A futuristic sci-fi/action film released in 2000 has been described as the ‘worst film ever made’ and it stars legendary actor John Travolta. Battlefield Earth has been awarded the crown for ‘worst film ever made’ by IMDb users.
The film is based on the 1982 novel by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. It is set in the year 3000 and follows the human race, who are now under the control of a brutal ailen force known as the Psychlos.
The film’s synopsis reads: “In the year 3000, humanity is no match for the Psychlos, a greedy, manipulative race on a quest for ultimate profit. Led by the seductive and powerful Terl, the Psychlos are stripping Earth of its resources, using the broken remnants of humanity as slaves. What is left of the human race has reverted to a primitive state, believing the invaders to be demons and technology to be evil.
“After humanity has all but given up any hope of freeing themselves from alien oppression, a young man named Jonnie Goodboy Tyler decides to leave his desolate home high in the Rocky Mountains to discover the truth, whereupon he is captured and enslaved. It is then that he decides to fight back, leading his fellow man in one final struggle for freedom.”
Battlefield Earth was directed by Roger Christian and stars Forest Whitaker, Barry Pepper and Kelly Preston alongside Travolta.
The film was met with terrible reviews upon its release and is one of the biggest box-office bombs in history. It is rated at a staggering 3% on Rotten Tomatoes and 2.5/10 on IMDb.
One user on IMDb desscribed the film as a “total disaster,” with another adding that it “has to be the worst film ever made”.
The Rotten Tomatoes critics consensus reads: “Ugly, campy, and poorly acted, Battlefield Earth is a stunningly misguided, aggressively bad sci-fi folly.”
A critic wrote: “It remains, genuinely, the worst film produced this century and it is hard to imagine anything taking its crown any time soon.”
Travolta has defended the film stating that he doesn’t regret making it and that “not every film can be a box-office success”.