Film productions around the world are still on hold as we wait for the all-clear, but that doesn't mean Hollywood is at a complete standstill. New projects are still being planned for the future, and one of them is the next big disaster epic from Roland Emmerich. Josh Gad became the first the actor to sign on to Moonfall, which will see humanity trying to prevent Earth's satellite from colliding with the planet, and now word has come that the film has found it's female lead in John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum co-star Halle Berry.
According to Lionsgate, the Oscar winner will play a former astronaut who is now a NASA administrator. Her particular importance to the plot comes from a previous space mission, which will somehow be connected to the current impending catastrophe.
Josh Gad was previously announced as being part of Moonfall. He'll play the scientist who first discovers that the moon is falling out of its orbit. This leads to an outer space mission where a "ragtag team" will go to the moon in an attempt to prevent the destruction of Earth.
Halle Berry and Josh Gad probably aren't the first two names one would think of when putting together a team to save the world, so it looks like the 'ragtag" part of the concept is coming together quite well.
Since the focus of Moonfall will clearly be the team of heroes, there are certainly more casting announcements to come. Hopefully, we'll see some other great, but unexpected, names joining the team. But Halle Berry is a nice addition to that cast. She impressed with her action-heavy performance in John Wick: Chapter 3, and while Moonfall is probably going to be light on the gunplay, it will almost certainly not be lacking in action. This is the man who brought us Independence Day, after all.
In addition to directing Moonfall, Roland Emmerich co-wrote the script with Spenser Cohen as well as Harald Kloser who previously wrote 2012 with Emmerich, The director's last big action epic was the historically based Midway.
Production of Moonfall is looking to get underway this fall, with eyes on on as yet unspecified 2021 release date. Of course, that will almost certainly be contingent on a lot of external factors. While it feels like film productions are going to be getting back under way sooner rather than later, there's still a lot of unknowns on the horizon that could still force major shifts in future Hollywood releases.
Moonfall might be just the movie we all need by the time it comes around next year. A completely over-the-top disaster epic where, one assumes, humanity prevails, sounds like exactly the sort of thing I would like to watch on the big screen.
