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George Lucas To Quit Movie Business
CaroKann writes, "Variety is reporting that George Lucas is getting out of the movie business. Mr. Lucas laments that today's big-budget franchise films are too expensive and too risky. He believes American audiences are deserting their movie going habits permanently. Instead of making major films, Lucasfilm will instead focus on television. Lucas states that for the price of one $200 million feature movie, 'I can make 50-60 two hour movies' that are 'pay-per-view and downloadable.' Notably, he does not plan on distributing movies online, calling online distribution a 'rathole.'"
Three movies too late.
Wouldn't that make all of us rats then? Is that a bad thing?
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
Me thinks you were part of the problem, Georgie...how much did the last three of your films cost? Yeah.
Blar.
Once you've spent $100 million on a movie... ...what exactly do you get for the SECOND $100 million you spend?
paintball
... a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of sequels cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.
Oh no... it's the future.
I think a general move away from Movies to TV Series's is a Good Thing. Don't get me wrong, I still think some stories will always work well when told over ~2 hours but think about The Lord of The Rings, for example. Could that have worked better as 13 1 hour episodes (on dvd, sans adverts!) or even 24 1 hour episodes? giving the viewer the opportunity to skip the (Two Towers Extended Edition equivalent) Faramir ep entirely if they like, allowing the director and producers the chance to span the three books better and such like. I probably think so, note I'm not talking traditional TV Series here, there would never ever be a LOTR season 2, for example, but so long as the production values (and therefore costs) were suitably high i see no reason why The Hobbit couldnt come out, not as a 3 hour film, but as a 6 part miniseries ... so long as the "marathon" option is available on the $NextGen DVD release for the nutters amongst us (myself included)
If you don't risk failure you don't risk success.
Everyone retires or downgrades their career. Most of us even change gears once or twice. Nothing to see, move along.
Yeah, except he should have quit before Howard the Duck.
-- If we don't stand up for our rights, now, there will be no right to stand up for them later.
'I can make 50-60 two hour movies' that are 'pay-per-view and downloadable.'
But...
Notably, he does not plan on distributing movies online, calling online distribution a 'rathole.'"
I haven't been more confused since, well, about five minutes into Episode 1.
And lead the way towards producing movies with substance. Last I checked, his most recent blockbusters were anything but character driven. Special effects look cool once or twice, but good scripts and acting make us feel over and over again. That never gets old. _That _ is why I watch movies, and if the movie business wants to stay alive, that's what they're going to have to give us.
George dug his own grave here, now he's lamenting he has to lie in it. I just hope he realizes it's not too late. There's always room for movies like "Walk the Line" and "Signs". Neither had awesome special effects, but they were still a joy to watch.
I have a bad feeling about this.
You say you want a revolution....
He called it "a" rathole, not "that" rathole. And he's right, for the moment.
Until all the DRM gets solidified (and legal downloadable larger-studio content won't happen without DRM, regardless of what anyone says) and the bandwidth to pull down large files reachs a larger share of the American populace I wouldn't waste my time either.
"liberty and justice for all those who can afford it"
No, those are assholes, they shit over everything. and then there are pussies and dicks; pussies don't like dicks, because pussies get fucked by dicks. But dicks also fuck assholes: assholes that just want to shit on everything. Pussies may think they can deal with assholes their way. But the only thing that can fuck an asshole is a dick, with some balls. The problem with dicks is: they fuck too much or fuck when it isn't appropriate - and it takes a pussy to show them that. But sometimes, pussies can be so full of shit that they become assholes themselves... because pussies are an inch and half away from ass holes. I don't know much about this crazy, crazy world, but I do know this: If you don't let us fuck this asshole, we're going to have our dicks and pussies all covered in shit!
Oh yeah, and I also hope Mr. Lucas focus on soaps or reality shows and leave SciFi as it is.
Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
is truly inflammatory. It is horribly taken out of context, which makes you wonder if the submitter works for mainstream media because they love taking things out of context. The quote goes: We're trying to find out exactly where the monetization is coming from. We're not interested in jumping down a rat hole until such time as it finally figures itself out.
