# Millennium (1989 film)
**Millennium** is a 1989 science fiction film directed by Michael Anderson, written by John Varley from his own short story "Air Raid", and starring [Kris Kristofferson](https://www.edgepedia.org/kris-kristofferson), Cheryl Ladd, and [Daniel J. Travanti](https://www.edgepedia.org/daniel-j-travanti). Its plot follows an airplane-crash investigator who discovers that time travelers from a polluted future are removing passengers from doomed airliners to repopulate their own era.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58196-MILLENNIUM?cp=1&cxt=Filmography1&pos=8&sid=ba77cb18-b28e-4f08-a999-846e443915c8&sr=0.07101413) • [2](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/millennium)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | 25 August 1989, Los Angeles and New York openings; distributed by Twentieth Century Fox[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58196-MILLENNIUM?cp=1&cxt=Filmography1&pos=8&sid=ba77cb18-b28e-4f08-a999-846e443915c8&sr=0.07101413) |
| Director / writer | Michael Anderson; screenplay by John Varley, based on his short story "Air Raid"[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58196-MILLENNIUM?cp=1&cxt=Filmography1&pos=8&sid=ba77cb18-b28e-4f08-a999-846e443915c8&sr=0.07101413) |
| Principal cast | Kris Kristofferson (Bill Smith), Cheryl Ladd (Louise Baltimore), Daniel J. Travanti (Arnold Mayer)[3](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/millennium/umc.cmc.33njxbsqif3ddz8s8fwqbo5bz) |
| Rating and length | PG-13; 105 minutes per the AFI Catalog (other databases list 108 minutes)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58196-MILLENNIUM?cp=1&cxt=Filmography1&pos=8&sid=ba77cb18-b28e-4f08-a999-846e443915c8&sr=0.07101413) • [4](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/millennium) |
| Production | Principal photography began 11 April 1988 in Toronto, Canada[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58196-MILLENNIUM?cp=1&cxt=Filmography1&pos=8&sid=ba77cb18-b28e-4f08-a999-846e443915c8&sr=0.07101413) |
| Domestic box office | $5,725,353[5](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Millennium-%281989%29) |
| Critical reception | 20% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (10 reviews); Metascore 26 from 11 reviews; IMDb user rating 5.7/10[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/millennium) • [7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097883/criticreviews/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Two jetliners collide, and Bill Smith (Kris Kristofferson), chief investigator for the [National Transportation Safety Board](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-transportation-safety-board), is assigned to determine the cause. The evidence does not add up: the cockpit voice recorder carries strange comments from the crew, and an unidentifiable object turns up in the wreckage. A theoretical physicist, Dr. Arnold Mayer (Daniel J. Travanti), takes a professional interest in the crash that borders on science fiction, discussing time travel and the possibility of visitors from the future in a university lecture.[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/millennium) • [8](https://www.ratingraph.com/movies/millennium-ratings-51364/)
The explanation is that commando teams from the future are raiding the past, stealing people from doomed planes just before they crash and replacing them with duplicate bodies. The future people can no longer reproduce, so the abductees replenish the population and serve as potential breeders. Smith grows suspicious, is seduced by the time traveler Louise Baltimore ([Cheryl Ladd](https://www.edgepedia.org/cheryl-ladd)), and follows her into a chaotic future, shown through one set alone, which stands on the verge of destruction from a timequake (catastrophic shockwave caused by time-travel paradoxes) brought on by reckless time paradoxes in its history. The two escape to a further future.[2](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/millennium) The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction notes a manipulative robot that resembles the Tin Man from *The Wizard of Oz* (1939), and judges that Kristofferson "acts like a sleepwalker" through the part.[2](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/millennium)
## Production
The project circulated for years under its working title, **Air Raid**. A 10 July 1980 *Hollywood Reporter* brief had Douglas Trumbull set to direct, with Richard Danus adapting the screenplay; neither Trumbull nor Danus remained with the project. [Principal photography](https://www.edgepedia.org/principal-photography) began on 11 April 1988 in Toronto, Canada.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58196-MILLENNIUM?cp=1&cxt=Filmography1&pos=8&sid=ba77cb18-b28e-4f08-a999-846e443915c8&sr=0.07101413)
The film was produced by First Millennium Productions (credited as First Millennium Partnership or Limited Partnership in some records) with Gladden Entertainment, produced by Douglas Leiterman, and shot by cinematographer Rene Ohashi. End credits thank, among others, the Ontario Film Development Corporation and the Toronto Film Commission, reflecting the Canadian shoot.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58196-MILLENNIUM?cp=1&cxt=Filmography1&pos=8&sid=ba77cb18-b28e-4f08-a999-846e443915c8&sr=0.07101413)
