Produced by Brooksfilms and distributed by 20th Century Fox, the film stars Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, and John Getz.

The score was composed by Howard Shore and the make-up effects were created by Chris Walas, along with makeup artist Stephan Dupuis.

[5] Seth Brundle, a brilliant but eccentric scientist, meets Ronnie Quaife, a science journalist, at a press event.

After he successfully teleports a second baboon, Ronnie hurriedly leaves to confront her editor Stathis Borans about his threat, spurred by his jealousy of Seth, to publish the story without her consent.

Embittered and convinced she is rekindling her relationship with Stathis, Seth teleports himself alone, unaware that a housefly has slipped inside the transmitter pod with him.

He discovers that the telepod computer, confused by the presence of two lifeforms in the sending pod, fused him with the fly at the molecular-genetic level.

Seth installs a fusion program into the telepod computer, planning to dilute the fly genes in his body with human DNA.

Having overheard their conversation, Seth abducts Ronnie before the abortion can take place and begs her to carry the child to term, since it may be the last remnant of his humanity.

As Seth drags her into one of the telepods, she accidentally rips off his jaw, triggering his final transformation into an insectoid-human creature, shedding decayed human skin.

In the early 1980s, co-producer Kip Ohman approached screenwriter Charles Edward Pogue with the idea of remaking the classic science fiction horror film The Fly.

[7] The duo then pitched the idea to executives at 20th Century Fox and received an enthusiastic response, and Pogue was given money to write a first draft screenplay.

He initially wrote an outline similar to that of Langelaan's story, but both he and Cornfeld thought that it would be better to rework the material to focus on a gradual metamorphosis instead of an instantaneous monster.

[11][3][12] Cronenberg, who watched the original film when it came out, was critical of the initial script stating that "I remember reading it and the first sixteen pages were awful".

Brooks and Cornfeld originally wanted to play the song over the closing credits, but after Cronenberg screened it for them, they agreed with the director that it did not mesh with the movie.

Another preview screening was subsequently held at the Fox lot in Los Angeles, and this version featured the "butterfly baby" coda.

The transformation was broken up into seven distinct stages, with Jeff Goldblum spending many hours in the makeup chair for Brundle's later incarnations.

It was released on record, cassette, and Compact Disc (with three additional tracks exclusively included on the latter) by Varèse Sarabande, and in 2005, it was remastered and reissued on a two-disc set with Christopher Young's album for The Fly II.

The website's critical consensus reads, "David Cronenberg combines his trademark affinity for gore and horror with strongly developed characters, making The Fly a surprisingly affecting tragedy.

[31] Los Angeles Times hailed the film as a stunning piece of filmmaking that allowed the audience to identify with the monstrous creation.

[33] Conversely, Caryn James of The New York Times criticized the film for what she considered distractingly excessive gore, lack of emotional depth and tonal inconsistency.

Many genre fans and film critics at the time thought that Jeff Goldblum's performance would receive a Best Actor Oscar nomination,[46] but this did not happen.

Gene Siskel subsequently stated that Goldblum most likely "got stiffed" out of a nomination because the older Academy voters generally do not honor horror films.

It features Veronica Quaife giving birth to Brundle's mutant son before dying, and it focuses on the Bartok company's attempts to get the Telepods working again.

Jeff Goldblum appears in archival footage of Seth Brundle in two scenes, including the post-teleportation interview segment that was deleted from the first film.

An early treatment for a sequel, written by Tim Lucas, involved Veronica Quaife dealing with the evils of the Bartok company.

Brundle becomes able to communicate with Veronica through the computer, and he eventually takes control of the Bartok complex's security systems to gruesomely attack the villains.

Beginning in March 2015 IDW Publishing released The Fly: Outbreak, a five-issue comic book miniseries written by Brandon Seifert.

[55] In 2003, it was announced that a second remake of The Fly was being developed, to be directed by Todd Lincoln, produced by Fox Searchlight Pictures, and released in 2006, but this did not happen.

It's financed by Fox, and whether it will get made or not, I cannot say at the moment because there are a lot of up-in-the-air factors that deal with internal studio politics and a bunch of other things that I'm not in control of.

But I would make it if they greenlight it, let's put it that way.Cronenberg elaborated further when interviewed by Empire in 2012: Well, I did talk to Fox, because my agent found out that they were approaching people to do a remake of my film.