Billy Bob Thornton is back in the spotlight thanks to his underrated performance in the second season of Taylor Sheridan’s Landman, but long before he ever set out for the West Texas oil fields, he starred in a controversial Michael Bay movie that’s dominating streaming. Thornton stars opposite Bruce Willis (Die Hard) and Ben Affleck (The Town) in Armageddon, the space sci-fi epic following a group of misfit deep-core drillers who must stop an asteroid the size of Texas from decimating the Earth. Armageddon is streaming on AMC+ in America, where it’s quickly become one of the top 10 most popular movies on the platform.
Armageddon was met with divisive reviews from critics upon its release in 1998, but the film was a massive hit with audiences. It holds scores of 43% from critics and 73% from audiences on the aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, and fans showed up at the box office to ensure the film was a financial success. The studio spent $140 million on the making of Armageddon, which was viewed as a massive risk in the late 90s. However, the film scored $553 million at the global box office, sailing past its break-even point and turning in over $200 million in pure profit.
J.J. Abrams wrote the script for Armageddon with Jonathan Hensleigh, and Tony Gilroy (Andor) worked with Shane Salerno and Robert Roy Pool on the adaptation and the story. Michael Bay, best known for his work directing the original Bad Boys movies starring Will Smith and the live-action Transformers films, directed Armageddon. Bay was due to reunite with Smith on a new Netflix action movie, Fast and Loose, but he backed out of the project due to creative differences.
When Does Michael Bay’s Next Movie Come Out?
Michael Bay has a few projects in the works, but none of them have official release dates at this time. Arguably, the most intriguing project on his upcoming schedule is a Skibidi Toilet adaptation, but practically nothing is known about the project. He’s also due to begin production soon on a movie titled OutRun, but plot details and casting are being kept under wraps. Bay most recently directed Ambulance, the 2022 R-rated thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II that’s currently streaming on Netflix. The film grossed $52 million on a $40 million budget.
Be sure to check out Armageddon on AMC+ in America and stay tuned to Collider for more streaming updates.
- Release Date
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July 1, 1998
- Runtime
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151 minutes
