Projecting Tomorrow: Science Fiction and Popular Cinema (Cinema and Society) Chapman, James and Cull, Nicholas J.

Cinema and science fiction were made for each other. The science fiction genre has produced some of the most extraordinary films ever made, yet science fiction cinema is about more than just special effects. It has also provided a vehicle for filmmakers and writers to comment on their own societies and cultures. This new exploration of the genre examines landmark science fiction films from the 1930s to the present. They include genre classics such as Things to Come, Forbidden Planet and 2001: A Space Odyssey alongside modern blockbusters Star Wars and Avatar. Chapman and Cull consider both screen originals and adaptations of the work of major science fiction authors. They also range widely across the genre from pulp adventure and space opera to political allegory and speculative documentary – there is even a science fiction musical. Informed throughout by extensive research in US and British archives, the book documents the production histories of each film to show how they made their way to the screen – and why they turned out the way they did.

James Chapman is Professor of Film Studies at the University of Leicester, UK. His previous books include The British at War: Cinema, State and Propaganda, 1939-1945 (1998), and Licence To Thrill: A Cultural History of the James Bond Films (2nd edn 2007), both from I.B.Tauris. He is editor of the Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television.

Nicholas J. Cull is Professor of Public Diplomacy in the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. His previous books include The Cold War and the United States Information Agency: American Propaganda and Public Diplomacy, 1945-1989 (2008) and (with James Chapman), Projecting Empire: Imperialism and Popular Cinema (I.B.Tauris, 2009). He is president of the International Association for Media and History.