Without which we wouldn't have been able to build gigantic cities so far away from food production areas and having a ton of people in one spot has always helped with the communciation of ideas.
Okay, it is true that there was lots of merchandising of movie products before Star Wars, (take the kiddie afternoon movies of the fifties for example with the Lone ranger gear, etc.) but the point was that Lucas was the first one to make it work on such a tremendous scale. Perhaps you have heard of the phrase "nodal point"? When a quantitative change produces a qualitative change? Like when water is slowly raised by one degree at a time until it becomes a gas? This was what Lucas did to film marketing. Sure they marketed Planet of the Apes stuff, but, even though the movies were quite popular, I don't remember too many kids playing "post-apocalypse Ape world", wanting to be a gorilla/soldier or the horribly doomed Heston character. Lucas definitely hit on something at the right time, there is no doubt about that.
As far as the Blair Witch Project, I thought it was complete crap as well, but I meant that the ferocious marketing techniques these guys used are reminiscent of the ones Lucas used on TPM and previous movies.
And okay, true, American Graffiti was a good flick, but Lucas had not directed or written a movie in twenty years when he did TPM, and it showed, and I don't remember him making billions off of American Graffiti
Obi-wan and the gang didn't have to stop at Taco Bell because they were their OWN product placement. The whole thing was the equivalent of a Taco Bell Movie!
TPM will never be as big as SW for a couple of reasons.
when Star Wars was released, very, very few people (if any) had VCRs, so there was no watching movies at home. Now people can get any movie they want and watch it over and over again and pick it apart in the privacy of their own home. It is difficult for a film to develop a truly legendary status in this environment. And movies that don't go to VHS are sometimes forgotten.
No movie had yet been made with anything even close to the special effects of SW. When TPM came out, the effects were cool and there was more of them, but they really didn't break any new ground. (except the first ever all digital character in a live action film: Jar Jar Binks!) The audiences of today are young and jaded to the special effects.
I don't think that TPM is going to produce in this current generation of kids the kind of effect it had in mine because of these reasons. It has just become another mass-marketed, simplistic good-guy/bad-guy plot, big special effects film among many.
Look at the posts, too. When Empire came out, the argument wasn't whether the movie sucked or didn't or whether Lucas was greedy or not, it was whether it was better or worse than Star Wars (but still great) and whether Darth Vader actually was Luke's father or not. Look at how fast the little kids changed their allegiance to all things Pokemon (a half-hour QVC collectors' commercial if I ever saw one).
I know that this is a pretty general statement, but I will give a little support. When Lucas went to Fox for the money to do Star Wars (as I am sure everybody has heard) the Head of the studio was Alan Ladd, Jr. Lucas didn't ask for a lot of money to do the picture, just the rights to merchandise it. Previous to SW the most a movie had made off of merchandising was in the 10k range. Ladd, Jr. said something to the effect of knock yourself out. We all know what happened after that. But one of the side effects of that financial success of Lucas's we have only really been seeing in the last decade as movies are no longer sold on things like plot and character development and good story, but they are merely one piece of a vastly bigger product that includes: soundtrack, video rental and sales, fast food tie-ins, toys, etc. Who cares if the movie sucks or does badly now cause it was poorly made and stinks? Not the studios, they'll make it all up with the peripheral products. Look at the recent "Blair Witch Project". These guys are the true scions of all that Lucas has taught. I long for the days when movies were not the giant commercials that they have become and were actually about telling a story and not just to sell some piece of crap at Burger King. It is unfortunate, but there is only one way to make it stop. Don't buy any of it! Don't go see the movies, don't buy the stupid trinkets, don't buy the soundtrack albums. It is the only way... On a side note, Lucas can't be concerned about the piracy thing, since before TPM was even out there were pirated Video CDs of it all over the European piracy community (the dutch goverment instigated a huge crackdown in Amsterdam at the request of Luca$ and many people went to jail). All TPM showed us was what Lucas was truly concerned about and the fact that he got lucky twenty-three years ago because he can't direct or write worth a damn (he didn't even direct or write the second two!). Well, that is the end of my rant. I was so disappointed with the whole way SW turned out, cause I wanted to be a Jedi too... BTW Darth Vader is secretly a good guy and Obi Wan is evil. Think about it...the Empire all spoke with British accents and the rebels all spoke with American accents. Except for...think about it.
