Seriously?
A third hunt-for-Osama-bin-Laden film, possibly from Steven Spielberg? On top of John Stockwell‘s Code Name: Geronimo, a hunt-for-bin-Laden film that the Weinstein Co. may release sometime this fall, and Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal‘s Zero Dark Thirty, a highly anticipated film about the same topic that Sony is opening on 12.19? Two is a stretch — three is ridiculous.
Maybe a musical?
Motion capture action movie directed by Robert “I Will Not Give Up On Capture Motion Technology!” Zemeckis?
I’d love to see a modern war film from Spielberg, but he won’t be directing this.
Can we talk about the fact you have a nickname for the Bigelow/Boal team and at the same time run down anything you can pertaining to Spielberg? You’re not really impartial here. Sure don’t look it.
Just wait till the Asylum brings out “Osama versus Saddam,” in which they’re both zombies.
I’m kidding, as far as I know.
The only time I can remember three movies dealing with the same/similar subjects is DeepStar Six, Leviathan and The Abyss. In that case, the third was the best and most commercially successful so who knows?
Also, Spielberg’s project has the benefit of drawing from a soldier who was actually there, although from what I’ve heard the Bigelow enjoyed pretty significant contacts within the intelligence and military communities.
So it seems that the one that actually could be in trouble is Code Name: Geronimo. Despite the fact that it will be first, it has neither the cache of Bigelow or Spielberg, and none of the purported insider access.
Lastly, history has shown that just being first in these situations doesn’t really mean much. Armageddon, Bug’s Life, Top Gun all cleaned up despite being second in there respective genres and while it’s funny to think of Iron Eagle as any kind of competitor to Top Gun, it actually did really well ($25 million in 1986 dollars forTriStar).
Didn’t we once have an “earth getting hit by meteor” glut ? Preceded by a “father and son switch identity” bonanza.
“Lastly, history has shown that just being first in these situations doesn’t really mean much. Armageddon, Bug’s Life, Top Gun all cleaned up despite being second in there respective genres and while it’s funny to think of Iron Eagle as any kind of competitor to Top Gun, it actually did really well ($25 million in 1986 dollars for TriStar).”
It’s also worth noting that the “first” movies do nearly as well as the more successful variations that follow. Going with the three you cite: Deep Impact, Antz, and yes, Iron Eagle did very good business. (I’d have to dig into Deepstar Six and Leviathan’s numbers, but I think those were exceptions to this; not sure I’d match them up with The Abyss, though.)
Not only does being “first” not mean anything, but it doesn’t seem to have any effect on how well its twin performs — there was no “bug fatigue” or “asteroid disaster fatigue.” (Maybe it helped…?)
I am already looking forward to the soaring climax set to a swelling John Williams score depicting the SEAL Team 6 commandos flying off on their bicycles over the Hindu Kush.
@mybrainismelting: The Abyss went into production first, when others hear Cameron was planning an underwater sci-fi film they rushed Deepstar Six and Leviathan into production.
To Mr. F, agreed. And bottom line? It still comes down to the marketing and appeal (and not necessarily the quality) of the film, regardless of the frequency or familiarity of the subject matter (no surprise as Hollywood constantly recycles, remakes and rips off):
Tombstone was a old-fashioned shoot-em-up (win) vs. Wyatt Earp, a heavy, very long drama (lose)
Deep Impact, a good-old disaster film with cool (for their time) special effects (win) vs. Armageddon, a giant summer action blockbuster (win)
Iron Eagle and Top Gun: shameless, flag-waving crowd-pleasers (both win)
Antz and A Bug’s Life: family adventures with good to great special effects (both win, although A Bug’s Life won to a much greater degree)
The Truman Show: a prestige, dramatic comedy with the biggest star of his day and a concept of a man not knowing his life is on TV (win) vs. a goofy take with a lesser star who is completely aware that he is showing off for the camera (lose)
Saving Private Ryan: ultra-realistic war movie that nevertheless plays to the cheap seats and plucks all the right emotive chords (win) vs. a poetic, slow-moving treatise on the nature of war and consciousness (lose).
Mission to Mars and Red Planet: two movies about Mars that do not involve ray guns or alien invasions (both lose).
Dante’s Peak and Volcano: middling disaster movies with mid-level stars and limited interest; who really cares if some nowhere Pacific Northwest town or L.A. get melted off the map? (both lose)
DeepStar Six/Leviathan: both obvious horror cheapies (lose) vs. a sci-fi blockbuster with cutting edge special effects from the director of Aliens and The Terminator (a small win)
In other words, repeat subject matters don’t mean a damn thing if you’ve got the goods (stars, effects, trailer moments, etc.) to market. I mean, they rebooted Spider-Man, what 5 years later, and all that unnecessary remake did was rake in $700 million.
To me, the more interesting aspect of this story is the fact that Code Name: Geronimo is produced by Nicholas Chartier who produced The Hurt Locker.
Not sure when these respective projects got set up but seems there should be at least a question asked about how the Oscar-winning director, writer and producer end up making competing movies on the same subject.
