Terminator and especially Terminator 2 were impressive sci-fi movies for their time, showcasing much of the technology of that era. Another film featured many innovations that are common today, yet it flopped, likely due to Terminator.
Which film is it about? In 1984, Runaway – Spiders of Death was released. The sci-fi film stars Tom Selleck and is set in the near future, where robots handle all household tasks for humans.
He and his partner in the police deal with all cases where defective robots pose a threat. In a case involving a robot that wanted to kill people, the detectives uncover a conspiracy that aims to reprogram robots into killers. You can find a trailer for the film, which screams 80s
from every pore, here:
What inventions did the film predict? As the setting promises, there are many innovations seen here that are considered completely normal today. There are vacuum cleaning robots, wireless headphones, tablets, flying drones, self-driving cars, eye scanners, and the titular spider robots that are supposed to discreetly eliminate people.
Despite the promising setting and a well-known cast with Tom Selleck, who almost became Indiana Jones, and Kiss bassist Gene Simmons, the film flopped, largely due to another sci-fi film: Terminator.
Another sci-fi film just looked too good
Why did Runaway fail? Runaway had a budget of 8 million US dollars at the time (via filmstories.co.uk). However, the film made only about 6.7 million US dollars worldwide. This barely covered the budget. The biggest problem for the film was likely Terminator, which had been released earlier.
The two films had very little time between their releases in the USA. Terminator premiered on October 26, 1984, while Runaway was released less than 2 months later, on December 14, 1984. Terminator cost less than Runaway, yet it grossed an enormous 78 million US dollars worldwide. This means that even during the Christmas season, Terminator was probably still the big sci-fi film in theaters.
At that time, Terminator was also regarded as a technically innovative science-fiction film.
This is also reflected in the December numbers at Box Office Mojo. Terminator is still at number 11 two months later, while Runaway, as the current release, is only at number 18. In December 1984, the highest-grossing film was Beverly Hills Cop starring Eddie Murphy.
Today, Runaway has been forgotten and is only remembered by fans of the 80s. Despite its inferior effects compared to Terminator, one has to give the film credit for having had a fairly accurate vision of the future. Watching the film today, one recognizes many innovations that are familiar today. Anyone who wants to feel like a hero of the 80s in video games should check out this shooter: In this shooter, I feel like an 80s action hero, against whom no one has a chance
