most difficult production ever undertaken by American International Pictures due to the high production, special effects, and marketing costs. After the film flopped, the studio was forced to enter negotiations for a buyout from Filmways. Accolades At the 52nd Academy Awards in 1980, the film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Sound (William McCaughey, Aaron Rochin, Michael J. Kohut and Jack Solomon). It lost to Apocalypse Now. Scientific basis A voiceover at the end of the film mentions "Project Icarus", a report on the concept to use missiles to deflect an earthbound asteroid. The original Project Icarus was a student project at M.I.T. in a systems engineering class led by Professor Paul Sandorff in the Spring 1967. It examined methodologies that could deflect an Apollo asteroid named 1566 Icarus if it was found to be on a collision course with Earth. Time published an article about the research in June 1967. The results of the student reports were published in a book the following year. See also Asteroid impact avoidance Armageddon (1998) Deep Impact (1998). Meteor (2009), a 4-hour 2-part miniseries. Don't Look Up (2021). References External links 1979 films 1970s science fiction action films 1970s disaster films American disaster films American International Pictures films American science fiction action films American space adventure films Fiction about the Apollo asteroids Cold War films Shaw Brothers Studio films 1970s English-language films Films about nuclear war and weapons Films adapted into comics Films directed by Ronald Neame Films set in Hong Kong Films set in New York City Films set in Switzerland Films about impact events Fiction about meteoroids Films scored by Laurence Rosenthal Films with screenplays by Stanley Mann Comets in film Avalanches in film Films shot in Switzerland Films shot in Washington, D.C. Films shot in Hong Kong Films shot in Los Angeles County, California 1970s American films