2009 - The year of the big test that could change Hollywood forever*.
*Three years
Hollywood and the credit crunch
In this years Newsweek Oscar Round Table the question of the credit crunch was asked, and Frank Langella gave his response that more focus needs to be put on the quality of the outcome. Case in point would be The Dark Knight. If more time is spent on ensuring the quality of the film then the studios should reap the rewards.
A test to this will be Watchmen. Though an even bigger test will be Avatar.
A test to this will be Watchmen. Though an even bigger test will be Avatar.
They can either spend less on their big budget films, which really isn't asking much for a lot of what's made now a days, or make less of them, which also isn't asking much since a lot of them are crap.Heksagon wrote:From IMDB:
In a 52-45 vote, the Senate on Tuesday removed a provision of the economic stimulus bill that would have given the motion picture industry $246 million in tax breaks. Opponents of the measure cited January's record-breaking box office. "Hollywood's doing OK," Senator John McCain of Arizona, who led the battle against the provision, remarked. However, the Motion Picture Association of America indicated that it would redouble efforts to restore the measure, pointing out that the movie business is about more than box office and that it is suffering deeply from lackluster sales of DVDs and the disappearance of lenders and investors.
"It's the least most of us can do, but less of us will do more."
From IMDB:
In a 52-45 vote, the Senate on Tuesday removed a provision of the economic stimulus bill that would have given the motion picture industry $246 million in tax breaks. Opponents of the measure cited January's record-breaking box office. "Hollywood's doing OK," Senator John McCain of Arizona, who led the battle against the provision, remarked. However, the Motion Picture Association of America indicated that it would redouble efforts to restore the measure, pointing out that the movie business is about more than box office and that it is suffering deeply from lackluster sales of DVDs and the disappearance of lenders and investors.
In a 52-45 vote, the Senate on Tuesday removed a provision of the economic stimulus bill that would have given the motion picture industry $246 million in tax breaks. Opponents of the measure cited January's record-breaking box office. "Hollywood's doing OK," Senator John McCain of Arizona, who led the battle against the provision, remarked. However, the Motion Picture Association of America indicated that it would redouble efforts to restore the measure, pointing out that the movie business is about more than box office and that it is suffering deeply from lackluster sales of DVDs and the disappearance of lenders and investors.
This could be a good thing. Indirectly, of course. It might force producers and directors such as Spielberg to re-focus their attention on smaller films that favor acting and good writing over big budget special effects.
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."
-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
From The Independent
Rude awakening for Spielberg as DreamWorks runs short of cash
Even the world's most successful director is struggling to raise money for movies as credit crunch bites
By Guy Adams in Los Angeles
Friday, 19 December 2008
He is impossibly rich, uniquely powerful and boasts a copper-bottomed CV that includes dozens of the most influential blockbusters of modern times. But even Steven Spielberg's career is stalling in the apocalyptic face of the global credit crunch.
The legendary movie mogul, who recently "divorced" Paramount Pictures to turn his production firm, DreamWorks, into an independent company, finds himself in the unfamiliar position of struggling to raise enough money to get the ambitious new project off the ground.
Ironically, given his unrivalled reputation for producing some of the most lucrative films ever made, such as Jaws, ET, and the Indiana Jones series, Spielberg seems unable to raise $750m of the $1.2bn needed to underwrite DreamWorks' slate of forthcoming movies. Without the cash, the firm will be unable to begin work on its proposed selection of films, which include a selection of the most eagerly awaited projects in Hollywood.
They include Peter Morgan's Hereafter, which Clint Eastwood is rumoured to be directing, a terrorist thriller called Motorcade, and the Jewish comedy Dinner for Schmucks, which was originally to star Sacha Baron Cohen but now features Steve Carrell.
Spielberg's problems date back to October, when an Indian company, Reliance Big Entertainment, agreed to put up $500m to take his company independent, provided he could raise an additional $750m in loans to finance a total of 17 proposed films over the next seven years.
However, the collapse of AIG, which was due to provide a portion of the cash, and the tightening of credit markets left Spielberg unable to secure the cash and his bankers, JP Morgan, have delayed efforts to raise more money until the new year.
