''Doom'' is a 2005
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...
film directed by
Andrzej Bartkowiak
Andrzej Bartkowiak, A.S.C. (born 6 March 1950) is a Polish cinematographer and film director.
Career
In the early 1980s, Bartkowiak was cinematographer on three films that received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture: ''The Verdict'', ' ...
. Loosely based on the
video game series of the same name by
id Software
id Software LLC () is an American video game developer based in Richardson, Texas. It was founded on February 1, 1991, by four members of the computer company Softdisk: game programmer, programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer T ...
, the film stars
Karl Urban
Karl-Heinz Urban (born 7 June 1972) is a New Zealand actor. His career began with appearances in New Zealand films and TV series such as '' Xena: Warrior Princess''. His first Hollywood role was in the 2002 horror film '' Ghost Ship''. Since ...
,
Rosamund Pike
Rosamund Mary Ellen Pike (born 1979) is a British actress. She began her acting career by appearing in stage productions such as ''Romeo and Juliet'' and ''Gas Light''. After her screen debut in the television film ''A Rather English Marriage'' ...
,
Razaaq Adoti
Razaaq Adoti (born 27 June 1973) is a British actor, producer and screenwriter.
Early life
Adoti was born in Forest Gate, London of Nigerian descent (Nigerian British). He landed his first professional screen role on the British television sh ...
, and
Dwayne Johnson
Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972), also known by his ring name The Rock, is an American actor and former professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he was integral to the develop ...
(credited as The Rock). In the film, marines are sent on a rescue mission to a facility on Mars, where they encounter demonic-like creatures.
After
film rights
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
deals with
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
and
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
expired, id Software signed a deal with
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
with the stipulation that the film would be
greenlit
To green-light is to give permission to proceed with a project. The term is a reference to the green traffic signal, indicating "go ahead".
Film industry
In the context of the film and television industries, to green-light something is to ...
within a year. Warner Bros. lost the rights, which were subsequently given back to Universal, which started production in 2004. The film was an international
co-production of the United States, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, and Germany.
''Doom'' was theatrically released in the United States on October 21, 2005 to negative reviews.
The film was a
box office bomb
A box-office bomb, or box-office disaster, is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after ...
, grossing $58.7 million worldwide against a production budget between $60–70 million. In 2019, Universal released a second live-action film
direct-to-video
Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy wa ...
titled ''
Doom: Annihilation''.
Plot
In 2026, a wormhole portal, the Ark, to an ancient city on
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...
is discovered deep below the
Nevada desert
The Great Basin Desert is part of the Great Basin between the Sierra Nevada and the Wasatch Range. The desert is a geographical region that largely overlaps the Great Basin shrub steppe defined by the World Wildlife Fund, and the Central Basin a ...
. Twenty years later, the 85 personnel at the Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC) research facility on Mars are attacked by an unknown assailant. Following a distress call sent by Dr. Carmack, a squad of eight
marines
Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...
are sent to the research facility. The team includes squad leader Sgt. Asher "Sarge" Mahonin, "Duke", "Goat", "Destroyer", Portman, "Mac", a rookie ("Kid") and John "Reaper" Grimm. They are sent on a search-and-destroy mission to Mars, with UAC only concerned with the retrieval of computer data from their anthropology, archeology, and genetics experiments.
The team uses the Ark to reach Mars, ordering the Earth site on lockdown. Arriving on Mars, they are met by UAC employee "Pinky". Reaper finds his twin sister, Dr. Sam Grimm, and escorts her to retrieve the data. He learns that a dig site, where their parents were accidentally killed years earlier, was reopened and ancient skeletons of a
humanoid race genetically enhanced with an artificial 24th chromosome pair were discovered.
While searching for survivors in the facility, the marines find a traumatized and injured Dr. Carmack and escort him to the medical lab for treatment, but he later disappears. The marines shoot at an unknown creature in the genetics lab that leads them down into the facility's sewer, where it attacks and kills Goat. They kill the creature and take it to the medical lab, where Sam performs an autopsy and discovers that its organs are human. She and Duke witness Goat resurrecting and killing himself by smashing his head against a reinforced window. The two are attacked by a creature, trap it, and soon deduce that it is a mutated Dr. Carmack.
The squad methodically tracks down and destroys several of the creatures, though Mac, Destroyer, and Portman die in the process. An angered Sarge kills the mutated Dr. Carmack. Sam, Reaper, and Sarge learn that UAC was experimenting on humans using the extra Martian Chromosome (C24) harvested from the remains of the ancient skeletons, but the mutants got loose, leading to the outbreak. Sam and Reaper try to convince Sarge that the creatures are humans from the facility, mutated by the C24 serum and that not all of those infected will fully transform into the creatures. Sam hypothesizes that some of those injected with C24 will develop superhuman abilities but retain their humanity, while others with a predisposition for violent or psychotic behavior will become creatures, a pattern she believes also happened with the Martians, who built the Ark to escape.
