book Danse Macabre, saw what he believed to be Snyder's subtext conveying the horrors induced by terrorist attacks, drawing parallels between the zombie apocalypse and a post-9/11 America. King described Dawn of the Dead as "genius perfected" in terms of its standing in the zombie genre.  South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and South Korean filmmaker Yeon Sang-ho consider themselves to be fans of the film, citing it as an influence upon their works "Night of the Living Homeless" and the Train to Busan series, respectively.

Spiritual successor
On March 25, 2007, Variety announced that Warner Bros. Pictures would produce a new zombie film from a screenplay written by Joby Harold, based on an original idea conceived by Snyder. In a statement, Snyder said that he wanted the film to feel similar to Dawn of the Dead and 300 and that it would center around a father in Las Vegas "who tries to save his daughter from imminent death in a zombie-infested world". At the time, Wesley Coller was attached to executive produce, with Snyder and his wife Deborah Snyder producing through Cruel & Unusual Films (now known as The Stone Quarry). Snyder got the idea during Dawn of the Dead's production and wanted to explore a new evolution of the zombies. The film is not a sequel to Dawn of the Dead but rather a spiritual successor. Snyder realized that he needed a new origin story to develop the plot and create a new incarnation of the living dead. He titled the project Army of the Dead as a tribute to the works of George A. Romero. After languishing for several years in development hell, the distribution rights to the film were acquired by Netflix in 2019, and Snyder began shooting that same year.

Army of the Dead had a week-long limited theatrical release starting May 14 prior to its wider Netflix release on May 21, 2021.

title: Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)


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Sedna Planitia

Sedna Planitia is a large lowland area of Venus, south of Ishtar Terra. It is thought to be lava-covered and similar to a lunar mare. Its name is derived from the Inuit sea goddess.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Sedna Planitia


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Pacific temperate rainforests

The Pacific temperate rainforests of western North America is the largest temperate rain forest region on the planet as defined by the World Wildlife Fund (other definitions exist). The Pacific temperate rainforests lie along the western side of the Pacific Coast Ranges along the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America from the Prince William Sound in Alaska through the British Columbia Coast to Northern California, and are part of the Nearctic realm, as also defined by the World Wildlife Fund. The Pacific temperate rain forests are characterized by a high amount of rainfall, in some areas more than 300 cm per year and moderate temperatures in both the summer and winter months (10 - 24 C).

This ecoregion is a subregion of the Cascadia bioregion.

These rainforests occur in a number of ecoregions, which vary in their species composition, but are predominantly of conifers, sometimes with an understory of broadleaf trees, ferns and shrubs. In the WWF's system, the ecoregions of the Pacific temperate rainforests are the Northern Pacific coastal forests, Haida Gwaii, British Columbia mainland coastal forests, Central Pacific coastal forests, Central and Southern Cascades forests, Klamath-Siskiyou forests, and Northern California coastal forests ecoregions.

Flora
The forests in the north contain predominantly Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) and western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), while those in the coastal forests are home to both species mentioned, as well as coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), coast Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), western redcedar (Thuja plicata) and shore pine (Pinus contorta). Notably, many of the world's largest and tallest tree species are found in this ecoregion. Dense growths of epiphytes and mosses cover the trees, and lush vegetation is present everywhere.

Hardwood trees such as the bigleaf maple and the alder are also common, especially at lower elevations and along stream banks, and are vital to the ecosystem, in part because of their nitrogen fixing.

History

About 200 million years ago (during the Triassic and Jurassic periods), the landscape was dominated by conifers, which were the most diverse group of trees and constituted the greatest majority of large trees. When flowering plants emerged (in the following Cretaceous period), they quickly prevailed, causing most conifers to become extinct, and those that survived to adapt to harsh conditions. Perhaps the most significant difference in this change is that the primitive conifers invested their energy in the basic food supply for every seed, with no certainty of fertilization; by contrast, flowering plants create the food supply for a seed only after it is triggered by fertilization. The Pacific temperate rainforests now remains the only region on Earth of noteworthy size and significance where, due to unique climatic conditions, the conifers flourish as they did before being displaced by flowering plants. The northern Pacific temperate rain forests are relatively young, emerging in the past few thousand years following the retreat of the ice sheets of the last ice age.

Ecology
The ecosystem of Pacific temperate rainforests is so productive that the biomass on the best sites is at least four times greater than that of any comparable area in the tropics. In sheer mass of living and decaying material - trees, mosses, shrubs, and soil - these forests are more massive than any other ecosystem on the planet. In part, this is due to the rarity of fire. Unlike drier forests, which burn periodically, temperate rain forests are naturally subject to only small-scale disturbances, such as blow-downs and avalanches.

This rain forest spans a wide range of latitude - from about 40 degrees north to about 60 degrees north. The differences in climate from south to north create several major forest zones, characterized by different species.
 * At the southern limit in northern California is the "coast redwood zone".
 * Beginning at the California/Oregon border, and extending through the north end of Vancouver Island is the "seasonal rain forest zone". The major tree species here are Douglas fir, western red cedar, Sitka spruce, and western hemlock.
 * Beyond the northern end of Vancouver Island, is the "perhumid rain forest zone". Douglas fir wanes as a dominant species, and the forest is primarily made up of western red cedar, Sitka spruce, and western hemlock.
 * The Gulf of Alaska begins where the fjords of southeast Alaska end, and marks the transition into "sub-polar rain forest". Here the forest occupies only a very narrow strip between the ocean and the icy alpine zone. The cedar trees no longer thrive in this harsher climate, and the dominant trees are limited to Sitka spruce, and western and mountain hemlock.
 * The northern limits of the rainforest are scattered in thin bands in the northern Prince William Sound, Kenai Fjords, eastern Kodiak Island, and western Cook Inlet.

Wildlife
The first survey to systematically explore the forest canopy in the Carmanah Valley of Vancouver Island yielded 15,000 new species, a third of all invertebrates known to exist in all of Canada. Among the collection were 500 species previously unknown to science. Common individuals include raccoons, opossums, coyotes, black-tailed deer, ensatinas, red foxes, bullfrogs, banana slugs, Roosevelt elk, black slugs, shrew moles, gulls, mice, and numerous other organisms. Moose rarely set foot into these forests because they prefer colder, drier and snowier biomes which are most common in the inland Western United States compared to the coast, but small sightings of moose have been reported along the British Columbia coast.

The rain forest exists in a complicated landscape of islands and fjords, and many species depend on both the forest and the ocean. Salmon are one of the primary species of the rainforest, spawning in the forest streams. The marbled murrelet nests in old growth trees at night, but feeds in the ocean during the day.

