Paramount Pictures releases the George Pal-produced movie adaptation of H.G. Wells’ The War Of The Worlds in American theaters, starring Gene Barry, Ann Robinson, and Les Tremayne. Featuring groundbreaking special effects photography and painted space scenes by Chesley Bonestell, the movie is an instant hit, and will later inspire a television revival based on elements of this film. 
The first Godzilla movie, Gojira, debuts in Japan. Directed by Ishiro Honda and starring Akira Takarada, Momoko Kochi and Akihiko Hirata, the film is intended to be an allegory to the ravages of the atomic bomb rather than the beginning of a franchise (though the door is clearly left open to a sequel by dialogue at the close of the movie). The franchise proper will not begin until the first sequel five years later. In the meantime, an American dub of the movie attracts worldwide attention to Gojira, eventually rechristening the character Godzilla for much of the world.
The first Godzilla movie, Gojira, is re-released in America, dubbed into English with additional scenes starring actor Raymond Burr, as Godzilla, King Of The Monsters! Despite the quite noticeable differences between old footage and new, the movie proves popular, and sparks the western world’s obsession with Toho Studios’ signature creation. It is also just the first of several attempts to westernize the Godzilla mythos (chiefly for American audiences). 
Toho Studios release the first Godzilla movie sequel, Godzilla Raids Again, directed by Motoyoshi Oda. (Significant alterations to the movie, including a different title, will be made for its eventual U.S. release.)
Toho Studios release the third Godzilla movie, King Kong vs. Godzilla, directed by Inoshiro Honda. This is the first Godzilla film in color. (Once again, the movie undergoes significant changes for its later American release.)
Toho releases the fourth Godzilla movie, Mothra Vs. Godzilla, directed by Inoshiro Honda.
The feature film Dr. Who and the Daleks, an adaptation of the earliest Doctor Who television stories for the big screen, premieres in British theaters, starring Peter Cushing, Roy Castle, Jennie Linden, and Roberta Tovey. It is the first Doctor Who production of any kind to be filmed in color, but sits comfortably outside the rest of Doctor Who lore and does well enough at the box office for a sequel to be set into motion.
Toho releases the fifth Godzilla movie, Ghidrah, The Three Headed Monster.
Based on the popular television series of the same name, 20th Century Fox’s feature film Batman premieres in American theaters, starring Adam West, Burt Ward, and, reprising their villain roles from the series, Cesar Romero, Burgess Meredith, and Frank Gorshin, while Lee Meriwether takes over the role of Catwoman. With a budget significantly greater than that of its TV counterpart, the movie introduces new Bat-vehicles, including a helicopter and a boat, footage of which will be spliced into many a later episode of the TV series.
The feature film Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 A.D., a big-screen adaptation of the Doctor Who television story The Dalek Invasion Of Earth, premieres in British theaters, starring Peter Cushing, Bernard Cribbins, Jill Curzon, and Roberta Tovey. Like its predecessor the year before, this movie sits comfortably outside the rest of Doctor Who lore.
Toho releases the sixth Godzilla movie, Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster.
Toho releases the seventh Godzilla movie, Son Of Godzilla.
Starring Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowall, 20th Century Fox’s big-screen release of Planet Of The Apes quickly becomes one of 1968’s movie success stories, and easily one of the year’s two most influential genre films. Propelled into the future aboard a spacecraft from Earth, a trio of astronauts find themselves on a world ruled by sentient apes with no love of humanity whatsoever – for humanity nearly destroyed their world. The studio almost immediately sets the wheels in motion for a sequel.
The product of a four-year collaboration between visionary SF writer Arthur C. Clarke and director Stanley Kubrick, MGM’s 2001: a space odyssey premieres, delighting fans of hard SF and bewildering audiences and critics. It is released alongside Clarke’s novel of the same story, which both clarifies some of the more inscrutible story points (such as the reason for the behavior of HAL, the ship’s computer) and confuses others (the book depicts a mission to Saturn; the movie depicts a mission to Jupiter). Many critics and science fiction writers regard the movie as an instant classic of the genre, one which continues to be hugely influential in the years and decades to come.
