Claim: Ethan Hawke starred in a movie.

Explorers is a 1985 American science fiction fantasy family film written by Eric Luke and directed by Joe Dante . The film stars Ethan Hawke , River Phoenix -LRB- in their film debuts -RRB- , and Jason Presson as teenage schoolboys who build a spacecraft to explore outer space . The special effects were produced by Industrial Light & Magic , with make-up effects by Rob Bottin .   Rushed into production , the film was never properly finished . Dante revealed that the studio demanded that he stop editing and rush for a July release where it was overshadowed by the Live Aid concert . Despite being a box office flop upon its release , it attracted a cult following when it was later released on VHS .