''Poseidon'' () is a 2006 disaster film directed by Wolfgang Petersen, the third film adaptation of the novel ''The Poseidon Adventure'' written by Paul Gallico, and a loose remake of the 1972 film of the same name. It stars Kurt Russell, Josh Lucas and Richard Dreyfuss. It was directed by Wolfgang Petersen and produced and distributed by Warner Bros., in association with Virtual Studios. The film also had a simultaneous release in the IMAX format. It was released on May 12, 2006, and nominated at the 79th Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Visual Effects. ''Poseidon'' grossed $181,674,817 at the worldwide box office on a budget of $160,000,000. When released on DVD, it amassed $19,727,310 in DVD sales, making its total gross $201,402,127.
Plot
The MS ''Poseidon'', a luxury cruise ship, is on a year-end transatlantic crossing to New York (presumably from London, as one of the characters mentions it). Jennifer (
Emmy Rossum) is with her fiancé, Christian (
Mike Vogel), and they consider how to tell Jennifer’s father, former
New York City Mayor Robert Ramsey (
Kurt Russell), about their engagement. In the
galley, stowaway Elena (
Mía Maestro) searches for her friend, a waiter named Valentin (
Freddy Rodriguez). Architect Richard Nelson (
Richard Dreyfuss) is making a phone call to his estranged lover. In the grand ballroom, Captain Michael Bradford (
Andre Braugher) delivers a New Year’s speech before introducing the singer, Gloria (
Fergie). Dylan (
Josh Lucas), a professional gambler, and Robert play
Texas Hold’em with Lucky Larry (
Kevin Dillon). Jen, Christian and Elena are partying in the nightclub. Nelson is with his friends, talking about his heartbreak. As Dylan walks with his winnings, he bumps into Connor (
Jimmy Bennett). Maggie (
Jacinda Barrett), Connor’s mom, arrives and chats with Dylan.
On the bridge, officers see a 200-foot rogue wave coming towards them, while everyone celebrates the New Year countdown. On the promenade deck, Nelson, who is contemplating suicide, sees the wave and retreats inside. Though the crew on the bridge sounds warning alarms and turns hard to starboard to meet the wave head-on, the ''Poseidon'' turns too slowly and is hit broadside, rolling over and capsizing.
In the ballroom, Robert, Dylan, Nelson and Maggie wake up, realizing that the ship is now upside down. Robert sees Connor on the piano, which is now on the ceiling. Robert and some officers rescue Connor. In the nightclub, Jennifer looks for Christian, who has been pinned by a fallen light. They and another passenger, Elena, are the only ones to avoid being killed by the combined dangers of the sprinklers activating and numerous broken wires and lights electrifying the water.
Captain Bradford reassures the passengers by telling them that a set of GPS beacons were launched during the collision and that help is on its way, therefore they should stay put. Some passengers hesitate. Dylan disagrees and concludes that the bow thrusters of the ship are the key to survival. He is joined by Robert, Nelson, Connor, Maggie and Valentin. The group makes their way through the kitchens to a service elevator. Using a table to bridge the space across the shaft, the group pries open an opposing set of elevator doors. Everyone survives until the table drops as Nelson is being pulled up by Dylan. The service elevator, severely damaged by the collision, begins to plummet towards them, and Nelson is forced to shake the crewman off. Valentin falls down the elevator shaft and is killed immediately by the fall, and the elevator crashes down moments after Nelson is pulled through the doors. The group manages to force the elevator doors shut just before a gas explosion set off by the falling elevator reaches them.
Meanwhile, in the nightclub, Elena and Jen rescue Christian, with help from Lucky Larry. Robert and Jennifer reunite with the other survivors. The group reaches the lobby and uses a damaged elevator as a bridge. As Lucky Larry takes his turn to cross, an engine smashes its way through the lobby floor above and kills him. Large amounts of leaking fuel follow through the opening in the floor and is ignited. Dylan finds a fire hose and jumps into the flaming water, making a zip line that the others use to cross.