Many of the most iconic photos of these forests include a large bear somewhere in the frame. Grizzly bears and black bears once thrived throughout the rain forest zone and beyond. Black bears can still be found throughout the forest's range, while grizzlies are largely confined to areas north of the Canada–US border. These forests have some of the largest concentrations of grizzly bears in the world, mainly due to the region's rich salmon streams. The Great Bear Rainforest in Canada is home to the rare white variant of the black bear known as the Kermode bear, also known colloquially as the "spirit bear." The endangered spotted owl was at the center of logging controversies in Oregon and Washington. Other wildlife species of note include the bald eagle, marbled murrelet, wolf, mountain lion and sitka deer.

Logging
Pacific temperate rainforests have been subject to ongoing large-scale industrial logging since the end of World War II, cutting over half of their total area. In California, only 4% of the redwoods have been protected. In Oregon and Washington, less than 10% of the original coastal rainforest area remains.

An even larger percentage of the productive forest has been logged. Much of the land is rock, ice, muskeg, or less productive forest on steep slopes. The stereotypical old growth is limited to lowland flats and valleys, which have been preferentially targeted for logging. Historically, the most common protocol has been to place protected areas in the mountains, leaving the valleys to the timber industry. So while some very large areas are protected as parks and monuments, very little of the highest-value habitat has been protected, and much of it has already been cut.

In the Tongass National Forest, in the 1950s, in part to aid in Japanese recovery from World War II, the US Forest Service set up long term contracts with two pulp mills: the Ketchikan Pulp Company (KPC) and the Alaska Pulp Company (APC). These contracts were for 50 years, and divided up the forest into areas slated for APC logs and areas slated for KPC logs. These two companies conspired to drive log prices down, conspired to drive smaller logging operations out of business, and were major and recalcitrant polluters of their local areas. These long term contracts guaranteed low prices to the pulp companies — in some cases resulting in trees being given away for less than the price of a hamburger. Since 1980, the US Forest Service has lost over a billion dollars in Tongass timber sales.

Half a million acres (2,000 km2) of the Tongass was selected by native corporations under the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. Much of this area has been clearcut.

The most controversial timber sales in the Tongass are in the roadless areas. In September 2006, a landmark court decision overturned President George W. Bush's repeal of the Roadless Rule, reverting the 2001 roadless area protections established under President Clinton. However, the Tongass was exempted from that ruling and it is unclear what the fate of its vast roadless areas will be.

title: Pacific temperate rainforests


text:
Opera (company)

Opera (formerly Opera Software AS) is a multinational technology conglomerate holding company headquartered in Oslo, Norway with additional offices in Europe, China, and Africa. Opera offers a range of products and services that include a variety of PC and mobile web browsers, GameMaker and gaming portals, the Opera News content recommendation products, the Opera Ads platform, and a number of Web3 and e-commerce products and services. The company's total user base is 311 million monthly active users.

In 2016, Opera was acquired by an investment group led by a Chinese consortium. On July 27, 2018, Opera Limited went public on the Nasdaq stock exchange, raising $115 million in its initial public offering. Opera is a subsidiary of Kunlun Tech Co., Ltd., and controlled by Zhou Yahui.

Early development
Opera Software was founded as an independent company in Norway in 1995 by the Icelandic Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner and Geir Ivarsøy. They had initially begun development of the Opera web browser while both working at Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor.

Opera Software's first product, the Opera web browser version 2.10 for Windows, was publicly released in 1996. Opera began development of its first browser for mobile device platforms in 1998. Opera 4.0, released in 2000, included a new cross-platform core that facilitated creation of editions of Opera for multiple operating systems and platforms.

Up to this point, the Opera browser was trialware and had to be purchased after the trial period ended, however, this ended with version 5.0, released in 2000. Instead, Opera became ad-sponsored, displaying advertisements to users without a license, which was commonly criticized as a barrier to gaining market share. In newer versions, the user was allowed a choice of generic graphical banners or text-based targeted advertisements provided by Google based upon the page being viewed.

First IPO and public company
In February 2004, Opera Software announced it was preparing for an initial public offering on the Oslo Stock Exchange in March. On March 11, Opera's IPO opened, trading under the symbol OPERA.

In 2004, Opera Software settled a lawsuit with an "international corporation" paying US$12.75 million to Opera. It was speculated that the "international corporation" named in the statement announcing the settlement was Microsoft, which had previously blocked Opera users from correctly viewing MSN.com.

On 12 January 2005, Opera Software announced that it would offer free licenses to higher education institutions — a change from the previous cost of US$1,000 for unlimited licenses. Schools that opted for the free license included Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University, University of Oxford, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Duke University.

With version 8.5 (released in 2005) the advertisements were removed entirely and primary financial support came through revenue from Google (Opera's default search engine). In August 2005, the company introduced Opera Mini, a new Java ME based web browser for mobile phones originally marketed not to end users but to mobile network operators to pre-load on phones or offer for their subscribers. In 2007, Opera filed a complaint against Microsoft in the European Commission, alleging that bundling Internet Explorer with Microsoft Windows is harmful to both the consumer and to other web browser companies. The complaint resulted in the creation of BrowserChoice.eu.

In 2011, development directors Rolf Assev and Christen Krogh, decided to quit Opera to try something new.

In 2012, Opera Software and Bharti Airtel signed an agreement to provide Opera Mini browsers to Airtel mobile customers. In 2013 Opera Software decided to not use their in-house rendering engine for the Desktop Browser anymore. From Version 15, the Opera browser for computers would be using the Blink rendering engine, a fork of Webkit developed together with Google.

In March 2015, Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Opera won Global Mobile Award of Best Mobile Product, Initiative or Service in Emerging Markets for Opera Web Pass and Sponsored Web Pass. In April Opera Software decided to centre development of the Opera Desktop browser in Poland. On April 12, Opera TV AS (now Vewd Software AS ) was established to separate TV-related business from all other assets, which became part of Opera Software AS; both companies became wholly owned subsidiaries of Opera Software ASA (now Otello). In September, the company announced a rebrand with a new three-dimensional "O" logo and brand identity. In the process, the company logotype changed from "Opera Software" to "Opera".

