Lionsgate is not on the hook for Moonfall’s $140 million budget, as they have domestic distribution rights with AGC International handling overseas. Nonetheless, it’s as unusual to see any studio, let alone Lionsgate, launching a mega-budget fantasy flick in early 2022 as it was to see them try to open Gods of Egypt in early 2016. That film got caught up in an online controversy over casting mostly white folks (Gerard Butler, Geoffrey Rush, etc.) as theoretical ancient Egyptians. The bonkers-bananas fantasy wasn’t really about ancient Egypt and really should have just been called “Gods of Jupiter.”.
I enjoy that Alex Proyas flick more than most, but the controversy was the least of its problems as a “new” mega-budget flick in a time when the likes of Deadpool and Zoolander, No. 2 got all the press. Roland Emmerich’s Moonfall is a more conventional play, not least of which because it A) has a marquee director doing that which he is most well-known and B) it has something resembling movie stars in the form of Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, Michael Peña and Donald Sutherland. As you might guess from the title, the moon is spiraling toward Earth, and only three plucky NASA employees (Berry, Wilson and John Bradley) can save us.
The announcement teaser gets the job done, showing plenty of outer-space chaos, Earth-specific disaster porn and just a hint at 1.21 that there are aliens (?) on or around the moon. As a fan of most of Emmerich’s disaster flicks, including 2012, I’m obviously on board with this. The question is whether anyone else will be. It’s an original concept, meant to at least implicitly play on nostalgia for Independence Day, which even a sequel to Independence Day couldn’t quite do ($103 million domestic and $390 million on a $165 million budget in summer 2016). Still, 2012 earned $791 million worldwide, making it one of the most successful original live-action flicks ever.
It also earned “only” $166 million domestic, making it the lowest domestic total for a Hollywood flick that still topped $700 million worldwide. But as tempting as it may be to bank on an overseas rescue, that was in doubt before Covid and certainly is an coin toss now. China may just shrug and wait for The Wandering Earth 2 instead. Still, again, Lionsgate is only on the hook for domestic business, and they’ve had a knack over the last decade for launching original theatrical franchises (Expendables, Knives Out, Wonder, Now You See Me, The Hitman’s Bodyguard and, of course, John Wick).
Still, those films didn’t cost $140 million to produce. Come what may, Moonfall could be my wife’s favorite movie of 2022 and one of her favorite movie since Dean Devlin’s Geostorm ($33 million domestic but $221 million worldwide on a $120 million budget). Yes, she likes non-elevated horror and elevated disaster movies, so you can imagine she still pines for the Final Destination series. Moonfall opens February 4, 2022, in IMAX no less, where it will face off against the just-delayed Jackass Forever. It’ll open one week after Morbius and The Black Phone and one week before Marry Me and Death on the Nile. Fingers-crossed.
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