War of the World

Directed by Steven Spielberg
Produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Colin Wilson
Screenplay by Josh Friedman, David Koepp
Based on The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
Narrated by Morgan Freeman
Starring Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Justin Chatwin, Miranda Otto, Tim Robbins
Music by John Williams
Cinematography Janusz Kamiński
Editing by Michael Kahn
Studio Amblin Entertainment, Cruise/Wagner
Distributed by Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures
Release date(s) June 28, 2005 (Kuwait), June 29, 2005 (United States)
Running time 116 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $132 million
Box office $591,745,550
War of the Worlds is a 2005 American science fiction disaster film and a loose adaptation of H. G. Wells's novel of the same name, directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Josh Friedman and David Koepp. It stars Tom Cruise as Ray Ferrier, a divorced dock worker estranged from his children (Dakota Fanning and Justin Chatwin) and living separately from them. As his ex-wife drops their children off for him to look after for a few days, the planet is invaded by aliens (loosely based on H. G. Wells' Martians) driving Tripods and as earth's armies are defeated, Ray tries to protect his children and flee to Boston to rejoin his ex-wife.
War of the Worlds marks Spielberg and Cruise's second collaboration, after the 2002 film Minority Report. The film was shot in 73 days, using five different sound stages as well as locations at Connecticut, Staten Island, California, Virginia, and New Jersey. The film was surrounded by a secrecy campaign so few details would be leaked before its release. Tie-in promotions were made with several companies, including Hitachi. The film was released in United States on 29 June and in United Kingdom on 1 July. War of the Worlds was a box office success, and became 2005's fourth most successful film both domestically, with $234 million in North America, and worldwide, with $591 million overall.