Armageddon (1998) Movie || Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Liv Tyler || updates Review & Facts

e e e Armageddon is a 1998 American Science Fiction disaster film produced and directed by Michael Bay produced by Jerry brookham and released by Touchstone pictures the film follows a group of bluecollar deep core Drillers sent by NASA to stop a gigantic asteroid on a collision course with Earth it stars an ensemble cast consisting of Bruce Willis with Billy Bob Thornton Liv Tyler benol Will Patton Peter Stormare Keith David and Steve basame the film was a commercial success grossing 5 153.7 million worldwide against a $140 million budget and becoming the highest grossing film of 1998 and the highest grossing film to be released by Touchstone pictures the film received mixed reviews from critics a massive media shower destroys the orbiting space shuttle Atlantis before entering the atmosphere and bombarding New York City Boston Philadelphia monton Halifax and New Finland the meteors were pushed out of the asteroid belt by a collision from a rogue Comet which also dislodged a massive asteroid the size of Texas and NASA learns that the asteroid will impact Earth in 18 days potentially wiping out all life on Earth NASA devises a plan to have a deep hole drilled into the asteroid into which they will insert and detonate a nuclear bomb to destroy the asteroid they recruit Harry Stamper a third generation oil driller an owner of his own oil drilling company Harry agrees to help but on the condition that he bring in his own team to do the drilling he picks his best employees for the job chick Chapel his best friend and right-hand man geologists rockhound and Oscar choice and Drillers Bear cleen Freddy Nunan Max Leonard and AJ Frost who has been dating Harry's daughter Grace despite Harry's objections over 12 days they are trained to become astronauts with astronaut Willie sharp who will pilot Freedom one of the two super shuttles to fly to the asteroid the other being the independence before leaving chick apologizes to his ex-wife for wronging her and sees his son who is unaware of his parentage grace accepts AJ's marriage proposal much to Harry's reluctant dismay she later has her father promised to return home safe with her fiance following the destruction of Shanghai by another media strike word of the massive asteroid becomes public to the world both shuttles take off without incident and dark with a Russian space station mere to take on fu F however a leaky pipeline ignites the fuel pod on fire AJ and rasmo Cosmonaut Lev andropov narrowly managed to board Independence before the space station is destroyed approaching the asteroid Independence is damaged by debris and crashes killing all on board except Liv bear and agj they Embark in the shuttle 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 Mission Control that it is unlikely the team will reach the depth necessary to destroy the asteroid before Jer barrier the point after which detonating The Rock will not save Earth the president of the United States decides to remotely detonate the bomb from Earth immediately which will cause total Mission failure sharp and Harry have a vicious argument but agree to diffuse the bomb and work together after Harry promises sharp that he will accomplish the mission they make progress on drilling but a misted gas pocket causes the armadillo and Max to be blown into space just as har NASA and the world believe the mission to be a failure while another media destroys Paris arj and the others arrive in the second armadillo AJ 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 agj is given the responsibility Harry takes him down to the asteroid surface only to disconnect AJ's air hose and force him into the shuttle's air lock Harry then tells AG 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's blessing to Mary AJ and Grace says that she is proud to be his daughter after some difficulty Freedom takes off and just before Zer barrier Harry manages to detonate the bomb and saves the planet the astronauts land on Earth safely AJ and grace are reunited and chick reconciles with his ex-wife and a stranged son during the credits agj and grace are married with the portraits of Harry and the others lost on the mission present in memorium according to Bruce Joel Rubin writer of Deep Impact a production president at Disney took notes on everything the writer said during lunch about his script and initiated Armageddon as a counter film at Disney 4 nine writers worked on the script five of whom are credited in addition to Robert Roy P Jonathan hensle Tony Gilroy Shane Ceno and JJ Abrams the writers involved included Paul atanasio and by durman Scott Rosen ber and Robert Town originally it was Hensley's script based on Paul's original that had been given the green light by Touchstone pictures then producer Jerry brookheimer hired the succession of scribes for rewrites and polishes 56 Bruce Willis was cast into film as part of a three- picture deal he cut with a studio to compensate them for the dissolution of 1997's Broadway brawler 78 he received a significant pay cut for the picture as part of the deal nine Shan Canary was a originally considered for the role of Stamper but Michael Bay decided to cast a younger actor in the role after meeting oil drillers 10 filming principal photography for Armageddon began in August 27th 1997 and ended on January 29th 1998 11 filming occurred at Calver studios in Calver 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 scen by dream Quest images showing an asteroid impacting Paris this additional footage Incorporated 2 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 buav vista's most expensive film at the time three after filming was complete according to Home Improvement actor Richard khah he stumbled upon the main asteroid set and suggested to Tim Allen that they needed to film on it according to Khan Allen asked then ABC executive Bob AER who then asked Michael Bay for permission Bay required waiting 6 months after the film was released the asteroid set was used as a credit roll gag seen to imitate a cave in Wilson's basement despite a mixed critical reception the Criterion Collection a specialist film distributor of primarily art housee films that markets what it considers to be important classic and contemporary films and cinema at its finest released the directors cut of the film to DVD and Lazard disk in an essay supporting the selection of Armageddon film schol gine Basinger who taught Michael Bay at West lion University states that the film is a work of art by a cuttingedge artist who is a master of movement light color in shape and also of chaos razzled Dazzle and explosion she sees it as a celebration of working men this film makes these ordinary men Noble lifting their efforts up into an epic event further she states that in the first few moments of the film all the main characters are well established saying if that isn't screenwriting I don't know what is 16 the film was also released on VHS and DVD by Touchstone home video on November 13th 1998 and would surpass pretty woman to become bua Vista Home entertainment's best-selling liveaction title 17 Armageddon then premiered on both VHS and DVD formats on February 1st 1999 in the UK it was the the country's bestselling DVD release selling over 100,000 copies however this record would be surpassed by The Matrix later that year 18 the film was released on a standard edition Blu-ray in 2010 with only a few special features 19 television airing by April 2002 ABC airings of Armageddon had already received modifications due to the September 11th attacks that occurred 7 months prior the scene where the World Trade Center was hit by Medias and caught on fire was edited out because of its similarity to the attacks 20 following the 23 Columbia disaster some screen captures from the opening scene where Atlantis is destroyed were passed off as satellite images of the disaster in a hoax 21 Additionally the American cable network effects which had intended to broadcast Armageddon that evening removed the film from its schedule and aired aliens in its place Armageddon was released on July 1st 1998 in 3D 1227 theaters in the United States states in Canada it ranked first at the box office ahead of Dr dittle with an opening weekend gross of $36 million combined with $ 54.2 million from its first 5 days 23 upon opening the film had the third highest Fourth of July opening weekend at the time behind Men In Black and Independence Day 24 the film was dethrown by Lethal Weapon 4 in its second weekend although it collected a total of $23.5 million 25 in Late July 1998 it surpassed its Rival deep impact to become the highest grossing domestic release of the Year 26 the film gross 21.6 million in the United States and Canada and $352.00 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $ 5537 million to 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 27 on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes the film has a 43% approval rating based on 176 reviews with an average rating of five threaten the critical consensus States lovely to look at but about as intelligent as the asteroid that serves as the movie's antagonist Armageddon slickly sums up the Cinematic legacies of producer Jerry brookheimer and director Michael Bay 28 Metacritic gave the film a weighted average score of 42 out of 100 based on 23 critics indicating mixed or average reviews audiences pulled by cinemascore gave the film an average grade of a on an A plus to f scale 29 the film is on the list of Roger ebot's most hated films 30 in his original review iBot stated the movie is an assault on the eyes the ears the brain common sense and the human desire to be entertained on csll and Ebert Ebert gave it a thumbs down however his co-host Jean csll 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 31 Todd McCarthy variety also gave the film a negative review noting Michael Ba's rapid cutting style much of the confusion as well as the lack of dramatic Rhythm or character velopment results directly from Ba's cutting style which resembles a machine gun stuck in the firing position for 212 Hours 27 in April 2013 in a Miami Herald interview to promote Pain and Gain B 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 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 32 some time after the article was published ba changed his stance claiming that his apology only related to the editing of the film not the whole film 33 and accused the writer of the article for taking his words out of context the author of the article Miami Herald writer Rene RZ 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 34 scientific accuracy see also asteroid deflection in an interview with Entertainment Weekly ba admitted that the film's central premise that NASA could actually do something in a situation like this was unrealistic Additionally the largest known potentially hazardous asteroid far is 5331 919 99 jm8 which is only 7 km 4.3 mi in diameter 35 while the asteroid in the movie is described as being the size of Texas near the end of the credits there is a disclaimer stating the National Aeronautics and Space administration's cooperation and assistance does not reflect an endorsement of the contents of the film or the treatment of the characters depicted therein 36 astronomers would subsequently note that Deep Impact was more scientifically accurate 3738 the infeasibility of the hbomb approach was published by four postgraduate physics students in 2011 a39 and then reported by The Daily Telegraph in 2012 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 Soviet Union's big Ivan the biggest ever detonated on Earth using estimates of the asteroid size density speed and distance from Earth based on information in the film the postgraduate students from Leicester University found that to split the asteroid in two with both pieces clearing Earth would require 800 trillion teres of energy in contrast the total energy output of big Ivan which was tested by the Soviet Union in 1961 was only 418,000 ter 4041 in the commentary track Ben folk says he asked