National Treasure Plot

National Treasure is a 2004 movie from Walt Disney Pictures written by Jim Kouf, Cormac Wibberley and Marianne Wibberley, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and directed by Jon Turteltaub. It stars Nicolas Cage, Diane Kruger, Justin Bartha, Sean Bean, Jon Voight, Harvey Keitel and Christopher Plummer. It is an adventure movie set in the USA about a search for lost treasure, involving stealing the Declaration of Independence, which leads to a trail intertwined with the Knights Templar, the Masons, and has many similar plot elements to The Da Vinci Code.

Tagline
The greatest adventure history has ever revealed.

According to Box Office Mojo.com, with a production budget of $100 million and release in 3,243 theaters, National Treasure went on to have an opening weekend domestic gross of $35,142,554. Overall, National Treasure earned a domestic total gross of $173,008,894 (with a worldwide gross of $347,451,894).

Nicholas Cage plays Benjamin Franklin Gates, scion of the Gates family, who, following in the footsteps of his grandfather (Plummer), is protector of the key to a legendary ancient worldwide Knights Templar/Freemasons treasure hidden by Masons during the American Revolution. Hoping to find it, he ventures deep in the Arctic to the wrecked SS Charlotte, whereupon finding this riddle:

The legend writ,
the stain affected.
The key in Silence, undetected.
Fifty-five in iron pen,
Mr. Matlack can't offend.

He discovers that there might be a map to the treasure on the back of the Declaration of Independence. His partner, Ian Howe, suggests they steal it. Gates says no, and this triggers a race to get the Declaration and find the map. Ben and his sidekick, Riley Poole (Bartha), decide to steal the Declaration in order to keep it out of the hands of the sinister and traitorous Ian (Bean). Along the way, he obtains the assistance of his reluctant father (Voight) and an attractive National Archives archivist, Dr. Abigail Chase (Kruger). They are all tracked by FBI agents, led by Special Agent Sadusky (Keitel). The searchers ultimately discover that the Knights Templar thought that the treasure was too big for only one man and that it should thus be spread throughout the world. There is a strong implication that the Templars believed in democracy, and that one monarch should never hold all the power.

The idea of a large treasure which uses the Declaration of Independence as a clue to its discovery is similar to the story of the Beale ciphers, which supposedly were buried in Bedford county, Virginia circa 1820. However, to decode part of that cipher, one simply had to know the text of the Declaration; one did not need the original document itself.

The film also draws upon several real-life pieces of history, including the use by revolutionary American forces of invisible inks to store hidden information in letters and other documents; dictionary codes as a form of cipher; and other intelligence tradecraft of the era.

The secret location of the treasure may have been inspired by stories of the mysterious "Money Pit" at Oak Island. The site is subject to various rumors surrounding the Knights Templar, the American Revolution, and pre-Columbian voyages to America.

"The Secret Lies With Charlotte" - refers to a ship that somehow ended up in the Arctic Circle.
The Pipe "The legend writ, the stain affected. The key in Silence undetected. Fifty-five in iron pen, Mr. Matlack can't offend" - Written on the stem of a Meerschaum pipe, stem needed to be dipped in ink or similar substance, then rolled across paper to read clue. Refers to the Declaration of Independence.
Ottendorf cipher on back of Declaration of Independence - Cipher where the key is the Silence Dogood letters, this piece of information is withheld from Ian at the beginning of the movie.
Ottendorf cipher solution - "The vision to see the treasured past, comes as the timely shadow crosses in front of the house of Pass and Stow" - refers to Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell .
$100 Bill - supplies the specific time to be at Independence Hall to find the next clue.
Ocular Device - Found in fake brick with Freemason symbol when the shadow from Independence Hall points to a specific wall, Ocular Device needed to see the map in its entirety.
"Heere At The Wall" and the Trinity Church symbol - Found on the map when viewed through Ocular Device, refers to Trinity Church in New York City on the corners of Wall Street and Broadway.
"Beneath Parkington Lane" - Found on the map when viewed through Ocular Device and the lenses are adjusted. Refers to a 3rd degree master mason intombed in the Trinity Church Mausoleum, his tomb concealed the entrance to the Freemason temple where the treasure was hidden.
The Pipe - Final clue, the pipe was not only a clue to the Declaration of Independence, it was also the key to unlock the room where the treasure was hidden. Head of pipe needed to be placed inside the wall, to allow the stem of the pipe to turn it. Press the pipe head when turned, to unlock the treasure room.