Midway: Release Date, Trailer, Cast, and Details

Midway will provide yet another hub for ostentatious cinematic disaster sequences from director Roland Emmerich, the industry’s premiere weaver of wanton world-wrecking, though this time – akin to Michael Bay’s Pearl Harbor – to the backdrop of World War II.

With the title’s obvious reference to the post-Pearl-Harbor bellwether battle (that occurred on June 4-7, 1942,) of the war’s Pacific theater, the film will dramatize said event with quite the cast, including Woody Harrelson, Patrick Wilson, Luke Evans, Jake Weber, Aaron Eckhart and Dennis Quaid – all of whom play fact-based figures in the monumental conflagration.

Midway Trailer

The full trailer for Midway has arrived, manifesting with every bit of elevated onscreen intensity that comes to mind when pitched the idea of a Roland Emmerich movie about the Battle of Midway.

You can also check out the previous teaser below.

Midway Release Date

Midway arrives at theaters on Nov. 8.

The release date puts the film’s premiere on the topically-appropriate weekend of Veteran’s Day (Monday, Nov. 11).

Midway Cast

Midway will be a mixture of actors playing both real-world and fictional characters. Among them is Dennis Quaid (The Alamo) as Vice Admiral William ‘Bull’ Halsey, Woody Harrelson (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Zombieland: Double Tap) as Admiral Chester Nimitz, Luke Evans (Beauty and the Beast) as Lieutenant Commander Wade McClusky, Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight) as Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle (who appeared in Bay’s Pearl Harbor where he was played by Alec Baldwin), Patrick Wilson (The Conjuring) as Rear Admiral Edwin Layton, Jake Weber (Homeland, Dawn of the Dead) as Rear Admiral Raymond Spruance, and Geoffrey Blake as real life Hollywood director John Ford, who documented the battle.

The cast members playing the younger people in the middle of the fight consist of Darren Criss (American Crime Story), Ed Skrein (Deadpool), Mandy Moore (This Is Us, Tangled), Alexander Ludwig, Nick Jonas, and Keean Johnson (Alita) as Chief Aviation Radioman James Murray.

Midway Details

As the official description of Midway reads:

MIDWAY centers on the Battle of Midway, a clash between the American fleet and the Imperial Japanese Navy which marked a pivotal turning point in the Pacific Theater during WWII. The film, based on the real-life events of this heroic feat, tells the story of the leaders and soldiers who used their instincts, fortitude and bravery to overcome the odds.

Midway will, as mentioned, see Roland Emmerich in the director’s chair for what already appears to be another cavalcade of onscreen annihilation, except this time historically based. The Independence Day franchise helmer has several other projects queued such as Maya Lord, Moonfall, as well as a reboot of his classic film, Stargate. While his two-decades-in-the-making 2016 sequel, Independence Day: Resurgence, teased Independence Day 3 sequel plans, that notion has likely fallen through, given the film’s anemic box office performance.

Emmerich worked here off a script by burgeoning writer, Wes Tooke, whose only previous credits include TV work on Amazon’s (now-cancelled) quasi-biographical comedy, Jean-Claude Van Johnson, and USA Network’s (also now-cancelled) sci-fi series, Colony. Certainly, the latter’s ensemble wartime drama served as pertinent preparation here.

Bona Film Group is one of the film’s primary producing benefactors, with U.S. and U.K. distribution to be fielded by Lionsgate.

Joseph Baxter is a contributor for Den of Geek and Syfy Wire. You can find his work here. Follow him on Twitter @josbaxter.