Connections

Every film in the archive is a node in a web of shared directors, actors, themes and studios. Pick a thread and follow it down the rabbit hole.

• Star Wars (1977)Flash Gordon (1980)Direct influence: George Lucas has cited Flash Gordon serials as Star Wars's model
• Brazil (1985)The Rocketeer (1991)Same theme: retrofuturism — tomorrow, built from yesterday's imagination
• Back to the Future (1985)Tomorrowland (2015)Same theme: the imagined future of an earlier, more optimistic decade
• The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)The Iron Giant (1999)Same theme: a powerful visitor mistaken for a Cold War weapon
• Forbidden Planet (1956)Flash Gordon (1980)Same theme: chrome-and-ray-gun space opera, mid-century style
• Metropolis (1927)Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)Same theme: the deco megacity, rebuilt decades apart
• The Rocketeer (1991)Dark City (1998)Shared actor: Jennifer Connelly
• The Rocketeer (1991)Flash Gordon (1980)Shared actor: Timothy Dalton — villain in one, hero in the other
• The Iron Giant (1999)Tomorrowland (2015)Same director: Brad Bird
• Johnny Mnemonic (1995)Blade Runner 2049 (2017)Same theme: memory as commodity — sold, implanted, borrowed
• Dark City (1998)The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)Shared actor: Jennifer Connelly
• Videodrome (1983)The Thing (1982)Same theme: the body betraying its owner — peak practical body horror
• Videodrome (1983)They Live (1988)Same theme: broadcast media as mind control
• Dark City (1998)The Matrix (1999)Same theme: manufactured reality — The Matrix even reused Dark City's sets
• Strange Days (1995)The Terminator (1984)Written & produced by James Cameron
• Johnny Mnemonic (1995)The Matrix (1999)Shared actor: Keanu Reeves — data courier, then digital messiah
• Ghost in the Shell (1995)Akira (1988)Same subgenre: anime cyberpunk — the two films that conquered the West
• Ghost in the Shell (1995)The Matrix (1999)Direct influence: the Wachowskis pitched The Matrix as 'Ghost in the Shell for real'
• Blade Runner 2049 (2017)Star Wars (1977)Shared actor: Harrison Ford
• Blade Runner (1982)Blade Runner 2049 (2017)Same franchise: Blade Runner — the sequel, 35 years later
• Planet of the Apes (1968)Alien (1979)Same composer: Jerry Goldsmith
• Planet of the Apes (1968)Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)Same composer: Jerry Goldsmith
• Logan's Run (1976)Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)Same composer: Jerry Goldsmith
• Planet of the Apes (1968)Logan's Run (1976)Same composer: Jerry Goldsmith
• The Omega Man (1971)Planet of the Apes (1968)Shared actor: Charlton Heston
• Soylent Green (1973)The Omega Man (1971)Shared actor: Charlton Heston
• Soylent Green (1973)Logan's Run (1976)Same theme: dystopian population control
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)They Live (1988)Same theme: conformity and hidden invaders among us
• Godzilla (1954)Akira (1988)Same studio: Toho
• Contact (1997)Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)Same theme: patient, hopeful first contact
• Contact (1997)Back to the Future (1985)Same director: Robert Zemeckis
• Starship Troopers (1997)The Terminator (1984)Same composer: Basil Poledouris (RoboCop link) meets a shared war-against-machines theme
• Starship Troopers (1997)Total Recall (1990)Same director: Paul Verhoeven
• Starship Troopers (1997)RoboCop (1987)Same director: Paul Verhoeven
• Brazil (1985)Twelve Monkeys (1995)Same director: Terry Gilliam
• TRON (1982)A Clockwork Orange (1971)Same composer: Wendy Carlos
• Escape from New York (1981)Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)Same theme: civilization after the fall
• Escape from New York (1981)They Live (1988)Same director: John Carpenter
• Escape from New York (1981)The Thing (1982)Same director: John Carpenter
• Westworld (1973)Jurassic Park (1993)Same creator: Michael Crichton — a theme park's technology fails, twice
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)Same director: Robert Wise
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)Same effects artist: Douglas Trumbull
• Silent Running (1972)Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)Douglas Trumbull directed one, then supervised effects on the other
