Armageddon (1998 film)
Armageddon | |
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Directed by | Michael Bay |
Screenplay by | |
Adaptation by | |
Story by |
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Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | John Schwartzman |
Edited by | |
Music by | |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures Distribution |
Release date |
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Running time | 150 minutes[1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $140 million[2][3] |
Box office | $553.7 million[2] |
Armageddon is a 1998 American
The film was a commercial success, grossing $553.7 million worldwide against a $140 million budget and becoming the
Plot
A massive
They recruit Harry Stamper, a third-generation
Following the destruction of
Approaching the asteroid, Independence is damaged by debris and crashes, killing all on board except Lev, Bear, and A.J. They embark in the shuttle's Armadillo to find the Freedom crew, which lands 26 miles from its intended landing site. When the drilling goes slower than predicted, Sharp reports to
A.J. succeeds in drilling the hole to the required depth, but a rock storm kills Gruber and damages the remote detonator, forcing someone to stay behind and manually detonate the bomb. They draw straws; the responsibility falls upon A.J.. Harry takes him down to the asteroid's surface, only to disconnect A.J.'s air hose and force him into the shuttle's air lock. Harry then tells A.J. that he is the son Harry never had, and he would be proud to have him marry Grace. Using the Armadillo, Harry tearfully gives Grace his blessing to marry A.J., and Grace says that she is proud to be his daughter.
After some difficulty, Freedom takes off, but then a second blowout causes Harry to lose his grip on the detonator. Just before Zero Barrier, he manages to detonate the bomb and saves the planet. The astronauts land on Earth safely. A.J. and Grace are reunited and Chick reconciles with his ex-wife and estranged son. Later, A.J. and Grace are married, with the portraits of Harry and the others lost on the mission present in memoriam.
Cast
- Bruce Willis as Harry S. Stamper
- Billy Bob Thornton as Dan Truman
- Ben Affleck as A.J. Frost
- Liv Tyler as Grace Stamper
- Will Patton as Charles "Chick" Chapel
- Steve Buscemi as Rockhound
- William Fichtner as Colonel Willie Sharp
- Owen Wilson as Oscar Choice
- Michael Clarke Duncan as Otis "Bear" Curlenbear
- Peter Stormare as Colonel Lev Andropov
- Ken Campbellas Max Lennert
- Jessica Steen as First Lieutenant Jennifer Watts
- Keith David as General Kimsey
- Chris Ellis as Flight Director Clark
- Jason Isaacs as Ronald Quincy
- Grayson McCouch as Master Sergeant Gruber
- Clark Brolly as Freddie Noonan
- Marshall Teague as Colonel Davis
- Anthony Guidera as Captain Tucker
- Greg Collinsas Lieutenant Halsey
- John Mahon as Karl
- Grace Zabriskie as Dottie
- Eddie Griffin as Bike Messenger
- Jim Ishida as Client #3
- Stanley Anderson as President
- James Harper as Admiral Kelso
- Ellen Cleghorne as Helga the Nurse
- Udo Kier as Psychologist
- John Aylward as Dr. Banks
- Mark Curry as Stu the Cabbie
- Seiko Matsuda as Asian Tourist-Female
- Harry Humphries as Chuck Jr.
