How Armageddon Rocketed Ben Affleck to Movie Star Status

Even Bay clarified in a 2013 blog post (since deleted) that he had nothing to apologize for. “And still today Armageddon is still one of the most shown movies on cable TV,” he wrote. “And yes, I’m proud of the movie. Enough said.”

Hensleigh, whose screenwriting credits also include Jumanji and The Rock, told E!, “I like to think that a lot of these pictures stand up really well, and the ones that were as commercially successful as Armageddon, they were harbingers of the kind of character-based action pictures that are successful today—particularly the Marvel movies that are heavily character-oriented, and they’re mission movies.”

If they set out to remake Armageddon, “the effects would be done differently because technology’s changed so much,” he said, “but I like to think that it would be releasable right now, and it would be just as big a hit.”

Copy that.

With this mission accomplished, catch Armageddon on Fandango and keep scrolling to see Ben Affleck through the years: