The Omen

According to producer Harvey Bernhard, the idea of a motion picture about the Antichrist came from Bob Munger, a friend of Bernhard's. When Munger told him about the idea back in 1973, the producer immediately contacted screenwriter David Seltzer and hired him to write a screenplay. It took a year for Seltzer to write the script.[4]

The movie was considered by Warner Bros, who thought it might be ideal for Oliver Reed.[5]

According to Richard Donner, Lee Remick's reaction during the baboon scene was authentic.[4]

Bernhard claims Gregory Peck had been the choice to portray Ambassador Thorn from the beginning. Peck got involved with the project through his agent, who was friends with producer Harvey Bernhard. After reading the script, Peck reportedly liked the idea that it was more of a psychological thriller rather than a horror film and agreed to star in it.[4][6]

Despite Bernhard's claim,[4] William Holden was also considered for the role. Holden turned it down, claiming he didn't want to star in a film about the devil. Holden later would portray Thorn's brother, Richard, in the sequel, Damien: Omen II (1978).[7] A firm offer was made to Charlton Heston on July 19, 1975. He turned the part down on July 27, not wanting to spend an entire winter alone in Europe and also concerned that the film might have an exploitative feel if not handled carefully.[8] Roy Scheider and Dick Van Dyke were also considered for the role of Robert Thorn.[9] Charles Bronson was also offered the role.

Principal photography of The Omen began on October 6, 1975, and lasted eleven weeks, wrapping on January 9, 1976.[10] Scenes were shot on location in Bishops Park in Fulham, London and Guildford Cathedral in Surrey.[11][12] The church featured in the Bishop's Park neighbourhood is All Saints' Church, Fulham, on the western side of Putney Bridge Road. Additional photography took place at Shepperton Studios outside London, as well as on location in Jerusalem and Rome.[2]

All music is composed by Jerry Goldsmith.

For the film's 25th anniversary, a deluxe version of the soundtrack was released with eight additional tracks.

All music is composed by Jerry Goldsmith.

A limited edition soundtrack was released for the film's 40th anniversary with six additional tracks and a bonus track.

All music is composed by Jerry Goldsmith.

The Omen was released following a successful $2.8 million marketing campaign inspired by the one from Jaws one year prior, with two weeks of sneak previews, a novelization by screenwriter David Seltzer, and the logo with "666" inside the film's title as the centerpiece of the advertisement.[14] An early screening of the film took place in numerous U.S. cities on June 6, 1976.[15][16][17]

The film was a massive commercial success, opening in the United States and Canada on June 25, 1976 in 516 theaters.[18] It grossed $4,273,886 in its opening weekend (a then record for Fox)[18][19] and $60,922,980 in total, generating theatrical rentals of $28.5 million in the United States and Canada.[20] Worldwide it earned rentals of $46.3 million from a budget of $2.8 million.[21][3] In the United States, the film was the sixth highest-grossing movie of 1976.

