Olympus Has Fallen(2013)

Name: Olympus Has Fallen
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Genre: Action, Thriller
Released: Mar 22, 2013
Cast: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, Finley Jacobsen

FilmDistrict

R
Rated R for strong violence and language throughout
1h 59m
- Action
- Thriller

Release Date: Mar 22, 2013 | Wide

50%
66%
A-
6.5

Secret Service agent Mike Banning finds himself trapped inside the White House in the wake of a terrorist attack and works with national security to rescue the President from his kidnappers.

Official Website

Releases

Original Release | Mar 22, 2013

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Box Office Results

Updated as of Apr 18, 2025 09:13 AM ET

Results

Opening Weekend US & Canada:
$30,373,794
Total US & Canada:
$98,925,640
Total International
$71,344,561
Total Worldwide:
$170,270,201

Current Showtimes

orround

Tue Aug 11
Wed Aug 12
Thu Aug 13
Fri Aug 14
Sat Aug 15
Sun Aug 16
Mon Aug 17

Director & Top Cast

Antoine Fuqua
Director

Gerard Butler
Mike Banning

Aaron Eckhart
President Benjamin Asher

Morgan Freeman
Speaker Trumbull

Angela Bassett
Secret Service Director Lynn Jacobs

Finley Jacobsen
Connor

Dylan McDermott

Forbes

Rick Yune

Kang

Melissa Leo

Secretary of Defense Ruth McMillan

Radha Mitchell

Leah

Cole Hauser

Roma

Phil Austin

Vice President Charlie Rodriguez

James Ingersoll

Admiral Nathan Hoenig

Freddy Bosche

Diaz

Lance Broadway

O'Neil

Sean O’Bryan

Ray Monroe

Keong Sim

Lee Tae-Woo

Kevin Moon

Cho

Technical Specifications

Sound Mix: Dolby Digital,Datasat

Aspect Ratio: 2.39 : 1

Other Details

Country of Origin: United States

Language: English,Korean

Summaries

Plot Summary

Former U.S. Army Ranger Mike Banning (Gerard Butler is the lead Secret Service agent assigned to head the Presidential Detail. He maintains a personal, friendly relationship with President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart), First Lady Margaret Asher (Ashley Judd) and particularly their son Connor Asher (Finley Jacobsen). During a Christmas evening drive from Camp David to a campaign fundraiser, a tree falls in front of the President's convoy, making the vehicles skid out of control on black ice on a bridge. The lead vehicle in the convoy falls into an icy river while the Presidential limousine teeters on the edge for a minute before falling as well with Margaret still unconscious inside. Banning is able to save President Asher, but Margaret and two other agents die in the crash.Eighteen months later, Banning works at the Treasury Department, within eyesight of the White House. He has been demoted from the Presidential Detail as the sight of him triggers Asher's memories of the night Margaret died. During a meeting between Asher and South Korean Prime Minister Lee Tae-Woo (Keong Sim), Korean-led guerrilla forces, aided by treasonous members of Prime Minister Lee's own detail, which include Dave Forbes (Dylan McDermott), an ex-US Secret Service agent turned private contractor, mount an air and ground assault that results in the capture of the White House.The remaining Secret Service agents within the White House mount an unsuccessful counterattack but inflict casualties on the terrorists. Asher and several top officials are held hostage in the White House bunker where Prime Minister Lee is killed. Before he is killed, Agent Roma (Cole Hauser) alerts the Director of the Secret Service Lynne Jacobs (Angela Bassett) that "Olympus has fallen." The attack has been masterminded by Kang Yeonsak (Rick Yune), an ex-North Korean terrorist who appears to be motivated by hope for a reunification of Korea. Kang seeks to use Asher's hostage status as leverage to force the U.S. military to withdraw from the Korean Peninsula, allowing the civil war to end. He also seeks to destroy all of America's nuclear weapons in their silos and turn the United States into an irradiated wasteland as revenge for the death of his parents when his mother was killed by an American landmine and his father was executed for crimes against North Korea. To accomplish this, he requires the access codes to a system in the bunker called Cerberus: a fail-safe device that self-detonates any U.S. nuclear missiles during an abort, which are held by three top government officials within the bunker, including the President. Asher orders the other two officials to reveal their codes to save their lives, certain that he will not give up his code.During the assault by Kang's forces on the front lawn, Banning joins the side of the White House's defenders. He falls back into the White House, disables the internal surveillance and gains access to Asher's satellite phone, which he uses to maintain contact with Allan Trumbull (Morgan Freeman), the Speaker of the House who is now the Acting President. Authorized to proceed, Banning's first act is to save Connor, who Kang plans to use to force Asher to reveal his Cerberus code since Trumbull notes that Asher would not be able to hold out under those circumstances. Despite resistance, he finds Connor hiding in the walls, thanks to the training Banning had given him, and sneaks him out of the White House before beginning reconnaissance and reducing the terrorists' numbers one by one.This includes Forbes, but not before convincing the traitor to report to Kang that Banning is dead. Meanwhile, Trumbull orders an aerial SEAL assault on the White House, but Kang's team deploys an advanced anti-aircraft gun system in his possession owned by the United States, called the Hydra 6. Discovering this, Banning advises Trumbull and Army Chief of Staff General Edward Clegg (Robert Forster) to abort the mission, but it proceeds, and Kang's henchman Lim (Malana Lea) annihilates the assault force before Banning can stop it. Kang retaliates for the attempted infiltration by killing Vice President Charlie Rodriguez (Phil Austin).After Banning disables Kang's communications, the terrorist tries to execute Secretary of Defense Ruth McMillan (Melissa Leo) outside the front door in front of the media but Banning rescues her and takes out several more of Kang's men in the process. With Kang's forces dwindling, he fakes his own death as well as Asher's death by sacrificing several of his men and the remaining hostages. Kang, Asher, and the few remaining terrorists stay in the bunker, unknown to the outside world. Kang eventually cracks Asher's code knowing that hacking all three codes would have taken more time than Kang had, but focusing on one gave him the time he needed. With that, Kang activates Cerberus as Banning realizes that his apparent suicide was staged. As Kang attempts to escape, Banning kills the remaining terrorists and Kang shoots Asher in the stomach.Banning and Kang then engage in a violent knife fight which ends in Banning killing Kang by stabbing him in the head. He then ultimately disables Cerberus with the assistance of Trumbull. Banning and Asher escape the White House. After the events, Washington begins to heal from the attack and Banning once again becomes head of the Presidential Detail with Banning observing President Asher as he addresses the public.