Michael why it was easier to train oil drillers to become astronauts than it was to train astronauts to become oil drill and he told me to shut the up so that was the end of that talk 42 Neil degrass Tyson said on the October second 2023 episode of The Late Show with Steven cber 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 Billy Bob thoron 23 born August 4th 1955 is an American film actor filmmaker singer and songwriter he received International attention after writing directing and starring in the independent drama film Sling Blade 1996 for which he won an Academy Award for best adapted screenplay and was nominated for an Academy Award for best actor for his role in a Simple Plan 1998 he was nominated for the Academy Award for best supporting actor he's also known for his film roles in one false move 1992 dead man 1995 U-turn 1997 primary colors 1998 I'm Aon 1998 monsters ball 2001 the man who wasn't there 2001 Intolerable Cruelty 2003 Bad Santa 23 and Friday Night Lights 2004 he has written a variety of films including a family thing 1996 and the gift 2000 and has directed films such as Daddy and them 2001 All the Pretty Horses 2000 and Jane Mansfield's Car 2012 thoron is also known for his roles on television acting in the CBS sitcom hearts of fire from 1992 to 199 5 in 2014 he starred as Laur Malvo in the first season of the FX Anthology series Fargo earning a nomination for the prime timetime Emmy Award for outstanding lead actor in a miniseries or movie and winning a Golden Globe award for best actor in a miniseries or television film from 2016 2021 he played Billy McBride in the Amazon legal drama series Goliath which earned him a Golden Globe award for best actor television series drama in addition to film work Thornton began a career as a sing sing a songwriter he has released four solo albums and is the vocalist of the rock band The Box Masters Thornton has been vocal about his distaste for celebrity culture choosing to keep out of the public eye he has been married six times including to Angelina Jolie from 2000 to 2003 which received significant media attention Thornton was born on August 4th 1955 five in Hot Springs Arkansas 678 the son of Virginia Roberta NE Faulkner a self-proclaimed psychic and William Raymond Billy Ray Thornton a high school history teacher and basketball coach six his brother Jimmy da April 1958 October 1988 wrote a number of songs thoron recorded two of them Island Avenue and Emily on his solo albums nine he is of English and part Irish descent 10 he has two other siblings 11 thoron lived in numerous places in Arkansas during his childhood including Alpine mulvin and Mount Holly he was raised Methodist 12 in an extended family in a shack that had no electricity or Plumbing 13 He attended Marvin High School Thornton struggled academically in school due to dyslexia for which he was not conclusively diagnosed until later in life 14 a good high school baseball player he tried out for the Kansas City Royals but was released after an injury 15 he graduated from mulvin in 1973 and spent a short period laying asphalt for the Arkansas state transportation department before attending Henderson State University to pursue a degree in Psychology but dropped out after two semesters 16 in the mid 1980s thoron settled in Los Angeles to pursue his career as an actor with future writing partner Tom eperson six he had a difficult time succeeding as an actor and worked in telemarketing offshore wind farming 15 and fast food management between auditioning for acting jobs he also played the drums and sang with South African rock band Jackhammer while working as a waiter for an industry event he served film director and screenwriter Billy Wilder he struck up a conversation with wilder who advised Thornton to consider a career as a screenwriter in September 1987 Thon appeared on stage in a one-act play Beethoven Symphonies as part of the West Coast theater ensemble in Los Angeles 17 his first onscreen role was playing a character named Billy Bob in the Thriller Hunter's blood he was a standin on that film for the whole production and then appeared in two scenes 18 He subse quently appeared in minor roles in the film south of Reno and the 1987 Matlock episode the photographer another one of his early screen roles was as a cast member on the CBS sitcom hearts of fire and in 1989 he appeared as an angry Heckler in Adam Sandler's debut film going overboard 19 he played the role as the villain in 1992's one false move which he also co-wrote he also had roles in the 1990s films Indecent Proposal on deadly ground Bound by Honor and tombstone 20 he went on to write direct and star in the 1996 independent film Sling Blade six the film an expansion of the short film some folks call it a sling blade introduced the story of a mentally disabled man imprison for a gruesome and seemingly inexplicable murder 21 1995 2004 Sling Blade and acclaim Sling Blade gared International Acclaim Thornton screenplay earned him an Academy Award for best adapted screenplay a writer's Guild of America award and an Edgar award while his performance received Oscar and Screen Actors Guild nominations for Best Actor six in 1998 Thornton portrayed the James Carville Like Richard Gans in primary colors 22 he adapted the book All the Pretty Horses into a 2000 film of the same name 23 the negative experience he was forced to cut more than an hour of footage led to his decision to never direct another film a subsequent release Daddy and them had been filmed earlier 24 also 2000 an early script which he and Tom eperson wrote together was made into the gift 25 in 2000 thoron appeared in Travis tritz music video for the song modern day Bonnie and Clyde his screen Persona has been described by the press as that of a tattooed herit man's man 26 he appeared in several major film roles following the success of Sling Blade including 1998's Armageddon and a simple plan the latter of which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for best supporting actor in 2001 he directed Daddy and them while securing starring roles in three Hollywood films the romantic drama monsters ball the crime comedy drama Bandits and the neo- Noir film The Man Who Wasn't There 27 Thornton in 2012 Thornton played a malicious Mall Santa in 2003's Bad Santa a black comedy on the set of which he admits to getting drunk 28 and in the same year portrayed an oil millionaire in the comedy film intable cruelty 20 and a womanizing president of the United States in the British romantic comedy film Love Actually 30 he stated that following the success of bad Santa audiences like to watch him play that kind of guy and that casting directors call him up when they need an 26 he referred to this when he said that it's kind of that simple you know how narrow the imagination in this business can be 31 and 2004 Thornton starred as David Crockett in the Alamo and played Coach Gary Gaines in the football drama film Friday Night Lights 32 also that year he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on October 7th 33 25 2013 career fluctuations he played a baseball coach in the 2005 Sports comedy Bad News Bears a remake of the 1976 film of the same name 34 he appeared in the 26 comic film school for scoundrels 35 in the film he plays a self-help doctor which was written specifically for him 26 six other films include 27 drama The Astronaut Farmer and the comedy Mr Woodcock in which he played a sadistic gym teacher 36 in September 2008 he starred in the action film Eagle Eye 37 he has also expressed an interest in directing another film possibly a period piece about cave Explorer Floyd Collins 38 based on the book trapped the story of Floyd Collins 39 in 2011 Thornton vo Jack in the animated comedy film Puss in Boots for 2014 present Fargo and Goliath in 2014 he starred as sociopathic Hitman Lauren Malvo in the FX miniss series Fargo inspired by the 1996 film of the same name for which he won a Golden Globe for best actor in a miniseries 41 Thornton made a guest appearance on the Big Bang Theory in 2014 where he played a middle-aged urologist who gets excited about every woman who touches him 42 that same year he played a prosecutor in the legal drama the judge 43 Goliath a television series by Amazon Studios features Thornton as a formerly brilliant and personable lawyer who is now washed up an alcoholic it premiered on October 13th 2016 on Amazon Prime video Goliath was renewed for two additional Seasons with The Final Season released on September 24th 2021 by Amazon Prime Video in 2017 Thornton starred in the music video standown 44 by Kario Salem musically known as Co it received the the best music video award from the Toronto shorts International Film Festival 45 and has had 13 million views on Facebook and counting in the 1970s Thornton was the drummer of a blues rock band named Tres homers guitarist Billy Gibbons whose band Z Top released an album titled trees homers in 1973 referred to the band as the best little cover band in Texas and Thornton Bears a tattoo with a band's name on it 46 in 1983 the band released their only studio album guns Linger on trigger records in 1985 thoron joined pet Botha in the South African rock band Jackhammer while both I worked in Los Angeles 47 Thornton recorded one studio album with Jack Hammer death of a gypsy which was released in September 1986 48 in 2001 Thornton released the album private radio on Lost Highway records subsequent albums include the edge of the world 2003 hobo 2005 and beautiful door 2006 s he performed the Warren Zan song The Wind on the tribute album Enjoy Every Sandwich songs of Warren Zan thoron recorded a cover of the Johnny Cash classic ring of fire with Earl Scruggs for the Oxford American Magazine southern music CD in 2001 49 the song also appeared on Scruggs 2001 album Earl Scruggs and Friends 50 and 27 Thornton formed the Box masters with JD Andrew 51 CBC incident on April 8 2009 Thornton and his musical group The Box Masters appeared on the CBC Radio 1 program Q the appearance was widely criticized and received International attention after Thornton was persistently unintelligible and discourteous to host Gian Gumi 5253 Thornton eventually explained that he had instructed the show's producers to not ask questions about his movie career 5455 gomi had mentioned Thornton's acting in the introduction thoron had also complained Canadian audience were like mashed potatoes without the gravy fing 657 the following Night opening for Willie Nelson at Toronto's Massi Hall Thornton said midet he liked Canadians but not GOI which was greeted with booze and Cat calls 58 the Box Masters did not continue the tour in Canada as according to Thornton some of the crew and band had the flu Thornton has been married six times he has four children by three women 14661 from 1978 to 1980 he was married to Melissa Lee Gatlin who in her divorce petition cited incompatibility and adultery on his part they had a daughter Amanda Brumfield 62 who in 28 was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the death of her friend's one-year-old daughter 63 the Innocence Project of Florida began representing Amanda in 2015 and claimed that the child's death was entirely accidental Amanda was freed in 2020 after a deal was reached with prosecutors prior to an evidentiary hearing to provide medical and scientific evidence of her innocence 64 thoron married actress Tony Lawrence in 1986 they separated the following year and divorced in 1988 from 1990 to 1992 he was married to actress Cinder Williams who was cast in his writing debut one false move 1992 in 1993 Thornton married Playboy model Patra Don chernak with whom he had two sons the marriage ended in 1997 with chernak accusing Thornton of spousal abuse sometimes in front of his children 6 265 Thornton dated Laura dur despite reports they were never engaged from 1997 to 1999 but in 2000 he married actress Angelina Jolly with whom he starred in pushing 10 1999 and who was nearly 20 years his Junior the marriage became known for the couple's eccentric displays of affection which reportedly included wearing vials of each other's blood around their necks foron later