Some creatures use the Ark to reach Earth, where they slaughter or mutate the research staff. The marines, Sam, and Pinky follow, and Sarge orders the squad to sanitize the entire facility. When Kid informs Sarge that he found, but refuses to kill, a group of survivors, Sarge executes Kid for insubordination, leading to a standoff with an armed Pinky. The group is suddenly attacked by creatures who kill Duke and drag Sarge and Pinky away. Reaper is wounded by a ricocheting bullet. To prevent him from bleeding to death, Sam injects her brother with the C24 serum, despite his concern that his violent past predisposes him to transform into a creature.
Reaper regains consciousness and finds his wounds have healed and that Sam has gone missing. Using his new C24 superhuman abilities, he fights his way through the facility, even battling a mutated and monstrous Pinky before finding an unconscious Sam with Sarge, who has become infected and has murdered the group of survivors Kid had previously found. Reaper and Sarge battle, both of them enhanced with superhuman powers. Reaper is able to gain the upper hand and throws Sarge through the Ark back to Mars along with a grenade, which destroys Sarge and the Mars facility. Reaper then carries his unconscious sister into the elevator and rides back up to the ground level in Nevada.
Cast
Production
Development
Between 1994 and 1995, following the success of ''
Doom II
''Doom II'', also known as ''Doom II: Hell on Earth'', is a first-person shooter game by id Software. It was released for MS-DOS computers in 1994 and Macintosh computers in 1995. Unlike the original ''Doom'', which was initially only available ...
'', Hollywood began gaining interest in producing a live-action film adaptation of ''Doom''.
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
initially acquired the rights, which were later obtained by
Columbia TriStar. Former CEO of
id Software
id Software LLC () is an American video game developer based in Richardson, Texas. It was founded on February 1, 1991, by four members of the computer company Softdisk: game programmer, programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer T ...
Todd Hollenshead
Todd Hollenshead was President and CEO of id Software while the company put out some of the gaming world’s most iconic video game franchises: Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein, and Rage. In addition to his software work, he is also known in the gaming ...
stated that a number of factors prevented the project from moving forward such as the
Columbine High School massacre, lack of producers, and poor scripts. The id Software team screened a presentation of ''
Doom 3
''Doom 3'' is a 2004 survival horror first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Activision. ''Doom 3'' was originally released for Microsoft Windows on August 3, 2004, adapted for Linux later that year, and ported ...
'' to agents from Creative Artists Agency (CAA) to see if they were interested in the property.
Producers
Lorenzo di Bonaventura
Lorenzo di Bonaventura (; born January 13, 1957) is an American film producer and founder and owner of Di Bonaventura Pictures. He is best known for producing the G.I. Joe and ''Transformers'' film series. The films he produced have earned ove ...
and
John Wells eventually obtained the rights.
Di Bonaventura and Wells initially set development for the film at
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
, however, the duo moved development of the project to Universal after Warner Bros. failed to move the project into production after 15 months.
The terms of the deal with Universal included gross point royalties for the developer and rights holder.
In 2004,
Enda McCallion
Enda McCallion (born 22 June 1967 in County Donegal) is an Irish film director. He studied at the Dún Laoghaire College of Art and Design and the Royal College of Art in London, England.
He directed the 2000/2001 Metz alcopop advert " Forre ...
was attached to direct the film and
David Callaham
David Elias Callaham (born October 24, 1977) is an American screenwriter and producer.
Life
Callaham was born in Fresno, California on October 24, 1977 to Lee Hsu and Michael Callaham. He has a brother, Gregory. He is of Chinese descent throug ...
was named the screenwriter, with the script loosely adapting elements from ''Doom 3''.
Callaham's early draft featured the Cacodemon, Arch-Vile, and other demons from the games but were cut due to time and budgetary reasons.
That September, McCallion dropped out as director and
Andrzej Bartkowiak
Andrzej Bartkowiak, A.S.C. (born 6 March 1950) is a Polish cinematographer and film director.
Career
In the early 1980s, Bartkowiak was cinematographer on three films that received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture: ''The Verdict'', ' ...
joined the project.
Edgar Wright
Edgar Howard Wright (born 18 April 1974) is an English filmmaker. He is known for his fast-paced and kinetic, satirical genre films, which feature extensive utilisation of expressive popular music, Steadicam tracking shots, dolly zooms and a ...
and
Simon Pegg
Simon John Pegg (né Beckingham; born 14 February 1970) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. He came to prominence in the UK as the co-creator of the Channel 4 sitcom ''Spaced'' (1999–2001), directed by Edgar Wright. H ...
were approached to polish the script's dialogue, but declined and
Wesley Strick
Wesley Strick (born February 11, 1954) is an American screenwriter who has written such films as ''Arachnophobia'', ''Batman Returns'' and Martin Scorsese's remake of '' Cape Fear''. Since 2015, Strick has worked as a writer/executive producer o ...
was hired instead.
