Day of the Dead is more than ‘Mexican Halloween'

However, it’s becoming increasingly common to celebrate the two holidays simultaneously. Hollywood films have made Halloween more popular in Mexico and Day of the Dead more popular outside the country. As a result, events like Mexico City’s annual parade now include elements of both holidays.

Bill Nye served as a lab assistant in the 'Back to the Future' animated series

Set in an alternate timeline after the conclusion of "Back to the Future Part III," the series starred Jules and Verne—the children of Dr. Emmett Brown and Clara. Each of its 26 episodes concluded with a live-action segment in which Bill Nye performed an experiment related to that episode.

'The Empire Strikes Back' was influenced by Francis Ford Coppola's 'Apocalypse Now,' a movie George Lucas was originally supposed to direct.

'Friday the 13th' kicked off a summer camp-themed trend

When it was released in 1980, “Friday the 13th” was panned by critics, but it established a lasting horror trope: the unsafe summer camp. The setting made for a natural fit: vulnerable children exiled from normal society, isolated in the dark woods.

Spielberg worked on ‘Schindler’s List’ and ‘Jurassic Park’ at the same time

Seemingly polar opposites, two of Steven Spielberg’s most popular movies were created in the same time period. Spielberg would shoot “Schindler’s List” during the day, then work on special-effects editing for “Jurassic Park” at night. The movies won a combined 10 Oscars at the 1994 Academy Awards.

Ray Bradbury said Steven Spielberg was 'one of the most incredible young talents that's ever come into the world.'

See images of the spring break scene of the '80s

The origins of our fascination with time travel

Humans have been captivated by the prospect of leaping forward and backward in time for thousands of years. Georgia Institute of Technology Science Fiction Studies Professor Lisa Yaszek recounts how the concept has been utilized by storytellers from 400 BCE to modern-day to explore our relationship with the supernatural, technology, and the past. In a way, this historical recounting is a journey through time.

An original review of the 1987 parody 'Spaceballs'

On June 24, 1987, Mel Brooks launched "Spaceballs" in theaters—a comedy starring Bill Pullman, John Candy, and Rick Moranis that spoofed the "Star Wars" trilogy and sci-fi tropes in general. The movie has remained a cult classic ever since. Read the Hollywood Reporter's original review of the film here.

In 1980, Steven Spielberg added a scene depicting the interior of an alien spaceship to a rerelease of 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' at the studio's request, but later regretted the decision, believing it depleted the movie's enchanting mystery.

The 'Movie Brats'—the nickname given to 1970s film directors like Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, and others—ushered in a new era of Hollywood.

The original 'Star Wars' was quietly showcased at Comic‑Con in 1976 to little fanfare

In a bold pre‑release move on July 22, 1976, Lucasfilm set up an eight-foot booth and slideshow at San Diego Comic‑Con, introducing the then‑titled "The Star Wars"—with no premiere buzz, just intrigue among a few hundred early fans.

B-movie king Roger Corman mentored many of the star directors of 1970s Hollywood, including Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, and Ron Howard.

The film ‘Coco’ sparked global interest in the Day of the Dead

The holiday figures prominently in the 2017 Disney film, which inspired an uptick in Day of the Dead merchandise being carried by national chains like Target and Michaels, sold alongside Halloween merchandise.

How 'Star Wars' changed science fiction

The popularity of "Star Wars" shifted the market away from the more literary, and sometimes cynical, science fiction of the 1960s and '70s. In the wake of George Lucas' space opera, publishers and studios wanted similarly optimistic adventure stories. In time, though, writers like William Gibson would react against that and, in turn, create the "cyber punk" subgenre.

'Barbenheimer' resulted in a historic box-office event

The cultural sensation that erupted when Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer" and Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" shared an opening night was something that no one could have predicted. "Barbenheimer," as the pairing was called, became a semiserious litmus test for relationships: Who wanted to see which film, and in what order? The viral moment led to box-office gold for both movies, as well as a few Oscars.

Some of Hollywood's biggest blockbusters were designed by Drew Struzan

The artist is responsible for iconic posters advertising "Indiana Jones," "Hook," "The Goonies," and more. His distinctive style—sometimes painted by hand, sometimes drawn with an airbrush—defined the era of the family-friendly family blockbuster.

Why Cinco de Mayo is more popular in the US than Mexico

Many in the United States believe Cinco de Mayo (celebrated annually on May 5) is Mexico's equivalent of the Fourth of July, but that's a common misconception: The holiday commemorates a battle in the fight for independence rather than the day Mexico declared independence. Interestingly, the holiday is more celebrated in the US than in Mexico, largely thanks to the Chicano Movement of the 1960s and 1970s.

Comic-Con began in 1970 in the basement of a San Diego hotel, with just a handful of comic book enthusiasts sharing their wares.

Read a 1971 magazine feature on Lucas' debut film, the sci-fi 'THX 1138'

Almost a decade before the arrival of "Star Wars," George Lucas directed "THX 1138," a grim science fiction film about a dystopian future in the vein of George Orwell's "1984." This article from the October 1971 issue of American Cinematographer features a young George Lucas, who developed the film from a short he worked on while a student at the University of Southern California just a few years earlier.