CL verified that the vials were actually two small lockets each containing only a single drop of blood between 666 Thornton and Jolie announced the adoption of a child from Cambodia in March 2002 but it was later revealed that Jolie had adopted the child as a single parent 16768 they separated in June 2002 and divorced the following year 69 in 23 Thornton began a relationship with makeup effects crew member Connie angland with whom he has a daughter 70 although he once said that he likely would not marry again 71 since marriage doesn't work for him 72 his Representatives confirmed that he and angland were married on October 22nd 2014 in Los Angeles 73 health problems during his early years in Los Angeles Thornton was admitted to a hospital and diagnosed with Mya carditis a heart condition thought to be brought on by his diet 74 he has since said that he follows a vegan diet and is extremely healthy eating no junk food as he is allergic to wheat and dairy 75 Thornton has dyslexia 76 and obsessive compulsive disorder 77 various idiosyncratic behaviors have been well documented in interviews with Thornton among these is a phobia of antique furniture a disorder shared by Dwight yam's character Doyle Hargraves in the Thornton pen Sling Blade and by Thornton's own character in the 2001 film Bandits 78 additionally he has stated that he has a fear of certain types of Sil overwar a trait assumed by his character in 2001's Monsters bow in which groski insists on a plastic spoon for his daily bowl of ice cream 78 at 79 in a 2004 interview with the independent Thornton explained it's just that I won't use real silver you know like the big old heavy ass forks and knives I can't do that it's the same thing as the antique furniture I just don't like old stuff I'm creeped out by it and I have no explanation why I don't have a phobia about American antiques it's mostly French you know like the big old gold carved chairs with the Velvet cushions the Louis rman 14 type that's what creeps me out I can spot the imitation antiques a mile off they have a different vibe not as much dust 80 interests Thornton is a baseball fan particularly the St Louis Cardinals in his movie contract one of his conditions is a television in his trailer with a satellite dish so he can watch the Cardinals play 81 he narrated the 26 World Series film The year-end retrospective DVD chronicling the Cardinals Championship season he is also a professed fan of the Indianapolis Colts football team 82 thoron is a self-described brony a male fan of My Little Pony friendship is Magic 83 Armageddon is a 1998 American Science Fiction disaster film produced and directed by Michael baay produced by Jerry brookh and released by Touchstone pictures the film follows a group of blue collar deep core Drillers sent by NASA to stop a gigantic asteroid on a collision course with Earth it stars an ensemble cast consisting of Bruce Willis with Billy Bob Thornton Liv Tyler Bena Fulk Will Patton Peter Stormare Keith David and Steve basame the film was a commercial success grossing $$ 5537 million worldwide against a $140 million budget and becoming the highest grossing film of 1998 and the highest grossing film to be released by Touchstone pictures the film received mixed reviews from critics a massive media shower destroys the orbiting space shuttle Atlantis before entering the atmosphere and bombarding New York City Boston Philadelphia Mont Halifax in newfinland the meteors were pushed out of the asteroid belt by a collision from a rogue Comet which also dislodged a massive asteroid the size of Texas and NASA learns that the asteroid will impact Earth in 18 days potentially wiping out all life on Earth NASA devises a plan to have a deep hole drilled into the asteroid into which they will insert and detonate a nuclear bomb to destroy the asteroid they recruit Harry Stamper a third generation oil driller and owner of his own oil drilling company Harry agrees to help but on the condition that he bring in his own team to do the drilling he picks his best employees for the job chick Chapel his best friend and right-hand man geologists rockhound and Oscar choice and Drillers bear Cene Freddy Nunan Max Leonard and agj frost who has been dating Harry's daughter Grace despite Harry's objections over 12 days they are trained to become astronauts with astronaut Willie sharp who will pilot Freedom one of the two super shuttles to fly to the asteroid the other being the independent before leaving chick apologizes to his ex-wife for wronging her and sees his son who is unaware of his parentage grace accepts AJ's marriage proposal much to Harry's reluctant dismay she later has her father promised to return home safe with with her fiance following the destruction of Shanghai by another medor strike word of the massive asteroid becomes public to the world both shuttles take off without incident and dark with a Russian space station mere to take on fuel however a leaky pipeline ignites the fuel part on fire AJ and rasmo cosmina L andropov narrowly managed to board Independence before the space station is destroyed approaching the asteroid Independence is damaged by debris and crashes killing all on board except Liv bear and agj they Embark in the shuttle armadillo to find the freedom crew which lands 26 mi from its intended Landing site when the drilling goes slower than predicted sharp reports to Mission Control that it is unlikely the team will reach the depth necessary to destroy the asteroid before your barrier the point after which detonating The Rock will not save Earth the president of the United States decides to remotely detonate the bomb from Earth immediately which will cause total Mission failure sharp and Harry have a vicious argument but agree to diffuse the bomb and work together after Harry promises sharp that he will accomplish the mission they make progress on drilling but a Mist gas pocket causes the armadillo and Max to be blown into space just as Harry NASA and the world believe the mission to be a failure while another media destroys Paris arj and the others arrive in the second armadillo agj 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 agj is given the responsibility Harry takes him down to the asteroid surface only to disconnect AJ's air hose and force him into the shuttle's airlock Harry then tells agj 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's blessing to marry AJ and Grace says that she is proud to be his daughter after some difficulty Freedom takes off and just before Zer barrier Harry managed is to detonate the bomb and saves the planet the astronauts land on Earth safely AJ and grace are reunited and chick reconciles with his ex-wife and EST stranged son during the credits Ag and grace are married with the portraits of Harry and the others lost on the mission present in memoriam according to Bruce Joel Rubin writer of Deep Impact a production president at Disney took notes on everything the writer said during lunch about his script and initiated Armageddon as a counter film at Disney 49 writers worked on the SC r five of whom are credited in addition to Robert Roy P Jonathan hensle Tony Gilroy Shane Sano and JJ Abrams the writers involved included Paul atanasio andne by durman Scott Rosenberg and Robert Town originally it was Hensley's script based on Paul's original that had been given the green light by Touchstone pictures then producer Jerry brookheimer hired the sucession of scribes for rewrites and polishes 56 Bruce Willis was cast into the film as part of a three- picture deal he cut with a studio to compensate them for the dissolution of 1997's Broadway brawler 78 he received a significant pay cut for the picture as part of the deal n Shan Canary was originally considered for the role of Stamper but Michael Bay decided to cast a younger actor in the role after meeting oil drillers 10 filming principal photography for Armageddon began in August 27th 1997 and ended on January 29th 1998 11 filming occurred at Calver studios in Calver 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 budget of $140 million it was buav vista's most expensive film at the time three after filming was complete according to Home Improvement actor Richard khah he stumbled upon the main asteroid set and suggested to Tim Allen that they needed to film on it according to Khan Allan asked then ABC executive Bob AER who then asked Michael Bay for permission Bay required waiting 6 months after the film was released the asteroid set was used as a credit roll gag seen to imitate a cave in Wilson 's basement despite a mixed critical reception the Criterion Collection a specialist film distributor of primarily art housee films that markets what it considers to be important classic and contemporary films and cinema at its finest released the directors cut of the film to DVD and Lazard disk in an essay supporting the selection of Armageddon film scholar gine Basinger who taught Michael Bay at West lion University states that the film is a work of art by a cuttingedge artist who is a master of movement light color in shape and also of chaos razzled Dazzle and explosion she sees it as a celebration of working men this film makes these ordinary men Noble lifting their efforts up into an epic event further she states that in the first few moments of the film all the main characters are well established saying if that isn't screenwriting I don't know what is 16 the film was also released on VHS and DVD by Touchstone home video on November 13th 1998 and would pass Pretty Woman to become bua Vista Home entertainment's bestselling liveaction title 17 Armageddon then premiered on both VHS and DVD formats on February 1st 1999 in the ukuk it was the country's bestselling DVD release selling over 100,000 copies however this record would be surpassed by The Matrix later that year 18 the film was released on a standard edition Blu-ray in 2010 with only a few special features 19 television airing by April 2002 ABC airings of Armageddon had already received modifications due to the September 11th attacks that occurred 7 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 20 following the 23 Columbia disaster some screen captures from the opening scene where Atlantis is destroyed were passed off as satellite images of the disaster in a hoax 21 additionally the American cable network FX which had intended to broadcast Armageddon that evening removed the film from its schedule and aired aliens in its place Armageddon was released on July 1st 1998 in 3D 127 theaters in the United States and Canada it ranked first at the box office ahead of Dr doule with an opening weekend gross of $36 million combined with $ 54.2 million from its first 5 days 23 upon opening the film had the third highest Fourth of July opening weekend at the time behind Men In Black and Independence Day 24 the film was dethrown by Lethal Weapon 4 in its second weekend although it collected a total of $23.5 million 25 in Late July 1998 it surpassed its Rival deep impact to become the highest grossing domestic release of the Year 26 the film gross $21.6 million in the United States and Canada and $352.00 million in other territories for a worldwide total of 5537 million million to 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 27 on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes the film has a 43% approval rating based on 176 reviews with an average rating of five 3on the critical consensus States lovely to look at but about as intelligent as the asteroid that serves as the movie's antagonist Armageddon slickly sums up the Cinematic legacies of producer Jerry brookheimer and director Michael Bay 28 Metacritic gave the film a weighted average score of 42 out of 100 based on 23 critics indicating mixed or average reviews audiences ped by cinemascore gave the film an average grade of a on an A plus to f scale 29 the film is on the list of Roger ebot's most hated films 30 in his original review ebot stated the movie is an assault on the eyes the ears the brain common sense and the human desire to be entertained on csll and IBT Iber gave it a thumbs down however his co-host Jean cisal 