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Here’s a new edition of “Directors at the Box Office”, which seeks to explore the directors’ trajectory at the box office and analyze their hits and bombs. I already talked about a few, and as I promised, it’s Roland Emmerich’s turn.
As a youth, Emmerich traveled extensively throughout Europe and North America on vacations financed by his father, Hans, the wealthy founder of a garden machinery production company. He planned to become a production designer, but after watching *Star Wars*, he decided to pursue a directing career. His directorial debut, which we’ll get to it right now, had the honor of opening the 1984 Berlin Film Festival.
From a box office perspective, how reliable was he to deliver a box office hit?
That’s the point of this post. To analyze his career.
#**The Noah’s Ark Principle (1984)**
His directorial debut. It stars Richy Müller, Franz Buchrieser, Aviva Joel, Matthias Fuchs, Nicolas Lansky, and Matias Heller. Two U.S. astronauts on a space station refuse to tamper with the weather over an enemy country in 1997.
This film was Emmerich’s thesis at the Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film München (HFF), so there are no box office numbers available here. But it was clear he really wanted to explore the disaster genre.
#**Joey (1985)**
*”Only he can see it. Only he shares its magic. Only he knows the danger.”*
His second film. It stars Joshua Morrell, Eva Kryll, Jan Zierold, Tammy Shields, Barbara Klein and Matthias Kraus. The plot concerns a 9-year-old boy named Joey Collins who loses his father, but makes contact with what he believes is his deceased parent via a small phone and is terrorized by a ventriloquist dummy named Fletcher who is possessed by a demon.
There are no box office numbers available. But it is said that despite mainly negative reviews the film was able to recoup its budget in Germany alone and generated further profits from foreign sales.
#**Hollywood-Monster (1987)**
*”In a crazy night in Hollywood, anything can happen.”*
His third film. It stars Jason Lively, Jill Whitlow, Paul Gleason, Chuck Mitchell, and Tim McDaniel, and follows a film crew working on a haunted mansion.
Once again, no box office numbers.
#**Moon 44 (1990)**
His fourth film. It stars Michael Paré, Lisa Eichhorn, Brian Thompson and Malcolm McDowell. The film is set on a futuristic mining site on Moon 44, where convicts and teenage technicians are partnered. An undercover agent must discover what has happened to missing corporate shuttles.
Once again, there are no box office numbers and it received negative reviews. The good news is that Emmerich was about to become known…
#**Universal Soldier (1992)**
*”Almost human. Almost perfect. Almost under control.”*
His fifth film. It stars Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Ally Walker, Ed O’Ross and Jerry Orbach. The film tells the story of Luc Deveraux, a former U.S. Army soldier who was killed in the Vietnam War in 1969, and returned to life following a secret military project called the “Universal Soldier” program. However, he finds out about his past, though his memory was erased, and escapes alongside a young TV journalist. Along the way, they have to deal with the return of his archenemy, Sgt. Andrew Scott, who had lost his sanity in the Vietnam War, and became a psychotic megalomaniac, intent on killing him and leading the Universal Soldiers.
Originally, Andrew Davis was set to direct the film. However, he later left. During this, producer Mario Kassar invited Emmerich to come to the United States to direct a futuristic action film entitled *Isobar*. Emmerich’s colleague, Dean Devlin, soon joined Emmerich as his writing and producing partner. Emmerich subsequently refused the offer to direct after producers rejected Devlin’s re-write of the script, and the *Isobar* project was eventually scrapped. Instead, Emmerich was hired to replace Andrew Davis for this film, marking his first American film.
At the 1992 Cannes Film Festival, Van Damme and Lundgren were involved in a verbal altercation that almost turned physical when both men pushed each other, only to be separated. On his website, Lundgren confirmed that it was just a publicity stunt to promote the film.
The film received negative reviews from critics, who considered it a lame *Terminator 2* rip-off. But it made $95 million worldwide, making it a box office success. It spawned a franchise, but Emmerich wouldn’t be involved in none of the sequels. And that’s how Emmerich got his start in Hollywood.
– **Budget:** $23,000,000.
– **Domestic gross:** $36,299,898.