He is saying, "We do not want to rush into this and have the method we chose to enter the online realm explode on us." Online movie distribution is in its infancy. We have already seen the Wal-Mart/iTunes debacle. He is simply making a methaphorical statement to describe that they are being cautious, but he does not openly say, "Online distribution is a stupid."
So, this one again proves that you must always RTFA.
"Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb."
Everyone retires or downgrades thier career.
Lucas must be someone special as he's done both!
On a very special episode of "Those Hairy Hobbits," Merry and Pippin disclose a long-kept secret relationship.
You can't talk about Wikipedia's flaws on Wikipedia
I dunno, Howard the Duck had better acting from Lea Thompson and Jeffrey Jones than anything in Episode 1-3.
Search your feelings. You know it to be true.
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
Disclaimer: I am not a Star Wars fan.
We're all tired of the prequels.
Really? My understanding from my Star Wars loving friends was that the prequels could have been fantastic. Going into the fray they were all enthusiastic about the films. But, IMHO, it appears that it was the films themselves that killed their love for SW, not the concept of a prequel.
Who knows, maybe Lucas' number was up... maybe him time was over. Maybe the older core of SW fans just couldn't relate. There is a thousand things that could have gone wrong. I don't think he was brought down for doing a sequel, I think he was brought down by doing bad films.
But again, I'm not a Star Wars fan. Doubtlessly some will offset what I've said. But also consider that artists sometimes lose their focus on what once made them great artists too.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
think this joke needs to be retired.
My wife made an excellent observation the other day. Anyone else notice that TV shows seem to be far better than the movies that have come out recently? Last year, ABC's Lost and Desperate Housewives dazzled many viewers (ourselves included). This year, I've been really impressed by NBC's Heroes and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. The writing has been quite good, although some may argue that it does degrade over time. Not to mention lots of the great shows on HBO, Showtime, and some of the excellent comedies that have come and gone (Arrested Development comes to mind). And keep in mind that most of these are original shows. TV is in a far better situation than it used to be just a few years ago, when everything had to be a "reality TV show".
This is in comparison to movies, where it seems like everything is a sequel nowadays, or some book->movie or TV->movie or game->movie port.
-- jchenx
Care to guess what it is?
Yep, http://www.hanshootsfirst.org/
Seinfeld: now with more Banthas!
Seriously, if the special effect overshadows the story line, you've lost. The first three Star Wars were great, not because of the special effects (which were good at the time) but because of the people. Not computer generated crowds, but real people; Not a fake looking Jar-Jar, but a real actor pulling strings or whatever.
Peter Jackson did a great job with LotR. There were lots of special effects, to be sure, but most weren't relly all that spectacular. It just that they came in second to the actual story line and acting. Gollum was believable because of Andy Serkis; Jar-Jar just looked fake, as did many other CG characters in Star Wars.
However, it's pretty clear that Hollywood is getting into a self-destructive cycle. Bigger movies, worse scripts, and ever-dropping returns due to too many OTHER forms of entertainment competing for your dollar. Yes, the SW Prequels and the Matrices and LOTR all made money... but in the past 7 years, how many summer mega-movies have bombed terribly? It's a much higher number, and most of them titles we don't even remember a couple years later.
What he's advocating IS the rational move. And if he can get a few more high-profile directors to join him, he could make a real difference in the industry. (again)
And it'd be terribly ironic (and Campbellian) that the man who basically invented the summer blockbuster would be the same man to end its death throws.
Bush: He's Liberal in all the wrong ways.
There have been a lot of films even recently that have done quite well with small budgets. One of my favorites is "Lost In Translation" which only cost $14 million, and movies have been done for a lot less than that which are still spectacular. Just because Lucas cannot tell a story without that much money doesn't mean it is impossible.
Monstar L
Actually if you RTFA he doesn't say no to online distribution. He just admits he doesn't understand it, "We're trying to find out exactly where the monetization is coming from. We're not interested in jumping down a rat hole until such time as it finally figures itself out."
More like until he figures it out. Either way, he apparently realizes the distributors (iTunes and whatnot) are making all the money, and not the producers. I'd have to agree with him that at this time online sales of movies aren't making anyone rich (besides iTunes).
