Flight of the Navigator

Flight of the Navigator is a science fiction movie from 1986. It was directed by Randal Kleiser and written by Mark H. Baker and Michael Burton. It is about David Freeman, a 12-year-old boy who is taken by an alien spaceship and finds himself caught in a world that has changed around him.

Flight of the Navigator
Directed byRandal Kleiser
Produced by
  • Dimitri Villard
  • Robert Wald
Screenplay by
  • Michael Burton
  • Matt MacManus
Story byMark H. Baker
Starring
Music byAlan Silvestri
Cinematography
Edited by
Production
company
PSO Productions
Viking Film AS[1][2]
Distributed byBuena Vista Pictures (United States)
PSO Productions (Internationally)[1][a]
Release date
  • August 1, 1986 (1986-08-01)
[3]
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited States[4]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$9 million[5]
Box office$18,564,613

The producers of the movie at first sent it to Walt Disney Pictures in 1984. However, the studio was not able to approve it. It was sent to Producers Sales Organization. That studio made a deal with Disney to distribute the movie in the United States.[6] The movie was partially filmed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Norway. It was a co-production with the Norwegian company Viking Film.[7]

Cast

  • Albie Whitaker plays eight-year-old Jeff Freeman

Production

The Trimaxion Drone Ship was rendered in CGI by Omnibus Computer Animation, under the supervision of Jeff Kleiser, the brother of director Randal Kleiser.[8]

Soundtrack

The music score for the movie was composed by Alan Silvestri. It is different from his other scores because it was completely electronically generated, using the Synclavier,[9] one of the first digital multi-track recorders and samplers.

  1. Theme from "Flight of the Navigator"
  2. "Main Title"
  3. "The Ship Beckons"
  4. "David in the Woods"
  5. "Robot Romp"
  6. "Transporting the Ship"
  7. "Ship Drop"
  8. "Have to Help a Friend"
  9. "The Shadow Universe"
  10. "Flight"
  11. "Finale"
  12. "Star Dancing"

Notes

  1. Buena Vista/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures only have North American distribution rights. Copyright to the film still rests at PSO.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Mark Damon; Linda Schreyer (2008). From Cowboy to Mogul to Monster: The Neverending Story of Film Pioneer Mark Damon. Bloomington, Indiana: AuthorHouse. p. 376. ISBN 978-1-4343-7737-1.
  2. Charles Solomon (1987-08-01). Commentary : Computer Graphics Shows Its Stuff. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-08-01-ca-267-story.html. Retrieved 2012-06-10. 
  3. "Flight of the Navigator - 1986 - Joey Cramer, Randal Kleiser - Variety Profiles". Variety. July 30, 1986. https://www.variety.com/profiles/Film/main/26763/Flight%20of%20the%20Navigator.html?dataSet=1. Retrieved December 20, 2009. [dead link]
  4. "Flight of the Navigator (1986) | BFI". Archived from the original on 2021-04-28. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
  5. "Flight of the Navigator (1986)". The Powergrid. Wrap News inc. Archived from the original on January 10, 2016. Retrieved September 8, 2013.
  6. Mark Damon; Linda Schreyer (2008). From Cowboy to Mogul to Monster: The Neverending Story of Film Pioneer Mark Damon. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse. p. 376. ISBN 978-1-4343-7737-1.
  7. Charles Solomon (1987-08-01). "Commentary : Computer Graphics Shows Its Stuff". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/1987-08-01/entertainment/ca-267_1_computer-graphics. Retrieved 2012-06-10. 
  8. Anderson, Martin (2009-07-15). "Jeff Kleiser Discusses the Early CGI of Flight of the Navigator". Den of Geek!. Archived from the original on 2016-03-31. Retrieved 2016-01-15.
  9. Film's end credits

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