Piranha (1978 film)

Piranha
Theatrical release poster by John Solie
Directed byJoe Dante
Screenplay byJohn Sayles
Story by
  • Richard Robinson
  • John Sayles
Produced byJon Davison
Starring
CinematographyJamie Anderson
Edited by
Music byPino Donaggio
Production
company
Piranha Productions
Distributed by
Release dates
  • July 28, 1978 (1978-07-28) (Detroit)
  • August 3, 1978 (1978-08-03) (United States)
Running time
95 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$600,000[1]–770,000[2]
Box office$16 million[citation needed] or $2.9 million[3]

Piranha is a 1978 American horror film directed and co-edited by Joe Dante from a screenplay by John Sayles, based on a story by Richard Robinson and Sayles. The film stars Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies, Kevin McCarthy, Keenan Wynn, Barbara Steele, and Dick Miller. It tells the story of a river being infested by lethal, genetically altered piranha, threatening the lives of the local inhabitants and the visitors to a nearby summer resort.

Executive produced by Roger Corman, Piranha is the first installment in a series of low-budget B movies inspired by the film Jaws (1975), which had been a major success for Universal Pictures and director Steven Spielberg. Initially, Universal had considered obtaining an injunction to prevent Piranha being released, particularly as they had released Jaws 2 the same summer, but the lawsuit was dropped after Spielberg himself gave the film a positive comment in advance. Released on August 3, 1978, the film was a commercial success and later became a cult film. Piranha was followed by a sequel, Piranha II: The Spawning (1982), and two remakes, one in 1995 and another in 2010, which spawned its own sequel in 2012.

  1. ^ Chute, David (1984). "Dante's Inferno". Film Comment. 20 (3). New York: 22–27, 80. ProQuest 210263969.
  2. ^ Christopher T Koetting, Mind Warp!: The Fantastic True Story of Roger Corman's New World Pictures, Hemlock Books. 2009 p 146-147
  3. ^ Donahue, Suzanne Mary (1987). American film distribution : the changing marketplace. UMI Research Press. p. 294. ISBN 9780835717762. Please note figures are for rentals in US and Canada