Starman was released on 14 December 1984.
The film spent almost half a decade in development, with the script by Bruce Evans and Raynold Gideon purchased by Columbia, only to have Michael Douglas (as executive producer) reject it. He brought on Dean Riesner in 1981, who would spend the next 2 years on numerous rewrites (and at least 5 different directors who would leave due to differences with Douglas). Riesner would not receive credit on the final script (which went to Evans and Gideon). Director John Carpenter argued on behalf of Riesner, and when he lost the argument, he added an onscreen dedication in the end credits. The Writers' Guild demanded that Columbia remove the dedication or destroy all existing prints.
Released the same week after David Lynch's Dune and one week after Peter Hyams' 2010 (the sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey), Starman failed to find an audience. Jeff Bridges received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor (the only nomination for a John Carpenter film).
