Editing Irwin Allen (section)

====''The Poseidon Adventure'' and ''The Towering Inferno''====
In the 1970s, Allen produced the most successful films of his career: ''[[The Poseidon Adventure (1972 film)|The Poseidon Adventure]]'' (1972) and ''[[The Towering Inferno]]'' (1974), directing the action scenes for both. Their showmanship was compared to that of [[P. T. Barnum]] and [[Cecil B. DeMille]], and they prompted scholarly analysis of the subsequent popularity of the [[Disaster film|disaster genre]].<ref name=variety>{{cite web| url=https://variety.com/1991/more/news/irwin-allen-99126714/| title=Irwin Allen| work=Variety| date=November 10, 1991| access-date=April 21, 2015}}</ref>

''The Poseidon Adventure'' was based on the [[Paul Gallico]] novel [[The Poseidon Adventure (novel)|of the same name]] and directed by [[Ronald Neame]]. Unable to find a studio to fully back the venture, Allen raised half the $5 million budget, with 20th Century-Fox putting up the rest; the film eventually grossed over $100 million. L.&nbsp;B.&nbsp;Abbott and [[A. D. Flowers]] won a [[Special Achievement Academy Award]] for the film's optical and physical effects.<ref name="Fischer2011"/>{{rp|38}}<ref>{{cite news|last=Kilday|first=Gregg|title='Poseidon's' Unsinkable Irwin Allen|work=Los Angeles Times|date=December 25, 1972|page=C1}}</ref>

Allen hoped to follow up on the success of ''The Poseidon Adventure'' with a film based on the novel ''[[The Tower (Stern novel)|The Tower]]'', but the film rights had already been taken by [[Warner Bros.]] He looked for an alternative and found a similar story in ''[[The Glass Inferno]]''. Rather than produce competing movies, 20th Century-Fox and Warner Bros. agreed to coproduce ''The Towering Inferno'' with a script based on both novels and a $14 million budget. It was the first time two major studios made a film together, splitting the costs. Despite its nearly three-hour run time, the film, directed by [[John Guillermin]], was a hit and won three Academy Awards.<ref name="Fischer2011"/>{{rp|39}}