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War of the Worlds
Directed by	Steven Spielberg
Produced by	Kathleen Kennedy
Written by	H. G. Wells (novel) Josh Friedman David Koepp
Narrated by	Morgan Freeman
Starring	Tom Cruise Dakota Fanning Miranda Otto Justin Chatwin Tim Robbins
Music by	John Williams
Cinematography	Janusz Kaminski
Editing by	Michael Kahn
Distributed by	USA Theatrical Non-USA DVD Any USA DVD reissues 2006- (see below): Paramount Pictures 2005 USA DVD: DreamWorks SKG Non-USA Theatrical: Paramount through United International Pictures
Release date(s)	June 29 2005
Running time	118 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$203 million
Gross revenue	$591.7 million
Official website
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

War of the Worlds is a 2005 science fiction disaster film based on H. G. Wells' original novel starring Tom Cruise. It was directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Josh Friedman and David Koepp. It was released on June 29, 2005.

It is one of four film adaptations of the novel, preceded by two straight-to-video versions released in the same year, as well as the original 1953 film version.

Contents 1 Background 2 Characters 3 Plot 4 Production 4.1 Quotes from Spielberg 4.2 Budget 5 Cast 6 Critical reaction 7 Criticism and controversy 7.1 Tom Cruise, Scientology and the film 7.2 Press coverage and anti-piracy controversy 8 Box office 9 Awards and nominations 10 Source material 10.1 Novel 10.1.1 Differences 10.1.2 Similarities 10.2 1938 radio program 10.3 1953 movie 10.4 Television series 10.5 Other movie references 11 DVD special features 12 Trivia 13 See also 14 References 15 External links

War of the Worlds draws elements not only from the H. G. Wells novel, but also the 1938 radio play and the 1953 film. Hence, to place this film in proper historical context as an adaptation requires some knowledge of all three previous incarnations of Wells' story.

As in the original novel, which takes place in and around London, the narrative is told from the point of view of civilians caught up in the conflict. Whereas the novel portrayed the experience of a solitary British journalist late in the 19th century, War of the Worlds is, according to Spielberg, purported to show the war "through the eyes of one American family fighting to survive it". It is set in the early 21st century, and as in the radio play begins in New Jersey.

