in 1992, lundgren starred in one of the biggest blockbusters of the year in the sci-fi action picture "universal soldier" directed by roland emmerich. lundgren (as sergeant andrew scott) and jean-claude van damme (as luc deveraux) play u.s. soldiers during the vietnam war who are sent to secure a village against north vietnamese forces. however they end up shooting each other dead after devereaux discovers that scott has gone insane and has resorted to mutilating the villagers and barbarically cutting off their ears, taking an innocent girl and boy hostage. they are later reanimated in a secret army project along with a large group of other previously dead soldiers and sent on a mission as gr operatives. at the 1992 cannes film festival, van damme and lundgren were involved in a verbal altercation that almost turned physical when both men pushed each other only to be separated, but it was believed to have only been a publicity stunt. "universal soldier" opened in theatres on 10 july 1992, a moderate success domestically with $36,299,898 in us ticket sales, but a major blockbuster worldwide, making over $65 million overseas, which earned the film a total of $102 million worldwide, on a $23 million budget. despite being a box office hit however, it was not well-received; mainstream critics dismissed the movie as a "" clone. film critic roger ebert said, "it must be fairly thankless to play lunks who have to fight for the entire length of a movie while exchanging monosyllabic idiocies", including it in his book "i hated, hated, hated this movie".