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 & 35 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:

asteroid | astronaut | outer space | bomb | meteorite | 

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Taglines:

Earth. It Was Fun While It Lasted.

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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

One of the badges on the front of A.J.'s Armadillo is the logo for the manufacturer of Swiss Army knives, Victorinox. It can be seen as they bring his Armadillo into position after the first was destroyed.

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Goofs

AJ's hat disappears when he is in the fuel pod, then reappears when he is climbing the ladder.

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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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Connections

Featured in The Nostalgia Chick: Armageddon (2009)

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Soundtracks

Wish I Were You
Written by Patty Smyth (as Patty Smyth-McEnroe) and Glen Burtnick
Performed by Patty Smyth
Courtesy of Columbia Records

User Reviews

a love it or hate it type of movie

This is definitely the type of movie you'll either love or hate.

I personally love it, I am a Die Hard (lol) Bruce Willis fan. All characters were supurbly cast. Busemi as Rock, Affleck as AJ, Tyler as Grace, Thornton as Truman, ect.... All of them seemed to work well together. Their character just fit them. Lots of people didn't like this movie for they believed that it is too far fetched, which isn't true. One of NASA's theories IS to land on, and drill into a "global killer". And as it is also said in the movie we don't have the budget to look for these things. Amatures are the people that usually find them. Another thing people over look is the fact that Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer worked with NASA on the factual aspects of the movie. They didn't just make these things up.(all of this is said in the commentaries on the criterion collection) The other thing about this movie is, you have to like science, space and the things that go with it (like me "aero_nut"). And you have to appreciate the fact, and not be obtuse that this could happen one day, God destroyed the Earth before he could do it again. I really believe that the love story helped this movie make money, (thats what made Titanic #1), Liv Tyler and Ben Affleck made a great couple. The chemistry between them was awesome. Not to mention this is americans at their best,(with the help of a russian friend, who is perfectly cast as stormare). The love song to this movie is definitely a topper, Dianne Warren has graced so many movies with her songs and this has to be the best so far. Furthermore very few rock bands can sound good with a orchestra, (G-N-R is one) and Aerosmith certainly fit the bill here. i love this cast the movie and the soundtrack, but thats just me.