– **Worldwide gross:** $95,299,898.
#**Stargate (1994)**
*”It will take you a million light years from home. But will it bring you back?”*
His sixth film. It stars Kurt Russell, James Spader, Jaye Davidson, Alexis Cruz, Mili Avital, and Viveca Lindfors. The plot centers on the titular “Stargate”, an ancient ring-shaped device that creates a wormhole, enabling travel to a similar device elsewhere in the universe. The central plot explores the theory of extraterrestrial beings having an influence upon human civilization.
To keep within the budget, the producers put stick figures with cloth in the distant desert to appear as humans. The original Stargate was painted black, but it looked like a giant tire so it was repainted silver at the last moment. Emmerich and Devlin wanted Jaye Davidson to play Ra, even though Davidson only had one single acting credit. Despite getting an Oscar nomination for *The Crying Game*, Davidson wasn’t really interested in acting. He then said he would only appear if his desired salary, $1 million, was met. He was just joking… and was then surprised when the producers agreed to pay him that amount. He agreed to star, and subsequently retired from acting.
*Stargate* made even more than *Universal Soldier*, earning almost $200 million worldwide. These films fully established Emmerich as a sci-fi filmmaker. But despite the high gross, the film received mixed reviews. While Spader, Russell and special effects were praised, the film was criticized for its overuse of special effects, thinness of plot, and excessive use of clichés. Roger Ebert not only hated the film, but also was quoted as saying “The movie *Ed Wood*, about the worst director of all time, was made to prepare us for *Stargate*.”
Devlin and Emmerich always envisioned *Stargate* as the first part of a trilogy of films, but Parts 2 and 3 were never developed. Instead, MGM commissioned a series, *Stargate SG-1*, without the involvement of Emmerich and Devlin. While the movie wasn’t well received, the series was very successful, to the point that it lasted 10 seasons and spawned two more spin-offs, *Stargate Atlantis* and *Stargate Universe*. Emmerich himself is not a fan of the series.
– **Budget:** $55,000,000.
– **Domestic gross:** $71,567,262.
– **Worldwide gross:** $196,567,262.
#**Independence Day (1996)**
*”The question of whether or not we are alone in the universe has been answered.”*
His seventh film. It stars Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Mary McDonnell, Judd Hirsch, Margaret Colin, Randy Quaid, Robert Loggia, James Rebhorn, Vivica A. Fox, and Harvey Fierstein. The film focuses on disparate groups of people who converge in the Nevada desert in the aftermath of a worldwide attack by a powerful extraterrestrial race. With the other people of the world, they launch a counterattack on July 4 — Independence Day in the United States.
The idea for the film came when Emmerich and Devlin were in Europe promoting *Stargate*. A reporter asked Emmerich why he made a film with content like *Stargate* if he did not believe in aliens. Emmerich stated he was still fascinated by the idea of an alien arrival, and further explained his response by asking the reporter to imagine what it would be like to wake up one morning and to discover 15-mile-wide spaceships were hovering over the world’s largest cities. Emmerich then turned to Devlin and said, “I think I have an idea for our next film.”
When they started writing, Devlin explained his frustration with aliens often having to hide themselves on back fields or small places, and they decided that the aliens should make “a big entrance.” They finished it during a month-long vacation in Mexico, and the following day, 20th Century Fox greenlit the film. The U.S. military originally intended to provide personnel, vehicles, and costumes for the film; however, they backed out when the producers refused to remove the script’s Area 51 references.
A then-record 3,000-plus special effects shots would ultimately be required for the film. The shoot utilized on-set, in-camera special effects more often than computer-generated effects in an effort to save money and get more authentic pyrotechnic results.
Fox began an expensive marketing campaign to help promote the film, beginning with the airing of a dramatic commercial during Super Bowl XXX, for which it paid $1.3 million. The film’s subsequent success at the box office resulted in a trend of using Super Bowl air time to begin the advertising campaigns for potential blockbusters. It also collaborated with Apple on a “The Power to Save the World” campaign, and even airing spoof news about the events of the film.
