Moore was born in Dundalk, Ireland and attended Dublin Institute of Technology, where he attained a degree in Media Arts. Upon completing his course, Moore genuinely believed that he wouldn’t go on to work within the medium of film, but after a few years, that promptly changed. After graduating, he wrote and directed a series of short films in Ireland. Several of these shorts have featured on Irish TV networks over the years, and along the way Moore founded an Irish-based production company called Clingfilms. He then went on to direct several commercials, including the launch advertisement for Dreamcast, which 20th Century Fox found so impressive they gave him the $17 million (BTL) budget for Behind Enemy Lines (2001). To date, Moore has made four films for 20th Century Fox: Behind Enemy Lines, Flight of the Phoenix (2004), The Omen (2006), and Max Payne (2008). Despite receiving mixed reviews, both Behind Enemy Lines, and The Omen did well at the box office. Flight Of The Phoenix, however, received mainly negative reviews and grossed barely $35 million worldwide, much less than the film’s budget. Max Payne was released on October 17, 2008, also receiving mainly negative reviews, though the film did top the U.S. box office on its opening weekend with $18 million domestic with figures similar to those of Behind Enemy Lines and an ultimate worldwide gross of a slightly lower $85 million. It has been announced Moore will direct the film Virulents. Moore was considered to direct X-Men: The Last Stand at one point, but was beaten by Brett Ratner. He was also considered to direct the reboot of Friday the 13th, but the position ended up going to Marcus Nispel. In September 2008, Moore was involved in a serious dispute with the MPAA over the certification of his film, Max Payne. The MPAA gave the film an R rating initially, which Moore argued viciously against. The rating was a month later changed to PG-13, just before theatrical distribution. John Moore has now officially signed on to direct the fifth installment of the Die Hard franchise, A Good Day to Die Hard.