Sliver (film)

Sliver
Theatrical release poster
Directed byPhillip Noyce
Screenplay byJoe Eszterhas
Based onSliver
by Ira Levin
Produced byRobert Evans
Starring
CinematographyVilmos Zsigmond
Edited by
Music byHoward Shore
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release dates
  • May 19, 1993 (1993-05-19) (Westwood premiere)
  • May 21, 1993 (1993-05-21) (United States)
Running time
107 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$40 million[1]
Box office$116.3 million[2]

Sliver is a 1993 American erotic thriller film starring Sharon Stone, William Baldwin, and Tom Berenger. It is based on the Ira Levin novel of the same name about the mysterious occurrences in a privately owned New York high-rise sliver building.[3] Phillip Noyce directed the film, from a screenplay by Joe Eszterhas.[4] Because of a major battle with the MPAA (which originally gave the film an NC-17 rating), the filmmakers were forced to make extensive reshoots before release which necessitated changing the killer's identity.

Released theatrically on May 21, 1993, by Paramount Pictures, the film underperformed at the box office domestically, but proved a bigger hit overseas. Sliver, like many erotic thrillers of the time, found great success in the home video market,[5][6] and was the 8th most rented film in the United States for 1994.[7]

  1. ^ Sliver at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  2. ^ "UIP 25th Anniversary". Variety. September 11, 1995. p. 66.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference NYT was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Dretzka, Gary (October 26, 1997). "Beyond 'Sliver'". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on September 15, 2012. Retrieved March 7, 2013.
  5. ^ Willmore, Alison (April 8, 2022). "Erotic Thrillers Owe Everything to Home Viewers". Vulture. Archived from the original on April 12, 2022. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
  6. ^ Hunt, Dennis (November 26, 1993). "National Video Rentals : 'Sliver' Full of Rental Sex Appeal". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on May 3, 2024. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
  7. ^ "Billboard's year-end ranking of the top video sales and rentals between Dec. 4, 1993 and Nov. 26, 1994". UPI. December 29, 1994.