UK films urged to be more mainstream

[Silvermoth]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16495095

What do you think about this?

I'm honestly not very happy with it because some of my favourite movies are British and not particulary mainstream. Britain shouldn't try to outAmerica America with loud explosive films.

Then again, when it comes to whimsy and fantasy, the British are the best of all IMO so if by making films more mainstream they mean a couple like Doctor Who or maybe a few Roald Dahl/Enid Blyton films then I would be quite happy.

Just as long as they don't miss out on the next "The King's Speech" or "Elizabeth" while they're doing it.

 

[matrix_ghost]

I guess it's more a case of getting more people into the cinema.
LEt's face it , the majority of film going audience just want to be entertained. That doesn't mean you need to dumb down a movie . However i doubt that majoriy of that film going audience will flock to see a Terrence Malick movie or something from Paul THomas Anderson.

Awards recognotion definaltely helps to get a movie noticed ( like King's Speech) but it's not always the case.
Hell at te end of the day when i come from work afrter working almost 12 hrs , i just wanna sit back and watch something like Die Hard with a Vengeance then1492 : A Conquest of Paradise.

 

[terry78]

If it's all about money, I don't know what to tell you. That's more our shtick over here, regardless of movies being good or bad. While I'm not always a fan of crying about box office intake, I get that Hollywood is more of a business over here and if a flick loses money, the people involved do get screwed by it.

 

[chamber-music]

A bunch of British filmmakers and producers have come out and said how crazy this is as no one knows what British movies are going to be successful and which will flop.

No one thought Slum Dog Millionaire or The King's Speech would be successful. Plenty of commercial movies flop.

 

[The Morningstar]

They should just continue what they are doing. Focus more on quality rather than pandering to wider demographics like what the Hollywood system mostly does.

Out of the choices on the poll my absolute favourites are Withnail and I, Quadrophenia, This is England and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrells. Movies that you'd never find being made in America.

 

[chamber-music]

Plenty of good movies being made in Britain over recent years like The Kill List, Shaun Of the Dead, Moon, Sunshine, Dog Soldiers, Children Of Men, Harry Brown, Kick Ass, Dead Man's Shoes on paper most of those movies don't look like they would be commerically successful.

 

[Silvermoth]

Oh damn I forgot to add Shaun of the Dead/Hot Fuzz to the poll! I planned to do it all yesterday!

Oh well, that's what 'other' is for.

I suppose if what they mean is that movies like "Shaun of the Dead" (which have an obvious mainstream appeal as well as an artistic and cultural significance) get made, that's ok. If they're just going to make endless "The Inbetweeners" movies, that would get pretty bad pretty quickly.

I think Britain has a different market to America. It's okay to make a film for $20 million that makes $200 million dollars whereas in America you must make a movie for $150 million that makes $600 million.

I mean they use The Inbetweeners movie as an example of more popular mainstream movies but it made 41 thousand pounds and The Kings Speech made $373 million so if they want success they should make more historical, cool films like The Kings Speech.

 

[chamber-music]

Most British movies are pretty low budget as it is. Average British movie usually costs less than 10 million anyway.