Outbreak is a 1995 American medical disaster film directed by Wolfgang Petersen and written by Laurence Dworet and Robert Roy Pool. The film stars Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo and Morgan Freeman, and co-stars Donald Sutherland, Cuba Gooding Jr., Kevin Spacey and Patrick Dempsey. The film focuses on an outbreak of Motaba, a fictional ebolavirus- and orthomyxoviridae-like virus, in Zaire, and later in a small town in California. It is set primarily in the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as the fictional town of Cedar Creek, California. Outbreak's plot speculates how far military and civilian agencies might go to contain the spread of a deadly, contagious disease. The film, released by Warner Bros. on March 10, 1995, was a box-office success, and Spacey won two awards for his performance. A real-life outbreak of the Ebola virus was occurring in Zaire when the film was released. The film's popularity resurged during the COVID-19 pandemic, ranking as the fourth most streamed film in the United States on Netflix on March 13, 2020.
Plot The single biggest threat to man's continued dominance on the planet is the virus. In 1967, during the Stanleyville mutinies, a virus called Motaba, which causes a deadly fever, is discovered in the African jungle. To keep the virus a secret, U.S. Army officers Donald McClintock and William Ford order the bombing of the camp where soldiers were infected, killing all occupants. Twenty-eight years later, USAMRIID virologist Colonel Sam Daniels investigates an outbreak in Zaire which wiped out an entire village aside from two survivors (the shaman and a young boy). He and his crew – Lieutenant Colonel Casey Schuler and new USAMRIID officer Major Salt – gather information and return to the United States. Ford, now a brigadier general and Daniels's superior officer, dismisses Daniels's fears that the virus will spread. A white-faced capuchin monkey that is host to the virus is smuggled into the country. James "Jimbo" Scott, a worker at a California animal testing laboratory, is infected when he steals the monkey. Scott tries to sell the monkey to Rudy Alvarez, a pet-store proprietor, but Alvarez refuses to buy it. The monkey scratches Alvarez and he later becomes infected. A hospital technician in Cedar Creek is also infected after accidentally breaking a vial of Alvarez's blood. Scott releases the monkey into the woods outside Palisades. While flying to Boston, Scott develops symptoms and infects his girlfriend, Alice, at the airport. Their illness is investigated by Dr. Roberta Keough, a CDC scientist and Daniels's ex-wife. Scott, Alice, and Alvarez die, but Keough determines no one else in Boston was infected. In Cedar Creek, the virus quickly mutates into an airborne, influenza-like strain after many are infected in a superspreading event at a local movie theater. Daniels flies to Cedar Creek against Ford's orders, joining Keough's team with Schuler and Salt. As they search for the monkey, the Army quarantines the town and imposes martial law. Schuler is infected when his suit tears, and Keough accidentally sticks herself with a contaminated needle. When Ford provides an experimental serum that cures the original strain, Daniels realizes that his superiors knew about the virus before the outbreak. Daniels learns about Operation Clean Sweep, a military plan to contain the virus by bombing Cedar Creek, incinerating the entire town and its residents, ostensibly to prevent Motaba's expansion to pandemic proportions. However, McClintock, now a major general, wants to conceal the mutated virus's existence and preserve the original strain as a biological weapon. To prevent Daniels from finding a cure, McClintock orders him arrested for carrying the virus. Daniels escapes, and he and Salt fly a helicopter to the ship at sea that carried the monkey. Daniels obtains a photo of the monkey and releases it to the media; a mother in Palisades contacts the CDC upon realizing her young daughter has been playing with the monkey (which she named Betsy). Daniels and Salt arrive and Salt tranquilizes Betsy. Ford delays the bombing after Daniels informs him Betsy was captured. On their return flight, Daniels and Salt are pursued by McClintock in another helicopter. Salt fires two rockets into the trees, setting them afire to simulate a crash. Back in Cedar Creek, Salt mixes Betsy's antibodies with Ford's serum to create an antiserum; although it is not clear what happens to Schuler, they save Keough. McClintock returns to base and resumes Operation Clean Sweep, refusing to listen to Ford. Daniels and Salt fly their helicopter directly into the bomber's path to its target. With Ford's help, Daniels persuades the bomber's flight crew to detonate the thermobaric bomb over water and spare the town. Before McClintock can order another bombing, Ford relieves him of command and orders his arrest. Daniels and Keough reconcile as Cedar Creek's residents are cured.
Cast
Production Scenes in "Cedar Creek" were filmed in Ferndale, California, where tanks and helicopters were a common feature of daily life during nearly two months of filming. Other locations used were Dugway Proving Ground and Kauai. Harrison Ford was offered the role of Sam Daniels, but turned it down. Sylvester Stallone and Mel Gibson were also offered the role, but also turned it down. Producer Lynda Obst has stated it was due to the production of Outbreak that her film adaptation of The Hot Zone was dropped by 20th Century Fox, despite having, in her words, "the better package and ... the better script". She also claimed that director Wolfgang Petersen tried to entice Robert Redford, who was already cast for her film, to be a part of Outbreak, based on Redford's call to her. Obst would eventually have her adaptation of the book, but greenlit as a miniseries by National Geographic, which premiered in May 2019.
Release
Box office Outbreak was a commercial success. It topped the U.S. box-office list its opening weekend with a gross of $13.4 million, and spent three weeks at number one before Tommy Boy's release. It was number one in Japan for six weeks. The film grossed $67.7 million in the United States and Canada, and $122.2 million internationally, for a worldwide total of $189.9 million.
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