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Olympus Has Fallen
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Antoine Fuqua
Written by	Creighton Rothenberger Katrin Benedikt
Produced by	Gerard Butler Alan Siegel Mark Gill
Starring	Gerard Butler Aaron Eckhart Morgan Freeman Angela Bassett Robert Forster Cole Hauser Finley Jacobsen Ashley Judd Melissa Leo Dylan McDermott Radha Mitchell Rick Yune
Cinematography	Conrad W. Hall
Edited by	John Refoua
Music by	Trevor Morris
Production company	Millennium Films
Distributed by	FilmDistrict
Release date	March 22, 2013 (2013-03-22) (United States)
Running time	120 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$70 million
Box office	$77,276,942

Olympus Has Fallen is a 2013 American action-thriller film directed by Antoine Fuqua, starring Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, and Morgan Freeman. The film was theatrically released on March 22, 2013. The film grossed more than $76 million during its release to date.

Plot

Former U.S. Army Ranger Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is the lead Secret Service agent assigned to head the Presidential Detail. He maintains a personal, friendly relationship with President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart), First Lady Margaret Asher (Ashley Judd) and particularly their son Connor Asher (Finley Jacobsen). On a drive from Camp David, the car transporting the First Family crashes; Banning saves President Asher, but Margaret dies in the crash.

Eighteen months later, Banning works at the Treasury Department, within eyesight of the White House; he has been demoted from the Presidential Detail as he triggers Asher's memories of the night Margaret died. During a meeting between Asher and the prime minister of South Korea, Korean-led guerrilla forces, aided by treasonous members of the prime minister's own detail, which include Dave Forbes (Dylan McDermott), an ex-US Secret Service agent turned private contractor, mount an air and ground assault that results in the capture of the White House. Asher and several top officials are held hostage in the White House bunker, where the prime minister is killed. Before he is killed, Agent Roma (Cole Hauser) alerts head of Secret Service Lynne Jacobs (Angela Bassett) that "Olympus has fallen."

The attack has been masterminded by Kang Yeonsak (Rick Yune), an ex-North Korean terrorist who appears to be motivated by hope for a reunification of Korea. Kang seeks to use Asher's hostage status as leverage to force the U.S. military to withdraw from the Korean Peninsula, allowing the civil war to end. He also seeks to detonate all of America's nuclear weapons in their silos and destroy the country as revenge for the death of his parents. To accomplish this, he requires the access codes to a system in the bunker called Cerberus, which are held by three top government officials within the bunker, including the President. Asher orders the other two officials to reveal their codes to save their lives, certain that he will not give up his code.

During the assault by Kang's forces on the front lawn, Banning joins the side of the White House's combatants. He falls back into the White House, disables the internal surveillance and gains access to Asher's satellite ear phone, which he uses to maintain contact with Allan Trumbull (Morgan Freeman), the Speaker of the House who is now the Acting President. Authorized to proceed, Banning's first act is to save Connor, who Kang plans to use to force Asher to reveal his Cerberus code. Despite resistance, he finds Connor hiding in the walls, thanks to the training Banning had given him, and sneaks him out of the White House before beginning reconnaissance and reducing the terrorists' numbers one by one. This includes Forbes, but not before convincing the traitor to report to Kang that Banning is dead. Meanwhile, Trumbull orders an aerial SEAL assault on the White House, but Kang deploys an advanced anti-aircraft gun system in his possession owned by the United States, called the Hydra. Discovering this, Banning advises his commanders to abort the mission, but it proceeds and the new defense annihilates the assault force before Banning can stop it. Kang retaliates for the attempted infiltration by killing Vice President Charlie Rodriguez (Phil Austin).

After Banning disables Kang's communications, the terrorist tries to execute Secretary of Defense Ruth McMillan (Melissa Leo) outside the front door in front of the media, but Banning rescues her and takes out several more of Kang's men in the process. With Kang's forces dwindling, he fakes his own death, as well as Asher's, by sacrificing several of his men and the remaining hostages. Kang, Asher, and the few remaining terrorists stay in the bunker, unknown to the outside world. Kang eventually cracks Asher's code and activates Cerberus as Banning realizes that his apparent suicide was faked. As Kang attempts to escape, Banning dispatches the remaining terrorists and kills Kang in a knife fight, ultimately disabling Cerberus with the assistance of Trumbull. Banning and Asher escape the White House. After the events, the U.S. begins to heal from the attack, and Banning once again becomes head of the Presidential Detail, with Banning observing President Asher as he addresses the public.

Cast

• Gerard Butler as Mike Banning, a former member of the 75th Ranger Regiment and now Secret Service agent
• Aaron Eckhart as President Benjamin Asher
• Morgan Freeman as Speaker Allan Trumbull
• Angela Bassett as Lynne Jacobs, the head of the Secret Service
• Rick Yune as Kang Yeonsak, a North Korean terrorist who disguises himself as a South Korean ministerial aide.
• Dylan McDermott as Dave Forbes, an ex-Secret Service agent now working for the South Korean Prime Minister's private security detail.
• Finley Jacobsen as Connor Asher, the son of Benjamin and Margaret Asher
• Melissa Leo as Secretary of Defense Ruth McMillan
• Radha Mitchell as Leah Banning, a nurse and Mike's wife
• Robert Forster as US Army General Edward Clegg, Army Chief of Staff
• Cole Hauser as Agent Roma, a Secret Service agent
• Ashley Judd as Margaret Asher, the First Lady of the United States
• Phil Austin as Vice President Charlie Rodriguez
• James Ingersoll as Admiral Nathan Hoenig, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
• Freddy Bosche as Diaz
• Lance Broadway as Agent O'Neil, a member of the President's security detail
• Tory Kittles as Agent Jones, a member of the President's security detail
• Sean O'Bryan as Ray Monroe, Deputy National Security Advisor
• Keong Sim as South Korean Prime Minister Lee Tae-Woo
• Kevin Moon as Cho
• Malana Lea as Lim
• Sam Medina as Yu

Production

Olympus Has Fallen is 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. The rest of the characters were cast throughout June and July. In 2012, Millennium Films competed against Sony Pictures, who was producing White House Down (also about a takeover of the White House) to complete casting and to begin filming.