I'm perusing the comments here on slashdot about this article. And I am not really impressed by the quality of discourse on this subject.
It seems like a lot of people are busy trying to yell at Lucas for going too heavy on the effects and not writing a good enough story. Let's say this is true, that the story writing was actually bad in the prequels (cant prove it to me though), and that the problem with it was NOT that the actors were shooting most scenes in front of a green screen and having a difficult time reacting (imagine if Dagobah had been all CG instead of an elaborate set in a London soundstage, how silly would Mark Hamill have looked then?)
What Lucas said about ratholes is linked to his not knowing how to get paid for online distribution. It's a simple enough question if you're a filmmaker, or a musician. "How does the money get from the consumer to me?" He uses a big word...monetization. He's asking how does a producer get paid. Gotta get paid, yo. Until somone can answer that question he feels it's a rathole.
And yeah, he's looking at the industry's current state and considering how much money and quality the Sopranos, Galactica, Lost, Firefly, Desperate Housewives, and looking back he's looking at Clerks, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction. He's realizing that low budget good stories with high quality actors are the way to go. He's realizing that people will be patient with a good story.
Just because he called your bitorrent addcition a rathole doesnt mean he's wrong. I'm sure he's so sorry he hurt your feelings.
I tagged this "thinkofthechildren".
I found light sabre duels with no words and no character conflict to be pretty empty.
Bad kung fu movies have more character conflict that Darth Maul and Mr. Master Jedi.
That was what was great about the real #1 to #3 and what was so lacking from the new #1 to #3.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
I was watching television the other day and had a pretty big revelation. Have you noticed, at least lately, that television shows are a lot better than the movies that have come out recently? Let's think about it for a minute here. Last year, ABC's Lost and Desperate Housewives had 140.3 million viewers. This year, I've been really impressed by NBC's Heroes and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. The writing has been quite good, although some may argue that it does degrade over time. Not to mention lots of the great shows on HBO, Showtime, and some of the excellent comedies that have come and gone (Arrested Development comes to mind). And keep in mind that most of these are original shows. TV is in a far better situation than it used to be just a few years ago, when everything had to be a "reality TV show".
This is in comparison to movies, where it seems like everything is a sequel nowadays, or some book->movie or TV->movie or game->movie port.
Ya get where I'm going?
Lucas NEVER does ANYTHING without wieghing the profits first. If he calls internet distribution a rathole, you can bet your house he's signed a mega-million dollar deal with a distribution house. When the Dist. House starts sending his material down the 'Net, you can be sure he'll recant along the lines of "the internet is much more mature now".
Here will be an old abusing of God's patience and the king's English.
Hollywood needs to wake up. Yes, people are losing interest in movies for a long list of reasons.
1) Expensive. Not just the ticket cost, but the cost of food is unbearable now.
2) Less on story, more on special effects. Don't get me wrong, I really love special effects. But, there are a ton of movies with nothing BUT special effects, the plot is just trash.
3) Cell phones in movies really drive me nuts.
4) People who won't STFU in movies are worse. I can't tell you the last time I went to a movie and DIDN'T have some jack off yelling, laughing with his friends, standing up, etc. The movie theaters don't do jack about it these days also.
5) I am not amused about going to a movie, and hainvg to sit through 2 coke commericals, 4 car commericals, 2 fandago commericals, 1 about the snack bar, 1 about not using your cell, 2 commericals about the internet being evil and then, we finally get to the previews. The previews are my favorite part of the movie experience. Now, I am so annoyed by this point I can't even enjoy them.
6) Movie studios are tossing out good movies, and replacing it with quick easy to make movies that can line their pockets with quick green cash.
7) The bathrooms are like the bathrooms in Grand Central station. You don't wanna use them.
Looking at all the above, I can very well see why people want to download movies (legal or illegal). Personally, I would rather wait till I can buy the DVD, or download it from iTunes or what not. I have a very extensive DVD collection of well over 500 DVDs. In the past 5 years, I think I have seen 8 movies in the theater vs the few hundred DVDs I have purchased.
