Olympus Has Fallen

An armed assault allows militants to seize the White House and take the president hostage, throwing the nation into a state of shock. Inside, Mike Banning, a former presidential guard who has fallen out of favor, is trapped as alarms blare and corridors erupt in chaos. The national security team scrambles to respond, leaning on inside knowledge that only someone close to the commander in chief could provide. Banning taps his familiarity with the building, its security blind spots, and the clock as the room tightens around everyone. With the fate of the republic resting on a swift operation, every decision echoes through command floor. Across the crisis, his resolve drives a plan to retake the fortress and avert catastrophe.

Directed by Antoine Fuqua and released in 2013, Olympus Has Fallen comes from an original screenplay by Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt with Gerard Butler leading the cast. It marks Fuqua's return to propulsive action under a national security premise.

The film grossed $170,270,201 worldwide against a $70,000,000 budget, signaling solid box office performance for a mid range action thriller that managed to attract a broad audience despite competition from bigger franchises. It opened strongly domestically and performed respectably overseas.

The movie sits among the 2010s wave of high tension siege films and helped cement Gerard Butler as a dependable action lead in national crisis scenarios. Its brisk, contained setting emphasizes teamwork and quick decision making, echoing in later thrillers that favor inside knowledge over CGI spectacle.

Critical responses were mixed, with some praising its brisk pacing and straightforward premise while others called the plot formulaic. The film leans into resilient leadership, patriotic duty, and the idea that ordinary government insiders can become pivotal in moments of national crisis. Its emphasis on a single decisive moment over grand spectacle mirrors the taste of mid budget action in its era.