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BEYOND THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (BEHIND THE SCENES) |
Updated: December 20, 2021
The Poseidon Adventure is a 1972 American action-adventure disaster film, directed by Ronald Neame,
produced by Irwin Allen, and based on the novel of the same name by Paul Gallico. It won a Special
Achievement Academy Award for Visual Effects and an Academy Award for Best Original Song (for "The
Morning After"). Shelley Winters won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and was
nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role. It also received a Golden
Globe nomination for Best Dramatic Motion Picture.
The plot centers on the SS Poseidon, an aged luxury liner from the golden age of travel, on her final
voyage from New York City to Athens before being sent to the scrapyard. On New Year's Eve, she is
overturned by a tsunami caused by an underwater earthquake. Passengers and crew are trapped inside and
a rebellious preacher attempts to lead a small group of survivors to safety.
Parts of the movie were filmed aboard the RMS Queen Mary.
Boxoffice Magazine reported "The Poseidon Adventure" as the #1 Box Office Champ of 1973. By the end of 1974,
it ranked among the six most successful features in film history, along with Gone with the Wind, The Godfather,
Love Story, Airport, and The Sound of Music. It is in the vein of other all-star disaster films of the 1970s
such as Airport and later ones like The Towering Inferno, and Earthquake. It was remade twice, first as a
television special in 2005 with the same name, and a theatrical release with the name Poseidon in 2006.
A sequel, Beyond the Poseidon Adventure, had an equally star-studded cast, but was a box-office and critical
failure.
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