 In October 1977 ITC announced what was then known as "The Athena Boodle" as part of a $97 million slate of movies Lew Grade was making which also included "The Legend of the Lone Ranger", "Movie Movie" (then called "Double Feature"), "The Boys from Brazil", "Raise the Titanic", "The Golden Gate" from the Alistair MacLean novel (never made), "Love and Bullets", "The Muppet Movie" and "Road to the Fountain of Youth" with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope (which was never made).Grade's first five films had been made in partnership with General Cinema Corp, but Grade would finance this slate himself.The film was also known as "The Athena Crisis".