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Moonfall (film)

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Moonfall
Three American astronauts floating in space look towards the moon.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRoland Emmerich
Written by
Produced by
  • Roland Emmerich
  • Harald Kloser
Starring
CinematographyRobby Baumgartner
Edited by
  • Adam Wolfe
  • Ryan Stevens Harris
Music by
Production
companies
Distributed by
  • Lionsgate (United States)
  • AGC International (International)
Release dates
  • January 31, 2022 (2022-01-31) (Los Angeles)
  • February 4, 2022 (2022-02-04) (United States)
Running time
130 minutes[1]
Countries
  • United States
  • China
  • Germany[2]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$138–146 million
Box office$21.6 million[3][4]

Moonfall is a 2022 science fiction disaster film co-written, directed, and produced by Roland Emmerich. The film stars Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, John Bradley, Michael Peña, Charlie Plummer, Kelly Yu, and Donald Sutherland. Shot in Montreal on a $138–146 million production budget, Moonfall is one of the most expensive independently produced films of all time. The film was released in the United States on February 4, 2022, by Lionsgate and received generally mixed reviews from critics.

Plot

In 2011, astronauts Brian Harper and Jocinda "Jo" Fowler are on a Space Shuttle mission to repair a satellite when Harper witnesses a mysterious black swarm attack the orbiter, killing a crew-mate and incapacitating Jo. After an 18-month long investigation, nobody believes his explanation, human error is blamed, and Harper is fired.

Ten years later, conspiracy theorist K.C. Houseman, who believes the Moon is an artificial megastructure, steals time on a research telescope and discovers that the Moon's orbit is veering closer to Earth. He attempts to share his findings with Harper, who dismisses him, leading K.C. to go public on social media. NASA independently discovers the anomaly and mounts a mission on an SLS Block 2 to investigate the abnormality. The same swarm that had attacked Harper's mission reappears, killing all three crew members after they drop a probe into a kilometers-deep artificial hole in the Moon.

As the Moon's orbit continues to deteriorate, it falls closer to Earth, causing cataclysmic disasters such as tsunamis, gravitational abnormalities, and atmospheric dissipation. Jo, now the deputy director of NASA, learns that Apollo 11 had discovered abnormalities in the Moon, and a two-minute radio blackout was to block out inexplicable data in which the Moon supposedly resonated strongly from the impact of Apollo 11's jettisoned fuel tank. A military program code-named ZX7 had created an EMP to attempt to kill the swarm, but was abandoned for budget reasons. Jo orders the EMP brought out of storage and brings the retired Space Shuttle Endeavour out of its museum to serve the mission. K.C., Harper, and Jo launch with the EMP, narrowly escaping a tsunami that destroys Vandenberg Space Force Base.

As the crew enters the Moon's interior, they discover that the swarm is siphoning off energy generated by a white dwarf at the center of the Moon, causing the artificial megastructure's orbit to destabilize as its power source is depleted. Harper learns that the megastructure was constructed by the ancestors of humanity, who were more technologically advanced than their present-day descendants. The Moon was constructed billions of years in the past as an ark to repopulate humanity, which was being hunted by a rogue artificial intelligence that grew too strong. The swarm in the Moon is one of those AIs, which responds to electronic activity in the presence of organic life. As the moon continues to approach the Earth, the President gives the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Jenkins orders to launch a nuclear strike towards the Moon. However, the Air Force Chief of Staff General Doug Davidson refuses to carry out the nuclear strike order so he can save the lives of his ex-wife, Jo, and both Harper and Houseman, sacrificing his life in the process.

Meanwhile, Harper's son Sonny escorts Jo's son Jimmy and their nanny Michelle in an attempt to reach Davidson's military bunker in Colorado. They reach Aspen and reunite with Sonny's mom Brenda (Harper's ex-wife) and his step-family, but are caught in the disasters caused by the Moon's rapid destruction. As the group makes their way towards the bunker, they fight off other survivors and increasingly deadly natural disasters before reaching a safe mountain tunnel. Brenda's husband Tom sacrifices himself to save his youngest daughter, suffocating as the Moon's gravitational pull strips the atmosphere of oxygen during its pass.

K.C. uses the EMP and the crew's lunar module to lure the swarm away from the spacecraft before detonating the device, killing himself, destroying the AI, and allowing Jo and Harper to escape. With power restored, the Moon begins to return to its regular orbit, bringing an end to the destruction on Earth. The operating system of the Moon, itself a benign AI created by humanity's ancestors, reveals that it stored a copy of K.C.'s consciousness; appearing to him as his mother, the AI states that they need to get to work. Jo and Harper return to Earth and reunite with Sonny, Jimmy, Michelle, and Brenda and her family.

Cast

Halle Berry at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con International in San Diego, California.
Patrick Wilson at the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con International in San Diego, California.
Halle Berry and Patrick Wilson play former NASA astronauts Jocinda "Jo" Fowler and Brian Harper.

