Waterworld we live in: 30 years on from ‘Waterworld’, Kevin Costner’s watery ‘Mad Max’ is better than you remember

The harpoons were out for “Waterworld” long before it sailed into theaters in July 1995. Despite being headlined by Kevin Costner (still hot property off the back of “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves”, “The Bodyguard” and “Field of Dreams”), the dystopian sci-fi movie‘s rapidly bloating budget had a bloodthirsty movie press circling like hungry sharks.

The production had also experienced the sort of shooting challenges that only happen at sea, while that age-old problem of creative differences had led to the premature departure of director Kevin Reynolds (who, perhaps ominously, hadn’t always seen eye-to-eye with Costner when they’d joined forces on “Robin Hood”).

By the time “Waterworld” made landfall, it had already been dubbed both “Fishtar” and “Kevin’s Gate”, sly nods to infamous flops “Ishtar” and “Heaven’s Gate”. Yet the movie turned out to be 20,000 leagues from the disaster Hollywood was braced for. It may have only just scraped into the US box office top 10 for the year (a long way behind chart-toppers “Batman Forever” and “Apollo 13“), but would probably have been considered a hit had it not cost an unprecedented $175 million to make. A significantly better return overseas — where the negative publicity arguably had less of an impact — along with decent performance on VHS, went on to ensure that “Waterworld” eventually made a profit.

Now, as “Waterworld” celebrates its 30th anniversary, it’s a little easier to look past those dollar signs and the film’s undeserved reputation as a failure. Because while undoubtedly flawed, it’s an ambitious and spectacular relic from a time when practical filmmaking still ruled the waves.