{"id":266849,"date":"2025-11-16T23:30:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T23:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/266849\/"},"modified":"2025-11-16T23:30:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T23:30:13","slug":"48-years-ago-today-this-sci-fi-masterpiece-released-changed-the-genre-forever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/266849\/","title":{"rendered":"48 Years Ago Today, This Sci-Fi Masterpiece Released & Changed the Genre Forever"},"content":{"rendered":"

The science fiction<\/a> genre continues to one-up itself, despite being one of the oldest in cinema history. December 2025 will see the release of James Cameron\u2019s third\u00a0Avatar\u00a0movie<\/a>. While their stories aren\u2019t as mind-bending as, say,\u00a0Interstellar\u2018s, they\u2019re going to stand the test of time because they\u2019re technological achievements that push the boundaries of what a movie can be. But even a visionary like Cameron, who also has the\u00a0Terminator\u00a0franchise and\u00a0Aliens\u00a0under his belt, has to take inspiration from somewhere. One filmmaker he often sings the praises of is Steven Spielberg, the man behind hits like Jaws and Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.<\/p>\n

While adventure might be the first genre people think of when discussing Spielberg, it\u2019s difficult to ignore his impact on the sci-fi community. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a near-perfect movie<\/a>, showcasing humanity\u2019s sense of wonder when it decides to understand rather than fear. However, E.T. doesn\u2019t exist if not for another Spielberg flick, one that continues to define the sci-fi genre nearly 50 years after its original release.<\/p>\n

Steven Spielberg\u2019s First Big-Budget Sci-Fi Movie Is Personal to Him<\/p>\n

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When Spielberg was a child, he was fascinated by the stars above him. He and his dad watched a meteor shower that had such an impact on him that he wanted to bring that same sense of awe to the big screen. After cutting a deal with Columbia Pictures later in his life, Spielberg began putting the pieces in place to make a movie about aliens visiting Earth. The passion project ended up on the back burner for a bit while the director went off to make Jaws, but by 1976, the script was finished and filming had begun on Close Encounters of the Third Kind.<\/p>\n

The movie takes place in 1977, the year it was released, and follows an everyman, Roy Neary, who witnesses a UFO flying over Indiana. The life-changing experience makes Roy clamor for answers about why the aliens are on Earth and what they might be after. Of course, like any first-encounter movie, the government gets involved and throws a wrench into Roy\u2019s plans. Thankfully, he makes an ally in Jillian Guiler, who is searching for her son after he gets abducted. Together, the two of them make contact with the aliens, and Roy eventually leaves with them<\/a>, believing there\u2019s more out there for him. Close Encounters of the Third Kind\u2018s ending is one of the most important in cinema history, revealing that the unknown is just as likely to be beautiful as terrifying, so it should come as no surprise that it\u2019s still referenced to this day.<\/p>\n

Close Encounters of the Third Kind Is in a League of Its Own<\/p>\n

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After watching his movie earn critical praise and bring in a strong box-office haul, Spielberg considered making either a sequel or a prequel. After all, his good friend George Lucas<\/a> took another bite of the apple after Star Wars became a smash hit in 1977. However, Spielberg couldn\u2019t figure out where the story would go, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Close Encounters of the Third Kind was allowed to stand on its own and influence millions worldwide, including some of the most impactful filmmakers of all time.<\/p>\n

Christopher Nolan, Guillermo del Toro, and Denis Villeneuve are just a few of the names who consider Spielberg\u2019s masterpiece one of their favorite movies, and when it\u2019s time for them to pass the baton, the next generation is sure to feel the same way. It just goes to show that an event as fleeting as a meteor shower can change the world forever.<\/p>\n

What do you think? Leave a comment below and\u00a0join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The science fiction genre continues to one-up itself, despite being one of the oldest in cinema history. December…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":266850,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[87152,110256,96,2839,99692,7198,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-266849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-answer-feature","tag-close-encounters-of-the-third-kind","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-sci-fi-genre","tag-steven-spielberg","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}