Acquisition and second IPO
In 2016, the company changed ownership when a group of Chinese investors purchased the web browser, consumer business, and brand of Opera Software ASA. The remaining assets were renamed as the Otello Corporation. The ownership change was initiated in February 2016 when a group of Chinese investors offered US$1.2 billion ($8.31 per share) to buy Opera Software ASA, though the deal reportedly did not meet regulatory approval. On 18 July 2016, Opera Software ASA announced it had sold its browser, privacy and performance apps, and the Opera brand to Golden Brick Capital Private Equity Fund I Limited Partnership (a consortium of Chinese investors led by Beijing Kunlun Tech Co and Qihoo 360) for an amount of US$600 million. The transaction for sale of Opera's consumer business was approved on 31 October 2016 by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. An earlier deal was not approved by Norwegian regulators. On 4 November 2016, Golden Brick Capital Private Equity Fund I L.P. completed the acquisition. After divesting itself of the Opera browser and brand, Opera Software ASA changed its name to Otello Corporation ASA.

In January 2017, the company introduced Opera Neon, a new concept browser that is intended as an exploration of browser design alternatives. The browser is built on top of the Blink engine similar to the original Opera browser, and it is available for Windows and macOS. In January 2018, Opera launched Opera News, an AI-driven news app dedicated to African users. It reached more than a million downloads in less than a month. In April, the company released a new mobile browser called Opera Touch. It includes an innovative user interface focused on ease of use and one-handed browsing. In July 2018, Opera filed for an IPO. The company went public on the NASDAQ on July 27 and raised over $115 million.

Acquisitions
In November 2019, Opera launched a new project called Opera News Hub. The platform helps bloggers create and share content. In January 2020, Opera acquired PocoSys, an Estonian startup that developed banking-as-a-service software. The deal also included an agreement to take over Pocopay, PocoSys's sister company. In June 2020, Opera partnered with APO Group to provide accurate information about COVID-19 in Africa. News articles from different health authorities are collected by APO and made available to Opera users through the Opera Mini browser and Opera News app.

Opera acquired YoYo Games from Playtech in January 2021, for US$10 million, from which the company also announced the launch of its Opera Gaming division to promote game development within the Opera GX browser with YoYo Games and its GameMaker game development software.

In February 2021, Opera launched the fintech Dify, an in-browser payment app that includes cashback service and a digital wallet. Customers who use Dify get reimbursed when purchasing items from partner websites like Nike, Asos, and eDreams. The fintech was first offered in beta in Spain.

Active products

 * Opera desktop browser (Windows, macOS, Linux)
 * Opera Mobile
 * Opera GX: Opera's gaming browser, released in June 2019. The browser allows users to customize how much RAM, CPU, and network bandwidth it uses, and reached 20 million monthly active users.
 * Opera Mini: originally released in 2005, version 50 of the browser was released in May 2020. The redesign included a new UI, an improved data-saving mode, and a built-in file sharing service.
 * Opera News: released in 2018, a news app with an AI-engine In 2020, Opera announced that its Opera News service had more than 200 million monthly active users.
 * OPay: a fintech startup incubated by Opera, it is a mobile-based money platform in Nigeria released in 2018.
 * Opera Ads: advertising platform which integrates into all of Opera's products released in May 2019.
 * Okash, Opesa and Credit Hela: Payday loan apps operating in Kenya.

Discontinued products
In February 2018, after previously announcing that the service and app would be shut down, the Opera Max app, a VPN based mobile data compression service, was sold to Samsung. It was rebranded as Samsung Max, but will only be compatible with eligible Samsung Galaxy smartphones going forward.

Since then, Opera has developed its own VPN available within its desktop and Android browser.

On March 22, 2021, in celebration of the three-year-anniversary of Opera Touch, it was announced that the iOS version of Opera Touch was rebranded to simply Opera, and it was also given a new, and refurbished UI.

In August 2017, Opera Coast was discontinued and removed from the Apple App Store. The reason is unknown, but some believed that the company is focusing on some products.

Controversies
Opera was involved in a years-long feud with Microsoft dating back to 2001. On at least three occasions, Opera accused Microsoft of deliberately breaking interoperability of its MSN services and the Opera browser or other non-Internet Explorer browsers. Microsoft denied that it was intentionally shutting out Opera users. In response, Opera released the "Bork Edition" of its web browser, causing MSN to display only the phrase, "Bork, bork, bork!" which was popularized by The Muppet Show character, Swedish Chef. In 2004, Opera received a confidential $12.75 million payment from an "international corporation" reported to be Microsoft.

In 2013, Opera switched from its rendering engine, Presto, to Chromium's Webkit (now Blink), a decision described as a "sad day for the web."

From 2018 to 2020, Opera was involved in the incubation of Kenyan loan companies OKash and Opesa. In January 2020, the then Opera-owned businesses were accused of offering predatory terms with interest rates of up to 876 percent per annum and employing unethical debt recovery practices such as debt shaming and abusing customer privacy. In August 2020, Opera announced its divestment from majority ownership of its microlending holdings,  and in March 2022, Opera sold its stake outright.

title: Opera (company)


text:
Robert MacNeil

Robert Breckenridge Ware MacNeil (January 19, 1931 – April 12, 2024), often known as Robin MacNeil, was a Canadian-American journalist, writer and television news anchor. He partnered with Jim Lehrer to create the landmark public television news program The Robert MacNeil Report in 1975. MacNeil co-anchored the program until 1995. The show eventually became the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour and is today the PBS NewsHour.

Early life and education
MacNeil was born in Montreal on January 19, 1931, the son of Margaret Virginia (née Oxner) and Robert A. S. MacNeil, a Royal Canadian Navy officer in World War II and later a Canadian foreign service officer. He grew up in Halifax, Nova Scotia, went to boarding school at Rothesay Collegiate School and Upper Canada College, then attended Dalhousie University and later graduated from Carleton University in Ottawa in 1955.

Career
MacNeil began working in the news field at ITV in London, then for Reuters, and then for NBC News as a correspondent in Washington, D.C. He also worked as a news anchor, for WNBC, in New York City.

On November 22, 1963, MacNeil covered President John F. Kennedy's visit to Dallas for NBC News. After shots rang out in Dealey Plaza, MacNeil, who was with the presidential motorcade, followed crowds running onto the grassy knoll; he appears in a photo taken just moments after the assassination. As he was reporting for NBC, MacNeil was at times in relatively close proximity to his future co-anchor and partner Jim Lehrer, also covering the Kennedy visit and assassination for the Dallas Times Herald, but the two did not meet until several years later, covering the Senate Watergate hearings in Washington, D.C. for PBS.

News anchor
In 1967, MacNeil began covering American and European politics for the BBC. From 1971 to 1974, he hosted Washington Week in Review, a public affairs television program on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).

