For the climactic scene when the ship crashes into an island, De Bont wanted to create and destroy an actual town. He opted against miniature scale models or computer-generated imagery (CGI) to provide a sense of realism for the actors and the audience. A $5 million, 35-building set was constructed in Marigot, Saint Martin based on the town's local architecture, which temporarily housed production offices.
Despite De Bont's reason for choosing Saint Martin for filming, a hurricane struck the town and destroyed the set during construction. It had to be rebuilt with hurricane-proof buildings.
A full-scale mock-up of the ship's bow, known as the "rail ship" was placed a top a rail and propelled into the set constructed in Marigot. The rest of the ship was added through computer-generated special effects during post-production.
In the scene's final shot, [the rail ship] had to stop successfully within a 6-inch (15 cm) area on the first take.[65] The five-minute scene cost $25 million to produce, roughly one quarter of the film's entire budget,[16] and set records as both the largest and the most expensive stunt ever filmed.
The film grossed $48 million in the United States, and had a total gross of $164.5 million worldwide.[3] Moviefone and Time have both ranked the film among the biggest box office bombs of all time, with estimated losses for the studio ranging from $40–70 million.[124][125]
