Poseidon (film)

Infobox Film
name = Poseidon


director = Wolfgang Petersen
writer = Paul Gallico (novel)
Paul Attanasio (screenplay)
Mark Protosevich (screenplay)
starring = Kurt Russell
Freddy Rodriguez
Josh Lucas
Jacinda Barrett
Richard Dreyfuss
Jimmy Bennett
Emmy Rossum
Mike Vogel
Mía Maestro
Stacy Ferguson
Andre Braugher
Kevin Dillon
music = Klaus Badelt
cinematography = John Seale
editing = Peter Honess
distributor = Warner Bros.
runtime = 98 min.
released = May 12, 2006
country = USA
language = English
budget = $150 Million
website = http://www.poseidonmovie.com/
amg_id = 1:327277
imdb_id = 0409182

"Poseidon" is both an Academy and a Razzie Award nominated 2006 action adventure disaster film and the third film adaptation of "The Poseidon Adventure" by Paul Gallico. It stars Kurt Russell, Josh Lucas, Emmy Rossum and Richard Dreyfuss. It is directed by Wolfgang Petersen and was produced and distributed by Warner Bros., in association with Virtual Studios. The film also had a simultaneous release in the IMAX format. The film's executive producers were Kevin Burns and Jon Jashni, Sheila Allen and Benjamin Waisbren. It was nominated for an Academy Award in the visual effects category, and was released on May 12, 2006. There was also an IMAX version of the film released.

Plot

The "Poseidon", a luxury ocean liner, named for the Greek god of the sea, is making a transatlantic crossing.

The opening focuses on an introduction of the main characters. 19-year-old [ [http://www.reviewexpress.com/review.php?rv=280 Diana Saenger's Review Express ] ] [ [http://www.the-trades.com/article.php?id=4322 The Trades - Movie Review: Poseidon ] ] [ [http://madeinatlantis.com/movies_central/2006/poseidon_production_details.htm Poseidon (2006) - Starring Josh Lucas, Kurt Russell, Emmy Rossum, Jacinda Barrett, Mike Vogel, Jimmy Bennett, Mia Maestro, Andre Braugher, Richard Dreyfuss ] ] [ [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002463842 Poseidon ] ] heroine [ [http://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=11249 INT: Emmy Rossum ] ] Jennifer "Jen" Ramsey (Emmy Rossum) and her boyfriend Christian (Mike Vogel) are a young couple hoping to be engaged, but her father, former New York City Mayor Robert (Kurt Russell), has doubts about their relationship. Elena (Mía Maestro), a traveling stowaway, is going to see her ill brother in New York. She has been discovered in the ship's dining room by Valentin (Freddy Rodriguez), a waiter on the ship's staff. Dylan (Josh Lucas) is a smooth talking professional gambler who develops feelings for a woman, Maggie (Jacinda Barrett) who has a son to whom he grows close to throughout the movie, and Richard Nelson (Richard Dreyfuss) is a distraught architect.

Most of the passengers are at a New Year's Party in the ship's ballroom, unaware of the danger about to befall them. However, a depressed Richard Nelson, sulking on the deck, sees a rogue wave heading for the ship. The wave crashes into the ship, causing it to capsize and killing most of its passengers. A few passengers survive however. As the ship turns around 180 degrees from the impact, the windows in the hallway explode from the intense force of the wave, causing water to flood into the ship and cause it to begin to sink.

Calm is restored in the ballroom after the captain assures the passengers that rescue boats are on their way and will be there in a couple of hours. A group of the surviving passengers attempt to head toward the bow of the ship, where they believe they will have the best chance of escaping the capsized liner. They attempt to make their way through many hazards, such as fire and water, ultimately arriving at the bow and escaping through the propeller tube. They are rescued after the ship sinks.

Sets

Like the film "The Poseidon Adventure", "Poseidon" based many of its sets on rooms aboard the RMS "Queen Mary". The film's set designers drew inspiration for some of the spaces aboard the fictional "Poseidon" from rooms aboard the RMS "Queen Mary 2", most notably in the "Poseidon"'s ballroom, which is modeled on the main dining room of the "Queen Mary 2".

On the sound stage at Warner Brothers studios in Burbank, California, separate sets for each main room were built - one "right-side-up" and the other "upside-down." The "upside-down" ballroom set was built on top of a large water tank in the sound stage so that it could be filled with water and drained in a matter of hours. The interior (and exterior) shots of the ship rolling were constructed using CGI. The VFX were completed by ILM and used the most advanced version of Mental Ray technology.

