Halle Berry to Star in Roland Emmerich’s Space Epic ‘Moonfall’

By Dave McNary

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Halle Berry is going galactic. The actress will star alongside Josh Gad in “Moonfall,” a sci-fi space epic from director Roland Emmerich.

“Moonfall” centers on a mysterious force knocking the moon from its orbit around Earth, which sends it hurtling on a collision course with life as we know it. In response, a ragtag team launches an impossible last-ditch mission into space to land on the lunar surface and save Earth from annihilation.

Berry will play a NASA astronaut-turned-administrator, whose previous space mission holds a clue about an impending catastrophe. Gad will portray a scientific genius who has correctly concluded that the moon has fallen out of its orbit. Emmerich will direct the movie from a script he penned with his “2012” co-writer Harald Kloser and Spenser Cohen.

Lionsgate plans to release the movie in 2021 and has slated for production to begin this fall in Montreal, pending safety measures around the coronavirus pandemic.

AGC sold North American rights in November to Lionsgate, the studio that distributed Emmerich’s World War II drama “Midway.” It earned $141 million at the global box office, but was a massive financial misstep because it cost $100 million to produce.

Emmerich, whose other credits include “Independence Day” movies, “2012,” “White House Down,” “The Day After Tomorrow,” is producing under his Centropolis banner.
Kloser is producing through his company, Street Entertainment. Dennis Wang, James Wang, J.P. Pettinato, Marco Shepherd, Ute Emmerich, Carsten Lorenz, and Stuart Ford are executing producing.

Berry recently wrapped her directorial debut “Bruised,” in which she also stars as a female MMA fighter. Her recent credits includes “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum” and “Kidnap.”

Berry is represented by WME and Management 360.