Spielberg and Lucas n the future of film

[Simon Edmondson]

http://mobile.theverge.com/2013/6/13/44254...ssive-implosion

 

perhaps of interest ?

[largento]

Lucas has been saying for years that he thinks the cheaper tools available were going to lead to films going smaller, now it sounds like he thinks studios are going the opposite way.

 

Sounds like they are predicting a future version of the ol' Cinerama tactic that they used in the 50s to compete with television.

 

I wonder if I would pay $50 to go see an event movie of cosmic proportions?

 

Sad thing, is I know I'd consider it.

 

Hope Lucas isn't telling us what they plan to do with Episode VII. :-)

[Simon Edmondson]

Lucas has been saying for years that he thinks the cheaper tools available were going to lead to films going smaller, now it sounds like he thinks studios are going the opposite way.

 

Sounds like they are predicting a future version of the ol' Cinerama tactic that they used in the 50s to compete with television.

 

I wonder if I would pay $50 to go see an event movie of cosmic proportions?

 

Sad thing, is I know I'd consider it.

 

Hope Lucas isn't telling us what they plan to do with Episode VII. :-)

 

 

Mark

 

I'm barely financially adequate let alone literate but, from what I gather, a large part of movie deals are funded on TV and recorded media ( of whatever form ) the theatrical release gains the publicity and the big profit ( if any ) and the post release covers the production costs. Its more complicated than that so apologies for the generalisation. If they make the films BIG and into events which can only be seen in theatres, would that preclude such deals and cut them off from such funding? If that happened and they went for the $50 + ticket price as a way to cover their costs wouldn't it inevitably lead to massive bankruptcies when such a film bombed?

 

I don't know much about the french film industry, other than I like their films, it does receive a lot of government support in many ways but it remains popular with audiences there and produces a lot of films each year. Part of the reason I like their films is that they tend to avoid big budget spectaculars and rely more on effective narrative, well told. I have endured some clunkers too but that happens with Hollywood too.

 

One of my fave films of the past ten years was "Kitchen Stories', a swedish film set in the 50's. No sex, no violence, no special effects, very little dialogue, and largely set in the kitchen of a solitary man living in rural Sweden. I think I may have missed a lot of cultural sub text but it was still very funny and wonderfully done.

regards

simon

[higginsdj]

To be honest I think a crash in that industry would be a good thing! The 'blockbuster' mentality breeds repetition and predictability (ie they are being made to a studios's recipe) in movies of today. How often do you now watch a movie only to be able to predict exactly what will happen next? You look at an animation adn you say - yeah that was made by Pixar - why, because they animate to a recipe/style. There is no new/original character in their characters.

 

The trouble is, is that it is (and has been for quite some time) a money making enterprise rather than a creative enterprise - yet the truely big blockbusteers are usually the ones bourne out of creativity. ie those story ideas that the big studios didn't want to buy into! These days I don't bother going to the cinema I just buy DVD's of things that look and sound interesting/different.

 

Cheers

[fae_alba]

I wonder if I would pay $50 to go see an event movie of cosmic proportions?

 

I I take my wife and daughter, after the tickets, snacks and drinks, $50 is not hard to spend even now. Add in springing for imax or 3d and I can't my blessings if I spend less

[largento]

Cinerama films couldn't be shown on television, either. Even with widescreen TVs and smilebox formatting, you don't get the same impact.

 

I know, myself, I've paid considerably more to go to an amusement park to see/ride a special film attraction. Universal Studios did the tremendous Terminator 3D attraction with a 3D film and animatronic terminators. I've not seen the revamped Star Tours at Disneyworld, but I rode the original as many times as I could. And these were basically short films.

 

If Star Wars VII were only released in a limited number of stadiums where you enter the theater through an attraction that makes you feel like you've stepped into the Star Wars universe, complete with marching Stormtroopers and maybe walk past a full size Millenium Falcon into a stadium designed to look like you are on an alien world with an enormous wraparound screen, the most incredible sound system and 3D ever devised, designed to work specifically for that auditorium, with rumble seats and maybe even a floor that moves in such a way that the space ships' movement seems even more thrilling; if blaster fire could shoot out of the screen and set off "explosions" in the theater; if some sequences are added to by set extensions and extras in the stadium; if as the movie ends in celebration, you exit through an actual celebration in a recreation of the set leading into restaurants and gift shops and finally back to the real world...

 

...then I'd pay $50 to go see it.

 

DVDs and Blu-Rays could be sold while the movie was still at the theater, because you'd know that it wouldn't be the same experience. Only the theater could give you that experience ...and that's why you'd go back again.

 

If this is the only film the studio releases that year, then they could see enormous profit from an expenditure that might be less than what they spend on a year's worth of releases. Especially if the theater chains share the cost of creating the venues.

 

BUT... I don't see this happening. People won't be satisfied with one or just a few movies a year. It might start off great, but then when the novelty wears off, it'll collapse. Or, even more likely, studios will start trying to figure out how they can do it cheaper and the wow factor will be lessened to the point where it's no longer perceived as worth the ticket price.

 

What to me seems more likely is that when China takes over the position as the biggest box office, films will be tailored for Chinese audiences and Hollywood might see itself replaced by Chinese movie studios altogether.