I don't know if any of you remember the company, Hercules, the people who pretty much invented the graphic card and owned the graphic card market in the eighties? Well they went bankrupt this last year. Sure it was new technology that did them in, but this just indicates that an inability to keep up with technology or demand will do a company in no matter what the market share. Sure Intel is still the Big Boy now, but if they are unable to keep up with the OEM demands, then they are going to look for alternatives and by the looks of things, that is what is happening. Especially if the alternatives are just as good or better and cheaper.
Slashdot Mirror
Without which we wouldn't have been able to build gigantic cities so far away from food production areas and having a ton of people in one spot has always helped with the communciation of ideas.
Sure they marketed Planet of the Apes stuff, but, even though the movies were quite popular, I don't remember too many kids playing "post-apocalypse Ape world", wanting to be a gorilla/soldier or the horribly doomed Heston character. Lucas definitely hit on something at the right time, there is no doubt about that.
As far as the Blair Witch Project, I thought it was complete crap as well, but I meant that the ferocious marketing techniques these guys used are reminiscent of the ones Lucas used on TPM and previous movies.
And okay, true, American Graffiti was a good flick, but Lucas had not directed or written a movie in twenty years when he did TPM, and it showed, and I don't remember him making billions off of American Graffiti
Obi-wan and the gang didn't have to stop at Taco Bell because they were their OWN product placement. The whole thing was the equivalent of a Taco Bell Movie!
TPM will never be as big as SW for a couple of reasons.
I don't think that TPM is going to produce in this current generation of kids the kind of effect it had in mine because of these reasons. It has just become another mass-marketed, simplistic good-guy/bad-guy plot, big special effects film among many.
Look at the posts, too. When Empire came out, the argument wasn't whether the movie sucked or didn't or whether Lucas was greedy or not, it was whether it was better or worse than Star Wars (but still great) and whether Darth Vader actually was Luke's father or not. Look at how fast the little kids changed their allegiance to all things Pokemon (a half-hour QVC collectors' commercial if I ever saw one).
I know that this is a pretty general statement, but I will give a little support. When Lucas went to Fox for the money to do Star Wars (as I am sure everybody has heard) the Head of the studio was Alan Ladd, Jr. Lucas didn't ask for a lot of money to do the picture, just the rights to merchandise it. Previous to SW the most a movie had made off of merchandising was in the 10k range. Ladd, Jr. said something to the effect of knock yourself out. We all know what happened after that. But one of the side effects of that financial success of Lucas's we have only really been seeing in the last decade as movies are no longer sold on things like plot and character development and good story, but they are merely one piece of a vastly bigger product that includes: soundtrack, video rental and sales, fast food tie-ins, toys, etc. Who cares if the movie sucks or does badly now cause it was poorly made and stinks? Not the studios, they'll make it all up with the peripheral products. Look at the recent "Blair Witch Project". These guys are the true scions of all that Lucas has taught. I long for the days when movies were not the giant commercials that they have become and were actually about telling a story and not just to sell some piece of crap at Burger King. It is unfortunate, but there is only one way to make it stop. Don't buy any of it! Don't go see the movies, don't buy the stupid trinkets, don't buy the soundtrack albums. It is the only way...
On a side note, Lucas can't be concerned about the piracy thing, since before TPM was even out there were pirated Video CDs of it all over the European piracy community (the dutch goverment instigated a huge crackdown in Amsterdam at the request of Luca$ and many people went to jail).
All TPM showed us was what Lucas was truly concerned about and the fact that he got lucky twenty-three years ago because he can't direct or write worth a damn (he didn't even direct or write the second two!).
Well, that is the end of my rant. I was so disappointed with the whole way SW turned out, cause I wanted to be a Jedi too...
BTW Darth Vader is secretly a good guy and Obi Wan is evil. Think about it...the Empire all spoke with British accents and the rebels all spoke with American accents. Except for...think about it.
I don't know if any of you remember the company, Hercules, the people who pretty much invented the graphic card and owned the graphic card market in the eighties? Well they went bankrupt this last year. Sure it was new technology that did them in, but this just indicates that an inability to keep up with technology or demand will do a company in no matter what the market share. Sure Intel is still the Big Boy now, but if they are unable to keep up with the OEM demands, then they are going to look for alternatives and by the looks of things, that is what is happening. Especially if the alternatives are just as good or better and cheaper.