- Judith Hoag as Denise Chapel
- Steven Ford as Nuke Tech
- Christian Clemenson as Droning Guy
- Michael "Bear" Taliferroas Roughneck #2
- Billy Devlin as Roughneck #3
- Kathleen Matthews as Newscaster #2
- J.C. Haywardas Newscaster #3
- Andrew Glassman as Newscaster #4
- Shawnee Smith as Redhead
- Dwight Hicks as FBI Agent #1
- Layla Robertsas Molly Mounds
- Bodhi Elfman as Math Guy
- Peter White as Secretary of Defense
- Frederick Weller
- Matt Malloy
- H. Richard Greene
- Peter Murnik
- Andy Milder
- Michael Kaplan as NASA Techs
- Charles Stewart as Vacuum Chamber Tech
- James Fitzpatrickas NORAD Technician
- Narration by Charlton Heston
Production
Development
According to
Bruce Willis was cast in the film as part of a three-picture deal he cut with the studio to compensate them for the dissolution of 1997's Broadway Brawler.[7][8] He received a significant pay cut for the picture as part of the deal.[9] Sean Connery was originally considered for the role of Stamper, but Bay decided to cast a younger actor in the role after meeting oil drillers.[10]
Filming
Principal photography for Armageddon began in August 27, 1997 and ended on January 29, 1998.[11] Filming occurred at Culver Studios in Culver City, California.[12] In May 1998, Walt Disney Studios chairman Joe Roth expanded the film's budget by $3 million to include additional special effects scenes by Dream Quest Images showing an asteroid impacting Paris. This additional footage, incorporated two months prior to the film's release, was specifically added for the television advertising campaign to visually differentiate the film from Deep Impact which was released a few months before.[13] At a budget of $140 million, it was Buena Vista's most expensive film at the time.[3]
Music
Release
Marketing
Prior to Armageddon's release, the film was advertised in Super Bowl XXXII at a cost of $2.6 million.[14]
Home media
Despite a mixed critical reception,
The film was also released on
Television airing
By April 2002, ABC airings of Armageddon had already received modifications due to the September 11 attacks that occurred seven months prior. The scene where the World Trade Center was hit by meteors and caught on fire was edited out because of its similarity to the attacks.[19]
Following the 2003
Reception
Box office
Armageddon was released on July 1, 1998 in 3,127 theaters in the United States and Canada. It ranked first at the box office ahead of Dr. Dolittle with an opening weekend gross of $36 million, combined with $54.2 million from its first five days.[22] Upon opening, the film had the third-highest Fourth of July opening weekend at the time, behind Men in Black and Independence Day.[23] The film was dethroned by Lethal Weapon 4 in its second weekend, although it collected a total of $23.5 million.[24] In late July 1998, it surpassed its rival Deep Impact to become the highest-grossing domestic release of the year.[25] The film grossed $201.6 million in the United States and Canada and $352.1 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $553.7 million.[2] It was the highest-grossing film of 1998 worldwide and the second-highest-grossing film of that year in the United States, finishing just behind Saving Private Ryan.
Critical response
Armageddon received mostly mixed reviews from film critics, many of whom took issue with "the furious pace of its editing".
The film is on the list of Roger Ebert's most hated films.[29] In his original review, Ebert stated, "The movie is an assault on the eyes, the ears, the brain, common sense and the human desire to be entertained". On Siskel and Ebert, Ebert gave it a Thumbs Down. However, his co-host Gene Siskel gave it a Thumbs Up, commenting on the noise and intensity of the film, but also stating that he found the film to be amusing. Ebert went on to name Armageddon as the worst film of 1998 (though he was originally considering Spice World).[30] Todd McCarthy of Variety also gave the film a negative review, noting Michael Bay's rapid cutting style: "Much of the confusion, as well as the lack of dramatic rhythm or character development, results directly from Bay's cutting style, which resembles a machine gun stuck in the firing position for 21⁄2 hours."[26]
In April 2013, in a Miami Herald interview to promote Pain & Gain, Bay was quoted as having said:
…We had to do the whole movie in 16 weeks. It was a massive undertaking. That was not fair to the movie. I would redo the entire third act if I could. But the studio literally took the movie away from us. It was terrible. My visual effects supervisor had a nervous breakdown, so I had to be in charge of that. I called James Cameron and asked "What do you do when you're doing all the effects yourself?" But the movie did fine.[31]
Some time after the article was published, Bay changed his stance, claiming that his apology only related to the editing of the film, not the whole film,[32] and accused the writer of the article for taking his words out of context. The author of the article, Miami Herald writer Rene Rodriguez, claimed: "NBC asked me for a response, and I played them the tape. I didn't misquote anyone. All the sites that picked up the story did."[33]