Storyline

When the White House (Secret Service Code: "Olympus") is captured by a terrorist mastermind and the President is kidnapped, former Presidential Secret Service Agent Mike Banning finds himself trapped within the building. As our national security team scrambles to respond, they are forced to rely on Banning's inside knowledge to help retake the White House, save the President and avert an even bigger disaster. — FilmDistrict Mike Banning is a Secret Service Agent who is assigned to the President and is close to him and his family. When there's a situation wherein the President and the First Lady's life is endangered and Mike can only save one of them, he saves the President. As a result the President has Mike reassigned to a desk job. A year and a half later, Mike wants to come back but the President, though not holding a grudge, is not ready to have him back. The President has a delegation from South Korea visiting. Shortly after they arrive a plane shows up and when it's told to land it refuses and when aircraft close in on it, they shoot it down. Eventually it crashes at the White House, that's when some people in the crowd pull guns and shoot the secret service agents. Then the Secret Service gets the President into a bunker. Mike who sees what's happening from his office goes there and starts shooting at the attackers. Later in the bunker, some of the people from the delegation pull out guns and shoot all the Secret Service agents. And outside all the Secret Service agents are killed and the shooters take over the White House. Eventually they call the Pentagon where the Speaker of the House is now in charge and the leader in the bunker makes his demands. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs tells the Speaker they can't give in but to prove he's serious he kills someone and will continue to do so till they give in. But what can they do. Mike, who's in the White House, eventually gets a special cellphone and calls them. He tries to do what he can first by locating the President's son and getting him out. He then goes to save the President. — rcs0411@yahoo.com After a car accident where the First Lady dies, Secret Service Special Agent Mike Banning is disgraced and transferred to the bureaucratic service. When the White House is under a terrorist attack, President Benjamin Asher is kidnapped by terrorist Kang and Banning breaks in the place. Now he needs to save the President's son who is chased by the terrorists that want to use the child to force Asher to give the access code to a powerful weapon, and then to rescue the president from Kang. — Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Mike Banning was a Presidential Detail Secret Service Agent when tragedy strikes and the First Lady dies. Fast forward 18 months, he's riding a desk at Treasury when the White House (code name Olympus) comes under terrorist attack by the North Koreans. They seize control over PEOC, the secure bunker, with the President inside. Mike ends up inside the White House and with his intimate knowledge of the building, he first has to get POTUSs son out of the building to safety, then mount an internal guerrilla attack on the invaders. — Blair 1 more All

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Fun Facts

Surprisingly, the White House seen on screen is almost entirely digital, with only partial interior sets built—extensive CGI and compositing were used to recreate the building and its destruction.