The Dead Zone
A schoolteacher awakens from a coma with terrifying psychic powers and a chilling vision of a future presidential assassination, forcing him to confront a deadly choice between his gift and his humanity.
“In his mind, he has the power to see the future. In his hands, he has the power to change it.”
Synopsis
Johnny Smith is a schoolteacher with his whole life ahead of him but, after leaving his fiancee
Credits
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How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
A crew of 49+ 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 Ronald SandersShot by Mark IrwinScored by Michael KamenDesigned by Carol Spier
Box Office
1983 · Box office
⚖️ Fell short of break-even — grossed 2.1× 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
$20.8M
Opening weekend: $4.6M — 22% of its US run.
Opening week (7-day): $6.0M — 29% of its US & Canada run.
Peak 1,293 theaters
Also known as
- Dead Zonede
- Dead Zone: Der Attentäterde
- La zona muertaes
- La zona mortait
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Cast & Crew
49 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Christopher Walken
as Johnny Smith
Brooke Adams
as Sarah Bracknell
Tom Skerritt
as Sheriff Bannerman
Herbert Lom
as Dr. Sam Weizak
Anthony Zerbe
as Roger Stuart
Colleen Dewhurst
as Henrietta Dodd
Martin Sheen
as Greg Stillson
Nicholas Campbell
as Frank Dodd
Sean Sullivan
as Herb Smith
Jackie Burroughs
as Vera Smith
Geza Kovacs
as Sonny Elliman
Roberta Weiss
as Alma Frechette
Supporting cast
26Simon Craig
as Chris Stuart
Peter Dvorsky
as Dardis
Julie Ann Heathwood
as Amy
Barry Flatman
as Walt
Raffi Tchalikian
as Denny #1
Ken Pogue
as Vice President
Gordon Jocelyn
as Five-Star General
Bill Copeland
as Secretary of State
Jack Messinger
as Therapist
Chapelle Jaffe
as Nurse
Cindy Hinds
as Natalie
Helene Udy
as Weizak's Mother
Ramon Estevez
as Teenage Boy with Camera
Joseph Domenchini
as Young Weizak
Roger Dunn
as Reporter
Vladimir Bondarenko
as Reporter
Claude Rae
as Reporter
John Koensgen
as T.V. Anchorman
Leslie Carlson
as Brenner
James Bearden
as Deputy #1
Hardee T Lineham
as Deputy #2
William B Davis
as Ambulance Driver
Seirge Leblanc
as Denny #2
Vera Winiauski
as Polish Peasant
Joe Kapnaiko
as Polish Peasant
David Rigby
as Truck Driver
Directors
1Writers
2Producers
1Other crew
7Parents Guide
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