How Spielberg changed film

Before "Jaws," summer was Hollywood’s off-season. Steven Spielberg’s 1975 thriller changed all that, launching the era of the summer blockbuster. From "E.T." to "Jurassic Park," Spielberg’s films redefined how stories were told, how audiences reacted, and how studios marketed.

Fanfiction proliferated on fan-made sites in the 1990s

As the internet became more accessible in the '90s, fanfiction writers created websites dedicated to publishing stories about their favorite characters. Still, the hobby was far from mainstream. As one writer from that time said, "Going to Star Trek/comic book conventions in the '80s and '90s was something nerds did. Telling people you read or wrote fan fiction put you in the super geek category."

How one silent movie came to define science fiction

Fritz Lang's 1927 epic "Metropolis" set the template for much of the science fiction that followed, establishing themes that would come to define the genre through films like "Star Wars" and novels like "Brave New World." This short documentary from DW digs into the history of the film and its long-lasting impact.

Watch the 'Star Wars Holiday Special,' a 1978 spin-off that became a cult classic

The CBS television special is a hokey variety show that was widely panned after it aired and, as a result, was never officially released on home video. George Lucas had little involvement, though it did feature the original cast alongside guest stars like Bea Arthur. Interestingly, it also features Boba Fett's first appearance.

'Plan 9 from Outer Space' gained an audience after it was trashed by critics

The science-fiction film went mostly unnoticed in its original theatrical run, often playing in double-features aimed at teenagers. It wasn't until 1980, when film critics Harry and Michael Medved dubbed it the "worst film ever made," that it began to attract a cult following. In 1994, Johnny Depp starred in a biopic about its director, Ed Wood.

The cult of 'Rocky Horror' has its own rituals

The movie was initially a commercial failure, but it began amassing a loyal following through midnight showings, where audience members dressed as their favorite characters and acted out scenes from the movie in the aisles—a tradition that continues to this day.

'Dr. Strangelove' is widely considered the best satirical film

Stanley Kubrick’s satire about nuclear war came just two years after the Cuban Missile Crisis and spoke to Americans still coming to terms with the possibility of nuclear annihilation. In 1989, the Library of Congress included it among the first 25 films preserved in the National Film Registry, a repository for the greatest achievements in cinema.

Steven Spielberg’s movies have a unique style

Despite their distinct genres, Spielberg films often have much in common with one another. For example, supernatural phenomena, middle-class values, and camera techniques—including long, uninterrupted shots and a dolly-zoom method called the "Spielberg Face.”

Mexico City’s Day of the Dead parade is because of James Bond

The opening scenes of the 2015 film “Spectre” take place during a Day of the Dead parade in Mexico City. The movie generated so much interest that local authorities turned what was once fiction into an annual tradition, drawing thousands.

'American Graffiti' gave George Lucas the credibility to have 'Star Wars' produced

The idea for "Star Wars" was initially rejected by studios. It wasn't until "American Graffiti," Lucas' 1973 nostalgic comedy, became an unexpected hit that anyone was willing to produce what Lucas called his "space film."

Spielberg was inspired by Hitchcock, Kubrick, and other visionary directors

The influence of Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” and Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” can be seen in the cinematography and tone of Spielberg classics like “Jaws” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”

Day of the Dead has started to blend with Halloween

As American Halloween becomes more popular across the globe, Mexican Day of the Dead celebrations have begun to take on some of its traditions. While some believe this dilutes the holiday, other scholars suggest that Day of the Dead has always been rooted in Catholicism.

How American politics influenced 'Star Wars'

George Lucas believed that myths were how societies communicated notions of good and evil, and that modern myths were found on movie screens. This deep dive from the Los Angeles Review of Books explores how Lucas' disillusionment with the Vietnam War and his disgust with President Richard Nixon informed some of the themes in "Star Wars."

'Super Mario Bros.' was released in 1985

The game was designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka and published by Nintendo in Japan and North America in 1985. It’s seen as a landmark in the history of video games and minted the Mario character as a pop culture icon.

The setting of the comedy film ‘Bio-Dome’ was inspired by Biosphere 2

The film features characters played by Pauly Shore and Stephen Baldwin who accidentally lock themselves inside an experimental biosphere, mistaking it for a shopping mall, while searching for a bathroom. With a Rotten Tomatoes score of 4%, it is considered one of the best-worst movies of all time.

The best Valentine's Day-themed horror movies

It may seem like an odd combination—a holiday centered on love and a film genre dedicated to fright—but the hyperspecific subgenre thrives on the apparent juxtaposition, along with some campy send-ups of an overly commercialized holiday.

Many believe modern fan fiction began with 'Star Trek.'

The science behind the movie 'Interstellar'

Christopher Nolan's 2014 sci-fi action film "Interstellar" relies on real science for its wild space-time travel. This infographic dives into the physics basis of the fictionalized Gargantua black hole, the relativity effect, and more.