Rampage Directed by Brad Peyton Produced by Brad PeytonBeau FlynnJohn RickardHiram Garcia Screenplay by Ryan EngleCarlton CuseRyan J. CondalAdam Sztykiel Story by Ryan Engle Based on Rampage by Starring Dwayne JohnsonNaomie HarrisMalin ÅkermanJake LacyJoe ManganielloJeffrey Dean Morgan Music by Andrew Lockington Edited by Jim MayBob Ducsay[1] Cinematography Jaron Presant Production company New Line CinemaAccess Entertainment[2] (uncredited)RatPac-Dune Entertainment[2] (uncredited)Flynn Picture CompanyWrigley PicturesASAP EntertainmentSeven Bucks Productions Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures Release date April 4, 2018 (2018-04-04) (Microsoft Theater)April 13, 2018 (2018-04-13) (United States) Running time 107 minutes[3] Language English Country United States Budget $120–140 million[4][5] Box office $428 million[6]

Rampage is a 2018 American science fiction monster film directed by Brad Peyton, loosely based on the video game series of the same name by Midway Games. The film stars Dwayne Johnson, Naomie Harris, Malin Åkerman, Jake Lacy, Joe Manganiello, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. It follows a primatologist who must team up with George, an albino gorilla who turns into a raging creature of enormous size as a result of a rogue experiment, to stop two other mutated animals from destroying Chicago.

The film is the third collaboration between Peyton and Johnson, following Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012) and San Andreas (2015). Even though their company is uncredited, Rampage also marked the final released Warner Bros. film to be financed by Access Entertainment/RatPac-Dune Entertainment as the studio had ended their partnership with the company due to sexual harassment allegations against RatPac-Dune owner Brett Ratner,[2] and the final project to be produced by RatPac overall before the company went on hiatus.

Principal photography began in April 2017 in Chicago. The film was released in the United States on April 13, 2018, by Warner Bros. Pictures, in 2D, RealD 3D and IMAX. The film had grossed over $428 million worldwide and received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its performances (particularly Johnson and Morgan), action sequences and visual effects, but criticism of its screenplay, pacing and storyline.[7][8][9]

Athena-1, a space station owned by gene manipulation company Energyne, is destroyed after a laboratory rat mutates and wreaks havoc. Dr. Kerry Atkins, the lone surviving crew member, is ordered by Energyne CEO Claire Wyden to retrieve canisters containing a pathogen. Atkins flees in the escape pod when the station implodes, but it disintegrates upon re-entry, killing her and leaving a trail of debris across the United States. One canister is swallowed by an American crocodile in the Everglades, and another lands in a Wyoming forest where a wolf is exposed to the pathogen.

Primatologist Davis Okoye, a former US Army Special Forces soldier and member of an anti-poaching unit, works at the San Diego Wildlife Sanctuary. He has befriended a rare albino western lowland gorilla named George, having saved it from the poachers who killed his mother, and communicates with George using sign language. One of the canisters crash-lands in George's habitat, and George is exposed to the pathogen.

As George grows considerably larger and more aggressive, Davis is contacted by genetic engineer Dr. Kate Caldwell, who explains that the pathogen was developed by Energyne to rewrite genes on a massive scale. She had hoped to advance CRISPR research as a potential cure for diseases, but discovered Energyne's plans to use it as a biological weapon, and was fired and falsely sent to prison, resulting in the death of her terminally ill brother. George escapes from captivity and goes on a rampage at the preserve. He is calmed, but George is captured by a government team led by Agent Harvey Russell and put on an airplane. Meanwhile, Claire and her brother Brett oversee a mercenary team's attempt to capture the mutated wolf, Ralph, which ends in failure and the slaughter of the entire team.