In the ballroom, the windows at last give way, the room floods and the passengers, Captain and crew inside are drowned. As the surviving group tries to escape from the rising water, they go into an air vent which leads to the ballast tanks. Elena struggles to continue moving through the air vent due to her claustrophobia. Robert tries to smash the cover of the vent, but fails, and calls Connor to assist him in the hopes that Connor's smaller fingers will be able to undo the vent screws. Elena successfully gets inside the vent and offers her necklace to be used as a screwdriver. The cover opens and the group climbs into the ship's ballast tank, where they locate a hatch. Robert and Dylan realize that only great pressure can open the hatch, and they flood the chamber. The hatch opens, and they swim through to the next chamber. Elena's dress becomes caught as she swims through, and she bangs her head on a sharp beam. Nelson turns back to rescue her, followed by Robert, Dylan and Christian, and takes an unconscious Elena back, but she dies from her head injury.
The group finds themselves in the galley and see the bow section is flooded, and the Poseidon is sinking bow first. While finding a new exit, an explosion in the engine room causes the bow to rise out of the water. Robert, Christian, Jennifer and Nelson go first, leaving Dylan, Maggie and Connor behind. Maggie and Dylan find Connor trapped. He is eventually saved by Dylan and the three reunite with the group. In the engine room, Nelson opens a cover and the bow thrusters, still trying to turn the ship to starboard, begin blasting air into the room. Knowing that the control room for the propellers is now below water, Robert swims to turn them off. He finds the off switch broken, but manages to hit the reverse button instead just before he drowns. The propellers briefly stop, then begin turning the other way, and Dylan finds a nitrogen tank and throws it into the propellers, the ensuing explosion destroying the motors for one of the three bow thrusters. After climbing through the propeller tube, they jump overboard and into an inflatable raft. A wave is thrown up as the ''Poseidon'' rights herself again, pushing the survivors away from the ship.
The ''Poseidon'' is far too badly damaged to remain afloat anymore, however, and, with her bow going nearly a 45 degree angle, she sinks by the stern in the foaming waters as the handful of survivors looks on. Finding a flare gun in the raft, Dylan fires it, and they wait for rescue. Some time later, a group of helicopters finds the raft and moves in to pick up the survivors. Just before the credits roll, at least three ships are shown to be racing towards where the ''Poseidon'' sank.
Sets
As with the film ''
The Poseidon Adventure'', which 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 Bros. 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 computer-generated imagery.
The primary visual effects were completed by Industrial Light & Magic and Moving Picture Company. ILM used the most advanced version of mental ray to photo-realistically light and render the shots, and were responsible for all the exterior shots of the ship. The most complicated work featured the opening shot of the ship, where the camera tours the exterior of the ship. The shot lasts for two and a half minutes, and features one of the most complex digital models ever created at ILM. For water simulations, proprietary software was used, known as PhysBAM, which was created in collaboration with Stanford University.
Digital interior sets and water effects were handled by MPC, while liquid and gaseous effects were simulated using Scanline VFX proprietary software Flowline, while other shots were handled by CIS Hollywood, with water effects simulated using RealFlow.
Cast
Josh Lucas as Dylan Johns - A professional gambler who is the leader of the party which attempts to flee the ship. He has a close relationship with Maggie.
Kurt Russell as Robert Ramsey - Jennifer's concerned father, a hero and someone who the others recognize from previous jobs which include Mayor of New York City and a fireman.
Jacinda Barrett as Maggie James - Connor’s mother. She has a very close relationship with Dylan.
Richard Dreyfuss as Richard Nelson - An architect who contemplated suicide before the wave hit after learning that his male partner had left him. He has a very close relationship with Elena, bordering on paternal.
Emmy Rossum as Jennifer Ramsey - Christian's fiancee and Robert's daughter. She is usually concerned about what her father thinks.
Mia Maestro as Elena Gonzalez - A Spanish woman who illegally comes on board the ship with waiter Valentin.
Mike Vogel as Christian Sanders- Jennifer’s fiancee.
Kevin Dillon as Lucky Larry - a drunken gambler.
Freddy Rodriguez as Marco Valentin - a waiter/servant who initially came on the ship with Elena.
