Reign of Fire

Reign of Fire is a 2002 post-apocalyptic science fantasy film directed by Rob Bowman and starring Matthew McConaughey and Christian Bale, with the screenplay written by Matt Greenberg, Gregg Chabot, and Kevin Peterka. The film also features Izabella Scorupco and Gerard Butler. The film is set in England in the year 2020, twenty years after London tunneling project workers inadvertently awakened dragons from centuries of slumber and the creatures have subsequently replaced humans as the dominant species on Earth. With the fate of mankind at stake, two surviving parties, led by Quinn Abercromby (Bale) and Denton Van Zan (McConaughey), find that they must work together to hunt down and destroy the beasts in a desperate attempt to take back the world. The film was released by Touchstone Pictures on 12 July 2002. Upon release, it received generally mixed reviews from critics and audiences and was a box office disappointment, grossing far less than expected, only $82 million on a $60 million budget. Plot During construction on the London Underground, workers penetrate a cave and a huge dragon emerges from hibernation, incinerating the workers with its fire breath. The only survivor is a boy, Quinn Abercromby, whose mother Karen, the project engineer, is crushed to death protecting him. The dragon flies out of the Underground and soon more dragons appear. Years later, the world's militaries have failed to stop the spread of the dragon population and, having grown increasingly desperate, targeted large populated areas with nuclear weapons, leaving humans nearly extinct by the year 2020. The dragons, now starving as well, are dying off and have become increasingly aggressive in search of food.