Making Cheaper Movies

For a while now, I've been watching from my editor's desk about the
convergence between film and digital moviemaking. And if you're like
me, you probably didn't see many movies in the theatres this summer
that made you stand up and say, "Wow! That was a solid movie!"



Well, neither did Hollywood--except they're referring to the
bottom-lines at the box office. So here's an innovative way for
Hollywood to cut costs in making theatrical releases: give college
students a million dollars, have them develop a script (maybe), edit it
together, put in some FX, and stick it in a theatre near you. See this
article in the Austin American-Statesman newspaper for more details.



Curtain Rises on UT Film Institute



This is interesting for at least three reasons:

1. It will be entirely digital productions, hence an increase in the
   amount of people learning affordable PC and Mac production tools such
   as Final Cut Pro, After Effects, Premiere, Audition, etc.


2. It's blessed and funded by Holywood studios with plenty of big
   wigs to ensure that distribution actually happens into major theatres
   (UA, Cinemark, General Cinema, etc.)


3. The test bed is happening right here in Austin-- my own back yard!

As I mentioned, this isn't an entirely unexpected move, given how many
underperforming big-budget movies there were this summer. Many of them
were good, but their budgets were too high, and only some squeaked out
with a small profit domestically (numbers courtesy of imdb.com).



For example:



Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

Budget: 170 million   Gross: 148.4 million (8/24)



Lara Croft: Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life

Budget: 90 million   Gross: 62 million (8/24)



The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Budget: 78 million   Gross: 64 million (8/24)



Hulk

Budget: 120 million  Gross: 131 million (8/24)



Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle

Budget: 120 million  Gross: 99 million (8/24)



Seabiscuit

Budget: 86 million   Gross: 92 million (8/24)



S.W.A.T

Budget: 80 million   Gross: 82.8 million (8/24)



Bad Boys II

Budget: 130 million  Gross: 132 million (8/24)



And this summer's favorite whipping boy...



Gigli

Budget: 54 million    Gross: 5 million (8/10; removed
from theatres)



Only a few clear big-budget winners this summer:



X2: X-Men United

Budget: 110 million  Gross: 214 million (8/24)



Finding Nemo

Budget: 94 million   Gross: 329 million (8/24) (Highest
summer movie)



Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl

Budget: 125 million  Gross: 281.3 million (9/7)



And then there's this movie, shot with the same prosumer camcorder that
I have, the Canon XL1s, and blown up to 35mm film from miniDV (720 x
480):



28 Days Later...

Budget: 9 million*    Gross (USA): 43.5 million (8/24)

   * Distributed in the US under "Fox Searchlight",

     which helped finance the film.



So, when you look at the fact that this amateur movie grossed 43.5
million dollars for Fox, the ideas in the article above makes more
sense. Or cents. Take your pick.



Don't shelve that prosumer camcorder just yet....