It might be tempting these many, many years later to call this 1969 space adventure film "Doomed." It seems almost absurd that Columbia Pictures would proceed with this film when the U. S. was about to send a space mission to land on the moon. And, indeed, Apollo 11 landed on the moon on July 20, 1969. That was four months before the premiere of "Marooned" on Nov. 19.
More than half a billion people around the world watched live television that showed American Astronaut Neil Armstrong walk on the moon. So, after watching the first human being walking in outer space, who wanted to go see a sci-fi movie about three astronauts in a malfunctioning spacecraft? Well, not very many, at least compared to that TV audience of the real thing. Fewer than 10 million would buy tickets to see this sci-fi film. Even though it finished 25th for the year in box office sales of $12.4 million, it lost a bundle due to a budget of about $9 million.
It wasn't a great year for movies overall. There weren't many blockbuster films that year. Just a few made great profits, and those were the top films that had small budgets. The number one movie of the year was "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," which had a box office take of $100 million and a budget of just $6 million. But the drop off after that was huge. Number two at the box office in 1969 was "Midnight Cowboy," with sales of $58.6 million against a budget of $3.2 million. Other films, with larger budgets didn't fare as well. "Hello Dolly" was fifth for year in box office sales at $43.7 million, but with a budget of $25 million, it just broke even.
What is ironic about the making and release of "Marooned" was its timing. It was a sci-fi film made behind it's time, one might say. It was sci-fi in which the science had caught up with the fiction in the real world. It wasn't that people wouldn't be interested in a movie about astronauts having spacecraft problems. But not within so short a memory of having seen an actual great achievement in space. Indeed the 1995 movie, "Apollo 13" was a huge success. It was about the rescue of three astronauts in 1970 from the mission of that title. And that hair-raising event took place just five months after the release of "Marooned" in the fall of 1969.
Of course, no one could foresee the events of the Apollo 13 mission. But, had the studio decided to wait at least a year to make and/or release this movie - after the known mission of Apollo 11 to land on the moon, Columbia probably would have had a blockbuster. It would have come out within a few months of the real rescue of Apollo 13. It's not hard to imagine the interest there would be then in seeing a space rescue film. And that would have been a full 25 years ahead of the film that did celebrate the rescue of the Apollo 13 crew - in 1995.
Well, this movie was based on a 1964 novel of the same title by Martin Caidin. He served as an adviser on the film. The setting and sets are very realistic. The story is intriguing, and the film has a cast of several prominent actors of the day. Gregory Peck, Gene Hackman, Richard Crenna, David Janssen, James Franciscus, Lee Grant head a cast in which all give stellar performances. It's a good film to see yet today, although modern audiences may find sitting still hard to endure for the slow deliberations that don't show much action. I enjoyed watching it again recently after seeing it so long ago.
More than half a billion people around the world watched live television that showed American Astronaut Neil Armstrong walk on the moon. So, after watching the first human being walking in outer space, who wanted to go see a sci-fi movie about three astronauts in a malfunctioning spacecraft? Well, not very many, at least compared to that TV audience of the real thing. Fewer than 10 million would buy tickets to see this sci-fi film. Even though it finished 25th for the year in box office sales of $12.4 million, it lost a bundle due to a budget of about $9 million.
It wasn't a great year for movies overall. There weren't many blockbuster films that year. Just a few made great profits, and those were the top films that had small budgets. The number one movie of the year was "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," which had a box office take of $100 million and a budget of just $6 million. But the drop off after that was huge. Number two at the box office in 1969 was "Midnight Cowboy," with sales of $58.6 million against a budget of $3.2 million. Other films, with larger budgets didn't fare as well. "Hello Dolly" was fifth for year in box office sales at $43.7 million, but with a budget of $25 million, it just broke even.
What is ironic about the making and release of "Marooned" was its timing. It was a sci-fi film made behind it's time, one might say. It was sci-fi in which the science had caught up with the fiction in the real world. It wasn't that people wouldn't be interested in a movie about astronauts having spacecraft problems. But not within so short a memory of having seen an actual great achievement in space. Indeed the 1995 movie, "Apollo 13" was a huge success. It was about the rescue of three astronauts in 1970 from the mission of that title. And that hair-raising event took place just five months after the release of "Marooned" in the fall of 1969.
Of course, no one could foresee the events of the Apollo 13 mission. But, had the studio decided to wait at least a year to make and/or release this movie - after the known mission of Apollo 11 to land on the moon, Columbia probably would have had a blockbuster. It would have come out within a few months of the real rescue of Apollo 13. It's not hard to imagine the interest there would be then in seeing a space rescue film. And that would have been a full 25 years ahead of the film that did celebrate the rescue of the Apollo 13 crew - in 1995.
Well, this movie was based on a 1964 novel of the same title by Martin Caidin. He served as an adviser on the film. The setting and sets are very realistic. The story is intriguing, and the film has a cast of several prominent actors of the day. Gregory Peck, Gene Hackman, Richard Crenna, David Janssen, James Franciscus, Lee Grant head a cast in which all give stellar performances. It's a good film to see yet today, although modern audiences may find sitting still hard to endure for the slow deliberations that don't show much action. I enjoyed watching it again recently after seeing it so long ago.
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