Topic
The books, broadcasts, films, podcasts and reporting that shaped what the public knows. 342 events, newest first.
MediaJun 2012
A Kelton Research survey of 1,114 U.S. adults, commissioned by National Geographic Channel to promote its series Chasing UFOs, found 36 percent believed aliens had visited Earth, 48 percent were unsure, and 79 percent thought the government kept UFO information secret.
Photo: AgnosticPreachersKid, CC BY-SA 4.0
Media12 Mar 2012
A NASA solar observatory sequence showing a planet-sized dark sphere apparently tethered to the sun spread online as a UFO refueling. NASA Goddard scientists Joseph Gurman and C. Alex Young said it was an erupting prominence seen beneath a filament channel.
Photo: NASA/SDO, Public domain
Media2012
Anomalist Books published a 590-page history of how governments handled UFO reports, drawn largely from official documents. Michael Swords and Robert Powell led a team of researchers; most chapters cover the U.S., with others on Sweden, Australia, Spain and France.
Media29 Jul 2011
Jon Favreau's Cowboys & Aliens, starring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford, opened in U.S. theaters. The western follows townspeople in the 19th-century frontier who join forces after an alien attack.
Photo: The Conmunity - Pop Culture Geek from Los Angeles, CA, USA, CC BY 2.0
Media19 Jun 2011
TNT premiered Falling Skies, an alien-occupation drama executive produced by Steven Spielberg, with Noah Wyle as a history professor leading resistance fighters. Variety reported the two-hour opener drew 5.9 million viewers, cable's top new series launch of the year so far.
Photo: starbright31, CC BY-SA 2.0
Media10 Jun 2011
Paramount released Super 8, written and directed by J.J. Abrams and co-produced by Steven Spielberg. Set in a 1970s Ohio town, it follows children filming a movie who witness a train crash that unleashes a mystery. Critics compared it to Close Encounters and E.T.
MediaMay 2011
Joe Cornish's debut feature Attack the Block, in which a teenage street gang defends a South London tower block from invading aliens on Guy Fawkes Night, was released in British cinemas by Optimum. Screen Gems later picked it up for U.S. release.
Photo: Raffi Asdourian from New York, United States, CC BY 2.0
Media18 Mar 2011
Universal released Paul in the U.S., a comedy by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost about two British sci-fi fans who tour U.S. UFO sites after Comic-Con and pick up an alien who escaped from Area 51.
Photo: Paul Hudson, CC BY 2.0
Media11 Mar 2011
Sony's alien-invasion film Battle: Los Angeles opened with marketing tied to the real February 1942 air raid false alarm over Los Angeles, when anti-aircraft guns fired at unidentified objects. The studio's press junket even included a UFO panel.
Photo: Unknown author, Public domain
Media12 Nov 2010
Universal released Skyline, directed by visual-effects specialists Greg and Colin Strause, in which partygoers wake to find alien ships over Los Angeles drawing people up with pulses of light. Trade critics panned the story but noted its effects.
Photo: donabelandewen (Flickr), CC BY 2.0
Media28 Oct 2010
Jacques Vallee and Chris Aubeck published Wonders in the Sky, a sourced catalog of more than 500 aerial-anomaly reports from antiquity through 1879, arguing each era read such sightings through its own beliefs.
Photo: Cmichel67, CC BY-SA 4.0
Media10 Aug 2010
Journalist Leslie Kean's book, published by Harmony Books with a foreword by John Podesta, collected first-person chapters by military pilots, generals and former officials from several countries, including France's Jean-Jacques Velasco and Belgium's Wilfried De Brouwer.
Media15 Jul 2010
Syfy launched Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files, in which a team led by former FBI agent Ben Hansen tried to recreate viral photos and videos, including UFO footage, to judge whether they were hoaxes or unexplained.
Media4 Jun 2010
Rosie Jones's documentary Westall '66 premiered on the Sci Fi Channel on Foxtel. It follows teacher Shane Ryan as he tracks down former students and staff who say they saw an object land near a Melbourne school in April 1966.
Photo: Effluvium1, CC BY-SA 4.0
Media3 Nov 2009
ABC premiered a new version of V, the 1983 miniseries about outwardly friendly alien visitors. The first episode drew about 14.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen figures reported at the time.
Photo: Kristin Dos Santos, CC BY-SA 2.0
MediaNov 2009
Universal agreed to pay the Alaska Press Club after promotion for The Fourth Kind, a film about alleged abductions in Nome, used fabricated news stories attributed to real Alaska papers. The deal included removing the fake articles from the web.
Photo: Sir Mildred Pierce , from North Augusta, South Carolina , USA, CC BY 2.0
MediaOct 2009
A Colorado couple said their 6-year-old son had floated away in a homemade saucer-shaped helium balloon, setting off a chase and search costing at least $62,000. The boy was found at home; the parents pleaded guilty to charges over the staged stunt and were sentenced.
Photo: Sgt. Benjamin Crane, Public domain
Media14 Aug 2009
TriStar released Neill Blomkamp's District 9 in the U.S., a film about stranded aliens confined to a Johannesburg camp. It received four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.
Photo: Natasha Baucas at https://www.flickr.com/photos/sdnatasha, CC BY 2.0
Media12 Dec 2008
20th Century Fox released a remake of the 1951 alien-visitor film The Day the Earth Stood Still, with Keanu Reeves as the visitor Klaatu. Critics such as the Christian Science Monitor found it weaker than the original.
Photo: Y! Musica's photostream, CC BY 2.0
Media25 Jul 2008
20th Century Fox released the second X-Files feature, which grossed about 21 million dollars in the U.S. Critics noted it set aside the alien-conspiracy arc for a stand-alone case, though its title echoed the series' 'I want to believe' poster slogan.
Photo: 20th Century Fox, Public domain