Production

Roland Emmerich at the German Film Awards in 2012 in Berlin, Germany.
Writer, director, and producer Roland Emmerich

In May 2019, Roland Emmerich was announced to be writing and directing the film.[5] With a $138–146 million budget (including $40 million from Huayi Brothers, $15 million from Lionsgate, and $15 million from Germany),[2] it is one of the most expensive independent films ever produced.[6][7] Emmerich said the project had previously been bought by Universal Pictures, and once he got the rights back, Emmerich and partner Harald Kloser went to the Cannes Film Festival to get financial backers, with the independent nature helping Emmerich get creative control and a 50% share of the film.[8] The idea came after reading Christopher Knight and Alan Butler's novel Who Built the Moon?, which debated about the Moon being an artificial construction, and the script was worked on for four years.[9] In November 2019, Lionsgate acquired the North American distribution rights, and AGC International acquired the international distribution rights.[10]

In May 2020, Josh Gad and Halle Berry were cast,[11][12] with Patrick Wilson and Charlie Plummer added in June.[13] In October, Stanley Tucci, John Bradley, Donald Sutherland and Eme Ikwuakor were added to the cast, with Bradley replacing Gad due to scheduling conflicts.[14]

Filming began in Montreal in October 2020,[15] after previously being planned for a spring start,[16][17] and lasted for a total of 61 days.[18] Michael Peña, Carolina Bartczak, Maxim Roy and Stephen Bogaert were added in January 2021, with Peña replacing Tucci in his role due to COVID-19 travel restrictions preventing Tucci from traveling to the production.[19] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film had to speed up its principal photography with an additional $5.6 million spent.[18] Among the pandemic's restrictions were a lack of location shooting, forcing the construction of 135 different sets, built primarily on six stages on Grandé Studios. A museum in Florida contributed an original space shuttle cockpit, and NASA provided various data regarding the spacecraft.[9]

1,700 visual effects shots were done for Moonfall, primarily handled by four companies, Scanline VFX, Pixomondo, DNEG and Framestore. Scanline was involved as early as a teaser done during the production of Midway for the Cannes pitch, a shot of the moon coming up behind the Earth that ended up in the finished film.[20]

Release

The film held a premiere in Los Angeles on January 31, 2022.[21] It was released theatrically in the United States on February 4, 2022. It was previously scheduled to be released on October 22, 2021.[22] Despite having been advertised in 2021, the film's theatrical release in Canada was canceled because the local distributor, Mongrel Media, found it too risky to go forward with the release and spend the amount of money required on advertising when it was uncertain whether theaters in Ontario and Quebec, which account for a majority of films' sales in the country and were shut down due to the pandemic, would be open in time.[23]

Lionsgate spent approximately $35 million in promotions and advertisements, including $12.2 million on TV ads. Social media monitor RelishMix said online reactions were "mixed to negative" while "awareness stats" were below average. The film had a social media reach of 88.9 million interactions (including 51.1 million views on YouTube) from 31 videos shared online, which featured brand deals with Omega SA and Lexus. RelishMix also said "traction ran thin" and that online audiences "questioned the use of the Space Shuttle which has been out of commission since 2011 and chatted about rumors that the movie was heading straight to Netflix", while Emmerich was drawing backlash "for 'hating the earth'."[2]

Reception

Box office

In the United States, Moonfall was released alongside Jackass Forever, and was projected to gross $8–11 million from 3,446 theaters in its opening weekend,[24] with Boxoffice Pro predicting a $9–14 million three-day debut.[25] The film earned $3.4 million on its first day,[26] including an estimated $700,000 from Thursday night previews. Around 300 theaters were closed on Thursday due to a winter storm impacting most of the Midwestern United States. It went on to gross $9.9 million in its opening weekend, finishing second.[2][27]

Outside the U.S. and Canada, the film grossed an estimated $9.37 million overseas in its opening weekend.[28]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 40% of 151 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.3/10. The website's consensus reads: "Whether Moonfall is so bad it's good or simply bad will depend on your tolerance for B-movie cheese – but either way, this is an Emmerich disaster thriller through and through."[29] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 40 out of 100, based on 42 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[30] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it a 66% positive score, with 49% saying they would definitely recommend it.[2]

Future

In January 2022, Emmerich spoke about the possibility of filming two sequels back-to-back if the first film was a success.[8] The following month, star John Bradley said that "if Roland goes down the direction that he wants to," the sequels would be "even more batshit crazy than the first."[31]

See also

  • Empire from the Ashes, a trilogy of science fiction novels about the Moon being a ship from a fallen human civilization that seeded the Earth with humanity