Scientific accuracy
In an interview with
The infeasibility of the
A mathematical analysis of the situation found that for Willis's approach to be effective, he would need to be in possession of an H-bomb a billion times stronger than the
In the commentary track, Ben Affleck says he "asked Michael why it was easier to train oil drillers to become astronauts than it was to train astronauts to become oil drillers, and he told me to shut the fuck up, so that was the end of that talk."[41]
Neil deGrasse Tyson said on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on October 2, 2023 to Stephen Colbert that, until the release of the 2022 film Moonfall, Armageddon was the movie which violated more laws of physics per minute than any other movie ever.[42]
Accolades
Award | Category | Recipient | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Academy Awards | Best Original Song | "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" Music and Lyrics by Diane Warren |
Nominated | [43] |
Best Sound | Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, and Keith A. Wester | Nominated | ||
Best Sound Effects Editing
|
George Watters II | Nominated | ||
Best Visual Effects | Richard R. Hoover, Patrick McClung, and John Frazier | Nominated | ||
American Music Awards | Top Soundtrack | Armageddon: The Album | Nominated | [44] |
ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards
|
Most Performed Songs from a Motion Picture | "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" – Diane Warren | Won | [45] |
Awards Circuit Community Awards | Best Achievement in Sound | Nominated | ||
Best Visual Effects | Nominated | |||
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards | Favorite Actor – Sci-Fi | Bruce Willis | Won | [46] |
Favorite Actress – Sci-Fi | Liv Tyler | Nominated | ||
Favorite Supporting Actor – Sci-Fi | Ben Affleck | Won | ||
Billy Bob Thornton | Nominated | |||
Favorite Soundtrack | Armageddon: The Album | Nominated | ||
BMI Film & TV Awards | Best Music | Trevor Rabin | Won | |
Bogey Awards | Won | |||
Cinema Audio Society Awards | Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Motion Pictures | Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, and Keith A. Wester | Nominated | |
Golden Raspberry Awards | Worst Picture | Jerry Bruckheimer, Gale Anne Hurd, and Michael Bay | Nominated | [47] |
Worst Director | Michael Bay | Nominated | ||
Worst Actor | Bruce Willis (Also for Mercury Rising and The Siege) | Won | ||
Worst Supporting Actress | Liv Tyler | Nominated | ||
Worst Screenplay | Screenplay by Jonathan Hensleigh and J. J. Abrams; Story by Robert Roy Pool and Jonathan Hensleigh; Adaptation by Tony Gilroy and Shane Salerno |
Nominated | ||
Worst Screen Couple
|
Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler | Nominated | ||
Worst Original Song | "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" Music and Lyrics by Diane Warren |
Nominated | ||
Golden Reel Awards | Best Sound Editing – Dialogue & ADR | George Watters II, Teri E. Dorman, Juno J. Ellis, Gloria D'Alessandro, Alison Fisher, Carin Rogers, Karen Spangenberg, Mary Andrews, Andrea Horta, Denise Horta, Stephen Janisz, Nicholas Korda, and Denise Whiting |
Nominated | |
Best Sound Editing – Sound Effects & Foley | Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, and Keith A. Wester | Nominated | ||
Best Sound Editing – Music (Foreign & Domestic) | Bob Badami, Will Kaplan, Shannon Erbe, and Mark Jan Wlodarkiewicz |
Nominated | ||
Golden Screen Awards | Won | |||
Golden Trailer Awards | Golden Fleece | Nominated | [48] | |
Grammy Awards | Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media | "I Don't Want to Miss A Thing" – Diane Warren | Nominated | [49] |
Japan Academy Film Prize | Outstanding Foreign Language Film
|
Nominated | ||
MTV Movie Awards | Best Movie
|
Nominated | [50] [51] | |
Best Male Performance | Ben Affleck | Nominated | ||
Best Female Performance | Liv Tyler | Nominated | ||
Best On-Screen Duo | Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler | Nominated | ||
Best Song from a Movie | Aerosmith – "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" | Won | ||
Best Action Sequence | Asteroid Destroys New York City | Won | ||
MTV Video Music Awards | Best Video from a Film | Aerosmith – "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" | Won | [52] |
Online Film & Television Association Awards | Best Original Song | "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" Music and Lyrics by Diane Warren |
Nominated | [53] |
Best Adapted Song | "Leaving on a Jet Plane" Music and Lyrics by John Denver |
Nominated | ||
Best Sound Effects Editing | George Watters II | Nominated | ||
Best Visual Effects | Richard R. Hoover, Patrick McClung, and John Frazier | Nominated | ||