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 origin or Ally considering Spice World 31 Todd McCarthy variety also gave the film a negative review noting Michael Ba's rapid cutting style much of the confusion as well as the lack of dramatic Rhythm or character development results directly from Ba's cutting style which resembles a machine gun stuck in the firing position for 212 Hours 27 in April 2013 in a Miami Herald interview to promote Pain and Gain B 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 32 some time after the article was published ba changed his St claiming that his apology only related to the editing of the film not the whole film 33 and accused the writer of the article for taking his words out of context the author of the article Miami Herald writer Renee 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 34 scientific accuracy see also asteroid deflection in an interview with Entertainment Weekly B admitted that the film's central premise that NASA could actually do something in a situation like this was unrealistic Additionally the largest known potentially hazardous asteroid far is 53319 1999 jm8 which is only 7 km 4.3 mi in diameter 35 while the asteroid in the movie is described as being the size of Texas near the end of the credits there is a disclaimer stating the National Aeronautics and Space administration's cooperation and assistance does not reflect an endorsement of the contents of the film or the treatment of the characters depicted therein 36 astronomers would subsequently note that Deep Impact was more scientifically accurate 3738 the infeasibility of the hbomb approach was published by four post-graduate physics students in 2011 a and 39 and then reported by The Daily Telegraph in 2012 a mathematical analysis of the situation found that for Willis's approach to be effective he would need to be in possession of an bomb a billion times stronger than the Soviet Union's big Ivan the biggest ever detonated on Earth using estimates of the asteroid size density speed and distance from Earth based on information in the film The postgraduate students from Leicester University found that to split the asteroid in two with both pieces clearing Earth would require 800 trillion ter of energy in contrast the total energy output of big Ivan which was tested by the Soviet Union in 1961 was only four 418,000 teres 4041 in the commentary track Ben folk 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 up so that was the end of that talk 42 Neil degrass Tyson said on the October 2nd 2023 episode of The Late Show with Steven 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 Billy Bob Thon 23 born August 4th 1955 is an American film actor filmmaker singer and songwriter he received International attention after writing directing and starring in the independent drama film Sling Blade 1996 for which he won an Academy Award for best adapted screenplay and was nominated for an Academy Award for best actor for his role in a Simple Plan 1998 he was nominated for the Academy Award for best supporting actor he's also known for his film roles in one false move 1992 dead man 1995 U-turn 1997 primary colors 1998 I'm a get in 1998 monsters ball 2001 the man who wasn't there 2001 Intolerable Cruelty 2003 Bad Santa 23 and Friday Night Lights 2004 he has written a variety of films including a family thing 1996 and the gift 2000 and has directed films such as Daddy and them 2001 All the Pretty Horses 2000 and Jane Mansfield's Car 2012 Thornton is also known for his roles on television acting in the CBS sitcom hearts of fire from 1992 to 1995 in 2014 he starred as Laur Malvo in the first season of the FX Anthology series Fargo earning a nomination for the prime time Emmy Award for outstanding lead actor in a Min series or movie and winning a Golden Globe award for best actor in a miniseries or television film from 26 2021 he played Billy McBride in the Amazon legal drama series Goliath which earned him a Golden Globe award for best actor television series drama in addition to film work Thornton began a career as a singer songwriter he has released four solo albums and is the vocalist of the rock band The Box Masters Thornton has been vocal about his distaste for celebrity culture choosing to keep out of the public eye he has been married six times including to Angelina Jolie from 2000 to 2003 which received significant media attention Thornton was born on August 4th 1955 five in Hot Springs Arkansas 678 the son of Virginia Roberta NE Faulkner a self-proclaimed psychic and William Raymond Billy Ray Thornton a high school history teacher and basketball coach six's brother Jimmy Don April 1958 October 1988 wrote a number of songs Thornton recorded two of them Island Avenue and Emily on his solo albums nine he is of English and part Irish descent 10 he has two other siblings 11 thoron lived in numerous places in Arkansas during his childhood including Alpine mulvin and Mount Holly he was raised Methodist 12 in an extended family in a shack that had no electricity or Plumbing 13 He attended Marvin High School thoron struggled academically in school due to dyslexia for which he was not conclusively diagnosed until later in life 14 a good high school baseball player he tried out for the Kansas City Royals but was released after an injury 15 he graduated from Mulin in 1973 and spent a short period laying asphalt for the Arkansas state transportation department before attending Henderson State University to pursue a degree in Psychology but dropped out after two semesters 16 in the mid1 1980s Thornton settled in Los Angeles to pursue his career as an actor with future writing partner Tom eperson six he had a difficult time succeeding as an actor and worked in telemarketing offshore wind farming 15 and fast food management between auditioning for acting jobs he also played the drums and sang with South African rock band Jackhammer while working as a waiter for an industry event he served film director and screenwriter Billy Wilder he struck up a conversation with wilder who advised Thornton to consider a career as a screenwriter in September 1987 Thornton appeared on stage in a one-act play Beethoven Symphonies as part of the West Coast theater ensemble in Los Angeles 17 his first on screen role was playing a character named Billy Bob in the Thriller Hunter's blood he was a standin on that film for the whole production and then appeared in two scenes 18 He subsequently appeared in minor roles in the film south of Reno and the 1987 Matlock episode the photographer another one of his early screen roles was as a cast member on the CBS sitcom hearts of fire and in 1989 he appeared as an angry Heckler in Adam Sandler's debut film going overboard 19 he played the role as the villain in 1992's one false move which he also co-wrote he also had roles in the 1990s films Indecent Proposal on deadly ground Bound by Honor and Tombstone 20 he went on to write direct and star in the 1996 independent film Sling Blade six the film an expansion of the short film some folks call it a sling blade introduced the story of a mentally disabled man imprisoned for a gruesome and seemingly inexplicable murder 21 1995 2004 Sling Blade and acclaim Sling Blade garnered International Acclaim Thornton screenplay earned him an Academy Award for best adapted screenplay a Writers Guild of America award and an Edgar award while his performance received Oscar and Screen Actors Guild nominations for Best Actor six in 1998 Thornton portrayed the James Carville Like Richard Gans in primary colors 22 he adapted the book All the Pretty Horses into a 2,000 film of of the same name 23 the negative experience he was forced to cut more than an hour of footage led to his decision to never direct another film a subsequent release Daddy and them had been filmed earlier 24 also in 2000 an early script which he and Tom eperson wrote together was made into the gift 25 in 2000 Thon appeared in Travis trits music video for the song modernday Bonnie and Clyde his screen Persona has been described by the press as that of a tattooed herit man man 26 he appeared in several major film roles following the success of Sling Blade including 1998's Armageddon and a simple plan the latter of which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for best supporting actor in 2001 he directed Daddy and them while securing starring roles in three Hollywood films the romantic drama monsters ball the crime comedy drama Bandits and the neon Noir film The Man Who Wasn't There 27 Thornton in 2012 Thornton played a malicious Mall Santa in 2003's Bad Santa a black comedy on the set of which he admits to getting drunk 28 and in the same year portrayed an oil millionaire in the comedy film Intolerable Cruelty 29 and a womanizing president of the United States in the British romantic comedy film Love Actually 30 he stated that following the success of bad Santa audiences like to watch him play that kind of guy and that casting directors call him up when they need an 26 he referred to this when he said that it's kind of that simple you know how narrow the imagination in this business can be 31 in 2004 Thornton starred as David Crockett in the Alamo and played Coach Gary Gaines in the football drama film Friday Night Lights 32 also that year he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on October 7th 33 25 2013 career fluctuations he played a baseball coach in the 2005 Sports comedy Bad News Bears a reman of the 1976 film of the same name 34 he appeared in the 26 comic film school for scoundrels 35 in the film he plays a self-help doctor which was written specifically for him 26 other films include 27 drama The Astronaut Farmer and the comedy Mr Woodcock in which he played a sadistic gym teacher 36 in September 2008 he starred in the action film Eagle Eye 37 he has also expressed an interest in directing another film possibly a period piece about cave Explorer Floyd Collins 38 based on the book trapped the story of Floyd Collins 39 and 2011 Thornton voice Jack in the animated comedy film Puss in Boots 40 2014 present Fargo and Goliath in 2014 he stared as sociopathic Hitman Lauren Malvo in the FX miniss series Fargo inspired by the 1996 film of the same name for which he won a Golden Globe for best actor in a miniseries 41 thorn made a guest appearance on the Big Bang Theory in 2014 where he played a middle-aged urologist who gets excited about every woman who touches him 42 that same year he played a prosecutor in the legal drama the judge 43 Goliath a television series by Amazon Studios features Thornton as a formerly brilliant and personable lawyer who is now washed up an alcoholic it premiered on October 13th 2016 on Amazon Prime video Goliath was renewed for two additional Seasons with the Final Season released on September 24th 2021 by Amazon Prime Video in 2017 Thornton starred in the music video standown 44 by Kario Salem musically known as Co it received the best music video award from the Toronto shorts International Film Festival 45 and has had 13 million views on Facebook and counting in the 1970s Thornton was the drummer of a blu's rock band named Tres homers guitarist Billy Gibbons whose band ZZ Top released an album titled trees homers in 1973 referred to the band as the best little cover band in Texas and Thornton Bears a tattoo with a band's name on it 46 in 1983 the band released their only studio album Gunslinger on trigger records in 1985 thoron joined Patt Botha in the South African rock band Jackhammer while Botha worked in Los Angeles 47 Thornton recorded one studio album with Jack Hammer death of a gypsy which was released in September 198 86 48 in 2001 Thornton released the album private radio on Lost Highway records subsequent albums include the edge of the world 2003 hobo 2005 and beautiful door 2007 he performed the Warren Zevon song The Wind on the tribute album Enjoy Every Sandwich songs of Warren Evan thoron recorded a cover of the Johnny Cash classic ring of fire with Earl Scruggs for the Oxford American Magazine southern music CD in 2001 49 the song also appeared on Scruggs 2001 album Earl Scruggs and Friends 50 and 27 Thornton formed