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Poster for The Noah's Ark Principle

The Noah's Ark Principle

Seen it?

1984 | 100 min | Science Fiction, Thriller

Weeknight Watchearly rating

Why it’s a Weeknight Watch

With soft box office and little lasting buzz, it's a mixed bag. Fine if it's on; don't plan your night around it.

Based on critics, audiences, awards, box office and buzz. Details below.

Is it for you?

Who'll love it
Made for anyone who likes to be kept guessing and sci-fi fans. If you loved Gravity, start here.
The mood
Tense.
The pace
Fast-moving, at 1 hr 40 min.
What might put you off
It's in German, so expect subtitles (or a dub).

The year is 1997, and World Peace seems to have come, with most classic weapons of mass destruction having been abandoned. However, orbiting the Earth there is the European/American space station FLORIDA ARKLAB, capable of controlling the weather at any location on the planet underneath. A civil project by nature, it might be abused as an offensive weapon, since it could deliver devastation to any potential adversary simply by creating natural disasters such as storms and floods. No wonder the space station soon becomes the central point in rising political tensions between East and West, next stop World War 3 (as indicated by the tagline "The end of our future has already begun"). We follow the main protagonist Billy Hayes, an astronaut aboard the station, as he wades through a plot of secrecy and sabotage trying to tell friend from foe in the process.

How it earned its rating

  • CriticsNot counted

    Not enough reviews on record yet

  • AudiencesNot counted

    Not measured yet: not enough ratings

  • AwardsNot counted

    No major awards or nominations

  • Reach & staying powerBelow par

    Streaming release that reached a small audience so far; still draws a steady audience long after release

  • Buzz & cultural impactBelow par

    About 21K people sought it out in the past year

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Cast & crew

Directed by Roland Emmerich

  • Richy MüllerBilly Hayes
  • Aviva JoelEva Thompson
  • Matthias FuchsFelix Kronenberg
  • Nikolas LanskyGregor Vandenburg
  • Franz BuchrieserMax Marek