Star Wars: The Complete Saga (1977-2005)

[Batmon77]

Originally Posted by crazyBLUE

I would say have it on surround

Yeah.. i have it on surround...but isnt the native sound mono?

[bongozoid]

Originally Posted by Kryptonic

Just like X-Men had nothing to do with Spider-Man two years later? Sorry, but that's not true. Yes, Lord of the Rings was already in production, but it's no coincidence that after 1999 every studio seemed to try to push more money into building franchises.

I would actually credit the success of The Lord of the Rings more than I would the PT

[Kryptonic]

Originally Posted by bongozoid

I would actually credit the success of The Lord of the Rings more than I would the PT

That's not a sentence.

[bongozoid]

Originally Posted by Kryptonic

That's not a sentence.

Sorry I'm half asleep and always miss out words when I'm like that...

Meant to say:
I would credit that to the success of The Lord of the Rings more than I would the PT

I also credit/blame The Lord of the Rings for why we get so many big blockbuster movies that go for almost 3 hours now. Note to directors: 3 hours doesn't make your movie automatically better

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by Kryptonic

Just like X-Men had nothing to do with Spider-Man two years later? Sorry, but that's not true. Yes, Lord of the Rings was already in production, but it's no coincidence that after 1999 every studio pushed more money into building franchises.

Hollywood has been chasing tentpoles for decades. "Tentpole franchise" terminology predates The Phantom Menace by a good decade. Ya know. Back to the Future. Indiana Jones. Jurassic Park. Lethal Weapon. RoboFlop. The Bond films. This idea was suddenly invented because of The Phantom Menace? No...X-Men and Spider-Man and The Lord of the Rings and The Matrix had nothing to do with The Phantom Menace.

[Kryptonic]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

Hollywood has been chasing tentpoles for decades. "Tentpole franchise" terminology predates The Phantom Menace by a good decade. Ya know. Back to the Future. Indiana Jones. Jurassic Park. Lethal Weapon. RoboFlop. The Bond films. This idea was suddenly invented because of The Phantom Menace? No...X-Men and Spider-Man and The Lord of the Rings and The Matrix had nothing to do with The Phantom Menace.

I didn't say it was invented a second time by Lucas, but it's certainly a hell of a coincidence that after 1999 a lot of franchises started to spring up. A lot of it comes from all of the news stories about fans lining up, merchandising, etc. Hollywood saw there was a lot of money that these people will spend, not just on movie tickets, but other licenses that can effectively pay for the movie before it's even hit theaters. For several years before Phantom Menace, franchises had kind of died out with the biggest of movies of recent years being original films like Independence Day, Titanic, Toy Story, Forrest Gump, etc. And then suddenly after 1999 it's Potter, Rings, Spider-Man, Batman, etc.

[MechaGodzilla]

One noticeable change the PT brought about is that suddenly there were, and still are, prequels all over the place.

[bongozoid]

Originally Posted by MechaGodzilla

One noticeable change the PT brought about is that suddenly there were, and still are, prequels all over the place.

This I will agree with.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Kryptonic

I didn't say it was invented a second time by Lucas, but it's certainly a hell of a coincidence that after 1999 a lot of franchises started to spring up. A lot of it comes from all of the news stories about fans lining up, merchandising, etc. Hollywood saw there was a lot of money that these people will spend, not just on movie tickets, but other licenses that can effectively pay for the movie before it's even hit theaters. For several years before Phantom Menace, franchises had kind of died out with the biggest of movies of recent years being original films like Independence Day, Titanic, Toy Story, Forrest Gump, etc. And then suddenly after 1999 it's Potter, Rings, Spider-Man, Batman, etc.

I'd go with that. It's not that there weren't any franchises in the '90s, but they'd been run into the ground (Batman, Alien, Lethal Weapon etc) so it kinda took Star Wars to inspire studios to look for new franchises. Or, looking at the franchises I've listed, perhaps the MASSIVE financial haul of Phantom Menace ($1.5 billion in adjusted receipts worldwide) meant that the impetus was then put on pushing new family-friendly franchises, like your LOTRs, your Potters and whatnot, and there's been a slew of YA stuff ever since. The R-rated Matrix sequels are the exception to that way of thinking, but who wouldn't want to make a sequel(s) and cash in on a movie that breaks out like that?

[Thomas Guycott]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

Hollywood has been chasing tentpoles for decades. "Tentpole franchise" terminology predates The Phantom Menace by a good decade. Ya know. Back to the Future. Indiana Jones. Jurassic Park. Lethal Weapon. RoboFlop. The Bond films. This idea was suddenly invented because of The Phantom Menace? No...X-Men and Spider-Man and The Lord of the Rings and The Matrix had nothing to do with The Phantom Menace.

One small wrench: about half of those franchises cited had their first film produced without the intention of starting a series.

[Kryptonic]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

I'd go with that. It's not that there weren't any franchises in the '90s, but they'd been run into the ground (Batman, Alien, Lethal Weapon etc) so it kinda took Star Wars to inspire studios to look for new franchises. Or, looking at the franchises I've listed, perhaps the MASSIVE financial haul of Phantom Menace ($1.5 billion in adjusted receipts worldwide) meant that the impetus was then put on pushing new family-friendly franchises, like your LOTRs, your Potters and whatnot, and there's been a slew of YA stuff ever since. The R-rated Matrix sequels are the exception to that way of thinking, but who wouldn't want to make a sequel(s) and cash in on a movie that breaks out like that?

