White House Down (2013)
- Many of the practical effects used in the climax were achieved without any CGI.
- Roland Emmerich originally wanted a completely different ending for the film, but test audiences preferred the one we see today.
- The original script for White House Down was written over a decade before production finally began in 2013.
White House Down is a 2013 American action thriller directed by Roland Emmerich. Channing Tatum stars as John Cale, a Capitol Police officer and aspiring Secret Service agent who is touring the White House with his young daughter when a paramilitary group seizes the building, killing most of the security force. Cale must protect President James Sawyer, played by Jamie Foxx, and rescue his daughter while fighting the invaders through the White House's corridors, tunnels, and grounds.
Released just three months after the similarly premised Olympus Has Fallen, White House Down took a noticeably lighter, more action-comedy approach, with the Tatum-Foxx dynamic playing as a buddy-cop partnership. Roland Emmerich staged impressive destruction of America's most iconic government building, including a presidential limousine chase across the White House lawn. White House Down earned $205 million worldwide on a $150 million budget.