• Ray Ferrier: Knowing that the character was to be played by Tom Cruise, writer David Koepp intentionally wrote Ray as the opposite of the type of confident characters Tom has played. He is characterized by excessive profanity used during the film. The back-story that Koepp designed is that Ray's life has not turned out as he had hoped (often citing Bruce Springsteen's "Glory Days" as a basis). Ray is divorced with two kids, who do not give him their respect as a father. Ray's self-absorbed personality is challenged when the aliens invade, as he has to put it aside to keep his children safe.
• Robbie Ferrier: Ray's rebellious teenage son. He often scoffs at his father's attempts at parenting, which becomes a problem when Ray tries to take control when fleeing the alien menace, as he often remarks that they should help the army.
• Rachel Ferrier: Ray's 10-year-old daughter. She is intelligent and independent, but claustrophobic and understandably terrified during the events of the film.
• Harlan Ogilvy: Little is known about Ogilvy other than that he had a wife and child before the invasion. Presumably, they were killed by the invaders, which pushed Ogilvy's mind into an unhealthy place. He seems to draw inspiration about life, especially during the alien occupation, from his time as a paramedic. He is eventually killed by Ray, because Ogilvy might attract the aliens due to his ranting about attacking the aliens. Harlan Ogilvy's name ("Ogilvy") was derived from the astronomer who first saw the Martians coming in their rocket-propelled space capsules in the novel.
• Mary Ann: Ray's ex-wife and mother to Robbie and Rachel. She has remarried, to Tim (whose child she is expecting), and the kids have more respect for Tim than for Ray. Mary Ann and Tim leave the kids in Ray's care whilst they visit her parents in Boston, and much of the film's plot concerns Ray's attempts to reunite Robbie and Rachel with their mother.
• Nina: The News Producer Ray meets is a woman whose news team was attached to the 83rd Mechanized Unit which encountered a tripod in the Pine Barrens. The 83rd was decimated, and she escaped with Max and an unknown man. She tells Ray of the events that took place during the first night: The tripods are all over the United States and England, and that they seem invincible to attack.
• Tim: Mary Ann's new husband. He is very wealthy, and Robbie and Rachel consider him to be their father, not Ray.
• Manny: A mechanic who fixes a van after the EMP strike. Ray tries to convince Manny to come with him in the van, but Manny is unaware of the danger. Moments later, Manny is killed by a heat-ray.
• Sheryl: A friend of Ray's, escaped New Jersey with her daughter Norah to the Hudson river. She tries to stay with Ray, Robbie and Rachel as they board the ferry to escape but is left behind with hundreds of others. She escapes the city and travels to Massachusetts.
• Norah: The daughter of Cheryl who tries to escape with Ray at the ferry but is left behind with her mother. She escapes the city and flees to Massachusetts.
• Vincent: A friend of Ray who claims that the EMP strike was the result of a solar flare.
• Julio: A panicky friend of Ray and Vincent.
• Max: A cameraman for the news producer who becomes deaf after a shell exploded beside his head but is shielded by his camera.
• Irene: The woman who sees Rachel standing alone at the tree when refugees are fleeing the tripods by Ogilvy's house. She insists on taking Rachel to save her and doesn't listen to her pleas that Ray is getting her brother. Irene and her husband escape with the other refugees when Ray takes Rachel back.
• Husband: The husband of Irene who tries to help Rachel. He escapes with Irene and other refugees when the army retreats.
• Lopez: An army soldier who was captured by a Tripod. He and the other prisoners save Ray when he is "chosen" to be the next victim of the Tripod for blood extraction. He warns the others to duck when Ray reveals he detonated two grenades inside the Tripod. Lopez and all the survivors of the Tripod's cages escape to Boston.
• Julianne: A businesswoman who is with a friend in the cages. She helps save Ray and escapes with everyone when the cage falls and the Tripod is destroyed.
• Invaders: Extraterrestrials who invade Earth. Their physical appearance is trisymmetric, which is reflected in their technology. Beyond those obvious details, nothing is really known about the aliens, including their world of origin, and most of the information concerning them in the film is speculative. While Koepp has provided some minor details of their back-story in the script and in interviews, they remain largely enigmatic.

The film begins with the narrator (Morgan Freeman), informing that Earth was being observed by extraterrestrials with immense intelligence and no compassion. As man dominated the world without doubt, much in the way microorganisms "swarm in a drop of water," these beings have plotted to take it from him.

The action opens with Brooklyn dock worker Ray Ferrier finishing the third shift in the morning. His ex-wife Mary Anne and her new wealthy husband Tim drop off Ray's 10 year old daughter Rachel and teenage son Robbie at Ray's house. They are staying with him in Bayonne, New Jersey, while Tim and May Anne visit her parents in Boston for the weekend. Later that day, Ray wakes up from a nap and Rachel tells him that robbie has stolen his car and left.

Ray sets out to find him, but is immediately distrcted by a strange wall cloud. It begins to unleash EMP lightning repeatedly in the same spot about half a mile from Ray's house. The lightning disables all the working electronic devices in the area, including vehicles, which consequently leaves all the residents of the town stranded in the streets. After the storm, Ray finds Robbie and tells him to take care of Rachel while he goes to investigate where the lighting hit. He tells a fellow mechanic to change the solenoid of the car he is repairing. Ray and many other people find a mysteriously cold hole from which a large tripod machine quickly emerges from and begins vaporizing human beings into dust in its path. After witnessing everything first-hand, Ray runs from the scene back to his house. After packing food, Ray and his kids abandon their home steal the only operational vehicle in town, due to advice of changing the solenoid in the car.

They drive to Tim's large house, where they take refuge in the basement for the night. During the night, a tripod destroys a large airplane that crashes into the development, demolishing all of the houses. After having a brief conversation with a small news team, Ray and his family drive towards Boston, but their van is seized by a mob. Ray is able to escape by firing a small revolver he brought from his house. From there, they continue moving on foot. They reach a ferry in Athens, NY, but three tripods appear over the horizon. The ferry moves off, but two tripods hiding underwater tip the ferry over, so many on board fall victim to more tripods. Ray, Robbie, and Rachel escape and swim to safety. Shivering, the three witness refugees running over the hill across the Hudson a few miles away, being attacked by three more tripods. They escape as they see the town of Athens being destroyed.

