Unpopular Movie Opinions: Part III

[Mothravka]

Originally Posted by oilers73

Every movie is a "cash-grab". Movies cost money, and the people who invested their money want to make it back, plus a profit. Simple as that.

No. That's simply just not even close to being true.

A lot of films are self-financed and/or can be supported through smaller grants/funds/patronage etc. without an interest of making more money back. A lot of independent and experimental films are made like this. Some have no budgets at all. Believe it or not, but there are filmmakers that want to promote their vision and have something to say without wanting to generate more money back or gain a profit.

[oilers73]

Originally Posted by Mothravka

No. That's simply just not even close to being true.

A lot of films are self-financed and/or can be supported through smaller grants/funds/patronage etc. without an interest of making more money back. A lot of independent and experimental films are made like this. Some have no budgets at all. Believe it or not, but there are filmmakers that want to promote their vision and have something to say without wanting to generate more money back or gain a profit.

Everyone needs money to survive. Everything we need to survive costs money. Anyone who says they make films to promote their vision but not to make money is either lying or certifiable.

Some filmmakers may have more principles than others, but it is still a job. Would you do your job for free?

[Martoto]

Originally Posted by Mikezilla3k

Also, Toy Story 4 looks like a soulless cash-grab.

And how would you differentiate it from the previous three highly marketed and highly profitable Toy Story films?

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by oilers73

Everyone needs money to survive. Everything we need to survive costs money. Anyone who says they make films to promote their vision but not to make money is either lying or certifiable.

Some filmmakers may have more principles than others, but it is still a job. Would you do your job for free?

There are films that are privately financed with no interest in profit because those financing the film don't need more money. And as Mothravka said, there films with barely any budget at all. All you need to do is look at movies like Clerks, or The Blair With Project, or even something like Sex, Lies, and Videotape which had a budget of just over $1M -- which may sound like a lot of money, but wouldn't really be that difficult to put together.

I mean, obviously if you're making a film you hope that it will be successful, both financially and critically. But every film that's made is not made with the intention of making a profit. There could be all sorts of reasons, from intense feelings on the subject, to just wanting to fulfill a lifelong dream, to pretty much anything.

Now obviously, when some huge studio is rolling out the next Avengers or Batman or X-Men or Mission Impossible then that's a different situation altogether. But while those might be the movies that get the most press and the most people talking about them, and whatnot, there are over 700 films released in this country alone -- EACH YEAR. Hell, Aronofsky's first movie cost less than $100,000 to make. I think it was around $60k-$70k. You can easily spend more than that on a Mercedes.

[Akibiyori]

Originally Posted by Mikezilla3k

Also, Toy Story 4 looks like a soulless cash-grab.

Hardly unpopular, that’s every other post on this message board. The previous two sequels were cash grabs that Pixar didn’t really want to make but circumstances led them to - it didn’t stop them from being good films. These things aren’t mutually exclusive. And who takes Pixar trailers as a good indication of the final product? They never have been (few trailers are good and I can’t think of an instance where a trailer convinced me to see anything.)

[Martoto]

I don't think this will be an unpopular opinion, but a lot of people don't seem understand what a true cash grab is.

A cash grab is when you put out something that you know is inferior, and into which you've invested only a fraction of the time, money and care developing, with the express purpose of raking in money purely on the basis of its association with an illustrious predecessor/original and its reputation. (Even when there isn't an association you can allude to one - "Transmorphers"). The idea is that they are profitable enough on the inevitable first wave of interest that it will make all the money it was ever going to make by the time everyone notices what crap you've gone out and made.

It does not mean making a movie that some believe you don't need to make which will likely make money that it's perhaps perceived, by some, that you don't need to make either.

Just because Toy Story sequels were not what Pixar planned to make does not make them cash grabs. The amount of resources poured into making them the best Toy Story sequels they could proves that right away.

Lucas didn't need to make The Empire Strikes Back. But he had a plan to personally finance a big movie that would be profitable enough, at box office and in merchandising, so that he could have lots of money to finance future projects. Even that wasn't a cash grab.

[LegacyCosts]

Oh I didn't see the post above me. Disregard this post , well said.

The quality of the toy story films are too damn high to be considered mere cash grabs.

[TajSamKojiJesam]

Originally Posted by AaronJ

I mean, obviously if you're making a film you hope that it will be successful, both financially and critically. But every film that's made is not made with the intention of making a profit. There could be all sorts of reasons, from intense feelings on the subject, to just wanting to fulfill a lifelong dream, to pretty much anything.
.

Yeah. Obviously the filmmakers hope their films will be financially lucrative, but let's not pretend there's not a huge difference between Forough Farrokhzad and Fast and Furious 87: Reykjavik Drift.

There are even some filmmakers who were willing to risk their personal safety to get a message across. For example, René Vautier was imprisoned for a year for making an anti-colonialist film. But of course, just because something is a work of love doesn't automatically make it better art. Hiroshi Harada's work was propelled solely by his passion but it just isn't very good, at least in my opinion.

[Dr. Pavel]

i absolutely HATE that most of studios and filmmakers today wanna make films that cater to everyone: whites, blacks, chinese, gays, lesbians, mexicans, fats, nerds etc. - you name it. it's ridiculous, you can't have that, such an impossible task, hence why more and more films feel watered down and focus group'd. nobody wants to offend anybody and boy does it show... whether you like it or not, this industry is at its best when it operates on a certain degree of segregation.

[Rodney-2187]

Someone get ready to start Unpopular Movie Opinions Vol 4.

[Martoto]

Originally Posted by Rodney-2187

Someone get ready to start Unpopular Movie Opinions Vol 4.

We can probably skip four and go straight to five, in my opinion.

Kinda like Star Trek.

[Arawn]

Originally Posted by Martoto

We can probably skip four and go straight to five, in my opinion.

Kinda like Star Trek.

[drush9999]

Originally Posted by Martoto

We can probably skip four and go straight to five, in my opinion.

Kinda like Star Trek.

[Martoto]

^^ To be fair. The Voyage Home is easily the only decent one from the even numbered films.

[Rodney-2187]

I rewatched the original Conan the Barbarian recently. I hadn't seen it in a while and had almost forgotten just how great it is. I think it deserves to move up my all time list.

Legend by Ridley Scott, was filmed on a soundstage with practical makeup effects and puts so many modern day effects to shame. I am not sure a movie can look any better.

[stvn1974]

Originally Posted by Rodney-2187

I rewatched the original Conan the Barbarian recently. I hadn't seen it in a while and had almost forgotten just how great it is. I think it deserves to move up my all time list.

Legend by Ridley Scott, was filmed on a soundstage with practical makeup effects and puts so many modern day effects to shame. I am not sure a movie can look any better.

Conan The Barbarian still holds up. Legend is probably my third favorite Ridley Scott and I still love it despite Tom Cruise.

While Legend isn't in the same league as Alien or Blade Runner it is still leaps and bounds better than anything he did afterwards.

[Rodney-2187]

Never Say Never Again > Thunderball

[BladeRunner2007]

Originally Posted by Rodney-2187

Never Say Never Again > Thunderball

Thunderball is the best of the Connery era.

[oilers73]

If I've posted this before, I apologize...

In my opinion, there are 2 worthy Halloween films: the classic original, and the flawed but enjoyable part III: Season of the Witch. The sequels, reboots, remakes, sequels to the remake, and 2nd reboot are mediocre at best. Michael Myers only needed one movie to tell his story.

[stvn1974]

I only like the original Hallween and the two Zombieweens. The rest are pure garbage.