This guy gets it.

[bongozoid]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

...perhaps the MASSIVE financial haul of Phantom Menace ($1.5 billion in adjusted receipts worldwide)

According to boxofficemojo.com TPM's adjusted gross is $736,043,400
Episode IV is the one with $1.5 billion

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

I'd go with that. It's not that there weren't any franchises in the '90s, but they'd been run into the ground (Batman, Alien, Lethal Weapon etc) so it kinda took Star Wars to inspire studios to look for new franchises. Or, looking at the franchises I've listed, perhaps the MASSIVE financial haul of Phantom Menace ($1.5 billion in adjusted receipts worldwide) meant that the impetus was then put on pushing new family-friendly franchises, like your LOTRs, your Potters and whatnot, and there's been a slew of YA stuff ever since. The R-rated Matrix sequels are the exception to that way of thinking, but who wouldn't want to make a sequel(s) and cash in on a movie that breaks out like that?

LOTR was in production two years before TPM sold a single ticket. How could a massive financial haul that had not yet happened have been the impetus for LOTR?

As for Potter, the first book was published in 1997 and was wildly popular. Could one argue that the Potter franchise was driven by the financial success of TPM? Sure, one could try to make that case but I think one might have a slightly easier time arguing that the Potter franchise was driven by the runaway success of the books and the billion dollars the first Potter movie raked in.

[bongozoid]

Originally Posted by octagon

LOTR was in production two years before TPM sold a single ticket. How could a massive financial haul that had not yet happened have been the impetus for LOTR?

As for Potter, the first book was published in 1997 and was wildly popular. Could one argue that the Potter franchise was driven by the financial success of TPM? Sure, one could try to make that case but I think one might have a slightly easier time arguing that the Potter franchise was driven by the runaway success of the books and the billion dollars the first Potter movie raked in.

This
Lord of the Rings was planned as a trilogy before TPM was even released - it had nothing to do with its 'success'. The LOTR trilogy was finished and released before the prequel trilogy and not only gained MUCH greater critical success, but was also more successful commercially as well

[Thomas Guycott]

Originally Posted by bongozoid

According to boxofficemojo.com TPM's adjusted gross is $736,043,400
Episode IV is the one with $1.5 billion

Even today Gone with the Wind and Star Wars are, respectively, the two most attended films of all time.

[Elvis]

Originally Posted by Thomas Guycott

Even today Gone with the Wind and Star Wars are, respectively, the two most attended films of all time.

That would be correct. Even the original 320 million (Domestic) that it made on the initial theater run would be over 1 billion dollars domestic alone today. That's not even counting the 100+ million it made in 1997 on rerelease. No "adjusted gross" has ever been done for world wide box office for Star Wars (even on the initial release) one can only imagine.

[bongozoid]

Originally Posted by Elvis

That would be correct. Even the original 320 million (Domestic) that it made on the initial theater run would be over 1 billion dollars domestic alone today. That's not even counting the 100+ million it made in 1997 on rerelease. No "adjusted gross" has ever been done for world wide box office for Star Wars (even on the initial release) one can only imagine.

Absolutely.

Elvis, I've looked but I can't find it - is there a thread for the upcoming release of your amazing concert/film 'That's The Way It Is'??

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by Thomas Guycott

Even today Gone with the Wind and Star Wars are, respectively, the two most attended films of all time.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, too. Child admissions hurt it when only considering grosses. In terms of tickets sold, not gross receipts, Snow White was a monster.

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by Kryptonic

I didn't say it was invented a second time by Lucas, but it's certainly a hell of a coincidence that after 1999 a lot of franchises started to spring up.

CGI made it possible to bring fantasy films to the big screen in ways never possible before. And again, "Tentpole franchise" properties was a term that predated The Phantom Menace by a good decade or so. Even Rambo and the Jack Ryan films were called "tentpole franchises". And long-running film series predate Star Wars by decades. Ever see the Thin Man films? Flash Gordon? Tarzan?

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by bongozoid

According to boxofficemojo.com TPM's adjusted gross is $736,043,400
Episode IV is the one with $1.5 billion

I said WORLDWIDE receipts my man, worldwide receipts. $1.5 billion in adjusted dollars. [edit] Actually, I've just looked at it again and it's more like $1.3bil adjusted with the current rates of inflation. Mind you, that's still a heck of a chunk of dough, and it's an official billion-dollar grosser anyway thanks to the 3D release which took $102m worldwide.

Look, nobody's saying that TPM invented the franchise (ummm, wut?) or anything, so y'all can unbunch your panties. But it showed that the power of the kiddie dollar was immense, truly immense, and with adult big-budget franchises on their last legs at that point (Matrix would give R-rated blockbusters a shot in the arm, but would also ultimately prove to be its undoing) it's no wonder that the impetus after that was on teh kidz. Yeah, LOTR had been floating around for years waiting for someone to get it off the ground and no, TPM didn't make it happen. Same with Potter.

But, going forward, it's no wonder that there's been masses of stuff aimed squarely at young adults and that the R-rated blockbuster has basically died a death. (Even the Expendables has finally given up the good fight and gone for a PG-13, though ironically it should result in a better film without all that shitty CG blood everywhere.) Call it a cumulative effect, then, with the one-two-three of TPM, Harry Potter and FOTR coming out within 2½ years of each other (in fact the latter two were within weeks) and raking in nearly $3 billion (unadjusted!) combined.