Steven Spielberg Predicts 'Implosion' of Film Industry

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Re: Steven Spielberg Predicts 'Implosion' of Film Industry

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Haven't seen Lone Ranger, but its a fecking Western, it did not need such a high budget surely.

2 of my fave films of recent years, The Raid and Drive had low budgets - $1 Miillion and $13 Million respectively. They made 5 to 10 times that back at the box office.

One thing I would like to see more of are older films being reshown on the big screen. I went to see Jaws at the cinema when it was rereleased and it looked incredible. The advent of BluRay is a perfect excuse to introduce another generation of movie watchers to some old classics. Reshow them in the cinema a month before the BluRay release. Alien, Bladerunner, Indiana Jones, Die Hard - I'd love to go and see those on the big screen with a theatre full of people who went there to enjoy the film, not just kill a couple of hours.
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Re: Steven Spielberg Predicts 'Implosion' of Film Industry

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kostmayer wrote:Haven't seen Lone Ranger, but its a fecking Western, it did not need such a high budget surely.

2 of my fave films of recent years, The Raid and Drive had low budgets - $1 Miillion and $13 Million respectively. They made 5 to 10 times that back at the box office.

One thing I would like to see more of are older films being reshown on the big screen. I went to see Jaws at the cinema when it was rereleased and it looked incredible. The advent of BluRay is a perfect excuse to introduce another generation of movie watchers to some old classics. Reshow them in the cinema a month before the BluRay release. Alien, Bladerunner, Indiana Jones, Die Hard - I'd love to go and see those on the big screen with a theatre full of people who went there to enjoy the film, not just kill a couple of hours.
I love the idea. So long as they re-release the originals and not some half ass remake.
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Re: Steven Spielberg Predicts 'Implosion' of Film Industry

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Jim wrote:Hire actors that don't suck. George, there is a reason that Jake Lloyd has not been in anything since E1. You guys tried your best to shove Hayden Christensen down our throats before you finally gave up. The industry tried to make people think that Megan Fox was a leading star. The industry tried to make people think that Kristen Stewart could act... at all.
George would also have to hire a director that didn't suck. ie someone that isn't him. I can't think of anything he's directed in the last 10 years that's been any good.
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Re: Steven Spielberg Predicts 'Implosion' of Film Industry

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Part of the decrease in frequency is lifestyle related - before Ian got hitched we'd spend a lot more time visiting with one another, most weekends really. So we'd go to the cinema most every week to see four or five films.

These days we don't have as many opportunities, like he said just once a month or so. There have been a lot of films that come and go without us having a chance to see them.

There's also repeat viewings. Back in the day it wasn't unusual that there just weren't enough new releases to fill our trips, so we would often see a given film twice or even three times at the cinema. Now that's extremely rare, partly because films just aren't around long enough to let us repeat one we liked. We saw Pacific Rim last week... even if we'd both loved it, this Saturday it's already down to a single showing in the whole day.

But frankly there are also just fewer and fewer films around that I want to see a second time. I honestly can't remember the last film I walked out of thinking it was fantastic. These days there are films I like, but mostly I'm just relieved when a film doesn't suck like most of them do.
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Re: Steven Spielberg Predicts 'Implosion' of Film Industry

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IanKennedy wrote:
kostmayer wrote:Haven't seen Lone Ranger, but its a fecking Western, it did not need such a high budget surely.

2 of my fave films of recent years, The Raid and Drive had low budgets - $1 Miillion and $13 Million respectively. They made 5 to 10 times that back at the box office.

One thing I would like to see more of are older films being reshown on the big screen. I went to see Jaws at the cinema when it was rereleased and it looked incredible. The advent of BluRay is a perfect excuse to introduce another generation of movie watchers to some old classics. Reshow them in the cinema a month before the BluRay release. Alien, Bladerunner, Indiana Jones, Die Hard - I'd love to go and see those on the big screen with a theatre full of people who went there to enjoy the film, not just kill a couple of hours.
I love the idea. So long as they re-release the originals and not some half ass remake.
Agreed - cannot tell you how many people want to see the original Star Wars films remastered, without all the fecking changes.
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Re: Steven Spielberg Predicts 'Implosion' of Film Industry

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I would pay full price for a remastered of the OT, and for the remastered Trek films (minus V) in theaters.
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Re: Steven Spielberg Predicts 'Implosion' of Film Industry

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GrahamKennedy wrote:Part of the decrease in frequency is lifestyle related - before Ian got hitched we'd spend a lot more time visiting with one another, most weekends really. So we'd go to the cinema most every week to see four or five films.