Toho releases the eighth Godzilla movie, Destroy All Monsters.
The first sequel to the original film, Beneath The Planet Of The Apes is released in theaters. Despite Charlton Heston’s surprisingly small amount of (still pricey) screen time and a downbeat ending that would seem to work against any further sequels, the hotly-anticipated follow-up earns enough at the box office to convince 20th Century Fox to keep the Apes franchise going.
Toho releases the ninth Godzilla movie, Monster Zero.
The third Planet Of The Apes film, Escape From The Planet Of The Apes is released in theaters, starring Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Eric Braeden, and Ricardo Montalban. The third movie in the series ditches the far-future setting for something unexpectedly modern-day.
Toho releases the tenth Godzilla movie, Godzilla’s Revenge.
Toho releases the 11th Godzilla movie, Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster.
Toho releases the 12th Godzilla movie, Godzilla vs. Gigan.
The fourth Planet Of The Apes film, Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes is released in theaters, starring Roddy McDowall, Natalie Trundy, Severn Darden, and Ricardo Montalban. The Apes film franchise shifts to a near-future setting that picks up the threads of Escape.
Service Electric Cable, the local cable company in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, embarks on an ambitious experiment, launching a movie channel that only a few hundred of their subscribers pay extra to receive. The channel, Home Box Office, is the brainchild of a New York City broadcasting entrepreneur seeking a workaround for the tendency of the city’s own high-rise architecture to block over-the-air signals. Originally code-named the Green Channel (presumably for the cash it is hoped it will rake in), HBO begins life with a mix of movies and live sports events (such as pro hockey) with no commercial interruption. Within a year, HBO will be acquired by Time-Life, expanding to nine hours of programming every day. With HBO having proven that cable subscribers will pay extra for an ad-free movie and sports channel, competing pay cable networks such as Showtime will spring up in the years to come. HBO also pioneers the concept of broadcasting exclusively via satellite, years ahead of the broadcast networks.
Toho releases the 13th Godzilla movie, Godzilla vs. Megalon.
The fifth and last of the original cycle of time-bending sequels, Battle For The Planet Of The Apes is released in theaters. Facing diminishing returns, and a desire on the part of 20th Century Fox to exploit the Apes franchise on the small screen, the series comes to a suitably post-apocalyptic end.
Written and directed by science fiction author Michael Crichton, Westworld debuts in theaters, mashing up familiar western tropes with a tale of cyborgs gone mad. Richard Benjamin (Quark), James Brolin, and Yul Brynner guest star; Majel Barrett (Star Trek) and Dick Van Patten play cameo roles. A hit for MGM, Westworld will spawn many attempts to follow up on its success, from the 1976 movie Futureworld to numerous TV revivals well into the 21st century.
The MGM movie Logan’s Run premieres, starring Michael York and Jenny Agutter, and based on the science fiction novel of the same name by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson. Set in an unspecified future, Logan’s Run depicts a world where citizens of a domed society must be euthanized at the age of 30 (21 in the original novel), supposedly to alleviate overpopulation; those who try to avoid this fate are labeled runners, to be pursued by armed Sandmen. Logan is a Sandman who finds himself running as his 30th birthday approaches. A television version follows in 1977, though without any of the movie’s cast.
Toho releases the 14th Godzilla movie, Godzilla Vs. MechaGodzilla.
Toho releases the 15th Godzilla movie, Terror of MechaGodzilla.
Boasting a story and characters with universal appeal, a magnificent soundtrack, and special effects unlike anything that had been seen before, George Lucas’ Star Wars arrives, changing the movie industry and geekdom forever. Word-of-mouth – to say nothing of lines of moviegoers winding around the block, eager to immediately see the movie again – spreads like wildfire, and suddenly it’s okay to be a science fiction fan.