The story of one failure: the movie "The 13th Warrior" In 1997, director John McTiernan began filming the novel "Eaters of the Dead" by Michael Crichton, which combined the notes of the Arab traveler Ibn Fadlan with the epic Beowulf. The main role was played by Antonio Banderas. According to various estimates, the budget was about 160 million dollars. A Viking village was built in Canada, the caves were lined with tons of animal bones, and the players practiced fencing and horse riding. It all went wrong because of a focus group: the audience confused the characters and thought they were making a zombie movie. The script had to be rewritten and most of the film had to be reshot - the leader of the Israeli tribe was played by 3 different actresses. The title was changed to "The 13th Warrior", and in August 1999 the film was released, where it clashed with "The Sixth Sense". The 13th Fighter grossed around $62 million in its opening weekend. Not surprising, since no advertising campaign was planned. But the audience, who were still waiting for the premiere, missed it because they didn't know about the name change. Actor Omar Sharif called his participation in the project one of the biggest failures in his career. Banderas, on the contrary, called the film his most underrated work. Unexpectedly for everyone, in the 2000s, "The 13th Warrior" got a second life. The film entered the American DVD and video rental sales charts and won a mass audience.

The story of one failure: the movie "The 13th Warrior" In 1997, director John McTiernan began filming the novel "Eaters of the Dead" by Michael Crichton, which combined the notes of the Arab traveler Ibn Fadlan with the epic Beowulf. The main role was played by Antonio Banderas. According to various estimates, the budget was about 160 million dollars. A Viking village was built in Canada, the caves were lined with tons of animal bones, and the players practiced fencing and horse riding. It all went wrong because of a focus group: the audience confused the characters and thought they were making a zombie movie. The script had to be rewritten and most of the film had to be reshot - the leader of the Israeli tribe was played by 3 different actresses. The title was changed to "The 13th Warrior", and in August 1999 the film was released, where it clashed with "The Sixth Sense". The 13th Fighter grossed around $62 million in its opening weekend. Not surprising, since no advertising campaign was planned. But the audience, who were still waiting for the premiere, missed it because they didn't know about the name change. Actor Omar Sharif called his participation in the project one of the biggest failures in his career. Banderas, on the contrary, called the film his most underrated work. Unexpectedly for everyone, in the 2000s, "The 13th Warrior" got a second life. The film entered the American DVD and video rental sales charts and won a mass audience.