Filmmaking / Directing : Another One For You All by Tony Ray

I don't pretend to understand most things big studios do, but personally I have seen all of ONE movie in a theater since before the pandemic. For a while now I have been WAY more excited about at-home, streaming series releases.

I think it is a tale as old as time. Studio executives are terrified of losing their jobs. And the way you keep your job is to make what are considered by corporate media standards as 'safe bets'. They don't want to be the person who makes the big script buy on a unique project and have it stall out in development hell or flop. They're told that they have only 4 or 5 shots in any given year to make a film that crosses a hundred million at the box office.

So they go back to their libraries and remake things that were successful (or reasonably successful) and hope to basically repackage franchises that Marketing can get behind. Then if it fails they can point to a history of a franchise as a defense for why they chose to make the movie.

The is a lot to digest here, but as a huge fan of the original Crow, I am just glad we never saw a Mark Wahlberg version.

My dad used to say you don't know what people are going to spend their hard earned pennies on and having been employed at a couple of studios, I haven't seen any thing to debunk that very simple explanation. People like studio conglomerates rationalize their choices ("It's too much money?" I'd rather stay home and stream?" "Who are these people in this film" " "What? Another remake? What were they thinking?" "Another Crow? Another Fall Guy why I remember the old TV show? and that actor who died on set"_ these are the most common excuses I have come across. Oftentimes a studio will say hey Bill Skasgaard made us money for It. Why not cast him in something else? His fans will follow and the nostalgia factor will seep in

Sometimes studios believe an older IP won't be remembered by Millenials/Gen Z or TikTokers. Therefore we can redo/reimagine and watch the money roll in!

And when a little film like John Wick or prior to that Taken comes along and creates something distinctly different, they can not help themselves and spin off as many films/video games. tv shows as possible wearing out what was great about them in the first place.

Note; Netflix acquired Callas with Angelina Jolie- . Why this film isn't being shown in theatres...I wonder why that is? Netflix scores a first run property with an Academy Award winning actress and its relegated to streaming. Could it be Miss Jolie is not as bankable as she once was? Perhaps the releasing studio did not like what they saw and decided to sell it off to recoup some on the invested finances?

annie burdeos

Annie Marie Burdeos The nostalgia-driven stuff is obviously a no-brainer for producers, e.g. the latest installment in the Beverly Hills Cop franchise, but it feels, as a film consumer, like studio execs, in general, don't go "How many Wick movies and spinoffs do we need?" I'm a huge fan of "The Terminator", but do you just make these movies in perpetuity?

I only saw the first one, but the physics-be-damned fodder of the "Fast and Furious" movies seems to generate $$$$ from a seemingly rabid fanbase. I guess "If it ain't broke don't fix it" applies.

We know a very successful former studio boss. He would tell us privately he saves the best ideas for the end of his own exec contract, spend company funds to develop them so that there is an overlap that forces the company to renew his contract :)

Anyways, if you find yourself as a studio boss making $1M+ a year with stock options, private jets & company credit cards to eat expensive dinners for free, I think most of us will go for sure things like reboots and sequels. Only need one hit to cover the rest of losses.

Dan MaxXx That's absolutely hysterical and genius of him!!!!!!! Lol

Mike Childress To be fair, action is the most translatable genre in the world. And the first on was, by far, the best one IMO.

Annie Marie Burdeos It always struck me as odd that people within the industry always say that nobody knows what the consumer wants, but when someone tries to pitch them a project they are instantaneously tuned in to the minds of every consumer in the world.

Jason Mirch That's understandable. Everyone's jockeying for position while trying not to lose their jobs in the process. But I would think that, in an effort to find new blood, if an executive has 4-5 chances to get a hit, maybe they would save that last chance for a wild card pick. Just a thought.

Mike Childress Yeah, I think the last time I saw a movie in theaters was Joker. I kind of wish I would've seen Dune in theaters, but I brushed it off as another reboot at the time.

Tom Lapke Yeah, the original Crow was amazing in every way. The cinematography, the story, the acting. The soundtrack will never be beat, and some of the lines are absolute diamonds.

"'God' is the word for 'mother' on the lips of all children."

"Is that gas I smell?"

"I say I'm dead, and I move."

Perfection. I just wish Brandon Lee would've survived it.