Dark City(1998)

New Line Cinema

R
Rated R for violent images and some sexuality
1h 40m

Release Date: Feb 27, 1998 | Wide

78%
85%
B-
7.5

A man struggles with memories of his past, which include a wife he cannot remember and a nightmarish world no one else ever seems to wake up from.

Releases

Original Release | Feb 27, 1998

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Box Office Results

Updated as of Aug 07, 2026 06:31 PM ET

Results

Opening Weekend US & Canada:
$5,576,953
Total US & Canada:
$14,378,331
Total International
$12,821,985
Total Worldwide:
$27,201,335

Current Showtimes

orround

Tue Aug 11
Wed Aug 12
Thu Aug 13
Fri Aug 14
Sat Aug 15
Sun Aug 16
Mon Aug 17

Director & Top Cast

Alex Proyas
Director

Rufus Sewell
John Murdoch

Kiefer Sutherland
Dr Daniel Schreber

Jennifer Connelly
Emma Murdoch

William Hurt
Inspector Frank Bumstead

Richard O’Brien
Mr Hand

Ian Richardson

Mr Book

Bruce Spence

Mr Wall

Colin Friels

Walenski

John Bluthal

Karl Harris

Mitchell Butel

Husselbeck

Melissa George

May

Frank Gallacher

Stromboli

Ritchie Singer

Hotel Manager, Vendor

Justin Monjo

Taxi Driver

Nicholas Bell

Mr Rain

Satya Gumbert

Mr Sleep

Noah Gumbert

Mr Sleep Filming Double

Technical Specifications

Sound Mix: Dolby Digital,SDDS

Aspect Ratio: 2.39 : 1

Other Details

Country of Origin: Australia,United States

Language: English

Summaries

Plot Summary

John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) wakes in a hotel bathtub, suffering from what seems to be amnesia. As he stumbles into his hotel room, he receives a call from Dr. Daniel Schreber (Kiefer Sutherland), who urges him to flee the hotel from a group of men called The Strangers. During the telephone conversation, John discovers the corpse of a brutalised, ritualistically murdered woman, along with a bloody knife. Murdoch flees the scene, just as the Strangers arrive at the room. Eventually he uncovers his real name, and tracks down his wife Emma (Jennifer Connelly). He is also sought for a series of murders, which he cannot remember, by police inspector Frank Bumstead (William Hurt). Murdoch stays on the move in the city, which experiences perpetual night. He sees people fall comatose at the stroke of midnight, and he is pursued by The Strangers. In the chase, he discovers that he has psychokinetic powers like the Strangers, which he uses to escape from them.Murdoch questions the dark urban environment and discovers through clues and interviews with his family that he was originally from a coastal town called Shell Beach. Attempts at finding a way out of the city to Shell Beach are hindered by lack of reliable information. Meanwhile, the Strangers, disturbed by the presence of a human who retains their powers (which they refer to as tuning) inject one of their men, Mr. Hand (Richard O'Brien) with Murdoch's lost memories, in an attempt to track down Murdoch.Constantly on the run, Murdoch witnesses the Strangers altering the city's landscape and people's identities during the still period at midnight, during which time everyone is unconscious. Murdoch eventually meets Bumstead, who recognizes Murdoch's innocence and has his own questions about the nature of the dark city. They find and confront Dr. Schreber, who explains that the Strangers are endangered alien parasites with a collective consciousness who are experimenting on humans to analyze the nature versus nurture concept of their human hosts in order to survive. Schreber reveals Murdoch as an anomaly who inadvertently woke up during the midnight process with the ability to tune.The three men embark to find Shell Beach, which ultimately exists only as a billboard at the edge of the city. Frustrated, Murdoch tears through the wall, revealing a hole into deep space. The men are confronted by the Strangers, including Mr. Hand, who holds Emma hostage. In the ensuing fight, Bumstead falls through the hole into space, revealing the city as an enormous space habitat surrounded by a force field.The Strangers bring Murdoch to their home beneath the city and force Dr. Schreber to imprint Murdoch with their collective memory. Schreber, having worked for the Strangers, betrays them by instead inserting memories in Murdoch that train his tuning abilities. Murdoch awakens, fully realizing his abilities, breaks free and battles with the Strangers, defeating the leader Mr. Book (Ian Richardson) in a battle high above the city. Utilizing his newfound powers, Murdoch begins reshaping the city, returning the sun, flooding the areas surrounding the city with water and forming mountains and beaches, creating the actual Shell Beach.The Strangers who survived Mr. Book's death retreat from the sunlight to die underground. On his way to Shell Beach, Murdoch encounters Mr. Hand and informs him that the Strangers have been searching in the wrong place, the head, to understand humanity. Murdoch opens the door leading out of the city, and steps into sunlight for the first time. Beyond him is a dock, where he finds Emma, now with new memories and a new identity as Anna, with no recollection of Murdoch. They reintroduce and walk to Shell Beach, beginning their relationship anew.

Storyline

John Murdoch awakens alone in a strange hotel to find that he has lost his memory and is wanted for a series of brutal and bizarre murders. While trying to piece together his past, he stumbles upon a fiendish underworld controlled by a group of beings known as The Strangers who possess the ability to put people to sleep and alter the city and its inhabitants. Now Murdoch must find a way to stop them before they take control of his mind and destroy him. — Anonymous A man awakens in a bathtub and receives a phone call warning him he should leave the room since he will be captured. Before leaving, he finds the body of a woman. Soon, a group of strangers hunts him down but he succeeds to escape. But is followed by police inspector Frank Burnstead who believes he's a serial-killer. Murdich also learns that he has uncontrolled powers similar to the Strangers who are hunting him as well. — Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil A man, John Murdoch wakes up in the bath of his hotel room, with no memory, not even of his name, and a dead prostitute in the room. He receives a phone call from Doctor Schreber, telling him that some people are coming for him and he should leave immediately. He flees, becoming the prime suspect in a series of murders of prostitutes. On the case is Inspector Frank Bumstead, who's intrigued when Murdoch's wife, Emma, reports him missing. Meanwhile, it is clear that some strange people with special powers are after Murdoch... — grantss Dark City is a somber place: the sun never comes out and with the chime of midnight, everyone in this metropolis goes to sleep on the spot. Every day is the same: except one man who wakes up in a bathtub unaware of who he is and what kind of sinister web he's got himself caught in. When mysterious beings known as 'The Strangers' pursue this amnesiac, he soon realises that he has superpowers: a 'tuning' of mind and matter. — Johnny 2 more See all

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