Terminator Reboot

[Generalzod]

Can't Hollywood leave anything alone:

http://au.ign.com/articles/2013/06/27/terminator-reboot-slated-for-summer-2015-release

 

[1 Eyed TEZZA]

Idiots. This will crash and burn and deservedly so.

 

[Springs]

With all the good books and stories and screenplays out there to adapt, Hollywood continues to beat dead horses. All they care about is the big blockbuster. Spielberg even said they hardly let him make Lincoln, he was going to take it to HBO. If it continues this way the movie theatres will just be full of CGI-fests and all the smaller stories will be on TV.
This is ridiculous. Can't imagine what it will be like in 50 years.

 

[Tommy Smith]

Couldn't agree more. They're just after the mega blockbuster "tentpole" movies that will make $250 million + at the box office even if it's average at best.

On a certain level you can certainly understand why they're doing it; but surely there is also room for great original stories.

I guess it's part of the reason why tv, and HBO in particular, has become so dominant. Great tv series based on character development and strong storylines that are somewhat filling the void left by shallow Hollywood film studios.

 

[Danish]

I read somewhere that the recent film studio reliance on big blockbusters and safe movies (like reboots/sequels) is somewhat tied to the huge dip in DVD sales on account of pirating.

Something along the lines of many cult films used to not necessarily have a huge take at the box office but over time made millions in DVD sales. Mix that with blockbusters making millions at the box office AND in DVD sales and studios used to have buttloads of residual cash pouring in that they could use to fund pet projects, high risk films, or other low earning movies knowing that they could subsidise them. These days that money is no longer there so they have to rely on immediate return of investment, and that only comes from big, safe blockbuster pictures.

The good news is TV studios still seem to be able to pump out quality programming, and crowd funding is making independent movies a possibility again.

Either way though we are probably stuck with the big studios producing a never ending stream of blockbuster crap for a while yet

 

[bileduct]

Lame.

I didn't even bother with the last Terminator film. I was left with absolutely no interest in this series after the third one.

 

[Zoidberg]

Is it necessarily a remake?
Arnie is in it.
May be more of a side story? No John Connor.
I'd rather they continue on from Terminator Salvation. It wasn't a very good movie but that universe, if done right, can be amazing.

 

[Misanthrope]

I don't know why everybody is so butt-hurt. The last two additions to the current mythology were crap.

We've still got Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement 2 if we want to watch them, and they might go and surprise us by making a decent movie.

 

[umina panther]

I almost liked Salvation but it wasn't quite right

 

[Misanthrope]

It focused on the wrong character. Worthington was infinitely more interesting than any of the humans.

 

[Springs]

I read somewhere that the recent film studio reliance on big blockbusters and safe movies (like reboots/sequels) is somewhat tied to the huge dip in DVD sales on account of pirating.

Something along the lines of many cult films used to not necessarily have a huge take at the box office but over time made millions in DVD sales. Mix that with blockbusters making millions at the box office AND in DVD sales and studios used to have buttloads of residual cash pouring in that they could use to fund pet projects, high risk films, or other low earning movies knowing that they could subsidise them. These days that money is no longer there so they have to rely on immediate return of investment, and that only comes from big, safe blockbuster pictures.

The good news is TV studios still seem to be able to pump out quality programming, and crowd funding is making independent movies a possibility again.

Either way though we are probably stuck with the big studios producing a never ending stream of blockbuster crap for a while yet

It's disappointing. I think it's Woody Allen who said give me a million to make a film and I'll give you back fifty. But with Hollywood it's more about spending 100 million to make 500 million.
The Shawshank Redemption was a film that was disappointing at the box office but made a load on home video. It's unlikely studios would opt for a risk like that now.

How are TV studios making as much money though? For example HBO is a premium cable channel in the US and many people opt to just download their shows rather than subscribe. This would hurt DVD sales as well.

 

[Danish]

They make their money through advertising, which movies pretty much can't access besides through shoehorning in horrendous product placement (which TV can also do anyway). People also still seem to buy box sets I believe. The breaking Bad box sets are worth buying just so you can watch unedited crap which the downloaded stuff is.

A movie like shawshank will never happen again, largely because if a movie flops at the box office, no one is going to bother buying the DVD. They'll just steal it.

It's a shame really, as while woody Allen could now film an Eskimo taking a shit and make 50 million off it, he wasn't always a well known bankable director. Someone like him probably wouldn't even get a run these days

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

Big blockbusters aside, very few films make their money back on theatrical release. Think of theatrical as more of a way to advertise rather than profit.

