Christopher Columbus: The Discovery

1992 film by John Glen

Christopher Columbus: The Discovery is a 1992 historical adventure film directed by John Glen. It was the last project developed by the father and son production team of Alexander and Ilya Salkind. The film follows events after the fall of the Emirate of Granada (an Arab principality which was located in the south of Spain), and leads up to the voyage of Columbus to the New World in 1492. Its behind the scenes history involved an elaborate series of financial mishaps, which later brought about an emotional falling out between Alexander and Ilya; as a frustrated Alexander would later lament in a November 1993 interview with the Los Angeles Times, "I know, after this, that I'll never make movies again." The film was released for the 500th anniversary of Columbus' voyage. The premiere took place at almost exactly the same time as 1492: Conquest of Paradise, which has often led to confusion between the two films.

The titular Genoese navigator overcomes intrigue in the court of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain and gains financing for his expedition to the West Indies, which eventually leads to the European discovery of the Americas.

The initial director George P. Cosmatos left the production due to “creative differences,” with Cosmatos later suing the producers for millions with the matter settled out of court. Cosmatos was then replaced by John Glen shortly before shooting began. and grossing $8.3 million in the United States and Canada. It grossed $500,000 in the United Kingdom. The film received mostly negative reviews, with a rotten 7% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 29 reviews, with the website's critical consensus reading "Ironically, for a biopic about a voyage many associate with people accepting that the world is round, Christopher Columbus: The Discovery falls completely flat." Brando's performance in particular was singled out as his "worst". Roger Ebert agreed with this sentiment while giving the movie one out of four stars, stating "This movie takes one of history's great stories and treats it in such a lackluster manner that Columbus's voyage seems as endless to us as it did to his crew." It is also on his “Most Hated” list. Film historian Leonard Maltin declared the picture a "BOMB" (he gave 1492: Conquest of Paradise an only slightly better rating, and conveyed his sentiments with this variation on the popular rhyme: "In nineteen hundred and ninety two, Columbus sailed two screen boo boos.") adding that the movie was hardly ripe for re discovery, and lamenting "Is this any way to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Europe's finding America?" Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "C" on scale of A+ to F.

Director Ridley Scott had considered making a Christopher Columbus movie for the Salkinds but instead opted to direct a rival project from producer Alain Goldman and written by Roselyne Bosch: 1492: Conquest of Paradise. The Salkinds filed a lawsuit against Scott, alleging that the director stole ideas from their project. At the 1992 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, it received a nomination for Worst Picture.

The film was released on VHS and LaserDisc formats from Warner Home Video in 1993. It has not been released on DVD in North America, but is available in other format regions on DVD.