The science fiction and fantasy comics magazine Heavy Metal was first published in April, 1977, as an offshoot of the French magazine Metal Hurlant. The American edition was produced by Leonard Mogul, the publisher of the popular and irreverent satire magazine National Lampoon. In 1978, Canadian film producer Ivan Reitman hired John Landis to direct the first movie to be made under the banner of the satire magazine, National Lampoon's Animal House (1978). That film took all concerned by surprise by becoming a box office smash and the 11th highest-grossing movie in history up to that point....
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