Everyone remembers that Titanic is one of the greatest successes in the history of cinema, and this is quite normal, since it remains one of the most lucrative films of all time. At the time, the feature film directed by James Cameron managed to stay at the top of the North American box office for 15 consecutive weeks, a milestone only surpassed by ET the extra-terrestrial by Steven Spielberg. Many films have tried to dethrone Titanicbut the one that succeeded was a science fiction film that almost no one remembers today, for obvious reasons.
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The weekend of April 3 to 5, 1998, Titanic had to settle for second place at the box office, and the truth is that it almost fell to third place, because Code Mercury, the action thriller led by Bruce Willis, grossed $10.1 million , compared to $11.5 million for the epic romance starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. This is the movie Lost in spacea film adaptation of the legendary 1960s television series, which placed very highly in first place.
From glory to misery in the fast lane
This isn’t really a surprise, as Lost in Space had a generous budget of $80 million and a cast with several familiar faces like William Hurt, Matt LeBlanc, who was at the peak of his career thanks to has FriendsGary Oldman, Heather Graham and Mimi Rogers. In the director’s chair: Stephen Hopkins.
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In fact, the goal was to relaunch the franchise with other projects, but the truth is that this first place was only a fleeting joy. The critics massacred it, but more importantly, the public was unhappy with the result, leading to a rapid decline in revenue. In the end, Lost in space had to settle for a worldwide revenue of 136 million euros, which completely canceled all plans to develop the franchise.
In 2004, a further attempt at a Lost in Space television series took place, with John Woo directing the pilot episode, but the result was unsatisfactory for The WB and the project was not made. It was only in 2018 that the saga was revived with a Netflix series which lasted three seasons, before ending on December 1, 2021.
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Oddly enough, the legendary original series recounting the adventures of the Robinson family in search of a habitable planet in the Alpha Centauri system also lasted 3 seasons. The original Lost in Space series first aired in 1965 and was created by Irwin Allen.
Article written in collaboration with our colleagues from Espinof.
