King Solomon's Mines (1985 film)

King Solomon's Mines
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJ. Lee Thompson
Written byGene Quintano
James R. Silke
Based onKing Solomon's Mines
1885 novel
by H. Rider Haggard
Produced byYoram Globus
Menahem Golan
Starring
CinematographyAlex Phillips Jr.
Edited byJohn Shirley
Music byJerry Goldsmith
Distributed byThe Cannon Group
Release date
  • November 22, 1985 (1985-11-22)
Running time
100 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$11 million[1] or $12.6 million[2]
Box office$15,057,465[3]

King Solomon's Mines is a 1985 action adventure film, and a film adaptation of the 1885 novel of the same name by H. Rider Haggard. It stars Richard Chamberlain, Sharon Stone, Herbert Lom, and John Rhys-Davies. It was produced by Cannon Films. It was adapted by Gene Quintano and James R. Silke and directed by J. Lee Thompson. This version of the story was a light, comedic take, deliberately referring to, and parodying, the Indiana Jones film series (in which Rhys-Davies had also appeared). It was filmed outside Harare in Zimbabwe. The film was made and released exactly 100 years after the release of the novel on which the film is based.[4]

King Solomon's Mines was followed by a sequel (filmed back-to-back), Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold (1986). It was originally planned to be the first in a trilogy, and there were two attempts to film a third movie: first, a film that would have been based on She and Allan, another Haggard novel, and then a film which would have been titled Allan Quatermain and the Jewel of the East, to be directed by producer Menahem Golan. Neither attempt was successful, in part due to the financial failure of Lost City of Gold.

  1. ^ Andrew Yule, Hollywood a Go-Go: The True Story of the Cannon Film Empire, Sphere Books, 1987 p95-96
  2. ^ Cowell, Alan (29 April 1985). "IN ZIMBABWE, A REMAKE OF 'SOLOMON'S MINES'". New York Times.
  3. ^ King Solomon's Mines at Box Office Mojo
  4. ^ "King Solomon's Mines (1985) - IMDb". IMDb.