Here's what happened in 1987.
The production for the Super Mario anime series began, the same year the Alex Kidd movie and the Legend of Zelda movie were released. After the success of
An American Tail, Don Bluth and Steven Spielberg begin seriously discussing a more permanent business and creative partnership. TriStar expresses interest in producing an adaptation of George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman novels, in collaboration with EMI. Don Bluth and Cinematronics release
The Sea Beast and Barnacle Bill, a video game similar in style to
Dragon's Lair and
Space Ace. The game receives widespread acclaim and puts their plans for a series of games in that style back on track. Wishing to refocus on movies and television, especially his upcoming film
The Land Before Time, Bluth delegates the next two games,
Devil's Island and
Jason and the Golden Fleece, to Gary Goldman.
Andy Warhol makes a full recovery from gallbladder surgery and returns to work, Universal buys the film rights to
The Jetsons and begins talks with Hanna-Barbera about an animated feature film, French singer and actress Dalida attempts suicide by overdosing on barbiturates, but fails and is hospitalized, and Rebecca Parham is born in San Antonio, Texas. Hugh Laurie expresses interest in playing Sir Harry Paget Flashman for TriStar's adaptation, and George Harrison hints in an interview with Rolling Stone that he is to play the Governor-General of India; Terry Gilliam is set to direct.
Super Mario Bros. 2: The Legend of the Warp Zone on the NES is released worldwide, and it was a very successful game. (ITTL, The Lost Levels was just ported to the Famicom Disk System version of SMB1.) Nintendo begins plans for a
Zelda III that will alternate between top-down and side-scrolling gameplay. Sega, choosing to take advantage of their popularity in the European market, makes a deal with Cosgrove-Hall Productions to make an Alex Kidd animated series. 20th Century Fox releases
Carcharodon, a killer shark movie about a large great white shark who attacks humans because of a serious head injury it suffered during a hunting incident. Peter Benchley was hired as a scientific advisor, and he accepted on the condition that the movie would have elements that would discourage overhunting of sharks. Favorably compared to
Jaws: The Revenge by critics due to superior special effects, a less nonsensical story, and featuring a shark that's both scary and tragic, the movie proves a sleeper hit. Final Fantasy is released for the Famicom. Mega Man is released for the Famicom in Japan. 12 days later, it receives a North American release on the NES.
Man, that's a lot of information.
Now, any ideas on what happens in 1988?
