Deep Impact vs. Armageddon

Verbal Diorama · May 14, 2026 · 1h 1m · transcript

In the summer of 1998, Hollywood delivered two versions of the apocalypse within eight weeks of each other, and the story of how that happened is almost as dramatic as either film.

Deep Impact, directed by Mimi Leder and released on 8th May, had been in development since the late 1970s, tracing its origins to producers Richard Zanuck and David Brown's desire to remake the 1951 sci-fi film When Worlds Collide. The project was ultimately merged with Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke's The Hammer of God, before Spielberg, occupied with Amistad, handed the director's chair to…