1970s in film was far less successful. "The Towering Inferno" teamed Steve McQueen and Paul Newman against a fire in a San Francisco skyscraper. The film cost a whopping $14 million to produce (expensive for its time), and won Academy Awards for Cinematography, Film Editing, and Best Original Song. The same year, the epic "Earthquake" featured questionable effects (camera shake and models) to achieve a destructive 9.9 earthquake in Los Angeles. Despite this, the film was one of the most successful of its time, earning $80 million at box office. By the late 1970s, the novelty had worn off and the disasters had
The Poseidon Adventure (1972 film) crew are trapped inside, and a rebellious preacher attempts to lead a small group of survivors to safety. It is in the vein of other all-star disaster films of the early-mid 1970s such as "Airport" (1970), "Earthquake" (1974), and "The Towering Inferno" (1974). By the end of 1974, it was regarded as a widely successful film. The film won two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award, and a Motion Picture Sound Editors Award. A 1979 sequel, "Beyond the Poseidon Adventure", was also based on a novel by Gallico but was a commercial and critical failure.