Daylight (1996)
54%RT Audience Score:
Awards & Nominations: NA
The opening’s got a great fiery explosion and Stallone puts in another earnest, sympathetic performance, but all else in Daylight feels designed to annoy the audience into submission
If you’re looking for a movie that’s so bad it’s good, Daylight is the perfect pick. With clichs galore and a plot that’s been done a million times before, it’s hard not to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. Plus, Sly Stallone’s performance is surprisingly entertaining, especially when compared to the ham sandwich-eating bit-part actors. So grab some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy the disaster that is Daylight.
Production Company(ies)
Distributor
Universal Pictures
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy
MPAA / Certificate
Rated PG-13 for disaster-related peril, death and destruction
Year of Release
1996
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:DTS-Stereo DTS
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:1h 55m
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Dec 6, 1996 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 24, 2004
Genre(s)
Action
Keyword(s)
starring Sylvester Stallone, Amy Brenneman, Viggo Mortensen, Dan Hedaya, Jay O Sanders, Karen Young, directed by Rob Cohen, written by Leslie Bohem, action, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Lisa Schwarzbaum, Todd McCarthy, Nick Bradshaw, Janet Maslin, Edward Guthmann, Kenneth Turan, Wesley Lovell, David Nusair, Adam Sandel, Shaun Munro, Felix Vasquez Jr., PG-13, toxic waste, New Jersey Tunnel, explosion, survivors, Kit Latura, Madelyne Thompson, Roy Nord, Frank Kraft, Steven Crighton, Sarah Crighton, John Davis, Joseph Singer, David T Friendly, Universal Pictures, Surround
Worldwide gross: $159,212,469
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $303,896,085
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 499
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 33,140,249
US/Canada gross: $33,023,469
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $63,033,398
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 969
US/Canada opening weekend: $10,015,875
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $19,117,756
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 681
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $80,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $152,699,640
Production budget ranking: 213
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $82,228,756
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $68,967,688
ROI to date (est.): 29%
ROI ranking: 1,244
Amy Brenneman – Madelyne Thompson
Viggo Mortensen – Roy Nord
Dan Hedaya – Frank Kraft
Jay O. Sanders – Steven Crighton
Karen Young – Sarah Crighton
Leslie Bohem – Writer
Rob Cohen – Director
John Davis – Producer
Joseph Singer – Producer
David T. Friendly – Producer
Director(s)
Rob Cohen
Writer(s)
Leslie Bohem
Producer(s)
John Davis, Joseph Singer, David T. Friendly
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
NA
Academy Awards
All Critics (42) | Top Critics (14) | Fresh (11) | Rotten (31)
September 7, 2011 | Rating: C
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly
TOP CRITIC
A lower-echelon disaster thriller, in which the best character is knocked off early on and the leading man runs out of ideas with a third of the picture still to go.
March 27, 2009
Todd McCarthy
Variety
TOP CRITIC
Cohen keeps the vehicle cruising in fourth gear, hoping the audience won’t get too impatient with the familiar scenery. Big, efficient, mindless entertainment.
January 26, 2006
Nick Bradshaw
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
It will seem suspenseful only to those who wonder whether Mr. Stallone can get the dog out alive.
May 20, 2003
Janet Maslin
New York Times
TOP CRITIC
A standard- issue disaster film that borrows conspicuously from both “Poseidon” and “The Towering Inferno.”
June 18, 2002 | Rating: 2/4
Edward Guthmann
San Francisco Chronicle
TOP CRITIC
“Daylight” is persuasive in its action moments but puny in terms of character and dialogue. Anyone who expected anything else is probably in the wrong theater.
February 14, 2001
Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times
TOP CRITIC
One of his final roles that managed some box office clout was in Daylight, a derivative disaster flick that has few actual thrills.
February 12, 2022 | Rating: 1.5/4
Wesley Lovell
Cinema Sight
…a solid entry within the disaster-movie canon.
October 10, 2020 | Rating: 2.5/4
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews
As Daylight and other recent thrillers prove, it’s much easier to create synthetic disasters, tornadoes, dinosaurs and dragons than it is to create sympathetic, believable human beings.
February 23, 2019 | Rating: C
Adam Sandel
Santa Cruz Sentinel
Despite having to wade through no end of sigh-inducing clichs, Sly actually comes off better here than many of his co-stars, a rather unfortunate result of…bit-part actors who may well have been dragged off the street and paid in ham sandwiches.
February 10, 2011 | Rating: 2.5/5
Shaun Munro
What Culture
This is a nineties disaster flick that deserves more attention…
April 7, 2010
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed
Still more millennial fear and commuter angst get routed through this toll-heavy disaster vehicle set in New York’s Holland Tunnel–call it The Tunneling Inferno.
September 5, 2009
Rob Nelson
Boston Phoenix…
Plot
Trouble strikes when runaway robbers in a getaway car hit truck full of explosives in the tunnel connecting Manhattan and New Jersey. Survivors are left in a weakened tunnel blocked at both exits. As Kit Latura approaches the tunnel, he sees the impact and knows he gotta take action. With time running out, he enters the tunnel through a system of maintenance walkways. Can he get the survivors out before the tunnel fills up?
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Sylvester Stallone stars as the former head of NY’s Emergency Medical Service in Daylight.
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