Confusing Directorial Choices...

[Decado]

Originally Posted by legendarymatt92

For my money, 300: Rise of an Empire will be terrible anyway - does 300 even need a prequel? I've never watched it and thought "boy, this could really do with a film explaining what happened before this to make sense!"

How many movies really need a prequel or sequel? That doesn't, nor should it, have any baring on the film's quality. I just wanted another quality film in the same vein as 300...I don't care what they call it.

[legendarymatt92]

Originally Posted by Decado

How many movies really need a prequel or sequel? That doesn't, nor should it, have any baring on the film's quality. I just wanted another quality film in the same vein as 300...I don't care what they call it.

You weren't happy with Immortals then, I take it? It depends - these days, some films are deliberately left open-ended so that, if it makes the right money, a sequel can be in development as soon as possible and the story can continue easily. 300 was a film that seemed to me to be a one-off, something that you don't see every year and don't want to; it was special, visually unique and totally electrifying. At no point through it, either in plot or character development, did I wonder why it was happening - there was no need to think like that because it didn't need anything added to it.

I love 300 and everything about it, but I'm sure that any other addition to the series - especially from a director who has nothing in his filmography - would just serve to show how great the first one was.

[Decado]

Yes, but I'd have been just as happy with a new story based in that world/setting. The connect can be tenuous so the studio has some marketing fodder.

And yes, throwing in some no-name director makes it look like a cash-in.

Immortals was terribly disappointing. Had a few good action sequences, but was overall a bit of a joke and a complete waste. Better than Clash/Wrath of the Titans, though.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by Decado

The dude who directed 47 Ronin (and has subsequently been sacked).

Noam Murro directing the sequel to a film that grossed $450m world wide (300: Rise of an Empire). His credits? A crappy comedy from 2008.

And about a dozen CGI-heavy testosterone-laden Powerade commercials...YOU tell me which of the two got him the job.
(A Clio award for "visually stylized" TV ads immediately gets you on the Draft pick for a movie directing job, and Warner had been trying to find a gig for him all the way back to "The Ring Two".
And other movies where the original "visually stylized" director had left and they needed someone else quick-n-artsy to fill in.)

And as to "Why a prequel?"....Well, the general studio rule of thumb is to do a SEQUEL, but that would be rather difficult in this case. Still, studios don't let technicalities like that stop them.