the Box masters with JD Andrew 51 CBC incident on April 8th 2009 Thornton and his musical group The Box Masters appeared on the CBC Radio 1 program Q the appearance was widely criticized and received International attention after Thornton was persistently unintelligible and discourteous to host Gian Gumi 5253 Thornton eventually explained that he had instructed the show's producers to not ask questions about his movie career 5455 gomi had mentioned Thornton's acting in the introduction thoron had also complained Canadian audiences were like mashed potatoes without the gravy fing 657 the following Night opening for Willie Nelson at Toronto's Massie Hall Thornton said midet he liked Canadians but not GOI which was greeted with booze and Cat calls 58 the Box Masters did not continue the tour in Canada as according to Thornton some of the crew and band had the flu Thornton has been married six times he has four children by three women 14661 from 1978 to 1980 he was married to Melissa Lee Gatlin who in her divorce petition cited incompatibility and adultery on his part they had a daughter Amanda Brumfield 62 who in 2008 was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the death of her friend's one-year-old Daughter 6 three the Innocence Project of Florida began representing Amanda in 2015 and claimed that the child's death was entirely accidental Amanda was freed in 2020 after a deal was reached with prosecutors prior to an evidentiary hearing to provide medical and scientific evidence of her innocence 64 thoron married actress Tony Lawrence in 1986 they separated the following year and divorced in 1988 from 1990 to 1992 he was married to actress Cinda Williams who was cast in his writing debut one false move 1992 in 1993 Thornton married Playboy model Patra Don chernak with whom he had two sons the marriage ended in 1997 with chonc accusing thoron of spousal abuse sometimes in front of his children 60 265 Thornton dated Laura dur despite reports they were never engaged from 1997 to 1999 but in 2000 he married actress Angelina Jolly with whom he starred in pushing 10 1999 and who was nearly 20 years his Junior the marriage became known for the couple's eccentric displays of affection which reportedly included wearing vials of each other's blood around their necks thoron later clarified that the vials were actually two small lockets each containing only a single drop of blood between 666 Thornton and Jolie announced the adoption of a child from Cambodia in March 2002 but it was later revealed that Jolie had adopted the child as a single parent 16 768 they separated in June 2002 and divorced the following year 69 in 23 Thornton began a relationship with makeup effects crew member Connie angland with whom he has a daughter 70 although he once said that he likely would not marry again 71 since marriage doesn't work for him 72 his Representatives confirmed that he and angland were married on October 22nd 2014 in Los Angeles 73 health problems during his early years in Los Angeles thoron was admitted to a hospital and diagnosed with myocarditis a heart condition thought to be brought on by his diet 74 he has since said that he follows a vegan diet and is extremely healthy eating no junk food as he is allergic to wheat and dairy 75 Thornton has dyslexia 76 and obsessive compulsive disorder 77 various idiosyncratic behaviors have been well documented in interviews with Thornton among these is a phobia of antique furniture a disorder shared by Dwight yam's character Doyle Hargraves in the Thornton pen Sling Blade and by Thornton's own character in the 2001 film Bandits 78 additionally he has stated that he has a fear of certain types of silverware a trait assumed by his character in 2001's Monsters Bowl in which groski insists on a plastic spoon for his daily bowl of ice cream 78 at 79 in a 2004 interview with the independent Thornton explained it's just that I won't use real silver you know like the big old heavy ass forks and knives I can't do that it's the same thing as the antique furniture I just don't like old stuff I'm creeped out by it and I have no explanation why I don't have a phobia about American antiques it's mostly French you know like the big old gold carved chairs with the Velvet cushions the Louis rman 14 type that's what creeps me out I can spot the imitation antiques a mile off they have a different vibe not as much dust 80 interests Thornton is a baseball fan particularly the St Louis Cardinals in his movie contract one of his conditions is a television in his trailer with a satellite dish so he can watch the Cardinals play 81 he narrated the 26 World Series film The year-end retrospective DVD chronicling the Cardinals Championship season he is also a professed fan of the Indianapolis Colts football team 82 thoron is a self-described brony a male fan of My Little Pony friendship is Magic 83 Armageddon is a 1998 American Science Fiction disaster film produced and directed by Michael baay produced by Jerry brookh and released by Touchstone pictures the film follows a group of blue collar deep core Drillers sent by NASA to stop a gigantic asteroid on a collision course with Earth it stars an ensemble cast consisting of Bruce Willis with Billy Bob Thornton Liv Tyler benol Will Patton Peter Stormare Keith David and Steve bamy the film was a commercial success grossing $5 5537 million worldwide against a $140 million budget and becoming the highest grossing film of 1998 and the highest grossing film to be released by Touchstone pictures the film received mixed reviews from critics a massive media shower destroys the orbiting space shuttle Atlantis before entering the atmosphere and bombarding New York City Boston Philadelphia mon Halifax in New Finland the meteors were pushed out of the asteroid belt by a collision from a rogue Comet which also dislodged a massive asteroid the size of Texas and NASA learns that the asteroid will impact Earth in 18 days potentially wiping out all life on Earth NASA devises a plan to have a deep hole drilled into the asteroid into which they will insert and detonate a nuclear bomb to destroy the asteroid they recruit Harry Stamper a third generation oil driller and owner of his own oil drilling company Harry agrees to help but on the condition that he bring in his own team to do the drilling he picks his best employees for the job chick Chapel his best friend and right-hand man geologists rockhound and Oscar choice and Drillers be cleen Freddy Nunan Max Leonard and agj frost who has been dating Harry's daughter Grace despite Harry's objections over 12 days they are trained to become astronauts with astronaut Willie sharp who will pilot Freedom one of the two super shuttles to fly to the asteroid the other being the independence before leaving chick apologized izes to his ex-wife for wronging her and sees his son who is unaware of his parentage grace accepts AJ's marriage proposal much to Harry's reluctant dismay she later has her father promised to return home safe with her fiance following the destruction of Shanghai by another media strike word of the massive asteroid becomes public to the world both shuttles take off without incident and dark with a Russian space station mere to take on fuel however a leaky pipeline ignites the fuel pod on fire gener raso's Cosmonaut Lev andropov narrowly managed to board Independence before the space station is destroyed approaching the asteroid Independence is damaged by debris and crashes killing all on board except Liv bear and agj they Embark in the shuttle armadillo to find the freedom crew which lands 26 mi from its intended Landing site when the drilling goes slower than predicted sharp reports to Mission Control that it is unlikely the team will reach the depth necessary to destroy the asteroid before jir barrier the point after which detonating The Rock will not save Earth the president of the United States decides to remotely detonate the bomb from Earth immediately which will cause total Mission failure sharp and Harry have a vicious argument but agree to diffuse the bomb and work together after Harry promises sharp that he will accomplish the mission they make progress on drilling but a m gas pocket causes the armadillo and Max to be blown into space just as Harry NASA and the world believe the mission to be a failure while another media destroyed Paris arj and the others arrive in the second armadillo AJ 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 AG is given the responsibility Harry takes him down to the asteroid surface only to disconnect AJ's air hose and force him into the shuttle's air lock Harry then tells agj that he is the son Harry never had and he would be proud to have him marry using the armadillo Harry tearfully gives Grace's blessing to Mary AJ and Grace says that she is proud to be his daughter after some difficulty Freedom takes off and just before Zer barrier Harry manages to detonate the bomb and saves the planet the astronauts land on Earth safely agj and grace are reunited and chick reconciles with his ex-wife and estranged son during the credits A and grace are married with the portraits of Harry and the others lost on the mission present in memoriam according to Bruce Joel Rubin writer of Deep Impact a production president at Disney took notes on everything the writer said during lunch about his script and initiated Armageddon as a counter film at Disney 49 writers worked on the script five of whom are credited in addition to Robert Roy Paul Jonathan hinay Tony Gilroy Shane seleno and JJ Abrams the writers involved included Paul atanasio and byerman Scott Rosenberg and Robert Town originally it was Hensley's script based on pools original that had been given the green light by Touchstone pictures then producer Jerry brookheimer hired the succession of scribes for rites and polishes 56 Bruce Willis was cast into film as part of a three picture deal he cut with a studio to compensate them for the dissolution of 1997's Broadway brawler 78 he received a significant pay cut for the picture as part of the deal n Shan Canary was originally considered for the role of Stamper but Michael Bay decided to cast a younger in the role after meeting oil drillers 10 filming principal photography for Armageddon began in August 27th 1997 and ended on January 29th 1998 11 filming occurred at Cala studios in Calver 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 addition additional footage Incorporated 2 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 buav vista's most expensive film at the time three after filming was complete according to Home Improvement actor Richard khah he stumbled upon the main asteroid set and suggested to Tim Allen that they needed to film on it according to khah Allan asked then ABC executive Bob AER who then asked Michael baay for permission baay required waiting 6 months after the film was released the asteroid set was used as a credit roll gag seen to imitate a cave in Wilson's basement despite a mixed critical reception the Criterion Collection a specialist film distributor of primarily art housee films that markets what it considers to be important classic and contemporary films and cinema at its finest released the directors cut of the film to DVD and Lazard disk in an essay supporting the selection of Armageddon film scholar gine Basinger who taught Michael Bay at West lion University states that the film is a work of art by a cuttingedge artist who is a master of movement light color in shape and also of chaos razzled Dazzle and explosion she sees it as a celebration of working men this film makes these ordinary men Noble lifting their efforts up into an epic event further she states that in the first few moments of the film all the main characters are well EST established saying if that isn't screenwriting I don't know what is 16 the film was also released on VHS and DVD by Touchstone home video on November 13th 1998 and would surpass pretty woman to become buav Vista Home entertainment's bestselling liveaction title 17 Armageddon then premiered on both VHS and DVD formats on February 1st 1999 in the UK it was the country's bestselling DVD release selling