Hollywood to implode...according to Spielberg

[Teelie]

The ironic thing is... both of them are contributing to this 'implosion.'

It was Spielberg and Lucas who helped create the original summer tentpole blockbuster genre in the first place, and who have kept doing it. Jaws started it, Star Wars cemented it.

Disney has also given Lone Ranger a $250 million dollar budget despite almost pulling the plug before because the budget was too high.

That hasn't hit the theaters yet so we won't know if it will be an Avengers smash hit or a John Carter sized flop.

 

[Pink Ranger]

For all their faults though, the kind of blockbusters Spielberg and Lucas (okay, before the prequels) were "loved" movies. When Spielberg made Jaws, you could sense that he had a story he wanted to tell, and he had a blast telling it to us. Same with Lucas and Star Wars. Heck, even the Phantom Menace, which was a terrible movie, at least had Lucas' spirit all over it, although in this case smeared all over like dog **** on the sidewalk.

But the blockbuster movies of today that are dragging down the whole industry, whether financially successful ones like Transformers or true failures like Airbender, Green Lantern or John Carter, are all joyless, hollow products of some obnoxious producer's bottom-line marketing strategy.

 

[chamber-music]

That hasn't hit the theaters yet so we won't know if it will be an Avengers smash hit or a John Carter sized flop.

I'm not saying its going to flop. My point was Disney were concerned with the budget before and they have now spent more on Lone Ranger than they did on The Avengers so its got to really rake in some cash or else it will be another John Carter for them.

 

[Donnie Darko]

Going back and rereading the original post, I don't think we'll ever get back to the truly massive event movie that lasts forever in theaters. I don't think that's really happened since Titanic, even though I recall Avatar lingering for quite a while. That used to be the norm, but prior to the proliferation of VHS. With the turnover to home video being so much faster in today's "Now! Now! Now!" society, we'll never get back to long runs in theaters.

Part of the problem is that they are pushing movies to DVD/bluray/digital download so quickly. Last week, I was already getting alerts from Amazon to preorder Fast and Furious 6 on bluray, and it had just come out and was killing it at the box office. They set these fast turnaround times, and people (myself included) think "oh, well (insert movie title here) will be out at Redbox in a few months. I'll just wait." The big movies need time to breathe. Part of it is, of course, that there are so many "big movies" now that they just crowd each other out after a while.

 

[Doctor Jones]

The irony is they are in part responsible for the existing setup.

They are responsible for starting two great blockbusters that set a precedent of how great they can be. The effect is out of their hands.

I think that Lucas and the 'Berg have a point about some sort of catalyst being in the near-future. It will revolve around escalating costs, both for development and ticket sales, but it's harder to pinpoint what that catalyst will ultimately be. I think Steven is on the right track with thinking that it would take multiple $250m flops in a year, but I think it will be a more complex series of circumstances. It will likely be a perfect storm of ticket prices, 3D imploding, Netflix faltering, piracy out of control, and current genres and trends coming to the end of their life cycles. The last thing I can think of of the top of my head is the '70s and '80s, with westerns dying and the emergence of sci-fi, action movies, and the true 'blockbuster". I think the other thing will be a clamoring for more original content - either 100% original screenplays, or works from previously unadapted sources. Remakes, franchise reboots, sequels, and the like are going to overstay their welcome.

See, I can't see the average joe saying to themselves, "For once I'd like to see an original, great film." They're not us. They just want to see great films. People keep saying this yet people flock to sequels and big genre tentpole films again and again. We have seen it already this year. While original films can be successful (Avatar) or either flop or underperform (John Carter). It's all about demand and striking when the iron is hot.

The day you see more Pacific Rim's or Elysium's (hell, just how well will those films do? Those will be a good gauge to give an idea of the demand) in theaters is when all of those big budget source based films all flop and suck. Which has not happened yet. It still might. But that's only if studios are always hiring ****** directors with ****** writers and and their films flop in every sense. It's a mixed bag now, and it has been for years.

Not only that, unsurprisingly, original screenplays are in low demand now in general. The genres shift every year, but specs or original screenplays are a harder sell. I'm telling you, that day when we see all of these original successful tentpole films is years off, if it will even happen. None of us can tell. Studios only foresight is franchises right now.

The ironic thing is... both of them are contributing to this 'implosion.'

How? They just said they barely got their own films in theaters. And both films took years to even get there. They are making the point of less and less films being released in theaters, despite big names like theirs attached. It's become harder to get films in theaters. Again, it's about the marketplace demand and what studios want.

One flop like Red Tails doesn't contribute to the road of "implosion." There have been recurring big budget flops every year ever since there were blockbusters. Also, Red Tails wasn't even released in the summer.

