War Of The Worlds Expected Release Date U.S. : Wednesday, June 29th 2005
Expected Release Date U.K. : Summer 2005
Expected Rental Release Date :

War Of The Worlds Cast : Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Miranda Otto, Tim Robbins, Justin Chatwin, Rick Gonzalez, Yul Vazquez, Lisa Ann Walter
Director :
Written By : David Koepp, Josh Friedman
Producers : Tom Cruise, Steven Spielberg
Other Known Crew Members: Ron Thornton and Michele Jeffers (Special Effects, Foundation Imaging), Jon Sorenson (Effects)

War Of The Worlds Based On : The famous book that was broadcast over the radio originally by Orson Welles.
Premise/Synopsis : Aliens invade earth attacking and destroying all all of our major cities.
Genre : Sci-Fi

Official Site : here
Fan Sites :
Trailer :
Released By : Paramount

Status : In Pre-Production/ Scripting

How excited are we : 9 Out Of 10


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Latest updates

Thursday 2nd December 2004: The War of the Worlds:
Paramount Pictures have launched a teaser site for Tom Cruise's The War of the Worlds available here where you can register for updates. The film, based on the 1898 H.G. Wells novel, also stars Tim Robbins, Miranda Otto, and Dakota Fanning. It's due in theaters on June 29.

Monday 29th November 2004: The War of the Worlds update:
Filming on Steven Spielberg's The War of the Worlds will move to Virginia's Shenandoah Valley.

Monday 22nd November 2004: The War of the Worlds update:
A Bayonne, NJ set report and pics from Tom Cruise's The War of the Worlds can be seen over at Coming Soon.

Wednesday 17th November 2004: The War of the Worlds update:
Rick Gonzalez (The Rookie), Yul Vazquez (Bad Boys II), and Lisa Ann Walter (Shall We Dance) have joined the cast of War of the Worlds.

Monday 15th November 2004: The War of the Worlds update:
Steven Spielberg is to shoot par tof Tom Cruise vehicle The War of the Worlds in the shadows of the Bayonne Bridge, New Jersey.

Wednesday 6th October 2004: The War of the Worlds update:
Taken star Justin Chatwin will star as the son of Tom Cruise in Spielberg's adaptation of The War of the Worlds. Their strained relationship is reportedly a significant plot point in the film.

Monday 4th October 2004: The War of the Worlds update:
Mystic River's Tim Robbins will play astronomer Ogilvy in the Spielberg movie The War of the Worlds. Lord of the Rings actress Miranda Otto has also signed as the wife of Tom Cruise's character. Dakota Fanning will portray their daughter. Production is being fast-tracked to start shooting in November for a June 29 release.

Monday 20th September 2004: War of the Worlds update:
War of the Worlds may be lensing in New Jersey with shooting to begin as soon as October and running through December. A publicist for Paramount Pictures confirmed that they are planning to utilize this area for the shoot.

Thursday 16th September 2004: The War of the Worlds Update:
The blockbuster The War of the Worlds has shuffled it's release date forward to Wednesday, June 29th 2005, two days before The Fantastic Four opens and giving it a whopping 6-day opening weekend.

Tuesday 31st August 2004: The War of the Worlds Update:
Dakota Fanning will star as Tom Cruise's daughter in next years War of the Worlds adaptation.

Friday 13th August 2004: The War of the Worlds Update:
Steven Spielberg is set to use Dennis Muren and Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) for his adaptation of sci-fi classic The War of the Worlds. The two previously teamed up for Minority Report which also featured star Tom Cruise.

Thursday 12th August 2004: War of the Worlds Update:
With Mission: Impossible 3 now set to shoot next summer Tom Cruise will next star in War of the Worlds for director Steven Spielberg who has pushed back his film on the 1972 Olympics. David Koepp is penning the adaptation of the H.G. Wells classic for Paramount who have it set as next summer's tentpole pic.

Wednesday 17th March 2004: The War of the Worlds Update:
Tom Cruise will produce and probably star in another big screen version of the classic HG Wells sci-fi book The War of the Worlds. Steven Spielberg will also produce with DreamWorks. David Koepp is doing a rewrite of a Josh Friedman script.

Monday 4th November 2002: War Of The Worlds Update:
Pendragon Pictures have moved the release of their 'War Of The Worlds' movie from Summer 2005 to Summer 2004. Meanwhile, shooting has wrapped on their sci-fi actioner 'Chrome'.

10th June 2002: War Of The Worlds Update:

Director Timothy Hines, who announced that he would be bringing a version of HG Wells' War Of The Worlds to the screen, has commented on Tom Cruise and Paramount's plans to adapt the book in a different production. This from a press release from production company Pendragon Pictures.

"We approached Paramount with a version of WAR OF THE WORLDS nearly a year before September 11th. At that time we learned that Tom Cruise was interested in becoming involved in a WAR OF THE WORLDS project. Nothing came of it then as we were mostly focused on copyright issues with Paramount," stated Hines.

