Battleship is a 2012 American military science fiction film loosely based on the board game of the same name by Hasbro. The film was co-produced and directed by Peter Berg and written by Jon and Erich Hoeber. It stars Taylor Kitsch, Alexander Skarsgård, Rihanna in her feature film debut, Brooklyn Decker, Tadanobu Asano and Liam Neeson. The film follows the crews of a small group of warships as they are forced to battle against a naval fleet of extraterrestrial origin in order to thwart their destructive goals.
Battleship premiered at the Yoyogi National Stadium in Tokyo on April 3, 2012, and was released by Universal Pictures in the United States on May 18. The film received generally negative reviews and flopped at the box-office, grossing $303 million worldwide against a production budget of $209–220 million, losing both Universal and Hasbro $150 million and making it one of the biggest box-office bombs of all time.
Plot In 2005, the potentially habitable "Planet G" is discovered, and in 2006, a communications array to reach any extraterrestrial life is built on Oʻahu. There, a slacking Alex Hopper is arrested while attempting to impress Samantha "Sam" Shane, daughter of Admiral Terrance Shane. Alex's brother, Commander Stone Hopper, forces Alex to join the United States Navy.
Six years later, Alex is a lieutenant aboard the and in a relationship with Sam, a physical therapist working with wounded veterans. While Stone is a model officer commanding the , the rebellious Alex, despite showing plenty of potential, is facing a disciplinary discharge.
During the 2012 RIMPAC exercise, five alien spacecraft arrive. Their communications ship hits a satellite and crashes through the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong, while the others plunge into the waters off the coast of Hawaii. Sampson, John Paul Jones, and Japanese destroyer JDS discover a floating structure that generates an impenetrable force field, isolating the Hawaiian Islands and the three destroyers from the rest of the world and jamming all radar and communications inside.
Three alien warships surface and first contact devolves into a battle after the humans decide to fire a warning shot across the aliens' bow; Myōkō is destroyed, Sampson is lost with all hands, including Stone, and John Paul Jones command personnel and executive officer are killed, leaving Alex to reluctantly take charge as the next highest-ranking sailor on board. John Paul Jones disengages to recover Myōkōs survivors, including Captain Yugi Nagata, while alien drones destroy Oahu's military bases.
Hiking near the communications array, Sam and retired United States Army lieutenant colonel and double amputee Mick Canales discover the aliens' presence. They encounter scientist Cal Zapata, who reveals the aliens have taken over the array to re-establish communications with their home planet. The John Paul Jones crew captures an alien, who telepathically shows Alex images of alien conflict and planetary destruction.
More aliens board and retrieve their comrade while one starts sabotaging the ship. Its armored suit proves impervious to small-arms fire, but it is obliterated by the destroyer's 5-inch gun, and the captured alien's helmet reveals their eyes are hypersensitive to sunlight. Ashore, Sam, Mick, and Cal recover his spectrum analyzer, using it to radio John Paul Jones that the aliens will contact their planet and most likely call for reinforcements when the facility's satellite is in position in four hours.
As night falls, Hopper realises they have no visibility. Nagata suggests using the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tsunami warning buoys around Hawaii to track the warships without radar; this plan works and allows John Paul Jones to destroy two of them. The third proves too elusive, so they lure it into facing east as the sun rises. Alex and Nagata shoot out its bridge windows with sniper rifles, blinding its crew with sunlight and allowing John Paul Jones to destroy it. The destroyer then attempts to target the communications array, but is sunk by drones launched from the alien structure emitting the force field; Alex, Nagata, and several other sailors barely escape.
The survivors commandeer the decommissioned World War II-built battleship with the aid of retired Navy veterans. The floating structure is revealed to be a giant mothership, but Missouri disables the force field, allowing Admiral Shane to scramble fighter jets from the aircraft carrier . The battleship's turret carrying the ship's last shell is disabled, forcing the sailors to carry the shell by hand to the ship's last functioning turret. Sam, Mick, and Cal stall the aliens at the array, where Mick kills an alien soldier. Alex uses the final shell to destroy the array, rendering the Missouri defenseless, but the mothership's drones are destroyed by Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) F/A-18 fighter jets, as reinforcements carpet bomb the mothership, eliminating the alien threat.
Alex is promoted to lieutenant commander and presented with a Silver Star and his brother's posthumous Navy Cross. Admiral Shane promises Alex will soon have a ship of his own, while he is also recommended to become a Navy SEAL. Alex asks him for Sam's hand in marriage; the admiral initially refuses, but invites Alex to lunch. In a post-credits scene, three boys and a repairman in Scotland are scared off by an alien that emerges from a crashed pod.
Cast
Production
Battleship was greenlit with a production budget of $150 million but went through a troubled pre-production. Universal at one point considered canceling the film, which would have resulted in a $30 million loss. However, new chairman Adam Fogelson decided the studio would lose less money if they increased the budget of the film instead of outright cancelling it. Filming was set to take place in Australia's Gold Coast in 2010, but changed location due to a lack of Australian government tax incentives and a high estimated budget of $220 million.
