Sahara is a 2005 action/adventure film, directed by Breck Eisner, based on the best-selling book of the same name by Clive Cussler.
Though it opened at #1, grossing $18 million on its first weekend, Sahara is considered one of the biggest financial flops in Hollywood history.[1][2] From the financial perspective, Sahara was unusual because it performed reasonably well, generating $122 million in gross box-office sales.[1] However, the movie was beset by high costs, including a $160-million production and $81.1 million in distribution expenses.[1] The film lost approximately $105 million according to a financial executive assigned to the movie;[2] however Hollywood accounting methods assign losses at $78.3 million, taking into account projected revenue.[1] According to Hollywood accounting, the film drew in revenue of $202.9 million against expenses of $281.2 million.[1]
The Los Angeles Times presented an extensive special report on April 15, 2007 dissecting the budget of Sahara as an example of how Hollywood movies can cost so much to produce and fail; many of the often closely held documents had become public domain due to a lawsuit involving the film.[3]
Plot
Marine engineer, explorer and former US Navy Seal Dirk Pitt (Matthew McConaughey) travels to Mali, to search for what the locals call “The Ship of Death”, the lost Civil War ironclad warship CSS Texas that has a mysterious cargo. Pitt and his longtime friend Al Giordino (Steve Zahn) manage to thwart the assassination of Doctor Eva Rojas (Penélope Cruz), a doctor with the United Nations World Health Organization, who is investigating the source of a disease that is wreaking havoc in the area. The cause is a vast amount of industrial waste that is threatening to cause an environmental disaster. It is up to Pitt and his associates at the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA) to locate the source of the pollution and shut it down, and explore the connection between the deaths and the missing ironclad.
Tagline: Dirk Pitt. Adventure has a new name.
[edit] Promotion
To promote the film, actor Matthew McConaughey drove his own personal Airstream trailer (painted with a large Sahara movie poster on each side) across America, stopping at military bases and many events, such as the Daytona 500 (to Grand Marshal the race), premiering the movie to fans, signing autographs, and doing interviews at each stop. The trip’s highlights were shown on an E! channel special to coincide with the film’s release. McConaughey also kept a running blog of his trip on MTV’s entertainment website. Both MTV and the film’s distributor, Paramount Pictures, are owned by Viacom.
According to McConaughey, this film was intended to be the first in a franchise of films based on Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt novels (much like the James Bond film franchise), but the poor box office performance of the film has stalled any plans for a sequel or a franchise.
[edit] Legal problems
In February 2005, Cussler took legal action against Philip Anschutz, the producer, for failing to consult him on the script.[4]
Cussler is suing the film’s makers for breach of contract. Producer Anschutz is counter suing Cussler for “alleged blackmail and sabotage attempts against the film prior to its 2005 release.” Cussler claims that his initial brief of “absolute control” over the book’s adaptation to the big screen was compromised and this contributed to it becoming a box office failure. In a statement to a Los Angeles court, Cussler says, “They deceived me right from the beginning. They kept lying to me… and I just got fed up with it.” Anschutz’s lawyer believes Cussler’s behavior played a big role in the film’s financial woes. He says, “It is the height of arrogance for Cussler to take $10 million to make a movie and then torpedo the franchise.”
On May 15, 2007 the jury awarded Anschutz $5 million but they also said the judge should decide if Anschutz’s company, Bristol Bay Productions should have to pay $8.5 million to Cussler for rights to a second book. On January 8, 2008, Judge John Shook denied Cussler’s claim for the $8.5 million, making Cussler solely liable in the case to Bristol Bay Productions for $5 million.
Cast
- Matthew McConaughey — Dirk Pitt
- Steve Zahn — Al Giordino
- Penélope Cruz — Eva Rojas
- Lambert Wilson — Yves Massarde
- Dayna Cussler — Kitty Mannock (scenes deleted)
- Clint Dyer — Oshodi
- Lennie James — General Kazim
- Delroy Lindo — CIA agent Carl
- William H. Macy — Admiral James Sandecker
- Patrick Malahide — Ambassador Polidori
- Nathan Osgood — Gun Lt.
- Billy Seymour — Powder Monkey
- Glynn Turman — Dr. Frank Hopper
- Mark Wells — Sailor Who Drops Gold
- Rainn Wilson — Rudi Gunn