These days we don't have as many opportunities, like he said just once a month or so. There have been a lot of films that come and go without us having a chance to see them.

There's also repeat viewings. Back in the day it wasn't unusual that there just weren't enough new releases to fill our trips, so we would often see a given film twice or even three times at the cinema. Now that's extremely rare, partly because films just aren't around long enough to let us repeat one we liked. We saw Pacific Rim last week... even if we'd both loved it, this Saturday it's already down to a single showing in the whole day.

But frankly there are also just fewer and fewer films around that I want to see a second time. I honestly can't remember the last film I walked out of thinking it was fantastic. These days there are films I like, but mostly I'm just relieved when a film doesn't suck like most of them do.
Certainly true, however, there are plenty of times I visit and we don't end up going to the cinema at all. That's not a complaint ;)
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Re: Steven Spielberg Predicts 'Implosion' of Film Industry

Post by Graham Kennedy »

Yep. Just not that many good films around.
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Re: Steven Spielberg Predicts 'Implosion' of Film Industry

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A lot of these movies is just a SFX show, something that is extremely expensive. Gone are the days where s movie that was written in a way because SFX wouldn't perform the way they wanted. Or they became creative with SFX and did with garbage and made a great shot.

Now its just CGI and doing whatever you wanted.

I think studios need to go back to a smaller budget and get their people to think outside the box and not rely on SFX all the time.
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Re: Steven Spielberg Predicts 'Implosion' of Film Industry

Post by RK_Striker_JK_5 »

IanKennedy wrote: Certainly true, however, there are plenty of times I visit and we don't end up going to the cinema at all. That's not a complaint ;)
Well, it's always good for brothers to get along. :)

And... I don't have much else beyond that. ;) Yeah, movies are way over budgeted and it's gonna get increasingly hard for them to even break even.
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Re: Steven Spielberg Predicts 'Implosion' of Film Industry

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GrahamKennedy wrote:There's also repeat viewings. Back in the day it wasn't unusual that there just weren't enough new releases to fill our trips, so we would often see a given film twice or even three times at the cinema. Now that's extremely rare, partly because films just aren't around long enough to let us repeat one we liked. We saw Pacific Rim last week... even if we'd both loved it, this Saturday it's already down to a single showing in the whole day.
Which is odd, movies are like zombies around here. I'll go to the movies and find things that came out six weeks ago still with a full day of showings. When you've got 20+ screens and only one or two movies a week coming out. Well, one or two that get picked up. It's rare to see a "small" movie that gets even a full day of showings. Unless it's been pushed hard in advertising they rarely get much of a presence in the theater.
But frankly there are also just fewer and fewer films around that I want to see a second time. I honestly can't remember the last film I walked out of thinking it was fantastic. These days there are films I like, but mostly I'm just relieved when a film doesn't suck like most of them do.
I've got a feeling it's a combination of things for me. First and most importantly I'm getting older. After 30+ years of watching movies I've seen a ton of things. I'm not longer easily impressed. I've seen the cliche's a hundred times and usually done better. Few ideas I haven't heard before, etc. Truly original movie making is a rare thing. Second, I'm getting more and more critical. Writing as a hobby has me thinking a lot about what I write and as a consequence when I see something in the movies I think hard about it and a lot of things like that can't take scrutiny. The first thing I remember falling prey to this was Lost. After the second season it became more and more apparent they really had no clue what they were doing and I've had a few more shows that I should be able to get into I just can't because of how bad the writing is. I'm looking at you Revolution and Mass Effect 3. Finally, I really do think movies are getting shittier. As budgets balloon studios are not willing to take a risk. Then again I can't blame them when you're spending a quarter billion dollars to make a movie you want some guarantee it'll make money but at this point the cinema is 90% sequels, prequels, and reboots. I am so sick of reboots.
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Re: Steven Spielberg Predicts 'Implosion' of Film Industry

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Tyyr wrote:Second, I'm getting more and more critical. Writing as a hobby has me thinking a lot about what I write and as a consequence when I see something in the movies I think hard about it and a lot of things like that can't take scrutiny. The first thing I remember falling prey to this was Lost. After the second season it became more and more apparent they really had no clue what they were doing and I've had a few more shows that I should be able to get into I just can't because of how bad the writing is. I'm looking at you Revolution and Mass Effect 3.
I find this myself a lot,a ctually. One of the big moves of the last 10 years or so has been the rise of the online in-depth movie critic. Where a TV talking head might spend five minutes discussing any given film, you get the likes of SFDebris or the Nostalgia Critic or Confused Matthew who might do thirty minutes on one - and not just whether they like it, but detailed discussion of the themes, the story, the characters, etc. Probably the gold standard is Plinkett's 90 minute reviews of the prequels which, along with weird comedy, are some of the most incisive film critiques I've ever seen.