MacNeil rose to fame during his coverage of the 1973 Senate Watergate hearings for PBS, for which he received an Emmy Award. Teamed with Jim Lehrer, the two broadcast and analysed some 250 hours of the hearings in all, sometimes late into the night. This coverage helped lead to and inspire his most famous role, when he joined Lehrer in 1975 to create the PBS daily evening news program The Robert MacNeil Report, later renamed The MacNeil/Lehrer Report and then The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour. After serving 20 years on the program, MacNeil retired from his nightly appearances on October 20, 1995; Lehrer anchored the program solo until 2009. The program continues as the PBS NewsHour. He remained involved with the news program until 2013 as one of the heads of MacNeil-Lehrer Productions.

Other work
In director Michael Almereyda's 2000 modern-day adaptation of Hamlet, MacNeil portrayed the Player King, reimagined as a TV news reporter.

After the September 11 attacks, MacNeil called PBS and offered to help. He joined PBS's coverage of the attacks and their aftermath, interviewing reporters and giving his thoughts on the events.

In 2007, MacNeil hosted the PBS television miniseries America at a Crossroads, which presented independently produced documentaries about the "War on Terrorism". The series initially ran from April 15–20, with further episodes later that year.

In a Sesame Street Special Report, muppet parody of the Iran-Contra scandal, MacNeil investigated a "Cookiegate" incident involving the Cookie Monster. In 1998, for Season 29's "Slimey to the Moon" story arc, MacNeil took the role of co-anchor with Kermit the Frog, as Slimey, Oscar the Grouch's pet worm, and four other worms made a landing on the Moon.

MacNeil chaired the MacDowell Colony's board of directors from 1993 to 2010. He was succeeded by Michael Chabon.

Inspired by his passion for language, he made the nine-part television series The Story of English in 1986 for PBS and the BBC, detailing the development of the English language. The Story of English is also a companion book, also produced in 1986. The book and the television series were written by MacNeil, Robert McCrum, and William Cran.

Personal life and death
MacNeil became a naturalized American citizen in 1997, and became an Order of Canada officer that same year. He was married to Rosemarie Coopland, Jane Doherty, and Donna Nappi Richards MacNeil. With Coopland, he was the father of award-winning theatre scenic designer Ian MacNeil.

MacNeil was known to friends and family as "Robin".

MacNeil died of natural causes at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan on April 12, 2024, at the age of 93, confirmed by his daughter Alison MacNeil.

Awards and honors

 * 1979: LHD honorary degree from Bates College
 * 1997: Officer of the Order of Canada, one of Canada's highest civilian honors, for being "one of the most respected journalists of our time"
 * 1990: Paul White Award, Radio Television Digital News Association
 * 1991: Made a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
 * 1999: Television Hall of Fame
 * 2008: Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism

Books
MacNeil also wrote books, many of which are about his career as a journalist. After his retirement from NewsHour, he also dabbled in writing novels. His books include:

 * The People Machine: The Influence of Television on American Politics (1970). ISBN 978-0413276704.
 * Wordstruck: A Memoir (1989) ISBN 978-0670818716.
 * Eudora Welty: Seeing Black and White (1990). ISBN 978-0878054718.
 * The Way We Were: 1963, the Year Kennedy Was Shot (1991). ISBN 978-0881844337.
 * The Right Place at the Right Time (1990). ISBN 978-0140131208.
 * The Voyage (1995). ISBN 978-0385469524.
 * The Story of English with Robert McCrum (accompanied by a PBS documentary miniseries in 1986) ISBN 978-0142002315.
 * Looking for My Country: Finding Myself in America (2003). ISBN 978-0385507813.
 * (accompanied by a PBS documentary miniseries in 2005)
 * Looking for My Country: Finding Myself in America (2003). ISBN 978-0385507813.
 * (accompanied by a PBS documentary miniseries in 2005)

title: Robert MacNeil


text:
FAE

Fae or FAE may refer to:

Arts, entertainment, and media

 * F-A-E Sonata, a composition by Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, and Albert Dietrich
 * Fae folk, another name for fairies
 * Fae folk, non-human beings in the television series Carnival Row
 * Fate Accelerated Edition, a version of the Fate generic role-playing game system

People

 * Fae Ellington (born 1953), Jamaican media personality
 * Baby Fae (1984–1984), American xenotransplant recipient
 * Emerse Faé (born 1984), French-born Ivorian footballer

Also a post-nominal for a Fellow of The Academy of Experts.

Places

 * Vágar Airport (IATA airport code FAE), Faroe Islands

Science and technology

 * Fatty acid ester
 * Fetal alcohol effects
 * Fuel–air explosive

Other uses

 * Field application engineer
 * French Antarctic Expedition
 * Fuerza Aérea Ecuatoriana, the Ecuadorian Air Force
 * Fund for Adult Education
 * Fundamental attribution error, in social psychology
 * Spanish Air Force, Fuerza Aérea Española
 * Fae, short for genderfae, a gender fluidity that does not include masculine identities

title: FAE


text:
Buick Riviera

The Buick Riviera is a personal luxury car that was marketed by Buick from 1963 to 1999, with the exception of the 1994 model year.

As General Motors' first entry into the personal luxury car market segment, the Riviera was highly praised by automotive journalists upon its high-profile debut. It was a ground-up design on a new GM E platform debuting for the 1963 model year and was also Buick's first unique Riviera model.

Unlike its subsequent GM E platform stablemates, the Oldsmobile Toronado and Cadillac Eldorado, the Riviera was initially a front engine/rear-wheel drive platform, switching to front-wheel drive starting with the 1979 model year.

While the early models stayed close to their original form, eight subsequent generations varied substantially in size and styling. A total of 1,127,261 Rivieras were produced.

The Riviera name was resurrected for two concept cars that were displayed at auto shows in 2007 and in 2013.

The Riviera name

The name Riviera, Italian for coastline, was chosen to evoke the allure and affluence of the French Riviera. It first entered the Buick line in 1949, as the designation for the new two-door pillarless hardtop, described in advertising as "stunningly smart". The Buick Roadmaster Riviera coupe (along with the Cadillac Coupe de Ville and Oldsmobile 98 Holiday coupe) constituted the first mass production use of this body style, which was to become popular over the next 30 years. Buick added a two-door Riviera hardtop to the Super the following year, the Special in 1951, and the Century upon its return, after a 12-year absence, in 1954.

