Trivia: The most remembered line from "Waterworld," "Dryland is not a myth; I have seen it," is never spoken in the actual movie.
Trivia: Prior to "Titantic" (1997), "Waterworld" was the most expensive movie (at $175 million) ever produced.
Trivia: The land they end up finding at the end of the movie was in fact to be the tip of Mount Everest. I know this because I once saw a copy of the movie where they discovered the plaque left behind by the first climbers of the mountain and it said it was Mount Everest. This was the movie's broadcast premiere on ABC in 1998, and up until recently, the plaque was never shown on-screen again.
Trivia: After repairs in 1990 the Exxon Valdez went back to sea as the Exxon Mediterranean. However, no one would recognize or associate any notoriety to the new name so the old name was kept for the movie.
Trivia: Kevin Reynolds is credited with directing the film, but he left the project early after repeated, frequent clashes with Kevin Costner who disagreed with virtually every cinematic element and ultimately took over the job.
Answer: About 71% of the Earth's surface is covered with water. The website How Stuff Works suggests that the oceans hold approximately 326 million trillion gallons of water, or about 96.5% of the liquid. By extrapolation, one could estimate that 100% of the earth would require about 459 million trillion gallons of water. However, there simply isn't sufficient water in the ice caps and other water bodies to float Noah's Ark. The water over the land masses would not be as deep as the waters of the oceans, which would suggest a lower number is possible. However, if there is truly NO land on which to set anchor for the denizens of Waterworld, then there would have to be sufficient water to cover the mountains of the world. That amount would be astronomical.
Michael Albert