Merrick here...

I thought you might be interested an upcoming TV movie with an agreeably kitschy title: LOST CITY RAIDERS.

SIDE NOTE: The image above was assembled to help presell the movie . If you've ever seen one of the big market round-up issues of Variety or HR, you've undoubtedly seen art like this countless times. I.e. it's not actual/final "promotional" artwork.

Sure…LCR isn't as big as IRON MAN or INDY, but we frequently cover this kind of stuff…and it’s our mission to call your attention to things that sounds “cool”. In premise at least, this sounds like it could be Geeky fun. A Geeky-fun premise + an interesting & accomplished director? Might work…

LOST CITY is directed by Jean de Segonzac, who co-wrote the telefilm’s script with Torsten Dewi. de Segonzac’s impressive credits include (but are not limited to) BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, CSI, OZ, three LAW & ORDER series, and HOMICIDE. Not too shabby.

Set in the near future, LCR is a six million dollar production in which "The Rising" has flooded most of Earth’s habitable areas. People are living on what's left of the planet’s continents. Multiple salvage operations attempt to retrieve “treasure” from sunken cities like Los Angeles, Rome, Paris, and Rio (where the Jesus statue is still sticking out of the water). Visual effects...characterized “massive”...will be deployed to realize this re-written environment, although I haven’t been able to snag any FX shots yet.

Word is there’s an artifact somewhere that could reverse the rising and restore Earth’s land masses. Towards this end, a salvage team is recruited by the Vatican (now located in New Rome) to find said object. However, a billionaire real estate mogul has a different agenda.

So…

We have shades of WATERWORLD (at least LCR will be shorter and, presumably, less plodding), and a touch of a comic called AFTERBURN (about folks who plunder the treasures & resources of an Earth that’s been partially toasted by a mammoth solar flare . More on AFTERBURN HERE).

LCR stars James Brolin, Ian Somerhalder (Boone Carlyle in LOST), and Ben Cross (the CHARIOTS OF FIRE guy) and is being positioned as an “event movie” for the Sci Fi Channel that’ll air later this year. It will also be seen extensively overseas, as this was co-produced by several European TV networks.

I haven’t seen any footage at all from LCR, but from what I hear they’re having a good time with the overall concept & premise (which is cool by me…projects like this often seem to take themselves too seriously).

One example: at one point, our heroes retrieve treasure from a sunken Hollywood. It’s an Oscar…the gang thinks it’s important…then we learn it’s Shatner’s Oscar. I like this…I’ve been saying all along that someday he would get the appreciation he deserves. Too bad most of the world might have to be destroyed before it happens...