The film had Tuesday previews, earning a record-breaking $11 million. It subsequently earned $17 million on both Wednesday and Thursday, both records. In its opening weekend, it made $50 million ($96 million five-day), and it broke the $100 million milestone in a record 6 days. It held insanely well, not dropping higher than 40% until its 14th weekend. It closed with a colossal $306 million domestically, and it was even bigger overseas, where it earned $817 million worldwide. This made it the second highest grossing film ever, just behind *Jurassic Park*. It massively launched the career of Emmerich, and fully cemented Smith as a big star (*Bad Boys* was a success but it was nowhere close to this).
The film received generally positive reviews from critics; while the thin plot and poor character development were criticized, the film was still considered a very entertaining sci-fi flick and a perfect summer blockbuster. The shot of the White House’s destruction was declared a milestone in visual effects and one of the most memorable scenes of the 1990s.
– **Budget:** $75,000,000.
– **Domestic gross:** $306,169,268.
– **Worldwide gross:** $817,400,891.
#**Godzilla (1998)**
*”Size does matter.”*
His eighth film. A reboot of the *Godzilla* franchise and the first Godzilla film to be completely produced by a Hollywood studio, it stars Matthew Broderick, Jean Reno, Maria Pitillo, Hank Azaria, Kevin Dunn, Michael Lerner, and Harry Shearer. In the film, authorities investigate and battle a giant monster who migrates to New York City to nest its young.
American film producer and distributor Henry G. Saperstein (who had co-produced and distributed past *Godzilla* films for the American market through his studio UPA) received permission from Toho Co., Ltd. to pitch a new Godzilla film to Hollywood studios, stating, “For ten years I pressured Toho to make one in America. Finally they agreed.” Sony was interested in the idea and set the project at TriStar, one of Sony’s subsidiaries. Subsequently, Toho sent Sony a document of rules on how to treat Godzilla. Robert Fried stated, “They even sent me a four-page, single-spaced memo describing the physical requirements the Godzilla in our film had to have. They’re very protective.”
After it was officially announced in 1992, the film received support from Japanese crew members and actors who participated in previous films. Two years later, Jan de Bont was confirmed to direct the film after the success of *Speed*. De Bont’s Godzilla would have discarded the character’s atomic origin and replaced it with one wherein Godzilla is an artificial creation constructed by Atlantians to defend humanity against a shape-shifting extraterrestrial monster called “The Gryphon”. De Bont left the project soon after TriStar refused to his $100-$120 million budget.
Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio were hired to write the screenplay. The duo wanted to avoid a comic-like approach and instead take the material seriously with a “legitimate science fiction story” that would evoke feelings of “mystified or scared or awe-inspired” for audiences. Rossio wanted to create a balance in anthropomorphizing Godzilla, not wanting to stray from Godzilla’s humanistic personality but not humanize him entirely. The duo approached Godzilla as something that audiences would fear yet root for. Don Macpherson was later brought in to rewrite, and while he liked the script, he changed some aspects.
Prior to the release of *Independence Day*, Emmerich and Devlin signed on to the project in May 1996 under the condition they would be able to handle the film their way, Devlin stated, “I told Sony that I would do the film but on my own terms, with Godzilla as a fast-moving animal out of nature, rather than some strange kind of creature.” Despite praising Elliott and Rossio’s script, Emmerich discarded it, stating, “It had some really cool things in it, but it is something I never would have done. The last half was like watching two creatures go at it. I simply don’t like that.” Emmerich instead decided to develop new ideas from scratch, stating, “I didn’t want to make the original Godzilla, I wanted nothing to do with it. I wanted to make my own. We took part of [the original movie’s] basic storyline, in that the creature becomes created by radiation and it becomes a big challenge. But that’s all we took. Then we asked ourselves what we would do today with a monster movie and a story like that. We forgot everything about the original Godzilla right there.”
Emmerich decided to completely reinvent Godzilla’s design because he thought the original Toho design “didn’t make sense”. Emmerich and Devlin decided to give their Godzilla the ability to burrow underground, Devlin stated, “We discovered that certain kinds of lizards can burrow, so we decided to give him that capability.” They also abandoned Godzilla’s iconic atomic breath in favor of a “power breath”, where their Godzilla would simply blow objects away by exhaling a strong wind-like breath. However, news of the power breath leaked before the film’s release, which outraged fans and forced Emmerich and Devlin to make last minute changes on scenes involving the power breath.
