On This Day

2001: A Space Odyssey released

April 3rd 1968

16:51 3 April 2024

'2001: A Space Odyssey' opened in US theaters on this day in 1968. Stanley Kubrick's science fiction epic, co-written with Arthur C. Clarke, polarised critical opinion upon its release. The movie also divided opinion between those who saw it as darkly apocalyptic and those who saw it as an optimistic statement about the hopes and future of mankind.

Kubrick refused to elaborate on the films meaning, saying in a 1968 interview with Playboy magazine "You're free to speculate as you wish about the philosophical and allegorical meaning of the film—and such speculation is one indication that it has succeeded in gripping the audience at a deep level—but I don't want to spell out a verbal road map for 2001 that every viewer will feel obligated to pursue or else fear he's missed the point". However you choose to interpret the movie, Kubrick's film is a cinematic masterpiece and remains one of the greatest and most influential films ever made.