History Trivia / TheThirteenthWarrior

** The entire character of the Wendol leader and his sudden importance was thrown in on studio demand, because execs wanted to have a duel involving Buliwyf in the end of the movie. [[FlatCharacter It shows]].

* AccidentallyCorrectWriting: ''If'' the film's Wendol are still Neanderthals, they are shown to have body paint and cave paintings, which Neanderthals weren't thought to have at the time the movie was made but now they are.

* VindicatedByCable: Started to head in that direction few years after premiere. The film's production issues may have crippled it as a blockbuster, but sandwiched between b-movies and {{Mockbuster}}s as part of an afternoon movie marathon, it's a pleasant surprise.

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: After three years of work, constant in-fights, forcing countless changes and gutting the third part of the movie, the studio decided to just drop it into cinemas, without premiere, marketing and just get rid of it, before it would cost another million or two to maintain the production. It singlehandly shot any chances the film ever had dead in the water. Everyone involved in the production points the execs' indifference toward the movie as the main reason it underperformed horribly.

** The film's final cost was agreed to have been at least $100 million (although some sources put it at as much as $160 million). As of 2020 its ''worldwide'' grosses have been put at $61 million, making it not only the most expensive box-office bomb of 1999 but, by some measures, the biggest money-losing film ever[[note]]Adjusted for inflation the film's losses come to over $200 million.[[/note]]
* VindicatedByCable: Seems to be heading in this direction. The film's production issues may have crippled it as a blockbuster, but sandwiched between b-movies and {{Mockbuster}}s as part of an afternoon movie marathon, it's a pleasant surprise.

* BoxOfficeBomb: Notoriously didn't make back its costs, managing a worldwide gross of $61.7 mil against a $100 mil-160 mil budget. When adjusted for inflation, it is considered '''[[MedalOfDishonor the biggest flop]]''' in film history.

* BoxOfficeBomb: Notoriously didn't make back its costs, managing a worldwide gross of $61.7 mil against a $100 mil-160 mil budget. When adjusted for inflation, it is considered among the [[MedalOfDishonor biggest flops]] in film history.

* AwesomeDearBoy: Antonio Banderas has said that one of the reasons he signed on was so that he could work alongside Creator/OmarSharif.

* FakeNationality: Spanish Creator/AntonioBanderas plays an Arab Muslim from Baghdad. Less absurd than it sounds, however, as Spain was under Muslim occupation for several centuries, and intermixing between the occupying Moors and the native Christians wasn't that uncommon. Banderas even hails from Andalusia, previously known as Al-Andalus, where the conquest hit the hardest, and could easily pass as AmbiguouslyBrown under the right conditions. (Ironically, if the studio had got their way, Ahmad wouldn't have been an Arab at all.)

** The film was reshot at least twice before test screenings. The studio kept leaning on producer Creator/MichaelCrichton and director Creator/JohnMcTiernan to change the main character from the Muslim[[note]]And this was two years ''before'' 9/11[[/note]] he was in Crichton's source novel ''The Eaters of the Dead''[[note]]The name of the film up until right before its release[[/note]]. Resisting this change was about the only aspect of the film the two agreed on.

** Sharif was so revulsed by the whole thing that he retired from acting until he was persuaded to return four years later.
** The film's final cost was agreed to have been at least $100 million ... some sources put it at as much as $160 million. As of 2020 its ''worldwide'' grosses have been put at $61 million, making it not only the most expensive box-office bomb of 1999 but, by some measures, the biggest money-losing film ever[[note]]Adjusted for inflation the film's losses come to over $200 million.[[/note]]

** The earlier versions were apparently much closer to the book. Ironically, it was ''Crichton'' out of all people who was responsible for final changes in the movie, distancing it significantly from the novel.

* FakeNationality: Spanish Creator/AntonioBanderas plays an Arab Muslim. Less absurd than it sounds, however, as many modern Spaniards carry Arabian genetics due to several centuries of Muslim occupation; Banderas even hails from Andalusia, previously known as Al-Andalus, where the conquest hit the hardest, and could easily pass as AmbiguouslyBrown under the right conditions. (Ironically, if the studio had got their way, Ahmad wouldn't have been an Arab at all.)

* CreatorKiller: It was the very moment when Creator/JohnMcTiernan's career got permanently derailed and kept as such with his [[Film/TheThomasCrownAffair1999 next]] [[Film/{{Rollerball}} three]] [[Film/{{Basic}} movies]], completely [[CreatorKiller killing him as a creator]]. What makes it worse is the fact that he was ''removed from production'' in the final year of filming (the film was [[TroubledProduction in production for three years]]) and all the decisions that eventually turned the movie into a financial and critical disaster were made without him around, [[MisBlamed but he still took the beating for them]].

