The film follows a romance novelist who must venture beyond her New York City comfort zone to Colombia in order to save her widowed sister from criminals who are holding her for ransom.
Zemeckis, who at the time was developing Cocoon, liked Thomas's screenplay and offered to direct but 20th Century Fox initially declined, citing the commercial failure of his first two films I Wanna Hold Your Hand and Used Cars.
Zemeckis was eventually dismissed from Cocoon after an early screening of Romancing the Stone failed to further impress studio executives.
Flying to Colombia, Joan is diverted from the rendezvous point by Colonel Zolo—the same man who ransacked her apartment looking for the map—by tricking her into boarding the wrong bus.
As the rest of the passengers walk away, Joan is menaced by Zolo but is saved by the Land Rover's owner, an American exotic bird smuggler named Jack T. Colton.
Reaching a small village, they encounter a drug lord named Juan who is a big fan of Joan's novels and happily helps them escape from Zolo.
Returning home, she finds Jack waiting for her in a sailboat named the Angelina, after the heroine of Joan's novels, and wearing boots made from the crocodile's skin.
[7] Other leads considered include Burt Reynolds, Clint Eastwood, Paul Newman, and Christopher Reeve for the part of Jack Colton before Douglas hired himself and Debra Winger was the studio's top choice for Joan Wilder.
[11] The scene where Turner and Douglas get separated on opposite banks on a whitewater river was filmed on the Rio Antigua near the town of Jalcomulco, Veracruz.
The website's consensus reads: "Romancing the Stone reaches back to the classic Saturday morning serials of old with an action-filled adventure enlivened by the sparkling chemistry between its well-matched leads.
Neither screenwriter Diane Thomas nor director Robert Zemeckis, good-humored as they strive to be, maintains a coherent perception of how the plot should be contrived to trump the heroine's overactive fantasy life."
[22] By contrast, Time Out commented that "The script is sharp and funny, the direction sure-footed on both the comedy and action fronts", and compared the film favorably to its contemporary in the same genre, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984).
[23] Roger Ebert called it "a silly, high-spirited chase picture", saying he greatly enjoyed the film's imaginative perils, colorful cast of villains, and believable relationship between its two lead characters.
[24] Colin Greenland reviewed Romancing the Stone for Imagine magazine, and stated that "Good-humoured, sparky stuff in the manner of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
[31][better source needed] The success of Romancing the Stone led to a sequel, The Jewel of the Nile, without Zemeckis directing but with Douglas, Turner, and DeVito all returning.
Another sequel, called The Crimson Eagle, would have had Jack and Joan take their two teenage children to Thailand where they are blackmailed into stealing a priceless statue.
Filming was scheduled to begin in 1987, following Michael Douglas's shooting of Wall Street, but the production was delayed and ultimately never made it past the development stage.