Poseidon: $175 million budget?

Earlier reports placed the budget of Poseidon at about $140 million. But according to the new Entertainment Weekly, the actual cost is somewhere around $175.

Other facts and figures about the movie, according to EW:
The Poseidon Adventure cost about $5 million to make.
Poseidon's CGI ship surpassed the actual RMS Titantic by 218 feet

So will the studio recoup its investment? Probably, after all is said and done, when you consider the overseas take, and rental from DVD and video on demand.

By the way, reviewers aren't taking too kindly to Poseidon. It notched a 49 score on Metacritic, and a 32% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Jan Stuart, in Newsday, says: "Poseidon is a great leveler of humanity: It renders everyone in the picture eminently disposable and everyone in the audience equally bankrupt for bearing witness."

Paul Simon Hits the Road

Paul Simon reportedly debuted some of the new songs from his Brian Eno-produced Surprise CD at the second weekend of Jazz Fest in New Orleans, in a performance that had folks raving.

I was at Jazz Fest the first weekend, so wasn't around to catch Simon's set, but my friend Jeff, a fellow threadhead on the Jazz Fest chat board, was there, and he had this to say:

I got to the Acura stage real early and was right in front for Paul Simon. There were some really good people there and we had a great time at his show. High spot of the show was when Allen Toussaint and Irma Thomas played with Paul Simon. Musically, the show was great, but Simon barely said anything to the crowd.

Now, he's hitting the road. His tour kicks off July 1 at Summerfest in Milwaukee.

Full details are online at Billboard.