Since the September 2nd release of the Weinstein Company’s movie, Apollo 18, the internet has been abuzz with conspiracy theories about NASA’s Apollo Program. Although the movie begins based in fact, the movie is a sci-fi piece interlaced with a touch of horror. NASA had originally planned for three more Apollo missions (Apollo 18 – 20), but they were cancelled due to budget issues. The final manned mission to the moon was Apollo 17 (AS-512), with a three-man crew of astronauts Eugene Cernan, Ronald B. Evans, and Harrison H. Schmitt. Eugene Cernan was the commander of Apollo 17 and is the last human to have walked on the moon.
Apollo 18 press releases push the “reality” of the film, questioning why there were no Apollo 18 or 19 missions since they were both paid for and astronauts trained for the specific missions. The movie was released with the official tagline: “Decades-old found footage from NASA’s abandoned Apollo 18 mission, where two American astronauts were sent on a secret expedition, reveals the reason the U.S. has never returned to the moon.”
NASA has been quick to declare that they have had no official involvement in the film; however, they did grant the producers permission to use the official NASA “meatball” logo. Bert Ulrich, NASA’s liaison for multimedia, film and television collaborations, stated, “We were always under the impression it was fictional – it was basically never touted as anything but fictional.” Ulrich also explained that NASA was surprised at the final product following several script rewrites and reshoots, unaware of the goal of portraying the story as an actual conspiracy.
Apollo 18 had a disappointing Labor Day weekend at the box office, earning only $10.7 million over the four days. According to the Christian Post, 57% of movie-goers viewing this film were male, of which 56% were under the age of 25.
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