|
Fireflair
Captain of the List
Posts: 591
Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2012 6:23 pm
|
Side note: Most movies lose money by the time the accountants are done with them. For many reasons, having to do with taxes mostly, the movie accounting groups manage to finesse the numbers to show a loosing proposition or break even on most movies. Even the ones which are considered big budget winners.
Back on track now...
It's been pretty well covered that movie execs don't want sci-fi films. That's true, for a variety of reasons. One is that most hard-core sci-fi films don't make money, before the accountants start playing with the numbers. Sci-fi effects eat up budgets, CGI is a killer, and the audience just isn't there. No matter how many good TV shows and movies are released. Fantasy does much better, as shown on GoT and Marvel's releases.
Marvel has an excellent brand, well imbedded in society from a young age for the current money spending generation. Now they utilize an excellent advertising system and provide characters people can clearly relate to.
If you go back to the 90's and earlier, you won't find many fantasy or sci-fi which did well. Yes yes... Star Wars, Star Trek... Both are flukes in the grand scheme of things, no matter how much you're a fan of them or how much money they've made. They filled a niche market at the time, which is clear when you compare them against how many hundreds of other TV shows and movies were released in the same time frame.
Sci-Fi, even if it's believable off the cuff without any serious explanations, isn't as easily sold to the masses. That's key to movie execs and TV execs.
Look at Serenity. A good movie, and a good TV series. The characters had depth and were relatable. But the movie only did mediocre sales (Mostly helped along by the rabid cult following, of which I am one), and build up from the TV show. The TV show only had one season, and the movie was really a gift to the hard core fans. Many sci-fi shows go this route.
Here we're talking about a complex space drama, ship to ship fights, politics and character development that is slow moving (though clear when you look at the big picture), more akin to Babylon 5 in many ways. B5 started out with a planned series of plots and did well initially. But when they wrapped it up it was dying on TV ratings. And let's all face it, technology and comparing it to wet water navy battle actions is a big part of the series. Yes, we all love Honor and many other characters who grow with us through the series, but the tech base is a big part of the books. That could be glossed over in the movie with some mumbo jumbo and hand waving, just say we have better phasers and move on, but I don't think an Honor series would find a firm hold on the small or large screen. It's too complex and the details are too integral a part of what makes it so good to all of us.
|
. While I think we'd all like David's "work product" sooner rather than later, I definitely understand and empathize! The more important thing for me is that David and Sharon are doing well and his creative juices are flowing smoothly.