The concept of ‘twin films’ is a regular occurrence, but 1998 brought one of the more specific examples, when two effects-driven big budget disaster epics revolving around a stacked ensemble cast trying to save the world from a deadly asteroid crashed into theaters within two months of each other.
In the broadest of strokes Mimi Leder’s Deep Impact was the brains, and Michael Bay’s Armageddon was the brawn. Naturally, the latter wound up scoring marginally weaker reviews but earning a whole lot more money, destroying the competition en route to becoming the highest-grossing movie of the year thanks to a $533 million haul.
Deep Impact was far from a flop, but a box office total of $349 million paled in comparison, even if it turned out to be a very profitable enterprise for the studio regardless. As opposed to Armageddon‘s gung-ho approach, there was an element of realism to Deep Impact‘s methods of explaining how humanity would cope with an apocalyptic event by quickly realizing most us would be f*cked.
It’s the ideal disposable blockbuster to fire up on a lazy Sunday afternoon, which might go some way to explaining why Deep Impact h as suddenly shot up the Netflix most-watched list, as per FlixPatrol. Almost out of nowhere, the sci-fi spectacular has risen 53 places on the charts to come within touching distance of the Top 20.