TriStar greenlit the film soon after Emmerich and Devlin’s completion of the first draft, bestowing complete creative freedom to write, produce, and direct on the filmmakers, while the studio managed financing, distribution and merchandising deals. The deal also enabled Emmerich and Devlin to receive 15% first-dollar gross on the film. Per Emmerich’s insistence, the full size body of Godzilla would not be shown in trailers or merchandising prior to the first screening of the film.
After an extensive marketing campaign and insane audience expectations, Sony was hoping for a $100 million debut in its first six days (Memorial Day), which would be a record. But the film made $74 million in its first six days; while it was one of the biggest debuts, it was considered a disappointment given its high marketing and name recognition. And while Emmerich struck gold with his previous film, it was clear that wasn’t going to be the case here; the film quickly dropped in following weekends amidst poor word of mouth. It closed with $136 million domestically and $379 million worldwide. It was profitable, but Sony and TriStar considered the performance disappointing.
The film received immense negative reviews from critics and fans, particularly for its acting, story and lack of faithfulness to the original film series. The film was also mocked for Godzilla’s design, especially as the creature changes size throughout the film. Response in Japan was even worse, particularly from Toho executives and actors. Plans for sequels were subsequently cancelled.
While Devlin admitted he failed the film, Emmerich said he regrets the film’s production, particularly due to the rushed shooting schedule that was required for a Memorial Day weekend release and the studio’s insistence on not test-screening the film. However, he defended the film as better than critics gave it credit for, as it was financially successful, and out of all the films he directed, it was the one which parents told him their children enjoyed the most. Emmerich also conceded that he never took the Toho films seriously, stating, “I was never a big Godzilla fan, they were just the weekend matinees you saw as a kid, like Hercules films and the really bad Italian westerns. You’d go with all your friends and just laugh.”
Ouch, my sense of self-worth. Did the world used to be sunnier? I remember it being brighter.
– **Budget:** $130,000,000.
– **Domestic gross:** $136,314,294.
– **Worldwide gross:** $379,014,294.
#**The Patriot (2000)**
*”Some things are worth fighting for.”*
His ninth film. The film stars Mel Gibson, Heath Ledger, Joely Richardson, Jason Isaacs, Chris Cooper, and Tom Wilkinson. Set in Berkeley County, South Carolina, it follows Benjamin Martin, an American colonist opposed to going to war with Great Britain but, along with his son Gabriel, gets swept into the American Revolutionary War when his home life is disrupted, and one of his sons is murdered by a cruel British officer.
Screenwriter Robert Rodat wrote seventeen drafts of the script before there was an acceptable one. In an early version, Anne is pregnant with Gabriel’s child when she dies in the burning church. Rodat wrote the script with Gibson in mind for Benjamin Martin and gave the character six children to signal that preference to studio executives. After the birth of Gibson’s seventh child, the script was changed so that Martin has seven children. Gibson was paid $25 million for the film, which was the biggest salary for an actor at the time.
The film earned $215 million worldwide, although it failed to break even due to its $110 million budget. Critical reactions were generally positive, and it was noted as one of Emmerich’s best films.
– **Budget:** $110,000,000.
– **Domestic gross:** $113,330,342.
– **Worldwide gross:** $215,294,342.
#**The Day After Tomorrow (2004)**
*”Where will you be?”*
His tenth film. Based on the book *The Coming Global Superstorm* by Art Bell and Whitley Strieber, it stars Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal, Sela Ward, Emmy Rossum, and Ian Holm. The film depicts catastrophic climatic effects following the disruption of the North Atlantic Ocean circulation, in which a series of extreme weather events usher in climate change and lead to a new ice age.
