Lionsgate will release Roland Emmerich's upcoming sci-fi disaster film, Moonfall, on February 4, 2022. First announced in 2019, Lionsgate acquired distribution rights for the film based on an original script written by Emmerich, Spencer Cohen, and Emmerich's long term music collaborator and co-writer of his film 2012, Harold Kloser. Kloser has composed all of Emmerich's movies except Anonymous (2011) and it will be the second time he'll take on writing duties after apocalyptic drama 2012 (2009).

Lionsgate will release the Roland Emmerich film in North America, whereas, AGC Studios will handle international distribution with partners and financiers CAA Media Finance, East West Bank, MUFG Union Bank, and SPG3 Entertainment.

Moonfall will bring another one of Emmerich's signature disaster stories to the screen and will cast an ensemble including Halle Berry (X-Men) and Patrick Wilson (The Conjuring) in lead roles. Other members of the cast include John Bradley (Game of Thrones), Michael Peña (Narcos: Mexico), Charlie Plummer (Spontaneous), and Donald Sutherland (The Hunger Games). Josh Gad was cast in the film but was replaced by Bradley due to scheduling conflicts; whereas, Peña replaced Stanley Tucci as the latter's schedule was heavily affected due to traveling restrictions imposed during the pandemic.

While Emmerich has previously helmed stories concerning alien invasions, Godzilla's mayhem, the apocalypse, and even an attack and seige on the White House, Moonfall will deal with the planet's moon going out of orbit, threatening the very existence of Earth. In the film, a mysterious force knocks the Moon off its orbit and sends it on a collision course with Earth.

This causes a team to opt for a last-minute effort to save everyone through a deep-space mission. The team includes NASA executive Jo Fowler (Berry) and astronaut Brian Harper (Wilson), with a conspiracy theorist K.C. Houseman (Bradley) joining forces with them. However, their mission unravels some dark secrets about the mysterious force causing this space anomaly, while realizing that the Moon they are trying to stop from colliding with the planet is not exactly the extra-terrestrial body they have believed and studied for eons.

Emmerich has helmed big-budget disaster films which includes The Day After Tomorrow, 2012, and White House Down, a list that will have a new inclusion with Moonfall, which has a production budget of $140M. This makes Moonfall the most expensive independent film, which was only picked up for distribution after its sales launch at Cannes in 2019.

While we have watched movies where astronauts try to destroy an incoming asteroid, we have never had a plot involving an important planetary body on its way to collide with, and destroy, the planet. Roland Emmerich's films, though not scientifically accurate, have always lived up to the excitement and entertainment aspect and audiences have given favorable response to them. With Moonfall, we definitely expect that that film will live up to the hype.

Moonfall will release February 4th, 2022. Currently the film's release slot is between Sony's Uncharted, releasing two weeks before Moonfall, and Morbius, which will release a week after. This news originated at Deadline.