<Tr> <Th> Budget </Th> <Td> $55 million </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Box office </Th> <Td> $196.6 million </Td> </Tr> <P> Stargate is a 1994 science fiction adventure film released through Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer (MGM) and Carolco Pictures . Created by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich, the film is the first release in the Stargate franchise . Directed by Roland Emmerich, the film stars Kurt Russell, James Spader, Jaye Davidson, Alexis Cruz, Mili Avital, and Viveca Lindfors . The plot centers on the premise of a "Stargate", an ancient ring - shaped device that creates a wormhole enabling travel to a similar device elsewhere in the universe . The film's central plot explores the theory of extraterrestrial beings having an influence upon human civilization . </P> <P> The film had a mixed initial critical reception, earning both praise and criticism for its atmosphere, story, characters, and graphic content . Nevertheless, Stargate became a commercial success worldwide . Devlin and Emmerich gave the rights to the franchise to MGM when they were working on their 1996 film Independence Day, and MGM retains the domestic television rights . The rights to the Stargate film are owned by StudioCanal, with Lions Gate Entertainment handling most distribution in international theatrical and worldwide home video releases, although Rialto Pictures handles domestic distribution under license from StudioCanal . </P>

1994 movie that started a sci fi franchise