homepage Forums SimHQ Community Community Hall For you wiser more mature members who lived on June 25th, 1982.

Both film released on June 25th, 1982. Both were box office failures. Why? One too weird and one too scary?

https://gizmodo.com/blade-runner-thing-ridley-scott-john-carpenter-sci-fi-h-1849106223

Or could be their trailers? They don't make anyone run to the cinema to watch these..





I saw both on videotape. Blade Runner was boring. Now I appreciate it more especially after seeing the 6 other versions.

The Thing made me want to vomit when I saw it. I have since come to love its ambiguous story and ending.

I saw The Thing in the theater that summer. I was 14. It had some great moments. Never saw Blade Runner.

Never? You need to see all 7 version once.

Interesting thing is that The Thing was hated on release.

Now revered as a classic and one of my favourite films. It oozes atmosphere. Brilliant.

Blade Runner was radically ahead of its time. Most audiences at the time just didn't know how to take it.

Don't really know why "The Thing" failed at the box office except that it didn't have any major stars on the cast. Kurt Russell was not yet an A list celeb when this came out.

Saw The Thing about '83, '84ish. Absolutely loved it, always have. Bladerunner i never really appreciated until about 5 or 6 years ago, i must have needed the right frame of mind to watch it.

7 ? I can't see that happening. Sci - Fi does not interest me.

I also saw both on release, being not only a sci-fi fan but interested in the practical effects part of it all too. The Thing just went under the radar as an over-the-top horror film. Didn't get any interest outside of horror & sci-fi fans, maybe due partially to the unusual male-only cast.

Blade Runner, despised on release by critics. Of course, you can't find any critics now who will admit to being anything other than recognising of its importance

Like a lot of other movies, these two became classics and favourites upon the rise of the home video which was occurring at that time.

My parents where visiting friends, and just wanted to get me and the other boy out of their hair. They gave us money for the movie, The Thing just happened to be playing.

And it still is
LA doesn't really look anything like it.
Neither do we have attack ships at the Shoulders of Orion, or could watch C-beams near the Tannhauser Gate - even worse, we don't even know yet where the latter would be
And worst, no Rachael, Pris or Zhora Salome in sight

But according to the film, all that should have happened by 2019

There also should have been a major global nuclear war which wiped out almost all animal life on the planet as well as causing constant acid rain so I guess we got lucky in those areas!

On a related note,

https://variety.com/2022/film/news/joe-turkel-dead-the-shining-bartender-1235307950/amp/

More memory lanes trips for y'all wiser members

Alien 1979 43 anniversary was in May (release 5/25/1979)

if you haven't seen Alien 1979, this video has spoiler



Aliens 1986 36 anniversary was 3 days ago (release 7/18/1986)

https://www.tiktok.com/@kevingillespie52/video/7121821069010423046

Fan Edit trailer



Terminator 2 31 anniversary was 2+ weeks ago (release 7/5/1991)

https://collider.com/t2-subverts-terminator-expectations/

Fan Edit trailer, I like how they it doesn't doesn't show the new Terminator or show



and finally, Predator 1987 is 35 years old (release 6/12/1987)

https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/predator-arnold-schwarzenegger-35-year-anniversary

Fan Edit trailer

If someone hasn't seen "Alien" by now they are not going to see it.

I contacted Bradbury Building management in mid-2019 to suggest that they host a presentation of Blade Runner in November, 2019, but they said they couldn't get the rights to show it.

That definitely qualifies you as a hardcore fan!

I never saw Blade Runner during its original theatrical run in 1982 but I did see "Blade Runner: The Final Cut" in the movie theater when it was released in 1992 for the 10th anniversary.

I saw "Blade Runner" many times on television throughout the 80s. Absolute classic. Loved it then same as now. Folks back then simply missed out. I never understood why it wasn't more popular--likely because the pacing was so slow? That's about the best I can come up with, however film from the 70s was quite slow paced so "Blade Runner" never felt out of place.

The original had Harrison Ford's voice-over, and I think that may have impacted people's opinion. I remember first seeing it, and thought it looked good, but the voice-over made it feel a little gimmicky. I remember calling it "Replicants Don't Wear Plaid," as a reference to a Steve Martin film that came out about the same time (Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid) that was modeled after the 40s detective stories.

Then I saw the Director's Cut in an art house theater and thought, "wow, that was a big improvement!" I think it's after that that it took on a cult status. I wonder, though, if I would have fully understood everything happening in the Director's Cut without having seen the original with the narration.

That indeed is the catch 22 with Deckard’s voice over. The droning gets annoying after a while but a lot of interesting backstory is also provided.

I prefer the version with voiceover--gives the film a very novelesque feel.