And this is after Chartier got in trouble for campaigning for Hurt Locker at the Oscars. Not sure if this had anything at all to do with the price of tea in China but I’m just surprised that there hasn’t been one article about this dynamic. Maybe as we get closer to their respective release dates…
How’s Stockwell gonna do this story but set it on an AWESOME BEACH where it’s TOTALLY BLUE with jittery cameras and lecherous shots of chicks in bikinis and waves splashing and rickety boats and tons of barefoot blonde girls and everything is the color blue, but the flesh tones have a slight sickly green tint and a hint of grain?
On a mere, simple, aesthetic level, someone should do a market survey to show that BROWN DUSTY DESERT MOVIES are FOREVER some shit that NOBODY wants to see. It has less to do even with politics, or “too soon,” or whatever.
People on a basic subconscious level react well to primary colors and bright bouncy tones. ANY MOVIE set in the Middle East with beige tones and SAND and THE COLOR BROWN, it literally puts people to sleep. This is fact. Deserts are BORING, sand is boring, BROWN is the color that MOST LULLS AUDIENCE TO SLEEP.
Remember when you were a kid, and how ROMANCING THE STONE was GREEN and exciting and kinda cool? Then they made JEWEL OF THE NILE and it was in some BROWN DESERT with like a zillion guys on camels and there were NO PRIMARY COLORS?
You fell asleep.
Even in the mightiest franchise of all, BOND, think of the Indian or Middle East moments– camels in SPY WHO LOVED ME, most of OCTOPUSSY, that endless boring stretch in the desert of LIVING DAYLIGHTS.
ALWAYS BORING.
To add to Lex’s rant: notice how the Zero Dark Thirty trailer screams “Bourne,” with lots of blues and greys and a high-tech surveillance feel. No panning-over-the-desert-while-a-tinny-call-to-prayer-plays moments.
Lex has a great point about the brown. And the general Middle East movie tropes are already boring as all hell. A kindly insider who’ll invariably suffer a fateful end. Wailing, Lisa Gerrard-esque women moaning on the soundtrack, “Mmmmm-aaaooooaaahhaaahhhhh”. A character being abducted, having a sack put over his head and driven to some dank interrogation room. A philosophical torturer dishing out treatises on the East-West conflict in between bouts of severe physical discourtesies. A tense stand-off between a group of soldiers and some civilians who may or may not be armed with explosives. A kid dying. Lots of satellite surveillance pics, etc.
Re: Romancing the Stone/Jewel of the Nile – same applies to Casino Royale followed by Quantum of Solace. Bond goes from luxury European resorts to a dusty-ass desert.
But anyway, Spielberg’s denied the report already.
So Lex you’re saying you fell asleep during the Egypt sequence in Raiders?
Don’t even get him started on Lawrence of Arabia.
IRON EAGLE was out months before TOP GUN and was never considered its competition. It did well for a January dumping ground release.
(DOWN AND OUT IN BEVERLY HILLS was released later that month and did very well, enough to make that month more prominent for some time and Bette Midler a “January star ” for two years, as 1987′s OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE was a sizable hit, too. With THE BOOK OF ELI and SAFE HOUSE Denzel Washington is the new Bette Midler–in a way.)
Christopher Columbus: The Discovery
1492: Conquest of Paradise
Goodfellas
Miller’s Crossing
Godfather III
Like Father, Like Son
Vice Versa
18 Again!
Big
Re: Iron Eagle, it was rushed out in anticipation of Top Gun. They adhered to the get-out-first principle, which we’ve dispelled, but for them it worked. And as a January release no less! Audiences were just primed for this kind of film (Red Dawn, etc.) so it was most certainly competition. There’s an interview with Sidney Furie about how the two studios were battling to get theirs out first and due to the rush, Iron Eagle ended up with Jason Gedrick rather than one of the more promising up-and-coming stars.
I know, seems weird to think that now but to say they were not in competition is completely wrong. This type of story was in the ether, as they say, after the Top Gun story hit California magazine. TriStar just said, screw it, let’s write our own and get it out first, which they did.
code name: geronimo seems to have a b-flick vibe. twc paid $2.5m for domestic rights — isn’t that on the cheap side? and, does it have the star power to compete with zdt? while it’s seems set for a ‘fall release’, that’s in brazil. imdb is listing it as a 2013 movie. and, john stockwell directing, with a first-time writer… this doesn’t really compete with bigelow/boal’s ‘zero’.
maybe i’m wrong. it’s looking like cn:g will maybe roll out in the us next year and come and go in a flash, making it an also ran. again, though, i could be way off.
spielberg’s flick would not hit until late 2013, if then. (this just doesn’t sound like a spielberg project and they take a couple years even on a ‘fast track’. besides, if it’s not in pre-production now it ain’t gonna hit next year, not if spielberg directs).
so, it’s not really 3 movies, one after another. could be one prestige popcorn movie with a very cool title this year followed by a straight to disc (no matter how hard harvey pushes) with spielberg’s product rolling out late 2013 or 2014 (possibly with another director)
I can’t wait till Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter 2: Abe Gets Vamp Bin Laden.
No one ever remembers the epic battle between Lambada and The Forbidden Dance.
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