Production was scheduled to begin in Winter 2004 in Prague.
Pre-production
Arnold Schwarzenegger was considered for the lead.
Vin Diesel
Mark Sinclair (born July 18, 1967), known professionally as Vin Diesel, is an American actor. One of the world's highest-grossing actors, he is best known for playing Dominic Toretto in the ''Fast & Furious'' franchise.
Diesel began auditio ...
was offered the lead but turned it down.
Dwayne Johnson
Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972), also known by his ring name The Rock, is an American actor and former professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he was integral to the develop ...
was offered the role of "John Grimm" but turned it down in favor of "Sarge", stating, "For some reason I was drawn more to Sarge, I thought 'Sarge' was, to me, more interesting and had a darker side."
In September 2004,
Karl Urban
Karl-Heinz Urban (born 7 June 1972) is a New Zealand actor. His career began with appearances in New Zealand films and TV series such as '' Xena: Warrior Princess''. His first Hollywood role was in the 2002 horror film '' Ghost Ship''. Since ...
and
Rosamund Pike
Rosamund Mary Ellen Pike (born 1979) is a British actress. She began her acting career by appearing in stage productions such as ''Romeo and Juliet'' and ''Gas Light''. After her screen debut in the television film ''A Rather English Marriage'' ...
were cast as John and Samantha Grimm. The Rapid Response Tactical Squad actors underwent military training for two weeks under military advisor Tom McAdams.
Effects
Monsters and creature effects for the film were created by
Stan Winston Studios, supervised by John Rosengrant.
The visual effects were supervised by
Jon Farhat. The film included 350 effects shots, the work was shared between two companies,
Framestore
Framestore is a British animation, visual effects company and creative studio based on Chancery Lane in London. Formed in 1986, it acquired (and subsequently merged with) the Computer Film Company in 1997. It works on feature films and telev ...
who focused on character animation and creature work in 130 shots, and
Double Negative who worked on environments, dimensional effects and futuristic weapons in about 200 shots.
Pictures of Johnson were taken to conceptualize his demon makeup. The second layer of prosthetics took two hours to apply on Johnson while the third level of prosthetics took three hours to apply. Acrylic paint was used to cover Johnson's tattoos. After the 2D concept art, the creatures were sculpted and body-cast. Brian Steele and
Doug Jones underwent head and shoulder life casting and body casting to get an impression for their body frames. An earpiece was added into the suits so that Jones and Steele could receive directions from Rosengrant, however, their mics were not enabled for them to reply. The team drew upon forensic pathology books to give the creatures a repulsive nature.
First person shooter sequence
The first person shooter sequence was completely directed by Farhat and was filmed in 14 days after a planning period of three months. While the scene is one continuous shot, multiple cuts, that Farhat called "hook-ups", were made during filming, Farhat stated, "you can do it by moving a camera, and passing something, and cutting. And then rolling the camera again on a subsequent date." Other hook-up styles were used by using a green screen or blue screen when a door opens or jump cutting by whipping an object. The gun was only used on-screen when it was needed due to its size affecting the aspect ratio.
Music
The film's score was composed by
Clint Mansell, upon which he produced a remix of the
Nine Inch Nails song "You Know What You Are?", which was used in the film's ending credits. The song "
Switchback" by
Celldweller
Celldweller is an American electronic rock project by multi-musician Klayton. Celldweller songs have been featured in many films, movie trailers, television shows and video games.
Career Precursors: Circle of Dust and Angeldust (1992–1999)
Th ...
was licensed for the trailers.
Release
Critical response
''Doom'' received negative reviews from critics.
On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has an approval rating of , based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's critical consensus states: "The FPS sections are sure to please fans of the video game, but lacking in plot and originality to please other moviegoers." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, the film has a weighted average rating of 34 out of 100, based on reviews from 28 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by
CinemaScore gave the film a grade B− on scale of A to F.
Roger Ebert said, "''Doom'' is like some kid came over and is using your computer and won't let you play."
Rob Gonsalves gave it two stars, citing incoherent action sequences, flat and humorless characters, and poor acting: "Only Richard Brake, as the sleazy and duplicitous grunt Portman, gives a performance of any interest, and even that's on the level of caricature."
Kim Newman
Kim James Newman (born 31 July 1959) is an English journalist, film critic and fiction writer. Recurring interests visible in his work include film history and horror fiction—both of which he attributes to seeing Tod Browning's ''Dracula'' at ...
of
''Empire'' magazine called it "Not quite as dreadful as ''
Resident Evil: Apocalypse'', but that's hardly a major achievement."
