Fantasy movies and the schizoid reality of Hollywood fimmaking
Jack the Giant Slayer has a reported production budget of $195M and has thus far generated $66M in revenues worldwide, dropping 64% in its 2nd weekend compared to its 1st, even worse than John Carter. As discussed last week — here and here — Jack is not likely to be a success.
Meanwhile Oz the Great and Powerful has a reported production budget of $215M and has generated $149M in revenues worldwide after only 1 week in release, leading Disney to commit to a sequel before the movie even opened. The movie is on its way to being a hit.
So what to expect on the fantasy front from Hollywood? As Vulture reports, 8 movies in the near future. They are:
Maleficent, Cinderella, Tarzan, Frozen, Peter Pan, Wicked, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid.
And you can be sure Hollywood is praying for Oz-like B.O. compared to Jack the Giant Slayer.
The thing is… how can they know? As far as pre-awareness is concerned “Jack and the Beanstalk” is much older than “The Wizard of Oz.” Here is a version of “Jack” dating back to 1902:
Yet it seems the lure of the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz transcended the “Jack” tale, even if Oz the Great and Powerful had to avoid any narrative element tied to the original MGM movie.
And thus, the schizoid reality of Hollywood filmmaking: The major studios feel compelled to make big budget fantasy spectacles because conventional wisdom has it that these can be giant profit centers. And yet the studios have to hedge their bets by working with preexisting and pre-branded titles.
In terms of the fantasy genre, on the one hand there are successes like Alice in Wonderland, Snow White and the Huntsman and Oz the Great and Powerful. On the other hand there money losers like Mirror Mirror, The Odd Life of Timothy Green, and Jack the Giant Slayer.
Somewhere in there is something called a “calculated risk.”
Lots of subplots re Oz the Great and Powerful:
“What drew filmgoers to “Oz the Great and Powerful”?
Rotten Tomatoes: 61/69% out of 100
What did you think of the movie?
UPDATE: Just out today, Disney is thinking about a reboot of Beauty and the Beast.
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