Filming took place in the United States on the Hawaiian islands of Maui and Oʻahu, as well as on the mainland in order to film a few apartment scenes in Sherman Oaks, California. A driving scene and a shootout were filmed in Playa del Rey, California. Some scenes were also filmed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Further filming was done on the decommissioned Iowa-class battleship . Featured in the film were the real-life guided missile destroyers USS Benfold (DDG-65), USS John Paul Jones (DDG-53), and USS Sampson (DDG-102) all of which are active members of the US Navy Pacific Fleet. The JS Myōkō (DDG-175) a of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force also appeared in the film.
The Science & Entertainment Exchange provided science consultation for the film.
Casting Jeremy Renner was originally considered for the role of Hopper. In April 2010, it was reported that Taylor Kitsch had been cast as Alex Hopper, Alexander Skarsgård played his brother Stone Hopper, Brooklyn Decker stars as Sam, Hopper's fiancee and Liam Neeson as Admiral Shane, Sam's father and Hopper's superior officer. Barbadian R&B singer Rihanna makes her acting debut in the film, as a sailor. In an interview with GQ, Berg explained how he came up with the idea to cast her. He realized she could act after her appearance on Saturday Night Live. She accepted the role because she wanted "to do something badass" and also because it wasn't a role too big for her to play.
Tadanobu Asano has a role in the film as the commander of the Japanese Kongō-class destroyer Myōkō. Double amputee U.S. Army Colonel Gregory Gadson, who had never acted before, plays LTC Mick Canales. He was cast after Berg saw a picture of him in National Geographic.
The film marks the reunion between former co-stars Kitsch and Jesse Plemons, who previously worked together on Berg's television series Friday Night Lights. Berg said he loves working with friends and explained he knew how comfortable Kitsch was with Plemons, "I know that he's really good for Taylor and he makes Taylor better. So, I wrote that whole part for Jesse." He added, "I never thought of it as a Friday Night Lights reunion. I thought of it as protection, bringing a trusted family member in."
U.S. Navy sailors were used as extras in various parts of this film. Sailors from assorted commands in Navy Region Hawaii assisted with line handling to take in and out of port for a day of shooting in mid 2010. A few months later, the production team put out a casting call for sailors stationed at various sea commands at Naval Station Mayport, Florida to serve as extras. Sailors were also taken from various ships stationed at Naval Station Mayport, Jacksonville, Florida, namely , and were some of the ships that provided sailors.
Music
Due to his success with the Transformers franchise, composer Steve Jablonsky was chosen to score the official soundtrack. The soundtrack features original compositions from Jablonsky and features rock guitarist Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine. Director Peter Berg stated:
Release
The film was released in May 18, 2012, in the United States. The film's world premiere took place in Tokyo on April 3, 2012. The event was attended by director Peter Berg, actors Taylor Kitsch, Brooklyn Decker, Alexander Skarsgård and Rihanna. Later on they initiated a Press Tour visiting Madrid, London, and Cartagena de Indias to promote the film.
Home media Battleship was released on DVD and Blu-ray on August 20, 2012, in the United Kingdom, and on August 28 in the United States and Canada. Its revenue was $32.4 million. Battleship was released on 4K Blu-Ray on January 17, 2017. It received a novelization written by Peter David.
Reception Box office Battleship grossed $65.4 million in the United States and Canada, and $237.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $303 million, against a production budget of $209 million. In May 2012, The Hollywood Reporter estimated that Universal would lose $150 million on the film. However, a decade later, the film was a huge success on streaming services.2012 Rihanna-Led Action Film Soars to the Charts Despite Box Office FlopSci-Fi Adventure On Amazon Prime Is Your Dad’s New Favorite Movie
The film opened in several territories on Wednesday, April 11, 2012, five weeks before its North America release, grossing $7.4 million. Through April 13, the film had earned a three-day total of $25 million. By the end of its opening weekend, it earned $55.2 million from 26 markets, ranking second behind the 3D re-release of James Cameron's Titanic. In its second weekend, it topped the box office outside North America, with $60 million. In South Korea, it achieved the highest-grossing opening day for a non-sequel and the third-highest overall ($2.8 million). In comparison to other Hasbro films, Battleship opening in the United Kingdom (£3.76 million) was behind the first Transformers (£8.72 million), but did better than G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (£1.71 million).
In the United States, Battleship grossed $8.8 million on its opening day, with $420,000 from midnight showings. It went on to debut to $25.5 million, finishing in second place behind Marvel's The Avengers.
Critical response Rotten Tomatoes reports that 33% of 222 critics gave the film a positive review and an average rating of 4.6/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "It may offer energetic escapism for less demanding filmgoers, but Battleship is too loud, poorly written, and formulaic to justify its expense – and a lot less fun than its source material." Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 41 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.