We’re fighting our own lunar companion in the science fiction movie Moonfall, and Roland Emmerich had grand ambitions for the fallout. The action movie director wanted the project to be a trilogy, and if it he gets a sequel, he’s going straight for it.
“I tried this time to make this a trilogy, but I am not sure even if I want it anymore,” Emmerich tells Collider. “I think if I do a sequel, I will make it a little bit more like the original Star Wars, the second one will have a huge cliffhanger. Because that’s totally lost on people. Everything always has to be clean cut. Why not leave them hanging and say, ‘we left you hanging, see the conclusion in two years’.”
Of course, Moonfall itself needs to come out and be successful before doing more becomes a question. Not one to do anything by half-measures, Emmerich plans to really go big if he gets to make another by filming two sequels back-to-back, like The Lord of the Rings. “You can save a lot of money,” he adds. Never let it be said the director of Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow isn’t frugal.
In Moonfall, two scientists, played by Halle Berry and The Conjuring star Patrick Wilson, and a conspiracy theorist, portrayed by John Bradley, discovered the Moon is hurtling towards us. Nobody believes them, so they must figure out a way to save Earth themselves.
But – shock! – something is controlling the Moon, and that malevolent force isn’t giving up without a fight. Emmerich teases another twist as well, in the ending, that would contribute to prospective sequels. “It’s about the Moon, and I really like what we did with the Moon. That was really cool what we did with the Moon,” he explains. “And then on top of it ends a little bit with a surprise, but I cannot give this away.”
We don’t have long to wait to find out. Moonfall opens in theatres on February 4. Check out the best robot movies for more progenies of the apocalypse.