Waterworld
| Waterworld | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Kevin Reynolds Kevin Costner (uncredited) |
| Written by | Peter Rader David Twohy |
| Produced by | Kevin Costner, John Davis, Charles Gordon, Lawrence Gordon, Andrew Licht |
| Starring | Kevin Costner Dennis Hopper Jeanne Tripplehorn Tina Majorino Michael Jeter R.D. Call Gerard Murphy Jack Black |
| Edited by | Peter Boyle |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release dates | July 28, 1995 |
Running time | 136 Mins Theatrical 176 Mins Director's Cut |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $175 million |
Waterworld is a 1995 post-apocalyptic science fiction film. The film stars Kevin Costner who also produced it. Waterworld was released in the United States on July 28, 1995.
Box office
Problems encountered during filming led to massive budget overrun, and it held the dubious distinction of being the most expensive film ever made at the time. Some critics dubbed it "Fishtar" and "Kevin's Gate" (references to the notorious flops Ishtar and Heaven's Gate). However the movie actually made a little more than $100 million revenue with worldwide sales. With a budget of $175 million, the film grossed $88 million at the U.S. box office, which made it appear to be the all time box office bomb. But it topped its budget once overseas take was taken into account (grossing $176 million in foreign markets). Waterworld is renowned as one of the ten most expensive movies of all time[1].
Adjusted for inflation and expressed in 2006 dollars (USD), the budget for the movie was $231.6 million, and grossed $116.8 million at the U.S. box office and $232.9 million at the foreign box office.[2]
Plot
About five hundred years in the future, the polar ice caps have melted due to unexplained events, though human action is hinted when the Mariner exclaims "We did it". The Earth's surface is almost entirely water. The surviving humans have forgotten the past and believe in a modified creation myth in which God created the world as a ball covered with water, but that there is also dry land somewhere out there.
The survivors can be classified into four groups:
- Traders, who ply the water in boats, collecting things from the ocean floor to trade to each other;
- Atoll Dwellers, who live in large floating constructs called atolls;
- Smokers, so called because they smoke and trade cigarettes, and because of the smoke from oil-power machines, such as jetskis, using oil left in oil tankers;
- Slavers, who are mentioned, but never seen.
The antihero is a trader known only as the Mariner (Kevin Costner) who comes into an atoll to trade. He is a mutant, a new step in evolution to accommodate the changes in climate, with webbed feet and gills. The atollers, fearful of mutants, try to kill him. At that moment, however, the smokers arrive in a raid on the atoll. They are searching for a girl living there named Enola, who has what appears to be directions to dry land tattooed on her back. Her caretaker is Helen, the atoll's shopkeeper, and they plan to escape with Gregor, the atoll's resident astrologer, for dry land because, like the Mariner, they don't fit in.
But Gregor's escape balloon escapes too early with him on it, leaving Helen and Enola stranded. They escape with the Mariner, who seems ill-pleased with their company.
Chasing them is Deacon, who is the 'captain' of a derelict oil tanker, the Exxon Valdez. He also wants to get to dry land, and has a number of skirmishes with the Mariner in his attempts to get Enola back.
Helen wants to know where the dry land went. The Mariner, who can breathe underwater, puts her in a diving bell, and swims down to a sunken city on the ocean floor to show her. While they are distracted beneath the ocean's surface, Deacon and the smokers board the boat. Enola hides to avoid capture. When Helen and the Mariner resurface, Deacon orders them to tell him where Enola is. When they both refuse to talk, Deacon pretends to shoot them and Enola emerges from hiding and is captured. After he has Enola, Deacon has his machine gunner open fire (the Mariner and Helen dive underwater to escape) and burn the Mariner's boat. Since Helen cannot breathe water, the Mariner offers, "to breathe for the both of [them]" resulting in a prolonged underwater kiss of life.
They are later rescued from the wreckage of the Mariner's trimaran by survivors of the atoll attack, including Gregor in his balloon.
Using a jet-ski, the Mariner chases down the Exxon Valdez and boards it. Deacon is having a great celebration, during which he tosses gifts to the crew of the Valdez, proclaiming they have found the map to dry land. After they have all left, the Mariner walks out onto the deck and threatens to throw a road flare into the oil tanks unless Deacon releases Enola. He refuses, saying that the trader would be crazy to blow up the ship. He throws the road flare in.
The ship explodes, and the Mariner escapes with Enola rescued by Gregor by climbing a rope dropped from his balloon. The Deacon, still alive, grabs the rope and tries to pull Enola. The Deacon loses his grip and falls into the water. Still alive, he pulls out his pistol and shoots at the balloon, hitting one of the lines, causing Enola to fall back into the sea. The Deacon and two other Smokers, all on jet skis, converge on Enola. The Mariner ties a rope around his ankle and bungee jumps down to grab Enola, pulling her out of the water as the three jet skis collide and explode. Gregor figures out the map, and steers his balloon toward what does turn out to be dry land. Gregor, Enola, Helen and the others start civilization anew on the island, which a plaque reveals to be the peak of Mount Everest. Enola, saddened to hear the Mariner leaving, asks why he must go. He explains that he doesn't belong on dry land and that the ocean calls out to him. He finds a boat near the beach, and before sailing off, Enola and Helen look out to him drifting away, back to his old life.
Cast
- Kevin Costner – Mariner/Trader/Ulysses/Ichthyosapien
- Jeanne Tripplehorn – Helen
- Tina Majorino – Enola
- Dennis Hopper – Deacon
- Michael Jeter – Gregor
- Jack Black – pilot/smoker
Universal Studios Theme Parks
There is currently a show at Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios Japan based on the film. It takes place immediately after the movie, where Helen returns to the Atoll with proof of dry land, only to find her followed by the Deacon, who survived the events of the movie. The Mariner arrives immediately after him, however, and defeats the Deacon and takes Helen back to dry land while the Atoll explodes.
Video Game
A video game based on the movie was released on Super Nintendo, Virtual Boy and PC. While the Super Nintendo and Virtual Boy version were released by Ocean Software, the PC version was released by Interplay. The game received negative reviews as well as the Virtual Boy Game being marked as the worst Virtual Boy game ever released out of the 22 games in its short life.
See also
- Desert planet
- List of films recut by studio
- Resident Evil 4 - this game features a similar setting to Waterworld that is seen in the Mercenaries Bonus Game.
References
- ^ Waterworld (1995) - Box office / business
- ^ Forbes.com staff, / (2006). "Hollywood's Most Expensive Movies". Forbes.com. Retrieved 2007-08-12.
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External links
- Waterworld at IMDb