A man, having fallen in love with the wrong woman, is sent by the sultan himself on a diplomatic mission to a distant land as an ambassador. Stopping at a Viking village port to restock on supplies, he finds himself unwittingly embroiled in a quest to banish a mysterious threat in a distant Viking land.
The cave scenes were almost filmed on location, near the camp set in Elk Bay, but production forced them to film the scenes in a studio in Vancouver, in a large stage called the "A-Frame", measuring 10,000 m² (107,639.11 ft²). It was 200 meters long, 50 meters wide, and 20 meters tall.
Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan:
I am Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan, Ib Al Abbas, Ibn Rasid, Ibn Hammad. And things were not always thus. At one time, I was a poet in the greatest city in the world. Life was easy and I lived without care. Until one fateful day, I met a beautiful woman who ...
During the first battle in the castle against the Wendol, before the Wendol break down the doors, there are many fires and torches lit and ablaze, even in the center of the room which they are all "sleeping" in a circle around. As soon as the Wendol break down the doors, all of a sudden every fire and torch is extinguished and they are all fighting by moonlight. All of the fires and torches would not be put out in a split second.
The original version, known as Eaters of the Dead and Directed by John McTiernan was originally 127 minutes and slated to be released in May of 1998. But when the film failed test screenings Michael Crichton took over the project and reshot and added new material to the film. He was also involved with the reediting of the film as well and rejected composer Graeme Revell's hour long score. This version of the film has not been seen publicly.
English, Latin, Swedish, Norse, Old, Danish, Arabic
$160,000,000 (estimated)
$10,267,756 29 August 1999
$32,698,899
$61,698,899