MovieChat Forums > Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) Discussion > Would this movie have been as popular WI...

Would this movie have been as popular WITHOUT Star Wars?

posted a year ago by stevewyzard (1339)
10 replies | jump to latest

Star Wars was released in May 1977 and ran in theaters for over a year.

CEotTK was released in November 1977, and while not as popular, was also very successful. In some theaters, they even ran together as a double feature.

At the same time on syndicated TV, reruns of Star Trek had developed such a fanatical, convention-attending following that a movie franchise was shortly to follow.

Does CEotTK owe at least some of its success to being in the right place at the right time, capturing the already-existing science-fiction zeitgeist of the late 1970s? Would it have been as popular without Star Wars and Star Trek paving the way?

(I'm aware of the debate that CEotTK is really NOT science fiction, but rather a horror movie dressed up in sci-fi clothes. The presence of aliens and spaceships makes it convenient to label it science fiction, and anyway there is a LOT of cross-over between the two genres.)

[–] SOteric (139) a year ago

Star Wars was a candle in the darkness of the dreary 1970s.

Close Encounters is, and always has been, pure garbage.

Don't even try to compare and contrast these two movies - they are NOTHING alike. Close Encounters was far closer to morbid, desultory films like The Exorcist, Jaws, and The Omen than to Star Wars. I'm sure Psycho Spielberg had no idea Star Wars was even being made at near the same time.

[–] SandyR (7727) a year ago

Yeah, that's right. Spielberg totally didn't know Lucas before 1977. He totally wasn't the only person who watched Lucas's rough cut of Star Wars and tell him it was going to be a huge hit. None of that ever happened...

[–] stevewyzard (1339) a year ago

I'm just having a hard time picturing George Lucas writing letters to Spielberg in 1976 saying:

"Hey Stevie-Baby! Let's drop everything and get together when I get back from the UK. I've got some great footage to show you of what we're working on. No, the special effects people dropped the ball AGAIN, but we'll have something ready when it's all done. Don't worry - I won't bring Marcia!"

[–] [deleted] a year ago

Those movies are more cerebral than the mindless pap that is Star Wars.

[–] BKB (7283) 6 months ago

[–] SOteric (91) 7 months ago
Star Wars was a candle in the darkness of the dreary 1970s.

Close Encounters is, and always has been, pure garbage.

Don't even try to compare and contrast these two movies - they are NOTHING alike. Close Encounters was far closer to morbid, desultory films like The Exorcist, Jaws, and The Omen than to Star Wars. I'm sure Psycho Spielberg had no idea Star Wars was even being made at near the same time."

What the absolute fuck?? You might be the only one who thought this movie was garbage, but Ok..

[–] SOteric (139) 6 months ago

Is there any movie anywhere everyone likes?

[–] BKB (7283) 6 months ago

The DARK KNIGHT along with any movie Nolan makes

[–] millsey72 (9759) a year ago

Yes

[–] Boromir (9724) 10 months ago

"Star Wars" was such an immense triumph and cultural phenomenon in the United States that I am certain many of its fans aspired to explore anything associated with outer space. It didn't matter whether they were two distinct science fiction films; both delved into the concept of extraterrestrial life. Furthermore, it's often only when you watch a film in the cinema that you realize it may not align precisely with your expectations. What is undeniable is that the 1969 moon landing left a significant impact on the cinema of the 1970s.

[–] JosephQCat (706) 10 months ago

Having grown up during the 1970's I would say an emphatic YES! Plenty of talk about UFO's, Bigfoot, the Lochness Monster, and the paranormal in general. Eric Von Daniken was perhaps most celebrated then. Leonard Nimoy's show In Search Of was widely carried on syndicated television and widely anticipated each weekend it aired. Even sports on the weekend could not push it off of the schedule of most stations. 1977 was the perfect year to put out a movie such as Close Encounters.