The film was inspired by Coast to Coast AM talk-radio host Art Bell and Whitley Strieber’s book, The Coming Global Superstorm, and Strieber wrote the film’s novelization. To choose a studio, writer Michael Wimer created an auction, with a copy of the script being sent to all major studios along with a term sheet. They had a 24-hour window to decide whether to produce the movie with Roland Emmerich directing, and Fox Studios was the only studio to accept the terms. Due to its overall complexity and a tight schedule, the storm surge scene required as many as three special effects vendors for certain shots, with the digital water created by either Digital Domain or small effects house Tweak Films, depending on the shot.
The film had a huge debut, earning $68.7 million in its first opening weekend ($85 million for the Memorial Day four-day weekend), which was Emmerich’s biggest debut. Nevertheless, it wasn’t the #1 movie at the box office (*Shrek 2* repeated at #1), so the film broke the record for the biggest non-number one debut ever (a record it kept for 11 years). It closed with $186 million domestically and $552 million worldwide, becoming another box office hit for Emmerich.
The film received negative reviews, particularly for its scientific inaccuracy, weak plot and thin characters (there’s a scene where the characters outrun climate change). Intelligence and logic chased the film, but the film ran faster.
– **Budget:** $125,000,000.
– **Domestic gross:** $186,740,799.
– **Worldwide gross:** $552,639,571.
#**10,000 BC (2008)**
*”The legend. The battle. The first hero.”*
His 11th film. It stars Steven Strait, Camilla Belle and Cliff Curtis. The film depicts the journeys of a prehistoric tribe of mammoth hunters.
Emmerich mentioned the fiction of Robert E. Howard as a primary influence for the film’s setting, as well as his love for the film *Quest for Fire* and the book *Fingerprints of the Gods*. The project was set at Sony, but they dropped the project due to a busy release calendar, and Warner Bros. picked up the project in Sony’s absence. Emmerich decided that casting well known actors would distract from the realistic feel of the prehistoric setting. “If like, Jake Gyllenhaal turned up in a movie like this, everybody would be, ‘What’s that?'”, he explained. The casting of unknown actors also helped keep the film’s budget down. Emmerich also rejected making the film in an ancient language, deciding that it would not be as emotionally engaging.
The film was a box office success, earning $269 million worldwide. But it received awful reviews, with criticism towards the directing, writing, acting, CGI, production design, factual errors and anachronisms.
– **Budget:** $105,000,000.
– **Domestic gross:** $94,784,201.
– **Worldwide gross:** $269,784,201.
#**2012 (2009)**
*”We were warned.”*
His 12th film. It stars John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Oliver Platt, Thandiwe Newton, Danny Glover and Woody Harrelson. Based on the 2012 phenomenon, its plot follows geologist Adrian Helmsley and novelist Jackson Curtis as they struggle to survive an eschatological sequence of events including earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, megatsunamis, and a global flood.
Emmerich said in an interview: “I always wanted to do a biblical flood movie, but I never felt I had the hook. I first read about the Earth’s crust displacement theory in Graham Hancock’s *Fingerprints of the Gods*.” After he and Harald Kloser wrote a spec script, Sony obtained the rights to the spec script. The film cost less than its budget; according to Emmerich, the film was produced for about $200 million, which made it his most expensive film ever.
Thanks to fears over the 2012 phenomenon, the film broke so many box office records. It had a colossal $230 million worldwide debut, and it earned almost $800 million worldwide. Interestingly, it was the first film to make $700 million worldwide without earning $200 million domestically. Like Emmerich’s previous films, it received negative reviews for its script and characters. But most importantly, it brought us a very funny scene… the neutrinos have mutated.
– **Budget:** $200,000,000.
– **Domestic gross:** $166,112,167.
– **Worldwide gross:** $791,217,826.
#**Anonymous (2011)**
*”Was Shakespeare a fraud?”*
His 13th film. It stars Rhys Ifans, Vanessa Redgrave, Joely Richardson, David Thewlis, Xavier Samuel, Sebastian Armesto, Rafe Spall, Edward Hogg, Jamie Campbell Bower and Derek Jacobi. The film is a fictionalized version of the life of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, an Elizabethan courtier, playwright, poet and patron of the arts, and suggests he was the actual author of William Shakespeare’s plays.