Cast

Soundtrack

Released on May 9, 2006, the soundtrack includes music composed by Klaus Badelt and songs performed by Fergie (who played Gloria) and Federico Aubele.

# Won't Let You Fall - Fergie
# Bailamos - Fergie
# Postales - Federico Aubele
# Be With You (Club Mix) - Mary J. Blige (Bonus Track)
# The Poseidon
# The Wave
# A Map & A Plan
# Fire Dive
# Claustrophobia
# Drowning
# Don't Look Down
# Escape

Reaction

With a reported $150 million budget, "Poseidon" was universally denounced by critics, with a "Rotten" rating of 33% on Rotten Tomatoes with an average score of 4.7/10 and a 50 out of 100 on Metacritic, which indicates "mixed or average reviews." It was also nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Remake or Ripoff. It grossed a disappointing $22,155,410 on its opening weekend for an average of $6,232 from an ultrawide 3,555 locations, failing to knock "" from the top of the box office (by sales). [ [http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1775152,00.html "Poseidon sinks at US box office"] , Guardian Unlimited, May 15 2006, accessed September 16 2007] Warner Brothers President & Chief Operating Officer Alan F. Horn called the results, "very, very disappointing."

The movie was commended for its realistic use of CGI effects in the capsizing scenes. [ [http://www.variety.com/VR1117943708.html Variety] , broken link as of September 16 2007.]

"Poseidon" generated $60,674,817 and $121,000,000 overseas, for a $181,674,817 worldwide total [ [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=poseidon.htm "Poseidon"] Profile on Box Office Mojo, accessed September 16 2007] . On January 23, 2007, it was nominated for the Academy Award for Visual Effects. [ [http://imdb.com/features/rto/2007/oscars IMDb 2006 Oscar page] ; Retrieved on 2007-01-23] It lost to "".

The film holds a Guinness World Record for most detailed CGI model in a film. The exterior shots included 181,579 individual objects, including 382 cabins, 876 portholes, 73 towels, and 681 deck chairs, all created by digital-effects company ILM.Fact|date=July 2008

DVD release

"Poseidon" was released to DVD August 22, 2006, in both single-disc and double-disc editions. The single-disc edition has a behind-the-scenes feature and theatrical trailer. The double-disc edition adds the documentaries "Poseidon: Upside Down: A Unique Set Design Chronicle"; "A Shipmate's Diary", which covers a film school intern's experience on the set; and a History Channel documentary that explores rogue waves. [ [http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releases/poseidon.html "Poseidon"] on DVD Active, accessed September 16 2007] DVD sales for Poseidon were 1,183,187 units, for $19,614,680 in sales. [ [http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2006/POSDN-DVD.php "Poseidon DVD"] reported at The Numbers, accessed September 10 2008]

See also

* "The Poseidon Adventure" (2005)
* "Beyond the Poseidon Adventure" (1979)
* "The Poseidon Adventure" (1972)
* "The Poseidon Adventure" (book)
* SS "Poseidon"
* RMS "Queen Mary 2"

References

External links

* [http://poseidonmovie.warnerbros.com/"Poseidon" official site]
*imdb title|id=0409182|title=Poseidon
*amg title|id=1:327277|title=Poseidon
* [http://wwws.warnerbros.co.uk/poseidon/?lid=UK/Poseidon UK Site]
* [http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/poseidon "Poseidon" Teaser Trailer]
* [http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/poseidon/showestreel/ "Poseidon" ShoWest Reel]
* [http://www.freezedriedmovies.com/features.php?id=46 The "Poseidon" Journals] for behind the scenes reports from nine different major online outlets.
*rotten-tomatoes|id=poseidon|title=Poseidon
*metacritic film|id=poseidon|title=Poseidon
* [http://www.am-ende-des-tages.de/g/060711-poseidon-premiere/ "Poseidon Premiere in Berlin"] AEDT.de
* [http://www.the-trades.com/article.php?id=4322 Review: "Poseidon"] at The-Trades.com
*mojo title|id=poseidon|title=Poseidon
* [http://www.cinemagraphe.com/poseidon.php Poseidon Review] Images, Data and opinion about the 2006 remake by Wolfgang Petersen