Skyscraper (2018 film)

Skyscraper
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Rawson Marshall Thurber
Written by	Rawson Marshall Thurber
Produced by	Beau Flynn Dwayne Johnson Hiram Garcia Rawson Marshall Thurber
Starring	Dwayne Johnson Neve Campbell Chin Han Roland Møller Noah Taylor Byron Mann Pablo Schreiber Hannah Quinlivan
Cinematography	Robert Elswit
Edited by	Mike Sale Julian Clarke
Music by	Steve Jablonsky
Production companies	Legendary Pictures Flynn Picture Company Seven Bucks Productions BAD VERSION Productions
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	July 1, 2018 (2018-07-01) (Beijing) July 13, 2018 (2018-07-13) (United States)
Running time	102 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$125–129 million[2][3]
Box office	$304.9 million[2]

Skyscraper is a 2018 American action thriller film written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber. Produced by Legendary Pictures, Seven Bucks Productions and Flynn Picture Company, the film stars Dwayne Johnson in the lead role, with Neve Campbell, Chin Han, Roland Møller, Noah Taylor, Byron Mann, Pablo Schreiber, and Hannah Quinlivan in supporting roles. In the film, Will Sawyer, a former FBI agent, must rescue his family from a newly built Hong Kong skyscraper, the tallest in the world, after terrorists set the building on fire in an attempt to extort the property developer. The first non-comedy of Thurber's career, it also marks his second collaboration with Johnson, following Central Intelligence (2016).

Development started in May 2016 when Legendary Entertainment won the bidding war for a Chinese-set action adventure film. Johnson was cast to play the lead, while Thurber was attached as the film's scriptwriter, director and producer, with Flynn producing the film through his Flynn Picture Company, alongside Johnson's Seven Bucks Productions and Universal Pictures handling distribution rights. Apart from Johnson's casting, the casting call began from June to August 2017. Filming began in August 2017 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Additional photography and exteriors were filmed at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.

Skyscraper premiered in Beijing on July 1, 2018, and was released in the United States on July 13, 2018. Skyscraper underperformed at the box office, grossing over $304 million worldwide against its production budget of $125 million and prompting Legendary to end its distribution deal with Universal and start a new one with Warner Bros. Pictures.^[4] The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised Johnson's performance and the film's suspenseful scenes, but criticized the clichéd story and deemed too similar to The Towering Inferno (1974) and Die Hard (1988).^[5]