Starship Troopers (film)

Starship Troopers
Starship Troopers
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Paul Verhoeven
Screenplay by	Edward Neumeier
Based on	Starship Troopers; by Robert A. Heinlein
Produced by	Alan Marshall; Jon Davison;
Starring	Casper Van Dien; Dina Meyer; Denise Richards; Jake Busey; Neil Patrick Harris; Patrick Muldoon; Michael Ironside;
Cinematography	Jost Vacano
Edited by	Mark Goldblatt; Caroline Ross;
Music by	Basil Poledouris
Production; companies	TriStar Pictures; Touchstone Pictures;
Distributed by	TriStar Pictures;
Release dates	November 4, 1997 (Westwood); November 7, 1997 (United States);
Running time	129 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$100–110 million
Box office	$121 million

Starship Troopers is a 1997 American science fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Edward Neumeier, based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert A. Heinlein. Set in the 23rd century, the story follows teenager Johnny Rico and his friends serving in the military of the United Citizen Federation, an Earth world government engaged in interstellar war with an alien species of Arachnids. The film stars Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, Denise Richards, Jake Busey, Neil Patrick Harris, Patrick Muldoon, and Michael Ironside.

Development of Starship Troopers began in 1991 as Bug Hunt at Outpost 7, written by Neumeier. After recognizing similarities between Neumeier's script and Heinlein's book, producer Jon Davison suggested aligning the script more closely with the novel to garner greater interest from studio executives. Despite these efforts development was slow, with studios hesitant to fund the costly project right up to the commencement of filming. Principal photography took place between April and October 1996 on a $100–110 million budget, of which nearly half was spent on the extensive computer-generated (CGI) and practical effects required to vivify the Arachnid creatures.

Released on November 7, 1997, Starship Troopers faced critical backlash, with reviewers interpreting the film as endorsing fascism, and disparaging its violent content and cast performances. Despite initial financial success, the box office grosses rapidly declined due to negative reviews and unfavorable word-of-mouth, culminating in a $121 million total gross against its budget and making it the 34th-highest-grossing film of 1997. The poor performance of Starship Troopers was blamed, in part, on competition from a high number of successful or anticipated science fiction and genre films released that year, its satirical and violent content failing to connect with mainstream audiences, and ineffective marketing.

Since its release, Starship Troopers has been critically re-evaluated, and is now considered a cult classic and a prescient satire of fascism and authoritarian governance that has grown in relevancy. The film launched a multimedia franchise that includes four sequels—Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation (2004), Starship Troopers 3: Marauder (2008), Starship Troopers: Invasion (2012), and Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars (2017)—as well as a 1999 animated television series, video games, comics, and a variety of merchandise.