Armageddon is a 1998 American disaster/science fiction-action film directed by Michael Bay, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and released on Disney's Touchstone Pictures label. The movie tells of a group of blue-collar deep-core drillers sent by NASA to stop an asteroid on a collision course with Earth. It featured an all-star cast including Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Billy Bob Thornton, Liv Tyler, Will Patton, Peter Stormare, Michael Clarke Duncan and Steve Buscemi. It is now released on Blu-ray.

Armageddon opened in theaters only two-and-a-half months after a similar impact-based movie, Deep Impact, which starred Morgan Freeman. Astronomers described Deep Impact as being more scientifically accurate,^[2] but Armageddon fared better at the box office.^[3] They were about equally received by critics (Armageddon scoring 41% and Deep Impact scoring 46% on the 'Tomatometer'). The film was an international box-office smash, despite the mixed to negative reviews from the critics. The film became, worldwide, the highest-grossing film of that year, surpassing the Steven Spielberg war epic Saving Private Ryan.