For further information, Wikipedia includes two relevant lists, one on films about nuclear issues and another on nuclear weapons testing. Although it does not mention bomb films, the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) provides a more complete official chronology of atomic bomb related events. You also can view a partial playlist of atomic bomb films, with clips and trailers and including some documentaries, on the TV Multiversity YouTube channel.
Part One of the timeline covers a few pre-Hiroshima events leading to the development of nuclear weapons, and then moves to initial responses to the bomb, with a focus on American and Japanese films. It then covers the first decade or so of the Cold War up until the release of Dr. Strangelove in the early-mid 1960s. Part Two picks up films and events from there and takes us into the era of proliferation and through to the late 1970s.
1965
January: USSR conducts the Chagan nuclear weapons test.
April: Crack in the world released in the USA.
June: The war game released in the UK.
August: Furankenshutain tai chitei kaiju baragon AKA Frankenstein conquers the world is released in Japan.
October: The Bedford incident released in the USA.
November: The heroes of Telemark released in the UK.
December: The heroes of Telemark released in Japan as Teremaku no yosai; The James Bond film Thunderball is released in the UK and the USA.
N/D: Atomic rulers of the world AKA Atomic rulers released in the USA.
January: USA nuclear bomber collides with a refueling plane and crashes at Palomares in Spain, spreading radioactive fallout.
March: The heroes of Telemark released in the USA.
July: Despite objections from the Polynesian Territorial Assembly, France conducts the first of many nuclear weapons tests in the South Pacific at Moruroa in French Polynesia, and it is later found that the French tests massively contaminated the area; Furankenshutain tai chitei kaiju Baragon released in USA as Frankenstein conquers the world.
November: Daikaiju Gamera AKA Gamera released in Japan, and a month later released in the USA as Gammera, the invincible.
1967
April: Konec srpna v Hotelu Ozon AKA Late August at the Hotel Ozone released in Czechoslovakia.
June: China tests its first hydrogen bomb, code named Test No. 6, at Lop Nur in Xinjiang.
August: 대괴수 용가리 Taekoesu Yonggary AKA Yongari, monster from the deep released in South Korea.
September: The USA announces its Sentinel anti-nuclear missile system, and that it is oriented toward China.
October: Battle beneath the earth is released in the UK.
December: During parliamentary negotiations on the return of Okinawa, Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato introduces the Three Non-Nuclear Principles (non-production, non-possession and non-introduction), which are formally adopted in 1971.
January: USA bomber carrying four nuclear weapons crashes in Greenland, resulting in radioactive contamination.
April: With the Treaty of Tlatelolco, Latin America is declared a nuclear-free zone.
July: Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty opens for signatures.
August: France tests its first hydrogen bomb, code named Canopus.
N/D: In the year 2889 released in the USA.
1969
November: First round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks between the USA and the USSR.
March: The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty enters into force;
The bed sitting room released in the UK.
May: Beneath the planet of the apes released in the USA.
1972
May: The USA and the USSR sign the first Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty.
N/D: Doomsday machine released in the USA.
1973
May: Ground zero released in the USA.
1974
May: India tests its first nuclear weapon, code-named "Smiling Buddha," at Pokhran in Rajasthan; Chosen survivors released in the USA.
June: The USA produces a neutron bomb, which features higher radiation levels with lower explosive force, designed to kill people but leave infrastructure relatively intact.
July: The USA and USSR sign Threshold Test Ban Treaty, putting limitations on underground nuclear weapons tests, though it would not go into effect until 1990.
December: The missiles of October airs on television in the USA.November: A boy and his dog released in the USA.
February: Twilight’s last gleaming released in the USA.
October: Damnation alley released in the USA.
December: Operation Ganymed released in West Germany.
1978
June: Plutonium airs on television in West Germany.
November: The USSR tests a weapon similar to the neutron bomb.
N/D: The USA postpones further development of the neutron bomb following intense protests against its deployment in Europe.
1979
March: Three Mile Island nuclear power plant accident in the USA .
June: The second Strategic Arms Limitation treaty signed by the USA and the USSR .
September: The Vela Incident is suspected to be an Israeli-South African nuclear weapons test. Israel's nuclear weapons program would be revealed in 1986 by Israeli whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu, while the South African nuclear weapons program would be dismantled in 1989.
October: 太陽を盗んだ男 Taiyo wo nusunda otoko AKA The man who stole the sun, with a script by American-born screenwriter Leonard Schrader, is released in Japan and would go on to be consistently cited as among the best Japanese films of all time.
September: USA nuclear missile accidentally explodes in Arkansas, in what is known as the Titan incident.
October: The Japanese film Taiyo wo nusunda otoko released in the USA as The man who stole the sun.
March: Pakistan, which began its nuclear program soon after India detonated a bomb in the 1970s, begins a sub-critical testing series for nuclear weapons. The Pakistan nuclear weapons program will lead to its testing a nuclear weapon in 1998.
September: A Soviet early warning system reports that the USA has launched a nuclear missile strike on the USSR. Nuclear war is narrowly averted when the warning is found to be due to a malfunction of the early warning system.
1986
April: Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster.
June: The Manhattan Project, about a high school student who builds an atomic bomb, is released in the USA.
October: The London Sunday Times publishes photos provided by defected Dimona worker Mordechai Vanunu revealing the Israeli nuclear program.
1988
April: Sakura-tai chiru (さくら隊散る) a docu-drama by Kaneto Shindo about a theatre troupe caught in Hiroshima during the 1945 atomic bombing, is released in Japan.
1990
May: Akira Kurosawa's Dreams (夢), an anthology film, is released worldwide, including a showing at the Cannes Film Festival. It was nominated for several awards, and won an award from the Japanese Academy for Best Musical Score. Including among the films in the anthology are two with atomic bomb themes: Mount Fuji in Red, which was sub-directed by Ishiro Honda, and The Weeping Demon.
1991
May: Rhapsody in August (八月の狂詩曲), directed by Akira Kurosawa, is released worldwide, including a screening at the Cannes Film Festival. Nominated for several awards by the Japanese Academy, it won Best Cinematography, Best Lighting, Best Art Direction and Best Sound.
December: The dissolution of the Soviet Union, which began in 1988, effectively ends the Cold War.
1992
September: The USA conducts its last nuclear weapons, code named "Divider," as part of the Operation Julpin series of tests before the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
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This timeline was compiled by Joseph Progler for a course on Media and History at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Japan. It is a work in progress, and may be amended and updated as needed.
This timeline was compiled by Joseph Progler for a course on Media and History at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Japan. It is a work in progress, and may be amended and updated as needed.
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