Message from Space

Message from Space (Japanese: 宇宙からのメッセージ, Hepburn: Uchū Kara no Messēji) is a 1978 Japanese space opera film directed and co-written by Kinji Fukasaku for Toei Company. It stars Sonny Chiba, Etsuko Shihomi, Vic Morrow, Philip Casnoff, Mikio Narita, Makoto Satō, and Hiroyuki Sanada. It is a science-fiction adaptation of the 19th-century yomihon Nansō Satomi Hakkenden by Kyokutei Bakin. Produced at a cost between the equivalent of US$5 and 6 million, it was the most expensive film made in Japan at the time. Upon release in the United States, Message from Space received generally negative reviews from critics who not only found many similarities with the previous year's Star Wars (1977), but also felt the special effects were poorly executed in comparison to the American film. It was however nominated for Best Foreign Film at the 7th Saturn Awards in 1980.