"Twin Films", and there have been A LOT of them over the years. In addition to Deep Impact and Armageddon there were several made for TV and direct to video films with similar plots. We really just went through an asteroid phase in the mid to late 90s 🤷
Both films are enjoyable. Deep Impact is more practical, Armageddon is funnier.
"Wow. Got a great view of the Earth from here. Too bad we'll never set foot on her again"
My only real gripe with Deep Impact is the pizza eating observatory dude crash death at the start. Like, why would he be in such a rush to drive this info anywhere? Of all the implausible things in the film, I find this character's behaviour the most implausible.
These movies are nothing alike. Armageddon is a dumb, fun action movie while Deep Impact is a character drama.
Deep Impact is a much stronger script, but Hollywood originally advertised it as an "apocalypse" movie like Armageddon, and most audiences have had trouble looking past that ever since.
Not to mention that Deep Impact was worked on by some NASA scientists who were (toooootally unrelatedly) working on the Deep Impact mission and as a result it has often been said to be the most scientifically accurate movie hollywood has made
I enjoyed Michael Bay movies (before he went CGI everything) I think Armageddon was his taste of that nightmare and it fired him up.
"You mean I can do ANYTHING?!...fuck it, I'm making twelve robots smash into buildings during a fight scene!"
Before that, movies like Bad Boys, The Rock, etc... were hella-fun and I'll defend them forever.
Post Armageddon Michael Bay however; Mr. "Look at what I can do with unlimited computer power" is mostly a dud for me with the exception of The Island (which I think I'm one of the only people who actually enjoyed it)
I liked the realism of Deep Impact. Armageddon was way way too cheesy. There is no way they’d send drillers up rather than teaching astronauts but they wanted their “common man you can relate to, saves the day” trope.
I've always been torn. I prefer Armageddon in pretty much every sing way but it's plot was JUST SO DUMB.
I seriously wonder if Big Oil had a hand in it's creation and used it as a PR piece ala "Astronaut are so outdated, every kid nowadays wants to be an oil driller. Sign up with BP TODAY!"
Deep Impact is on tv every few weeks for some reason, and if nothing else is on, I'll switch to it. Armageddon comes on a couple of times a year, and I can't remember the last time I watched it.
Others have mentioned the main reasons already - it's far too cheesy and Ben Affleck is terrible.
I really really miss the underwater horror genre: Sphere, Leviathan, DS6, The Abyss, etc... Someone needs to bring back "The Thing...but underwater..." elevator pitch.
I don't think The Abyss quite fits with the others because it's not really horror in the same sense, but for a recent version, there's 2020's Underwater