Screenwriter John Orloff became interested in the authorship debate after watching a 1989 *Frontline* programme about the controversy. He penned his first draft in the late 1990s, but commercial interest waned after *Shakespeare in Love* was released in 1998. It was stuck in development hell, as no studio wanted to finance it. When Emmerich signed as director, financing finally came. Emmerich noted he knew little of either Elizabethan history or the authorship question until he came across John Orloff’s script, after which he “steeped” himself in the various theories.
The film received mixed reviews, as many were not enthralled with the film’s message. It was also a huge box office bomb, even with Emmerich’s name.
– **Budget:** $30,000,000.
– **Domestic gross:** $4,463,292.
– **Worldwide gross:** $15,395,087.
#**White House Down (2013)**
*”It will start like any other day.”*
His 14th film. The film stars Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke, Richard Jenkins, Joey King, and James Woods. In the film, a divorced US Capitol Police officer attempts to rescue both his daughter and the President of the United States when a destructive terrorist assault occurs in the White House.
Coincidentally, 2013 had another film about a takeover in the White House (*Olympus Has Fallen*). Sony and Millennium Films were competing against each other to get their respective films ready. In this case, *Olympus* was released first by three months.
The film received mixed reviews, although some noted it as better than most of Emmerich’s films. The film was also a big bomb at the box office, even with a bankable star like Channing Tatum. It earned more than *Olympus*, but that film cost less, so it was a success. That’s two bombs in a row for Emmerich.
– **Budget:** $150,000,000.
– **Domestic gross:** $73,103,784.
– **Worldwide gross:** $205,366,737.
#**Stonewall (2015)**
*”Where pride began.”*
His 15th film. It stars Jeremy Irvine, Jonny Beauchamp, Joey King, Caleb Landry Jones, Matt Craven, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and Ron Perlman. The film is set in and around the 1969 Stonewall riots, a violent clash with police that sparked the gay liberation movement in New York City.
Emmerich said that he got interested in the project while making *Anonymous*, where two friends asked if he would ever do a film on the Stonewall riots. Through his involvement with the Gay and Lesbian Center in Los Angeles, Emmerich did a fundraiser for their homeless youth program, he found the idea for the protagonist in seeing countryside migrants who move to the big city only to find themselves in unfavorable conditions of homelessness, drug abuse and prostitution. He asked screenwriter Jon Robin Baitz, who Emmerich hired after seeing his play *Other Desert Cities*, to do a script centered around such a character, a man who after being uncloseted and shunned “has to find a family at the most unlikely place in these other kids.”
Prior to release, the promotional trailer was criticized by many for what they felt was its lack of representation of the full diversity of people who were involved in the uprising, in particular people of color, drag queens, butch lesbians and transgender people. Emmerich responded to the controversy, saying, “The film is racially and sexually far more diverse than some people appear to think.” Responding to the criticism the film itself received, Emmerich said of his casting choice: “I didn’t make this movie only for gay people, I made it also for straight people… As a director you have to put yourself in your movies, and I’m white and gay.”
Despite being deemed “his most mature film”, the film was largely panned and many considered it Emmerich’s worst film ever. Many Stonewall veterans have also heavily criticized the film. At the box office, the film made just $292,669, becoming his lowest grossing film ever. Ouch.
– **Budget:** N/A.
– **Domestic gross:** $187,674.
– **Worldwide gross:** $292,669.
#**Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)**
*”We had twenty years to prepare. So did they.”*
His 16th film. The sequel to *Independence Day*, it stars Liam Hemsworth, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Maika Monroe, Travis Tope, William Fichtner, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Judd Hirsch. The film takes place twenty years after the events of the first film, during which the United Nations has collaborated to form the Earth Space Defense, an international military defense and research organization. Through reverse engineering, the world has fused the power of alien technology with humanity’s and laid the groundwork to resist a second invasion.
There weren’t immediate plans to make an *Independence Day* sequel despite its huge success, but Dean Devlin said he felt influenced after 9/11 to make another film. Emmerich and Devlin wrote a story outline, but abandoned the film in 2004 as they couldn’t find a good story. But by 2011, Emmerich finally got something and even suggested he could get two sequels. However, discussions for Will Smith returning were halted, due to Fox’s refusal to provide the $50 million salary demanded by Smith for the two sequels. Emmerich, however, made assurances that the films would be shot back-to-back, regardless of Smith’s involvement.