The Hollywood newspaper Variety carried a front-page report that the company's cashflow problems had left an important distribution deal with Universal Pictures "in jeopardy".
Its report noted that Spielberg's firm is being forced to "limp along" on $75m in bridge financing and must find another $20m by mid-January to compensate Paramount Pictures for its departure, announced in August and formalised two months later.
The article asked: "If they had to do it all over again, would DreamWorks co-founder Steven Spielberg and his partner Stacey Snider have left their lucrative deal at Paramount Pictures, where their slate of films had thrived?"
Although it seems unlikely that DreamWorks will collapse, Spielberg is expected to dramatically scale back his plans for the studio. Only one major project is currently under way, a $130m 3D version of Tintin. Unless the market improves, pundits say he will be forced to produce fewer, smaller movies. The problems come after a turbulent year for Spielberg, whose long-standing business partner David Geffen parted company from DreamWorks at the end of October. Mr Geffen, one of the film industry's best deal-makers, had engineered the company's separation from Paramount Pictures.
Mr Spielberg's Wunderkinder charitable foundation also lost an undisclosed sum after investing a "significant portion" of its assets in the collapsed $50bn fund run by the disgraced Wall Street financier Bernard Madoff.
Rude awakening for Spielberg as DreamWorks runs short of cash
Even the world's most successful director is struggling to raise money for movies as credit crunch bites
By Guy Adams in Los Angeles
Friday, 19 December 2008
He is impossibly rich, uniquely powerful and boasts a copper-bottomed CV that includes dozens of the most influential blockbusters of modern times. But even Steven Spielberg's career is stalling in the apocalyptic face of the global credit crunch.
The legendary movie mogul, who recently "divorced" Paramount Pictures to turn his production firm, DreamWorks, into an independent company, finds himself in the unfamiliar position of struggling to raise enough money to get the ambitious new project off the ground.
Ironically, given his unrivalled reputation for producing some of the most lucrative films ever made, such as Jaws, ET, and the Indiana Jones series, Spielberg seems unable to raise $750m of the $1.2bn needed to underwrite DreamWorks' slate of forthcoming movies. Without the cash, the firm will be unable to begin work on its proposed selection of films, which include a selection of the most eagerly awaited projects in Hollywood.
They include Peter Morgan's Hereafter, which Clint Eastwood is rumoured to be directing, a terrorist thriller called Motorcade, and the Jewish comedy Dinner for Schmucks, which was originally to star Sacha Baron Cohen but now features Steve Carrell.
Spielberg's problems date back to October, when an Indian company, Reliance Big Entertainment, agreed to put up $500m to take his company independent, provided he could raise an additional $750m in loans to finance a total of 17 proposed films over the next seven years.
However, the collapse of AIG, which was due to provide a portion of the cash, and the tightening of credit markets left Spielberg unable to secure the cash and his bankers, JP Morgan, have delayed efforts to raise more money until the new year.
The Hollywood newspaper Variety carried a front-page report that the company's cashflow problems had left an important distribution deal with Universal Pictures "in jeopardy".
Its report noted that Spielberg's firm is being forced to "limp along" on $75m in bridge financing and must find another $20m by mid-January to compensate Paramount Pictures for its departure, announced in August and formalised two months later.
The article asked: "If they had to do it all over again, would DreamWorks co-founder Steven Spielberg and his partner Stacey Snider have left their lucrative deal at Paramount Pictures, where their slate of films had thrived?"
Although it seems unlikely that DreamWorks will collapse, Spielberg is expected to dramatically scale back his plans for the studio. Only one major project is currently under way, a $130m 3D version of Tintin. Unless the market improves, pundits say he will be forced to produce fewer, smaller movies. The problems come after a turbulent year for Spielberg, whose long-standing business partner David Geffen parted company from DreamWorks at the end of October. Mr Geffen, one of the film industry's best deal-makers, had engineered the company's separation from Paramount Pictures.
Mr Spielberg's Wunderkinder charitable foundation also lost an undisclosed sum after investing a "significant portion" of its assets in the collapsed $50bn fund run by the disgraced Wall Street financier Bernard Madoff.