Stargate - Reception

Reception

Stargate took in $16.7 million on its opening weekend, and received mixed reactions from critics; while it was panned by the likes of Roger Ebert, several positive reviews counterbalanced this leading to a score of 46% on Rotten Tomatoes. Although the film was originally intended as the first of a trilogy of films, Emmerich and Devlin ultimately moved on to produce Independence Day, and it was not until 2006 that Devlin showed renewed interest in developing sequels. In the intervening time, copyright-holder MGM succeeded the film with the television series Stargate SG-1 without the input of Emmerich and Devlin.

Stargate SG-1 has won the Saturn Award for Best Syndicated Television Series on numerous occasions, and its cast has won similar awards for acting. More recently it has received acclaim for its visual effects, which increased in quality and realism as the show gained a larger budget. On August 21, 2006, the Sci Fi Channel announced that it would not be renewing Stargate SG-1 for an eleventh season after a series of poor performances in the Nielsen ratings. Many fans were enraged at the news, even creating websites in reaction to exhibit their commitment to the series. Spokesmen for the production have said all options for the continuation of SG-1 are being considered, including complete digital broadcasting. Executive producer Robert C. Cooper told the fansite GateWorld exclusively that he was working to continue SG-1. Currently, no network or company has ordered new episodes of SG-1, so the show is on hold until a new buyer can be found. However, SciFi has attempted to block other networks from taking up the show, citing its original exclusive contract with MGM. Stargate Atlantis has won several awards for its actors, visual effects and directors, including a WorldFest Platinum Award for David Winning's direction of an early Season 1 episode. Atlantis proved to be equally as successful as SG-1, with Nielsen ratings and viewership. The Stargate franchise in 2009 won a Constellation Award in the category of Outstanding Canadian Contribution to Science Fiction Film or Television in 2008.

The average viewership to Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis was around 10 million a week worldwide. According to Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis co-creator Brad Wright, the show is very popular in Great Britain, Germany, France and Australia, but with a steadily declining viewership in homeland Canada. It was estimated that around 30 million Stargate DVDs were sold worldwide in 2006.

The DVD release of Stargate: The Ark of Truth in the US earned MGM/Fox US $1.59 million in rentals in the first week after the release, and another US $1.38 million in rentals in the second week. In its third week it earned US $1.19 million in rentals totaling US $4.16 million . The DVD has also earned US $9.0 million in sales. Stargate: Continuum would go on to gross over $8 million United States dollars in the United States. The film sparked mostly positive reviews with movie critics. A third Stargate SG-1 movie was planned to follow Continuum but the third movie was put on hold with any other future Stargate movies; the film would have centered around the character of Jack O'Neill.