Stargate is an American military science fiction film released through Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer (MGM) and Carolco in 1994. 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, John Diehl, Rae Allen, Mili Avital and Alexis Cruz. The plot centers around the premise of a "Stargate", a ring-shaped device that creates a wormhole enabling travel to a similar device a galaxy away.

The film had a mixed to negative initial critical reception, earning both praise and criticism for its atmosphere, story, characters, and graphic content. Nevertheless, Stargate gained a cult following and 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 (the rights to the Stargate film are currently owned by StudioCanal, with Lionsgate handling most distribution in terms of international theatrical and worldwide home video releases), however MGM retains the domestic television rights.

Plot

The theatrical version of the film begins in 1928, where Professor Langford discovers a massive stone ring in the sands of Giza, Egypt. In the present day, Langford's daughter Catherine offers Egyptologist Daniel Jackson the chance to translate Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs that may prove his controversial theory regarding the Pyramid of Khufu. Jackson accepts and is taken to a US military installation inside Creek Mountain, Colorado. Jackson translates the hieroglyphs on the stone ring's coverstones, which read: "A million years into the sky is Ra, Sun God. Sealed and buried for all time, his Stargate." Formerly retired Air Force Colonel Jack O'Neil arrives to take command of the project and declares all information regarding it classified.