The BJMDDS General Discussion Thread......

[katied]

I wonder if that has anything to do with the fiancial straits some of the movie studios are in? They're afraid that if they put teh Tin Tin movie out and it flops, that it might bankrupt the studio.

[Mazer Rackham]

I wonder if that has anything to do with the fiancial straits some of the movie studios are in? They're afraid that if they put teh Tin Tin movie out and it flops, that it might bankrupt the studio.

Maybe.

The opening has been pushed way back to December 23, 2011. Universal opted out of producing the film with Paramount, who provided $30 million on pre-production. That's when Sony came on board.

Because of the delay the lead actor was lost.

Spielberg himself, his production house, can not afford a flop nor the cost of production. He is barely keeping his head above water.

The debacle in Europe might be a problem too.

[katied]

I wonder if that has anything to do with the fiancial straits some of the movie studios are in? They're afraid that if they put teh Tin Tin movie out and it flops, that it might bankrupt the studio.

Maybe.

The opening has been pushed way back to December 23, 2011. Universal opted out of producing the film with Paramount, who provided $30 million on pre-production. That's when Sony came on board.

Because of the delay the lead actor was lost.

Spielberg himself, his production house, can not afford a flop nor the cost of production. He is barely keeping his head above water.

The debacle in Europe might be a problem too.

I'm sure a failure like that would make people see Spielberg in a different light.I didn't know that about his production house not being able to handle a flop.

Add to that the fact that it has been pushed back-way back-and it isn't looking good.

[bjmdds]

Another Craig non-Bond movie pushed back ala The Invasion and we all know how successful that was.

[katied]

Another Craig non-Bond movie pushed back ala The Invasion and we all know how successful that was.

To say nothing of Flashbacks Of A Fool!

[Mazer Rackham]

I wonder if that has anything to do with the fiancial straits some of the movie studios are in? They're afraid that if they put teh Tin Tin movie out and it flops, that it might bankrupt the studio.

Maybe.

The opening has been pushed way back to December 23, 2011. Universal opted out of producing the film with Paramount, who provided $30 million on pre-production. That's when Sony came on board.

Because of the delay the lead actor was lost.

Spielberg himself, his production house, can not afford a flop nor the cost of production. He is barely keeping his head above water.

The debacle in Europe might be a problem too.

I'm sure a failure like that would make people see Spielberg in a different light.I didn't know that about his production house not being able to handle a flop.

Add to that the fact that it has been pushed back-way back-and it isn't looking good.

Well.......... His company couldn't afford to absorb the production cost and possible loss.
Last year he was scrambling to secure funds. A lot of double dealing and trying to play studios off each other for the privilege of working with him. Universal caught wind of his not dealing with them in good faith and withdrew their offer. No idea if Tintin has anything to do with it. But Universal is not on too solid ground as it is. NBC is teetering on collapse themselves.

He had a hell of time raising 300m for a project last year(funds once raised would be matched by a foreign partner), I believe he got an 180m advance from Disney when he signed with them which enabled the deal to go through. His animation studio is more stable, however as a whole his studio is vulnerable. But stronger than a lot of other studios.

The thing is nobody would loan him the 180m, which should have been a no brainier and he didn't have the funds himself. If it were not for the success of Transformers we might be looking a hostile takeover of Dreamworks. DreamWorks animation as I mentioned is on firmer ground.
(Madagascar and Panda dvd sales added $35.4m and $21.9m to the animation house profits.)

The problem isn't making movies so to speak, it is managing debt.

[katied]

You'd think that something like Tin Tin is something a studio would not want to take a chance on. I am sure when and if it comes out in the States we'll be subjected to lots of crappy marketing to try and sell it.

[The Sweeney]

Looks like the recession is drastically hitting the movie industry too. How long before everything starts to pick up again....?

[The Sweeney]

At this rate Sweene, you may be back living in the good ol' UK by the time it happens.

I'm counting the days down as we speak.......

[The Sweeney]

Correct Mazer. Sweeney just does not get the fact that people were TURNED OFF after what they saw opening weekend and abandoned ship, as did MANY critics.

Of course I get that fact. I'm one of the ones that was TURNED OFF too, remember.
Why do you think I also mentioned that QoS could hurt Bond 23....????

[carl stromberg]

http://www.examiner.com/x-12467-Tintin- ... t-Pictures

It will be interesting to see how Tintin does. I think it is a Spielberg obsession and he is the only person who could have got it made.

[katied]

Too right about it being an obsession. You do wonder when you hear certain things-like the release date has been pushed back-if it is going to do well.


If it doesn't do well, Spielberg is screwed.And as Nicolas Cage knows,that sort of thing can happen to anyone.

[James]

Correct Mazer. Sweeney just does not get the fact that people were TURNED OFF after what they saw opening weekend and abandoned ship, as did MANY critics.

Of course I get that fact. I'm one of the ones that was TURNED OFF too, remember.
Why do you think I also mentioned that QoS could hurt Bond 23....????