over 100,000 copies however this record would be surpassed by The Matrix later that year 18 the film was released on a standard edition Blu-ray in 2010 with only a few special features 19 television airing by April 2002 ABC airings of Armageddon had already received modifications due to the September 11th attacks that occurred 7 months prior the scene where the World Trade Center was hit by Medias and caught on fire was edited out because of its similarity to the attacks 20 following the 23 Columbia disaster some screen captures from the opening scene where Atlantis is destroyed were passed off as satellite images of the disaster in a hoax 21 additionally the American cable network FX which had intended to broadcast Armageddon that evening removed the film from its schedule and aired aliens in its place Armageddon was released on July 1st 1998 in 3D 127 theaters in the United States and Canada it ranked first at the box office ahead of Dr doule with an opening weekend gross of $36 million combined with $ 54.2 million from its first 5 days 23 upon opening the film had the third highest Fourth of July opening weekend at the time behind Men In Black and Independence Day 24 the film was dethrown by Lethal Weapon 4 in its second weekend although it collected a total of $23.5 million 25 in Late July 1998 it surpassed its Rival deep impact to become the highest grossing domestic release of the year 26 the film gross $21.6 million in the United States and Canada and $ 352.50 53.7 million to 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 27 on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes the film has a 43% approval rating based on 176 reviews with an average rating of five thre the critical consensus States lovely to look at but about as intelligent as the asteroid that serves as the movie's antagonist Armageddon slickly sums up the Cinematic legacies of producer Jerry brookheimer and director Michael Bay 28 Metacritic gave the film a weighted average score of 42 out of 100 based on 23 critics indicating mixed or average reviews audiences ped by cinemascore gave the film an average grade of a on an A plus to f scale 29 the film is on the list of Roger ebot's most hated films 30 in his original review ebot stated the movie is an assault on the eyes the ears the brain common sense and the human desire to be entertained on cisal and Ebert Ebert gave it a thumbs down however his code host Jean cisal 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 31 Todd mcar of variety also gave the film a negative review noting Michael Ba's rapid cutting style much of the confusion as well as the lack of dramatic Rhythm or character development results directly from Ba's cutting style which resembles a machine gun stuck in the firing position for 212 hours 27 in April 2013 in a Miami Herald interview to promote Pain and Gain B 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 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 32 some time after the article was published ba changed his stance claiming that his apology only related to the editing of the film not the whole film 33 and accused the writer of the article for taking his words out of context the author of the article Miami Herald writer Renee Rodriguez claimed NBC asked me for a response and I played them the type I didn't misquote anyone all the sites that picked up the story did 34 scientific accuracy see also asteroid deflection in an interview with Entertainment Weekly ba admitted that the film's central premise that NASA could actually do something in a situation like this was unrealistic Additionally the largest known potentially hazardous asteroid far is 53319 1999 jm8 which is only 7 km 4.3 m in diameter 35 while the asteroid in the movie is described as being the size of Texas near the end of the credits there is a disclaimer stating the National Aeronautics and Space administration's cooperation and assistance does not reflect an endorsement of the contents of the film or the treatment of the characters depicted therein 36 astronomers would subsequently note that Deep Impact was more scientifically accurate 3738 the infeasibility of the hbomb approach was published by four postgraduate physics students in 2011 a in 39 and then reported by The Daily Telegraph in 2012 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 Soviet Union's big Ivan the biggest ever detonated on Earth using estimates of the asteroid size density speed and distance from Earth based on information in the film The postgraduate students from Leicester University found that to split the asteroid in two with both pieces clearing Earth would require 800 trillion ter of energy in contrast the total energy output of big Ivan which was tested by the Soviet Union in 1961 was only 418,000 ter 4041 in the commentary track bener folk 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 up so that was the end of that talk 42 Neil degrass Tyson said on the October 2nd 2023 episode of The Late Show with Steven 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 Billy Bob thoron 23 born August 4th 1955 is an American film actor filmmaker singer and songwriter he received International attention after writing directing and starring in the independent drama film Sling Blade 19 1996 for which he won an Academy Award for best adapted screenplay and was nominated for an Academy Award for best actor for his role in a Simple Plan 1998 he was nominated for the Academy Award for best supporting actor he's also known for his film roles in one false move 1992 dead man 1995 U-turn 1997 primary colors 1998 I'm again in 1998 monsters ball 2001 the man who wasn't there 2001 intolerable cruelty 2003 Bad Santa 23 and Friday Night Lights 2004 he has written a variety of films including a family thing 1996 and the gift 2000 and has directed films such as Daddy and the 2001 All the Pretty Horses 2000 and Jane Mansfield's Car 2012 Thornton is also known for his roles on television acting in the CBS sitcom hearts of fire from 1992 to 1995 in 2014 he starred as Laur Malvo in the first season of the FX Anthology series Fargo earning a nomination for the prime time Emmy Award for outstanding lead actor in a miniseries or movie and winning a Golden Globe award for best actor in a miniseries or television film from 2016 2021 he played Billy McBride in the Amazon legal drama series Goliath which earned him a Golden Globe award for best actor television series drama in addition to film work Thon began a career as a singer songwriter he has released four solo albums and is the vocalist of The Rock Bann the Box Masters Thornton has been vocal about his distaste for celebrity culture choosing to keep out of the public eye he has been married six times including to Angelina Jolie from 2000 to 2003 which received significant media attention Thornton was born on August 4th 1955 five in Hot Springs Arkansas 678 the son of Virginia Roberta NE Faulkner a self-proclaimed psychic and William Raymond Billy Ray Thornton a high school history teacher and basketball ball coach six's brother Jimmy Don April 1958 October 1988 wrote a number of songs Thornton recorded two of them Island Avenue and Emily on his solo albums nine he is of English and part Irish descent 10 he has two other siblings 11 thoron lived in numerous places in Arkansas during his childhood including Alpine mulvin and Mount Holly he was raised Methodist 12 in an extended family in a shack that had no electricity or Plumbing 13 He attended mvin High School Thornton struggled academically in school due to dyslexia for which he was not conclusively diagnosed until later in life 14 a good high school baseball player he tried out for the Kansas City Royals but was released after an injury 15 he graduated from morvin in 1973 and spent a short period laying asphalt for the Arkansas state transportation department before attending Henderson State University to pursue a degree in Psychology but dropped out after two semesters 16 in the mid 1980s Thornton settled in Los Angeles to pursue his career as an actor with future writing partner Tom eperson six he had a difficult time succeeding as an actor and worked in telemarketing offshore wind farming 15 and fast food management between auditioning for acting jobs he also played the drums and sang with South African rock band Jackhammer while working as a waiter for an industry event he served film director and screenwriter Billy Wilder he struck up a conversation with wilder who advised Thornton to consider a career as a screenwriter in September 1987 Thornton appeared on stage in a one act play Beethoven Symphonies as part of the West Coast theater ensemble in Los Angeles 17 his first on screen role was playing a character named Billy Bob in the Thriller Hunter's blood he was a standin on that film for the whole production and then appeared in two scenes 18 He subsequently appeared in minor roles in the film south of Reno and the 1987 mattlock episode the photographer another one of his early screen roles was as a cast member on the CBS sitcom hearts of fire and in 1989 he appeared as an angry Heckler in Adam Sandler's debut film going overboard 19 he played the role as the villain in 1992's one false move which he also co-wrote he also had roles in the 1990s films incent proposal on deadly ground Bound by Honor and Tombstone 20 he went on to write direct and star in the 1996 independent film Sling Blade six the film an expansion of the short film some folks call it a sling blade introduced the story of a mentally disabled man imprison for a gruesome and seemingly inexplicable murder 21 1995 2004 Sling Blade and acclaim Sling Blade Garner International Acclaim Thornton screenplay earned him an Academy Award for best adapted screenplay a Writers Guild of America award and an Edgar award while his performance received Oscar and screen Actors Guild nominations for Best Actor six in 1998 Thornton portrayed the James Carville like Richard Gans in primary colors 22 he adapted the book All the Pretty Horses into a 2,000 film of the same name 23 the negative experience he was forced to cut more than an hour of footage led to his decision to never direct another film a subsequent release Daddy and them had been filmed earlier 24 also in 2000 an early script which he and Tom eperson wrote together was made into the gift 25 in 2000 Thon appeared in Travis trits music video for the song modernday Bonnie and Clyde his screen Persona has been described by the press as that of a tattooed hersuit man's man 26 he appeared in several major film roles following the success of Sling Blade including 1998's Armageddon and a simple plan the latter of which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for best supporting actor in 2001 he directed Daddy and them while securing star star ing roles in three Hollywood films the romantic drama monsters ball the crime comedy drama Bandits and the neon Noir film The Man Who Wasn't There 27 Thornton in 2012 Thornton played a malicious Mall Santa in 2003's Bad Santa a black comedy on the set of which he admits to getting drunk 28 and in the same year portrayed an oil millionaire in the comedy film in table cruelty 29 and a womanizing president of the United States in the British romantic comedy film love actually 30 he stated that following the success of bad Santa audiences like to watch him play that kind of guy and that casting directors call him up when they need an 26 he referred to this when he said that it's kind of that simple you know how narrow the imagination in this business can be 31 in 2004 Thornton starred as David Crockett in the Alamo and played Coach Gary gains in the football drama film Friday Night Lights 32 also that year he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on October 7th 33 25 2013 career fluctuations he played a baseball coach in the 2005 Sports comedy Bad News Bears a remake of the 1976 film of the same name 34 he appeared in the 26 comic film school for scoundrels 35 in the film he plays a self-help doctor which was written specifically for him 26 other films include 27 drama The Astronaut Farmer and the comedy Mr wood in which he