Event Horizon (film)

Event Horizon
Theatrical release poster
Directed byPaul Anderson
Written byPhilip Eisner
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyAdrian Biddle
Edited byMartin Hunter
Music byMichael Kamen
Production
companies
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release dates
  • 15 August 1997 (1997-08-15) (USA)
  • 22 August 1997 (1997-08-22) (UK)
Running time
96 minutes
Countries
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$60 million
Box office$42 million

Event Horizon is a 1997 science fiction horror film directed by Paul Anderson and written by Philip Eisner. It stars Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan, and Joely Richardson. The film follows a crew of astronauts in the year 2047 who are sent on a rescue mission after the Event Horizon, a spaceship that went missing seven years earlier, spontaneously reappears in orbit around Neptune.

The film had a troubled production, with filming and editing rushed by Paramount Pictures when the projected release date of Titanic was changed. The original 130-minute cut of the film was heavily edited by the studio's demand, much to Anderson's consternation.

Event Horizon was released in the United States on 15 August 1997 and the United Kingdom one week later. It was a commercial and critical failure, grossing $42 million on a $60 million budget. However, it sold well on home video; its initial DVD release sold so well that Paramount contacted Anderson to begin working on a restoration of the deleted footage, but it had been either lost or destroyed. The film has since been reassessed as a cult classic that influenced many sci-fi and horror films and video games, and has appeared on lists of the best horror films of all time.

In 2025, Event Horizon: Dark Descent, a comic book prequel series began being published by IDW Publishing. In 2026, Event Horizon: Inferno, a comic book sequel series, is set to begin being published by IDW Publishing.