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Doom: Annihilation

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Doom: Annihilation
Blu-ray/DVD cover
Directed byTony Giglio
Screenplay byTony Giglio
Based onDoom
by id Software
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyAlexander Krumov
Edited byPeter Mergus
Music byFrederik Wiedmann
Production
companies
Distributed byUniversal Pictures Home Entertainment
Release date
  • October 1, 2019 (2019-10-01)
Running time
96 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Doom: Annihilation is a 2019 American science fiction action film written and directed by Tony Giglio. It is a reboot based on id Software's Doom franchise and is the second live-action film after Doom (2005). The film stars Amy Manson, Dominic Mafham, Luke Allen-Gale, and Nina Bergman. In the film, marines battle demon-like creatures in a facility on Phobos, who have emerged from ancient teleportation devices known as "Gates".

Giglio pitched his idea for a new film to Universal in 2015, but was initially turned down. The success of the 2016 video game convinced Universal to proceed and commission a script from Giglio. The project was announced in April 2018, with principal photography commencing soon afterward, and ending in June, with additional photography following in early 2019. id Software publicly iterated that they were not involved with the film since they had earlier declined an invitation to participate in its production.[2][3]

Doom: Annihilation was released direct-to-video on October 1, 2019 to mixed reviews and earned $78,389 (~$93,418 in 2023) in domestic video sales.

Plot

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On a United Aerospace Corporation (UAC) base on Phobos, Dr. Betruger prepares to teleport a volunteer from a UAC lab in Nevada to Phobos by using ancient teleporters known as "Gates". The experiment proves successful, but the subject emerges partially deformed and insane. On a UAC transport vessel, a group of marines on a mission to guard the Phobos base awaken from cryosleep. Amongst them is Joan Dark, a disgraced lieutenant the other marines are reluctant to work with. Joining them is Bennett Stone, a scientist, and ex-boyfriend of Joan. Against Dr. Kahn's wishes, Betruger prepares to teleport himself to the Nevada base. After preparations by medic Veronica, Betruger passes through the Gate. However, the Phobos base suddenly goes offline as monsters emerge from the Gate.

Unable to communicate with or enter the base, the Marines receive orders to investigate and restore power. They enter via the emergency entrance and Bennett discovers that the reserve power has been drained to two percent, granting them 90 minutes before the fusion reactor goes critical and explodes. The marines are then attacked by UAC staff who have been turned into zombie-like creatures. During the attack, the marines find three survivors: Betruger, Veronica, and the base's Chaplain, Glover. Betruger reveals that the UAC has been studying the Gates for 30 years in order to colonize planets. It is believed that the Gates were left by an ancient alien race while Glover believes them to be demons. Against Betruger's wishes, Joan orders the remaining marines and survivors to evacuate the base.

Upon returning to the transport, the crew is attacked by Imp-like demons, killing several marines, including Glover. With the transport disabled, Joan agrees to Betruger's plan to restore power to use the Gate to teleport the survivors to the Nevada base, however, she reveals to Bennett that her agreement was a ruse to restore communications. As Bennett restores the base's power, Betruger reveals that Joan was disgraced for allowing a terrorist to go free due to poor judgment. Betruger then kills Veronica and seals the marines in the power server, who are then attacked by Imps. With only Joan and Bennett left standing, they plan to stop Betruger from activating the Gate.

After Joan acquires the BFG 9000, Bennett is attacked by an Imp. As Joan shoots her way to the Gate chamber, she is attacked by a zombified Bennett, forcing her to kill him. Joan then shoots Betruger, who resurrects immediately and pushes Joan into the Gate. Joan is teleported to hell, where she encounters a horde of Imps and Stanga, their overlord. Stanga reveals that they plan to reclaim the Earth and annihilate humanity. Joan shoots him and blasts the horde with plasma grenades as she makes her way back to the Gate. She is then teleported to the Nevada base and demands that the Gate be shut down. She is apprehended and sedated by security. Before losing consciousness, the Gate begins to reactivate. Dr. Kahn believes it to be Betruger coming through. As the film cuts to black, a growl is heard.