From 1951 to 1953 the Riviera designation was given to the existing long-wheelbase versions of the four-door Buick Roadmaster and Super sedans. The 1951–53 Buick Roadmaster and Super four-door Riviera sedans feature more standard features, more plush interior trim, and a wheelbase (and overall length) that is 4.0 in longer than a regular Buick Roadmaster or Super four-door sedan. The 1951–52 Buick Super four-door Riviera sedan is still 0.75 in shorter in wheelbase and length than the regular Buick Roadmaster and 4.75 in shorter than the Roadmaster four-door Riviera sedan. In 1953, with the move from the Fireball straight-eight to the more compact Fireball V8 engine, the Roadmaster and Super four-door Riviera sedans became the same length.

In the middle of the 1955 model year, Buick and Oldsmobile introduced the world's first mass-produced four-door hardtops, with Buick offering it only on the Century and Special models, and the Riviera designation was also applied to these body styles. Four-door Riviera hardtops were added to the Roadmaster and Super lines at the beginning of the following model year. However, since it was a body style designation and not a model, the Riviera name does not usually appear on the car.

In 1959, Buick became much more selective in applying the Riviera name. From then until 1962 it only was used to denote a premium trimmed six-window hardtop style which it initially shared exclusively with Cadillac (the Oldsmobile 98 would receive it in 1961) and was available only on the Electra 225. The last usage of the term Riviera to describe a luxury trim level was 1963, as the formal designation of the #4829 Electra 225 Riviera four-door hardtop, the same year the E-body model two-door hardtop coupe Riviera made its debut.

Debut as a personal luxury car

In the late 1950s, GM lacked a personal luxury car to compete with the highly successful Ford Thunderbird—a uniquely styled, two-door that had dramatically increased in popularity when expanded from a two-seater to a four-passenger car and the Chrysler 300C. To fill this gap, an experimental Cadillac design, the XP-715, was created, dubbed the "LaSalle" after a former GM luxury marque. Its angular look was reportedly inspired by GM styling chief Bill Mitchell's visit to London during the period, when he was struck by the sight of a custom-bodied Rolls-Royce. He later said that "knife-edged" styling was what he wanted for the new model, but with a lower profile. The design itself was penned by stylist Ned Nickles.

When Cadillac passed on the venture in 1960 the project was thrown open for competition by the other GM Divisions. Buick, desperate to revive its flagging sales, won the competition by enlisting the aid of the McCann-Erickson advertising agency to create its presentation. Initially referred to as the "Buick LaSalle" and later "Buick Riviera" concept cars, the finished design was adapted to a shortened version of Buick's existing cruciform frame. It was again introduced as a concept car in 1963 called the Buick Riviera Silver Arrow.

Of the first generation Riviera, 112,544 units were produced in three years, divided into exactly 40,000 vehicles in the 1963 model year, as well as 37,658 for 1964 and the last model year 1965 with 34,586 vehicles.

First generation (1963–1965)
The production Riviera was introduced on October 4, 1962, as a 1963 model, its distinctive bodyshell was unique to the marque, unusual for a GM product. The design was substantially the same as the original, less expensively hidden headlights concealed in the fender grilles. The elegant ground-up styling sported the new "Coke bottle look" introduced the year before on the arresting Studebaker Avanti, with a tapered midsection surrounded by flaring fenders. There was no trace of the "Sweepspear" used on beltlines of earlier Buicks with the Riviera package.

It rode a cruciform frame similar to the standard Buick chassis, but shorter and narrower, with a 2 in narrower track. Its wheelbase of 117.0 in and overall length of 208.0 in were 6.0 in and 7.7 in shorter, respectively, than a Buick LeSabre, but slightly longer than a contemporary Thunderbird. At 3998 lb, it was about 390 lb lighter than either. It shared the standard Buick V8 engines, with a displacement of either 401 cuin or 425 cuin, and the unique continuously variable design twin turbine automatic transmission. Power brakes were standard, using Buick's massive "Al-Fin" (aluminum finned) drums of 12.0 in diameter. Power steering was standard equipment, with an overall steering ratio of 20.5:1, giving 3.5 turns lock-to-lock.

The Riviera's suspension used Buick's standard design, with double wishbones in the front and a live axle located by trailing arms and a lateral track bar in the rear, but the roll centers were lowered to reduce body lean. Although its coil springs were actually slightly softer than other Buicks, the Riviera's lighter weight made its ride somewhat firmer. While still biased towards understeer, contemporary testers considered it one of the most driveable American cars, with an excellent balance of comfort and agility.

Buick's 325 hp 401 cuin "Nailhead" V-8 was initially the only available engine, fitted with dual exhaust as standard equipment, and the turbine drive the only transmission. Base price was $4,333 ($0 in dollars ), running upwards of $5,000 delivered with typical options ($0 in  dollars ). Buick announced an optional 340 hp 425 cuin version of the Nailhead in December 1962. Total production was deliberately limited to 40,000 vehicles (in a year that Buick sold 440,000 units overall) to emphasize the Riviera's exclusivity and to increase demand; only 2,601 were delivered with the delayed availability larger engine in the 1963 model year.

With the same power as the bigger Buicks and less weight, the Riviera had improved all-around performance: Motor Trend recorded 0 - 60 mph in 8 seconds or less, the standing 1/4 mi in about 16 seconds, and an observed top speed of 115 mph. Fuel economy was 13.2 mpgus. Front leg room was 40.1 in.

Inside, the Riviera featured a luxurious four-place cabin with front bucket seats and bucket-style seats in the rear. A center console with a floor shifter and storage compartment built into the instrument panel divided the front. Upholstery choices included all-vinyl, cloth and vinyl, or optional leather. A deluxe interior option included real walnut inserts on the doors and below the rear side windows. Extra-cost options included a tilt steering wheel, power windows, power driver's seat, air conditioning, a remote-controlled side-view mirror, and white sidewall tires.

