SyFy Is Considering Making A Waterworld Sequel Or TV series

By Rudie Obias | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

Since 2004, when NBC merged with Universal Entertainment, SyFy has been looking to get into the movie business. They formed SyFy Films to get into the market and had their pick of Universal Pictures’ intellectual properties for inspiration. Now they’ve picked something that speaks to their brand. SyFy is considering producing a sequel, remake, or TV series based on one of the biggest box office bombs in cinematic history: Waterworld.

Why Waterworld, you ask? It’s one of SyFy’s highest rated movies whenever they air it. The movie attracts viewership upwards of 400,000. Whether it’s due to enjoyment through irony or just sheer enjoyment, Waterworld has a giant fan base. At the very least, SyFy is “actively developing scripts” for the property.

In 1995, Waterworld’s budget was a reported $235 million, which was, at the time, the highest movie budget of all time, and it only grossed $88 million domestically. The production was considered a fiasco thanks to malfunctioning floating sets, Kevin Costner’s soaring ego, and script problems from day one. Its reputation was sealed as one of the biggest box office bombs in history when critics and general audiences panned it upon its release.

Could Waterworld make a comeback? It’s been almost 20 years since its release, and clearly there seems to be an audience for the waterlogged film. Needless to say, if something is in development, it would have to be cheaper and more cost effective than its 1995 predecessor, otherwise NBC Universal would have another fiasco on their hands. It sounds like something’s in the water over at SyFy.