Later, they come across American military forces somewhere in Massachusetts, trying to keep more machines back--a valiant, but ultimately fruitless effort as the alien machines are protected by impenetrable shields. Although the weapons are ineffective, the army delay their advance so the refugees can escape. Robbie wanted to witness the battle and Ray, reluctantly, lets him go to save Rachel from being kidnapped. In the ensuing chaos, an enormous firebomb erupts and the entire military platoon is wiped out. Robbie is separated from Ray and Rachel, and is feared dead.

Shortly after, Ray and Rachel are offered shelter in a basement by a man named Harlan Ogilvy who lost his family to the alien invaders. The invaders settle close to the house where the trio are hiding and tensions start to emerge between Ogilvy, who wants to strike back at the alien invaders by finding a weakness and exploiting it, and Ray who is preoccupied with his own safety and that of his daughter, therefore wants to hide until the invaders move off to a different area. Meanwhile the invaders begin spreading a strange "red weed", which appears to be a mysterious plant synthesised from the blood of harvested humans.

From the start Ogilvy exhibits signs of mental stress, possibly due to the loss of his family. He mentally cracks after witnessing one of the alien tripods harvesting blood and tissue from a helpless human victim. This causes Ogilvy to run into a room in the basement, shouting and furiously trying to dig a hole which would lead to an imaginary escape from the nightmare he just witnessed. Ray, concerned that the commotion Ogilvy was creating might draw the attention of the invaders to himself and his daughter, kills Ogilvy as a means of silencing him. Though later that night, A tripod probe invades the basement, where Ray attacks it with an ax. Rachel screams and flees the house.

Ray follows to find Rachel, but is attacked by a tripod. He tries to find safety in a military truck, where he finds a pack of grenades, but the truck is tossed by the tripod. Ray escapes as he finds Rachel being pulled into a cage with other humans in the tripod. He throws a grenade at one of the tripod legs, but its shield deflects it. He is then pulled into the same cage as Rachel, where he finds her in shock. Ray is grabbed by a mechanism pulling him into the body of the tripod and seemingly bound for death, a soldier and others help to keep him in the cage. After the group successfully saves Ray, it is revealed he sent two grenades into the tripod. The grenades detonate, causing a multitude of explosions in the tripod, destroying it fully. The cage lands on the ground and everyone in it escapes.

After they are freed, Ray and his daughter continue to move towards Boston. It is there that they find the red weed dying along with other tripods. He discovers that the shields are not active on the tripods and tells a soldier. The tripod is eventually destroyed by a Javelin missile launcher the soldiers have. The alien invaders inside are dying as well. With the threat over, Ray finally brings Rachel to Mary Anne and Tim at her parent's house where she has been waiting for them, along with their son Robbie. Though nothing is directly said between them, Mary Anne is eternally grateful to Ray for all he has done.

The narrator's voice returns, informing us that it was not any weapon of man that defeated the menace; it was instead the small things in nature that were their undoing. The very bacteria that have plagued man, and to which we had long since developed an immunity, attacked the invaders upon their arrival, sealing their inevitable doom.

The film was produced by Cruise/Wagner Productions, Amblin Entertainment, DreamWorks SKG, and Paramount Pictures.

On the web site Dark Horizons,^[1] Spielberg described his preferences for long takes in special effect-heavy movies:

"I'm more interested in concept shots and money shots than I am in tons of MTV coverage, which certainly takes a lot of time. But if I can put something on the screen that is sustained where you get to study it and you get to say, 'How did they do that?' That's happening before my eyes and the shot's not over yet, it's still going and it's still going and my God, it's an effects shot and it's lasting seemingly forever. I enjoy that more than creating illusion with sixteen different camera angles, where no shot lasts longer than six seconds on the screen. To pull a rabbit out of a hat, because you are really a smart audience and you're in the fastest media, the fastest growing new media today and you know the difference between sleight of hand visually and the real thing. I think what makes War of the Worlds, at least the version that we're making, really exciting, is you get to really see what's happening. There's not a lot of visual tricks. We tell it like it is, we show it to you, and we put you inside the experience."

