Spielberg’s UFO movies: from regular 8 to ‘Super 8′

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June 5th, 2011 |

The proud director: Spielberg in 1964

??By Robbie Graham

In anticipation of the June 10 release in America of the Spielberg-produced UFO movie Super 8 – which draws considerable inspiration from Spielberg’s early work in the sci-fi and adventure genres – I thought it might be fitting to take a brief glance back to a time and place of considerable significance in the history of Hollywood’s longstanding love affair with aliens; specifically, to 1964, when, at the Phoenix Little Theatre, in his hometown of Phoenix, Arizona, a 17-year-old Steven Spielberg premiered his first-ever UFO movie – the 8mm Firelight.

The film cost Spielberg 0 to produce and, having managed to sell an impressive 500 tickets for the premiere at each, it was his first commercial success (it made a profit of dollar: “I think somebody probably paid two dollars,” Spielberg later surmised).

Since Firelight, Spielberg has helped to push the idea of alien visitation into the heart of popular culture like no other filmmaker with movies such as (as director): Close Encounters of the Third Kind, ET: The Extraterrestrial, War of the Worlds, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, (and as producer) Batteries Not Included, the Men in Black franchise and the Transformers franchise; and with TV series such as Taken.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

ET: The Extraterrestrial (1982)

War of the Worlds (2005)

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

This summer, audiences will receive a triple dose of Spielberg’s aliens on both the big screen and small with movies Super 8 and Cowboys and Aliens and the TV series Falling Skies.

For a more in-depth look at Spielberg’s historical fascination with the UFO phenomenon, as well as details of his intriguing political connections, check out Spielberg’s Saucer Secrets.

And so here’s to Spielberg’s aliens – the good, the bad and the ugly - and to hoping that his extraterrestrial offerings this summer don’t disappoint!

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