50 Fun Facts About Armageddon

Who plays Harry Stamper, the oil driller who leads the mission to the asteroid?

He took the part, at a pay cut, as part of a three-picture deal to compensate Disney for the collapse of Broadway Brawler; The Sixth Sense was another of the three.

According to the film, the asteroid heading for Earth is the size of which US state?

The largest known potentially hazardous asteroid is only about 7 kilometres across.

Who directed Armageddon?

He later admitted the studio took the film away from him and said he would redo the entire third act if he could.

How many days does NASA calculate remain before the asteroid hits Earth?

The drillers get 12 of those days to train as astronauts.

What are the names of the two space shuttles that fly the crew to the asteroid?

Independence is wrecked by debris on approach; the real shuttle Atlantis is destroyed in the opening meteor shower.

What is the name of the shuttle's mobile drilling vehicle?

One is blown into space by a missed gas pocket, taking driller Max with it; Revell later sold a model kit of it.

What is 'Zero Barrier' in the film?

The president tries to detonate the bomb early from Earth, not grasping that this would doom the mission.

How is it decided who will stay behind to detonate the bomb manually?

A.J. draws the short straw, but Harry disconnects his air hose and takes his place, calling him the son he never had.

Which actor plays A.J. Frost, the young driller dating Harry's daughter?

The director dismissed him as 'a geek' after his screen test; producer Jerry Bruckheimer insisted he would be a star.

Which of these was the actor playing A.J. required to do before filming began?

He also had to lose weight and get a tan; Good Will Hunting had not yet been released when he was cast.

Which future star of The Hangover auditioned for the role of A.J. Frost?

An older Bond actor, meanwhile, was originally considered for Harry Stamper before Bay met real oil drillers and went younger.

Which veteran actor was originally considered for the role of Harry Stamper?

Bay decided on a younger lead after meeting oil drillers, and Willis came attached via his Disney deal.

Who plays Grace Stamper, Harry's daughter?

Her father Steven Tyler's band ended up doing the theme song only after she was cast; U2 had been asked first.

Which band recorded the film's theme, 'I Don't Want to Miss a Thing'?

It became the band's first and only US number one, staying on top of the Hot 100 for four weeks.

Who wrote 'I Don't Want to Miss a Thing'?

She jotted the title down while watching James Brolin tell Barbara Walters he missed Barbra Streisand while they slept, and imagined Celine Dion singing it.

Which band was first asked to perform the film's theme song?

The band that got the job ended up contributing four songs, including covers of 'Come Together' and their own 'Sweet Emotion'.

'I Don't Want to Miss a Thing' lost the Best Original Song Oscar to a song from which film?

'When You Believe' took the award; country singer Mark Chesnutt's cover of the ballad topped the country chart in 1999.

Which other 1998 film about a giant object hurtling toward Earth was released the same summer?

Its writer said a Disney executive took notes on his script over lunch and started Armageddon as a counter-film; astronomers judged the rival more accurate.

Which city's meteor destruction was added two months before release to set the film apart from its rival?

Disney chairman Joe Roth added $3 million to the budget for the extra Dream Quest Images effects.

Roughly how much did Armageddon gross worldwide, making it the biggest film of 1998?

Its $140 million budget made it Disney's most expensive film at the time; only Saving Private Ryan beat it domestically.

Which arthouse-focused label surprisingly released a director's cut of Armageddon on DVD and LaserDisc?

Film scholar Jeanine Basinger, who taught Bay at Wesleyan, wrote the essay calling it 'a work of art by a cutting-edge artist'.

Which critic named Armageddon the worst film of 1998, 'an assault on the eyes, the ears, the brain, common sense'?

He had considered Spice World for the title instead; his partner Gene Siskel gave the film a thumbs up.

Which sitcom used the film's asteroid set as a credits gag, disguised as a basement cave?

Richard Karn stumbled on the set, Tim Allen asked ABC's Bob Iger, and the director agreed on condition they wait six months after release.

Which fast-food chain partnered with the studio for the film's tie-in promotion?

The film was also advertised during Super Bowl XXXII for $2.6 million, and some billboards were so realistic they caused panic.

Which theme park hosted an Armageddon ride from its opening day in 2002 until 2019?

It simulated the destruction of the Russian space station and was torn down for a Spider-Man ride.

Which cast member appeared in the Disneyland Paris attraction's pre-show and later played John Coffey in The Green Mile?

