xyzzy
@xyzzy@lemm.ee
- Comment on Highest 2 Lowest | Official Teaser HD | A24 2 days ago:
Denzel Washington is a 70-year-old man.
- Comment on Trump announces 100% tariffs on movies ‘produced in foreign lands’ 3 days ago:
Trump doesn’t even know, so no one else does either. For all we know, it might mean new Criterion 4K Blu-rays would be priced at $80.
- Comment on Now You See Me: Now You Don’t (2025) Official Trailer 1 week ago:
First of all, that photo is so silly looking that it looks like a parody of Hollywood blockbusters
Second, the first woman on the left is staring directly at the camera
- Comment on Adam Driver Praises Francis Ford Coppola For “Not Letting The Money Dictate” ‘Megalopolis’ At AFI Life Achievement Tribute 1 week ago:
Coppola self-funded Megalopolis to the tune of $120M. It has a 4.7 on IMDB.
Every creative swing doesn’t need to be successful, but you probably want to tighten up the script you’ve been working on for literally 40 years if you’re going to invest that kind of money…
- Comment on The smash success of "Sinners" could shift Hollywood's power balance 1 week ago:
Is there ever a time when Hollywood isn’t desperate these days? It’s the first word that comes to mind to describe it.
- Comment on Predator: Badlands Teaser Trailer (2025) 2 weeks ago:
BWAOOOOOOOOooooo
- Comment on Toys ‘R’ Us Live-Action Movie in the Works With Story Kitchen (EXCLUSIVE) 2 weeks ago:
Next up: Martin Scorsese’s Kool-Aid.
- Comment on Morpheus Actor Laurence Fishburne Reveals He Was Turned Down for The Matrix Resurrections — So He Might Not Be Back for Matrix 5 Either - IGN 2 weeks ago:
I watched it. The plot really only served as an extended middle finger to Warner Bros. After I finished it, I just thought what a waste. It had promise, but it didn’t try anything new or expand the world in any way.
- Comment on Hollywood Execs Fear Ryan Coogler’s Sinners Deal ‘Could End the Studio System’ 2 weeks ago:
The rights are reassigned after 25 years, so I don’t really think the theatrical release is a concern in this case.
- Comment on Hollywood Execs Fear Ryan Coogler’s Sinners Deal ‘Could End the Studio System’ 2 weeks ago:
They don’t have to do anything. Licensing companies will come knocking with a briefcase of money, and all they have to do is sign. It will likely result in better availability, not worse, because it’s not bound to studios. Studios can hold back releases because they want to release them later, or tie them into a remake schedule, then the remake gets canceled and they never get around to it, etc.
(And although it’s just a hypothetical, in my system above, the rights holders would always be known.)
- Comment on Hollywood Execs Fear Ryan Coogler’s Sinners Deal ‘Could End the Studio System’ 2 weeks ago:
Look at it this way: movies will be around in 100 years; studios may or may not be. The goal is movies.
Is there value in a system that isn’t essential? Writers are essential. Actors are essential. Directors are essential. Camera equipment and marketing are essential, but equipment rental companies and marketing companies exist. Investment is essential for anything larger than a student film, but startups do it every day through the VC system.
Studios consolidate all of that under one roof and streamline it, but that’s not essential. It’s convenient. And no VC demands 100% ownership of the company, so why should studios get that? The execs aren’t the ones working 16-hour days to create something.
The way that it should work is everyone involved in producing the movie should get shares in the enterprise, sized according to their role, down to the best boy. The investors should also get a big cut of shares as well, to make it worthwhile. The holding company that’s created to hold the film’s rights should be run by the biggest shareholders in order to determine future licensing deals. This should all be set out up front in contacts.
Then each worker can build a portfolio of shares and trade them on a market—not alongside companies on, like, Nasdaq, but a separate market, although I could imagine a mutual fund of movie rights appearing on the regular market as well. If the investors or creatives want to buy up worker shares, they can compete to offer up a fair price.
This is also how it should work with video games.
- Comment on Shawn Levy's "Star Wars" movie starring Ryan Gosling officially titled "Star Wars: Starfighter" — releases May 28, 2027 2 weeks ago:
One of several theatrical projects still in development from Lucasfilm, including films by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, James Mangold, Taika Waititi and a new trilogy by Simon Kinberg, Levy’s film — Star Wars: Starfighter — will star Gosling and go into production starting this fall.
Time for SEVEN new Star Wars movies, because they’ve learned nothing.
I guess they think 6 years from the last cinematic debacle was enough time, especially considering the MCU has ran ashore.
- Comment on Jack Black tells Minecraft Movie audience to stop throwing popcorn 3 weeks ago:
In the real world people are nuanced and complex
- Comment on Hollywood Is Cranking Out Original Movies. Audiences Aren’t Showing Up. 3 weeks ago:
I mean, sure, but compelling characters and interesting situations is not what you said. You talked about making the viewer uncomfortable. It’s not hard to identify characters and situations that are compelling and interesting and yet don’t particularly challenge the viewer or make them feel uncomfortable.
