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Released
1979 · FILM

The China Syndrome

A tenacious TV reporter uncovers a deadly cover‑up at a nuclear plant and must expose the truth before powerful interests silence her forever.

People who know the meaning of "The China Syndrome" are scared... Soon you will know.

Directed by
Written by
Runtime
122 min
DramaThriller

Synopsis

While investigating alternative energy sources for a series of reports, reporter Kimberly Wells witnesses an accident at a nuclear power plant. Determined to publicize the incident, Wells soon becomes entangled in a conspiracy aimed at concealing the full extent of its impact.

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How many hands made this film

The scale of the collaboration

Principal cast & crew: 18

These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.

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 David RawlinsShot by James CrabeDesigned by George Jenkins

Box Office

1979 · Box office

💰 Box-office hit — grossed 8.8× 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

$51.7M

Budget$5.9M
Worldwide gross$51.7M
break-even (2.5×)

Also known as

  • Das China-Syndromde
  • El síndrome de Chinaes
  • Le Syndrome chinoisfr
  • La sindrome cineseit
  • Sindrome cineseit

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