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This topic comprises 4 pages: 1 2 3 4
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Author
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Topic: Steven Spielberg Predicts Implosion
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Marcel Birgelen
Film God
Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 06-19-2013 04:02 AM
quote: Mike Blakesley
Spielberg is saying we're approaching a time when audiences will tire of the same old same old and we'll se a string of these megaflops in the same year. Which could cause some big trouble.
Actually, I'm hoping a bit for this to happen... Not that I want any studio to go bankrupt, but maybe it helps if it hurts enough. Let's hope it coincides with some smaller budget productions that compensate for the lack of attendance. It could actually lead to some kind of change.
Personally, I'm not automatically attracted to a big lineup of stars and endless special effects. I do think that the general audience will eventually follow or is already following.
A lot of the money that's being pumped into those summer blockbusters could also be spent on multiple, smaller productions. If you cut out the A-list stars and the need for ever increasing special effect budgets, there's a lot of money left to spend on quality writing and directing.
quote: Terry Lynn-Stevens
I think Spielberg is worried because he just doesn't have his hands on the big stuff anymore.
I guess that's more or less his own decision. If he really wanted, he could have his hands on a 200 million dollar production tomorrow, even if he would have to pony up a great deal of that himself.
The same for Lucas, he has enough money in the bank to start his own mega-production any time he pleases (and he has done so in the past). But maybe he realized that he does the world a pleasure if he doesn't do the actual directing, but rather focuses on the other stuff ![[Wink]](wink.gif) .
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 06-19-2013 01:49 PM
quote: Terry Lynn-Stevens
I am not exactly sure if you know what you are trying to say, the studios know exactly what they are doing right now when it comes to tent pole movies, just because you might like how things were doing in the past compared today, it does not mean what the studios are doing is wrong.
The studios are doing what is SAFE. Eventually they're going to get hurt by that strategy. As a means of insurance, the parent companies of the movie studios (global media companies who pretty much control all the rest of the entertainment industry) are doing what they can to corner all markets and all means of distribution in order to limit choice.
Mike mentioned how expensive it is to produce and market a movie. My point is it is not mandatory for a studio to blow $200 million+ on a CG-laden "epic" with more than 10% of that budget going to the A-list "star" whose name is above the title. They do have the option to think outside of the box. In the long run they're going to have to do that. The movie industry has gone through serious down-turns before. The industry is not immune to it happening again.
BTW, playing it safe is a big part of why the music industry hasn't been doing all that well in a long time. But to hear the media companies view on it, it's all due to online piracy.
quote: Terry Lynn-Stevens
In the last few years, movies such as Pirates 4, Skyfall, Dark Knight Rises, Transformers part 3 have all grossed a billion plus dollars. Movies are global grosses are global now and movies do not need to play for 6 months in a theatre to do well, so get over it.
If that "get over it" comment is directed at me, I'll just deflect that back at you. I'm entitled to my opinion.
quote: Terry Lynn-Stevens
With John Carter being the only big giant flop last year, I am not sure why Spielberg is worried.
John Carter was probably the biggest flop last year, but studios lost money on quite a few other titles. I can recall flops like A Thousand Words, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Cloud Atlas, Dredd, Rock of Ages, That's My Boy and Total Recall just off the cuff. Some of those, Cloud Atlas in particular, were box office disasters in their own right.
I'm guessing After Earth is the biggest flop of 2013 so far.
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Terry Lynn-Stevens
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1081
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Dec 2012
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posted 06-19-2013 03:18 PM
quote:
John Carter was probably the biggest flop last year, but studios lost money on quite a few other titles. I can recall flops like A Thousand Words, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Cloud Atlas, Dredd, Rock of Ages, That's My Boy and Total Recall just off the cuff. Some of those, Cloud Atlas in particular, were box office disasters in their own right.
I'm guessing After Earth is the biggest flop of 2013 so far.
This type of list looks no different than any other year for the last 20 years, so I am not sure what exactly your point it. There are flops every single year.
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Terry Lynn-Stevens
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1081
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Dec 2012
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posted 06-19-2013 09:32 PM
quote: Bobby Henderson
If the tastes of the general public suddenly shifts, like it has in the past, these huge companies are going to be caught off guard by it.
I highly doubt this, we have seen the epic tent pole/sequels since the late 70's. We are also seeing reboots faster than ever before. Bobby, keep in mind that we have seen 7 Batman films since 1989, Spider-man is already on the second go around, Iron Man 3 just cleared a BILLION dollars......Pirates 4 cleared a BILLION dollar....Transformers 3 cleared a BILLION dollars...Harry Potter 7 combined cleared 2 BILLION dollars, we are also now seeing more and more franchises than we have ever seen in the past, so thinking the studios will be caught off guard is foolish thinking.