- Comment on Hollywood Is Cranking Out Original Movies. Audiences Aren’t Showing Up. 3 weeks ago:
But themes and conflicts that make you uncomfortable are what makes fiction interesting
Most moviegoers want to shut their brains off and escape and be entertained for 90-120 minutes. Not be challenged or be uncomfortable.
I own thousands of movies on 4K and Blu-ray. I’ve had a surround sound setup since the mid-2000s. I have complete collections of many directors’ entire filmographies. Even in my case, the ratio of entertained to challenged that I want most nights is about 90% to 10%.
- Comment on Hollywood Is Cranking Out Original Movies. Audiences Aren’t Showing Up. 3 weeks ago:
I liked the movie, but it had no chance. The budget was way too big. It should never have been given such a big budget.
I want more mid-budget original movies that actually have a chance of financial success.
- Comment on Bryce Dallas Howard's New Documentary Uncovers the Emotional Ties Between Humans and Pets 3 weeks ago:
Uh, you want to expand on that?
- Comment on Warner Bros. Confirms New 'Gremlins' Movie and 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice' Sequel 3 weeks ago:
Obviously Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was inevitable.
Red Letter Media initially joked about Gremlins 3 bringing chaos to the White House and Capitol Hill, but the concept doesn’t work anymore (for obvious reasons). So they did a new pitch to set it in Hollywood instead.
- Comment on Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav’s 2024 Pay Rises 4% to Nearly $52 Million 3 weeks ago:
Meanwhile, Warner Bros. is considering selling off the rights to Looney Tunes.
- Comment on Star Wars original cut to be screened this summer in London 3 weeks ago:
Why one over the other? Genuinely curious since I haven’t watched either, but have considered taking the time to upgrade my ancient non-anamorphic DVD copies
- Comment on Disney/Marvel will be releasing "CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD" on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray on May 13. 4 weeks ago:
What I really look for in a superhero movie is an 80-year-old CGI villain
- Comment on ‘A Minecraft Movie’ Breaks Ground Overseas With Strong $18M+ Through Thursday – International Box Office 4 weeks ago:
And this is why we just get bland, by the numbers, marketable IP vehicles from studios now instead of original movie concepts.
- Comment on Robert McGinnis, Creator of Iconic James Bond Posters, Dies at 99 4 weeks ago:
Yeah, that poster for Diamonds Are Forever is the best thing about the movie.
- Comment on Val Kilmer, Actor Renowned for Receding Into His Roles, Dies at 65 5 weeks ago:
Pneumonia. RIP.
- Comment on Disney Announces Restored And Remastered ‘Lilo & Stitch’ 4K Blu-Ray 5 weeks ago:
It has Dolby Vision
- Comment on From Cleaner Bathrooms to Fewer Trailers, 5 Movie Theater Owners on Ways to Bring Audiences Back to Cinemas 5 weeks ago:
So long as my local theater has reserved seating, I’ll continue to show up 20 minutes late, skip all the actual TV commercials, and be just in time for the movie.
Maybe they should start with “what do audiences want” versus “how can we make more money”?
- Comment on Coyote vs. Acme is getting its day in theaters 5 weeks ago:
I wasn’t crazy about The Day The Earth Blew Up, but I’ll check this out when it’s released here.
- Comment on 'Joker,' 'Matrix' producer files for bankruptcy protection amid Warner Bros. fight 5 weeks ago:
The company may attribute it to the legal fight in order to make itself look like the victim and deflect blame from itself, but the actual culprit appears to be spending too much money, to the point where they weren’t paying screenwriters. Village Roadshow took on a bunch of debt to finance this debacle.
Former Sony executive Steve Mosko, who joined Village Roadshow in 2018 as chief executive, left this year. He had attempted to build Village Roadshow into an independent studio that produced its own movies and television shows.
But the Mosko-led campaign to remake the company into a full-service studio proved costly and untimely.
Village Roadshow put into development 99 feature films, 166 scripted television series and 67 unscripted series. Of those, six movies and seven television series went into production. “No film or television series that was produced was able to create a profit that could sustain the studio business,” Maib wrote.
So Mosko cratered the company with a half-baked plan and then danced away without consequences. Variety says
Mosko, well-liked and deeply experienced, will have his pick of new corporate jobs. Some individuals close to his thinking said he may take a stab at producing on his own.
Also note
Village Roadshow’s library assets generate about $50 million a year in revenue, according to Maib’s declaration.
They literally would be better off if they had just done nothing.
- Comment on Millie Bobby Brown, the Netflix algorithm queen who lives on a farm far with more than 45 animals 5 weeks ago:
“I also struggle with loneliness a bit. I always felt quite alone in a crowded room, like I was just one of a kind, like nobody ever really understood me.”
On the other hand, she could struggle with this and not be rich. So it probably worked out pretty well for her.
- Comment on Is ‘Mickey 17’ the latest victim of the Oscars’ newest curse? 5 weeks ago:
I don’t think it really matters much. For example, Chloé Zhao doesn’t seem to be having trouble getting big names to line up to fund or star in her next project (a dramatized tragic moment in the life of William Shakespeare). I suspect most blame the failure of The Eternals on other factors (like the terrible script), not her. I further suspect that the house it probably paid for is more than enough to make up for any twinge of disappointment she has that it didn’t please the fans.