I remember Blade Runner when it was launch. I was in Tokyo and at the same was E.T.
Like everybody’s memory of Blade Runner, the film was basically pummeled by E.T. (the other science fiction film at the time). Although I would not watch the film until about 4 years later, I did know that a lot was expected of it.
It had Harrison Ford (hot from Star Wars, and Raiders of the Lost Ark). Also starring were Daryl Hannah and Rutger Hauer. The film was directed by Ridley Scott (hot from the ground breaking sci-fi horror Alien, and soon to make many other films and even the Apple Computer 1984 advert). It was launched at a time when sci-fi was cool.
Sadly, due to a variety of reasons the film bombed – only to be resurrected and become one of, if not THE, landmark sci-fi film of all time. The film will soon be relaunched as the “Final Cut” – ie the preferred cut as intended by Ridley Scott.
The film also followed (or paved) a similar fate for the author (Philip K Dick) on whose book (“Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep”) the film was based. Philip K Dick died before the film launch… but his digital age / cyber punk books became material for many other sci-fi films such as Total Recall, Paycheck, Minority Report, Next and a few others.