Contact (1997)
75%RT Audience Score: 78%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 1 Oscar
14 wins & 32 nominations total
Contact elucidates stirring scientific concepts and theological inquiry at the expense of satisfying storytelling, making for a brainy blockbuster that engages with its ideas, if not its characters
Contact is out of this world! While some critics may find it a bit too heavy on the talking and bloated storytelling, I found myself swept up in the stunning special effects and the message of scientific exploration for its own sake. Plus, who doesn’t love a good acid trip at the planetarium? Jodie Foster shines as always, even if her romance with Matthew McConaughey falls a bit flat. Overall, Contact is a must-see for any sci-fi fan looking for a film that balances fiction and science in a truly intriguing way.
Production Company(ies)
Fox Searchlight Pictures, Voletta Wallace Films, Bystorm Films,
Distributor
Warner Home Vídeo
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Rated PG for some intense action, mild language and a scene of sensuality
Year of Release
1997
-
Color:Color
-
Sound mix:DTS Dolby Digital SDDS
-
Aspect ratio:2.39 : 1
-
Runtime:2h 30m
-
Language(s):English, Spanish, German, Russian
-
Country of origin:United States
-
Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Jul 11, 1997 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 16, 1997
Genre(s)
Sci-fi
Keyword(s)
Loading…
Worldwide gross: $171,120,329
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $318,982,130
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 470
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 34,785,401
US/Canada gross: $100,920,329
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $188,123,654
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 391
US/Canada opening weekend: $20,584,908
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $38,371,933
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 333
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $90,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $167,767,278
Production budget ranking: 181
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $90,342,679
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $60,872,174
ROI to date (est.): 24%
ROI ranking: 1,274
Robert Redford – The Sundance Kid (Harry Longbaugh)
Katharine Ross – Etta Place
Strother Martin – Percy Garris
Henry Jones – Bike Salesman
Jeff Corey – Sheriff Steve Bledsoe
Director(s)
Robert Zemeckis
Writer(s)
Carl Sagan, James V. Hart, Michael Goldenberg
Producer(s)
Steve Starkey, Robert Zemeckis
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 1 Oscar
14 wins & 32 nominations total
Academy Awards
All Critics (67) | Top Critics (26) | Fresh (45) | Rotten (22)
Sagan’s spirit certainly comes through in the film, which makes a point of valuing scientific exploration for its own sake rather than a means to an end.
November 1, 2021
Andrea Thompson
Inverse
TOP CRITIC
Despite its lineage and some impressive special effects, Contact is a disappointingly earthbound production, weighed down by the ballast of talking-heads dramaturgy and bloated storytelling.
July 18, 2018
Duane Byrge
Hollywood Reporter
TOP CRITIC
If Contact is disappointingly soft in the head, it can also enthrall. Zemeckis is such a potent imagemaker that he is capable, for long stretches at a time, of sweeping you up in his vision.
February 28, 2018
David Ansen
Newsweek
TOP CRITIC
September 7, 2011 | Rating: B+
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly
TOP CRITIC
Something like one of those mysterious asteroids that get the astronomers all worked up: a large body of gaseous matter surrounding a relatively small core of solid substance.
February 16, 2011
Richard Schickel
TIME Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Thoughtful adaptation of the Carl Sagan novel.
December 22, 2010 | Rating: 3/5
Nell Minow
Common Sense Media
TOP CRITIC
The core message feels a little thinner… but the story is no less propulsive, particularly the final 40 minutes which play like an acid trip at the planetarium.
September 29, 2020
Chris Plante
Polygon
Sci-fi with a dash of substance, even if Foster’s romance with a badly-cast Matthew McConaughey is an unnecessary diversion.
May 26, 2020 | Rating: 3/5
Leigh Paatsch
Herald Sun (Australia)
Zemeckis’ alien film about getting in touch with one’s feelings has not lost a byte of magic throughout the years. Foster is impeccable. [Full review in Spanish].
May 14, 2020 | Rating: 3.5/4
Federico Furzan
Cinelipsis
One of the greatest science fiction films in history.
March 10, 2020 | Rating: 4/4
Wesley Lovell
Cinema Sight
Uma ficção científica que confere peso semelhante aos dois termos do gênero: se sua narrativa ficcional é intrigante e bem desenvolvida, sua ciência jamais se entrega ao implausível.
July 31, 2010 | Rating: 5/5
Pablo Villaça
Cinema em Cena
…one of the best pure science-fiction films since 2001.
October 6, 2009 | Rating: 8/10
John J. Puccio
Movie Metropolis…
Plot
Astronomer Dr. Ellie Arroway has long been interested in contact to faraway lands, a love fostered in her childhood by her father, Ted Arroway (David Morse), who died when she was nine-years-old, leaving her orphaned. Her current work in monitoring for extraterrestrial life is based on that love and is in part an homage to her father. Ever since funding from the National Science Foundation (N.S.F.) was pulled on her work, which is referred to some, including her N.S.F. superior David Drumlin (Tom Skerritt), as more science fiction than science, Ellie, with a few of her rogue scientist colleagues, have looked for funding from where ever they could get it to continue their work. When Ellie and her colleagues hear chatter originating from the vicinity of the star Vega, Ellie feels vindicated. But that vindication is short lived when others, including politicians, the military, religious leaders, and other scientists, such as Drumlin, try to take over her work. When the messages received from space are decoded, the project takes on a whole new dimension, which strengthens for Ellie the quest for the truth. Thrown into the mix are the unknown person who has up until now funded most of Ellie’s work and what his motivations are, and Palmer Joss (Matthew McConaughey), a renowned author and theologian, who despite their fundamental differences in outlook, is mutually attracted to Ellie, that attraction based in part on intellect and their common goal of wanting to know the truth.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
NA
Robert-Zemeckis.jpg