References

  1. ^ "Moonfall (12A)". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved January 31, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e D'Alessandro, Anthony (February 6, 2022). "How Jackass Forever Thrived In The TikTok Era With A $23M+ Opening & Moonfall Fell Out Of Orbit At The Weekend Box Office – Sunday Postmortem". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  3. ^ "Moonfall". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved February 13, 2022.
  4. ^ "Moonfall". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved February 13, 2022.
  5. ^ Wiseman, Andreas (May 7, 2019). "Cannes Biggie: Roland Emmerich, AGC Studios & CAA Media Finance Launch $150M Sci-Fi Moonfall". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 11, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ McClintock, Pamela (February 4, 2022). "Box Office: Jackass Forever Laughs Hard With $1.7M in Previews". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  7. ^ Wiseman, Andreas (February 16, 2021). "Roland Emmerich On Making $140M Sci-Fi Moonfall Amid The Pandemic: 'It Was A Miracle This Movie Happened At All'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 20, 2022.
  8. ^ a b "Roland Emmerich, Master of Disaster, Returns to Big-Screen Cataclysms With Moonfall". The Hollywood Reporter. January 27, 2022. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
  9. ^ a b CAPTURING A COLOSSAL CLOSE ENCOUNTER OF THE LUNAR KIND IN MOONFALL - VFX Voice Magazine
  10. ^ N'Duka, Amanda (November 26, 2019). "Lionsgate Picks Up Moonfall Sci-Fi From Midway Helmer Roland Emmerich". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 11, 2020.
  11. ^ Kit, Borys (May 12, 2020). "Josh Gad to Star in Roland Emmerich's Disaster Thriller Moonfall". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
  12. ^ Kit, Borys (May 19, 2020). "Halle Berry to Star in Roland Emmerich's Sci-Fi Movie Moonfall (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
  13. ^ Kit, Borys (June 12, 2020). "Patrick Wilson to Star in Roland Emmerich's Sci-Fi Thriller Moonfall (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 11, 2020.
  14. ^ N'Duka, Amanda (October 13, 2020). "Stanley Tucci & Game of Thrones Alum John Bradley Join Roland Emmerich's Moonfall Space Epic For Lionsgate". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 11, 2020.
  15. ^ N'Duka, Amanda (May 19, 2020). "Halle Berry Joins Roland Emmerich's Moonfall Sci-Fi At Lionsgate". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  16. ^ Wiseman, Andreas (January 16, 2020). "Roland Emmerich's Sci-Fi Moonfall Gets China Distribution & Funding From Huayi, Production Lined Up For Spring". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
  17. ^ Wiseman, Andreas (October 26, 2020). "Moonfall: Donald Sutherland, Eme Ikwuakor & Financier SPG3 Join $100M+ Roland Emmerich Sci-Fi Movie, Shoot Underway In Montreal". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 11, 2020.
  18. ^ a b Jirak, Jamie (January 17, 2022). "Moonfall Director Roland Emmerich Opens Up About Casting and Working During the Pandemic". Comicbook.com. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
  19. ^ N'Duka, Amanda (January 12, 2021). "Michael Peña Replaces Stanley Tucci In Roland Emmerich's Moonfall, Carolina Bartczak, Maxim Roy & Stephen Bogaert Also Join Lionsgate Sci-Fi Epic". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 3, 2022.
  20. ^ How Visual Effects Pros Created Catastrophic Events in ‘Moonfall’
  21. ^ "Stars Attend The World Premiere Of Lionsgate's Moonfall". BeautifulBallad. February 1, 2022. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
  22. ^ Hipes, Patrick (May 26, 2021). "Roland Emmerich's Moonfall Finally Lands A Release Date". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 26, 2021.
  23. ^ Hertz, Barry (February 2, 2022). "Inside the mystery of the missing Moonfall, the biggest movie to ever bypass Canadian audiences". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved February 3, 2022.
  24. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (February 1, 2022). "Jackass Forever To Punk Disaster Pic Moonfall As Winter Box Office Tries To Thaw Out – Weekend Preview". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 1, 2022.
  25. ^ Robbins, Shawn (February 2, 2022). "Weekend Box Office Forecast: Jackass Forever and Moonfall Aim to Kickstart a February Turnaround for Exhibition". Boxoffice Pro. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
  26. ^ "Domestic Box Office For Feb 4, 2022". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved February 8, 2022.
  27. ^ "Domestic 2022 Weekend 5". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved February 8, 2022.
  28. ^ Tartaglione, Nancy (February 6, 2022). "Chinese New Year Movies Miss Market Record; Spider-Man Wings To $1.77B Global & Sing 2 Nears $300M WW – International Box Office". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 7, 2022.
  29. ^ "Moonfall". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved February 9, 2022. Edit this at Wikidata
  30. ^ "Moonfall". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  31. ^ Hibberd, James (February 5, 2022). "Moonfall Actor John Bradley Explains That Wild Ending". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
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