Dark Star (film)

Dark Star
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	John Carpenter
Written by	John Carpenter Dan O'Bannon
Produced by	John Carpenter
Starring	Dan O'Bannon Brian Narelle Cal Kuniholm Dre Pahich
Cinematography	Douglas Knapp
Edited by	Dan O'Bannon
Music by	John Carpenter
Production companies	Jack H. Harris Enterprises University of Southern California
Distributed by	Bryanston Distributing Company
Release dates	March 30, 1974 (1974-03-30) (Filmex, Los Angeles) January 16, 1975 (1975-01-16) (Theatrical, Los Angeles)
Running time	83 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$60,000[2]

Dark Star is a 1974 American independent science fiction comedy film produced, scored and directed by John Carpenter and co-written with Dan O'Bannon. It follows the crew of the deteriorating starship Dark Star, twenty years into their mission to destroy unstable planets that might threaten future colonization of other planets.

Beginning as a University of Southern California student film produced from 1970 to 1972, it was gradually expanded to feature-length until it appeared at Filmex in 1974, and subsequently received a limited theatrical release in 1975.^[3] Its final budget is estimated at $60,000.^[4] While initially unsuccessful with audiences, it was relatively well received by critics, and continued to be shown in theaters as late as 1980.^[5] The home video revolution of the early 1980s helped the movie achieve "cult classic" status.^[6][3] O'Bannon collaborated with home video distributor VCI in the production of releases on VHS, LaserDisc, DVD, and eventually Blu-ray.

Dark Star was Carpenter's feature directorial debut; he also scored the film. It was the feature debut for O'Bannon, who also served as editor, production designer, and visual effects supervisor, and appeared as Sergeant Pinback.^[3][7]