Battleship is a 2012 American military science fiction action film based on the board game of the same name. The film was directed by Peter Berg from a script by brothers Jon and Erich Hoeber and stars Taylor Kitsch, Alexander Skarsgård, Brooklyn Decker, Rihanna, Tadanobu Asano, Hamish Linklater and Liam Neeson. Filming took place in Hawaii and on USS Missouri. In the film, the crews of a small group of warships are forced to battle against a naval fleet of extraterrestrial origin in order to thwart their destructive goals.

Battleship premiered in Tokyo on April 3, 2012, and was released by Universal Pictures in the United States on May 18, 2012. The film received generally negative reviews and underperformed at the box-office, grossing $303 million worldwide against a production budget of $209–220 million, losing both Universal and Hasbro $150 million.

In 2005, potentially habitable "Planet G" is discovered, and in 2006, a communications array to reach any extraterrestrial life is built in Oahu. There, Alex Hopper is arrested while attempting to impress Samantha "Sam" Shane, daughter of Admiral Terrance Shane. Alex’s brother, Commander Stone Hopper, forces Alex to join the U.S. Navy. Six years later, Alex is a lieutenant aboard the USS John Paul Jones and in a relationship with Sam, a physical therapist working with wounded veterans. While Stone is a model officer commanding the USS Sampson, the rebellious Alex, while showing plenty of potential, is facing a disciplinary discharge.

During the 2012 RIMPAC exercise, five alien spacecraft arrive. Their communications ship hits a satellite and crashes through the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong, while the others plunge into the waters off the coast of Hawaii. Sampson, John Paul Jones, and Japanese destroyer JDS Myōkō discover a floating structure that generates an impenetrable force field isolating the Hawaiian Islands and the three destroyers from the rest of the world, and jamming all radar and communications inside. Three alien warships surface and open fire; Myōkō is destroyed, Sampson is lost with all hands including Stone, and John Paul Jones’ command crew are killed, leaving Alex to reluctantly assume command as the highest-ranking sailor on board. John Paul Jones disengages to recover Myōkō’s survivors, including Captain Yugi Nagata, while alien drones destroy Oahu’s military bases.

Hiking near the communications array, Sam and retired US Army lieutenant colonel and double amputee Mick Canales discover the aliens' presence. They encounter scientist Cal Zapata, who reveals the aliens have taken over the array to re-establish communications with their home planet. The John Paul Jones’ crew captures an alien which telepathically links with Alex, revealing their history of conquering worlds. More aliens board and retrieve their comrade while one starts sabotaging the ship. Its armored suit proves impervious to small-arms fire but is obliterated by the destroyer’s 5-inch gun, and the captured alien's helmet reveals their eyes are sensitive to sunlight. Ashore, Sam, Mick, and Zapata recover his spectrum analyzer, using it to radio John Paul Jones that the aliens will contact their planet and most likely call for reinforcements when the facility’s satellite is in position in four hours.

As night falls, Captain Nagata suggests using the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tsunami warning buoys around Hawaii to track the warships without radar; this plan works and allows John Paul Jones to destroy two of them. The third proves too elusive, so they lure it into facing east as the sun rises. Alex and Nagata shoot out its bridge windows with sniper rifles, blinding its crew with sunlight and allowing John Paul Jones to destroy it. The destroyer then attempts to target the communications array, but is sunk by drones launched from the alien structure emitting the force field; Alex, Nagata, and several other sailors barely escape.

The survivors commandeer the decommissioned World War II battleship USS Missouri with the aid of retired Navy veterans. The floating structure is revealed to be a giant mothership, but Missouri disables the force field, allowing Admiral Shane to scramble fighter jets from the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan. The battleship’s turret carrying the ship’s last shell is disabled, forcing the sailors to carry the shell to the ship's last functioning turret. Sam, Mick, and Cal stall the aliens at the array, where Mick kills an alien soldier. Alex uses the final shell to destroy the array, rendering the Missouri defenseless, but the mothership’s drones are destroyed by Boeing F/A-18 fighter jets, as reinforcements carpet bomb the mothership, eliminating the alien threat.

Alex is promoted to lieutenant commander and presented with a Silver Star and his brother's posthumous Navy Cross. Admiral Shane promises Alex will soon have a ship of his own, while he is also recommended to become a Navy SEAL. Alex asks him for Sam’s hand in marriage, and the admiral initially refuses but invites Alex to lunch.

