Irwin Allen would be happy, were he not - in fact - 14 years deceased, to know that his disaster picture legacy lives on in the appropriately goofy likes of Volcano and The Day After Tomorrow, to say nothing of the endless stream of weather and natural disaster TV movies airing on Sunday nights across our great nation.
But how would he feel about Poseidon, the upcoming remake of 1972's The Poseidon Adventure, which was his inaugural picture in what would become a storied series of 1970s disaster pics? The first trailer has been released, and can be viewed here.
Yeah. Uh, I realize the original was no great shakes in the star power department, but it did have Gene Hackman before he freaked out and made Superman IV: The Quest for Peace and Ernest Borgnine before...well, never mind. I'm pretty sure he could still kick my ass, "Fatso" Judson style. This new one might as well be subtitled Love Boat '06: Josh "Stealth" Lucas? Kurt "Needs Money for Goldie's Next Facelift" Russell? Richard Dreyfuss? Freaking Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas? Can Barbi Benton, Charo, and Avery Schreiber be far behind?
What's even funnier is how the trailer touts this as "from the director of Troy and The Perfect Storm." The Perfect Storm? No shit? And here I thought it was the latest Sense & Sensibility remake that featured that shot of the ship getting slammed by a tidal wave. Kudos, Wolfgang Petersen, for not allowing yourself to get pigeonholed.
Even with a budget of almost $140 million, I was a little surprised Warner Bros. wasn't trying to make this more competitive in the Memorial Day market (the release date right now is May 12). Then I saw that it'd be competing with X3 and The Da Vinci Code. Don't be surprised if it gets bumped to an even later release date.
Or Escape from New York.
I honestly wasn't mocking The Borgnine, and I know somebody isn't talking shit about Escape from New York on my blog.
We need more character actors like The Borgnine. Actually, we need more actors like The Borgnine, period. We've got Pretty Boys aplenty...enough to sink the Poseidon.
It won't be pushed to a later release date because Warner Bros. already laid out the contract to have it on IMAX screens on that date.
"and Ernest Borgnine before...well, never mind."
I believe what you were looking for was Airwolf.