Richard Eder of The New York Times called it "a dreadfully silly film" but "reasonably well-paced. We don't have time to brood about the sillinesses of any particular scene before we are on to the next. There is not a great deal of excitement, but we manage to sustain some curiosity as to how things will work out."[22] Variety praised Richard Donner's direction as "taut" and the performances as "strong," and noted that the script, "sometimes too expository, too predictable, too contrived, is nonetheless a good connective fibre."[23] Roger Ebert gave the film 2.5 stars out of 4.[24] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune also awarded 2.5 stars out of 4, lauding the "firepower sound track" and several "memorable" scenes, but finding the story "goofy."[25] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called it "an absolutely riveting, thoroughly scary experience, a triumph of sleek film craftsmanship that will inevitably but not necessarily unfavorably be compared to The Exorcist."[26] Tom Shales of The Washington Post declared, "It's probably the classiest Exorcist copy yet, but as a summer thriller, it can hardly challenge the human appeal and exhilarating impact of last year's Jaws ... Seltzer, busy justifying his baloney premise with Biblical quotations, forgets about narrative logic or empathetic characters."[27] Gene Shalit called the film "a piece of junk," and Judith Crist said it "offers more laughs than the average comedy."[28] Jack Kroll of Newsweek called it "a dumb and largely dull movie."[29] Duncan Leigh Cooper of Cineaste wrote, "Despite its improbable story line and abundance of gratuitous violence, THE OMEN does succeed in its attempt to frighten, terrorize, and just plain scare the pants off most of the audience. Impressive performances ... plus a chilling mock-religious score by Jerry Goldsmith and the skillful direction of Richard Donner, all contribute to the suspension of disbelief required to draw the audience into the film's web of terror."[30] Richard Combs of The Monthly Film Bulletin described the film as "[a] matter-of-fact exercise in Satanic blood and thunder, both less grandiloquently and less pretentiously put together than The Exorcist ... In fact, the narrative is so straightforward, and so mundanely concerned with developing ever more ingenious ways, at a rapidly increasing clip, of disposing of its starry cast, that the spiritual torment is skimped."[31]

In 1978, two years after its release, the film was included in Michael Medved and Harry Dreyfuss's book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time. It was the most recent movie featured.[28]

Retrospective reviews of the film have been more favorable. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 86% based on 49 reviews and an average rating of 7.25/10. The site's consensus reads: "The Omen eschews an excess of gore in favor of ramping up the suspense -- and creates an enduring, dread-soaked horror classic along the way".[32] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 62 out of 100 based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[33]

The movie boasted a particularly disturbing scene, in which a character willingly and joyfully hangs herself at a birthday party attended by young children. It also features a violent decapitation scene (caused by a horizontal sheet of plate glass), one of mainstream Hollywood's first: "If there were a special Madame Defarge Humanitarian Award for best decapitation," wrote Kim Newman in Nightmare Movies (1988), "this lingering, slow-motion sequence would get my vote."

The Omen was ranked number 81 on the American Film Institute's 100 Years... 100 Thrills,[34] and the score by Jerry Goldsmith was nominated for AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores.[35] The film was ranked #16 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments.[36] Similarly, the Chicago Film Critics' Association named it the 31st scariest film ever made.[37] The film has been ranked as one of the best horror films of 1976 by Filmsite.org.[38]

The Omen was released on VHS by 20th Century Fox Home Video in 1980.[41] A VHS reissue was released by Fox under their "Selection Series" in 2000. The same year, a special edition DVD was released by 20th Century Fox Home Video as a standalone release[42] as well as in a four-film set that included its three sequels.[43] A newly-restored 2-disc collector's edition DVD of the film was issued in 2006, coinciding with the release of the remake.[44]

The film had its debut on Blu-ray in October 2008 as part of a four-film collection, featuring the first two sequels—Damien: Omen II and The Final Conflict—as well as the 2006 remake.[45] The fourth sequel, Omen: The Awakening, was not included in this set.[45] On October 15, 2019, Scream Factory released a "Deluxe Edition" box set—featuring the original film, along with all three sequels and the remake—and featuring newly commissioned bonus materials.[46] The Scream Factory release features a new 4K restoration of the original film elements.[46]

A novelization of The Omen was written by screenwriter David Seltzer (the book preceded the movie by two weeks as a marketing gimmick). For the book, Seltzer augmented some plot points and character backgrounds and changed minor details (such as character names — Holly becomes Chessa Whyte, Keith Jennings becomes Haber Jennings, Father Brennan becomes Father Edgardo Emilio Tassone).

The Omen was followed by three sequels: Damien: Omen II (1978), Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981), and Omen IV: The Awakening (1991).[46] A remake of the same title was released in 2006, starring Liev Schreiber and Julia Stiles in the roles of Robert and Katherine, and Mia Farrow portraying Mrs. Blaylock.[47]