In 2014, Fox finally greenlit the sequel. Smith was not expected to return; while Emmerich claimed it was because he was very expensive, Smith said it was because scheduling conflicts with *Suicide Squad* would prevent it and Emmerich didn’t want to wait for his availability. Smith’s character was killed off, while Goldblum and Pullman were confirmed to return.
If the original film was a colossal success, this one didn’t come anywhere close to that. Not only wasn’t in the biggest films of the year, it wasn’t even among the biggest films of the month. It debuted with just $41 million in its first weekend, which was even less than what the original did 20 years prior. It didn’t have strong word of mouth and it quickly fell; closing with $103 million and $389 million worldwide. Against its $165 million budget, it was considered a huge disappointment. It also received negative reviews. In 2019, Emmerich admits regretting making the film; he said he should have stopped the film after Smith passed on the offer, feeling that his original script with his character was much better.
– **Budget:** $165,000,000.
– **Domestic gross:** $103,144,286.
– **Worldwide gross:** $389,681,935.
#**Midway (2019)**
*”One battle turned the tide of war.”*
His 17th film. The film stars Ed Skrein, Patrick Wilson, Luke Evans, Aaron Eckhart, Nick Jonas, Mandy Moore, Dennis Quaid, Tadanobu Asano, Darren Criss, and Woody Harrelson. The film is about the Battle of Midway, a turning point in the Pacific Theater of World War II.
Emmerich tried to get the film made back in the 90s, but Sony balked at the proposed $100 million budget, so Emmerich chose to make *The Patriot* instead. Due to its potential lofty budget, Emmerich had trouble getting the film greenlit. When no major studio would bankroll the project, he cut down on potential battle sequences and turned to individuals for the funds, resulting in $76 million; he then got an additional $24 million in equity, mostly from Chinese investors, resulting in the film’s $100 million budget. It is one of the most costly independent films ever made.
The film received mixed reviews, and it marked another bomb for Emmerich. Five duds now.
– **Budget:** $100,000,000.
– **Domestic gross:** $56,846,802.
– **Worldwide gross:** $127,390,389.
#**Moonfall (2022)**
*”Humanity will face the dark side of the moon.”*
His 18th film. It stars Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, John Bradley, Michael Peña, Charlie Plummer, Kelly Yu, Carolina Bartczak, and Donald Sutherland. It follows two former astronauts alongside a conspiracy theorist who discover the hidden truth about the Moon when it suddenly leaves its orbit.
Emmerich said the project had previously been bought by Universal Pictures, and once he got the rights back, Emmerich and partner Harald Kloser went to the Cannes Film Festival to get financial backers, with the independent nature helping Emmerich get creative control and a 50% share of the film. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film had to speed up its principal photography with an additional $5.6 million spent. Among the pandemic’s restrictions were a lack of location shooting, forcing the construction of 135 different sets, built primarily on six stages on Grandé Studios.
The film became Emmerich’s biggest flop ever, earning just $67 million against its $146 million budget. It also received negative reviews. Six box office duds in a row. In a row!
– **Budget:** $148,000,000.
– **Domestic gross:** $19,060,660.
– **Worldwide gross:** $67,319,703.
#**The Future**
His next project isn’t a film. And it isn’t hitting theaters either.
It’s a TV series, *Those About to Die*. It stars an ensemble cast led by Anthony Hopkins, and chronicles the world of gladiators in Ancient Rome. Robert Rodat (*Saving Private Ryan* and *The Patriot*) is writing the series, and Emmerich is directing. It will be released on Peacock on July 18, 2024.
