3D STAR WARS for the masses...has ARRIVED! — Page 24

doubleofive said:

Greenie, remember that time your video got posted by Red Letter Media?

http://www.facebook.com/redlettermedia/posts/120859668036894

What!?!

Awesome!

none said:

The Making of Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace

pg. 96

"Neither Lucas nor McCallum had ever considered attempting to reintroduce the character of Yoda without Frank Oz as the man behind the puppet.  "I'd been speaking to Frank about it off and on for two or three years before we did the movie," McCallum said.  "There was just no way we were going to do it without him.  We fit out schedule around his.  He'd just finished a movie, and he fit us in for two days between t he completion of his movie and the start of his press conferences.  Two days and  he was gone.  But it was essential to have him there.  Yoda would not be Yoda without Frank Oz."

 

That doesn't necessarily contradict what he said. Either with puppet or digital Yoda, they were going to need Frank Oz.

I wonder how much this would have to make in proportion to how much it cost to create the 3-D version? I'm betting it'll do gangbusters because all things Star Wars do, but it'll be interesting to see.

Mike O said:

I wonder how much this would have to make in proportion to how much it cost to create the 3-D version? I'm betting it'll do gangbusters because all things Star Wars do, but it'll be interesting to see.

I'm also curious about what Lucasfilm may define as financial success for TPM in 3D, and what they expect to earn if they want to move forward confidently with the other movies.

Let's not forget that the 2008 Clone Wars movie was a complete bomb, critically and commercially (35mil domestic). And that was a brand new piece of work meant to segue into the tv series.

TPM has already been seen by many people, so if I had to guess I'd say that even fewer people would be interested in seeing it again. That doesn't include newbies, though 3.5 years isn't a huge separation to consider new age groups from 2008.

The box office numbers indicate that 3D is dying down as well.

But, who knows how TPM 3D will do? It could win the weekend, or it could also bomb. The wild card is how many self-loathing SW fans will drag themselves to the theaters to give Lucas more money because "it's Star Wars."

georgec said:

Mike O said:

I wonder how much this would have to make in proportion to how much it cost to create the 3-D version? I'm betting it'll do gangbusters because all things Star Wars do, but it'll be interesting to see.

I'm also curious about what Lucasfilm may define as financial success for TPM in 3D, and what they expect to earn if they want to move forward confidently with the other movies.

Let's not forget that the 2008 Clone Wars movie was a complete bomb, critically and commercially (35mil domestic). And that was a brand new piece of work meant to segue into the tv series.

TPM has already been seen by many people, so if I had to guess I'd say that even fewer people would be interested in seeing it again. That doesn't include newbies, though 3.5 years isn't a huge separation to consider new age groups from 2008.

The box office numbers indicate that 3D is dying down as well.

But, who knows how TPM 3D will do? It could win the weekend, or it could also bomb. The wild card is how many self-loathing SW fans will drag themselves to the theaters to give Lucas more money because "it's Star Wars."

 not sure i can agree clone wars movie was commercial bomb.  it only cost around $10 million.  and it was just a primer for the tv show - which has had a steady, if not sizable, following among the apologists and little kids born after ROTS.   in the glory years, anything star wars would transcend its niche (check out the ratings for the holiday special), but those days are long over.

georgec said:

Mike O said:

Let's not forget that the 2008 Clone Wars movie was a complete bomb, critically and commercially (35mil domestic). And that was a brand new piece of work meant to segue into the tv series.

The Clone Wars movie bombed?? I don't think so. Wikipedia puts the budget at $8.5 million and Box Office Mojo puts the domestic numbers at $35 million. By any standard, that's a success. In any case, the theatrical release was meant to launch the TV show and, this is my personal conspiracy theory, permit George to recupe all or most of his expenses earlier along in the process. In relation to both of those things, I'd say the movie was very successful. Any amount of money the movie made was going to be gravy because profitability had already been built into other layers of the TV show's distribution models.

And, for whatever it's worth, this is coming from someone who couldn't care less about Clone Wars and has only seen the movie.

EDIT- As for how profitable TPM 3D is going to be, I never bet against Star Wars in a theatrical setting.

Some of us bitter old fans like the CW too. ;)

Bombed was a poor word choice, I'll admit that. It made a decent profit, but I thought expectations were higher. If it was just meant as a launchpad for the show, then it did its job.

All I remember is people complaining about Jabba's gay cousin or something like that.

georgec said:

Bombed was a poor word choice, I'll admit that. It made a decent profit, but I thought expectations were higher. If it was just meant as a launchpad for the show, then it did its job.

All I remember is people complaining about Jabba's gay cousin or something like that.

*sigh*

Remember when I said I didn't give two craps about the TV show? Truman Capote The Hutt and similar stupid stuff is partly why.

I thought the fuss over Ziro the Hutt was overblown. All the people who bitched seemed to not even notice the character's apparent demise last season either. Nor the implied relationship with Sy Snootles. And all this in an episode with Hutts modeled after almost every imaginable negative mafioso/gangster stereotype in the book no less!

And aren't Hutts hermaphrodites anyway?

There were also some easily offended types claiming Asoka was jailbait or some such nonsense.

none said:

Alexrd wrote: That doesn't necessarily contradict what he said. Either with puppet or digital Yoda, they were going to need Frank Oz.

Yes history shows they have kept his voice.  Would you now consider his TPM puppetry work as pre-viz?

No. But I think they said that (on the making of book) after they had decided to go with the puppet. Either way, it doesn't mean they hadn't considered a digital version. After all, they did use it on a scene on the original version of the movie.

Doesn't that contradict what Rob Coleman has said about having to convince Lucas to use a digital Yoda in Ep II anyway? I swear to think around the time it came out, he was on the record several times saying he personally persuaded Lucas to do a CG Yoda.

That kind of makes you wonder how else Lucas was planning to pull off a lightsaber duel with the character that he wrote into the script but hey...

I wonder how much of that critical reaction was just a post prequels hangover?

The awareness that the series was coming may also have made a lot of people decide to "wait for the video".

Worse than the prequels? ;)

i normally don't like to use anecdotal evidence, but at a superbowl party with a sharp 65' screen, we saw the commercial for the movie.  nobody booed or gave it a bronx cheer but a couple guys said 'with this big tv, why bother seeing it in the theatre? don't need the 3d".  the battleship and gi joe movies got more jeers.  surprisingly, not much enthusiasm for John Carter (man, did that commercial remind me of AOTC).

i mentioned earlier that the recent blu ray releases may put a damper on attendance - another factor is with big tvs becoming mainstream, maybe people won't care to go?

i wonder if we are going to reach a tipping point for cosumers preferring to watch movies at home because the flatscreens are large enough? ticket sales were down from 2010 to 2011 - but that was because of avatar.

anyways, i don't know what opening weekend grosses will be, but overall running I say absolute rock bottom $12 million and no more than $35 million.  Im using the lion king and BATB releases as a guide.

damn, im tired.  time for bed

I doubt the superbowl crowd even knows the literary source for John Carter.

The GI Joe sequel looks more like the cartoon come to life than the first one did.

Unless somebody has a fifty foot screen in their living room, movie theater still trumps HT. At least for now...