War of the Worlds (2005 film) War of the Worlds (2005 film) War of the Worlds is a 2005 American science-fiction action disaster film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Josh Friedman and David Koepp, loosely based on the 1898 novel of the same title by H. G. Wells and jointly produced and released by Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures. It stars Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Justin Chatwin, Miranda Otto and Tim Robbins, with narration by Morgan Freeman. In the film, an American dock worker is forced to look after his children, from whom he lives separately, as he struggles to protect them and reunite
The War of the Worlds (1953 film) for Pal productions: "Destination Moon" and "When Worlds Collide". "The War of the Worlds" won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and was later selected for inclusion in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. An effort was made to avoid the stereotypical flying saucer look of UFOs: The Martian war machines (designed by Al Nozaki) were instead made to be sinister-looking machines shaped like manta rays floating above the ground. Three Martian war machine props were made out of copper for the film. The same blueprints were used a decade later to construct the alien spacecraft