German filmmaker Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, 2012) is known for making action-oriented big-budget studio movies that contain sights and sounds that might be best seen on the big screen. So what does he think about the trend today where films that would traditionally come to theatres are now debuting on streaming services, due to COVID-19 and other business reasons?

　　Speaking to Deadline, Emmerich said he has no vendetta against streaming companies or ill will for people who want to watch movies at home. But he hopes the traditional movie-going experience can survive after the pandemic because seeing a film in a cinema, surrounded by other people, elevates the experience beyond just watching a film. It makes it very special, Emmerich said.

　　"I'm not against streamers. People have very good TVs these days. But my movies are meant for the big screen," he said. "Personally, I was looking forward to seeing a movie like Dune on the big screen. That experience is hopefully something that will survive. It should survive. Going to the movie theater is a unique experience, you feel part of something."

　　Emmerich's next film is Moonfall, a sci-fi movie where the moon becomes knocked off its orbit by a "mysterious force" and begins falling toward Earth, threatening to wipe out humanity. Weeks before the moon crashes down on Earth and annihilates humanity, a team is assembled to fly a ship onto the moon and save the day.

　　Moonfall is technically an independent movie because it is not financed by a major studio or a streaming network. Emmerich and his team raised $140 million to get the movie made from a variety of sources, including the Chinese company Huayi as its principal funder.

　　Emmerich remarked that independent movies often have different business arrangements as it relates to getting a film onto a streaming service. So "even if someone wanted to, we couldn't end up on a streamer," he said of Moonfall. As such, the film is projected to come to theatres in October 2021.

　　Also in the interview, Emmerich said it was a "miracle" that Moonfall was even made because of issues related to COVID-19. Production had to be stopped at a certain point, and this ended up costing the production as much as $6 million, a figure that wasn't easy to overcome as an independent film.

　　Additionally, Stanley Tucci had to drop out of Moonfall due to a UK border closure related to COVID, and the troubles didn't end there. Michael Pena came in to replace Tucci, but the production team was alerted to the fact that Pena's passport had expired. So they called Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards' lawyer who helped get Pena across the border "where a birth certificate was sufficient...," according to writer Harald Kloser.

　　Emmerich wrote the script for Moonfall alongside Kloser, who co-wrote Emmerich's disaster movie 2012, along with Spenser Cohen. Emmerich also directed Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, as well as the movie that was not related to the annihilation of the planet, The Patriot.

　　Moonfall also stars Halle Berry, Donald Sutherland, Patrick Wilson, and Josh Gad.