“Earth was under attack from the Martians”: War of the Worlds That Inspired Steven Spielberg’s Film with Tom Cruise Originally Led to Widespread Panic at the Time of Broadcast

In the shocking events of history, Steven Spielberg’s famous movie War of the Worlds with Tom Cruise led to widespread panic at the time of its initial broadcast.  Back in 1938 Orson Welles’s radio production broadcasted H.G. Wells’s 1898 novel, The War of the Worlds. However, as soon as this broadcast hit the airwaves and people tuned in, it sent a wave of panic all across America.

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The War of The Worlds broadcast led to widespread panic in America

Even though there have been several cinematic adaptions of the fictional story The War of Worlds, it was once perceived to be true by one million Americans. Back in 1938, when Orson Welles’s radio production narrated The War of the Worlds story in one of its broadcasts, all of America perceived it to be true, resulting in a widespread panic.

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The radio production decided to narrate the story in the style of a news broadcast. This experiment by the radio station provoked mass hysteria as listeners couldn’t distinguish between fact and fiction. As per the report, more than one million Americans believed that the earth was under attack from the Martians that night.

The War of The Worlds‘ Media Adaptation

The outstanding story of The War of the Worlds was initially written by H.G Wells as a novel. This was the first novel that highlighted a conflict between humans and extraterrestrial races. The story of The War of the Worlds revolves around an unnamed narrator who recalls the invasion of Earth by an army of Martians who had military technology far beyond the ability of human science.

Ever since its publication this story has been widely adopted by several media including radio, television, and film. One of the most famous radio adaptions of the story was done in 1938 by Orson Welles. The next radio adoption of this story was yet again made in 1944 by Lux Radio Theater and again in 1949 by Escape.

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Apart from the radio broadcast the story of this novel was also adopted by many filmmakers. The very first cinematic adaption of H.G Wells’s story was released in 1953 by Byron Haskin starring Gene Barry and Ann Robinson. The next one was 2005’s War of the Worlds directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning. Spielberg modernized the story and depicted a global alien invasion, showcasing the impact on a single family.

Source: BBC