#**MOVIES (FROM HIGHEST GROSSING TO LEAST GROSSING)**
No. | Movie | Year | Studio | Domestic Total | Overseas Total | Worldwide Total | Budget |
———-|———-|:——–:|———-|:——–:|:——–:|:——–:|:——–:
1 | *Independence Day* | 1996 | 20th Century Fox | $306,169,268 | $511,231,623 | $817,400,891 | $75M
2 | *2012* | 2009 | Sony | $166,112,167 | $625,105,659 | $791,217,826 | $200M
3 | *The Day After Tomorrow* | 2004 | 20th Century Fox | $186,740,799 | $365,898,772 | $552,639,571 | $125M
4 | *Independence Day: Resurgence* | 2016 | 20th Century Fox | $103,144,286 | $286,537,649 | $389,681,935 | $165M
5 | *Godzilla* | 1998 | TriStar | $136,314,294 | $242,700,000 | $379,014,294 | $130M
6 | *10,000 BC* | 2008 | Warner Bros. | $94,784,201 | $175,000,000 | $269,784,201 | $105M
7 | *The Patriot* | 2000 | Sony | $113,330,342 | $101,964,000 | $215,294,342 | $110M
8 | *White House Down* | 2013 | Sony | $73,103,784 | $132,262,953 | $205,366,737 | $150M
9 | *Stargate* | 1994 | MGM | $71,567,262 | $125,000,000 | $196,567,262 | $55M
10 | *Midway* | 2019 | Lionsgate | $56,846,802 | $70,543,587 | $127,390,389 | $100M
11 | *Universal Soldier* | 1992 | TriStar | $36,299,898 | $50,000,000 | $95,299,898 | $23M
12 | *Moonfall* | 2022 | Lionsgate | $19,060,660 | $48,234,703 | $67,319,703 | $148M
13 | *Anonymous* | 2011 | Sony | $4,463,292 | $10,931,795 | $15,395,087 | $30M
14 | *Stonewall* | 2015 | Roadside Attractions | $187,674 | $104,995 | $292,669 | N/A
18 films, but only 14 have reported box office numbers. Across 14 films, he made $4,122,664,805 worldwide. That’s $294,476,057 per film.
#**The Verdict**
Emmerich at his peak was something else. He ain’t called “The King of Disaster Films” for nothing. If people were looking for spectacle, Emmerich delivered it to them (quality comes at a price). He was an insanely reliable director back in the day. His films would cost a lot, but he would make it worth it. No wonder *Independence Day* is still beloved 28 years later.
After *2012*, however, you can see how his name pretty much fell off. Whether if it’s because audiences felt they had enough of his films, or if franchises took over, Emmerich’s time was up. Since that film, he hasn’t had a single box office hit. You can tell he even knows it, as his films now need foreign investors and he has now moved into Peacock for his gladiator show. The disaster film genre was a huge deal back in the 90s and 2000s, but in 2024, that’s not a bankable genre and the audience moved on. And as mentioned, Emmerich was never a critics darling, but his decision to not bother with improving his quality has finally caught up with him. He’s also clearly not interested in respecting source material (he didn’t care for *Godzilla* and dislikes the *Stargate* shows so much he wanted a trilogy to erase them from canon). If he even botched the sequel to his highest grossing film, what hope is there left? We can’t tell what’ll be next for Emmerich, but we can tell his glory days are Joever.
Hope you liked this edition. You can find this and more in the [wiki for this section.](https://www.reddit.com/r/boxoffice/wiki/directors-at-the-box-office)
Next week, we have not one but **TWO** directors! Yep, **John McTiernan** and **Rob Reiner**. The former has the dishonor of going to director jail and *real* jail, while the latter had an impressive streak in the 90s before completely crashing with one of Roger Ebert’s most hated films.
I asked you to choose who else should be in the run and the comment with the most upvotes would be chosen. Well, we’ll later talk about… >!Ron Howard.!< A very important journeyman. Underrated or overrated?
This is the schedule for the following four:
Week | Director | Reasoning
:——-:|:——–:|———-
July 1-7 | John McTiernan & Rob Reiner | The rise and fall of two once-great directors.
July 8-14 | Sofia Coppola | Like father, like daughter.
July 14-21 | Christopher Nolan | The one you’ve been waiting for.
July 21-28 | Ron Howard | A very important journeyman.
Who should be next after Howard? That’s up to you.
by SanderSo47