June 25, 1982 –
The greatest dystopian Sci-Fi film (at this point), Blade Runner, opened on this date.
The studio wasn’t happy with the original final ending where Rick Deckard is looking at the piece of origami, and leaves his building with Rachael. The ending of the U.S. theatrical cut, with Deckard’s voice-over about Rachael, used left-over helicopter footage from the opening scene of The Shining. Stanley Kubrick was contacted for this, and being a fan of Ridley Scott’s previous movie, Alien, he happily gifted it on the condition that only shots were used that had not been used in The Shining. Since there was copious footage (something for which Kubrick was notorious), this wasn’t a problem.
On the same day, Universal Pictures releases the sci-fi horror film John Carpenter’s The Thing directed by John Carpenter and starring Kurt Russell.
This is the first of John Carpenter’s films which he did not score himself. The film’s original choice of composer was Jerry Goldsmith, but he passed and Ennio Morricone composed a very low-key Carpenter-like score filled with brooding, menacing bass chords. Morricone’s score would be dubiously nominated for a Razzie award for worst score.
Besides the fact that both films opened on this date, the similarities don’t end there: both movies met with unfavorable reactions at the premiere but became widely loved sci-fi classics in the years to come.
And so it goes
The Haus of Dcaligari 