Coming May 12, 2006, to a theatre near you, a new updated retelling of "The Poseidon Adventure" called just, "Poseidon". The original classic 1972 movie starred Ernest Borgnine and Gene Hackman. The premise focuses on a cruise ship named Poseidon that is flipped upside down by a giant wave. A group of survivors head toward the bottom of the ship, which is really the top, in an effort to survive certain doom.

The movie was actually based on a book by by Paul Gallico. He had based the story on a childhood experience aboard the Queen Mary where a wave had almost capsized the ship. He would later do research with insurance companies concerning overturned ships to get information for his novel.

The original movie was followed by "Beyond the Poseidon Adventure" starring Michael Caine and Telly Savalas Where as the first one centered around escaping an overturned ship, this one focuses on men seeking treasure from the overturned ship. The original movie is currently on DVD format, but "Beyond the Poseidon Adventure" at the time of this writing has not yet been released.

The TV movie version, now on DVD, starring Steve Guttenberg and C. Thomas Howell, of "The Outsiders" fame, was actually pretty good, but I doubt it will compare to the latest movie version in terms of special effects and production value.

The new movie, starring Kurt Russell, Richard Dreyfuss, and Josh Lucas, doesn't appear to be using the same characters as the classic "Poseidon Adventure". I suppose this is a move to not just repeat the same exact story with higher production values. It promises to be a very exciting movie. If "Titanic" was any indication this one could really make big bucks at the box office. One thing is for sure, this movie release can't be good for the cruise industry.