The China Syndrome

The China Syndrome
The China Syndrome
	Promotional poster
Directed by	James Bridges
Written by	Mike Gray; T. S. Cook; James Bridges;
Produced by	Michael Douglas
Starring	Jane Fonda; Jack Lemmon; Michael Douglas;
Cinematography	James Crabe
Edited by	David Rawlins
Music by	Stephen Bishop
Production; companies	IPC Films; Major Studio Partners;
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	March 16, 1979;
Running time	122 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$5.9 million
Box office	$51.7 million

The China Syndrome is a 1979 American disaster thriller film directed by James Bridges and written by Bridges, Mike Gray, and T. S. Cook. The film stars Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon, Michael Douglas (who also produced), Scott Brady, James Hampton, Peter Donat, Richard Herd, and Wilford Brimley. It follows a television reporter and her cameraman who discover safety coverups at a nuclear power plant. "China syndrome" is a fanciful term that describes a fictional result of a nuclear meltdown, where reactor components melt through their containment structures and into the underlying earth, "all the way to China".

The China Syndrome premiered at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Palme d'Or while Lemmon received the Best Actor Prize.^[3] It was theatrically released on March 16, 1979, twelve days before the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, which gave the film's subject matter an unexpected prescience. It became a critical and commercial success. Reviewers praised the film's screenplay, direction, and performances (most notably of Fonda and Lemmon), while it grossed $51.7 million on a production budget of $5.9 million. The film received four nominations at the 52nd Academy Awards; Best Actor (for Lemmon), Best Actress (for Fonda), Best Original Screenplay and Best Art Direction.^[4]

^ "The China Syndrome". Sunnycv.com. Archived from the original on February 27, 2014. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
^ "Box Office Information for The China Syndrome". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 28, 2012.
^ "Festival de Cannes: The China Syndrome". Festival-cannes.com. Archived from the original on January 18, 2012. Retrieved May 24, 2009.
^ "The China Syndrome (1979): Awards". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2012. Archived from the original on October 18, 2012. Retrieved June 27, 2018.