White House Down

"It will start like any other day."

2013 2h 11m EN

👍

6.5

SOLID

★6.5TMDB · 5,244

ActionDramaThriller

Synopsis

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Capitol Policeman John Cale has just been denied his dream job with the Secret Service protecting President James Sawyer. Not wanting to let down his little girl with the news, he takes her on a tour of the White House, when the complex is overtaken by a heavily armed paramilitary group. Now, with the nation's government falling into chaos and time running out, it's up to Cale to save the president, his daughter, and the country.

“It will start like any other day.”

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Cast

Channing Tatum
Cale
Jamie Foxx
President Sawyer
Maggie Gyllenhaal
Finnerty
Jason Clarke
Stenz
Richard Jenkins
Raphelson
Joey King
Emily
James Woods
Walker
Nicolas Wright
Donnie the Guide

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Roland Emmerich
Writers: James Vanderbilt
Languages: English, Russian
Countries: United States of America, Canada

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

$150M budget — tentpole studio territory.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 13 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Russian.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United States of America, Canada.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

259+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Roland Emmerich, shot by Anna Foerster. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Harald Kloser. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Adam Wolfe shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Roland Emmerich directs. Anna Foerster behind the camera. Harald Kloser scores. Adam Wolfe cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America, Canada. Dialogue in English, Russian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1$150M budget — tentpole studio territory.
2Released 13 years ago.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Russian.
4International production across 2 countries: United States of America, Canada.
5259+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
6Directed by Roland Emmerich, shot by Anna Foerster. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Harald Kloser. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Adam Wolfe shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx and Maggie Gyllenhaal carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "It will start like any other day.".
11IMDB entry: tt2334879 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Classified under 22 themes, including "usa president", "the white house", "job interview", "betrayal".
13Released under 13 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Anna Foerster
Original score: Harald Kloser
Editing: Adam Wolfe
Production design: Kirk M. Petruccelli
Costume design: Lisy Christl
Makeup / hair: Lyne Lapiana
VFX supervisor: Marc Weigert
Sound: Paul N.J. Ottosson
Runtime: 131 min · 2h 11m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $150,000,000
Box office: $205,366,737
Return: 137% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: White House Down (2013)

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Roland Emmerich

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Dark Jedi2018-04-27
★ 4/10
I have to say, or in this case write, that this was a fairly disappointing movie. It is pretty much a Die Hard wannabee with a daughter-dislikes-father sub-plot. I do not mind the reusing of the Die Hard concept if the film is good. This one is not really. The script is a stupid, unintelligent political script. It starts off badly with some nonsensical crap about a controversial (that is putting it mildly) political deal with the Middle East about pulling out troops from all the bases in the Middle East. To add to this the entire situation have come about because the president just left several people to hang out and dry when he decided to pull the plug on operations in the Middle East. By hanging out and dry we mean get killed or spend some quality time in the regional prisons. That put the president on the bad guy list instead of the good guy as far as I am concerned. I do not know if the writer was trying to make a political statement, which I never like in my movies, or is just plain stupid. Given the rest of the script I would go for stupid or both. The good thing with the movie is that there is quite a lot of action and some of it is rather okay to watch. There are a few funny moments as well. I quite liked the tour guide for example. Unfortunately, even if you try to forget about the political nonsense, the rest of the script is just full of utter stupidity. It starts of not too bad with the diversion at the Capitol and the initial take over of the White House even though a whole bunch of armed, obviously unscreened, guys getting into the White House to work on the president’s home theatre like that is not very believable. After that it gradually degrades though. Cale is nowhere as charismatic, nor as professional, as McClane and there are lots of silly and stupid moments. For example, the car chase starts of not too bad but then Cale get’s into some bloody dream mode and gets shot up. Just dumb. During the same episode the tank scene is just ridiculous. Would they only have one tank? Not very likely. It takes forever for it to move. It is also highly improbable that it could be taken out like that by a hand-held launcher by a front hit. Rear or side maybe but not a front hit. The writer is obviously clueless about military matters. The fumbled chopper attack is embarrassingly bad. The worst is probably when Cale’s daughter stops and air-strike by waving a flag outside the White House. I almost turned off the movie at that point. It is too bad because the movie had the budget and some nice actors to be a good action movie but was just ruined by a louse script with a totally unnecessary bunch of political nonsense in it. The next time I see a movie were the script is written by James Vanderbilt I am going to be very cautious.
Sierbahnn2026-06-16
★ 7/10
Very solid action-romp This movie is so much better than Olympus Has Fallen, which takes itself way too seriously. This movie, on the other hand, just wants to pour on the action the jokes, and the fun. It takes itself seriously enough to be internally consistent, keeping the tension up, and building the characters so that the stakes matter. It is just a fun watch, a solid pick.