112 articles
2010: The Year We Make Contact
2010: The Year We Make Contact is Peter Hyams' 1984 MGM/UA sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey, adapted from Arthur C. Clarke's 2010: Odyssey Two, starring Roy Scheider, Helen Mirren, and Keir Dullea in a joint Soviet-American Jupiter mission.
A Chinese Ghost Story (倩女幽魂)
A Chinese Ghost Story (倩女幽魂) is a 1987 Hong Kong supernatural romance directed by Ching Siu-tung, produced by Tsui Hark for Cinema City, starring Leslie Cheung and Joey Wong, adapted from Pu Songling's Nie Xiaoqian, with sequels in 1990 and 1991 and a 1997 animated film.
Akira (アキラ)
Akira (アキラ) is Katsuhiro Otomo's 1988 cyberpunk anime film, adapted from his manga, set in Neo-Tokyo 2019; a record ¥1 billion budget, 160,000 hand-painted frames, and the film that globalized anime.
Alien 2: On Earth
Alien 2: On Earth (Alien 2: Sulla Terra) is a 1980 Italian unofficial Alien sequel directed by Ciro Ippolito as Sam Cromwell, starring Belinda Mayne; alien-infested blue rocks attack cave explorers.
Alien from L.A.
Alien from L.A. is a 1988 Cannon Films sci-fi comedy directed by Albert Pyun, starring Kathy Ireland in her debut as Wanda Saknussemm, who finds a subterranean Atlantis while searching for her missing archaeologist father.
Alien Nation (film)
Alien Nation (1988 film), also known by working titles Outer Heat and Future Tense, is a Twentieth Century Fox sci-fi buddy-cop movie directed by Graham Baker, starring James Caan, Mandy Patinkin, and Terence Stamp as Newcomer-settled Los Angeles detectives.
Altered States
Altered States (1980) is Ken Russell's American science fiction film, adapted by Paddy Chayefsky (credited as Sidney Aaron) from his 1978 novel, starring William Hurt as a scientist whose sensory deprivation and hallucinogen experiments transform him physically.
Back to the Future
Back to the Future is the 1985 Robert Zemeckis time-travel comedy starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, the top-grossing film of 1985, Oscar winner, and start of a trilogy, musical, and franchise.
Batteries Not Included
Batteries Not Included is a 1987 American comic science fiction film directed by Matthew Robbins, in which tiny alien spaceships help New York apartment tenants resist a developer.
Battle Beyond the Stars
Battle Beyond the Stars (1980) is a Roger Corman New World Pictures space opera, a Seven Samurai/Magnificent Seven retelling directed by Jimmy T. Murakami, written by John Sayles, scored by James Horner, with James Cameron on art direction; $2 million budget, $11 million gross.
Big (film)
Big is a 1988 American fantasy comedy directed by Penny Marshall, starring Tom Hanks as a 13-year-old boy transformed into an adult after wishing on a Zoltar machine.
Blade Runner
Blade Runner (1982), Ridley Scott's neo-noir adaptation of Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, stars Harrison Ford hunting replicants in 2019 Los Angeles; a box-office disappointment that became a cult classic and cyberpunk landmark.
Born in Flames
Born in Flames is Lizzie Borden's 1983 American independent feminist science fiction film, set in near-future New York ten years after a social-democratic revolution, following the Women's Army and pirate radio stations in revolt after Adelaide Norris's death.
Brainstorm (1983 film)
Brainstorm is a 1983 American science fiction thriller directed by Douglas Trumbull, starring Christopher Walken, Natalie Wood, Louise Fletcher, and Cliff Robertson; it is Wood's final film.
Brazil (1985 film)
Brazil (1985) is Terry Gilliam's dystopian satire starring Jonathan Pryce as bureaucrat Sam Lowry, with Robert De Niro; famous for the Gilliam–Sheinberg release battle and its 142-, 132-, and 94-minute cuts.
Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure
Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure (The Ewok Adventure) is a 1984 ABC made-for-TV Star Wars film directed by John Korty, starring Warwick Davis as Wicket, with 65 million viewers and an Emmy for visual effects.
Cherry 2000
Cherry 2000 (1987) is Steve De Jarnatt's feature debut, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi action film starring Melanie Griffith and David Andrews, about a man seeking a replacement body for his malfunctioning android wife.
Clash of the Titans (1981 film)
Clash of the Titans (1981) is a MGM/UA fantasy film directed by Desmond Davis with Ray Harryhausen's final stop-motion effects, starring Harry Hamlin as Perseus, Laurence Olivier as Zeus, and Medusa and the Kraken as adversaries.
Cocoon (film)
Cocoon (1985) is Ron Howard's science fiction comedy-drama about Florida retirees rejuvenated by alien cocoons in a swimming pool, starring Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley, and Hume Cronyn; it won two Oscars and grossed $76 million domestically.
Cocoon: The Return
Cocoon: The Return (Cocoon II: The Return), 1988 Daniel Petrie sequel to Cocoon; Antareans and elderly retirees return to Florida to recover cocoons; $17.5M budget, $7.7M opening week, 31% Tomatometer.
Condorman
Condorman is a 1981 Walt Disney live-action comedy directed by Charles Jarrott, starring Michael Crawford as comic artist Woody Wilkins, who becomes his own superhero to help a Soviet spy defect; it flopped, costing Disney a $9.5 million write-off.
D.A.R.Y.L.
D.A.R.Y.L. (Data Analysing Robot Youth Lifeform) is a 1985 Paramount science fiction family film directed by Simon Wincer, starring Barret Oliver as an android boy with a computer brain who escapes military destruction and returns to his foster parents.
Deathstalker (1983 film)
Deathstalker (1983) is a Roger Corman-produced sword-and-sorcery film directed by James Sbardellati, starring Rick Hill, Barbi Benton, and Lana Clarkson, shot in Argentina for about $500,000, spawning three sequels and a 2025 remake.
Def-Con 4
Def-Con 4 (DEFCON-4) is a 1985 Canadian post-apocalyptic sci-fi film directed by Paul Donovan, starring Lenore Zann, Maury Chaykin, and Kate Lynch as satellite crew survivors of nuclear war.
Dragonslayer (1981 film)
Dragonslayer (1981) is a Disney/Paramount dark fantasy directed by Matthew Robbins, starring Peter MacNicol and Ralph Richardson, whose dragon Vermithrax Pejorative was animated by ILM using go motion; a box office flop later acclaimed for its effects.
Dream a Little Dream (film)
Dream a Little Dream (film) is a 1989 American fantasy comedy directed by Marc Rocco. It features Jason Robards and Corey Feldman when a dream experiment swaps their consciousness.
Dreamscape (1984 film)
Dreamscape is a 1984 American science fiction thriller directed by Joseph Ruben, starring Dennis Quaid, Max von Sydow, and Christopher Plummer, about psychics who enter others' dreams.
Dune (1984 film)
Dune (1984) is David Lynch's film adaptation of Frank Herbert's 1965 novel, starring Kyle MacLachlan as Paul Atreides. A $40 million Dino De Laurentiis production that grossed about $31.5 million, it was panned by critics, disavowed by Lynch, and became a cult film before Villeneuve's 2021 remake.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (also E.T.) is Steven Spielberg's 1982 Universal/Amblin science fiction film, written by Melissa Mathison, about a stranded alien befriended by boy Elliott; it won four Oscars and was the world's top-grossing film for a decade.
El Bosque Animado
El Bosque Animado is a 1987 Spanish fantasy comedy directed by José Luis Cuerda, written by Rafael Azcona, and starring Alfredo Landa and Fernando Rey.