2001: A Space Odyssey (soundtrack) that shift slowly over time. This technique was pioneered in "Atmosphères", the only Ligeti piece heard in its entirety in the film. Ligeti admired Kubrick's film, but in addition to being irritated by Kubrick's failure to obtain permission directly from him, he was offended that his music was used in a film soundtrack shared by composers Johann and Richard Strauss. The Richard and Johann Strauss pieces and György Ligeti's "Requiem" (the Kyrie section) act as recurring motifs in the film's storyline. Richard Strauss' "Also Sprach Zarathustra" is first heard in the opening title which juxtaposes the Sun, Earth, and Moon.
2001: A Space Odyssey in popular culture "2001" was the unbeatable film that in a sense killed the science fiction genre. Similarly, film critic Michel Ciment in his essay "Odyssey of Stanley Kubrick" stated, "Kubrick has conceived a film which in one stroke has made the whole science fiction cinema obsolete." However, others credit "2001" with opening up a market for films such as "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", "Alien", "Blade Runner" and "Contact"; proving that big-budget "serious" science-fiction films can be commercially successful, and establishing the "sci-fi blockbuster" as a Hollywood staple. Science magazine "Discover"s blogger Stephen Cass, discussing the considerable impact of the film