Stargate

Roland Emmerich was a celebrated director of small-budget science fiction films when he teamed up with American actor/producer Dean Devlin to make the high-kicking Jean-Claude Van Damme film Universal Soldier in 1992. The movie was a box-office success, and Emmerich followed it up with the interstellar action flick Stargate, a surprise hit that spawned a television series. His sci-fi blockbusters Independence Day (1996, with Will Smith) and Godzilla (1998, with Matthew Broderick) and The Patriot (2000, with Mel Gibson) placed him solidly in the class of big-time movie makers.

Studio Lions Gate
Lionsgate Entertainment Corporation is a Canadian entertainment company that originated in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Dean Devlin producer
Oliver Eberle producer
Ute Emmerich co-producer
Mario Kassar executive producer
Joel B. Michaels producer
Ramsey Thomas line producer: pre-production
Peter Winther associate producer

The unexpected box office takings of this sleeper sci-fi hit no doubt gave other sci-fi projects the green light and so 1995 saw more than the usual number of SF flicks. For that alone it must be thanked by special effects aficionados. Post-Stargate sci-fi movies seem to offer little else - witness the team behind this film, Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin's next effort: Independence Day

Total lifetime grosses
Domestic: $71,567,262
Foreign: $125,000,000
Opening Weekend: $16,651,018

Stargate received mostly poor reviews gaining a 43% rating on review collection website Rottentomatoes.com. Most of the negative reviews focused on the overuse of special effects, thinness of plot and excessive use of clichés with Roger Ebert going so far as to say, "the movie Ed Wood, about the worst director of all time, was made to prepare us for Stargate." However the positive reviews stated that it was an "instant camp classic", and praised the film for its special effects and entertainment value, with Chris Hicks of the Deseret News calling it "Star Wars meets Ben Hur

Synopsis: Two very different men join forces to unravel the mystery of a stargate, an ancient human transmitter, discovered in the Egyptian desert. Once activated, it enables scientists and the military to travel light years from earth, to a strange and alien world, where the visitors must overcome an enigmatic ruler