played a sadistic gym teacher 36 in September 2008 he starred in the action film Eagle Eye 37 he has also expressed an interest in directing another film possibly a period piece about cave Explorer Floyd Collins 38 based on the book trapped the story of Floyd Collins 39 and 2011 Thornton voice Jack in the animated comedy film Puss in Boots 40 2014 present Fargo and Goliath in 2014 he starred as sociopathic Hitman Laur Malvo in the FX miniss series Fargo inspired by the 1996 film of the same name for which he won a Golden Globe for best actor in a miniseries 41 Thornton made a guest appearance on the Big Bang Theory in 2014 where he played a middle-aged urologist who gets excited about every woman who touches him 42 that same year he played a prosecutor in the legal drama the judge 43 Goliath a television series by Amazon Studios features haon as a formerly brilliant and personable lawyer who is now washed up an alcoholic it premiered on October 13th 2016 on Amazon Prime video Goliath was renewed for two additional Seasons with The Final Season released on September 24th 2021 by Amazon Prime Video in 2017 Thornton starred in the music video standown 44 by Kario Salem musically known as Co it received the best music video award from the Toronto shorts International Film Festival 45 live and has had 13 million views on Facebook and counting in the 1970s Thornton was the drummer of a blues rock band named trees homers guitarist Billy Gibbons whose band ZZ Top released an album titled trees homers in 1973 referred to the band as the best little cover band in Texas and Thornton Bears a tattoo with a band's name on it 46 in 1983 the band released their only studio album Gunslinger on trigger records in 1985 for joined Patt Botha in the South African rock band Jackhammer while Botha worked in Los Angeles 47 Thornton recorded one studio album with Jack Hammer death of a gypsy which was released in September 1986 48 and 2001 Thornton released the album private radio on Lost Highway records subsequent albums include the edge of the world 2003 hobo 2005 and beautiful door 2007 he performed the Warren Zevon song The Wind on the tribute album enjoy sandwich songs of Warren Evan Thornton recorded a cover of the Johnny Cash classic ring of fire with Earl Scruggs for the Oxford American Magazine's southern music CD in 2001 49 the song also appeared on scrugg's 2001 album o Scruggs and Friends 50 and 27 Thornton formed the Box masters with JD Andrew 51 CBC incident on April 8th 2009 Thornton and his musical group The Box Masters appeared on the CBC C Radio 1 program Q the appearance was widely criticized and received International attention after Thornton was persistently unintelligible and discourteous to host Gian Gumi 5253 Thornton eventually explained that he had instructed the show's producers to not asked questions about his movie career 5455 Gumi had mentioned thon's acting in the introduction thoron had also complained Canadian audiences were like mashed potatoes without the gravy fing 650 7 the following Night opening for Willie Nelson at Toronto's Massie Hall Thornton said midet he liked Canadians but not GOI which was greeted with booze and Cat calls 58 the Box Masters did not continue the tour in Canada as according to Thornton some of the crew and band had the flu Thornton has been married six times he has four children by three women 14661 from 1978 to 1980 he was married to Melissa Lee Gatlin who in her divor petition cited incompatibility and adultery on his part they had a daughter Amanda Brumfield 62 who in 2008 was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the death of her friend's one-year-old daughter 63 the Innocence Project of Florida began representing Amanda in 2015 and claimed that the child's death was entirely accidental Amanda was freed in 2020 after a deal was reached with prosecutors prior to an evidentiary hearing to provide medical and scientific evidence of her innocence 64 thoron married actress Tony Lawrence in 1986 they separated the following year and divorced in 1988 from 1990 to 1992 he was married to actress Cinder Williams who was cast in his writing debut one false move 1992 in 1993 thoron married Playboy model Patra Don chernak with whom he had two sons the marriage ended in 1997 with chonc accusing Thornton of spousal abuse sometimes in front of his children 6 265 Thornton dated Laura D despite reports they were never engaged from 1997 to 1999 but in 2000 he married actress Angelina Jolly with whom he starred in pushing 10 1999 and who was nearly 20 years his Junior the marriage became known for the couple's eccentric displays of affection which reportedly included wearing vials of each other's blood around their necks Fon later clarified that the vials were actually two small lockets each containing only a single drop of blood between 666 Thornton and Jolie announced the adoption of a child from Cambodia in March 2002 but it was later revealed that Jolie had adopted the child as a single parent 16768 they separated in June 2002 and divorced the following year 69 in 23 Thornton began a relationship with makeup effects crew member Connie angland with whom he has a daughter 70 although he once said that he likely would not marry again 71 since marriage marriage doesn't work for him 72 his Representatives confirmed that he and angland were married on October 22nd 2014 in Los Angeles 73 health problems during his early years in Los Angeles Thornton was admitted to a hospital and diagnosed with myocarditis a heart condition thought to be brought on by his diet 74 years since said that he follows a vegan diet and is extremely healthy eating no junk food as he is allergic to wheat and dairy 75 Thornton has dyslexia 76 and obsessive compulsive disorder 77 various idiosyncratic behaviors have been well documented in interviews with Thornton among these is a phobia of antique furniture a disorder shared by Dwight yam's character Doyle Hargraves in the Thornton Penn Sling Blade and by Thornton's own character in the 2001 film Bandits 78 additionally he has stated that he has a fear of certain types of silverware a trait assumed by his character in 2001's Monsters ball in which groski insists on a plastic spoon for his daily bowl of ice cream 78 at 79 in a 2004 interview with the independent Thornton explained it's just that I won't use real silver you know like the big old heavy ass forks and knives I can't do that it's the same thing as the antique furniture I just don't like old stuff I'm creeped out by it and I have no explanation why I don't have a phobia about American antiques it's mostly French you know like the big old gold old carved chairs with the Velvet cushions the Louis rman 14 type that's what creeps me out I can spot the imitation antiques a mile off they have a different vibe not as much dust 80 interests Thornton is a baseball fan particularly the St Louis Cardinals in his movie contract one of his conditions is a television in his trailer with a satellite dish so he can watch the Cardinals play 81 he narrated the 26 World Series film The year- End retrospective DVD chronicling the Cardinals Championship season he is also a professed fan of the Indianapolis Colts football team 82 thoron is a self-described brony a male fan of My Little Pony friendship is Magic 83 Armageddon is a 1998 American Science Fiction disaster film produced and directed by Michael Bay produced by Jerry Brook hammer and released by Touchstone pictures the film follows a group of blue collar deep core Drillers sent by NASA to stop a gigantic asteroid on a collision course with Earth it stars an ensemble cast consisting of Bruce Willis with Billy Bob Thornton Liv Tyler benol Will Patton Peter Stormare Keith David and Steve basame the film was a commercial success grossing 5 153.7 million worldwide against a $140 million budget and becoming the highest grossing film of 1998 and the highest grossing film to be released by Touchstone pictures the film received mixed reviews from critics a massive media shower destroys the orbiting space shuttle Atlantis before entering the atmosphere and bombarding New York City Boston Philadelphia monton Halifax and newfinland the Medias were pushed out of the asteroid belt by a collision from a rogue Comet which also dislodged a massive asteroid the size of Texas and NASA learns that the asteroid will impact Earth in 18 days potentially wiping out all life on Earth NASA devises a plan to have a deep hole drilled into the asteroid into which they will insert and detonate a nuclear bomb to destroy the asteroid they recruit Harry Stamper a third generation oil driller and owner of his own oil drilling company Harry agrees to help but on the condition that he bring in his own team to do the drilling he picks his best employees for the job chick Chapel his best friend and right-hand man geologists rockhound and Oscar choice and Drillers bear Cen Freddy Nunan Max Leonard and AJ Frost who has been dating Harry's daughter Grace despite Harry's objections over 12 days they are trained to become astronauts with astronaut Willie sharp who will pilot Freedom one of the two super shuttles to fly to the asteroid the other being the independence before leaving chick apologizes to his ex-wife for wronging her and sees his son who is unaware of his parentage grace accepts AJ's marriage proposal much to Harry's reluctant dismay she later has her father promised to return home safe with her fiance following the destruction of Shanghai by another media strike word of the massive asteroid becomes public to the world both shuttles take off without incident and dark with a Russian space station mere to take on fuel however a leaky pipeline ignites the fuel pod on fire a and rasmo Cosmonaut Lev andropov narrowly managed to board Independence before the space station is destroyed approaching the asteroid Independence is damaged by debris and crashes killing all on board except Liv bear and AG they Embark in the shuttle armadillo to find the freedom crew which land lands 26 mi from its intended Landing site when the drilling goes slower than predicted sharp reports to Mission Control that it is unlikely the team will reach the depth necessary to destroy the asteroid before jir barrier the point after which detonating The Rock will not save Earth the president of the United States decides to remotely detonate the bomb from Earth immediately which will cause total Mission failure sharpen Harry have a vicious argument but agree to diffuse the bomb and work together after Harry promises sharp that he will accomplish the mission they make progress on drilling but a m gas pocket causes the armadillo and Max to be blown into space just as Harry NASA and the world believe the mission to be a failure while another media destroys Paris arj and the others arrive in the second armadillo a 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 agj is given the responsibility Harry takes him down to the asteroids surface only to disconnect AJ's air hose and force him into the shuttle's air lock Harry then tells agj 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's blessing to marry AJ and Grace says that she is proud to be his daughter after some difficulty Freedom takes off and just before Z barrier Harry manages to detonate the bomb and saves the planet the astronauts land on Earth safely Ag and grace are reunited and chick reconciles with his ex-wife and estranged son during the credits agj and grace are married with the portraits of Harry and the others lost on the mission present in memorium according to Bruce Joel Rubin writer of Deep Impact a production president at Disney took notes on everything the writer said during lunch about his script and initiated Armageddon as a counter film at Disney four nine writers worked on the script five of whom are credited in addition to Robert Roy P Jonathan lay Tony Gilroy Shane seleno and JJ Abrams the writers involved included Paul atanasio and by durman Scott Rosenberg and Robert Town originally it was Hensley's script based on Po's original that had been given the green light by Touchstone pictures then producer Jerry brookheimer hired the