It starred the voices of Rodger Bumpass, Jackie Burroughs, John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Don Francks, Martin Lavut, Marilyn Lightstone, Eugene Levy, Alice Playten, Harold Ramis, Percy Rodriguez, Susan Roman, Richard Romanus, August Schellenberg, John Vernon, and Zal Yanovsky.

Upon release, the film received mixed reviews from critics but was a moderate commercial success and has since achieved a cult following.

Cast Crew Studio Original story by Daniel Goldberg and Len Blum; based on The Long Tomorrow by Moebius.

In a dystopian and crime-ridden New York City in 2031, cynical taxicab driver Harry Canyon narrates his day in film noir style, grumbling about his fares and frequent robbery attempts he thwarts with a disintegrator installed in the back of his seat.

Pleading "not guilty" against the advice of his lawyer Charlie, Sternn explains that he expects to be acquitted because he bribed a witness named Hanover Fiste.

Fiste takes the stand upon being called to by the prosecutor, but his perjury is subverted when the Loc-Nar, now the size of a marble, causes him to blurt out highly incriminating statements about Sternn (though whether or not any of them are true is unknown) before changing him into a hulking muscular brute that chases Sternn throughout the station, breaking through bulkheads and wreaking havoc.

Cast Crew Music Studio Because of time constraints, a segment called "Neverwhere Land", which would have connected "Captain Sternn" to "B-17", was cut.

In both released versions, the sequence is set to the music of "Passacaglia" (from Magnificat), composed and conducted by Krzysztof Penderecki and with animation studio being produced by Duck Soup Produckions.

A World War II B-17 bomber nicknamed the Pacific Pearl makes a difficult bombing run and suffers heavy damage with all of the crew except the pilot and co-pilot killed by gunfire.

Informing the pilot, he heads back to the cockpit, when the Loc-Nar rams itself into the plane and reanimates the dead crew members as zombies.

[7] Dr. Anrak, a prominent scientist, arrives at The Pentagon for a meeting regarding mysterious mutations that are plaguing the United States.

Meanwhile, Edsel and Zeke snort a huge amount of a powdered drug called Plutonian Nyborg before flying home, zoning out on the cosmos.

Cast Crew Music Studio Original story by Daniel Goldberg and Len Blum; based on Arzach by Moebius.

The Loc-Nar, now the size of a giant meteor, crashes into a volcano on another world and draws a large mass of curious people.

As they begin to climb the volcano, it erupts and green slime covers the crowd, mutating them into an evil barbarian army.

Cast Music Ivan Reitman gained a deal with Columbia Pictures to create an animated film and asked Gerald Potterton to oversee it.

[10] Michael Mills was hired to create the opening and closing segments, but script rewrites had the sequences redrawn multiple times.

[9] Atkinson Film-Arts animated Harry Canyon, directed by Pino van Lamsweerde, and the B-17 segment by Barrie Nelson.

"[17] Variety declared, "Initial segments have a boisterous blend of dynamic graphics, intriguing plot premises and sly wit that unfortunately slide gradually downhill ...

"[18] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film three stars, writing that it "isn't intended for close scrutiny on a literal level.

[19] Sheila Benson of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Somehow a great deal of the charm [of the magazine] leaked out on the way to the movie house, but all of the sadism stayed put.

[23] Maslin of the Times gave the segment a positive review, writing, "The other highly memorable story is about a bookworm from earth who winds up on another planet, where his spindly body is transformed into that of an extraterrestrial Hercules."

[17] Christopher John reviewed Heavy Metal in Ares Magazine #11 and commented that "Sadly, what could have been a true boost for animation in this country[a] is a weak, opportunistic failure, put together with very little care and no love at all.

[25] Prior to official release on VHS and LaserDisc in 1996, the film was re-released to 54 theatres on March 8, 1996,[25] remixed in Sony's 8-track SDDS audio system, taking in US$550,000 (equivalent to $1,068,491 in 2023).

[4] The subsequent home video release, the first animated film issued on the VHS format to be THX-certified, moved over one million units.

[41] Some news reports have suggested that Heavy Metal was an influence for Elon Musk when he launched a Tesla Roadster alongside a fake spaceman in the front seat into orbit in 2018, which seems to reference the film's title sequence "Soft Landing", in which a space traveler lands on Earth in a Chevrolet Corvette convertible two-seater.

[44] In March 2008, Variety reported that Paramount Pictures was set to make another animated film with David Fincher "spearheading the project".

Kevin Eastman, who was at the time the owner and publisher of Heavy Metal, was to direct a segment, as would Tim Miller, "whose Blur Studio will handle the animation for what is being conceived as an R-rated, adult-themed feature".

It was reported that the film had been moved to Sony division Columbia Pictures (which had released the original) and had a budget of $50 million.

[52] On March 11, 2014, with the formation of his own television network, El Rey, Rodriguez considered switching gears and bringing it to TV.