Hollywood now reminds me of what the postoffice was crying about when E-Mail first started to become popular. Then will learn to adapt, or be crushed and put out of business along the way.
Ok, so now that that is out of the way. On to George Lucas quiting the movie business. Good, its time. I enjoyed the last Star Wars, he should leave now while he made a good movie. If he tries to stay around, things will go down hill very fast. Steven Spielberg is a good example of this, that bastard should have quit a long time ago. His movies now are trash.
until (succeed) try { again(); }
Those of us who lived through those times might remember when directors were critisized for spending too much money on their films as that was seen as a sign that too much emphasis was being placed on sets, stars, and other things besides the story. I remember Steven Spielberg being interviewed on Dick Cavett. When asked about the budget for his upcoming movie (ET: The Extraterrestrial), he was reluctant to talk about it because he feared some complaints and he gave the humorous example of using a multi-colored bedspread and being critisized for production values that were too high.
What George Lucas did give us was the dreaded sequel. Give him credit for that, but don't rob Steven Spielberg of credit for the summer blockbuster. Jaws had people waiting in lines around the block and dwarfed even "The Godfather". It was an impressive accomplishment.
We have always been at war with Eurasia!
"Lucas states that for the price of one $200 million feature movie, 'I can make 50-60 two hour movies' that are 'pay-per-view and downloadable.'" What in that statement makes people think no more movies? Lucas did not say he was quitting the movie business he said he was pretty much cutting out theaters. He is right to do so. The theater experience is not what it used to be and costs have skyrocketed. What middle income family can afford 100 bucks for the movies every weekend? Assuming its a typical family of four tickets alone cost an average 35-40 bucks. When you throw in drinks, popcorn, candy and parking your at 100 or more. Hopefully we won't see too many rehashes of old work but some new and original stuff. I'm sure he is still capable of brilliant work.
WTF?
I'll bet there'll be a new version that shows Vader killing the Jedi of the Jedi Temple only in self-defence (somehow??*), prompting people to wear "Vader killed them in cold blood" shirts and demanding a vintage release straight from the original DVDs.
At this point Lucas (100 years old) claims he can't find any working DVDs, but he has the blu-ray edition and sells it for a ridiculous price.
*There's probably a better example of something that could equate with Han shooting Greedo first in the new trilogy, but I never watched the new trilogy very intently, for obvious reasons (it sucked).
"When the atomic bomb goes off there's devastation...but when the atomic bong goes off there's celebraaaaation!"
I agree the quality of many new shows is very high, but tv series almost never have a satisfactory conclusion. They either get cancelled premeturely before they can be wrapped up properly, or they get such high ratings that the networks insist they get dragged out forever... the worst example being the X-Files. I fear Lost is heading that way too.
I'm really surprised that no one is taking on the one season as a 16-22 hour movie format. I would think this would finally be an opportunity to make a movie with the depth of a good novel.
To be good though, it needs a decent, well thought out conclusion.
Second - While the "Silver Screen" and its smaller relative "The Tube" have some differences (format, resolution, audio quality and the overall environment), they are essentially the same thing - moving pictures with speech. Now, in terms of cost to produce product, quality of product, ease of delivery to target audience . . . "The Tube" wins hands-down, especially with the coming implementation of digital transmission, HDTV, etc.
FInally - Mr. Lucas has shown great savvy in the past, demonstrating that he has an excellent grasp of the nature of his profession (his fame and bankbook are adequate proof of this assertion, I think). I've heard of George Lucas - the same cannot be said of his many critics here. There's a point in there somewhere: disinterring it is left as an exercise for the reader. I don't believe he would have his current ambivalence toward internet distribution of his work if there were a clear path for him to profitably ply his trade there.
And in summary... "Screw you guys, I'm going home"
Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder.
I'm not sure why people think the iTunes Music Store makes Apple any money at all. Most of the money goes to whoever licenses the music. Apple provides the service to A) sell hardware (iPods with ~40% profit per unit, iTV?, mini?) and B) prove the feasibility and gain acceptance for digital distribution. Here are two of the big reasons for why the content from the iTMS has such low margins for Apple. They have the means and the motivation.
