Enemy Mine is a 1985 American science fiction film directed by Wolfgang Petersen and written by Edward Khmara, based on Barry B. Longyear's novella of the same name.

The film stars Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett Jr. as a human and alien soldier, respectively, who become stranded together on an inhospitable planet and must overcome their mutual distrust in order to cooperate and survive.

An international co-production between the United States, United Kingdom and West Germany, Enemy Mine began production in Budapest in April 1984 under the direction of Richard Loncraine, who quickly ran into "creative differences" with producer Stephen Friedman and executives at 20th Century Fox; the project was shut down after a week of shooting.

[3] In the late 21st century, an interstellar war between humans (associated as the Bilateral Terran Alliance, or BTA) and Dracs (bipedal reptilian humanoids) is fought.

Battles periodically take place between fighter spacecraft, and no human hates the Dracs more than Willis E. Davidge.

During one such battle in 2092, Davidge and Drac pilot Jariba Shigan engage in a dogfight, which results in them crash-landing on Fyrine IV, a planet whose surface is largely a hostile volcanic wasteland.

[4] The film began shooting in April 1984 with Richard Loncraine (Brimstone & Treacle) as director and a budget of $18 million.

[5] However, after three weeks of shooting in Iceland and Budapest, producers became concerned about a mixture of budget overruns, creative differences and poor quality dailies.

[8][9] At the same time, Fox changed its upper management and new chairman, Barry Diller, and head of production, Lawrence Gordon, decided to move ahead with a new director.

[8] Large sets were constructed, including a man-made lake, and Gossett's Drac makeup was redesigned, taking several months on its own.

"[8] The studio pushed the film with a full marketing blitz the Sunday before Thanksgiving with full-page advertisements in 43 of the largest newspapers in the United States.

Still that same day, 3,500 theatrical trailers were shipped to theaters across America, and 164 of the nation's biggest shopping malls were covered with posters for the film.

"[8] In the United Kingdom, the original 108-minute movie was cut down to 93 minutes when first released theatrically, and later on VHS,[13] although the full-length version was reinstated for the 2002 DVD.

When asked exactly how much the movie would have to take in during its theatrical run to make its money back, a Fox executive replied "It doesn't really matter, because it's not going to do it.

[15] Critics consensus on Rotten Tomatoes reads: "Enemy Mine extracts thrilling sci-fi pulp from Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett Jr.'s chemistry and inventive production design, but an overextended story diminishes the power of its central duo's relationship.

[18] Janet Maslin of The New York Times called it "This season's Dune", referring to the critically panned science fiction epic from the previous year.

[20] Seventeen years later, another New York Times reviewer gave the film a more positive assessment, noting that, "taken in the intended spirit, it's often moving, suggesting what might happen if two of Earth's perpetually warring peoples were stranded together.

A limited "Deluxe Edition" compact disc, containing the original soundtrack album and unreleased and alternate cues, was released by Varese Sarabande in 2012.