The point is, you can't predict the future of these things. The thing that tells all is the marketplace.

 

[vanson]

they have to find another way to market these huge blockbusters... its insane what amount of money they spend... like soderbergh recently said in his 'state of cinema speech' : you have something like iron man where they spend more money for advertising for each movie.. who on earth didnt know that movie was opening ?...

 

[terry78]

they have partnerships with various brands, hence more cheese for both parties.

 

[Teelie]

they have to find another way to market these huge blockbusters... its insane what amount of money they spend... like soderbergh recently said in his 'state of cinema speech' : you have something like iron man where they spend more money for advertising for each movie.. who on earth didnt know that movie was opening ?...

People who live under rocks. They are very hard to advertise to.

 

[bullets]

This isn't surprising actors, writers, producers, critics have been saying the industry has been going through a big transition for a while.

Studios make fewer movies and they make most of their profits from the summer blockbusters which have mass a appeal and effectively subsidies any of the smaller budget movies they make. Even with the summer blockbusters some of the major studios co-produce and co-finance with a production company like Legendary Pictures as they couldn't afford to make it on their own.

Even Brad Pitt told the BBC in a interview not too long ago this

Brad Pitt

 

[Tequilla]

This could be great news if it ends up creating a system that selects quality over quantity. Because right now the amount of crap we're seeing with such regularity is absolutely insane. It's crap after crap after crap. And it's expensive.

Off-course this coming from Spielberg and Lucas , the fathers of the system is ironic as hell.

 

[Donnie Darko]

People who live under rocks. They are very hard to advertise to.

Also, people don't watch commercials as much anymore because of DVRs, so they have to spend more money on internet ads and other marketing tie-ins. I remember seeing something a while back saying that a study showed that movie commercials were the one thing people were more likely to stop and watch while fastforwarding through commercials, but still, that's probably a small percent of people anyway.

 

[terry78]

I know AMC has been showing that National Guard/MoS commercial since like March in front of movies.

 

[Evelisse]

Well outside of just making it a night out with friends or loved ones, I'm all about just waiting and watching the blu-ray in the comfort of my own home at my leisure.

 

[zeroapoc]

I actually enjoy the theater experience more than watching a blu-ray at my home.

 

[Teelie]

Also, people don't watch commercials as much anymore because of DVRs, so they have to spend more money on internet ads and other marketing tie-ins. I remember seeing something a while back saying that a study showed that movie commercials were the one thing people were more likely to stop and watch while fastforwarding through commercials, but still, that's probably a small percent of people anyway.

I don't watch commercials but knew about this movie from the multitude of advertising done everywhere else on the web, including websites that have no connection to movies, comic books or any related content.

Then again they probably ad-tracked me to tell me based on my having previously visited a site that did have information on it, thus defeating the purpose of advertising in the first place.

 

[Donnie Darko]

I actually enjoy the theater experience more than watching a blu-ray at my home.

I agree with this, but it really just comes down to finances, I guess. I mean, I could give up comics (which isn't a huge part of my budget anyway), and that would let me see a couple more movies a month, but it has gotten to the point that I really only NEED to see certain "event" movies or big action movies in the theater. Comedies and dramas can generally be held off until I can just get it from Redbox or Netflix because I feel like you're not really missing as much by not seeing them on a huge screen.

 

[dude stannis]

Would someone explain to me why exactly PG-13 is some kind of horrible evil thing?

That's my bad, I used that Rorschach quote while Ridley Scott was making Prometheus, and I just copy/pasted it because it fit in with what the thread is about, but I didn't bother altering it to fit more precisely.

But to answer that question specifically; because I'd have seen At the Mountains of Madness by now.

 

[GREEN =w= DAY]

LOL @ Spielberg's preaching when he himself is part of the problem as well

 

[zeroapoc]

Comedies and dramas can generally be held off until I can just get it from Redbox or Netflix because I feel like you're not really missing as much by not seeing them on a huge screen.

I'll agree with that.

 

[Ultimatehero]

That is definitely the state of things without a doubt. Just look at what happened to Joel Silver for example. He had a nice and lofty contract with Warner Brothers, but then due to shaky ground the contract wasn't renewed and Silver went to Universal under a contract that isn't as good as the one with Warners. Under Warners, Silver's films were getting produced now the films have to find other companies to team up with in order to get a film made. And this guy gave us Matrix, Sherlock Holmes, Lethal Weapon, etc. Also many places had to let go of certain job titles that once were there, for example Hollywood used to have paid readers now all of that goes to interns or in some cases freelancers (but, that's a lot more rare now than it used to be by far). Also many studios are looking into low budgeted self contained films with a premise that sells itself, the whole thing and way of thinking is gradually moving over. So, yeah, there is a lot going on right now and it's been gradually shifting for at least - to my knowledge - three to four years now and the big names are getting effected by it by and large as well.

