National Treasure is a 2004 mystery

Mystery film

Mystery film is a sub-genre of the more general category of crime film and at times the thriller genre. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of a crime by means of clues, investigation, and clever deduction.The...

 adventure

Adventure film

Adventure films are a genre of film.Unlike pure, low-budget action films they often use their action scenes preferably to display and explore exotic locations in an energetic way....

 heist film

Heist film

A heist film is a film that has an intricate plot woven around a group of people trying to steal something. Versions with dominant or prominent comic elements are often called caper movies. They could be described as the analogues of caper stories in film history...

 from the Walt Disney Studios under Walt Disney Pictures

Walt Disney Pictures

Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...

. It was written by Jim Kouf

Jim Kouf

Jim Kouf is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. He received the 1988 Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay for his work on Stakeout .-Filmography :...

, Ted Elliott

Ted Elliott

Ted Elliott is an American screenwriter. Along with his writing partner Terry Rossio, Elliott has written some of the most successful American films of the past 15 years, including Aladdin, Shrek and Pirates of the Caribbean. In 2004, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the Writers Guild...

, Terry Rossio

Terry Rossio

Terry Rossio is an American screenwriter.Rossio was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan. After graduating from Saddleback High School in Santa Ana, California, he went on to study at California State University, Fullerton where he received his Bachelor of Arts in Communications, with an emphasis in radio,...

, Cormac Wibberley, and Marianne Wibberley, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer

Jerry Bruckheimer

Jerome Leon "Jerry" Bruckheimer is an American film and television producer. He has achieved great success in the genres of action, drama, and science fiction. His best known television series are CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, Eleventh Hour, Without a Trace, Cold Case, The...

, and directed by Jon Turteltaub

Jon Turteltaub

Jonathan Charles "Jon" Turteltaub is an American film director and producer. He is a graduate of Wesleyan University and the USC School of Cinematic Arts...

. It is the first film in the National Treasure franchise

National Treasure (franchise)

National Treasure is a series of theatrical action-adventure mystery films distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and starring Nicolas Cage as Benjamin Franklin Gates, a treasure hunter who, with the help of his father, Patrick Henry Gates , his girlfriend, Abigail Chase...

 and stars Nicolas Cage

Nicolas Cage

Nicolas Cage is an American actor, producer and director, having appeared in over 60 films including Raising Arizona , The Rock , Face/Off , Gone in 60 Seconds , Adaptation , National Treasure , Ghost Rider , Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans , and...

, Diane Kruger

Diane Kruger

Diane Kruger is a German actress and former fashion model. She is known for roles such as Helen in Troy, Dr. Abigail Chase in National Treasure and its sequel, Bridget von Hammersmark in Inglourious Basterds, Anna in Mr...

, Justin Bartha

Justin Bartha

Justin Lee Bartha is an American actor, known for his co-starring role as Riley Poole in the National Treasure films and as Doug Billings in The Hangover and The Hangover Part II.-Early life:...

, Sean Bean

Sean Bean

Shaun Mark "Sean" Bean is an English film and stage actor. Bean is best known for playing Boromir in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and, previously, British Colonel Richard Sharpe in the ITV television series Sharpe...

, Jon Voight

Jon Voight

Jonathan Vincent "Jon" Voight is an American actor. He has received an Academy Award, out of four nominations, and three Golden Globe Awards, out of nine nominations. Voight is the father of actress Angelina Jolie....

, Harvey Keitel

Harvey Keitel

Harvey Keitel is an American actor. Some of his most notable starring roles were in Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, Ridley Scott's The Duellists and Thelma and Louise, Ettore Scola's That Night in Varennes, Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, Jane Campion's The...

, and Christopher Plummer

Christopher Plummer

Arthur Christopher Orne Plummer, CC is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. He made his film debut in 1957's Stage Struck, and notable early film performances include Night of the Generals, The Return of the Pink Panther and The Man Who Would Be King.In a career that spans over five...

. Cage plays Benjamin Gates, a historian and amateur cryptologist searching for a lost treasure, once protected by the Knights Templar

Knights Templar

The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...

 and hidden by the Freemasons during the early years of the United States.