• Silent Running (1972)Blade Runner (1982)Same effects artist: Douglas Trumbull
• Silent Running (1972)Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)Same effects artist: Douglas Trumbull
• 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)A Clockwork Orange (1971)Same director: Stanley Kubrick
• Forbidden Planet (1956)Star Wars (1977)Same theme: Robby the Robot's design influenced generations of movie robots
• Metropolis (1927)Blade Runner (1982)Same theme: the vertical dystopian city
• The Thing from Another World (1951)The Thing (1982)The original — Carpenter's 1982 film is a direct remake
• The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)The remake — same premise, updated for a new century's anxieties
• Terminator Genisys (2015)Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)Shared actor: Arnold Schwarzenegger
• The Terminator (1984)Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)Shared actor: Arnold Schwarzenegger
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)Shared actors: Linda Hamilton & Arnold Schwarzenegger reunite decades later
• The Terminator (1984)Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)Direct sequel: Dark Fate ignores every other sequel and continues straight from here
• Terminator Genisys (2015)Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)Same franchise: Terminator
• Terminator Salvation (2009)Terminator Genisys (2015)Same franchise: Terminator
• Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)Terminator Salvation (2009)Same franchise: Terminator
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)Same franchise: Terminator
• RoboCop (1987)Blade Runner (1982)Same theme: what's left of the human inside the product
• Alien (1979)The Thing (1982)Same theme: isolated crew vs. perfect organism
• Twelve Monkeys (1995)Back to the Future (1985)Same theme: time travel — tragedy vs. comedy
• Twelve Monkeys (1995)The Terminator (1984)Same theme: fatalistic time loops
• Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)The Terminator (1984)Same theme: civilization after the fall
• A Clockwork Orange (1971)They Live (1988)Same theme: engineered obedience
• Akira (1988)Blade Runner (1982)Same theme: the neon megacity
• Akira (1988)The Matrix (1999)Direct influence: anime action and digital dystopia
• Blade Runner (1982)The Matrix (1999)Same subgenre: cyberpunk
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)Jurassic Park (1993)Stan Winston creatures + the CGI revolution, back to back
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)Blade Runner (1982)Same effects master: Douglas Trumbull
• Back to the Future (1985)Jurassic Park (1993)Same cinematographer: Dean Cundey
• Alien (1979)Total Recall (1990)Same writer: Dan O'Bannon · same composer: Jerry Goldsmith
• Back to the Future (1985)Predator (1987)Same composer: Alan Silvestri
• Star Wars (1977)Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)Same composer: John Williams (both 1977!)
• They Live (1988)The Thing (1982)Shared actor: Keith David
• The Thing (1982)Aliens (1986)Carpenter's crew meets Cameron's — shared DNA of siege horror
• Total Recall (1990)Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)Shared actor: Arnold Schwarzenegger
• Predator (1987)Total Recall (1990)Shared actor: Arnold Schwarzenegger
• The Terminator (1984)Predator (1987)Shared actor: Arnold Schwarzenegger
• Star Wars (1977)Blade Runner (1982)Shared actor: Harrison Ford
• RoboCop (1987)Total Recall (1990)Same director: Paul Verhoeven
• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)Jurassic Park (1993)Same director: Steven Spielberg
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)Same director: Steven Spielberg
• The Thing (1982)They Live (1988)Same director: John Carpenter
• Aliens (1986)Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)Same director: James Cameron
• The Terminator (1984)Aliens (1986)Same director: James Cameron
• Alien (1979)Blade Runner (1982)Same director: Ridley Scott
• The Terminator (1984)Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)Same franchise: Terminator
• Alien (1979)Aliens (1986)Same franchise: Alien