Poster © Universal Pictures. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreAdventure, Drama & History
RatedPG
Runtime2 hr 20 mins
ReleasedJune 30, 1995
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorRon Howard
StarringTom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton
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Apollo 13 (1995)
| ▶Stream It | ★The Numbers |
| 🎫Get Tickets | ✎Edit History |
| iIMDb Profile | %Rotten Tomatoes |
| WWikipedia | LLetterboxd |
| TTMDB | +Add to Top 8 |
| Apollo 13's Details | |
| Genre | Adventure, Drama & History |
| Rated | PG |
| Released | 06/30/1995 (United States) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 2 hr 20 mins |
| Budget | $52M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Based On | Lost Moon by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Apollo 13's Interests | |
| General | Duct tape, slide rules, Mission Control coffee, checklists, the Moon out the window. |
| Music | James Horner, plus a stack of period rock songs. |
| Movies | The Right Stuff (1983), First Man (2018). More astronauts, more nerve. |
| Television | From the Earth to the Moon. Tom Hanks loved the space program so much he made a miniseries. |
| Heroes | Gene Kranz (Ed Harris). Vest on, crew cut tight, panic not allowed in his room. |
| Apollo 13's Crew | |
| Director | Ron Howard |
| Writers | William Broyles Jr., Al Reinert |
| Producers | Brian Grazer |
| Cinematography | Dean Cundey |
| Music | James Horner |
| Edited By | Daniel P. Hanley, Mike Hill |
| Production | Imagine Entertainment |
| Distributed By | Universal Pictures |
Kathleen Quinlan gets the thankless job in Apollo 13: stand near a TV, look worried, repeat. The home front scenes are the weakest stretch, and the score swells so hard you can practically hear a flag waving. Up in the capsule and down in Mission Control, though, it’s close to perfect. Ron Howard turns engineering into suspense. A room full of guys in short sleeves dumps a box of spare parts on a table and has to make a square filter fit a round hole with bags, cardboard and duct tape. It’s the most gripping arts and crafts project ever filmed. Ed Harris plays Gene Kranz with a crew cut, a crisp vest and a jaw that refuses bad news. Gary Sinise, grounded and grinding in a simulator, is the quiet MVP. Tom Hanks keeps Lovell steady and decent. It holds a 94% from critics. An 8.7 because it makes math and teamwork play like an action movie for 140 minutes. $692.57 says your Wi-Fi drops this week and you tell everyone in the house to work the problem.
What works: Ron Howard makes problem solving thrilling, and the Mission Control scenes with Ed Harris and the engineers are pure tension built out of slide rules and spare parts.
What doesn’t: The home front scenes are thin, Marilyn Lovell gets little to do besides worry, and the score pushes too hard in the big moments.
Who it’s for: Anyone who thinks the smartest person in the room is the real action hero, and families who want a true story with zero filler.
Spoilers
Nobody is sure the heat shield survived or the parachutes will open, so reentry plays out as a long, silent radio blackout. Then the radio crackles back, the chutes appear on the TV screens, Mission Control erupts, and Lovell, Haise and Swigert splash down safely. Lovell never does get to walk on the Moon.
April 1970. Astronaut Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks) has already circled the Moon once and wants to finally walk on it. Days before launch, Ken Mattingly (Gary Sinise) gets grounded over a measles exposure, and backup pilot Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) joins Lovell and Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) on Apollo 13. Back home, Marilyn Lovell (Kathleen Quinlan) has a bad feeling. Three days out, an oxygen tank blows, the ship starts bleeding power, and flight director Gene Kranz (Ed Harris) needs a room full of engineers to get creative fast. Ron Howard directs. One hundred forty minutes, zero room for error.
Anyone who stays calm when the warning lights come on. Bring duct tape.
backup Command Module Pilot Jack Swigertphoto: Bryan Berlin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
prime Command Module Pilot Ken Mattinglyphoto: U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Adam Enbal, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
White Team Flight Director Gene Kranzphoto: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
| Tom Hanks | Commander Jim Lovell |
| Bill Paxton | Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise |
| Kevin Bacon | backup Command Module Pilot Jack Swigert |
| Gary Sinise | prime Command Module Pilot Ken Mattingly |
| Mark Wheeler | Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong |
| Larry Williams | Apollo 11 Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin |
| David Andrews | Apollo 12 Commander Pete Conrad |
| Ben Marley | Apollo 13 backup Commander John Young |
| Brett Cullen | capsule communicator |
| Ned Vaughn | CAPCOM 2 |
| Ed Harris | White Team Flight Director Gene Kranz |
| Chris Ellis | Director of Flight Crew Operations Deke Slayton |
| Joe Spano | NASA Director |
| Marc McClure | Black Team Flight Director Glynn Lunney |
| Clint Howard | White Team Electrical |
| Ray McKinnon | White Team Flight Dynamics Officer |
| Todd Louiso | White Team Flight Activities Officer |
| Gabriel Jarret | White Team Guidance |
| Andy Milder | White Team Guidance Officer |
| Jim Meskimen | White Team Telemetry |
| Loren Dean | EECOM Arthur |
| Christian Clemenson | Flight Surgeon Dr. Charles Berry |
| Carl Gabriel Yorke | SIM |
| Xander Berkeley | Henry Hurt |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +480 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $355.8M; Domestic box office $174.7M; Opening weekend $25.4M; Profit / loss (est.) +$99.9M; Rotten Tomatoes 94%; CinemaScore A; box office chart updated; Rotten Tomatoes critics 94% (150 reviews); Metacritic 78 / 100; CinemaScore A; IMDb users 7.7 / 10 (344,080 votes); movie.guru score 8.9.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 17 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.