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 created 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 in which actors were filmed walking in or out of the White House, a first floor façade and entrance were built, and then computers added the second floor and roof, as well as the rest of the D.C. downtown landscape. Action scenes that merely had the White House in the background were actually filmed in open fields, and then the White House and D.C. were added in post-production.

Score

Musician and orchestral composer Trevor Morris produced the score. His past projects include shows The Tudors and The Borgias.

All music is composed by Trevor Morris

Release

Olympus Has Fallen was released in the United States on March 22, 2013. It was initially scheduled for an April 5, 2013 release, but moved to avoid competition with The Heat, which was to open at the same time. FilmDistrict distributed the film.

Reception

The film has received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives a score of 47% based on reviews from 128 critics, with a rating average of 5.4/10 with the site's consensus being "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". Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a score of 41% based on 29 reviews indicating "mixed or average reviews." Bill Zwecker of roger ebert.com awarded the film three stars.

At the end of the first weekend, the film earned $30.5 million, and exceeded Hollywood experts' predictions by $7 million. The film also was rated an "A-Minus" on CinemaScore.

References

1. Digital Cinema Package (DCP) – FilmDistrict USA Release
2. "OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN (15)". British Board of Film Classification. March 21, 2013. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
3. "Olympus Has Fallen (2013)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
4. "Olympus Has Fallen (2013)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 4, 2013.
5. Vejvoda, Jim (January 23, 2013). "Olympus Has Fallen is Like Die Hard in the White House". IGN. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
6. "Director Antoine Fuqua on Olympus Has Fallen". ComingSoon.net. January 23, 2013. Retrieved January 24, 2013. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
7. ^ Kit, Borys (July 25, 2012). "Tory Kittles Joins 'Olympus Has Fallen'". The Hollywood Reporter. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
8. ^ Sneider, Jeff (March 16, 2012). "Gerard Butler climbs 'Olympus Has Fallen'". Variety. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
9. Sneider, Jeff (June 22, 2012). "Aaron Eckhart joins 'Olympus Has Fallen'". Variety. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
10. ^ Fleming, Mike (December 14, 2012). "FilmDistrict Moves 'Olympus Has Fallen' To March 22, 2013". Deadline.com. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
11. Sneider, Jeff; McNary, Dave (June 25, 2012). "Angela Bassett joins 'Olympus'". Variety. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
12. ^ Kit, Borys (July 10, 2012). "Melissa Leo and Rick Yune Joining 'Olympus Has Fallen'". The Hollywood Reporter. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
13. Kroll, Justin (June 29, 2012). "Dylan McDermott climbs 'Olympus'". Variety. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
14. Patten, Dominic (July 7, 2012). "'Olympus Has Fallen' Adds Radha Mitchell". Deadline.com. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
15. ^ Kit, Borys (July 12, 2012). "Ashley Judd, Robert Forster Join 'Olympus Has Fallen'". The Hollywood Reporter. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
16. Kit, Borys (July 9, 2012). "Cole Hauser Joins Action Movie 'Olympus Has Fallen'". The Hollywood Reporter. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
17. "Lance Broadway Goes from Major League Baseball to OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN".
18. Kit, Borys (April 10, 2012). "Antoine Fuqua Circling 'Olympus' as White House Thriller Race Heats Up". The Hollywood Reporter. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
19. ^ Ian Failes, "How VFX saved Washington: Olympus Has Fallen", Fxguide, 25 March 2013.
20. "Trevor Morris to Score 'Olympus Has Fallen'". Film Music Reporter. January 14, 2013. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
21. "FilmDistrict to Distribute Olympus Has Fallen". ComingSoon.net. October 26, 2012. Retrieved October 26, 2012. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
22. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/olympus_has_fallen_2013/ Rotten Tomatoes Flixster
23. http://www.metacritic.com/movie/olympus-has-fallen Metacritic CBS Interactive
24. http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/olympus-has-fallen-2013
25. "Weekend Box Office Report: 'The Croods' and 'Olympus' Lead New Releases, Movies With Butter.com". Retrieved March 26, 2013.
26. "Box office has risen: Patriotic 'Olympus Has Fallen' beats Hollywood's expectations". The Wasington Post. March 25, 2013. Retrieved March 26, 2013.
27. "Box Office Report: 'Croods' Opens to Solid $44.7 Million; 'Olympus Has Fallen' Nabs $30.5 Million". The Hollywood Reporter. March 24, 2013. Retrieved March 26, 2013.

External links

• Official website
• Olympus Has Fallen CinemaScore
• Olympus Has Fallen at IMDb
• Olympus Has Fallen at Box Office Mojo
• Olympus Has Fallen at Rotten Tomatoes
• Olympus Has Fallen at Metacritic
• Template:FXGuide Article on the VFX for Olympus Has Fallen
• {Animation World News article on VFX for Olympus Has Fallen|http://www.awn.com/articles/visual-effects/more-vfx-than-meets-the-eye-in-olympus-has-fallen}

• 2013 films
• 2010s action films
• 2010s thriller films
• American films
• American action thriller films
• English-language films
• Films directed by Antoine Fuqua
• Films about fictional Presidents of the United States
• Films about terrorism
• North Korea in fiction
• Films set in Washington, D.C.
• Films shot in Louisiana