He described the story as follows:

"It's nothing you can really describe. The whole thing is very experiential. The point of view is very personal — everybody, I think, in the world will be able to relate to the point of view, because it's about a family trying to survive and stay together, and they're surrounded by the most epically horrendous events you could possibly imagine."

At the world premiere in Tokyo, Spielberg said he was proud to bring it to Japan, referring to Japanese monster movies including Gamera and Godzilla, and explained the first tripod is killed in Osaka because "Osaka has a lot of experience [with monsters]."^[2]

In August 2004, the Internet Movie Database reported that the film was "poised to make history in Hollywood as the most expensive film ever made — surpassing Titanic's $198 million budget." The report quoted an unnamed source that said, "No expense will be spared. Spielberg wants to make it the film of the decade." The New York Times, the original source for this number, ran a correction a few days later that the budget is actually $128 million. The final budget, however, has been confirmed to be $203 million.^{[citation needed]}

• Tom Cruise — Ray Ferrier
• Dakota Fanning — Rachel Ferrier
• Justin Chatwin — Robbie Ferrier
• Tim Robbins — Harlan Ogilvy
• Miranda Otto — Mary Ann
• David Alan Basche — Tim
• Yul Vazquez — Julio
• Rick Gonzalez — Vincent
• Lenny Venito — Manny
• Morgan Freeman — The Narrator
• Gene Barry - Grandfather
• Ann Robinson - Grandmother
• Johnny Kastl - Boston Soldier

The film garnered a positive box office response,^[3] with reviews being generally positive. Rotten Tomatoes currently has the movie rated at 73% fresh.^[4] Overall reviews have praised the film for its special effects and the direction of Steven Spielberg, but have criticized the film for gaps in logic and holes and inconsistencies in the storyline. Some critics such as Glenn Whip (LA Daily News) and Bruce Westbrook (Houston Chronicle) consider the film a near masterpiece.^[5][6]

Critic James Berardinelli gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, he wrote in his review: "…War of the Worlds may not stand up well to careful inspection and it may not be the smartest science fiction film brought to the screen (although, when considering movies such as the like-themed Independence Day, it's far from the dumbest), but it is an intense, visceral experience."^[7]

Some thought otherwise, Critic Roger Ebert gave the film 2 out of 4 stars and regarded it: "...a big, clunky movie containing some sensational sights but lacking the zest and joyous energy we expect from Steven Spielberg."^[8] The film has been attacked by some literary experts, arguing that War of the Worlds has little in common with the original H.G. Wells novel and could be viewed as just a star vehicle for Tom Cruise.

Press coverage in May and June 2005 leading up to the film's release focused on Tom Cruise's proselytizing for Scientology. Around this time, Cruise had changed publicists, from Pat Kingsley to his sister, Lee Anne DeVette, and spoke to interviewers more frequently about Scientology — and his sudden engagement to actress Katie Holmes — than about the film itself. Some press coverage noted^[9] the similarity between the film's promotional poster and the front cover of The Invaders Plan (volume one of Mission Earth) by L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology. This similarity is not singular to the film, however, as the image of a hand grasping the Earth is a recurring one in science-fiction: it was used, for example, for the 1975 film Rollerball. Moreover, the image used to promote it is very similar to the image that was often used in advertising Paramount's War of the Worlds TV series during its first season.

The press preview of the film raised severe criticism, as every journalist who wanted to take a look at War of the Worlds before it premiered had to sign a non-disclosure agreement. This NDA stated that the undersigned could not publish a review of the film before its world-wide release on June 29, 2005. Many people have argued that the film might not be able to catch up with the great expectations that might have been postulated by such reviewers.

Furthermore, at the New York premiere of the film at the Ziegfeld Theatre, all members of the press were required to check all electronic equipment — including cell phones — at the door, as part of a larger sweeping anti-piracy campaign by the film's producers hoping to keep the film from leaking on the Internet.

Among other efforts to curb piracy, the producers also prevented theatres from screening the film at midnight the night of June 29, despite the recent success of midnight screenings of such films as Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The producers also chose not to screen the film in any DLP-equipped theatres.