Even without the studio wrangles I feel Eon would have delayed Bond 23 after QOS. It was obvious they didn't really have a story/script in enough order for a good film and suggests they hadn't really thought this whole reboot thing through at all.

[katied]

EON are definitely floundering.It seems to me like they are more interested in the vanity(non)-Bond projects than they are in Bond, and coming up with something good for Bond 23.

[Mazer Rackham]

Looks like the recession is drastically hitting the movie industry too. How long before everything starts to pick up again....?

Sort term the economy improving, next year, maybe if the commercial and housing market stay strong. Long term it may take Hollywood rethinking the movies they make and absolutely the death of "Hollywood Accounting", shifting losses around and otherwise doctoring the books for whatever purpose. The stuff they do makes the Wall Street bandits look like Altar Boys.

[Mazer Rackham]

Twilight still has bite.

'New Moon' poised for biggest box office day ever
November 20, 2009 | 5:31 pm

NewMoonTheater "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" is poised to break its second box office record in a single day.

According to four people who have closely watched ticket sales data today but requested anonymity because they are not authorized to release the information, the teen vampire phenomenon is all but certain to gross more than $67.2 million, the record set by "The Dark Knight" last year for the biggest single-day take at the box office.

By 5 p.m., the movie had already sold more than $50 million worth of tickets in the U.S. and Canada. When evening shows are included, the total will likely be more than $70 million, the people said.

Given the huge amount of pent-up interest among fans, who are rushing out to theaters on opening day, ticket sales are expected to drop significantly on Saturday and Sunday. Nonetheless, a total weekend gross of more than $110 million is all but certain and more than $120 million is very possible. That would give "New Moon" the biggest weekend gross for any movie this year and make it one of the top five pictures of all time at the domestic box office, not accounting for ticket price inflation.

Ticket sales from the 25 foreign countries where "New Moon" is opening this weekend will almost certainly push the worldwide weekend gross to more than $150 million.

Summit Entertainment, the studio behind the "Twilight" films, will release an official total for Friday ticket sales on Saturday morning.

UPDATE

The second "Twilight" installment has already shattered records and expectations by earning $26.3 million from midnight showings alone, decimating the record previously held by "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." Additionally, "New Moon" enjoyed the single most lucrative opening day in the history of cinema with $62.2 million, a record previously held by "The Dark Knight." Combined with the midnight intake, "New Moon" has already earned $72.7 million — and the weekend isn't even over.

[Bond77]

Looks like the recession is drastically hitting the movie industry too. How long before everything starts to pick up again....?

Sort term the economy improving, next year, maybe if the commercial and housing market stay strong. Long term it may take Hollywood rethinking the movies they make and absolutely the death of "Hollywood Accounting", shifting losses around and otherwise doctoring the books for whatever purpose. The stuff they do makes the Wall Street bandits look like Altar Boys.

Hello everyone. Thanks for letting me participate in this forum.

Mazer is right that there might be a short term bump in the economy, but I don't think it is going to stay strong for long. The reason why the market here in the U.S. has jumped up in the past few weeks is because companies had posted better numbers in the third quarter. Why? Well because massive lay-offs occurred during the first and second quarters of 2009.

Salaries and health care costs off laid-off workers were eliminated from company balance sheets, yielded better numbers on the bottom line, and thus yielding increases in stock prices. Despite all of that, company earnings are, and will continue to slide. The high un-employment and under-employment is causing drops in consumer spending, and less sales means less profits for companies.

The economy has also been bouncing up because everyone is dumping U.S. dollars to buy commodities. That means investors are pulling their money from companies like Sony/MGM/UA (whatever it is these days) for instance, and buying gold and oil instead.

It is going to be tough going for the economy for the next few years, and of course that will hurt Hollywood. Especially, because Hollywood is located in California. California has a huge financial crisis, and so does the U.S. That is going to make the expenses for California based film companies increase because taxes are going to be increased. On top of that sales will go down due to the bad economy.

Mazer is also correct that Hollywood is going to have to re-think how it goes about making films. The economy is not going to be forgiving to studios that partake in extravagant spending on films that under-perform. It is going to be hard to make films for $300 million and expect to make a profit, let alone break even.

[Mazer Rackham]

Welcome aboard Bond77

Hollywood's mindset is geared only to living in the "Fat Years". Never before had they known such a decline in the their industry and been impacted by the same economic problems everyone else is.

Entertainment and video-games used to brag they were recession proof industries, at least the video-game industry has moved to correct this in an effort to try to survive. Hollywood has the eternal hope that the next film will be the smash/surprise hit of the year and make everything alright. Slightly better then the family barely breaking even buying lottery tickets every week hoping to hit it big. But they still are not in healthy condition.

[FormerBondFan]

Which reboot sold more in DVD sales in US stores? BB or CR.

[Mazer Rackham]

Which reboot sold more in DVD sales in US stores? BB or CR.

Batman Begins was the top-selling DVD in the fourth quarter of 2005 selling 6.8m dvds. No question BB.