Piranha (1978 film)

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Piranha
Theatrical release poster by John Solie
Directed by	Joe Dante
Screenplay by	John Sayles
Story by	Richard Robinson John Sayles
Produced by	Jon Davison
Starring	Bradford Dillman Heather Menzies Kevin McCarthy Keenan Wynn Barbara Steele Dick Miller Belinda Balaski
Cinematography	Jamie Anderson
Edited by	Joe Dante Mark Goldblatt
Music by	Pino Donaggio
Production company	Piranha Productions
Distributed by	New World Pictures (United States) United Artists (International)
Release dates	July 28, 1978 (1978-07-28) (Detroit) August 3, 1978 (1978-08-03) (United States)
Running time	95 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$600,000[1]–770,000[2]
Box office	$16 million[citation needed] or $2.9 million[3]

Piranha is a 1978 American horror film directed and co-edited by Joe Dante from a screenplay by John Sayles, based on a story by Richard Robinson and Sayles. The film stars Bradford Dillman, Heather Menzies, Kevin McCarthy, Keenan Wynn, Barbara Steele, and Dick Miller. It tells the story of a river being infested by lethal, genetically altered piranha, threatening the lives of the local inhabitants and the visitors to a nearby summer resort.

Executive produced by Roger Corman, Piranha is the first installment in a series of low-budget B movies inspired by the film Jaws (1975), which had been a major success for Universal Pictures and director Steven Spielberg. Initially, Universal had considered obtaining an injunction to prevent Piranha being released, particularly as they had released Jaws 2 the same summer, but the lawsuit was dropped after Spielberg himself gave the film a positive comment in advance. Released on August 3, 1978, the film was a commercial success and later became a cult film. Piranha was followed by a sequel, Piranha II: The Spawning (1982), and two remakes, one in 1995 and another in 2010, which spawned its own sequel in 2012.