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Armageddon is a 1998 disaster/sci-fi-action film about a group of blue-collar deep-core drillers who are sent by NASA to deflect an asteroid on a collision course with Earth. It was directed by Michael Bay, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and released on Disney's Touchstone Pictures label. It stars Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler.
A novelization was written by C. Bolin, based on the screenplay by Jonathan Hensleigh, J.J. Abrams, Tony Gilroy and Shane Salerno and the story by Jonathan Hensleigh and Robert Pool.

Plot

After several meteoroids destroy the Space Shuttle Atlantis and bombard a path across the Earth, including New York City, NASA discovers that an asteroid the size of Texas is on a direct collision with Earth, the impact likely to wipe out all life on the surface within 18 days, a fact not publicly revealed. The scientists at NASA devise a scheme to activate a nuclear bomb at a precise point under the asteroid's surface which will split the body in two, both halves missing the Earth. NASA locates the best oil driller on the planet, Harry Stamper, to get advice. Harry and his daughter Grace are taken to NASA and are told of the situation by Dan Truman, the head of NASA. Harry immediately recognizes that he and his crew must accompany the astronauts on the mission to make sure the job is done right. After Harry's crew is collected from across the country and NASA acquiesces to their demands for their services, they are put through a fast-paced training program before the mission starts, as well as outfitting a drilling rig with the proper equipment for the job. During this time, AJ, a member of Stamper's crew who Grace has been sleeping with, gets into several heated arguments with Harry, making the training difficult.
When a meteorite completely wipes out Shanghai, China, the truth is revealed to the world, as well as the pending mission. Two shuttles, Freedom and Independence are launched simultaneously and shortly dock at a Russian space station to refuel. However, an accident occurs during the process, and the crews evacuate to their shuttles, including Lev Andropov, the sole Cosmonaut from the station. The two shuttles begin a high G-force slingshot procedure around the Moon in order to land on the backside of the asteroid. However, as they enter the trailing debris of the asteroid, the Independence, including AJ, Lev, and Bear, another member of Harry's crew, is struck down and crash lands on the asteroids. Mourning the loss of their friends, the Freedom manages to land on the surface but misses the target landing zone, ending up over an area of very hard rock to have to drill through. The Freedom team tries to drill but suffer several setbacks and losses due to the impossible conditions, and are well behind schedule. They are further put behind schedule when it is revealed that the if the deadline would be missed, the shuttle pilot Colonel Sharpe would have activated the nuclear device, sacrificing their lives and likely not damaging the asteroid as needed. Harry, with Dan's help at mission control, is able to convince Colonel Sharpe to help them finish up. Another meteorite wipes out all of Paris as the asteroid continues closer to the Earth.
All seems lost when their drilling machine is blasted off the asteroid by a gas vent. However, they come to learn that AJ, Bear, and Lev have managed to survive the Independence crash and have driven the second machine to the drilling site. Harry puts AJ in charge of finishing the drilling, and they successfully get to the necessary depth. The team lowers the nuclear bomb into the hole, but find that the asteroid's conditions have made it impossible to detonate remotely, and that someone would have to sacrifice themselves to activate the bomb after the shuttle leaves. AJ is picked after drawing straws, but as AJ is about to step out of the shuttle, Harry disables his air supply and takes his place, telling AJ to take good care of Grace. As the shuttle prepares to depart, Harry sends a final touching message to his daughter and gives his full support of her seeing AJ. Harry manages to activate the bomb moments before the critical deadline, and the asteroid halves successfully miss the earth. The remaining crew of the Freedom return to Earth as heroes, AJ reuniting tearfully with Grace while the others are met by their loved ones. Grace and AJ are soon wed, Harry and their lost crew remembered in memorandum at the service.

Cast

• Bruce Willis - Harry Stamper
• Billy Bob Thornton - Dan Truman
• Ben Affleck - A.J. Frost
• Liv Tyler - Grace Stamper
• Will Patton - Charles 'Chick' Chapple
• Steve Buscemi - Rockhound
• William Fichtner - Col. William Sharp
• Owen Wilson - Oscar Choi
• Michael Clarke Duncan - Jayotis 'Bear' Kurleenbear
• Peter Stormare - Lev Andropov
• Ken Hudson Campbell - Max Lennert
• Jessica Steen - Jennifer Watts
• Keith David - Lieutenant General Kimsey
• Chris Ellis - Walter Clark
• Jason Isaacs - Dr. Ronald Quincy, Researcher
• Eddie Griffin - Little Guy

Reception and criticism

The film was an international box office success, but it received a large amount of criticism from film reviewers. On Rotten Tomatoes it scores 40%; on a similar website, Metacritic, it similarly scores 42%. The film is on the list of Roger Ebert's most hated films: in his original review, he stated "The movie is an assault on the eyes, the ears, the brain, common sense and the human desire to be entertained". In contrast, his long-time friend Gene Siskel from the show Siskel & Ebert gave it a "thumbs up."
The film received the Saturn Awards for Best Direction and Best Science Fiction Film (where it tied with Dark City). However, it was also nominated in seven categories for the 1998 Golden Raspberry Awards for bad films; only one was awarded: Bruce Willis received the Worst Actor award for Armageddon, in addition to his appearances in Mercury Rising and The Siege.
Despite the general critical disdain, a DVD edition of Armageddon was released by The Criterion Collection, a specialist film distributor of primarily arthouse films that markets what it considers to be "important classic and contemporary films" and "cinema at its finest". In an essay supporting the selection of Armageddon, film scholar Jeanne Basinger, who taught Michael Bay at Wesleyan University, states that the film is "a work of art by a cutting-edge artist who is a master of movement, light, color, and shape—and also of chaos, razzle-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".
Despite the poor reviews and criticism, Armageddon was nominated for four Academy Awards (Best Sound, Best Special Effects, Best Effects Editing, and Best Original Song).

Criticism of scientific inaccuracies

While science fiction films are generally not meant to be realistic, Armageddon is noted for its large number of scientific inaccuracies. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Michael Bay said that the solution for the asteroid situation was great for the movie but not possible in real life, while adding that real-life "anti-gravity" systems for such a situation were being worked on by NASA. Bay also said that in real life, people who would think that it was possible to deal with an asteroid based on the movie would be mistaken.
The physics and scientific approach of Armageddon was criticized for its poor adherence to the laws of physics, such as the asteroid having gravity like Earth. This has led NASA to show the film as part of its management training program. Prospective managers are asked to find as many inaccuracies in the movie as they can. At least 168 impossible things have been found during these screenings of the film. The movie also adheres to standard Hollywood conventions when it comes to science, such as having noise in space.

Space Shuttle Columbia disaster

Following the 2003 Columbia disaster, some screen captures from the opening scene where Atlantis is destroyed were passed off as satellite images of the Columbia disaster in a hoax.  Also, in response to the disaster, FX pulled Armageddon from that night's schedule and replaced it with Aliens.

Box office

• Budget - USD$140,000,000
• Marketing cost - $100,000,000
• Opening Weekend Gross (Domestic) - $36,089,972
• Total Domestic Grosses - $201,578,182
• Total Overseas Grosses - $352,131,606
• Total Worldwide Grosses - $553,709,788