I watch a LOT of that kind of stuff. I've also done some of my own writing, which makes you think a lot about themes, character, story arcs, and how to mesh them. Not that I profess to be any kind of expert - actually one of the humbling things about trying to write your own stuff is that you soon realise just how hard it is to write even passable fiction.

But one side effect of all that is that I find myself picking apart movies much more than I used to, because I can just recognise the specific flaws much more easily than I used to.
Finally, I really do think movies are getting shittier. As budgets balloon studios are not willing to take a risk. Then again I can't blame them when you're spending a quarter billion dollars to make a movie you want some guarantee it'll make money but at this point the cinema is 90% sequels, prequels, and reboots. I am so sick of reboots.
Yeah, I have to say if it was my $200 million I was putting into a movie, I'd want to be pretty damn certain that I got it back and then some. Audience satisfaction be damned.
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Re: Steven Spielberg Predicts 'Implosion' of Film Industry

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GrahamKennedy wrote:I find this myself a lot,a ctually. One of the big moves of the last 10 years or so has been the rise of the online in-depth movie critic. Where a TV talking head might spend five minutes discussing any given film, you get the likes of SFDebris or the Nostalgia Critic or Confused Matthew who might do thirty minutes on one - and not just whether they like it, but detailed discussion of the themes, the story, the characters, etc. Probably the gold standard is Plinkett's 90 minute reviews of the prequels which, along with weird comedy, are some of the most incisive film critiques I've ever seen.

I watch a LOT of that kind of stuff. I've also done some of my own writing, which makes you think a lot about themes, character, story arcs, and how to mesh them. Not that I profess to be any kind of expert - actually one of the humbling things about trying to write your own stuff is that you soon realise just how hard it is to write even passable fiction.

But one side effect of all that is that I find myself picking apart movies much more than I used to, because I can just recognise the specific flaws much more easily than I used to.
That's part of it with me. Really, SFDebris spends 15 minutes ripping on a single episode of a show that was only 44 minutes long to begin with. Some of his movie reviews are half as long as the movies they are dissecting. I love that kind of in-depth analysis. Combined with more writing of my own and it can get hard to put anything down on paper sometimes because I find myself asking questions I know the reviewers I follow would ask or questions I would ask and I have to get an answer. Then again, something I've also learned is that sometimes cliches or stereotypes aren't entirely bad, it's all in how you use them.

I personally think that more entertainment deserves to have that kind of critical eye cast on it. Nit-picking and being critical of something doesn't mean you don't like it. There are plenty of books, shows, games, and movies that I like that have serious issues. So for everything done wrong you have to give credit where it's due and I try to but damn movies are making that harder and harder now a days. The Transformers franchise degraded until I found the third down right offensive.

Hell, I wrote 30,000 words about Mass Effect 3.
Yeah, I have to say if it was my $200 million I was putting into a movie, I'd want to be pretty damn certain that I got it back and then some. Audience satisfaction be damned.
The problem is that movie studios are banking their entire companies on one or two mega-budget blockbusters a year. These movies are so risky that they have to do everything they can to try and make sure they succeed, but they also can't risk any other movie not doing well either. They're dragging everything down.
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Re: Steven Spielberg Predicts 'Implosion' of Film Industry

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Tyyr wrote:Which is odd, movies are like zombies around here. I'll go to the movies and find things that came out six weeks ago still with a full day of showings. When you've got 20+ screens and only one or two movies a week coming out. Well, one or two that get picked up. It's rare to see a "small" movie that gets even a full day of showings. Unless it's been pushed hard in advertising they rarely get much of a presence in the theater.
I think It's a difference in scale, here a large 'multiplex' will only have 15 screens. The one we typically go to has only 9 screens. A lot of the smaller in town cinemas are only 1 or 2 screens. That makes the difference. Small movies are quite common here as are films that are made over here and often don't get over there unless they become really popular over here. Even then if that happens you will often remake them. For example "Death at a Funeral" was a small british comedy that was a bit of a surprise hit. It was then remade for the US market (badly I would point out). So more things into less space.
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Re: Steven Spielberg Predicts 'Implosion' of Film Industry

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GrahamKennedy wrote:Yeah, I have to say if it was my $200 million I was putting into a movie, I'd want to be pretty damn certain that I got it back and then some. Audience satisfaction be damned.
Surely the way you get it back is to not take the attitude "Audience satisfaction be damned" :)
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