The War of the Worlds (1953 film) receives high acclaim from critics: At the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an 85% rating based on 27 critics; the consensus states: "Though it's dated in spots, "The War of the Worlds" retains an unnerving power, updating H. G. Wells' classic sci-fi tale to the Cold War era and featuring some of the best special effects of any 1950s film". "The War of the Worlds" was deemed culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant in 2011 by the United States Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. The Registry noted the film's release
The War of the Worlds was first published in serial form in "Pearson's Magazine" in April – December 1897. Wells was paid £200 and Pearsons demanded to know the ending of the piece before committing to publish. The complete volume was published by William Heinemann in 1898 and has been in print ever since. Two unauthorised serialisations of the novel were published in the United States prior to the publication of the novel. The first was published in the "New York Evening Journal" between December 1897 and January 1898. The story was published as "Fighters from Mars or the War of the Worlds". It changed