Satellite Awards | Best Original Song | "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" Music and Lyrics by Diane Warren |
Won | [54] |
Best Visual Effects | Richard R. Hoover, Pat McClung, and John Frazier | Nominated | ||
Saturn Awards | Best Science Fiction Film | Won[a] | [55] | |
Best Director | Michael Bay | Won | ||
Best Actor | Bruce Willis | Nominated | ||
Best Supporting Actor | Ben Affleck | Nominated | ||
Best Costumes | Michael Kaplan and Magali Guidasci | Nominated | ||
Best Music | Trevor Rabin | Nominated | ||
Best Special Effects | Richard R. Hoover, Pat McClung, and John Frazier | Nominated | ||
Stinkers Bad Movie Awards | Worst Actor | Bruce Willis | Won | [56] |
Worst Supporting Actress | Liv Tyler | Nominated | ||
Worst Screenplay for a Film Grossing Over $100M Worldwide Using Hollywood Math | Screenplay by Jonathan Hensleigh and J. J. Abrams; Story by Robert Roy Pool and Jonathan Hensleigh |
Nominated | ||
Worst On-Screen Couple | Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler | Won | ||
Most Annoying Fake Accent | Bruce Willis | Nominated | ||
Teen Choice Awards | Choice Movie Actor | Ben Affleck | Nominated |
Other media
Merchandising
Revell and Monogram released two model kits inspired by the film's spacecraft and the Armadillos, in 1998. The first one, "Space Shuttle with Armadillo drilling unit", included an X-71, a small, rough Armadillo and a pedestal. The second one, "Russian Space Center", included the Mir, with the docking adapter seen in the film, and another pedestal.[citation needed]
In 2011, Fantastic Plastic released another X-71 kit, the "X-71 Super Shuttle", the goal of which was to be more accurate than the Revell/Monogram kit.[57]
Theme park attraction
Armageddon – Les Effets Speciaux was an attraction based on Armageddon at Walt Disney Studios Park located at Disneyland Paris.[58] The attraction simulated the scene in the movie in which the Russian Space Station is destroyed.[59] Michael Clarke Duncan ("Bear" in the film) was featured in the pre-show.[59]
See also
- Asteroid deflection strategies
- List of disaster films
- List of films featuring space stations
Notes
References
- ^ "Armageddon (12)". British Board of Film Classification. July 7, 1998. Archived from the original on September 4, 2015. Retrieved January 25, 2024.
- ^ a b c "Armageddon (1998)". Box Office Mojo. October 11, 1998. Archived from the original on July 14, 2019. Retrieved February 18, 2020.
- ^
- ^ "Tales from the Script: Hollywood Screenwriters Share Their Stories – – Nonfiction Book & Film Project About Screenwriting". Talesfromthescript.com. Archived from the original on October 8, 2018. Retrieved April 29, 2011.
- ^ Petrikin, Chris (June 8, 1998). "'Armageddon' credits set". Variety.com. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
- New York Times. Retrieved June 15, 2022.
- ^ Brew, Simon (February 24, 2020). "The three films that Bruce Willis was cornered into having to make". Film Stories. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
- ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (October 5, 2010). "Bruce Willis In Drama Deal For Pal Joe Roth". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
- ISBN 9780312253912. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
- ^ "61 Things We Learned from the 'Armageddon' Commentary". February 2, 2012.
- ^ Mears, Hadley (November 21, 2019). "Culver Studios before Amazon". ’’LA Curbed’’. Retrieved February 1, 2024.
- ^ Lichtenfeld 2007, p. 221.
- ^ Lichtenfeld 2007, p. 224.
- ^ Basinger, Jeanine (June 21, 1999). "Armageddon". Criterion.com. Archived from the original on December 22, 2008. Retrieved May 14, 2012.
- ^ 1999 Annual Report (Report). The Walt Disney Company. 2000.
- ^ Boehm, Erich (December 13, 1999). "'Matrix' DVD breaks sales records in U.K." Variety. Archived from the original on May 28, 2022. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
- ^ Armageddon Blu-ray, archived from the original on June 4, 2019, retrieved June 4, 2019
- ^ Mashberg, Tom (September 10, 2019). "After Sept. 11, Twin Towers Onscreen Are a Tribute and a Painful Reminder". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 9, 2019. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
- ^ "Photos of the Shuttle Columbia Disaster?". BreakTheChain.org. Archived from the original on January 21, 2012.
- ^ Chan, Sue (February 3, 2003). "TV Pulls Shuttle Sensitive Material". CBS News. Archived from the original on February 18, 2003. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
- ^ "'Armageddon' Blows by Competition". Los Angeles Times. July 7, 1998.
- ^ "'Private Ryan' tops the box office". Quad-City Times. July 28, 1998. p. 28. Archived from the original on September 16, 2023. Retrieved September 16, 2023.
- ^ a b Lichtenfeld 2007, p. 220, [1].
- ^ "Armageddon". Rotten Tomatoes. July 1, 1998. Archived from the original on March 4, 2020. Retrieved June 22, 2023.