succession of scribes for rewrites and polishes 56 Bruce Wiis was cast into the film as part of a three- picture deal he cut with a studio to compensate them for the dissolution of 199 97's Broadway brawler 78 he received a significant pay cut for the picture as part of the deal nine Shan Canary was originally considered for the role of Stamper but Michael Bay decided to cast a younger actor in the role after meeting oil drillers 10 filming principal photography for Armageddon began in August 27th 1997 and ended on January 29th 1998 11 filming occurred at Calver studios in Calver City California 12 and 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 buav vista's most expensive film at the time three after filming was complete according to Home Improvement actor Richard Khan he stumbled upon the main asteroid set and suggested to Tim Allen that they needed to film on it according to Khan Allen asked then ABC executive Bob AER who then asked Michael Bay for permission ba required waiting 6 months after the film was released the asteroid set was used as a credit roll gag seen to imitate a cave in Wilson's basement despite a mixed critical reception the Criterion Collection of a specialist film distributor of primarily art housee films that markets what it considers to be important classic and contemporary films and cinema at its finest released the directors cut of the film to DVD and Lazard disk in an essay supporting the selection of Armageddon film scholar gine Basinger who taught Michael Bay at West lion University states that the film is a work of art by a cuttingedge artist who is a master of movement light color in shape and also of chaos razzled Dazzle and explosion she sees it as a celebration of working men this film makes these ordinary men Noble lifting their efforts up into an epic event further she states that in the first few moments of the film all the main characters are well established saying if that isn't screenwriting I don't know what is 16 the film was also released on VHS and DVD by Touchstone home video on November 13th 1998 and would surpass pretty woman to become buav Vista Home entertainment's best-selling liveaction title 17 Armageddon then premiered on both VHS and DVD formats on February 1st 1999 in the UK it was the country's bestselling DVD release selling over 100,000 copies however this record would be surpassed by The Matrix later that year 18 the film was released on a standard edition Blu-ray in 2010 with only a few special features 19 television airing by April 2002 ABC airings of Armageddon had already received modific if ifications due to the September 11th attacks that occurred 7 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 20 following the 23 Columbia disaster some screen captures from the opening scene where Atlantis is destroyed were passed off as satellite images of the disaster in a hoax 21 additionally the American cable network effects which had intended to broadcast Armageddon that evening removed the film from its schedule and aired aliens in its place Armageddon was released on July 1st 1998 in 3D 1227 theaters in the United States in Canada it ranked first at the box office ahead of Dr dittle with an opening weekend gross of $36 million combined with $ 54.2 million from its first 5 days 23 upon opening the film had the third highest Fourth of July opening weekend at the time behind Men In Black and Independence Day 24 the film was dethrown by lethal Weapon 4 in its second weekend although it collected a total of $23.5 million 25 in Late July 1998 it surpassed its Rival deep impact to become the highest grossing domestic release of the Year 26 the film gross 21.6 million in the United States and Canada and $352.00 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $5 53.7 million to 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 27 on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes the film has a 43% approval rating based on 176 reviews with an average rating of five 3on the critical consensus States lovely to look at but about as intelligent as the asteroid that serves as the movie's antagonist Armageddon slickly sums up the Cinematic legacies of producer Jerry brookheimer and director Michael Bay 28 Metacritic gave the film a weighted average score of 42 out of 100 based on 23 critics indicating mixed or average reviews audiences pulled by cinemascore gave the film an average grade of a on an A plus to f scale 29 the film is on the list of Roger ebot's most hated films in his original review ebot stated the movie is an assault on the eyes the ears the brain common sense and the human desire to be entertained on csll and ibert ibert gave it a thumbs down however his co-host Jean csll 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 31 Todd McCarthy of variety also gave gave the film a negative review noting Michael Ba's rapid cutting style much of the confusion as well as the lack of dramatic Rhythm or character development results directly from Ba's cutting style which resembles a machine gun stuck in the firing position for 212 Hours 27 in April 2013 in a Miami Herald interview to promote Pain and Gain B 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 32 some time after the article was published ba changed his stance claiming that his apology only related to the editing of the film not the whole film 33 and accused the writer of the article for taking his words out of context the author of the article Miami Herald writer Renee Rodriguez claimed NBC asked me for a response and I played them the tape I didn't misqu anyone all the sites that picked up the story did 34 scientific accuracy see also asteroid deflection in an interview with Entertainment Weekly B admitted that the film's central premise that NASA could actually do something in a a situation like this was unrealistic Additionally the largest known potentially hazardous asteroid far is 5331 9999 jm8 which is only 7 km 4.3 mi in diameter 35 while the asteroid in the movie is described as being the size of Texas near the end of the credits there is a disclaimer stating the National Aeronautics and Space administration's cooperation and assistance does not reflect an endorsement of the contents of the film or the treatment of the characters depicted there in 36 astronomers would subsequently note that Deep Impact was more scientifically accurate 3738 the infeasibility of the hbomb approach was published by four postgraduate physics students in 2011 a39 and then reported by The Daily Telegraph in 2012 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 Soviet Union's big Ivan the bigest ever detonated on Earth using estimates of the asteroid's size density speed and distance from Earth based on information in the film The postgraduate students from Leicester University found that to split the asteroid in two with both pieces clearing Earth would require 800 trillion ter of energy in contrast the total energy output of big Ivan which was tested by the Soviet Union in 1961 was only 418,000 ter 4041 in the commentary track Ben folk 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 up so that was the end of that talk 42 Neil degrass Tyson said on the October 2nd 2023 episode of The Late Show with Steven 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 Billy Bob th in 3 born August 4th 1955 is an American film actor filmmaker singer and songwriter he received International attention after writing directing and starring in the independent drama film Sling Blade 1996 for which he won an Academy Award for best adapted screenplay and was nominated for an Academy Award for best actor for his role in a Simple Plan 1998 he was nominated for the Academy Award for best supporting actor he's also known for his film roles in one false move 19 1992 dead man 1995 U-turn 1997 primary colors 1998 Armageddon 1998 monsters ball 2001 the man who wasn't there 2001 Intolerable Cruelty 2003 Bad Santa 23 and Friday Night Lights 2004 he has written a variety of films including a family thing 1996 and the gift 2000 and has directed films such as Daddy and them 2001 All the Pretty Horses 2000 and Jane Mansfield's Car 2012 thoron is also known for his roles on television acting in the CBS sitcom hearts of fire from 1992 to 1995 in 2014 he starred as Laur Malvo in the first season of the FX Anthology series Fargo earning a nomination for The Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding lead actor in a Min series or movie and winning a Golden Globe award for best actor in a Min series or television film from 2016 2021 he played Billy McBride in the Amazon legal drama series Goliath which earned him a Golden Globe award for best actor television series drama in addition to film work Thornton began a career as a singer songwriter he has released four solo albums and is the vocalist of the rock band The Box Masters Thornton has been vocal about his distaste for celebrity culture choosing to keep out of the public eye he has been married six times including to Angelina Jolie from 2000 to 2003 which received significant media attention Thornton was born on August 4th 1955 five in Hot Springs Arkansas 678 the son of Virginia Roberta NE Faulkner a self-proclaimed psychic and William Raymond Billy Ray Thornton a high school history teacher and basketball coach six his brother Jimmy Don April 1958 October 1988 wrote a number of songs Thornton recorded two of them Island Avenue and Emily on his solo albums nine he is of English and part Irish descent 10 he has two other siblings 11 thoron lived in numerous places in Arkansas during his childhood including Alpine mulvin and Mount Holly he was raised Methodist 12 in an extended family in a shack that had no electricity or Plumbing 13 He attended Marvin High School Thornton struggled academically in school due to dyslexia for which he was not conclusively diagnosed until later in life 14 a good high school baseball player he tried out for the Kansas City Royals but was released after an injury 15 he grabed graduated from morvin in 1973 and spent a short period laying asphalt for the Arkansas state transportation department before attending Henderson State University to pursue a degree in Psychology but dropped out after two semesters 16 in the mid1 1980s Thornton settled in Los Angeles to pursue his career as an actor with future writing partner Tom eperson six he had a difficult time succeeding as an actor and worked in telemarketing offshore wind farming 15 and fast food management between auditioning for acting jobs he also played the drums and sang with South African rock band Jackhammer while working as a waiter for an industry event he served film director and screenwriter Billy Wilder he struck up a conversation with wilder who advised Thornton to consider a career as a screenwriter in September 1987 thoron appeared on stage in a one-act play Beethoven Symphonies as part of the West Coast theater ensemble in Los Angeles 17 his first onscreen role was playing a character named Billy Bob in the Thriller Hunter's blood he was a standin on that film for the whole production and then appeared in two scenes 18 He subsequently appeared in minor roles in the film south of Reno and the 1987 Matlock episode the photographer another one of his early screen roles was as a cast member on the CBS sitcom hearts of fire and in 1989 he appeared as an angry Heckler in Adam Sandler's debut film going overboard 19 he played the role as the villain in 1992's one false move which he also co-wrote he also had roles in the 1990s films incent proposal on deadly ground Bound by Honor and Tombstone 20 he went on to write direct and star in the 1996 independent film Sling Blade six the film an expansion of the short film some folks call it a sling blade introduced the story of a mentally disabled man imprison for a gruesome and seemingly inexplicable murder 21 19952 2004 Sling Blade and a claim Sling Blade garnered International Acclaim Thornton screenplay earned him an Academy Award for best adapted screenplay a writer Guild of America award and an Edgar award while his performance received Oscar and Screen Actors Guild nominations for Best Actor