Development and writing

On March 8, 2011, it was announced^[7][8] that Summit Entertainment, Participant Media, and Image Nation had acquired the film rights to The New York Times' article "Deepwater Horizon's Final Hours",^[4][9] written by David Barstow, David S. Rohde, and Stephanie Saul, and published on December 25, 2010, about the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent oil spill. Matthew Sand was set to write the screenplay, while Lorenzo di Bonaventura was in talks to produce the film under his Di Bonaventura Pictures banner.^[7] Summit and Participant Media/Imagination would also finance the film. On acquiring the article to develop into a film, the president of Participant Media, Ricky Strauss said,

This is a perfect fit for us–a suspenseful and inspiring real-life account of everyday people whose values are tested in the face of an impending environmental disaster.^[10]

On July 24, 2012, Ric Roman Waugh was in talks with the studios to direct the film, Mark Vahradian was set to produce the film along with Bonaventura, and Lions Gate Entertainment also joined the project to produce and distribute.^[11] On July 11, 2014, it was announced that All Is Lost's director J. C. Chandor had been hired to direct the film; the screenplay's first draft was written by Sand, while Matthew Michael Carnahan wrote the second draft.^[12] In early October, it was confirmed that Summit would distribute the film, not Lionsgate.^[13] On January 30, 2015, it was reported that Lone Survivor director Peter Berg had replaced Chandor, and would re-team with Wahlberg on the film. Chandor exited due to creative differences.^[14]

Casting

On August 19, 2014, casting began, with actor Mark Wahlberg added in the lead role of the film.^[15] Wahlberg plays Mike Williams, a real-life electronics technician on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. On March 18, 2015, Gina Rodriguez was set to play a woman named Andrea Fleytas, who was on the bridge on board the Deepwater Horizon at the time of the blowout, and frantically tried to contact the Coast Guard.^[16] On April 10, 2015, Deadline reported that Dylan O'Brien was in talks to play Caleb Holloway.^[17] Kurt Russell joined the film on the same day O'Brien was in talks.^[18] Soon after, John Malkovich was confirmed cast, as a BP representative who fatally underestimates the dangers of working on the rig.^[19] Kate Hudson was announced as a cast member in May 2015, and playing the wife of Wahlberg's character; her role was her first on-screen pairing with Russell, her stepfather, although they shared no dialogue in the film, only a hug.^[6][20]

Filming

Principal photography on the film began on April 27, 2015.^[21] It was officially announced by Lionsgate on May 18, 2015, that filming had begun in New Orleans, Louisiana. Production designer Chris Seagers built a 70 ft (21m) tall, 85% scale version of the Deepwater Horizon rig in the parking lot of the abandoned Six Flags New Orleans park. The set included a functional helipad and elevators. Beneath it was a tank filled with two million gallons of water, simulating the Gulf of Mexico.^[22]

The film cost a total of $156 million to produce, with $122 million spent in Louisiana. As a result, Lionsgate (the studio financing the film) received a $37.7 million subsidy from the state, under Louisiana's film incentive program.^[23] Later estimates put the production cost at $110 million.^[24]

Box office

Deepwater Horizon grossed $61.4 million in the United States and Canada and $60.4 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $121.8 million, against a net production budget of around $110 million.^[1] The Hollywood Reporter judged it one of 2016's fourteen biggest box-office bombs.^[26]

In the United States and Canada, Deepwater Horizon was projected to gross $16–20 million from 3,259 theaters in its opening weekend, although some publications noted Wahlberg's films tend to outperform box office projections.^[27][28] The film made $860,000 from its Thursday night previews at 2,400 theaters, and $7.1 million on its first day.^[29] In total, the film earned $20.2 million during its opening weekend, debuting at number two at the box office behind Tim Burton's Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.^[30] The film was released at a time when the marketplace was already dominated by two other adult-skewing pictures, The Magnificent Seven and Sully.^[31] The film over-performed in the Gulf Coast region, and also did well in IMAX, which earned $2.7 million of the film's total opening weekend.^[31]

The film's opening weekend was regarded as underwhelming and a disappointment, given its hefty production budget, but dramas released during the fall, and Wahlberg's films, tend to have box office legs.^[31][32] Forbes called the opening "good, but not great", especially considering the solid reviews.^[33] While most adult-skewing films would generally be made on a conservative budget in order to protect themselves financially, Deepwater Horizon was produced for $110–120 million (after tax rebates). Box office analyst Jeff Block said the film was "a hard sell. This should have been a $60 million film. The budget was out of control." Recent real-life drama films such as Sully ($60 million budget), Bridge of Spies ($40 million) and Captain Phillips ($55 million) were made for more moderate amounts. The Hollywood Reporter noted that when Hollywood spends north of $100 million on a film, it is intended for a much broader audience, but that was not the case for Deepwater Horizon, as the main demographics were adults, with 67% of the total ticket buyers during its opening weekend being over the age of 35.^[3] Another possible reason for the film's mediocre debut was its marketing miss, which was also a subject of criticism; from the outset, Lionsgate marketed the film as a heroic tale versus an issues-oriented movie. The name "Deepwater Horizon" itself is more associated with the aftermath of the spill than the heroics of the men who survived and helped their fellow workers.^[3] The Hollywood Reporter estimated the film lost at least $60 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues.^[34]

Outside North America, Deepwater Horizon opened simultaneously in 52 markets, and grossed $12.4 million, of which IMAX made up $1 million 119 IMAX screens.^[35] The U.K. was the top earning market, with $2.6 million, followed by the Middle East ($1.5 million), Taiwan ($1.4 million), Australia ($1.3 million), and Russia ($1.2 million).^[35][36] In China, the film opened on Tuesday, November 15, where it delivered a six-day opening weekend of $7.9 million, debuting in third place, behind local film I Am Not Madame Bovary and the continuation of Doctor Strange. The next major markets to open were Germany (November 24) and Spain (November 25).^[37]

Critical response

Deepwater Horizon received generally positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 83% based on 260 reviews with an average rating of 7.00/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Deepwater Horizon makes effective use of its titular man-made disaster to deliver an uncommonly serious – yet still suitably gripping – action thriller."^[38] On Metacritic, the film has a score 68 out of 100 based on 52 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[39] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.^[40]

Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a positive review, writing, "ruggedness and resilience counts for far more in the characterizations here than does nuance, and everyone delivers as required. From a craft and technical point of view, the film is all but seamless, a credit to the extra care taken to avoid a CGI look."^[41] Mike Ryan of Uproxx praised the film's performances and ability to make audiences angry at BP: "I'll be honest, I didn't think we needed a movie about this subject. I've changed my mind. And, if nothing else, I hope it gets people angry again, because the people who did this to our planet, and killed 11 people in the process, got off too easy."^[42] Benjamin Lee of The Guardian praised Berg's direction as "admirably, uncharacteristically restrained...[He] stages the action horribly well, capturing the panic and gruesome mayhem without the film ever feeling exploitative. It's spectacularly constructed, yet it doesn't forget about the loss of life, ensuring that, despite thin characterisation, the impact is felt."^[43]

Former crew members started their own crowd-funded documentary project before the film's release, out of frustration with factual liberties taken in the film script and in the media.^[44]

Accolades