Vs.
On July 1, 1988, Armageddon premiered in U.S. theaters. It would go on to earn more than $36 million in its opening weekend, on a budget of ~$210 million (all figures adjusted for inflation). Almost 2 months earlier, Deep Impact had earned more than $40 million in its first weekend, on a budget of “only” $109 million. From a financial standpoint, Deep Impact would seem to be the winner, right? Not so fast.
Let’s face it—Deep Impact is the better movie. You’ve got science that’s been praised by Neil DeGrasse Tyson, of all people; you’ve got three focal points for human-focused drama (the characters played by Robert Duvall, Téa Leoni, and Elijah Wood); you’ve got Morgan Freeman as the president; and you’ve got a very smart choice by director Mimi Leder to delay the actual disaster until the end of the film, which strings the tension out as long as possible. Critics agree that this is the thinking-woman’s disaster movie; Deep Impact holds a 45% rating versus 38% for Armageddon.
But for pure, loud, rah-rah, go-America! dumb summer fun, Armageddon is the winner, hands-down. The scene that really hits you over the head with the patriotic message happens immediately after the nuke successfully nudges the asteroid pieces to avoid Earth: We see little kids in Middle America™ racing their wooden go-carts painted to look like the Space Shuttle, and families standing next to the American flag. Got the message, Michael Bay. Pieces of the asteroid hit New York, Paris, and southeast Asia even before the main event, letting Bay and Bruckheimer do their thing. Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, Billy Bob Thornton, and Steve Buscemi are having a ball hamming it up. You’ve even got a hit song, Aerosmith’s I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing. It’s everything you could want in a summer spectacle.
Leaving aside the critics’ rankings, Armageddon wins in every other objective measure of a film’s popularity: IMdB score, Metascore, Rotten Tomatoes score, and soundtrack sales, for starters. And in the put-your-money-where-your-popcorn-is department, the worldwide gross to date is $862 million for Armageddon versus $554 million for Deep Impact.
The people have spoken. Long live Armageddon! Er…
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