- ^ "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com. Archived from the original on January 2, 2018. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (August 11, 2005). "Ebert's Most Hated". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on July 10, 2017. Retrieved January 14, 2011.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (July 1, 1998). "Armageddon movie review & film summary (1998)". RogerEbert.com. Archived from the original on June 9, 2021. Retrieved May 14, 2012.
- The Miami Herald. Archived from the originalon May 1, 2013.
- ^ "Michael Bay: No apology for Armageddon". Miami Herald. April 24, 2013. Archived from the original on February 2, 2014. Retrieved January 20, 2014.
- Deadline. April 24, 2013. Archivedfrom the original on October 21, 2013.
- ^ "3200 Phaethon". Archived from the original on November 29, 2017. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
- ^ "Armageddon | Touchstone Pictures". movie-page.com. Archived from the original on September 8, 2012.
- ^ "Disaster Movies". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on June 12, 2004. Retrieved March 23, 2008.
- ^ Plait, Phil (February 17, 2000). "Hollywood Does the Universe Wrong". Space.com. Archived from the original on August 18, 2000. Retrieved January 26, 2009.
- ^ Back A, Brown G, Hall B, Turner S (2011). "Could Bruce Willis Save the World?". Journal of Physics: Special Topics. 10 (1). University of Leicester. Archived from the original on February 26, 2013.
- ISSN 1366-8781.
- ^ Collins, Nick (August 7, 2012). "Bruce Willis would have needed a bigger bomb to stop asteroid, scientists say". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on August 8, 2012.
- ^ Erbland, Kate (February 2, 2012). "61 Things We Learned from the 'Armageddon' Commentary". Film School Rejects. Archived from the original on February 9, 2018. Retrieved June 17, 2016.
- ^ What James Cameron Got Wrong in "Titanic" - Neil deGrasse Tyson. YouTube.
- ^ "The 71st Academy Awards (1999) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on October 15, 2013. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
- Washington Post. January 10, 1999. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
- ^ "ASCAP Honors Top Film & TV Music Composers at 27th Annual Awards Celebration". Ascap.com. June 28, 2012. Archived from the original on October 29, 2020. Retrieved June 6, 2014.
- ^ "Armageddon - Harry S. Stamper (Bruce Willis) flight suit | The Golden Closet". www.thegoldencloset.com. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
- ^ "1998 Golden Raspberry Award Nominees and Winners". razzies.com. Archived from the original on March 28, 2006. Retrieved April 30, 2006.
- ^ "Golden Fleece Award". Golden Trailer. Archived from the original on November 4, 2016. Retrieved August 26, 2022.
- ^ "41st Annual GRAMMY Awards (1998)". Grammy Awards. Retrieved December 18, 2021.
- ^ "MTV Movie Awards: 1999 Highlights". MTV. Archived from the original on February 3, 2020. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
- ^ Katz, Richard (April 20, 1999). "'Mary,' 'Armageddon' top MTV pic nom list". Variety. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
- ^ "Winners of 1998 MTV Awards". UPI. September 11, 1998. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
- ^ "3rd Annual Film Awards (1998)". Online Film & Television Association. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
- ^ "1999 Awards". International Press Academy. Archived from the original on July 12, 2000. Retrieved June 24, 2014.
- ^ "Past Saturn Awards". Saturn Awards.org. Archived from the original on September 14, 2008. Retrieved May 7, 2008.
- ^ "The Worst of 1998 Winners". thestinkers.com. August 13, 1999. Archived from the original on October 13, 1999. Retrieved September 8, 2019.
- ^ "X-71 Super Shuttle from "Armageddon" by Fantastic Plastic". Archived from the original on January 29, 2018. Retrieved January 28, 2018.
- ^ "Armageddon – Backlot – Disneyland® Resort Paris". International.parks.disneylandparis.com. Archived from the original on April 1, 2013. Retrieved April 29, 2011.
- ^ a b "Armageddon – Les Effets Speciaux | Photos Magiques – Disneyland Paris photos". Photos Magiques. Archived from the original on October 3, 2011. Retrieved April 29, 2011.
Bibliography
- Lichtenfeld, Eric (2007). Action Speaks Louder: Violence, Spectacle, and the American Action Movie. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press. OCLC 636164671.
External links
- Armageddon at IMDb
- Armageddon at the TCM Movie Database
- Armageddon at Disney A to Z
- Armageddon at AllMovie
- Armageddon at the American Film Institute Catalog
- Armageddon an essay by Criterion Collection