• Taylor Kitsch as Lieutenant Alex Hopper, an undisciplined yet highly spirited U.S. Navy Weapons Officer assigned to USS John Paul Jones.
• Alexander Skarsgård as Commander Stone Hopper, Alex's older brother, Commanding Officer of USS Sampson.
• Rihanna as Gunner's Mate Second Class Cora Raikes, on USS John Paul Jones.
• Brooklyn Decker as Samantha Shane, a physical therapist and Alex's girlfriend.
• Tadanobu Asano as Captain Yugi Nagata, JMSDF, Commanding Officer of JDS Myōkō and Alex Hopper's rival turned friend.
• Liam Neeson as Admiral Terrance Shane, Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and father of Samantha Shane.
• Hamish Linklater as Cal Zapata, a scientist working on O'ahu.
• Jesse Plemons as Boatswain's mate Seaman Jimmy "Ordy" Ord, on USS John Paul Jones.
• John Tui as Chief Petty Officer Walter "Beast" Lynch, a crew mate of USS John Paul Jones.
• Gregory D. Gadson as Lieutenant Colonel Mick Canales, a U.S. Army combat veteran and double amputee.
• Adam Godley as Dr. Nogrady, the scientist leading the Beacon program.
• Peter MacNicol as the U.S. Secretary of Defense
• Jerry Ferrara as Sampson JOOD Strodell
• Stephen Bishop as JPJ OOD
• Josh Pence as Chief Moore
• Rami Malek as Lieutenant Hill
• Louis Lombardi as The Bartender
• Gary Grubbs as USAF Chief of Staff

Battleship was greenlit with a production budget of $150 million but went through a troubled pre-production. Universal at one point considered canceling the film, which would have resulted in a $30 million loss. However, new chairman Adam Fogelson decided the studio would lose less money if they increased the budget of the film instead of outright cancelling it.^[4] Filming was set to take place in Australia's Gold Coast in 2010, but changed location due to a lack of Australian government tax incentives and a high estimated budget of $220 million.^[5]

Filming took place in the United States on the Hawaiian islands of Maui and Oahu, as well as on the mainland where they had to film a few apartment scenes in Sherman Oaks, California, and they had also filmed a driving scene along with a shootout in Playa del Rey, California.^[6] Some scenes were also filmed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.^[7]

Further filming was done on USS Missouri.^[8] Also featured in the film were the real-life guided missile destroyers USS Benfold (DDG-65), USS John Paul Jones (DDG-53), and USS Sampson (DDG-102) all of which are active members of the US Navy Pacific Fleet. A Kongō-class destroyer of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force also appeared in the film.^[9]

The Science & Entertainment Exchange provided science consultation for the film.^[10]

Due to his success with the Transformers franchise, composer Steve Jablonsky was chosen to score the official soundtrack. The soundtrack features original compositions from Jablonsky and features rock guitarist Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine. Director Peter Berg stated:

Working with composers often is a really frustrating experience because you speak a different language and, oftentimes, they take two or three jobs, at the same time. They're difficult and pretentious and they're tormented artists. I'm not going to name names, but most of them are. One guy who isn't is Hans Zimmer, who taught Steve Jablonsky. We had a couple of meetings, and I came up with this idea. The day I met with him, I had had an MRI for my neck, and they make that really scary sound. I was like, 'I just had this MRI, and when I was in there, I was thinking about the aliens, and it was really scary.' And he was like, 'Oh, that's awesome!' He went and recorded MRIs and made music out of MRIs, and that's the theme of the aliens in our film. He is no drama, and just goes and gets it done. The score is big and awesome and scary and driving. At times, it's very simple and acoustic and touching and emotional. He's the best I've ever worked with.^[24]

Additional music credits

• Stone Temple Pilots – "Interstate Love Song"
• Billy Squier – "Everybody Wants You"
• Henry Mancini – "The Pink Panther Theme"
• Lucky Clark – "My Lai"
• The Black Keys – "Gold on the Ceiling"
• Citizen Cope – "One Lovely Day"
• Dropkick Murphys – "Hang 'Em High"
• Carl Perkins – "Blue Suede Shoes"
• AC/DC – "Hard as a Rock"
• ZZ Top – "I Gotsta Get Paid"
• Royal Philharmonic Orchestra – "Waltz: On the Beautiful Blue Danube"
• AC/DC – "Thunderstruck"
• Band of Horses – "The Funeral"
• Creedence Clearwater Revival – "Fortunate Son"

The film was originally planned to be released in 2011, but was rescheduled to May 18, 2012, in the United States.^[25] The film's world premiere took place in Tokyo on April 3, 2012.^{[citation needed]} The event was attended by director Peter Berg, actors Taylor Kitsch, Brooklyn Decker, Alexander Skarsgård and Rihanna. Later on they initiated a Press Tour visiting Madrid, London and Cartagena de Indias to promote the film.^{[citation needed]}

A video game based on the film, titled Battleship, was released on May 15, 2012 to coincide with the film's international release. The game was published by Activision and developed by Double Helix Games for PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360, and developed by Magic Pockets for Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo DS.

Hasbro released several new editions of the classic board game, including an update to the regular fleet versus fleet game and a "movie edition", featuring the alien vessels and a card-based play mode.^[62]

• American Warships, the mockbuster film released at the same time and featuring one of USS Missouri's sister ships, USS Iowa.
• Under Siege, a 1992 film starring Steven Seagal also set aboard USS Missouri, but filmed on the USS Alabama.
• Battle: Los Angeles, a 2011 film portraying an alien force in direct combat with the U.S. military.