60 Years Ago, Steven Spielberg's First-Ever Sci-Fi Thriller Brought Him His Smallest Box Office Haul

Most inspiring people we cherish today started their journeys to greatness as students dreaming of something more. In the movie industry, it’s almost a rule: save for some nepo babies, every major star has a story of dozens of failed auditions, and every director can tell you how they tried to make a film on a budget of four beer cans. Steven Spielberg, the world’s highest-earning director, was no exception.

Steven Spielberg Started Smaller Than Small

In 1964, young Steven Spielberg had what many aspiring prodigies have: a dream and no money in his pocket. But thankfully, he had something better than money — a supporting family and friends who wanted to support him in every way they could. It’s largely thanks to them that Spielberg’s first-ever movie, Firelight, happened.

Firelight was, believe it or not, a sci-fi thriller following a series of people disappearances in a small town amid colorful lights appearing in the sky above it.

But most importantly, it was the true testimony to Spielberg’s talent, because he had to make this movie with no budget, no cast, and a single camera with terrible quality.

Firelight Did Much Better Than Expected

Today, you can only find a tiny fragment of Firelight on YouTube: the original movie was lost. But these 55 seconds can give you the perfect idea of what young Spielberg had to work with… And why it shouldn’t be surprising that the modern audience rated Firelight 14% on Rotten Tomatoes. They just haven’t watched it!

But what’s truly surprising is that back in 1964, 17-year-old Steven Spielberg actually turned a profit on Firelight: having spent $500 on its production, he lured 500 people in the local theater to watch it, charging $1 per ticket. Someone must have paid $2 instead, because Firelight’s “theatrical run” brought Spielberg $501, making this movie, technically, a commercial success!

Those were much simpler times, weren’t they?