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Topic: George Lucas: "The Blockbuster Is Dead"
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
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Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 03-07-2006 10:57 AM
Big movies are out of fashion? I have doubts.
Sure, all the best picture nominees were lower budget movies. Lots of indie stuff dominated the Oscars. Before anyone can call that a new trend, consider the fact the Oscars telecast had much lower ratings than last year (2nd worst viewership in the last few decades).
However, George Lucas could be right in the long term. I can see most movies costing only $15 million or less to be made once they're all MADE FOR TV movies. The issue of collapsing windows between theatrical and video release could kill off most movie theaters and make Hollywood a mere made for TV movies cottage industry subserviant to major broadcast networks.
The increasing corporate trend to try to repackage old movie ideas as sequels, remakes, send ups, retoolings of TV, etc. is one terrible problem. The suits don't want to risk investing in new ideas. They stupidly think they can sell more of what' sold in the past.
Now, lots of indie movies are great for being new and inventive. But most have very limited budgets for both production and marketing. Many also have very limited appeal. For every 1 indie flick that grosses $50 million or more in theaters, there's a good 100 or more that don't do squat. Most indie movies are lucky if they can get a second life on DVD or cable.
Balance is really the key. Movie companies want to whine about high costs. But then they'll pay what passes for an A-list actor these days $30 million or more to star in a mediocre sequel. How about developing a good, new idea and using not quite as well known (and less expensive) talent?
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
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Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 03-07-2006 06:34 PM
The problem with King Kong is that it was a decent movie, but not a great movie. It didn't live up to the hype or live up to expectations audiences had of Peter Jackson matching the thrills of the LOTR trilogy. The movie will turn a decent profit. It's certainly no bomb.
quote: Bill Gabel The independent film take us back to those early films of the 70's, when there was stories to tell and not these overloaded, overbudgeted products for the masses.
Y'know something, I don't agree with that.
Call me cynical, but I find the whole "indie film" scene extremely far from being "indie." Many of those outfits (Focus, Lions Gate, Fine Line, Miramax-Weinstein, etc.) are part or wholly owned by major studios and just as bound by corporate repackagings as anything.
The indie film scene has a lot of its own conventions where many films have a disturbing sameness to them:
You have the road trip movies. Nuff said.
Then there's the high school coming of age movie with the "I'm a misfit but too cool for anyone" angle -sometimes thrown back 20 or 30 years to make old music fashionable again (and possibly to save money since it can be cheaper to get legal clearances of vintage music).
Many low budget action movies seem to be ripping on Resevoir Dogs or The Usual Suspects or maybe Luc Besson. At least if they're ripping off people, thank God not many are copying John Woo (I'm not a fan of that guy's work).
There's what I call the "Emmanuelle" kind of film where at least one or more characters use and hurt people and then try to justify it as though they are somehow more correct, smart and aware than everyone else. However, I haven't seen very many movies with that sort of rationale lately since Hollywood seems horribly scared of exposed titty nipples and female pubic hair.
And there's others. I'm sure many here can think of more indie conventions to add to the list.
My point with that is to warn the indie crowd about congratulating itself and thinking their current group is equal to the ground breaking films of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Sorry, but they're not.
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Martin Brooks
Jedi Master Film Handler
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Posts: 900
From: Forest Hills, NY, USA
Registered: May 2002
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posted 03-07-2006 09:10 PM
King Kong is perceived as a failure because it didn't become the biggest grossing movie of all time or have the biggest opening weekend, because we have become obsessed with numbers and "being #1", but it is far from a failure. One of the worst things that has happened to the movie business is the public's awareness of movie grosses.
As of last week, Kong grossed $543 million worldwide in 11 weeks. Before completing its theatrical run, it will probably do close to $700 million. Then there's TV sales, cable sales and DVD sales. In the end, it will probably gross anywhere from $1 to $2 billion.
I also hear people saying how Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire wasn't a complete success. I haven't seen the film, so I don't know if it was a good movie or not, but so far it's grossed $890 million worldwide. And Narnia has grossed over $666 million.
These are not failures and it demonstrates that showing movies in theaters can still be a spectacular business. The problem is that expectations have risen to a level of complete unreality.
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