Despite the controversies detailed above, War of the Worlds received positive reviews and made an impressive box-office performance. As of November 22, 2005, (the last day it was at the box office) it has earned $234.3 million domestically and $357.1 million overseas, making the total $591.4 million. It is the 4th highest grossing movie of 2005 (after Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire).

Spielberg has not seen such a massive success since Saving Private Ryan (1998) — another Paramount/DreamWorks co-production — and the $100-million Minority Report (2002) — his first collaboration with Cruise — earned a reasonable $132 million. In the case of Cruise (whose 43rd birthday coincided with the movie's release), War of the Worlds is the biggest blockbuster of his career, since the film opened its first weekend with $65 million (which is a record-high for Paramount Pictures), beating Mission: Impossible II's nearly $58 million (also from Paramount). By July 31, it had surpassed Mission: Impossible II in terms of total domestic box office receipts, a film that earned $215.4 million.

2006 Academy Awards

Three nominations:

• Achievement in Sound
• Achievement in Sound Editing
• Achievement in Visual Effects

Central Ohio Film Critics

• Best Sound Design

M.P.S.E. Golden Reel Awards

• Best Sound Editing in Feature Film - Sound Effects & Foley

2005 Visual Effects Society Awards

Three Wins:

• Best Single Visual Effect of the Year (Fleeing the neighborhood)
• Best Models and Miniatures in a Motion Picture
• Best Compositing in a Motion Picture

2005 Golden Raspberry Awards

One nomination:

• Worst Actor (Tom Cruise)

