Fantastic Voyage

Fantastic Voyage
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRichard Fleischer
Screenplay byHarry Kleiner
Story byJerome Bixby
Otto Klement
Adaptation:
David Duncan
Produced bySaul David
StarringStephen Boyd
Raquel Welch
Edmond O'Brien
Donald Pleasence
Arthur O'Connell
William Redfield
Arthur Kennedy
CinematographyErnest Laszlo
Edited byWilliam B. Murphy
Music byLeonard Rosenman
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • August 16, 1966 (1966-08-16) (Los Angeles)[1]
Running time
100 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$5.1 million[2]
Box office$12 million[3]

Fantastic Voyage is a 1966 American science fiction adventure film directed by Richard Fleischer and written by Harry Kleiner, based on a story by Otto Klement and Jerome Bixby. The film is about a submarine crew who is shrunk to microscopic size and venture into the body of an injured scientist to repair damage to his brain.[4][5][6][7] In adapting the story for his script, Kleiner abandoned all but the concept of miniaturization and added a Cold War element. The film starred Stephen Boyd, Raquel Welch, Edmond O'Brien, Donald Pleasence, and Arthur Kennedy.

Bantam Books obtained the rights for a paperback novelization based on the screenplay and approached Isaac Asimov to write it.[8][9] Because the novelization was released six months before the movie, many people mistakenly believed that the film was based on Asimov's book. Its modern and imaginative production design received five nominations at the 39th Academy Awards mostly in technical departments, winning for Best Visual Effects and Best Art Direction in Color.

The movie used the concept of miniaturization in science fiction along with The Incredible Shrinking Man and inspired an animated television series of the same name.

  1. ^ Fantastic Voyage at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  2. ^ Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p. 254
  3. ^ "Fantastic Voyage, Box Office Information". The Numbers. Retrieved April 16, 2012.
  4. ^ Menville, Douglas Alver; R. Reginald (1977). Things to Come: An Illustrated History of the Science Fiction Film. Times Books. p. 133. ISBN 0-8129-0710-8.
  5. ^ Fischer, Dennis (2000). Science Fiction Film Directors, 1895–1998. McFarland. p. 192. ISBN 0-7864-0740-9.
  6. ^ Maltin, Leonard (2008). Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide (2009 ed.). Penguin Group. p. 438. ISBN 978-0-452-28978-9. Retrieved 2009-11-23.
  7. ^ "Full cast and crew for 'Fantastic Voyage'". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2009-11-23.
  8. ^ Asimov, Isaac (1980). In Joy Still Felt: The Autobiography of Isaac Asimov, 1954–1978. New York: Avon. p. 363. ISBN 0-380-53025-2.
  9. ^ Asimov, Isaac (1966). Fantastic Voyage. Random House Publishing. ISBN 978-0553275728.