Minimal trim and mechanical changes were made for 1964, with the most identifiable distinguishing features being a raised stylized "R" hood emblem and "R" emblems replacing the Buick crests in the taillight lenses. The interior is distinguished by moving the heater controls from controls under the dashboard eyebrow to slide controls in the forward fairing of the center console. Leather was dropped as an option, and the Dynaflow twin-turbine transmission was replaced by a new three-speed Super Turbine 400. This was a GM Turbo Hydra-Matic. It used a two-speed "D" and 'L" selector, but could automatically downshift from third to second until the car reached a suitable speed to downshift to first. This was the first year of the stylized "R" emblem, a trademark that would continue throughout the remainder of Riviera's 36-year production run. The engine was upgraded to the previously optional 340 hp 425 cuin V8. A 360 hp 'Super Wildcat' version was available, with dual Carter AFB four-barrel carburetors. In 1965 the 401 cuin V8 returned as the standard engine, and the "Gran Sport" version made its debut, powered by the Super Wildcat V8, a 360 hp engine equipped with two Carter 625 CFM carburetors, a distributor with different advance, and outfitted with a more aggressive 3.42 axle ratio. A heavy-duty suspension was the separate H2 option but was not part of the Gran Sport option. It offered a quicker ratio steering box and firmer rated springs. The Super Turbine 400 transmission now had a variable pitch torque converter, but was fitted with a three-speed gear selector. The Gran Sport stock dual exhaust pipes were increased from 2.0 in to 2.25 in inside diameter and had fewer turns to reduce backpressure. Externally, the headlamps, now vertically arranged, were hidden behind clamshell doors in the leading edges of each fender, as had been in the original design. The non-functional side scoops between the doors and rear wheel arches were removed, and the taillights moved from the body into the rear bumper. A vinyl roof became available as an option, offered only in black, and the tilt steering wheel, optional in previous years, was now standard equipment.

Total sales for the 1963 through 1965 model years was 112,244. The Riviera was well received by the motoring press and considered a great success, giving the Thunderbird its first real competition as America's preeminent personal luxury car.

It has since earned Milestone status from the Milestone Car Society. Jaguar founder and designer Sir William Lyons remarked that Mitchell had done "a very wonderful job," and Sergio Pininfarina declared it "one of the most beautiful American cars ever built; it has marked a very impressive return to simplicity of American car design." At its debut at the Paris Auto Show, Raymond Loewy said the Riviera was the most handsome American production car—apart from his own Studebaker Avanti, in his view the Riviera's only real competition for 1963. The first-generation Riviera is considered a styling landmark and has become a collectible car.

Second generation (1966–1970)

The Riviera was redesigned for the 1966 model year. It retained its cruciform X-frame, powertrain, and brakes, but its new body was longer, wider, and 200 lb heavier. Vent windows, a feature GM had introduced in the 1930s, were absent. Headlamps remained concealed, but now pivoted behind the grille when not in use, and they were once again horizontal. The car's added weight slowed acceleration with the unchanged 425 engine. The Gran Sport package remained available as an option. Rear seat belts and AM/FM radio were optional.

The new front-wheel drive Oldsmobile Toronado shared the Riviera platform, and, a year later, the also front-wheel drive Cadillac Eldorado — the Riviera retaining the rear-wheel drive layout.

Inside, the four-place cabin with front and rear bucket seats and center console were replaced by a choice of bucket seats or conventional bench seats as standard equipment, making the Riviera a full six-passenger car for the first time. Optionally available was a Strato-bench seat with armrest or Strato bucket seats with either a short console or a full-length operating console with a horseshoe-shaped floor shifter and storage compartment. Both the buckets and Strato-bench seat were available with a reclining seat option for the passenger's side. Sales for 1966 rebounded to 45,308, a new record.

For 1967, Buick replaced the 425 "Nailhead" with a 430 cuin V8. Its 360 hp and 475 lbft of torque were a performance improvement. Gasoline mileage improved slightly, but remained low. Powerful disc brakes with Bendix four-piston calipers became optional for the front wheels but most Riviera continued to be ordered with Buick's highly capable ribbed aluminum brake drums. Cosmetically, changes were few and were limited to the addition of a wide, full-width, center-mounted horizontal chrome grille bar that stretched over the headlight doors and outboard parking lights. Sales were 42,799 for the 1967 model year. The Riviera had full instrumentation.

1967 saw the introduction of U.S. mandated safety equipment to improve occupant crash protection, including an energy-absorbing steering column, non-protruding control knobs, 4-way hazard flasher, soft interior surfaces, locking seatbacks (on 2-door models), a dual-circuit hydraulic braking system (with warning light), and shoulder belt anchors.

1968 models had reshaped loop-type bumpers that surrounded both the vehicle's recessed crosshatch front grille and tail lamps. Hidden wiper arms debuted. Federally mandated side marker lights appeared, as inverted trapezoids on the lower leading edges of the front fenders, and circular in the rear. The interior was restyled and for the first time shared its instrument panel with the other full-size Buick models. Shoulder belts for front outboard occupants were made standard on all cars built from January 1, 1968. Mechanically, the transmission lost its variable pitch torque converter. A tilt steering wheel was standard. Sales set another new record in 1968, as 49,284 units were sold.

For the 1969 model year, grilles gained a pattern of fine vertical bars overlaid by two wider horizontal bars. Front marker lights became far shorter and square. Front outboard headrests were revised. The ignition switch was moved from the instrument panel to the steering column and locked the steering wheel and selector lever when the key was removed (a security feature that became mandatory for the 1970 model year). Chrome side trim was revised, as well. At the rear, the reverse lights moved from the rear bumper to new three-section tail-light lenses. Sales for 1969 were 52,872.

The 1970 Riviera was restyled, incorporating design cues from Bill Mitchell's 1968 "Silver Arrow II" concept car. Exposed quad headlamps were nearly flush-mounted, while the new front bumper wrapped around and over the new vertical bar grille. A pronounced side trim and skirted rear wheels were standard, with optional exposed wheels. The rear used revised bumper and taillights. The engine was upgraded to 455 cuin, the largest engine Buick offered to date, rated at 370 hp gross, 245 hp net, and over 500 lbft of torque. 1970 sales were 37,366, the second-generation Riviera proved more successful than the first, with 227,669 units sold over five the years.

Third generation (1971–1973)

The Riviera was radically redesigned for the 1971 model year with flowing and dramatic "boat-tail" styling. Designed under Bill Mitchell's direction, it was penned by Jerry Hirshberg, future head of design for Nissan, mating the two-piece vee-butted fastback rear window, inspired by the 1963 Corvette Sting Ray coupe, to the Riviera's platform.

The design was originally intended for the smaller A-body or its related G-body, as shown by a full scale clay model of an A-body based boat-tail Riviera recently revealed. Given the late stage of the 1968-72 A/G platform evolution and accretive cost to add another version to it, GM Management decreed that the next Riviera use the full sized GM B platform body—expanded for 1971 by 3 in in wheelbase and more than 120 lb heavier— which produced controversial looks, making for a sharp departure from those of the Toronado and Eldorado. (Collectible Automobile ran an article about 1971–76 full-sized Buicks in which one sketch design for their 2-door coupes which was rejected resembled the 1971–73 Riviera).