• The film's most obvious difference is that it takes place in the early 21st century northeastern United States rather than southern England "in the last years of the 19th century."
• Another significant difference is the change of the protagonist from a happily married middle-class intellectual without children to a divorced working-class father of two. The social background plays an important part in the plot. The protagonist's wife had left him for a richer and more successful man, her parents in Boston never approved of him, and—most important for him—his children treat him with open contempt. A significant sub-plot are the protagonist's efforts, not only to survive and save his children from the invasion, but also to win their respect. The embrace with his son in the final scene shows that he succeeded. All this, of course, has no parallel in the original novel.
• The film's aliens do not land on Earth in giant cylinders before unleashing their war machines. Instead, the machines have already been buried underground, and the aliens arrive in capsules transported via lightning bolts. The details of this are never clearly explained, although the aliens are mentioned to have been buried far before human civilization and were most likely waiting for human population to swell (otherwise there would not be sufficient food to harvest). This seems to have been an adaptation resulting from Mars, conclusively shown by space probes to harbor no intelligent life, being no longer a plausible origin for the invaders.
• The aliens' tripods are more formidable in combat than their novel counterparts: the latter, although deadly, are still susceptible to conventional weapons and can be defeated in combat. The film counterparts are fitted with a 'shield' that makes them impervious to attack. The idea of the shields stems from the 1953 film version. (Lacking such shields, modern weapons would have made short work of the Martian machines envisioned by Wells in 1898, or even the tripods in the film, which were eaisily shot down by Stingers and Javelins.)
• The film omits a prominent element from the novel: the Black Smoke, which was a part of the Martians' deadly arsenal. Writer David Koepp has explained that this was dropped more or less due to lack of time and didn't make it past his first draft, so any sightings of a similar substance are purely coincidence and can be attributed to other sources.^[10] The film also does not include the Thunder Child, whose symbol of power but ultimate failure to stop the invaders was represented in the 1953 film by the atomic bomb; however, there is a vaguely similar scene taking place on land in which military forces fight valiantly in an effort to hold back the tripods until refugees make it to safety.
• The film's aliens are drastically different in design, featuring more humanoid mouths and also being tripedal, where Wells' Martians have lipless v-shaped mouths and tentacles. Also, the Martians of Wells' book, as well as in the movie, feast on the blood of humans (Wells described the clean skeletons of humans and other animals) but the aliens in the book apparently don't use human blood as fertilizer for their xenoforming project. In the movie, the invaders are also uninterested in animals (rats, birds). The aliens' design has been the subject of some criticism, considered too cute and humanlike, as opposed to the novel's entirely non-human and repulsive aliens.
• In the film, Tim Robbins's character, Harlan Ogilvy, plays a synthesized dual role of curate and artilleryman from the novel, while sharing the name of the novel's narrator's friend. The film's Ogilvy has the qualities of the novel's increasingly mad curate, who drives the narrator to fight with him frequently. In the book, the character named Ogilvy is one of the first people killed by the aliens' Heat-Ray. The film's Ogilvy has the qualities of the novel's artilleryman in that he is digging a tunnel for an underground city with the goal of resistance. The novel's curate is taken, and presumably "eaten", by the aliens after being struck in the head and left for dead by the narrator. In both versions, the story does not state outright that the main character killed the man, but the novel narrator does say "the killing of the curate" was "a thing done, a memory infinitely disagreeable but quite without the quality of remorse."
• The film never says where the aliens are from, unlike the book, where they are from Mars; in 1898, when the book was written, the possibility of life on Mars was considered realistic. This difference in origin shrouds the motive for the attacks on the Earth. In the book, the Martians are escaping from their dissipated planet, searching for a place to continue their civilization, rather than the "extermination" explanation given by a character in the film. The prologue makes a few visual references to Mars, once while an image of Earth shifts into that of a red stoplight and later when the camera leaves the edge of an outer neighbouring planet of Earth. In Koepp's script, there is a brief shot in the prologue depicting the invaders' home world. However, it remains unnamed, referred to only as a "barren planet."
• H.G. Wells never had the narrator play the hero. In fact, the story is told as a recount of the war, thus eliminating any doubts about the welfare of the narrator. In the film, the main character, Ray, succeeds in blowing up an alien tripod, creating the idea that heroes can be made in the face of an unbeatable foe, an idea Wells believed was inappropriate for the tone of his story, abandoning an early idea, similar to the film, in which the narrator plans to suicide bomb a tripod (though even in this early idea, the character is not allowed to carry it out). The narrator was not meant to be a hero, but merely a survivor. However, Ray's idea of giving himself over to the invaders is still similar to the novel's narrator after he had lost all hope.
• Much like in the 1953 film, the unnamed narrator and main character is not the same as he is in the novel. He is not divorced (although Ray shares a very similar goal of reuniting with his ex-wife), nor does he have a son or daughter to look after.
• While Ray has a brother much like the book's narrator, the film does not touch upon anything from this character's point-of-view, as the narrator recites some of what the brother witnessed during the invasion.
• In the novel, the narrator becomes trapped in an abandoned house when an alien cylinder lands close by. In the film, Ray, Rachel and Ogilvy are trapped in the house because the tripods are still outside. However, the scene in which the airplane crashes into Mary-Anne's house is similar to the scene in the book when the cylinder lands.
• No matter the location, virtually every version of the story tells of an arrival and then assault by what are the first aliens to land on Earth. However, in this version, it is established that the invasion has already begun in other parts of the world, though the main character is oblivious to this until much later in the story. Additionally this scene also gives both the character and the audience their first image of the invaders, something that only happens later in both this and the 1953 film.
• The design of the tripods is not the same as their description in the novel. Wells describes the machines as "Walking engines of glittering metal... pieces of intricate rope dangling from it... green gas squirting from its joints... its motion was like a head moving about..." There are also no references to the invaders having any other machines than the tripods - in the novel, the Martians also had a Handling-Machine (a five-legged machine with three tentacles used to build the tripods), Digging Machine (an automated tripod-excavator) and a Flying Machine.
• In the novel, the Martian machines make a kind of "Ulla! Ulla!" sound, whereas, in the film, the machines drone out a very low, loud, two-pitched sound as a sort of battle cry.

Although there are very many differences from the book, there are also various similarities. Some are obvious, and others are noted by the naming of certain scenes in the DVD chapters.