Cast

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  • Amy Manson (credited as Amy Mason) as Lt. Joan Dark
    • Agleya Gumnerova as Young Joan (age 11)
  • Dominic Mafham as Dr. Malcolm Betruger
  • Luke Allen-Gale as Dr. Bennett Stone
  • James Weber Brown as Cptn. Hector Savage
  • Clayton Adams as Pvt. Steven Winslow
  • Nina Bergman as Pvt. Carley Corbin
  • Amer Chadha-Patel as Pvt. Rance Redguo
  • Gavin Brocker as Sgt. Harold “Harry” Friesen
  • Chidi Ajufo as Sgt. Logan Akua
  • Hari Dhillon as Dr. Ahmed Kahn
  • Katrina Nare as Dr. Veronica Cyr
  • Arkie Reece as Cpt. Fadel Tarek
  • Jemma Moore as Pvt. Li Chen
  • Louis Mandylor as Chaplain Glover
  • Gina Philips as Daisy (voice)
  • Cassidy Little as Morgan
  • Plamena Bozhilova as Olivia Dark
  • Lorina Kamburova as Dr. Sandy Peterson
  • Nathan Cooper as Dr. Ezekiel Barnes

Production

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In 2015, director Tony Giglio pitched to Universal his outline for a new Doom film. Universal declined due to the film not being on its slate and due to the financial disappointment of the 2005 film. After the release of the 2016 video game, Giglio re-pitched the idea to Universal by revealing the game's sales numbers and new interest in the property from old and new fans. Convinced, the company demanded to see a script first. A 25-page treatment was then written by Giglio. Giglio said the previous film lacked demons, hell, and proper usage of the Gates and wished to prioritize those elements for the new film.[3]

Giglio created the character Joan after taking inspiration from The Terminator and Aliens, feeling that a female protagonist can be effective in a sci-fi action film. Joan was named after Joan of Arc. Four suits were produced for the Imps, with one designed for leaping. Inspiration was drawn from the first three Doom games, as Universal did not retain the rights to the Bethesda version. Universal invited Bethesda to participate in the film; however, Bethesda respectfully declined and wished the production well.[3] In April 2018, Universal revealed plans for a direct-to-video reboot of Doom, to be produced by its Universal 1440 Entertainment subsidiary. Nina Bergman confirmed her participation in an Instagram post.[4] Autonomous FX was commissioned to work on the special effects, makeup, and demon designs.[5] The Imps were redesigned to have charred skin and sharp edges for more organic-like horns, while retaining the glowing eyes and wide mouth of the original design.[6]

Filming

[edit]

Principal photography wrapped in Bulgaria in June 2018.[7] Additional photography commenced in early 2019 to improve certain scenes and visual effects.[5] The film used 1,000 visual effects shots. The Hell sequence was shot with Amy Manson standing before a green screen, and a small rock area was built for the water scenes.[3]

Release

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Marketing

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In March 2019, Universal revealed images, a synopsis, a potential release date, and revealed the film's official title as Doom: Annihilation.[8] That same month, the first trailer was released.[9] The trailer received negative reactions from fans,[10] with id Software confirming it was not involved with the film.[2] Giglio admitted to not being enthusiastic about the first trailer since at the time only 80 effects out of the 1,000 effects shots were complete for marketing to use. Giglio noted the second trailer was better received, stating, "Once the fans saw the second teaser, I think we got a few more people saying: 'Oh, wait a minute. That's not what I thought the movie was gonna be.'"[3]

Home media

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Doom: Annihilation was released on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital formats on October 1, 2019.[11] The film was originally scheduled to be released in April.[3] On December 25, the film was made available on Netflix.[12] In the United States and Canada, the DVD earned $3,315 and the Blu-ray earned $73,874, totaling $78,389 in domestic video sales.[1]

Critical response

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On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 43% based on seven reviews, with an average rating of 5/10.[13] Alex Kane from Forbes called the film "good, trashy fun", praising the action scenes, special effects, Manson's performance, and improvements over the 2005 film, but criticized the production value.[14] Martin Liebman from Blu-Ray.com called the film "a horribly dull action film", criticizing the acting, script, and production design.[15] Jay Krieger from Cultured Vultures said that the film feels "fan-made" and "disappointingly inadequate", criticizing the plot, Easter eggs, characters, and inferiority to the 2005 film.[16] Tom Jorgensen from IGN gave the film a 3 out of 10 and criticized the action, characters, plot, unoriginality, humor, visual effects, and cinematography.[17] Jay Gervais from Dead Entertainment called the film "unsurprisingly terrible", criticizing the characters as "unlikable and forgettable", the film's emphasis on zombies rather than demons, repetitive action, and lacking the appealing qualities of the games. Gervais recommended to "skip it".[18]

