Karl Urban Nearly Starred With Ron Perlman In This Forgotten Sci-Fi Viking Movie

There has never been a moment when Hollywood went gaga for Viking sagas, primarily because, to put it delicately, they tend to lack compelling roles for women. The late, great Terry Jones addressed this issue in his 1989 comedy/adventure "Erik the Viking," which starred Tim Robbins as a kinder, gentler Norseman who refused his people's rape-and-pillage lifestyle.

"Erik the Viking" was a box office bomb, but, then again, most great Viking films released over the last 50 years have been bombs. Unless we're discussing the "How to Train Your Dragon" movies, studios can look back at John McTiernan's "The 13th Warrior" (one of the biggest flops in film history), Nicolas Winding Refn's "Valhalla Rising," or Robert Eggers' "The Northman" and conclude that, even if done with a high degree of artistry, Vikings are a bad bet. (It's why, much to my sorrow, we've never gotten a live-action "Hägar the Horrible" epic.)

Perhaps filmmaker Howard McCain had this on his mind when he hatched the idea for "Outlander." The premise, which he refined with screenwriter Dirk Blackman, involves Kainan, a human-looking alien who crash-lands in 709 AD Scandinavia. The region is being terrorized by a dragon-like creature called a Moorwen, which, like Kainan, is of extraterrestrial origin. (Kainan's species seeded the Earth aeons ago.) Kainan rallies the Vikings to join him in hunting down the Moorwen, and, well, if you want more than buff Norsemen stalking a dragon, the Viking genre might not be for you!

McCain got the ball rolling at The Weinstein Company with Karl Urban in the lead and Ron Perlman as a Viking chieftain, but "Outland" was ultimately greenlit with Jim Caviezel as Kainan. Alas, even Jesus Christ and Hellboy couldn't overcome the Viking box office jinx.

"Outlander" was a major step up for Howard McCain, whose previous directorial efforts were the TV movie "Perfect Prey" and the direct-to-video duo of "Shadow of a Scream" and "No Dessert, Dad, Till You Mow the Lawn." Would he be able to handle the pressure of shooting a mid-budget Viking movie with Jim Caviezel, Ron Perlman, John Hurt, Jack Huston, and Sophia Myles?

While "Outlander" currently holds a 37% Tomatometer critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes, most of its negative reviews found the movie's production design and performances diverting enough. The main problem was that the film took itself too seriously when it should've been content to just be a big, bloody Vikings-versus-dragon throwdown. Several critics also found Patrick Tatopoulos' creature design unmemorable, which isn't a huge surprise given that he whiffed badly with a similar assignment on 1998's "Godzilla."

The Weinstein Company dumped "Outlander" domestically on 81 screens in January 2009, where it grossed a paltry $166,003. The film performed marginally better overseas (raking in $7 million in total), but there was no disputing that it was a significant flop. But, hey, if you've got a Viking jones, don't let that stop you. The movie is currently available to stream for free if you sign up for a 7-day trial subscription to Howdy via Prime Video. A B-movie with Vikings, an alien, and an alien dragon can't be all bad.