| Olympus Has Fallen | |
| Director: | Antoine Fuqua |
| Music: | Trevor Morris |
| Cinematography: | Conrad W. Hall |
| Editing: | John Refoua |
| Distributor: | FilmDistrict |
| Runtime: | 119 minutes[1] [2] |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Budget: | $70 million[3] |
| Gross: | $170.3 million |
Olympus Has Fallen is a 2013 American political action thriller film directed and co-produced by Antoine Fuqua from a screenplay written by Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt, and is the first installment in the Has Fallen film series. The film stars Gerard Butler (who also co-produced), Aaron Eckhart, and Morgan Freeman with Angela Bassett, Robert Forster, Cole Hauser, Ashley Judd, Melissa Leo, Dylan McDermott, Radha Mitchell, and Rick Yune in supporting roles.
The plot depicts a North Korean-led guerrilla assault on the White House, and focuses on disgraced Secret Service agent Mike Banning's efforts to rescue U.S. President Benjamin Asher.
The film was released in the United States on March 22, 2013, by FilmDistrict, and grossed $170 million against a $70 million production budget. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised Fuqua's direction and Butler's performance, but criticized the overt violence and screenplay. Olympus Has Fallen was one of two films released in 2013 that depicted a terrorist attack against the White House; the other was White House Down, which was released three months later.
A sequel, titled London Has Fallen, was released on March 4, 2016, with the principal cast members reprising their roles, and a third film, Angel Has Fallen, was released on August 23, 2019.
Former U.S. Army Ranger, Mike Banning, is a Secret Service agent and detail leader in the Presidential Protection Division, maintaining a personal, friendly relationship with President Benjamin Asher, First Lady Margaret, and their son Connor. On a snowy Christmas drive from Camp David, the Presidential Limo transporting the First Family spins out of control on an icy bridge after a tree branch hits the leading vehicle. Banning pulls Asher from the vehicle, but the limo plummets to the frozen river, killing Margaret.
Eighteen months later, Banning works at the Treasury Department, having been removed from the presidential detail. During Asher's meeting with South Korean Prime Minister Lee Tae-Woo at the White House, the Koreans for United Freedom (KUF), a North Korean terrorist group led by Kang Yeonsak, mounts a full-scale assault to capture the building and kill all the White House security force.
Aided by ex-Secret Service agent-turned-private security contractor Dave Forbes, the terrorists hold Asher and several top officials hostage in the PEOC, executing Lee on live video. Before being killed, Agent Roma alerts the Pentagon that "Olympus has fallen".
Banning joins the White House's defenders during KUF's initial assault. He falls back into the White House, disabling internal surveillance, and using Asher's satellite earphone to contact Secret Service Director Lynne Jacobs and Speaker of the House Allan Trumbull, now acting president, in the Pentagon's emergency briefing room.
Kang uses Asher's hostage status to demand Trumbull to withdraw U.S. Forces from the Korean Peninsula. He also seeks to detonate the American nuclear arsenal to turn North America into an irradiated wasteland as revenge for his mother's death. To do this, he needs the access codes to the Cerberus nuclear arsenal system, held only by Asher, Secretary of Defense Ruth McMillan, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Joseph Hoenig, all of whom are inside the PEOC. Asher orders McMillan and Hoenig to reveal their codes to save their lives, certain that he will not give up his own code.
After finding Connor hiding in the building's walls and sneaking him to safety, preventing Kang from using him to force Asher to reveal his Cerberus code, Banning kills many commandos, including Forbes. Army Chief of Staff General Edward Clegg convinces Trumbull to order an aerial assault on the White House. The KUF discovers and destroys the assault force using the advanced Hydra 6 anti-aircraft system. Kang retaliates by executing Vice President Charlie Rodriguez.
Banning disables Kang's communications and forces him into bringing his operatives into the open when they attempt to execute McMillan in front of the media, killing more of them before Kang retreats to the bunker. With their numbers dwindling rapidly, Kang fakes his and Asher's deaths by sacrificing several of his commandos and the remaining hostages in a helicopter explosion.
Banning sees through the ruse and heads to the bunker. With two codes already in hand, Kang eventually cracks Asher's code and activates Cerberus. Banning ambushes and kills all the remaining terrorists when they attempt to escape with Asher, and kills Kang by stabbing him in the head. Asher informs Banning about Cerberus, so he deactivates it just in time, with the assistance of Trumbull and his staff. Banning escorts Asher out after retaking the White House. Afterwards, he is reinstated as head of the presidential security detail while Asher speaks about the aftermath of the attack, assuring the public that America will rebuild, stronger than before.