This generation introduced a much more visual representation of the "sweepspear", with a more faithful representation to the version that appeared on 1950s Buicks in both the side molding and beltline. Large, round wheel openings were intended to convey more of a sporty air. The only engine available was Buick's own 455 ci V8 engine producing 315 hp, with 330 hp with the Gran Sport (GS) package.

The 455 engine had a lower compression ratio to meet EPA emissions requirements, together with the shift from SAE gross to SAE net ratings this reduced claimed power to 255 hp, with 265 hp in the Gran Sport. Performance remained reasonably brisk, with a 0–60 mph time of 8.1 seconds for the GS, but the Riviera's sporty image was rapidly fading. One noteworthy advance was Buick's Max Trac traction control. The 1971 Riviera also features GM's "Full-Flo" ventilation system and two large deck lid louvers are prominent on the trunk lid.

Despite these features, Riviera sales for 1971 dropped to 33,810, the lowest to date. The 1972 Riviera received a new, egg-crate grille, more substantial front bumpers to prepare for the new 5-mph impact legislation, restyled taillight trim, and the louvers were removed from the trunk lid. The 1972 Riviera also featured a redesigned ventilation system, and the 455 engine switched to net power ratings, 225 hp or 250 hp in the Gran Sport, although the actual drop in net power was only 5 hp. Sales remained stagnant at 33,728, a drop of 82 from the prior year.

For 1973, the Riviera underwent a number of changes. The front bumper was redesigned to be thicker and featured bumper guards as standard in order to meet 1974 impact-bumper standards, the grille was switched back to horizontal slats, and the front lamps were moved from the bumper and were now integrated into the headlights, wrapping around the corners of the car. Sluggish sales of the third generation Riviera led GM to believe that the boattail deck lid was too radical for most customers' tastes, so in 1973 it was blunted and made slightly shorter. The taillights, meanwhile, were moved down from the sheet metal and into the bumper, and the rear license plate location was moved from the left side of the bumper to the center. The 250 hp engine became standard, with 260 hp with the Stage One package. This also included a limited-slip differential and a chrome-plated air cleaner. The "Gran Sport" package was still available as a separate option package consisting of a ride-and-handling package that included a rear stabilizer bar, JR78-15 whitewall steel-belted radial tires, a specially tuned "radial roadability" suspension, additional sound insulation and special "Gran Sport" badging. The design changes however only led to a marginal increase in sales, with 34,080 being produced for the model year.

Fourth generation (1974–1976)
Although carrying over the same platform, mechanicals, and some body panels seen on the "Third Generation" Riviera, Buick replaced its distinctive 'boat tail' roofline with a more conventional-looking "Colonnade" treatment which was more in line with its LeSabre and Electra brethren than its front-wheel drive cousins. This turned the car from a hardtop coupe into a pillared coupe, as it featured wide B pillars and fixed quarter opera windows. A landau half-vinyl roof option was available. The car did retain its forward-jutting grille, albeit in a slightly modified form. Thus modified, the car looked far less distinctive than its predecessors, and even its platform mates, the Oldsmobile Toronado and Cadillac Eldorado. The tamer-looking Riviera was no lighter, and its standard 455 V8 lost more power, dropping to 230 hp and 245 hp for standard and Stage One models respectively. Max Trac was dropped from the option list after 1974 due to a lack of buyer interest. The revised styling did not improve sales, which fell to 20,129 in 1974, although it is impossible to determine how much this was a result of the energy crisis and how much was due to the tame appearance. This generation introduced a novelty that later became federally mandated in a modified form, two high-mounted taillights above the trunk and below the rear window, which was shared on its platform twin the Toronado.

For 1975, the Riviera received an updated front fascia, which lost its forward-jutting theme through the redesign of the fiberglass front end cap. Quad rectangular headlights were mounted horizontally. The new vertical-bar grille echoed the "stand-up" theme that many GM cars of the day incorporated. Parking lights wrapped around the fender sides. The Stage One performance package was dropped for 1975, though the Gran Sport handling package would continue to be offered. The standard engine's output dipped to 205 hp. Sales for 1975 were 17,306.

Minor changes greeted 1976 models, the most notable of which was a new crosshatch grille insert. The Gran Sport handling package was replaced by an 'S/R' package that had similar sporting pretensions. Sales rallied slightly to 20,082 for 1976.

Fifth generation (1977–1978)
Buick downsized the Riviera for 1977 onto the new smaller GM B platform. While the other E-bodies were front wheel drive since 1966 (1967 for Cadillac's Eldorado), the Buick E platform used a rear-wheel-drive B-body undercarriage (along with the cruciform frame of pre-1965 GMs for the 1966–70 generation). All B-bodies (including C and D platform GM RWDs) were downsized for the 1977 model year which prompted the short-lived 1977/78 generation.

It was, in most respects, a Buick LeSabre coupe with unique styling (with quarter windows mimicking the 1975–78 Cadillac Eldorado). Unlike its LeSabre counterpart, the front fascia is vertical as opposed to slanted. It was reduced to a wheelbase of 115.9 in, down 6.1 in, and an overall length of 218.2 in, down 4.8 in. Weight was reduced by approximately 660 lb. The 455 engine was replaced by a 350 cuin Buick V8 engine with 155 hp or an Oldsmobile-built 403 cuin with 185 hp. California models had a 170 hp Oldsmobile 350.

Sales were up modestly to 26,138 for 1977 and then fell to 20,535 for 1978, although this was a stopgap model until the all-new E-body cars would be ready for 1979. The 1977 and 1978 Rivieras were produced on the downsized GM B platform before the 1979 redesign on the FWD E-platform.

75th Anniversary Package
For 1978, a special "LXXV" edition was released to commemorate Buick's 75th anniversary on the market. Production total was 2,889 and included special silver & black paint with gray leather seats with black trim, four-wheel disc brakes, brushed chrome trim, deep pile carpeting, and special LXXV name plates.

Production Figures

Sixth generation (1979–1985)
The 1979 model year was the debut of the first front wheel drive Riviera, which was also the first front-drive production model in Buick history. Built on a 114 in wheelbase, it once again shared its mechanical design and platform with the Cadillac Eldorado and Oldsmobile Toronado. The Olds 403 and Buick 350 were dropped, but the Olds 350 remained, as did a new turbocharged Buick V6 engine of 231 cuin displacement with 185 hp which was installed in the Riviera S-Type, shared with the Regal Sport Coupe turbo for model year 1980. The Riviera became Motor Trend Car of the Year. Sales more than doubled, to 52,181 for 1979 and 48,621 for the similar 1980 models.

