The Poseidon Adventure is a 1972 American disaster film directed by Ronald Neame, produced by Irwin Allen, and based on Paul Gallico's 1969 novel of the same name. It has an ensemble cast including five Oscar winners: Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Jack Albertson, Shelley Winters and Red Buttons. The plot centers on the fictional SS Poseidon, an aging luxury liner on her final voyage from New York City to Athens before it is scrapped. On New Year's Eve, it is overturned by a tsunami. Passengers and crew are trapped inside, and a 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). It was released in December 1972 and was the highest-grossing film of 1973, earning over $125 million worldwide. It won two Academy Awards,[3] a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award, and a Motion Picture Sound Editors Award.[4] A sequel, Beyond the Poseidon Adventure, also based on a novel by Gallico, was released in 1979.