Justin Chang
Justin Choigee Chang (born January 3, 1983) is an American film critic and columnist for the ''Los Angeles Times''. He previously worked for ''Variety''.
Early life
Justin Chang graduated from the University of Southern California in 2004. Chan ...
of ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' gave the film a mixed review and was critical of Johnson’s performance but positive about the "tongue-in-cheek sensibility" and the faithful display of weapons from the game. In summary: "It's really not all that bad. Ultra-derivative bigscreen transplant of one of the most successful (and controversial) games ever made plays like a mutant cross between a biotech thriller and a zombie movie, with all the alien autopsies, blood-gushing protuberances and meaningless scientific jargon that come with the territory."
Richard James Havis of ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...
'' wrote: "Plot, character development and dialogue are so sparse that the screenwriters are fortunate they're not paid by the word. But this basic approach doesn't render it ineffectual. There's so little to go wrong that those who like their entertainment mindless and violent will find little fault."
Chris Carle at ''
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
'' gave it 3 out of 5 and called it "easily the best videogame-to-film adaptation yet", saying although it is not big on plot or characterization "it succeeds in the things it sets out to do".
Other responses
John Carmack (co-founder of id Software and co-creator of ''Doom'') spoke favorably of the film, stating, "I liked it. Nobody expects a video game movie to be Oscar material, but I thought it was a solid action movie with lots of fun nods to the gaming community." In 2009, Johnson described the film as an example of "trying and failing" to do a good video game adaptation, and that it was a cautionary tale of what "not to do". In 2021, Rosamund Pike expressed embarrassment for not familiarizing herself with the source material, commenting, "I feel partly to blame in that respect because I think I failed just through ignorance and innocence to understand, to fully get a picture of what ''Doom'' meant to fans at that point. I wasn’t a gamer. I didn’t understand. If I knew what I knew now, I would have dived right into all of that and got fully immersed in it like I do now. And I just didn’t understand. I feel embarrassed, really."
Accolades
In 2009, ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'' listed the film on its list of top-10 worst video games movies.
Johnson received a
Golden Raspberry Award
The Golden Raspberry Awards (also known as the Razzies and Razzie Awards) is a parody award show honoring the worst of cinematic under-achievements. Co-founded by UCLA film graduates and film industry veterans John J. B. Wilson and Mo Murphy, ...
nomination for his performance.
Home media
''Doom'' was released on
VHS,
UMD, and
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
on February 7, 2006,
HD DVD
HD DVD (short for High Definition Digital Versatile Disc) is an obsolete high-density optical disc format for storing data and playback of high-definition video. Supported principally by Toshiba, HD DVD was envisioned to be the successor to the ...
on April 26, 2006,
and on
Blu-ray Disc on February 10, 2009. The DVD, HD DVD, and Blu-ray releases only feature the unrated extended cut, with no options for the theatrical cut.
The extended cut runs 113 minutes. In the United States and Canada, the DVD earned $29.2 million in domestic video sales.
The extended cut was released on
4K Blu-ray
Ultra HD Blu-ray (4K Ultra HD, UHD-BD, or 4K Blu-ray) is a digital optical disc data storage format that is an enhanced variant of Blu-ray. Ultra HD Blu-ray discs are incompatible with existing standard Blu-ray players, though a traditional Bl ...
on August 9, 2022.
Reboot
In an October 2005 interview, executive producer
John Wells stated that a second film would be put into production if the first was a
box office success. In April 2018, Universal Pictures announced plans for a new ''Doom'' film.
''
Doom: Annihilation'' was released direct-to-video on October 1, 2019.
See also
*
List of films based on video games
This page is a list of film adaptations of video games. These include local, national, international, direct-to-video and TV releases, and (in certain cases) online releases. They include their scores on Rotten Tomatoes, the region in which they ...
*
List of films set on Mars
There is a body of films that are set on the planet Mars. In the late 19th century, people erroneously believed that there were canals on Mars. Into the early 20th century, additional observations of Mars fed people's interest in what was called " ...
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
External links
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Doom (film)
Doom (franchise)
2005 films
2000s monster movies
English-language German films
2005 science fiction films
American science fiction films
British science fiction films
Czech science fiction films
German science fiction films
Fiction set in 2026
Films scored by Clint Mansell
Films about extraterrestrial life
Live-action films based on video games
Films directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak
Films produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura
Films set in 2046
Films set in the future
Films shot from the first-person perspective
Films shot in the Czech Republic
Mars in film
Demons in film
American nonlinear narrative films
Films with screenplays by David Callaham
Works based on Activision video games
American zombie films
Di Bonaventura Pictures films
Universal Pictures films
English-language Czech films
2000s English-language films
2000s American films
2000s British films
2000s German films