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2024 Modern Trailer

Alien(1979)
Released
1979 · FILM

Alien

A commercial space crew awakens from stasis to investigate a mysterious signal, only to trigger a deadly encounter with an unknown lifeform that turns their mission into a desperate fight for survival.

“In space no one can hear you scream.”

Directed by
Ridley Scott, Steve Harding
Written by
Dan O Bannon, Ronald Shusett
Rated
FSK · FSK 16
Runtime
117 min
HorrorSci-Fi
Streaming on
  • Paramount+

Synopsis

While returning to Earth, the commercial spaceship Nostromo receives a distress signal from a distant planet. A three‑member crew team lands on the planet and discovers a chamber containing thousands of eggs. One creature inside an egg attacks an explorer, and the crew remains unaware that an alien parasite has been implanted in its host and will soon emerge.

Credits

Actors
Editor
Production Designer
Director of Photography
Writers
Directors

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How many hands made this film

The scale of the collaboration

A crew of 135+ credited

Why a floor?

This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.

Craft leads on file

Edited by Terry RawlingsShot by Derek VanlintScored by Jerry GoldsmithDesigned by Michael SeymourSound by Derrick LeatherCostumes by John MolloStunts by Roy Scammell

Box Office

1979 · Box office

💰 Box-office hit — grossed 9.5× its budget

Why 2.5×?

Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).

Worldwide gross

$104.9M

Budget$11.0M
Worldwide gross$104.9M
break-even (2.5×)

US & Canada: $78.9M — 75% of worldwide · International: $26.0M (25%)

Re-release box office

20241,750 theaters
$3.9M($4.1M today)
2021505 theaters
$270K($330K today)
2019682 theaters
$1.2M($1.6M today)
Total re-release
$5.3M

Domestic gross earned in theatrical re-release, by year · adjusted for inflation

Full synopsis

Versions & cuts

  • 2003 Director's Cut· 116 min · 2003

Also known as

  • (Flemish)Alien, de achtste passagier
  • (literal English title)Alien: The Eighth Passenger
  • Aliende
  • Alien – Das unheimliche Wesen aus einer fremden Weltde
  • Alien - Le 8ème passagerfr
  • Alien, le huitième passagerfr
Release dates around the world3 countries · show
  • United StatesMay 24, 1979
  • CanadaMay 25, 1979
  • JapanJul 21, 1979

Companies

Production20th Century Fox, Brandywine Productions, Scott Free Productions

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