January 24, 2007
Episode #26: Children of Men
This week, we review Children of Men, the acclaimed film from Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón. Starring Clive Owen and Julianne Moore, Children of Men shows us a grim, future world in which women are unable to have children and the world is on the brink of complete collapse as people face a seemingly hopeless future.
Also, we begin our first Director Marathon with two films from M. Night Shyamalan: The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable.
Please email any feedback/comments to comments@2guysandafilm.com
This week’s episode features music from Hannah Brown. Check her out online at www.myspace.com/hannahbrownmusic.
00:00-00:38 - Welcome
00:39-10:30 - Review: Children of Men
Music from Hannah Brown
12:50-29:22 - Director Marathon: Shyamalan - The Sixth Sense & Unbreakable
29:23-32:06 - DVD Releases/Movie Openings/Close
Filed under: Podcast
January 28th, 2007 at 11:06 pm
Some Movie Discussion Food-For-Thought
Greetings from Fullerton, California!
As a life-long movie fan and collector, and a card-carrying member of the Screen Actor’s Guild (mostly for work done in the 80’s and early 90’s), I truly enjoy any podcast discussions of movies, DVDs, and now, the HD and Blu-Ray disc formats also.
But there is one aspect of the business that I haven’t heard anyone mention; and I’ve actually heard many comments which indicate most people are clueless about this detail.
I’ve heard many people mention film budgets, and I’ve also heard them mention Box Office figures (probably garnered from sources like IMDB.com); usually with a comment like, “Well, they did over $100 million at the Box Office, so they were a Blockbuster Hit.”
But the simple reality I’d like to point out for a little more heated discussion of films and their relative successes or failures, is that only about one-third of the Box Office receipts actually go back to the studios toward their expenses; so a film that had a budget of $80 million, would have to do $240 million at the Box Office, just to break even.
An $80 million film that did $150 million at the Box Office, would make $50 million for the original studio; which would leave them $30 million in-the-hole!
Of course, how well a film does at the Box Office is not a true indicator of how good or bad a movie is; since many factors (including advertising, or the lack of it, release dates, etc.) affect how well a film does.
One of my favorite films of 1996 (especially in the longer Director’s cut), was Peter Jackson’s, “The Frighteners”; and if you want to see a financial horror story, look up the budget for that one, and then calculate one-third of the Box Office to find out how many millions were lost by that one when it financially tanked.
I hope this train of thought stirs up many a fun discussion; and I will be listening in to find out if anyone was interested in these comments.
Many Thanks for Being There, and Always Being Interesting!
Will Hart
William E. Hart
willhart@adelphia.net
ps
A peek at my DVD collection listing at http://www.intervocative.com/dvdcollection.aspx/WillHart will give you a hint of what kind of films I’ve been watching during the last few years on the 10′ wide screen in my home theater…
January 30th, 2007 at 7:14 am
Will,
Thanks for your comments. We appreciate them. You certainly raise some interesting topics for future discussion for sure. I agree that most people are unaware of the realities of movie financing. I certainly am no expert, but it is something that has always intersting to me. It is particular fascinating (to me) that local movie theaters make very little (if anything) from box office receipts and that they essentially are glorified snack/popcorn stands that use films to get people to buy food. Speaking of movie finances: this link is very insightful - http://www.thesmokinggun.com/hollywood/hollywoodsides/0228061woods1.html - it is the budget for Shyamalan’s The Village (when it was titled “The Woods”).
Also, I have to agree with you on The Frighteners. It has been one of my favorites. I first caught it on USA or something back around 1998 and immediately ran out and rented the VHS. I had the original DVD and had seen the deleted scenes online, but was thrilled to finally get the Director’s Cut on DVD…
Anyways, thanks for listening and taking the time to write in. Your commments may provide for some good discussion in the future.
Take Care!
Zack