Armageddon (1998)

After discovering that an asteroid the size of Texas is going to impact Earth in less than a month, N.A.S.A. recruits a misfit team of deep core drillers to save the planet.

Director:

Michael Bay

Writers:

Jonathan Hensleigh (screenplay), J.J. Abrams (screenplay)

Stars:

Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Ben Affleck

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 15 wins & 36 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bruce Willis	...	Harry S. Stamper
Billy Bob Thornton	...	Dan Truman
Ben Affleck	...	A.J. Frost
Liv Tyler	...	Grace Stamper
Will Patton	...	Chick
Steve Buscemi	...	Rockhound
William Fichtner	...	Colonel Willie Sharp
Owen Wilson	...	Oscar
Michael Clarke Duncan	...	Bear
Peter Stormare	...	Lev Andropov
Ken Hudson Campbell	...	Max (as Ken Campbell)
Jessica Steen	...	Co-Pilot Jennifer Watts
Keith David	...	General Kimsey
Chris Ellis	...	Flight Director Clark
Jason Isaacs	...	Ronald Quincy

Storyline

It is just another day at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a few astronauts were repairing a satellite until, out of nowhere, a series of asteroids came crashing into the shuttle, destroying it. These asteroids also decimated New York soon thereafter. Then, NASA discovered that there is an asteroid roughly the size of Texas heading towards the Earth, and when it does hit the Earth, the planet itself and all of its inhabitants will be obliterated, worse, the asteroid will hit the Earth in 18 days. Unfortunately, NASA's plans to destroy the asteroid are irrelevant. That is when the U.S. military decides to use a nuclear warhead to blow the asteroid to pieces. Then, scientists decide to blow the asteroid with the warhead inside the asteroid itself. The only man to do it, is an oil driller named Harry Stamper and his group of misfit drillers and geologists. As he and his drill team prepare for space excavation, the asteroid is still heading towards the Earth. When...

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Plot Keywords:

cranberry | asteroid | astronaut | outer space | bomb | 

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Taglines:

The Earth's Darkest Day Will Be Man's Finest Hour

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sci-fi disaster action, sensuality and brief language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian Indonesian

Release Date:

1 July 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Armageddon

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles Theatre - 615 S. Broadway, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$140,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$36,089,972, 5 July 1998, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$201,573,391, 6 December 1998

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$553,709,788, 12 August 2012

Company Credits

Production Co:

Touchstone Pictures, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Valhalla Motion Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

151 min 153 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Michael Clarke Duncan improvised the line, "Come and get Papa Bear!" This later became one of the actor's nicknames.

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Goofs

While the NASA team is attempting to override the bomb timer, there is a quick cut to Grace, standing in the observation room looking through the window, showing the crew down below (through the reflection in the glass). The same exact scene is used after the bomb is detonated. The crew can be seen giving high fives and hugging one another, while they are trying to 'kill the up link'.

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Quotes

[first lines]
[Camera shoots past the moon to slowly zoom in on the Earth]
Narrator: This is the Earth, at a time when the dinosaurs roamed a lush and fertile planet.
[From behind the camera, a giant asteroid appears, speeding towards the Earth ahead of it]
Narrator: A piece of rock just 6 miles wide changed all that.
[Blazing through the atmosphere, the asteroid impacts with a spectacular display of fire and destruction]
Narrator: It hit with the force of 10,000 nuclear weapons. A trillion tons of dirt and rock hurtled into ...

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Crazy Credits

All initial UK '12' Certificate videos came with the full promo video for Aerosmith's: "I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing" before the film started. The video only came with the limited widescreen or even more limited 'double feature' boxed video with 'The Making of Armaggedon' as a bonus video. Also some outtakes (1 per character) were featured at the very end of the credits with text underneath saying 'In loving memory of who gave his life saving our planet.' (The outtakes only came with the initial copies on video.)

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Alternate Versions

Criterion's two-DVDs version features the longer director's cut with added dialogue and footage, including a scene between Harry Stamper and his father (played by Lawrence Tierney.) A second DVD with supplemental material is included, with additional deleted scenes, outtakes and bloopers.

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Connections

Referenced in Stargate SG-1: Fail Safe (2001)

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Soundtracks

Mister Big Time
Written by Jon Bon Jovi and Aldo Nova
Performed by Jon Bon Jovi
Courtesy of Mercury Records, a PolyGram Company

User Reviews

Not Quite The End of The World...

I'll be the first to tell you, special FX are not what I look for when I am hitting the movies, I love intelligence and acting, story, story, story, good directing at least. But from the opening scenes, 'ARMAGEDDON' explodes into emergency action. This sci-fi comedy-drama was a solid hit!! I have to fully disagree with critics who will praise a horrible movie and then say that a story like this is not bigger than life. This is a blockbuster entertainment giant, with a striking sense of humor, which 'Rockhound' (Bucsemi) provided many laughs, along with the rest of the multi-talented and troubled 'troup' of civilized maniacs. I truly think that the plot of the story is fun to think about, the world needs to be saved by a bunch of motley-ruff necks that can hardly obey the regular laws in their own city and now, they are going to work with the laws of gravity, science and all else to keep the planet from becoming a memory. Every movie mogul wants a block buster that is going to in essence save the world from total oblation and hit the box office with a vengeance. This one does it with he-man style and a wise-crack or two. They all ride together though, Harry Stamper, Grace the young in love daughter of Harry, Charles Chapple er, I mean 'Chick', A.J. also in love with Grace much to Harry's uneasiness, 'Rockhound' who just wants to have girls' who 'just want to have fun' the man who is a sky-scraper if anything else, Jayotis 'Bear' who is strong and a bit on the sensitive side, just to give us equilibrium, when they landed on the surface of the huge rock and he looks up and emotional and exclaims Thank you Jesus! The theater roared! He was right though. Then there is 'Oscar' who is a fun having not so fearless worker, and the comically sarcastic, but easy going Max, all under N.A.S.A Administrator Dan Truman who can't fly anymore. But he gets to watch these birds-of-a-feather, working together. With everyone up and going plus Lev Andropov the Russian Cosmonaut who works hard and gets a little too rowdy! They are able even with the adversity of Col. William Sharp they come together and pull it off and even with the last few moments when Harry Gives his life for A.J. in a very touching moment the story comes together and sets it right, the screw balls have a mature moment and a sobering lesson. But this crew is great!! They all mix together like a great drink. Bruce has the Juice, along with the rest of the motley crew, making this adventure a blast, even by today's standards it still comes across with strength, style, and comedic punch!

Recommended for action/adventure sci-fi junkies as well as regular Joe's' like me. (****)