It was supposed to be the new Star Wars. That’s what John Travolta told anyone who would listen back in the late nineties. He wasn’t just the star; he was the engine, the producer, and the true believer who spent nearly two decades trying to drag L. Ron Hubbard’s thousand-page space opera onto the big screen.
John Travolta and Battlefield Earth are now inseparable in the halls of Hollywood infamy. You’ve seen the memes. The 10-foot-tall aliens with codpieces and dreadlocks. The tilted camera angles that make you feel like you’re developing a middle-ear infection. But behind the jokes is a wild story of a superstar who had "all the power in the world" and used it to steer his career directly into a brick wall.
The Dream That Became a $73 Million Disaster
By 1994, Travolta was the king of the world again. Pulp Fiction had rescued him from the "talking baby movie" wilderness. He was bankable. He was cool. When studios asked what he wanted to do next, he didn't say another gritty crime thriller. He said he wanted to play a giant, cackling alien named Terl.
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The problem? Most studios wouldn't touch it. They saw a bloated script, a bizarre story about "Psychlos" mining Earth for gold, and a very loud connection to the Church of Scientology. Eventually, he found a partner in Franchise Pictures, a company that specialized in funding passion projects that the big guys rejected. Travolta even kicked in $5 million of his own cash. He took a massive pay cut. He was all in.
When the movie finally hit theaters in May 2000, it didn't just fail. It cratered. Against a budget of roughly $73 million, it managed a measly $21 million domestically. People weren't just staying away; they were actively mocking it.
Why the Movie Looked... Like That
If you watch even five minutes of the film, you'll notice something weird. Every single shot is crooked.
The director, Roger Christian, decided to use "Dutch angles" for almost every frame. He later said he wanted it to feel like a comic book. Roger Ebert, in one of his most legendary takedowns, noted that the director had learned that directors sometimes tilt their cameras, but had "not learned why." It’s exhausting to watch.
Then there’s the makeup. Travolta and Forest Whitaker—an Oscar winner, mind you—are buried under mountains of latex, platform boots, and hair extensions that look like dusty floor mops. Travolta’s performance is... big. He laughs like a Bond villain who’s had too much espresso. He calls humans "rat-brains" every ten minutes. Honestly, it's a lot.
The Scientology Elephant in the Room
You can't talk about John Travolta and Battlefield Earth without talking about Scientology. The book was written by the religion's founder, L. Ron Hubbard.
Travolta has spent years insisting the movie isn't "religious" propaganda. He told The Daily Beast back in 2014 that the media just "confused" the movie with the church. To him, it was just great science fiction. But for the public, the line was too blurry. The "Psychlos" were seen by many as a stand-in for psychiatrists—a group Hubbard famously despised.
Whether it was a recruitment tool or just a fan letter to a favorite author, the association stayed. It turned a bad movie into a "controversial" bad movie, which is a much harder sell at the box office.
A Legacy of Lawsuits and Razzies
The fallout was actually worse than the box office numbers.
Franchise Pictures, the company that helped Travolta make the film, eventually got sued into oblivion. A German distribution company, Intertainment AG, claimed Franchise had artificially inflated the budget to scam them out of millions. A jury agreed. The company went bankrupt.
On the creative side, the film swept the Razzies. It didn't just win "Worst Picture." It won:
- Worst Actor (Travolta)
- Worst Screen Couple (Travolta and "anyone sharing the screen with him")
- Worst Director
- Worst Screenplay
- Eventually, "Worst Picture of the Decade"
Forest Whitaker later admitted he regretted the whole thing. The screenwriter, J.D. Shapiro, actually showed up to the Razzie ceremony to pick up his trophy in person. He even wrote an apology letter in The New York Post, basically saying he was sorry for "subjecting the world" to the film.
Is It Actually a Cult Classic?
Kinda.
There is a subset of film fans who love "so bad it’s good" cinema. Battlefield Earth is the Mount Everest of that genre. It’s not boring. It’s spectacularly, aggressively weird. Every choice is the wrong choice. From the "lever-action" alien guns to the cavemen learning to fly 1,000-year-old Harrier jets in a week, the logic is non-existent.
If you’re looking for a serious sci-fi epic, you’ll be miserable. But if you’re looking for a masterclass in what happens when a superstar has no one to tell him "no," it’s fascinating.
Actionable Insights for the Curious
If you’re planning to dive into the world of John Travolta and Battlefield Earth, here is how to handle the experience without losing your mind:
- Watch the Razzies First: Look up J.D. Shapiro's apology. Understanding that even the creators knew it went off the rails makes watching it much more entertaining.
- The "Dutch Angle" Challenge: Try to find a single shot in the movie that is perfectly level. (Spoiler: You probably won’t).
- Check the Source: If you’re a reader, the original L. Ron Hubbard novel is actually much longer and more complex. The movie only covers the first half of the book. Plans for a sequel were—unsurprisingly—cancelled immediately.
- Look for the Craft: Despite the mess, the production designer was Patrick Tatopoulos (Independence Day). Some of the set designs for the ruined cities are actually decent if you can look past the green tint.
Travolta still stands by it. He’s gone on record saying he has "no regrets" because he got to make the movie he wanted to see. In a world of safe, committee-driven blockbusters, there's something almost respectable about that level of commitment to a disaster.
Almost.