• The aliens are ultimately defeated by terrestrial microorganisms.
• The lines spoken in the bookends of the film by the narrator are almost verbatim from those written in the novel.
• The fighting machines are tripods.
• The tripods are armed with Heat-Rays, however unlike the large funnels described in the original novel these heat rays fire large blue laser bursts instead of waves of heat and are held below the head of the tripod and not above it as in the novel. Also, in the novel, the Heat-Rays simply incinerate the tripods' victims, but in the film, the Heat-Rays disintegrate the humans entirely (leaving only their charred clothes behind).
• A speeding train runs by with every carriage aflame.
• There is a scene in the movie where the main character a his daughter witness a mass of floating bodies going down a river, just like the narrator witnessed in the novel.
• Tripods are equipped with long tentacles that grab humans and put them into metal carriers or cages, just as in the book, where eventually these human prisoners will be drained of their blood for the use of food for the invaders.
• The red weed is spread everywhere the eye can see.
• There is a scene where the characters are trapped in a farmhouse because of the invaders being outside.
• Ray's van is taken from them just like in the novel, where the narrator's brother and his two female companion's horse is taken. Ray also uses a revolver just as Miss Elphinstone does to scare off robbers in the novel.
• There is a scene where refugees take a ferry to get to safety, only to be attacked by a tripod that followed under water. After the ferry was sunk, the main character escaped by swimming under water.
• Manny is similar to the Landlord of the Spotted Dog, from whom the main character takes a means of transportation and who is then later killed by the invaders. The difference being that Ray steals Manny's car while the narrator plans only to borrow the Landlord's.
• The storm in which the invaders arrive is based on the storm in the novel in which the narrator gets his first frightening image of the tripods.
• Throughout the film, a flock of birds seem to follow the invaders in their machines, and help give away their inoperative shields. In the novel, birds are seen picking and eating the remains of the dead Martians (birds can also be seen scavenging dying red weed in Boston as well).
• The unearthing of the first seen tripod mirrors the arrival of the first Martian cylinder, from the crowd forming around the "landing" spot to the rotation of the ground, as if to mimic an unscrewing.
• The police in the intersection say "something's down there, and it's movin'" just like in the novel when a person declares the Martian cylinder to be moving.
• Robbie is thought to be dead, only to return to the main character in the end, similar to the novel's narrator and his wife.
• Ray has a brother. However, as mentioned above, no account of what the brother witnesses is included in the film.
• The tripods are seen smashing aside pine trees before an attack, as they are seen doing in the novel in their first appearance.
• There is a reference to the original book when a couple of aliens explore the basement that Ferrier and Ogilvy are hiding in, and one of them pauses to spin the wheel of a bicycle hanging on the wall — as if wondering what it is. In H.G. Wells' novel, the narrator discovers that in the alien technology, "the wheel is absent; among all the things they brought to earth there is no trace or suggestion of their use of wheels." The alien's technology is based on elastic organic musculature.

Several lines of dialogue, especially those spoken by Tim Robbins' character, are taken directly from Orson Welles' infamous radio adaptation of the novel. In addition, the film is set primarily in New Jersey as is the radio play.

Although not considered a remake of the 1953 version of The War of the Worlds, there are several instances where Steven Spielberg pays homage to the original film.

• Gene Barry and Ann Robinson from the 1953 original film make a cameo appearance as the grandparents.

• After the initial storm, Tom Cruise checks several of his household electronic devices; he also glances at his frozen watch. In the original The War of the Worlds, when the Martian meteorite lands beyond sight, a character notes that his watch has stopped.

• In the cellar, note the multi-colored lights just prior to the probe entering. This references the red, blue and green lights from the probe in the 1953 version of the film, though no part of the probe in this film emits any of those colors.

• When Ray (Tom Cruise) first encounters the aliens, there is a street sign behind him displaying "Van Buren", the surname of one of the two major characters in the 1953 film.

• The news reporter's line, "Once the tripods begin to move, no more news comes out of that area," is taken from a similar line in the original film, "Once the martians begin to move, no more news comes out of that area."

• The scenes with the probe examining the basement followed by the inquisitive aliens. Tom Cruise chops the head off the probe with an axe just as Gene Barry did in the original film.

• The shot of the dying alien's arm coming down the ramp is a reference to a similar shot in the original film.

• The 1953 film ends with the characters taking refuge in a church just before the aliens' attack abruptly stops. In the 2005 film, a church is the first building seen destroyed as the tripod emerges.

• The film's posters feature a symbolic image of the aliens' three-fingered hand grasping planet Earth. This is very similar to images used for the series' first season, both in the opening and closing of the episodes, as well as promotional material.
• The plot device that the aliens had been to Earth before and left behind their tripods is reminiscent of a revelation in War of the Worlds TV series in which a tripod (an "older model" of the war machines in the 1953 film) is unearthed, having been left behind for hundreds to thousands of years.

