Sahara was meant to be the next big adventure franchise—an Indiana Jones for a new era. Its main character—Dirk Pitt played by Matthew McConaughey—was the lead in a series of novels by Clive Cussler.

The material was there to be mined, but the audience was not. Despite its inspiration, Sahara could not match the popularity of the novels.

Grossing just $119 million worldwide, it took quite the hit at the box office, especially since the cost of the film ballooned during production. The reasons for why those costs went off the rails are plentiful and detailed extensively in an old LA Times piece.

Its failure aside, there is some fun to be had. With exciting set pieces and that classic McConaughey charm, this should not have been the flop it was.

Now, sit back, quench your thirst for adventure with a Shiner Bock from the Spoetzl Brewery, and don't drink that well water! I, the Thunderous Wizard (@WriterTLK), Bling Blake, and Chumpzilla are pulling a Panama to evade the fuzz!

This Week’s Segments:

• Introduction/Plot Breakdown – Adventure has a new name ... Dirk Pitt! (00:00)
• Lingering Questions – Outside of die hard Clive Cussler fans (Bling Blake), who would want a sequel to this movie? (29:48)
• The "USS Texas" Trivia Challenge – Chumpzilla challenges the field to trivia about the movie. (49:20)
• Recommendations – We offer our picks for the week and next up: We kickoff Adventurous Flops with the world's most handsome treasure seeker in Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins! (1:02:19)

And, as always, hit us up on Threads, Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram to check out all the interesting factoids from this week’s episode!

You can find this episode of Hops and Box Office Flops on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Podbean, Spotify, Acast, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Vurbl, Amazon Music, and more!