NASA Wanted Nothing To Do With This Sci-Fi Movie That Critics Hated

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Many, many movies have been made about space travel. NASA has had various levels of involvement in some of these films over the years, at times advising directors and producers on what would or would not make sense. But NASA made darn sure to distance itself from one particular found footage movie from the early 2010s.

That movie is 2011’s “Apollo 18.” Directed by Gonzalo López-Gallego, it’s one of those found footage movies that nobody really talks about anymore. It positions itself in true found footage fashion, presenting hours of footage that had been classified for decades regarding a secret mission that ended very badly. Astronauts John Grey (Ryan Robbins), Nathan Walker (Lloyd Owen), and Benjamin Anderson (Warren Christie) are on what was supposed to be a routine mission, but they discover a Soviet space capsule and a dead cosmonaut. Unfortunately, they soon learn how he died.

Like most examples from this genre, the film tries to position itself as “real,” but is no more than fiction. The trailer even included the following text to help make it feel like audiences were seeing something they weren’t supposed to see:

“In 1972, the United States sent two astronauts on a secret mission to the moon. Despite decades of denial by NASA and the Department of Defense, classified footage of the mission was leaked to the media.”

“Apollo 18” was supposed to kick off a big trilogy that was scrapped. Why? Critics were very unkind to the movie upon its initial release. It currently holds a lousy 24% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Released by Dimension Films, it earned $26 million at the box office on a reported $5 million budget, so it might have actually made money — just not enough to justify the once-planned sequels.

NASA initially was willing to work with the producers of the found footage sci-fi/horror flick, and even listed it as a feature film collaboration ahead of the release. However, NASA issued a reminder that “Apollo 18” is not a documentary, putting a lot of distance between the organization and the movie. Bert Ulrich, a NASA media spokesperson, had this to say at the time:

“‘Apollo 18’ is not a documentary. The film is a work of fiction, and we always knew that. We were minimally involved with this picture. We never even saw a rough cut. The idea of portraying the ‘Apollo 18’ mission as authentic is simply a marketing ploy. Perhaps a bit of a ‘Blair Witch Project’ strategy to generate hype.”

Evidently, the brass at NASA were less than amused with the notion of positioning this found footage thrill ride as an authentic piece of unearthed footage that had been covered up by the government for years — so much so that they publicly distanced themselves from it, and even threw some shade at the marketing. This is far from the only time that the famed U.S. space organization has had issues with a Hollywood release. NASA was furious over the marketing campaign for “2012,” for example.

At the same time, members of the organization have also been happy to chime in when they feel something is better representative of space exploration. The Apple TV series “For All Mankind” got a NASA astronaut’s stamp of approval for its accuracy. Unfortunately, no such approval was offered to this oft-forgotten relic from the bygone peak found footage era of horror.

You can grab “Apollo 18” on Blu-ray or DVD from Amazon.