He befriended the film's star on set, and that friendship helped him land the Green Mile role that earned an Oscar nomination.

Which Fargo and Reservoir Dogs actor plays the geologist Rockhound?

He had played Garland Greene in Con Air the year before, another Bruckheimer production.

Peter Stormare played cosmonaut Lev Andropov. Which nationality is NOT among his famous roles?

He was a German nihilist in The Big Lebowski, an Italian in Prison Break, a Frenchman in Chocolat and a Russian again in Bad Boys II.

Which Sling Blade Oscar winner plays NASA's Dan Truman?

The same year he was Oscar-nominated for A Simple Plan and played a James Carville-style strategist in Primary Colors.

Which future Frat Pack comedian plays driller Oscar Choice, who dies when Independence crashes?

He made the film the same year as the indie drama Permanent Midnight, before Meet the Parents and Zoolander.

How many writers worked on Armageddon's script, according to Wikipedia?

Only five were credited; the uncredited hands included Robert Towne, Paul Attanasio and Scott Rosenberg.

Which future Star Wars and Lost creator is among the credited writers of Armageddon?

Bourne screenwriter Tony Gilroy and Shane Salerno also share credit with Jonathan Hensleigh and Robert Roy Pool.

Leicester students calculated a bomb to split the asteroid would need to be how much stronger than the Tsar Bomba?

They estimated 800 trillion terajoules were required, against the 418,000 terajoules of the biggest bomb ever detonated.

What did the director tell his young lead who asked why train drillers as astronauts rather than the reverse?

Neil deGrasse Tyson later said it broke more laws of physics per minute than any film for over two decades.

Which 2022 film did Neil deGrasse Tyson say overtook Armageddon for violating the most laws of physics per minute?

Bay himself admitted to Entertainment Weekly that the premise that NASA could do anything in such a situation was unrealistic.

After which real event were screen captures of the film's opening shuttle destruction passed off as satellite images?

FX pulled a scheduled broadcast that evening and aired Aliens instead; ABC had already cut a World Trade Center shot after 9/11.

Which former Yes guitarist composed the film's score?

He also scored Con Air, Remember the Titans and National Treasure.

Which band recorded 'Remember Me' for the Armageddon soundtrack album?

Jon Bon Jovi contributed 'Mister Big Time' on his own, and the album came out a week before the film.

How did journalists reportedly react to a rough assembly of footage shown at the 1998 Cannes marketplace?

Variety's Todd McCarthy later compared Bay's cutting style to 'a machine gun stuck in the firing position for two and a half hours'.

Armageddon's UK DVD record of over 100,000 copies was beaten later in 1999 by which film?

In the US it overtook Pretty Woman as Buena Vista Home Entertainment's best-selling live-action title.

In the Bible, the word Armageddon appears only once, in which book?

Revelation 16:16 describes the kings gathering there for the war of the great day of God.

The word Armageddon comes from the Hebrew for the mountain of which ancient city?

Har means mountain and the city, a fortification of King Ahab, dominated the Plain of Jezreel in northern Israel.

How many times is the ancient city that gives Armageddon its name mentioned in the Old Testament?

Ten refer to the city and two to its plain, and none link the place to any prophecy.

In Islamic theology, the end-times battle equivalent to Armageddon is known in Hadith as what?

The name means 'the Greatest War'; in Christian tradition the term now loosely covers any end-of-the-world scenario.

The destruction of which city by a meteor strike makes the asteroid threat public in the film?

Both shuttles then launch and dock with a Russian space station, where a broken fuel line nearly wrecks the mission.

What was Armageddon's production budget?

Disney chairman Joe Roth added a further $3 million in May 1998 for extra effects shots by Dream Quest Images.

After two weekends on top, which comedy knocked Armageddon off the US box-office summit?

Armageddon had opened to $36 million, ahead of Dr. Dolittle, for the third-highest Fourth of July weekend at the time.

At which studio lot in California was Armageddon's principal photography shot?

Filming ran from August 27, 1997 to January 29, 1998, a schedule Bay later called unfair to the movie.

Armageddon surpassed which film to become Buena Vista Home Entertainment's best-selling live-action title?

The VHS and DVD arrived on November 13, 1998, and the UK release set a DVD sales record the following February.

Bruce Willis took Armageddon as part of a three-picture deal compensating Disney for which collapsed 1997 project?

He accepted a significant pay cut for the picture as part of the arrangement.