How Movie Magic Recreated the Battle of Midway

The filmmakers behind "Midway" harnessed all the modern computer and camera tricks developed for superhero and sci-fi movies and used them to tell the real-life story of perhaps the most important naval battle of World War II.

If you missed it in theaters, "Midway" is out this week on digital and will follow on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD on Feb. 18.

The Battle of Midway began on June 4, 1942, and continued until June 7. It represented the first great American victory of the War in the Pacific after a string of bad news for U.S. forces, starting with the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Midway was the first step in a three-year campaign to win the war against Japan.

Director Roland Emmerich is known for patriotic action pictures such as "The Patriot," "Independence Day" and "White House Down." He's also a master of movie FX and realized that the technology finally existed for him to recreate the excitement of battle in a way that would resonate with audiences raised on Avengers and Transformers movies.

Most of the film was shot on a giant soundstage in Canada. We've got a behind-the-scenes clip that shows just how they recreated planes and carriers from 1942.

We paid a lot of attention to "Midway" when it was released in theaters last year. Check out some of our best articles:

• A conversation with director Roland Emmerich
• A conversation with screenwriter Wes Tooke
• A trip to the movie's Hollywood premiere with Battle of Midway veteran Jack Holder
• Plus a premiere event at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam's Sharkey Theater

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