Roland Emmerich

Roland Emmerich (born 10 November 1955) is a German film director, screenwriter, and producer.

He is widely known for his science fiction and disaster films and has been called a "master of disaster" within the industry.

He was slated to direct a remake of the 1966 science-fiction film Fantastic Voyage, but the project slipped back into development hell.

In 1977, he began attending University of Television and Film Munich with the intention of studying to become a production designer.

After watching Star Wars, he instead decided to enroll in the school's film director program.

Required to create a short film as his final thesis in 1981, he wrote and directed the full-length feature The Noah's Ark Principle, which was screened as the opening film of the 34th Berlin International Film Festival in 1984.

He began his work in the film industry by directing the film The Noah's Ark Principle (1984) as part of his university thesis and also co-founded Centropolis Entertainment in 1985 with his sister.

In 1985, he founded Centropolis Film Productions (now Centropolis Entertainment) in partnership with his sister, producer Ute Emmerich, and directed his major film debut, a fantasy feature named Joey.

He subsequently directed the 1987 comedy Hollywood-Monster and the 1990 science-fiction film Moon 44.

Theatrically, these were only released in and nearby his native country, although Emmerich filmed them in English and went against conventional German styles in an attempt to appeal to a larger market.

This subsequently resulted in Moon 44 being released direct-to-video in the U.S. in early 1991.

Joey and Hollywood-Monster eventually also saw home video releases in the U.S. (as Making Contact and Ghost Chase, respectively) once Emmerich achieved more prominence in America.

Producer Mario Kassar invited Emmerich to come to the United States to direct a futuristic action film entitled Isobar.

He has also directed the films Universal Soldier (1992), Stargate (1994), Independence Day (1996) and its sequel Independence Day: Resurgence (2016), Godzilla (1998), The Patriot (2000), The Day After Tomorrow (2004), 10,000 BC (2008), 2012 (2009), White House Down (2013), Midway (2019), and Moonfall (2022).

Emmerich was born in Stuttgart, West Germany, and grew up in the nearby town of Sindelfingen.

As a youth, he traveled extensively throughout Europe and North America on vacations financed by his father, Hans, the wealthy founder of a garden machinery production company.

The film was released in 1992.

Emmerich next helmed the 1994 science-fiction film Stargate.

At the time, it set a record for the highest-grossing opening weekend for a film released in the month of October.

It became more commercially successful than most film industry insiders had anticipated, and spawned a highly popular media franchise.

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Emmerich then directed Independence Day, an alien invasion feature, released in 1996, that became the first film to gross $100 million in less than a week and went on to become one of the most financially successful films of all time, at one point having been the second-highest-grossing film in terms of worldwide box office.

Emmerich and Devlin got involved with Bethesda Softworks to develop the video game The 10th Planet, which was scheduled to be released in October 1997, but got canceled.

Emmerich and Devlin then created the television series The Visitor, which aired on the Fox Network during 1997–1998 before being cancelled after one season.

His next film, Godzilla, opened in 1998.

An extensive advertising and marketing campaign generated significant hype during the months leading up to the film's release.

The film was a box office success but was met with negative reviews from critics and fans.

It garnered a Saturn Award for Best Special Effects, a BMI Film Music Award, and the Audience Award for Best Director at the European Film Awards while also receiving a Razzie Award for Worst Remake or Sequel.

It has only a 16% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Emmerich said that prior to getting involved with Godzilla he and Devlin had planned a disaster movie centered around an asteroid fall, which wound up cancelled after Armageddon went for a similar idea.

Dean Devlin, who appeared in Moon 44, soon joined Emmerich as his writing and producing partner, and served in this capacity until 2000.

Emmerich subsequently refused the offer to direct after producers rejected Devlin's re-write of the script, and the Isobar project was eventually scrapped.

Instead, Emmerich was hired to replace director Andrew Davis for the action movie Universal Soldier.

Taking a short break from science-fiction, Emmerich next directed the American Revolutionary War epic The Patriot (2000).

One of only five films (Universal Soldier, Anonymous, White House Down, and Midway being the others) Emmerich has directed in which he did not contribute to the screenplay, the film received a generally favorable critical and commercial response, and is Emmerich's best-reviewed film to date.

After teaming up with new screenwriting partner Harald Kloser, Emmerich returned once again to directing a visual effects-laden adventure with 2004's blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow, another disaster film about a rapidly oncoming ice age brought upon by the effects of global warming.

Soon afterward, he founded Reelmachine, another film production company based in Germany.

In 2008, Emmerich directed 10,000 BC, a film about the journeys of a prehistoric tribe of mammoth hunters.

It was a box office hit, but consistently regarded by professional critics as his worst film, as well as one of the worst films of the year.

His films, most of which are English-language Hollywood productions, have made more than $3 billion worldwide, including just over $1 billion in the United States, making him the country's 15th-highest-grossing director of all time.