Close Encounters of the Third Kind |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | Steven Spielberg |
Produced by | |
Written by | Steven Spielberg |
Starring | |
Music by | John Williams |
Cinematography | Vilmos Zsigmond |
Edited by | Michael Kahn |
Production
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Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date
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Running time
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Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $20 million |
Box office | $303.8 million |
Soundtrack album | ||||
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Original 1977 soundtrack album
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Soundtrack album by John Williams | ||||
Released | 1977 / 1998 (Collector's Edition) | |||
Length | 41 mins (Original album and cassette) 44 mins (re-issued cassette) 77 mins (Collector's Edition CD) |
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Label | Arista | |||
Producer | John Williams | |||
John Williams chronology | ||||
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Alternative cover | ||||
1998 Collector's Edition soundtrack
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Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | |
Filmtracks |
Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a 1977 American science fiction film written and directed by Steven Spielberg, and starring Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, and Cary Guffey. It tells the story of Roy Neary, an everyday blue-collar worker in Indiana, whose life changes after an encounter with an unidentified flying object (UFO).
Close Encounters was a long-cherished project for Spielberg. In late 1973, he developed a deal with Columbia Pictures for a science fiction film. Though Spielberg received sole credit for the script, he was assisted by Paul Schrader, John Hill, David Giler, Hal Barwood, Matthew Robbins, and Jerry Belson, all of whom contributed to the screenplay in varying degrees. The title is derived from UFO-ologist J. Allen Hynek's classification of close encounters with aliens, in which the third kind denotes human observations of aliens or "animate beings." Douglas Trumbull served as the visual effects supervisor, while Carlo Rambaldi designed the aliens.
Made on a production budget of $20 million, Close Encounters was released in a limited number of cities on November 16, 1977 and November 23, 1977 before expanding into wide release the following month. It was a critical and financial success, eventually grossing over $337 million worldwide.