The Agency's Posts

'The Help' to brush off the competition again: Despite the arrival of three new films at the box office this weekend, "The Help"....
Read More>

Movie review: 'Don't Be Afraid of the Dark': "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark,"which putsGuy Pearce,Katie Holmesand youngBailee....
Read More>

Stephen Lang: The actor is playing 'Conan the Barbarian's' nemesis. For him, it all started with his character's
Read More>

Oscars: Billy Crystal is 'itchy' to host again: If the Oscars need a host, Billy Crystal is ready to talk. That was the message that came....
Read More>

Album review: Jeff Bridges' 'Jeff Bridges': All too often, a record from a famous actor can inspire cynicism in a music critic, a....
Read More>

June: Our office intern!: HI everyone! June Dare (our office intern) is looking to rent a room in NYC for the next....
Read More>

Tyra Banks:'Modelland': Tyra Banks never ceases to surprise us. Last year, the "America's Next Top Model"....
Read More>

Movie review: 'The Help': 'The Help' is an excellent adaptation of the bestselling novel about an unlikely rebellion in a....
Read More>

Emma Stone's star rises with a little 'Help': The actress is riding a wave of popularity that's about to get bigger as the much buzzed about 'Th
Read More>

'Senna': rekindles personal memories of an intriguing athlete In 1990, I spent two weeks at the....
Read More>

PITT vs DEPP in 2012: Moviegoers are going to be forced to choose between two of Hollywood's most attractive....
Read More>

That final Harry Potter scene ..: ‘Harry Potter’ stars say final scene was a challenge for theages No other....
Read More>
Is 'The Lone Ranger' debacle an end-of-the-empire sign?
Posted on: 07/09/13
Share/Save/Bookmark
 

On Monday, many who follow Hollywood—this space included—took a look at the fallout from “The Lone Ranger” on the film’s principals, which include Disney and Johnny Depp. It was followed up by many on Tuesday with further analysis—something this paper also did, as I and my stalwart colleague Dawn Chmielewski examined where the studio of Mickey Mouse and Buzz Lightyear goes from here.

But there’s a separate, larger question inherent to the “Lone Ranger” conversation having to do with blockbusters and moviemaking generally. Essentially it's this: With attempts at new franchises like Disney’s “The Lone Ranger” and Sony's “White House Down” failing, will studios in coming years double down on the established franchises they already know work, making fewer movies on an ever-narrower band of subjects? 

Or will they start diversifying more, making a larger number of movies on a wider range of subjects, only this time with smaller budgets?


The answer, of course, is both, depending on the studio involved and the moment at which they’re debating the issue. It's how to strike that balance that’s the big question. (It’s worth noting that almost every big-time Hollywood player is currently facing the question; for all of the media’s fascination with Disney, nearly every major studio has had a bomb of a certain size over the last two summer seasons.)

Disney itself is likely to pursue both strategies at once, with smaller movies like the baseball-cricket story “Million Dollar Arm” and the children’s book adaptation “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day”—both throwback midrange, all-ages movies they'd moved away from somewhat in recent years—both in the works even as they concentrate their big-budget filmmaking ever-more heavily on massive-firepower pictueres such as “Avengers” and “Finding Nemo” sequels.

Sony, in its way, is doing the same. Though the studio aims to go back to the well again and again on “The Amazing Spider-Man,” it also has no fewer than three  midlevel dramas this fall (“Captain Phillips,” “American Hustle” and “The Monuments Men”), a high number even for a studio that likes to take a crack at serious drama with some frequency.

Steven Spielberg created a stir a few weeks ago with his pronouncement that the era of big-budget filmmaking as we knew it was over. “There's going to be an implosion where three or four or maybe even a half-dozen megabudget movies are going to go crashing into the ground, and that's going to change the paradigm," he told an audience at USC.

The megabudget crash is of course already underway. But what that new paradigm is remains to be seen. Spielberg and his fellow speaker George Lucas focused in large part on the ways it could change how we see movies—longer playdates, variable pricing. But how will it affect which films are made?

One can never go broke overestimating studio conservatism, which is a reason why the logic of “fewer movies, more sequels” is a smart bet. But "more movie, lower budget" is its own kind of conservatism, and a policy I can see some taking.

Hollywood had gone through periods like this before. Bloat and disaster leads to risks and quirkiness—the industry followed a similar if not identical path with the 1970s renaissance of gritty dramas and the specialty-film boom of the early 2000s. Of course, there’s a key added factor this time around—the advent of digital platforms to buttress both marketing and release efforts.

Indeed, it’s interesting that all this talk about a new approach is coming at the same time as an experiment from the website CollegeHumor. With millions of followers online, the Barry Diller-owned website has decided it wants to get into the filmmaking business. So it's made a movie.

The film, "Coffee Town,” is a bawdy, male-centric comedy in keeping with the site’s core audience and mission. It features young stars like Glenn Howerton (“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”) and Ben Schwartz (“Parks & Recreation”), and is being marketed not with traditional TV ads and outdoor billboards but on sites like Tumblr and Facebook. The company is debuting the movie today, eschewing theaters and releasing it on the likes of iTunes and Amazon. The film was written and directed by Brad Copeland, a veteran of “Arrested Development,” based on an idea he had. And, oh yes, it cost less than half a million bucks.

From a business and production standpoint, the movie is everything  "The Lone Ranger" isn't: inexpensive, made without hundreds of studio notes, and not in 4,000 theaters, or even a handful.

There’s no way to know if this will work. First and foremost, having a filmic success depends on having a good movie. But "Coffee Town" represents new ways of thinking about an issue, which is welcome and necessary when the old ways of thinking about it are broken.


COMMENTS
Be the first to post a comment!


Post A Comment:




  • It's 2020! Start booking roles in commercials, fashion, films, theater and more with The Agency Online!

  • NEW WORKSHOP with Barbara Barna & Sean De Simone!

    Hi Everyone and Happy Summer! Sean at Sean De Simone casting and Barbara Barna are teaming up for a super informative and fun Hosting for Home Shopping workshop. A great opportunity for established or experienced TV Hosts and Experts interested in learning how to get noticed and how to get in....
  • MASTERCLASS W. Robin Carus & David John Madore

    A Special Offer for the Agency Community, from one of our favorite NYC Casting Directors! EMAIL FacetheMusicWithUs@gmail.com Or Eventbrite To Sign Up! Class Size is Limited.
  • Don't Fall Into The Comparison Trap

    Hi Everyone! As the second installment in an ongoing series of features by the Agency's amazing community, here's some sage advice from our own Regina Rockensies; a humble (& awesome)veteran we've had the pleasure of working with for a long time. Have an excellent week! : ) - The Agency....
  • One Model's Agreement

    Hi Everyone! As the first piece in an ongoing series of original articles by the Agency community, here's a short reflection on some of the values of professional acting & modeling that we can all keep in mind for our next casting. Good luck on your castings &shoots this week! : ) -....




 
home       castings&news       privacy policy       terms and conditions      contact us      browser tips
Official PayPal Seal