Claire, hoping to capture Ralph and use George to cover up her plot, uses a massive transmitter atop the Willis Tower to lure the animals – engineered to respond aggressively to a certain radio frequency – to Chicago, unconcerned about the massive risk to civilian lives this poses. George reacts violently to the sound and crashes the plane, though Davis, Kate, and Russell parachute to safety. George survives the crash and joins Ralph as they make their way to Chicago, and Davis and Kate are aided by Russell in stealing a military helicopter in pursuit.

They arrive to find George and Ralph tearing through the city as the military struggles to contain them. The situation worsens when the mutated crocodile, Lizzie, joins the duo. Planning to steal a counter-serum to turn the mutated animals back to normal, Davis and Kate infiltrate Energyne's base of operations at the Willis Tower and take several vials of the serum, but are caught by Claire and Brett. Claire reveals that the serum only eliminates the animals' enhanced aggressiveness rather than revert them to their normal size, and shoots Davis, but he survives. When George climbs to the top of the tower, Claire orders Davis to distract it while she attempts to escape with Kate at gunpoint. Kate slips a vial into Claire's handbag and pushes her toward George, who eats Claire, crushing her along with the serum, returning him to his normal personality. Below, Russell takes incriminating evidence from Brett, who is crushed to death by falling debris. As the damaged tower topples, Davis and Kate survive by crash-landing a helicopter on Federal Plaza.

Davis stays in the city to help George defeat the other two monsters, while Kate and Russell rush to prevent the military from deploying a MOAB against the creatures. George fights Ralph, whom Davis tricks into flying towards Lizzie, who decapitates him using her jaws. Lizzie chases Davis, but George intervenes in time for Davis to incapacitate the crocodile with grenades. However, Lizzie survives and overpowers George, who is impaled by a rebar. Davis distracts Lizzie using a fallen Apache attack helicopter, but is nearly killed before George stabs Lizzie through the eye with the same rebar, killing her. With the threat neutralized, the airstrike is aborted. In the aftermath, George and Davis, joined by Kate and Russell, help clear the city of debris and rescue civilians.

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Rampage was released on April 13, 2018, in 3D and IMAX, by Warner Bros. Pictures, after initially being set for release a week later, on April 20. The release date was moved up after Avengers: Infinity War had also shifted its release up by a week, to April 27, so as to provide Rampage with a two-week cushion.[24][25] The film was coincidentally released 3 weeks after Pacific Rim Uprising, another American Template:Lang film.

As part of the promotion, three new games were made available: one is a browser game called Rampage: City Smash; another an arcade beat 'em up playing more as a redemption game, was made available on Dave & Buster's; and a free VR game called Project Rampage VR.[26]

Rampage was released on Digital HD on June 26, 2018, and on 4K UHD, Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray and DVD on July 17, 2018.[27][28] To date, Rampage has sold $28.7 million worth of DVDs and Blu-rays in North America.[29]

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Director Brad Peyton was asked if the rat in the beginning of the film was based on "Larry" from the Atari Lynx port of the original game. Peyton responded: "We didn't name him Larry, but I'm going to use that, if there is a sequel, I'm going to make the rat's name Larry".[30] The film was also speculated to be a prequel to The Walking Dead television series[31] because of the similarities between Negan and Harvey Russell, both of whom are played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan.[32]

Rampage was nominated for three Teen Choice Awards, in the category Choice Sci-Fi Movie, and for the acting performances of Dwayne Johnson (Choice Sci-Fi Movie Actor) and Naomie Harris (Choice Sci-Fi Movie Actress).[33]

In late March 2018, German director Uwe Boll, famous for his movie adaptions of video games, threatened to file a lawsuit against Warner Bros. if the studio did not change the film's title. Boll, who produced and directed an unrelated Rampage film trilogy, about a spree killing revolutionary who shares Boll's political views, claimed that the Warner Bros. film would "shrink" his brand and revenues he could use for future installments of his Rampage films. He also went on to say that the Warner Bros. film "confuses the audience" and is "one of those typical feelgood, popcorn movies..."[34] As of 2021, Boll has not sued.

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