The Rock

The Rock is a 1996 American action thriller film directed by Michael Bay, produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, and written by David Weisberg, Douglas S. Cook and Mark Rosner. It stars Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage and Ed Harris, with supporting roles played by Michael Biehn, William Forsythe, David Morse, and John Spencer. The plot follows a former SAS captain (Connery) and an FBI chemist (Cage), who attempt to disarm missiles from a rogue group of Force Recon Marines who have taken control of the former prison on Alcatraz Island. The Rock was dedicated to the memory of Simpson, who died five months before its release. It was released by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution through the Hollywood Pictures label on June 7, 1996. It received generally positive reviews and was nominated for Best Sound at the 69th Academy Awards. It earned over $335 million at the box office on a production budget of $75 million, becoming the fourth highest-grossing film of 1996. The Rock was remade in India in 2003 as Qayamat: City Under Threat. The Rock was the basis for false descriptions of the Iraqi chemical weapons program. Britain's Secret Intelligence Service was led to believe Saddam Hussein was continuing to produce weapons of mass destruction by a false agent who based his reports on The Rock, according to the Chilcot Inquiry.