Studios won't risk anything that they don't see as a lock with either a big name star, director, of something with a previous existing fan base such as Transformers, Terminator, Man Of Steel, blah blah. Its even gotten to the stage where potential scripts (after getting through the slush pit) are then sent through a machine that then compares the script with a shitload of statistical data on movies that have been commercially successful previously to recommend changes. It costs 20k a pop to do it, but for a big blockbuster that's chump change.

Long story short, don't expect anything fresh and new to come out of the big studios. The ironic thing is this process would actually reject Batman if someone were to only think it up now. lol.

As for how they make their money, it's not easy, but there are local sales, foreign sales (there are hundreds of countries/territories to sell through), theatrical, TV, digital, on demand etc that can all bring in a fee for the film. These are things that can continue to drip money in for years.

The other thing is transmedia. Think about things like the Dead Space game that also had a DVD released with it to buy. Toy lines, apps, merchandise in general etc. Then there's the 3-4 different versions of the film that will eventually get released over time.

The fact is, DVD is going to die out and some point, even physical sales of films in any format will fall. That's why outside of the big blockbuster movies, movie budgets are actually falling quite substantially. 3mil is the new 10mil by today's standard because outside the big blockbuster nobody can create or justify the value of projects and are forced to bring their budgets down. This may not actually be a bad thing, but the big blockbusters which get all the press make it look like budgets are getting bigger.

Also I think for a commercial success you need your budget and then 50% of that budget for marketing. So a 100mil film requires an additional 50mil to give it a genuine shot of making it's money back. I may be wrong on that, but I'm pretty sure it was 50%.

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

Also, on Terminator they're going to push this HARD. IIRC the rights to Terminator revert back to James Cameron in 2019. So they're going to be pushing a fine line if they want to release a new trilogy before they lose it.

 

[Misanthrope]

At the rate Cameron makes movies, it'd be 3019 before he made use of his reclaimed rights.

 

[Mader45]

I think we'll get a lot more movies like Paranormal Activity in the future. Made by a small group of people for cheap, does amazing at festivals, gets picked up for distribution and the studios make 95% of the revenue while the creators get enough to make sequels theyre contractually forced into by the studios until they quit and someone else takes over the franchise and it looks nothing like the original.

There are a lot of people trying to produce good online content. And some of the shit people are making is pretty impressive. As a short film maker im so f**king pissed at the fact that in this country you cant even have a toy gun as a prop without having a paid registered firearms person on set to make sure your piece of plastic doesnt melt in the sun but you watch 15 year old kids in America making war shorts that look amazingwith these incredible machine gun props they buy for $50.

 

[Bulldog Force]

No Arny = fail.

 

[Springs]

In regards to the earlier point about TV network still able to produce quality content, geez they make some crap as well. The amount of promising shows cancelled to make yet another cop/detective/lawyer/doctor show makes them just as bad as movie studios in my opinion. I was reading up about the American shows the networks have renewed and the new shows coming and Christ, there's some shit.

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

I think we'll get a lot more movies like Paranormal Activity in the future. Made by a small group of people for cheap, does amazing at festivals, gets picked up for distribution and the studios make 95% of the revenue while the creators get enough to make sequels theyre contractually forced into by the studios until they quit and someone else takes over the franchise and it looks nothing like the original.

There are a lot of people trying to produce good online content. And some of the shit people are making is pretty impressive. As a short film maker im so f**king pissed at the fact that in this country you cant even have a toy gun as a prop without having a paid registered firearms person on set to make sure your piece of plastic doesnt melt in the sun but you watch 15 year old kids in America making war shorts that look amazingwith these incredible machine gun props they buy for $50.

I hear you. Those airsoft weapons are so realistic looking. A friend in NZ had one years ago (a handgun) and it was so real looking, especially from a distance. Even had a spring loaded clip too. This country is very restrictive. They want to have control over everything it feels. Remember having a go at my council up here in QLD because they tried to tell me I needed their permission to film on my property because it was in their council. This was 4-5 years ago though.

A lot of the smaller film festivals are struggling, but the festival market itself will always be a key point of contact for people to get their film in front of distributors.

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

In regards to the earlier point about TV network still able to produce quality content, geez they make some crap as well. The amount of promising shows cancelled to make yet another cop/detective/lawyer/doctor show makes them just as bad as movie studios in my opinion. I was reading up about the American shows the networks have renewed and the new shows coming and Christ, there's some shit.

Proven formulas, established fan base, franchises - those are what make money and for those who make the shows they get their money from the people who are only interested in making more money rather than good movies/shows.