Warner Bros.' summer blockbuster Poseidon opened last weekend to a less than spectacular reception. The ticket sales of the $160 million film indicated that the venture was a sinking ship, a capsized boat and a Titanic disappointment (all puns intended).Based on Warner Bros. estimates, Poseidon spent the weekend at position number two in box office sales with $20.3 million dollars versus the number one -- Mission: Impossible III, which brought in $24.5 million. The remake of the 1972 film, The Poseidon Adventure, which is based on a Paul Gallico novel, Poseidon, was directed by a veteran of boat movies, Wolfgang Petersen -- the guy who directed the movie Das Boot and The Perfect Storm.
I'm sure that, as we speak, the brains over at Warner Bros. are scratching their heads over this one. Completely baffled by the unimpressive ticket sales, they are probably desperate for an explanation.
Well, call me crazy, but I have to think that the MI 3 success probably had a lot to do with Tom Cruise's recent feats of crazy. Had Kurt Russell put in a comparable amount of tabloid time, Brooke Shields insults, and Oprah couch-jumping, Poseidon might have enjoyed a better opening weekend.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-15-2006 @ 5:39PM
Alex Barges said...
A ready explanation for the slow sales of Poseiden
is the fact that a remake was also shown on TV about 3 months ago. I am a big fan of the original Poseiden Adventure and found the TV remake to be fairly decent. I expect to see this remake in the theater pretty soon. I have no interest in seeing Tom Cruise's Mission Impossible.
5-15-2006 @ 6:28PM
EJ Passeos said...
Take that Hedge Funds.
I don't want to regulate them, but when they think movies are a good investment, well you get the point.
This movie was SAVAGED and yet had big stars.
The MI3 debacle will be a lesson learned. The skyrocketing budgets don't guarantee results with a flaky star (he sounded normal on PrimeTime). I just think the public has lost respect for Mr. Cruise.
As for Poseiden, we didn't get the usual blather about making it up overseas. Perhaps this will be a lesson for Hedgies and Hollywood myopics that still think all it takes are special effects (Stealth??).
Nice blast, especially a little off the table/board. I like!
Thanks.
EJ Passeos
5-15-2006 @ 7:25PM
Tim said...
The New Poseidon is a good movie. The original was much better. They did not spend enough time interducing the character's. It goes right into the special effects, which are good but they should have invested more of the begining with the back ground of the people. As for MI it is not a success by any means! For what was spent on that movie and Tom Cruise acting like a fool it has hurt more than helped. I would not see anything with Tom Cruise in it. He has turned into an alien worshiping freak! I bet Katie Holmes' parents are just thrilled there sweet daughter is going to have to spend the rest of her life in a circus ring with the Freak Show called Tom Cruise!
5-15-2006 @ 8:32PM
keith said...
Poseidon has impressive effects, too bad equal effort was not put into character development. I also think that critical elements of Paul Gallico's story were removed to make it "Politicaly Correct." (Ditch the Christmas tree, add a gay guy...)Still a good movie although I found myself wishing Poseidon had taken the cast to the bottom.
5-15-2006 @ 8:40PM
Anne Metz said...
Fair enough. But the title _Davy Jones's Locker_ was already taken.