Roland Emmerich
Highest Rated: 68% Independence Day (1996)
Lowest Rated: 9% Stonewall (2015)
Birthday: Nov 10, 1955
Birthplace: Stuttgart, Germany
Though he was raised on a steady diet of independent-minded German filmmakers like Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Wim Wenders, director Roland Emmerich aspired early in his career to make blockbuster Hollywood movies. After making a name for himself by helming "The Noah's Ark Principle" (1981), the most expensive student film ever made in Germany, Emmerich crossed the Atlantic Ocean to make mainstream studio films. His first, "Universal Soldier" (1992), was an unexpected hit, which paved the way for him to direct his pet project, "Stargate" (1994). Along with writing and producing partner, Dean Devlin, Emmerich established himself as a resourceful sci-fi specialist who earned a reputation for meticulous preparation and remarkable cost-efficiency. Emmerich launched himself to the top of the Hollywood food chain with "Independence Day" (1996), a big, loud, sci-fi film that was long on computer-generated special effects but short on narrative and character development. Despite the campy, clichéd storyline and action sequences, the film made a name for the director. He went on to direct several big budget mega-disaster flicks like "Godzilla" (1998), "The Day After Tomorrow" (2004) and "10,000 B.C." (2008), all of which were panned by critics, lambasted by experts for lack of authenticity and gobbled up by audiences clamoring to see the destruction of the world through variously wild scenarios. By the time he directed "2012" (2009), Emmerich was by far one of the few directors capable of consistently making critically-derided movies that nonetheless made enormous amounts of money.
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Roland Emmerich
Filmography
Movies
Credit | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
50% |
|
The Magic Flute |
Executive Producer, Producer |
$141.1K | 2022 |
35% |
|
Moonfall |
Director, Screenwriter, Producer |
$19.0M | 2022 |
54% |
|
The Colony | Executive Producer | - | 2021 |
42% |
|
Midway |
Director, Producer |
$56.8M | 2019 |
29% |
|
Independence Day: Resurgence |
Director, Screenwriter, Producer |
$103.1M | 2016 |
9% |
|
Stonewall |
Director, Producer |
$186.4K | 2015 |
51% |
|
White House Down | Director | $73.1M | 2013 |
47% |
|
Anonymous |
Director, Producer |
$4.5M | 2011 |
No Score Yet |
|
Shirley Adams | Executive Producer | - | 2009 |
39% |
|
2012 |
Director, Screenwriter, Executive Producer |
$166.1M | 2009 |
9% |
|
10,000 B.C. |
Director, Screenwriter, Producer |
$94.8M | 2008 |
33% |
|
Trade | Producer | $214.2K | 2007 |
45% |
|
The Day After Tomorrow |
Director, Writer, Producer |
$186.7M | 2004 |
48% |
|
Eight Legged Freaks | Executive Producer | $17.3M | 2002 |
62% |
|
The Patriot |
Director, Executive Producer |
$113.3M | 2000 |
28% |
|
The Thirteenth Floor | Producer | $11.8M | 1999 |
20% |
|
Godzilla |
Director, Writer, Executive Producer |
$136.1M | 1998 |
68% |
|
Independence Day |
Director, Writer, Executive Producer |
$306.2M | 1996 |
53% |
|
Stargate |
Director, Writer |
$70.9M | 1994 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The High Crusade | Producer | - | 1994 |
34% |
|
Universal Soldier | Director | $35.4M | 1992 |
17% |
|
Moon 44 |
Director, Producer |
- | 1990 |
No Score Yet |
|
Ghost Chase | Director | - | 1988 |
No Score Yet |
|
Making Contact |
Director, Writer |
- | 1985 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Noah's Ark Principle | Director | - | 1984 |
TV
Credit | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
48% | 64% | Those About to Die | Director | 2024 |
83% | 85% | James Cameron's Story of Science Fiction | Guest | 2018 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Visitor | Executive Producer | 1997-1998 |