** Rather than making an epic adventure movie, [=McTiernan=] was trying to make a tense thriller, a la his debut, Film/{{Predator}}. The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhi6zor1wSk first trailer]], made when the movie was still under the "Eaters of the Dead" working title and before heavy recutting, literally ''screams'' its nature as a horror-thriller cross, further helped by the (later dropped) score by Graeme Revell, with its characteristic beat taken from his famous ''Film/DeadCalm'' OST. Just compare it with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nkTZKiOLzI the final trailer]]. No, this is not a mock trailer - that's how bad the marketing of the movie was.

* BoxOfficeBomb: Unfortunately didn't make back its costs. When adjusted for inflation, it is considered among the [[MedalOfDishonor biggest flops]] in film history.

* SpiritualSuccessor: It's the second time John [=McTiernan=] has adapted a version of Beowulf, the first being ''Film/{{Predator}}'' a decade earlier.

* TroubledProduction: The film was reshot at least twice before test screenings. Two scores were written. Countless {{Executive Meddling}}s halted production a few times, forcing the crew and actors to start from scratch. Then there was ''another'' reshooting after unsatisfying results from test screenings, one year after the production was already wrapped. There was apparently poor teamwork between crew and actors (Omar Sharif said a lot of harsh words about [=McTiernan=]'s skills as director) and open conflict between execs, [=McTiernan=] and Crichton about the screenplay. Dennis Storhøi almost drowned. A horse was killed during the production, slowing it even further. It's a wonder the film didn't end up in DevelopmentHell.

** Averted with Creator/OmarSharif. He decided to retire after the film failed, but changed his mind a few years later.

** The execs finally decided to shoot two endings, one by [=McTiernan=], other under Crichton. Thing is - it was already decided before even the shooting restarted that Crichton's version will be used as the final cut, keeping crew and actors in the blind about it, but giving them double work to do. This obviously bloated the budget further, encouraging the studio to dump the movie as fast as possible.

* FakeNationality: Spanish Creator/AntonioBanderas plays an Arab Muslim. Less absurd than it sounds, however, as modern Spaniards actually carry some Arabian genetics due to several centuries of Muslim occupation; Banderas even hails from Andalusia, previously known as Al-Andalus, where the conquest hit the hardest, and could pass as AmbiguouslyBrown under the right conditions. (Ironically, if the studio had got their way, Ahmad wouldn't have been an Arab at all.)

* StarDerailingRole: A temporary example. Creator/OmarSharif had such a bad experience on the set of the film and was so disappointed by the final cut that he briefly retired from acting.

* BoxOfficeBomb: Unfortunately didn't make back its costs. [[MedalOfDishonor When adjusted for inflation, it is potentially the biggest flop in film history.]]

* FakeNationality: Spanish Creator/AntonioBanderas plays an Arab Muslim. Less absurd than it sounds, however, as modern Spaniards actually carry some Arabian genetics due to several centuries of Muslim occupation; Banderas even hails from Andalusia, previously known as Al-Andalus, where the conquest hit the hardest. (Ironically, if the studio had got their way, Ahmad wouldn't have been an Arab at all.)

* FakeNationality: Spanish Creator/AntonioBanderas as an Arab Muslim. It could have been even ''less'' accurate, if the studio had got their way, Ahmad wouldn't have been an Arab at all.

* CreatorKiller: It was the very moment when Creator/JohnMcTiernan's career got permanently derailed and kept as such with his [[Film/TheThomasCrownAffair1999 next]] [[Film/{{Rollerball}} three]] [[Film/{{Basic}} movies]], completely [[CreatorKiller killing him as a creator]]. What makes it worse is the fact that he was ''removed from production'' in the final year of filming (the film was [[TroubledProduction in production for three years]]) and all the decisions that eventually turned the movie into a financial and critical disaster were made without him around, but he ''still took the beating for them''.

** The studio was also against the fact Ahmad was Arab or using any sort of Muslim references, trying to remove them entirely from the story, or at least tone them down considerably. Standing against such changes was probably the only thing Crichton and [=McTiernan=] were both united.

* StarDerailingRole: A temporary example. Omar Sharif had such a bad experience on the set of the film and was so disappointed by the final cut that he briefly retired from acting.