Ultimately, it was labeled an ambitious misfire. Nevertheless, it opened at no. However, by far the biggest criticisms were regarding its slow pace, uninteresting characters, and Waterworld’s (deliberate) derivative ties to Mad Max. There was some praise from critics for the action scenes and the verisimilitude of filming at sea. Once the film was released reviews were mixed. Why Waterworld Failed At The Box Office (Even Though It Shouldn’t Have) Before the film was even released the press dub the film “ Fishtar” and “ Kevin’s Gate,” referencing notable box office bombs Ishtar and Heaven’s Gate. Such a price tag for essentially “ Mad Max on water” (the total cost of George Miller’s Mad Max trilogy up to that time was less than $15 million combined), along with its tumultuous production caused a media stir. Adjusted for inflation, it would be almost $300 million today. $175 million was unheard of back in the mid-’90s for an original film with no franchise attachments. To put that into context, Independence Day was made the following year for the price of $75 million. Commensurately, the budget increased again to $135 million before finally settling on a record-breaking $175 million by the time the movie was finished. The costs of rebuilding sets and other production delays turned what should have been a scheduled 96-day shoot into a massive 157 days. Originally, Universal studios had allowed $65 million for the budget of the film, increasing to a then-mammoth $100 million as the vision for Waterworld and the obsession with realism increased. Related: Kevin Costner Roles: Where You Recognise The Yellowstone Star Notwithstanding this, Reynolds is still credited as the sole director for the finished film. Reynolds left the project, leaving Costner (an Oscar-winning director in his own right for Dances With Wolves) to finish the rest of the picture. They had endless heated battles during production over creative decisions.
Tensions ran high as Costner was going through a divorce at the time, and this, along with the pressure of the production, spilled over into his partnership with Reynolds. Jeanne Tripplehorn and child actresses Tina Majorino nearly drowned when they were thrown from The Mariner’s boat when the bowsprit snapped (having to be saved by a team of 12 divers), and even star Kevin Costner had to be recused when his boat drifted off to sea with him lashed to the mast. A stunt coordinator came up too quickly from a dive and nearly died from the bends. Numerous accidents and near misses also plagued the film. The resultant delays along with the difficulties of filming on the ocean led to production overrunning and the budget increasing.
Spielberg’s warning proved prophetic, however, as hurricanes destroyed the atoll set three weeks into filming. Spielberg had had a production nightmare filming Jaws 20 years earlier, so he passed that advice along. His advice wasn’t heeded, however, and the pair continued to follow their vision of a gritty and realistic film, feeling that an ocean shoot was essential in order to achieve it. What Went Wrong With Waterworld’s Productionīefore the film began Steven Spielberg had warned Reynolds and Coster not to film on open water. However, the production was not plain sailing and almost ended both their careers and their friendship. Their clout within Hollywood was at an all-time high, and Universal Studios were sold on their vision. Related: Which Mad Max Movie Has The Highest Body Countįlying high on their previous successes, the creative collaborators wanted the film to be as realistic as possible, with a scale of epic proportions. Costner plays The Mariner, a lone drifter who reluctantly helps a girl and her guardian who may hold the secret to the mythical “Dryland.” Set in an apocalyptic future where every continent on Earth is underwater due to the polar ice caps melting, the remnants of humanity now live in floating communities besieged by pirates. They found it in the form of Waterworld, an action-adventure story that was heavily influenced by the Mad Max movies. He had had a string of hits that had managed to please both critics and audiences alike, including JFK, The Bodyguard, and the Oscar-winning Dances With Wolves, which he also directed.Ĭostner and director Kevin Reynolds were frequent collaborators, and after Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves were looking for their next project. Waterworld was a box office failure upon its release back in 1995, but what went wrong with Kevin Costner’s costly aquatic flop and why? Costner was one of Hollywood’s A-List back in the early 1990s.
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