Filmsane

All right now. Dwayne Johnson (aka The Rock) is back. After this year’s Rampage, he’s back with another action thriller. Yup. I’m talking about Skyscraper.

The Skyscraper story follows a former FBI agent who must rescue his family from a newly built skyscraper–the tallest in the world–after it is taken over by terrorists. Johnson serves as a co-producer of this movie, and besides him, the fans will be able to see Neve Campbell, Ng Chin Han, Roland Møller, Pablo Schreiber and Noah Taylor in the supporting roles.

Skyscraper opens on July 13th and there are huge commercial success expectations, since the budget for this action packed The Rock movie was whopping 125 million dollars.

But let’s say that you don’t want to watch this movie. Let’s say you’re not fans of The Rock and will skip this one. Well, I’ve got just the right thing for you. A selection of older movies that featured a skyscraper in their setting and that are just as good (or even better) than the upcoming The Rock movie.

High-Rise (2015)

Director: Ben Wheatley
Stars: Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller…
Fun fact about the movie: In about 80% of the scenes, someone is always smoking.

The Towering Inferno (1974)

Director: John Guillermin
Stars: Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, William Holden…
Fun fact about the movie: William Holden demanded first billing. However, his career had declined so much that his only hit in recent years was The Wild Bunch (1969), which was an ensemble project. Therefore he was billed after Steve McQueen and Paul Newman.

Die Hard (1988)

Director: John McTiernan
Stars: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia…
Fun fact about the movie: Bruce Willis received a then-unheard of five million dollars, a fee that was approved by Fox President Rupert Murdoch.

Dredd (2012)

Director: Pete Travis
Stars: Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Lena Headey…
Fun fact about the movie: Karl Urban revealed in a 2018 interview that Alex Garland also directed the film.

Tower Block (2012)

Directors: James Nunn, Ronnie Thompson
Stars: Sheridan Smith, Jamie Thomas King, Jack O’Connell…
Fun fact about the movie: The opening credits originally unfolded over a long unbroken crane shot of Sheridan Smith.

The Tower (2012)

Director: Ji-hoon Kim
Stars: Sang-kyung Kim, Kyung-gu Sol, Ye-jin Son…
Fun fact about the movie: There are 1,700 CGI shots in this film.

The Raid: Redemption (2011)

Director: Gareth Evans
Stars: Iko Uwais, Ananda George, Ray Sahetapy…
Fun fact about the movie: Yayan Ruhian, who played the Mad Dog character, had once trained Pencak Silat for Pasukan Pengamanan Presiden (the Indonesian Presidential Security Forces- equivalent to US Secret Service) in 1989 and for the Indonesian Military Police Corps in the early 1990s.