In addition, the MSNBC news anchor Lawrence O'Donnell appears, uncredited, as an unnamed news anchor reporting on the developments in Washington, D.C.
Olympus Has Fallen was directed by Antoine Fuqua, based on a script by Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt in their first screenwriting effort. The production company Millennium Films acquired the spec script in March 2012, and Gerard Butler was cast later in the month as the star of the film.[14] The rest of the characters were cast throughout June and July.
In 2012, Millennium Films competed against Sony Pictures, which was producing White House Down (a twin film about a takeover of the White House) to complete casting and begin filming.[15]
Filming began in Shreveport, Louisiana, in mid-July 2012. Because Olympus Has Fallen was filmed so far from its actual setting of Washington, D.C., the entire production relied heavily upon visual effects, particularly computer-generated imagery. For example, computers were used to create nearly all of the opening sequence in which the First Lady is killed in a car accident, with chroma key greenscreen technology used to composite the actors into the computer-generated snowy scenery. For scenes where actors walked in or out of the White House, a first-floor façade and entrance were built; computers added the second floor, roof, and downtown D.C. cityscape. Action scenes with the White House in the background were filmed in open fields and the White House and D.C. were added in post-production.[16]
The score was composed by Trevor Morris whose past projects included The Tudors and The Borgias.[17] The score was recorded at Trevor Morris Studios in Santa Monica with the Bratislava Slovak National Orchestra.
The record was released on March 15, 2013 via Relativity Music Group label.
Olympus Has Fallen was released in the United States on, 2013.[18] It was initially scheduled for an, 2013 release, but moved to avoid competition with The Heat, which was to open at the same time (its release was later pushed back to June 28). FilmDistrict distributed the film.[19]
The film's trailer was criticized for using the Emergency Alert System, and several cable companies were fined by the Federal Communications Commission for airing the ad.[20]
The film was released to home video in the United States on DVD and Blu-ray formats on August 13, 2013. It earned $38.2 million in video rental sales in the U.S.[21]
A lawsuit was filed in 2013 by Creighton Rothenberger seeking a declaration that John S Green was not the source of the film's characters and material. Green countersued, seeking a declaration that he was the sole author.[22] The case was eventually settled for $175,000, with Rothenberger retaining the rights to the film.[23]
In July 2021, star/producer Gerard Butler sued Nu Image/Millennium Films for $10 million, claiming that the company had understated the film's domestic gross by $17.5 million, as well as failed to report $8 million that went to its own executives. Butler's contract had entitled him to 10% of net profits.[24]
Olympus Has Fallen grossed $98.9 million in the U.S. and Canada, and $71.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $170.2 million, against a budget of $70 million.
In its first weekend the film grossed $30.5 million, finishing second at the box office and exceeded predictions of $23 million.[25] [26]
Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports the film has an approval rating of 50% based on 200 reviews, and an average rating of 5.40/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "It's far from original, but Olympus Has Fallen benefits from Antoine Fuqua's tense direction and a strong performance from Gerard Butler—which might be just enough for action junkies."[27] Metacritic assigns the film a weighted average score of 41 out of 100 based on 30 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[28] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[29]
Katey Rich of CinemaBlend praised the "lean low-budget approach", and called the film "both captivating and queasy".[30] Richard Roeper gave the film a C, calling it "just too much of a pale Die Hard ripoff".[31] David Edelstein was more negative; while praising Butler's role as a "solid" character, he criticized the script and the violence, writing "Olympus Has Fallen is a disgusting piece of work, but it certainly hits its marks—it makes you sick with suspense".[32]
Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman, Aaron Eckhart, Angela Bassett and Radha Mitchell returned for a sequel titled London Has Fallen revolving around a major terrorist strike on London during the funeral of the British Prime Minister.[33] Production was scheduled to begin in May 2014 in London, with Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt returning to write the script. Director Antoine Fuqua did not return, due to his commitments to The Equalizer.[34]
On May 1, 2014, it was announced that Focus Features had acquired distribution rights to the sequel and would release it on October 2, 2015, though this was later pushed back to January 22, 2016.[35] However, the film's release was delayed to March 4, 2016. On August 18, 2014, it was announced that Fredrik Bond would direct,[36] but he left the film on September 18, just six weeks before shooting was set to begin.[37] On September 28, it was announced that Babak Najafi would direct.[38]
On October 10, 2014, it was announced that Jackie Earle Haley would join the cast.[39] Filming for the sequel began on October 24, 2014.[40] The film was released on March 4, 2016.