## Literary source
Varley's screenplay is credited only to his short story "Air Raid", published in the Spring 1977 issue of *Asimov's* under the pseudonym Herb Boehm. Varley had by then expanded the story into the novel *Millennium* (1983), which the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction credits with explaining points the film leaves obscure; the encyclopedia speculates that the screenplay "was cut to ribbons" in editing.[2](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/millennium) A Blackwell companion to science fiction likewise lists *Millennium* (1983, adapted to film in 1989) among Varley's works.[9](https://www.blackwellpublishing.co.uk/content/BPL_Images/Content_store/Sample_Chapter/9781405162050/9781405162050_4_001.pdf)
## Reception
The film opened in Los Angeles and New York on 25 August 1989 and performed modestly: domestic grosses reached $5,725,353, with a home-video release on 23 March 1998 by Image Entertainment.[5](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Millennium-%281989%29) In Spain it sold 138,481 admissions for a gross of 271,938.91 euros.[10](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=39552)
Critics were largely negative. Kevin Thomas of the *Los Angeles Times* called it "a hopelessly tedious time-travel fantasy" and judged Varley's screenplay "altogether unpersuasive", while conceding that Kristofferson and Ladd were game.[11](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-08-26-ca-702-story.html) The *Chicago Tribune* compared it to 1950s B-grade science fiction in which the love story and concepts had to cover for special effects that were not too special; *The Seattle Times* credited the script for engaging the puzzles inherent in time-travel stories but wanted a more inspired director than the "plodding" Anderson.[7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097883/criticreviews/) The aggregated scores reflect this pattern: 20 percent on the Tomatometer and a Metascore of 26.[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/millennium) • [7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097883/criticreviews/)
Retrospective commentary has been more forgiving of the premise than of the execution. Common Sense Media writes that the film "tries to be a mystery, a romance, and sci-fi all at once, and fails at all three", while a Rotten Tomatoes audience reviewer calls the central idea good and the 1989-set scenes well done, faulting only the low-budget depiction of the future.[4](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/millennium) • [6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/millennium) The *Quarterly Review* notes that despite its problematic time-travel concept, the film raised the disturbing prospect of an Earth so polluted it cannot sustain human life even with sophisticated technology.[12](https://www.quarterly-review.org/cyberpunk/) The Science Fiction Encyclopedia's survey of cinema lists *Millennium* among the genre's disappointments of its era, alongside *[The Final Countdown](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-final-countdown-film)* (1980).[13](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/cinema)
## References
1. [Millennium (1989), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/58196-MILLENNIUM?cp=1&cxt=Filmography1&pos=8&sid=ba77cb18-b28e-4f08-a999-846e443915c8&sr=0.07101413)
2. [Millennium, The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/millennium)
3. [Millennium, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/millennium/umc.cmc.33njxbsqif3ddz8s8fwqbo5bz)
4. [Millennium: Parents' Guide & Movie Review, Common Sense Media](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/millennium)
5. [Millennium (1989) - Box Office and Financial Information, The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Millennium-%281989%29)
6. [Millennium, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/millennium)
7. [Millennium (1989) - Metacritic reviews, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097883/criticreviews/)
8. [Millennium ratings, Rating Graph](https://www.ratingraph.com/movies/millennium-ratings-51364/)
9. [The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction, sample chapter, Blackwell](https://www.blackwellpublishing.co.uk/content/BPL_Images/Content_store/Sample_Chapter/9781405162050/9781405162050_4_001.pdf)
10. [MILLENNIUM, ICAA Film Database, Spanish Ministry of Culture](https://sede.mcu.gob.es/CatalogoICAA/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=39552)
11. [Movie Review: 'Millennium' Goes on Forever, Los Angeles Times, 26 August 1989](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-08-26-ca-702-story.html)
12. [Cyberpunk, The Quarterly Review](https://www.quarterly-review.org/cyberpunk/)
13. [Cinema, The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/cinema)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Science fiction and fantasy films (individual works) › Science fiction and fantasy films of the 1980s › Released 1986 to 1989*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license