 

[:eek:]

Lucas: You're gonna end up with fewer but bigger theatres. Going to the movies is gonna cost you $50, maybe $100, maybe $150.
Spielberg: Like Broadway costs today. Lucas: Yeah, it's like Broadway or a football game; it's going to be an expensive thing. Movies will be these big ticket items because people will still take their chances [with them]. But everything else is going to look more like cable television or TiVo, with great programming that's usually more interesting than what you're going to see in the movie theatre. You can get it whenever you want and it's going to be niche marketed, which means [directors] can really take chances if they can figure there's a small group of people that will react to it. Then it's really a matter of marketing, which is the biggest issue - just making sure that people know you're there - and with the internet there's a whole process for doing that now. That's what will [become of] what used to be the 'movie business' - and I include television and movies. It's going be a television business that actually has nothing to do with television anymore.

$50 A TICKET FOR A MOVIE? IT’S COMING NEXT WEEK

June 14, 2013 by admin · 1 Comment



Regal Theaters and Paramount Pictures will roll out a unique “mega ticket” packaging concept at five theaters when the Brad Pitt starrer World War Z opens on June 21. For $50, moviegoers will receive not only be able to buy a ticket to the movie two days before it opens but will also be able to download an HD copy of the movie “when released on street date,” receive one small popcorn at the concession counter, and take home a pair of custom 3D glasses and a movie poster. The theater chain and Paramount are promoting the package as the “ultimate fan event.” Participating Regal theaters include the Edwards Irvine Spectrum 21 in Irvine, CA; the Edwards Greenway Grand Palace Stadium 24 in Houston; the Edwards Mira Mesa Stadium 18 in San Diego; the Regal Atlantic Station Stadium 16 in Atlanta, and the UA King of Prussia Stadium 16 outside of Philadelphia.

 

[Tanin]

$50 A TICKET FOR A MOVIE? IT’S COMING NEXT WEEK

June 14, 2013 by admin · 1 Comment



Regal Theaters and Paramount Pictures will roll out a unique “mega ticket” packaging concept at five theaters when the Brad Pitt starrer World War Z opens on June 21. For $50, moviegoers will receive not only be able to buy a ticket to the movie two days before it opens but will also be able to download an HD copy of the movie “when released on street date,” receive one small popcorn at the concession counter, and take home a pair of custom 3D glasses and a movie poster. The theater chain and Paramount are promoting the package as the “ultimate fan event.” Participating Regal theaters include the Edwards Irvine Spectrum 21 in Irvine, CA; the Edwards Greenway Grand Palace Stadium 24 in Houston; the Edwards Mira Mesa Stadium 18 in San Diego; the Regal Atlantic Station Stadium 16 in Atlanta, and the UA King of Prussia Stadium 16 outside of Philadelphia.

That isn't a 50$ movie ticket this is blowing it out of proportion.
It comes with a 25$ or so copy of the movie a 3$ poster... 3$ popcorn.... how much are the glasses?

 

[Ultimatehero]

That isn't a 50$ movie ticket this is blowing it out of proportion.
It comes with a 25$ or so copy of the movie a 3$ poster... 3$ popcorn.... how much are the glasses?

/\ This.

To me this sounds like a special deal kind of ticket.

There already are tickets that cost a lot of money - Disney's theater on Hollywood Boulevard that comes with free drink, free popcorn, and after show of some sort. Basically, this kind of thing is already normal... somewhat.

 

[Teelie]

Wow... a small popcorn to go with your $50 purchase of a ticket, a DRM'd digital copy of the movie and some cheap glasses and a poster. Is this really worth it? Nope, but it does tell you the desperation is high to sell tickets to people who have more money than sense.

 

[Lord]

I want what they're smoking

For all their faults though, the kind of blockbusters Spielberg and Lucas (okay, before the prequels) were "loved" movies. When Spielberg made Jaws, you could sense that he had a story he wanted to tell, and he had a blast telling it to us. Same with Lucas and Star Wars. Heck, even the Phantom Menace, which was a terrible movie, at least had Lucas' spirit all over it, although in this case smeared all over like dog **** on the sidewalk.

But the blockbuster movies of today that are dragging down the whole industry, whether financially successful ones like Transformers or true failures like Airbender, Green Lantern or John Carter, are all joyless, hollow products of some obnoxious producer's bottom-line marketing strategy.

I disagree about John Carter, you could see that it was a tale Andrew Stanton wanted to tell and that he put his heart into many of the scenes of the film.