1981 saw the Turbo renamed T-Type and the demise of the 350 engine in favor of the Oldsmobile-built 307 cuin with 140 hp (phased in during the 1980 MY). The standard engine was now Buick's 125 hp 252 cuin V6, and a new option was an Oldsmobile diesel engine with a mere 105 hp offered through 1985. 1982 also saw the first-ever Riviera convertible, although relatively few were built, owing to a high price - US$23,944 ($0 in dollars ). The Riviera convertible was available in only two color choices-white or red firemist with the only interior color of red leather. A twin-turbocharged Riviera convertible was chosen to be the pace car at the 1983 Indianapolis 500, tuned to produce 410 hp. Most convertible Rivieras had the V8 engine, which saw an increase in rated SAE net HP to 150 for both convertibles and coupes fitted with it from 1982 through the 1985 model year.

In 1983 a special edition of 500 "Riviera XX" was offered, celebrating twenty years since the introduction of the first Riviera (502 were built in the end). These have a special two-tone exterior paint, real wire wheels, a leather, and walnut interior as well as 24-karat gold plated "Riviera XX" badging. The Riviera XX also received a special grille, which then became part of the 1984 model year facelift model. Overall sales made the 1980s Riviera a great success, reaching 65,305 for the 1985 model year.

Production Figures

Seventh generation (1986–1993)
The E-body coupes were converted to unibody construction and transverse front-wheel drive — and was further downsized for 1986, to a 108 in wheelbase. The V6 was now the only engine, fitted with sequential fuel injection (SFI) and was rated initially at 140 hp SAE (LG2) and 200 lbft of torque. It used the Turbo-Hydramatic 440-T4 automatic transmission with a 2.84:1 final drive ratio. The 3.8 was the only engined used for the seventh generation Riviera, although its power climbed incrementally over the years. For 1987, the engine was changed to the LG3 with roller lifters rather than flat lifters, power increased to 150 hp SAE while the torque remained unchanged. This was replaced by the LN3, with power and torque up to 165 hp and 210 lbft respectively thanks to multi-port fuel injection, balance shafts, and other improvements. The LN3 was used from 1988 until 1990. For the last three model years Buick used the L27 iteration with sequential, tuned port fuel injection (TPI), which gained a few more horsepower and more mid-range torque from a new, two-piece intake manifold with longer runners. Power crept up to 170 hp at 4,800 rpm, torque was up to 220 lbft at 3,200 rpm. This generation featured the Graphic Control Center (GCC), an advanced electronic instrumentation system which employed a dash-mounted 9 in monochrome touchscreen CRT display. The GCC controlled the vehicle's climate control system and stereo, and also supplied advanced instrumentation such as a trip computer, vehicle diagnostics, and a maintenance reminder feature. Four-wheel disc brakes were standard. With a choice of three suspension packages available, up to the performance-oriented FE3 setting, handling was notably improved. The Riviera placed fourth for Motor Trend's 1986 Car of the Year contest.

The seventh generation Riviera saw the installation of Dynaride, which was an air compressor that would pressurize the rear Chapman struts to maintain a level overall ride height. A badge was installed on the dashboard to the left of the steering column on all vehicles equipped. It was not available on vehicles equipped with Gran Touring Suspension.

Fuel economy was notably improved for the 1986 Riviera. Prices increase to $19,831 ($0 in dollars ) for the base model and $21,577 for the T-Type ($0 in  dollars ). Sales declined to 22,138 for 1986, 15,223 for 1987, and 8,625 for 1988. 1988 also saw the introduction of Buick's Reatta coupe, a two-seat personal luxury car.

The Riviera was restyled for 1989, adding 11 in to the overall length (on an unchanged wheelbase). Sales rose to 21,189 for 1989, but dropped to a low of 4,555 for 1993, the abbreviated final model year of this generation. The last, 1993 Riviera was manufactured at the Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly plant on December 10, 1992.

Eighth generation (1995–1999)
After a hiatus in 1994, the Riviera returned in 1995 with a complete redesign. A 205 hp naturally aspirated 3800 V6 was standard, with an optional supercharged 3800 V6 rated at 225 hp and 275 lbft. Rivieras were now manufactured in Orion Township, Michigan, using the same Cadillac-derived G platform as the 4-door Oldsmobile Aurora. The first of 41,422 1995 Rivieras was manufactured on May 23, 1994.

In 1996, the supercharged engine's output increased to 240 hp and 280 lbft, and it was now paired with a 4T60E-HD transmission. 18,036 Rivieras were manufactured in 1996.

For model year (MY) 1997, engineers revised the suspension revisions, removing weight. An upgraded 4T65E-HD transmission featuring a larger 258 mm torque converter and heavy-duty gearbox were added. 18,827 were made in 1997. For 1998, the 240 hp supercharged V6 became standard. GM's OnStar service was added as an option, along with minor interior design changes and features including new passenger heated seats and the removal of the front "55/45" 3-seater split bench option. A total of 10,953 units were produced for 1998.

With sales of all coupes declining in the North American market, GM discontinued the Riviera. 1999 was the car's last model year with production of 1,956 cars ending on November 25, 1998. The final 200 cars had special silver paint and trim, and were denoted "Silver Arrow" models, referring to several Silver Arrow concept cars built off the earliest Riviera by Bill Mitchell.

Eighth-generation Rivieras received the most powerful V6 Buick engine since the Grand Nationals of the 1980s. The supercharged OHV V6 provided high torque and acceleration allowing 0 - 60 mph in under 7 seconds, and turning the standing 1/4 mi in 15.5 seconds. Supercharged Rivieras achieved a fuel efficiency figure of 18 mpgus / 27 mpgus (city/highway).

2007 concept
At the 2007 Shanghai Motor Show, Buick debuted a concept coupe named Riviera, based on the GM Epsilon II platform. The concept was later shown at the 2008 North American International Auto Show.

It was designed by the Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center (PATAC). The design was inspired by classic Buicks, ancient Chinese artifacts, and modern electronic icons. It includes "icy green" backlighting, Shell Blue body, gull-wing doors, a 2+2 seating configuration, and 21-inch 10-spoke forged aluminum wheels.

2013 concept
Another concept Riviera was shown at the 2013 Shanghai Motor Show, again developed by the Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center PATAC. It has gull-wing doors and a plug-in electric driveline as well as four wheel steering, electromagnetically controlled suspension with air springs, built in 4G LTE connection, transparent A pillar and wireless charging.

title: Buick Riviera