The principals of Pendragon Pictures are not allowed to comment on the complicated copyright issues of the WAR OF THE WORLDS property, but CHROME producer Susan Goforth confirmed, "Paramount has acknowledged in writing that Pendragon Pictures has certain rights to produce a version of WAR OF THE WORLDS. They certainly know everything about our WAR OF THE WORLDS project and how we were forced to push the project back due to the World Trade Center attack. News of our project has been published all over the world and in virtually every language."

Timothy Hines adds, "Tom Cruise has not approached me or my company concerning a version of WAR OF THE WORLDS, but I'm open to talking with him," stated Hines between takes of an action scene on an elaborate floating transport set at Pendragon Pictures studio in the Seattle area.

Hines went on to say, "I am now convinced that the only way to make WAR OF THE WORLDS is to be one hundred percent true to the book. In the light of current world events, Wells' vision is more timely than ever and it needs to be translated to the big screen intact. If that's the kind of production Tom Cruise is interested in doing, then we may have common ground to talk."

In any case, Timothy Hines and Pendragon Pictures are going forward with the production planning and script polishing of WAR OF THE WORLDS.

"We've endured too much and fought to hard not to follow through. We will make WAR OF THE WORLDS. But right now I've got another movie to shoot," Timothy Hines reflected as he moved into the center of the action on the CHROME set.

See more news of Paramount's proposed adaptation here as well as all of the latest on Hines's Chrome movie.

19/2/02
For those of you that are playing catch up on the state of War Of The Worlds post September 11th (like myself), please read on as I have received a press release from Pendragon Pictures who have updated us on the film that they say will still be made, although it has been put on hold due to those recent events in the US. The film will not be made placed in its original setting and time, and not brought up to date as intended.

Charles R. Keller II, Director of The H. G. Wells Society, wrote to his worldwide members, “I have since learned from the Pendragon website that they will continue with the project. The release will be delayed as they abandon their ‘updated’ version and re-write the script and re-tool the entire production to its proper late-Victorian setting. I applaud Pendragon Pictures for their decision. Perhaps H.G. will finally have his most famous novel put to film in a way not seen before. The potential for this project is enormous and I hope you will join me in supporting Pendragon Pictures in this.”

The press release wnet on to say that Pendragon Pictures hope that War Of The Worlds will be released sometime in 2005.

But here's exciting news for fans of War Of The Worlds. Director Timothy Hines has put into pre-production a movie entitled Chrome, that also stars Katie Tomlinson. Check out our new page for details.

Updated : 19/7/01
The War Of The Worlds film is going ahead and the filmmakers are keen to release the film next Halloween, that's October 31st 2002 and not during the summer of 2003 as wass first expected.Director Timothy Hines explains, "As the details of our production became more refined, we realized we had it within our grasp to release by Halloween, which I really want to do as Halloween is the night Orson Welles broadcast his famous radio version of WAR OF THE WORLDS. I feel the approach to our production has a great deal in common with the approach Orson Welles took with the material, and we will make history on Halloween night, 2002."

Casting for the film is ongoing but Katie Tomlinson, best known for The Fugitive TV series (see right) has beaten over 900 hopefuls for a principal role in the movie. "Katie's auditions were miles above the rest. She has a truth in her performing that few could match, as well as a powerful star-talent charisma," said director Hines.

On board to create the effects needed for the movie are Ron Thornton and
Michele Jeffers of special effects house, Foundation Imaging who have previousley been responsable for Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and the new series Enterprise. Hines explains "Originally, I had thought to go entirely in-house. But when we toured their facilities, met their principals and artists, I knew we were philosophically aligned. Ron (Thornton) is a huge fan of WAR OF THE WORLDS, and has a strong background in miniature construction, which is fantastic, as we are favoring miniatures over CG as our primary approach to the effects." Also onboard is Jon Sorensen the guy responsable for created the Nostromo spacecraft in Alien.

Concept Art (click to enlarge)

Hines has also commented on the state of the script from which he is working from, "I'm convinced more than ever that we are doing WAR OF THE WORLDS right. We met with many studio executives and Hollywood agents, and the vast majority have flipped out at how great our script is, though a few have expressed concerns as to how frightening our approach is".

"Talking with one major producer, when I expressed that the fans of WAR OF THE WORLDS demand that the story be told true to Wells and must be dark, he responded by telling me, 'These people are not your audience. Kids are the ones going to the movies the most and your film will terrify them.' He tried to convince me that my production needed more 'dramedy'. Whereas script polishing is inevitable as you go in production, I assure the fans of WAR OF THE WORLDS that our movie will be truly terrifying and contain no 'dramedy'".

Visit Pengragon Pictures Official Site for more details on the film

Date Page Created : 23/7/2001 Date Last Updated : 10/6/2002

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