Claim: Dan Aykroyd was in a movie.

The Blues Brothers is a 1980 American musical crime comedy film directed by John Landis . It stars John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as `` Joliet '' Jake and Elwood Blues , characters developed from `` The Blues Brothers '' musical sketch on the NBC variety series Saturday Night Live . The film 's screenplay was written by Aykroyd and Landis . It features musical numbers by rhythm and blues -LRB- R&B -RRB- , soul , and blues singers James Brown , Cab Calloway , Aretha Franklin , Ray Charles , and John Lee Hooker . The film is set in and around Chicago , Illinois , where it was filmed . It features non-musical supporting performances by John Candy , Carrie Fisher , Charles Napier , and Henry Gibson .   The story is a tale of redeem for paroled convict Jake and his brother Elwood , who set out on `` a mission from God '' to save from foreclosure the Catholic orphanage in which they were raised . To do so , they must reunite their R&B band and organize a performance to earn $ 5,000 needed to pay the orphanage 's property tax bill . Along the way , they are targeted by a destructive `` mystery woman '' , Neo-Nazis , and a country and western band -- all while being relentlessly pursued by the police .   Universal Studios , which had won the bidding war for the film , was hoping to take advantage of Belushi 's popularity in the wake of Saturday Night Live , Animal House , and the Blues Brothers ' musical success ; it soon found itself unable to control production costs . The start of filming was delayed when Aykroyd , new to film screenwriting , took six months to deliver a long and unconventional script that Landis had to rewrite before production , which began without a final budget . On location in Chicago , Belushi 's partying and drug use caused lengthy and costly delays that , along with the destructive car chases depicted onscreen , made the final film one of the most expensive comedies ever produced .   Concerns that the film would fail limited its initial bookings to less than half those a film of its magnitude normally received . Released in the United States on June 20 , 1980 , it received mostly positive reviews . It earned just under $ 5 million in its opening weekend and went on to gross over $ 115 million in theaters worldwide before its release on home video . It has become a cult classic , spawning the sequel , Blues Brothers 2000 , 18 years later , which was a critical and commercial failure .