This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (September 2007)

There are several references to other movies, mostly movies directed or produced by Steven Spielberg. For example, the bicycle falling from a hook is similar to a scene in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. The movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind also uses a low reverberating note, although both movies may have gotten the idea originally from the novel. In The Day the Earth Stood Still there is also a universal electrical outage. Quatermass and the Pit features extraterrestrial machines buried underground since prehistoric times. Some also find that the diner scene, where Ferrier and the kids take refuge after the mob captures the minivan, evoke memories of the diner in the original The Blob. The use of the song Hushabye Mountain is also an homage to the 1968 film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Besides the general tone of the film, the extended shot following the family car explicitly evokes Jean-luc Godard's Week End, as does the motif of cannibalism.

• Revisiting the Invasion: Introduction with Steven Spielberg
• The H. G. Wells Legacy
• Production Diary: Part I — Filming on the East Coast
• Production Diary: Part II — Filming on the West Coast
• Pre-Visualization
• Designing the Enemy: Tripods and Aliens

• The name of the Spongebob Squarepants episode going on Ray's home TV set is called The Secret Box. It is watched before the lightning flashes take place
• When the tripods come all electronics and power is cut off by electro magnetic pulse. Yet, a man is still seen using a video camera to film the tri pod emerging from the ground and Tom Cruise is able to turn on his bathroom light to clean off the ash covering him.

• Red weed
• Tripod
• Heat-Ray

• Official Site
• The War of the Worlds Movie Site — Directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Cruise
• War Of The Worlds Invasion — Review and movie image gallery, plus many other War Of The Worlds movies.
• War of the Worlds at the Internet Movie Database
• War of the Worlds at Rotten Tomatoes
• Guardian Unlimited: Spielberg and Cruise plan new War of Worlds
• First teaser trailer
• War of the Worlds Examined A study of the film's unusual uses of mirrors/that the machines are actually 'War Gods' humans inadvertently worship/centrality of Rachel's color patterns.
• Interview with Doug Chiang and Rick Carter, designers on the film
• Behind the scenes featurette on the film
• Los Angeles Times Summer Sneaks Article^{[dead link – history]}
• Fansite's new images from War of the Worlds
• War of the Worlds Movies.info
• Movie Review — Mark Sells, The Oregon Herald

Preceded by Batman Begins

Box office number-one films of 2005 (USA) July 3, 2005

Succeeded by Fantastic Four

v • d • e Films directed by Steven Spielberg

Duel (1971) · The Sugarland Express (1974) · Jaws (1975) · Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) · 1941 (1979) · Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) · E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) · Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) · Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) · The Color Purple (1985) · Empire of the Sun (1987) · Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) · Always (1989) · Hook (1991) · Jurassic Park (1993) · Schindler's List (1993) · The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) · Amistad (1997) · Saving Private Ryan (1998) · Artificial Intelligence: A.I. (2001) · Minority Report (2002) · Catch Me if You Can (2002) · The Terminal (2004) · War of the Worlds (2005) · Munich (2005) · Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) · Untitled Abraham Lincoln biopic (TBA) · Interstellar (TBA) · Tintin (TBA) The Trial of the Chicago 7 (TBA)

v • d • e The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells
Battles	Battle of Weybridge/Shepperton • Fall of London • HMS Thunder Child
Martians	Black smoke • Embankment-machine • Flying-machine • Handling-machine • Heat-Ray • Red weed • Tripod
Radio	The War of the Worlds • Grover's Mill, New Jersey • The Night That Panicked America
Films	The War of the Worlds • H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds (Hines, 2005) • H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds (Latt, 2005) • War of the Worlds
Jeff Wayne	Musical Version • Highlights • Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds game
TV series	War of the Worlds (Mor-Tax • Mor-Taxans • list of episodes)
Sequels	Edison's Conquest of Mars • Killraven (Earth-691) • Sherlock Holmes's War of the Worlds • War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches • Rainbow Mars • The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume II • War of the Worlds: New Millennium • Scarlet Traces • The Martian War
Miscellaneous	Doctor Clayton Forrester • Comic • The Space Machine • Superman • Arcade game