Mike Sprague of JoBlo.com gave the film 7/10 stars, praising the film's action, improvement over the 2005 film, and called the film "watchable".[19] William Bibbiani from Bloody Disgusting called the film "a modest, but effective sci-fi action thriller", calling it better than most game adaptations, stating, "Doom: Annihilation isn’t one of the bad ones."[20] Phil Wheat of Nerdly said the film was one of the better game adaptations, praising the Easter eggs, characters, ideas over the 2005 film, and directing.[21] Christopher Cross of Goomba Stomp called the film a "solid B-movie" and an "utter delight", said the story and characters were "wooden and lifeless", but praised the film's use of practical effects and its improvements over the 2005 film.[22] John Noonan from Horror News called the film a "colossal waste of time", praising the Easter eggs but criticizing the lack of fun, scares, action, gore, and its slow pace.[23]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Doom Annihilation". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
  2. ^ a b Bankhurst, Adam (March 12, 2019). "Doom Studio Makes Very Clear It Has Nothing to Do With New Doom Movie". IGN. Archived from the original on March 13, 2019. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Alex Kane (October 1, 2019). "Writer-Director Tony Giglio On Making 'Doom: Annihilation'". Forbes. Archived from the original on October 2, 2019. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  4. ^ Fogel, Stefanie (April 20, 2018). "Universal Is Making a New 'Doom' Movie". Archived from the original on March 9, 2019. Retrieved March 8, 2019.
  5. ^ a b Barkan, Jonathan (January 25, 2019). "Universal Pushes Back New Doom Adaptation But Fear Not! This is a Good Thing!". Dread Central. Archived from the original on March 9, 2019. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
  6. ^ John Squires (September 24, 2019). "New Movie 'Doom: Annihilation' Shows Off Its Version of the Classic Imps from the Video Games". Bloody Disgusting. Archived from the original on September 30, 2019. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  7. ^ Cotter, Padraig (June 5, 2018). "Doom Movie Reboot Set Photos: There Will Definitely Be Blood". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on March 9, 2019. Retrieved March 8, 2019.
  8. ^ Barkan, Jonathan (March 8, 2019). "Exclusive: Check Out Universal Doom's Confirmed Title, Synopsis, and Three Official Images". Dread Central. Archived from the original on March 9, 2019. Retrieved March 8, 2019.
  9. ^ Patches, Matt (March 11, 2019). "The new Doom movie trailer attempts to do what The Rock could not". Polygon. Archived from the original on March 12, 2019. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
  10. ^ Scott Baird (March 11, 2019). "Doom: Annihilation Trailer Is Getting Nothing But Hate From Fans". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on December 30, 2019. Retrieved December 29, 2019.
  11. ^ Barkan, Jonathan (July 15, 2019). "Doom: Annihilation Now Available For Pre-Order". Dread Central. Archived from the original on July 18, 2019. Retrieved July 18, 2019.
  12. ^ Mike Sprague (December 27, 2019). "Doom: Annihilation Now on Netflix". Dread Central. Archived from the original on December 28, 2019. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
  13. ^ "Doom: Annihilation (2019)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  14. ^ Alex Kane (September 28, 2019). "'Doom: Annihilation' Review: Hell Breaks Loose On A Budget". Forbes. Archived from the original on September 30, 2019. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  15. ^ Capel, Chris J (September 29, 2019). "The first reviews of the new Doom movie are in, and the verdict isn't good". PCGamesN. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
  16. ^ Jay Krieger (October 1, 2019). "Doom: Annihilation Review - Annihilate This From Your Watchlist". Cultured Vultures. Archived from the original on October 3, 2019. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
  17. ^ Jorgenson, Tom (October 16, 2019). "Doom: Annihilation Review". IGN. Retrieved October 17, 2019.
  18. ^ Jay Gervais (October 8, 2019). "Doom: Annihilation is an Unsurprisingly Terrible Film". Dead Entertainment. Archived from the original on December 29, 2019. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
  19. ^ Sprague, Mike (October 3, 2019). "Doom: Annihilation (Movie Review)". JoBlo. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  20. ^ William Bibbiani (October 4, 2019). "Satisfying B-Movie 'Doom: Annihilation' Makes 2005's 'Doom' Look Even Worse". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  21. ^ Wheat, Phil (October 3, 2019). "Doom: Annihilation Review)". Nerdly. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  22. ^ Cross, Christopher (September 30, 2019). "Doom: Annihilation Tears Through The Forces of Hell)". Goomba Stomp. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  23. ^ John Noonan (October 15, 2019). "Film Review: Doom Annihilation". Horror News. Archived from the original on December 29, 2019. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
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