James Cameron (unlike Spielberg, Francais Ford Coppola and Lucas) did something those three could not, Cameron very successfully created his own original franchise later in his career. Don't forget that Avatar is a 2.7 BILLION dollar movie.
There is no change coming, the change has already happened and it was the creation of the worldwide billion dollar film, the second, third and even fourth installments of these franchises are fueling it.
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Marcel Birgelen
Film God
Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 06-20-2013 01:08 AM
quote: Terry Lynn-Stevens
Marcel, I said later in their careers, not early. Cameron create a 2.7 Billion dollar film which will be now become a franchise. This late in his career compared to the very good success he had early in his career.
Well, I fail to see how this is relevant in any way. Lucas managed some way or another to keep the Star Wars franchise alive up until this very day... Maybe little James Cameron already dreamed of blue alien kitties? Just like he dreamed of Terminators (I wonder if they had an Austrian accent in his dreams too).
And isn't Lucas somehow the granddaddy of movie franchise? He was one of the first to work out a deal between the movie studio that paid for his work, to maintain all the rights for franchised products, because at the time, they didn't think it was worth a buck...
Also, Lucas managed to do some other things on the side (let's say, later in his career), while not being busy with his (arguably) not so great directing career: He created ILM, still one of the most respected special effect houses on the planet. He created Skywalker Sound, which have their hands on almost any major Hollywood production. He created Lucasfilm Games, later LucasArts, which had its own bunch of very successful franchises. And besides that, he also created Pixar, although it would not be fair to credit him for all the successes they had.
Ah... by the way, he also created THX. They have become very successful in selling stickers for all your equipment, alongside a bunch of very cool trailers you are then entitled to play on that stickered equipment.
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 06-20-2013 12:08 PM
quote: Terry Lynn-Stevens
I highly doubt this, we have seen the epic tent pole/sequels since the late 70's. We are also seeing reboots faster than ever before. Bobby, keep in mind that we have seen 7 Batman films since 1989, Spider-man is already on the second go around, Iron Man 3 just cleared a BILLION dollars......Pirates 4 cleared a BILLION dollar....Transformers 3 cleared a BILLION dollars...Harry Potter 7 combined cleared 2 BILLION dollars, we are also now seeing more and more franchises than we have ever seen in the past, so thinking the studios will be caught off guard is foolish thinking.
Do you not see a troubling trend with this? Remakes and franchise re-boots faster and faster? Shit. Why even do a sequel to Avatar? Just remake the first movie! And then remake it 2 years later. And then remake it the fourth time just a year after that. The audiences are stupid enough to just keep buying it.
The money these movies are making is irrelevant given the fact they monopolize the overwhelming majority of first run movie screens. If anyone wants to go to the movies these are the only kinds of movies they're going to be able to see. Their only other choice is to doing something else with their leisure time or stay at home.
A studio like Sony can try re-booting Spiderman four years from now if it likes, to cut the period between re-boots to half the decade it waited last time. Maybe audiences will keep showing up for the repeats like cattle.
Or maybe they'll drop that kind of crap all of a sudden and make it crash like Disco did back in the late 1970's.
quote: Mike Blakesley
Sure they do. There are lots of quirky little off-beat movies every year, both from indies and from the major studios. They are the ones you find at the bottom of the weekly gross charts.
They're also the movies you find in the fewest theaters. The big studios don't make much of an effort to market smaller movies (and that's understandable considering the high cost of advertising). The indie outlets don't have the marketing budgets to push their best movies in the same manner as a big budget release from a major studio. In the end, word of mouth isn't for squat on the smaller releases. Most viewers only "discover" those movies after they've been released onto home video.
I've seen this play out many times right here on the local level. I sat in a virtually empty theater watching Hoop Dreams the one week it showed here in Lawton. My late friend and Carmike 8 manager Jack Connor and I would joke about how we were the practically the only people to watch The Usual Suspects when it played there -again for only 1 week to mostly empty houses. Then I'd hear complaints from locals, "I rented The Usual Suspects this weekend. What a great movie! How come the Carmike theater doesn't get good movies like that?"
![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
There is a possible "equalizer" with some advertising on the horizon. TV and newspaper advertising isn't worth much of a damn anymore.
Newspapers around the country are reeling. With circulation numbers continuing to drop they're having a harder time justifying the ad prices they're commanding. Commercial driven broadcast & cable TV is more crappy than it's ever been. So many channels are polluted with so-called "reality TV" nonsense. I can't help but wonder just what kind of demographic these channels are pulling.
These days if I want to look up anything about new movies, show times at various theaters, etc. I'm always looking on the Internet. It's rare for me to find out about a new movie by way of TV or a newspaper.
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