Close Encounters of the Third Kind/Trivia

*Spielberg was given an unprecedented budget of $20m (1977 dollars). However, the film lacked the merchandising and sequel potential of Star Wars, hence the drive to extract extra earnings by releasing 'Special Editions'.
*When the original director of Jaws 2 was fired, Spielberg considered taking over. However, his contractual obligations to Close Encounters meant that production on the sequel would have been delayed by an expensive year.
*The 5 tones that the space ship plays back and forth with the humans have shown up in later movies and TV shows, notably as a code entered on a pushbutton keypad in Moonraker.
*Astronomer J. Allen Hynek, a UFO researcher who coined the term "close encounter", was a consultant for the film, and makes a cameo appearance.
Category:Trivia facts