War of The Worlds (2005 Film)

War Of The Worlds (2005 film)

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 California, Connecticut, New Jersey, Staten Island, and Virginia. 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.