Motivation: As with all new products, Apple wanted iTMS to become popular and accepted. For any new technology to successfuly enter a market or create a new market, price and perceived quality are usually the most important factors. A cheaper better mouse trap with a pinch of good marketing will usually do well. Therefore Apple has an incentive to keep price as low as they can go.
Means: It is CHEAP to distribute digitally. Therefore Apple CAN sell for cheaper than the legacy content distribution moguls.
Note as evidence for at least the movies and TV episodes the recent Walmart vs. Apple articles, the articles usually contain some analysis that shows Apple undercutting Walmart's prices even though Walmart is selling new release DVDs at a loss! Trust me when I say that if anyone sells for less than Walmart (even if the products are not exactly the same), their profit margin is minimal. Then for music, even though this is not the greatest source, it's just one article of many that tell about the pennies made per song purchase on iTMS.
Your faith in George Lucas is your greatest weakness. He has long served the Dark Side. Look at your lunchboxes and action figures. Are they the work of a master filmaker? Don't you feel the hate swelling inside you?
I see you looking the the Episode I-VI: Special Edition Anamorphic DVD Edition in the limited edition Jar Jar binks shaped titanium collectors box on Amazon. Take out your Return of the Jedi credit card and buy it!
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
There's a difference between what someone CAN do and what someone CHOOSES to do.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
*blink* ... *blink*
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *gasp* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *gasp* HAHAHAHAHA
Value? That movie was unending crap from the first frame to the last. The story was the worst gibberish I've seen outside of a Troma picture (and they are trying to be stupid). All it had was special effects and over-choriographed sword fights. Those do not make a good movie. What those make is eye-candy. Distraction from the fact that there is nothing below the surface.
The fact of the matter is that Lucas got lucky with Star Wars (the first one). The rest of movies introduced every newer plot holes that invalidated the first film. And the prequals? Garbage.
Let's take a look at the Lucas track record, shall we?
- THX-1138 - Not a great movie. Good ideas. No budget. Kinda boring. But worth seeing.
- American Graffiti - His best movie. Based on his life in Fresno, CA.
- Star Wars - His most popular movie. Good for its day. Has not aged well, however. (Not a good idea to go ten years between viewings. You start to notice the weak points.)
- The 'Star Wars' Holiday Special - A portant of things to come. The horror! The horror!
- Empire Strikes Back - Some argue that it's the best of the originals. I disagree due to the contradictions with Star Wars that were introduced. Technically it's better than Star Wars.
- Raiders Of The Lost Ark - My favorite of his, and the best movie he made with Spielberg.
- Return of The Jedi - Could have been great. Took the easy (and incestiously revolting) way out of the love triangle he setup in Empire. Loses major points for Vader being such a Nancy.
- Temple of Doom - Well, he only wrote the story, so he only gets half the demerits for this steaming pile of garbage.
- Ewok (anything) - Why does Lucas hate us?
- Willow - Jesus, Mary and Joseph. I can't tell who should be more ashamed by this turd, Lucas for writing it or Ron Howard for directing it.
- Last Crusade - Not really his movie, but it could have been great. Instead it's just okay.
- Episode 1 - The man has lost his mind. Hundreds of millions of dollars for what amounts to a bedtime story he told to his kids. A bucket of vomit splashed across all that was Star Wars.
- Episode 2 - For a brief moment there was hope of a good story in there. But just for a moment. It was pissed away on lame dialog, over-done special effects and the worst love story ever written.
- Episode 3 - This movie did have one positive thing going for it: after it was done the pain was over. The patient was dead and we can all go home and have punch and pie and try to forget about it.
You'll note that I left out Howard The Duck and everything else that he was only the producer or executive producer on. all he did with those is write the checks to get them made.Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
So can you explain to me exactly why they had that stupid timed shield/door thing that prevented Obi Wan from entering the room?
It pretty much ruined the whole scene for me. Oooooh arbitrary plot device thrown in to create dramatic showdown.
Sometimes my arms bend back.