Jimmy Bennett as Connor James, Maggie’s son. He looks up to Dylan.
Andre Braugher as Captain Michael Bradford
Stacy Ferguson as Gloria Vajayjay - the star act aboard the Poseidon.
Kirk B. R. Woller as Chief Officer Reynolds
Gabriel Jarret as First Officer Chapman
Soundtrack
The soundtrack was released on May 9, 2006, and includes music composed by
Klaus Badelt, as well as songs performed by
Fergie, who played Gloria in the film, and
Federico Aubele.
{{tracklist
| extra_column = Performed by
| title1 = Won't Let You Fall
| extra1 =
Fergie
| length1 = 4:39
| title2 = Bailamos
| extra2 = Fergie
| length2 = 3:10
| title3 = Postales
| extra3 =
Federico Aubele
| length3 = 4:09
| title4 = The Poseidon
| extra4 =
Klaus Badelt
| length4 = 3:19
| title5 = The Wave
| extra5 = Badelt
| length5 = 4:37
| title6 = A Map and a Plan
| extra6 = Badelt
| length6 = 2:30
| title7 = Fire Dive
| extra7 = Badelt
| length7 = 2:48
| title8 = Claustrophobia
| extra8 = Badelt
| length8 = 7:09
| title9 = Drowning
| extra9 = Badelt
| length9 = 3:05
| title10 = Don't Look Down
| extra10 = Badelt
| length10 = 3:44
| title11 = Escape
| extra11 = Badelt
| length11 = 2:42
}}
There is some confusion towards the track ''
Be Without You (Moto Blanco Vocal Mix)'' (8:44) by
Mary J. Blige. Whilst included in the film (played in the nightclub), it was not included on the soundtrack.
Reception
The film had a budget of $160,000,000, and received generally mixed reviews from critics, with a "Rotten" rating of 33% on
Rotten Tomatoes, and an average score of 4.9/10 and 50 out of 100 on
Metacritic, which indicates "mixed or average reviews". The film was nominated for the
Golden Raspberry Award for
Worst Remake or Ripoff. However, the film eventually gained a cult following and was commended for its realistic use of CGI in the capsizing scenes and was nominated for the
Academy Award for Visual Effects. However, it lost the award to ''
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest''.
The film grossed a disappointing $22,155,410 on its opening weekend for an average of $6,232 from 3,555 theaters, failing to knock ''Mission: Impossible III'' from the top of the box office. Warner Bros. President and Chief Operating Officer Alan F. Horn called the results, "very, very disappointing". ''Poseidon'' went on to generate $60,674,817 in the United States, and $121,000,000 in foreign markets, for a combined total gross of $181,674,817.
The film holds a Guinness World Record for having the most detailed CG model in a film. The exterior shots included 181,579 individual objects, including 382 cabins, 876 portholes, 73 towels, and 681 deck chairs, all of which were created by digital effects company Industrial Light & Magic.
DVD release
''Poseidon'' was released to
DVD on August 22, 2006, in both single-disc and double-disc editions. The single-disc edition contains a behind-the-scenes featurette and the theatrical trailer. The double-disc edition expands on these two features, and also includes 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 which explores rogue waves. DVD sales for ''Poseidon'' were 1,183,187 units, which translates to $19,665,430 in sales. ''Poseidon'' has made $19,727,310 in DVD sales, bringing its total gross to $201,402,127.
See also
''The Poseidon Adventure'' (the 1969 original novel)
''The Poseidon Adventure'' (1972 film based on the novel)
''Beyond the Poseidon Adventure'' (1979 sequel, based on a second book by Gallico)
''The Poseidon Adventure'' (2005 two part T.V. series based on the novel)
Poseidon (fictional ship)
RMS ''Queen Mary 2''
RMS Queen Mary
References
External links
Category:2006 films
Category:American action films
Category:English-language films
Category:2000s action films
Category:American disaster films
Category:Film remakes
Category:Films directed by Wolfgang Petersen
Category:Films set within one day
Category:Seafaring films
Category:Warner Bros. films
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