Doom (film)

Between 1994 and 1995, following the success of Doom II, Hollywood began gaining interest in producing a live-action film adaptation of Doom. Universal Pictures initially acquired the rights, which were later obtained by Columbia TriStar. Former CEO of id Software Todd Hollenshead stated that a number of factors prevented the project from moving forward such as the Columbine High School massacre, lack of producers, and poor scripts. The id Software team screened a presentation of Doom 3 to agents from Creative Artists Agency (CAA) to see if they were interested in the property.[11] Producers Lorenzo di Bonaventura and John Wells eventually obtained the rights.

Di Bonaventura and Wells initially set development for the film at Warner Bros., however, the duo moved development of the project to Universal after Warner Bros. failed to move the project into production after 15 months.[8] The terms of the deal with Universal included gross point royalties for the developer and rights holder.[11] In 2004, Enda McCallion was attached to direct the film and David Callaham was named the screenwriter, with the script loosely adapting elements from Doom 3.[8] Callaham's early draft featured the Cacodemon, Arch-Vile, and other demons from the games but were cut due to time and budgetary reasons.[12] In September 2004 McCallion dropped out as director and Andrzej Bartkowiak joined the project.[13] Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg were approached to polish the script's dialogue, but declined and Wesley Strick was hired instead.[12] Production was scheduled to begin in Winter 2004 in Prague.[14]

Arnold Schwarzenegger was considered for the lead. Vin Diesel was offered the lead but turned it down. Dwayne Johnson was offered the role of "John Grimm" but turned it down in favor of "Sarge", stating, "For some reason I was drawn more to Sarge, I thought "Sarge" was, to me, more interesting and had a darker side."[12] In September 2004, Karl Urban and Rosamund Pike were cast as John and Samantha Grimm.[15] The RRTS actors underwent military training under military advisor Tom McAdams.[12]

Monsters and creature effects for the film were created by Stan Winston Studios, supervised by John Rosengrant.[16][17] The visual effects were supervised by Jon Farhat. The film included 350 effects shots, the work was shared between two companies, Framestore who focused on character animation and creature work in 130 shots, and Double Negative who worked on environments, dimensional effects and futuristic weapons in about 200 shots. [17]

The film's score was composed by Clint Mansell, upon which he produced a remix of the Nine Inch Nails song "You Know What You Are?", which was used in the film's ending credits. The song "Switchback" by Celldweller was licensed for the trailers.

Doom received negative reviews from critics.[10] On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 19% based on 136 reviews, with an average rating of 3.92/10. The site's critical consensus states, "Sure to please fans of the video game, but lacking in plot and originality to please other moviegoers."[18] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average rating of 34 out of 100, based on reviews from 28 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[19] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B- on scale of A to F.[20]

Roger Ebert said, "Doom is like some kid came over and is using your computer and won't let you play."[21] Rob Gonsalves gave it two stars, citing incoherent action sequences, flat and humorless characters, and poor acting: "Only Richard Brake, as the sleazy and duplicitous grunt Portman, gives a performance of any interest, and even that's on the level of caricature."[22] Kim Newman of Empire magazine called it "Not quite as dreadful as Resident Evil: Apocalypse, but that's hardly a major achievement."[23][24]

Justin Chang of Variety gave the film a mixed review, he was critical of Johnsons performance but positive about the "tongue-in-cheek sensibility" and the faithful display of weapons from the game. In summary: "It's really not all that bad. Ultra-derivative bigscreen transplant of one of the most successful (and controversial) games ever made plays like a mutant cross between a biotech thriller and a zombie movie, with all the alien autopsies, blood-gushing protuberances and meaningless scientific jargon that come with the territory."[25] Richard James Havis of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "Plot, character development and dialogue are so sparse that the screenwriters are fortunate they're not paid by the word. But this basic approach doesn't render it ineffectual. There's so little to go wrong that those who like their entertainment mindless and violent will find little fault."[26] Chris Carle at IGN gave it 3 out of 5 and called it "Easily the best videogame-to-film adaptation yet", saying although it is not big on plot or characterization "it succeeds in the things it sets out to do".[27]

In a 2009 interview, Johnson described the film as an example of "trying and failing" to do a good video game adaptation, and that it was a cautionary tale of what "not to do".[28] John Carmack (co-founder of id Software and co-creator of Doom) spoke favorably of the film, stating, "I liked it. Nobody expects a video game movie to be Oscar material, but I thought it was a solid action movie with lots of fun nods to the gaming community."[29]

In 2009, Time listed the film on its list of top-10 worst video games movies.[30] Johnson received a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for his performance.[31]

Doom was released on VHS, UMD, and DVD on February 7, 2006,[32][33] HD DVD on April 26, 2006,[34] and on Blu-ray Disc on February 10, 2009.[35] The DVD, HD DVD, and Blu-ray releases only feature the unrated extended cut, with no options for the theatrical cut.[33][34][36] The DVD grossed $28.7 million in domestic video sales.[6]