Post by Rob W. Case on Aug 15, 2005 2:54:16 GMT -6
I was driving home from school (on 8/11/05), and I glanced at what the Tivoli movie theater was playing. It was featuring the new movie “Bewitched” with Will Ferrell and Nicole Kidman. What? Already? I’m not surprised.
It seems that when Hollywood makes full length feature films out of movies, they don’t always cut it. Think about all the other box office disasters that were made out of old TV shows. The Beverly Hillbillies, Bewitched, Leave it to Beaver, are only a few feature films that sort of kill the mood.
Some successes, that spawned out some sequels were The Brady Bunch Movies, The Addams Family Movies, South Park, and Wayne’s World (based of the SNL sketch).
Hollywood’s Strategy Vs. The Moviegoer’s
Hollywood’s business strategy consists of expanding their fan base by refreshing their products in the minds of their clientele, so that they will purchase collector’s products regarding the product. Let’s use the Dukes of Hazzard for example. In August of 2005, the film, based on the old TV series was released. Well, Wal-Mart started carrying newly printed Dukes of Hazzard shirts, and they started selling DVD’s, one volume carrying the pilot episode and a 10 minute behind the scenes featurette on the making of the new film. Another DVD had one episode from the first three seasons as a “taste” in case you wanted to purchase the entire seasons on DVD. Then, there are the seasons themselves. Since the DVD revolution hit in the late 1990’s, studios started to experiment on releasing full seasons of various TV shows, in hopes to make money off things that, would otherwise continue to deteriorate in the studio’s vaults. In the early 2000’s, this became a trend. By releasing new movies, it tends to refresh people’s memories regarding the original series, and the focus is to try and get people back into the old TV series, and then buy the old TV series.
Why Mess With Perfection:
When Hollywood sells a movie to you the audience, it tries by re-creating it brand new. When you get into a program, you get into everything about the program. You become attached to the cast, the chemistry, and the heart that the program displays. When they re-create it, the character traits are the same (as written on script form) but the love has to be established, or re-established between the viewer and the product. Some people are so in love with the original and think “why mess with perfection?” Why try and re-win your fan base by showcasing new, younger actors? Because in the minds of the movie companies, newer audiences will go for the new, and want to discover the old on their own.
Why Movies Don’t Sell as they Should:
Movie companies do not understand this one fact when pertaining to older TV shows. For one, the reruns of the TV programs that they make into feature films have been in re runs for so many years that people get sick and tired of them. Then, to make matters worse, they make a feature film to try and re-capture the original magic, when really, it is nothing more than a re-run on the big screen, only newer actors play the roles, and there is a new storyline, tailored to fit an hour and a half as opposed to only 25 minutes or 50 minutes. If someone is constantly shown reruns, then people are not going to want to necessarily watch a more modern take on an old re-run, unless they are a strong fan base of a classic TV show.
It seems that when Hollywood makes full length feature films out of movies, they don’t always cut it. Think about all the other box office disasters that were made out of old TV shows. The Beverly Hillbillies, Bewitched, Leave it to Beaver, are only a few feature films that sort of kill the mood.
Some successes, that spawned out some sequels were The Brady Bunch Movies, The Addams Family Movies, South Park, and Wayne’s World (based of the SNL sketch).
Hollywood’s Strategy Vs. The Moviegoer’s
Hollywood’s business strategy consists of expanding their fan base by refreshing their products in the minds of their clientele, so that they will purchase collector’s products regarding the product. Let’s use the Dukes of Hazzard for example. In August of 2005, the film, based on the old TV series was released. Well, Wal-Mart started carrying newly printed Dukes of Hazzard shirts, and they started selling DVD’s, one volume carrying the pilot episode and a 10 minute behind the scenes featurette on the making of the new film. Another DVD had one episode from the first three seasons as a “taste” in case you wanted to purchase the entire seasons on DVD. Then, there are the seasons themselves. Since the DVD revolution hit in the late 1990’s, studios started to experiment on releasing full seasons of various TV shows, in hopes to make money off things that, would otherwise continue to deteriorate in the studio’s vaults. In the early 2000’s, this became a trend. By releasing new movies, it tends to refresh people’s memories regarding the original series, and the focus is to try and get people back into the old TV series, and then buy the old TV series.
Why Mess With Perfection:
When Hollywood sells a movie to you the audience, it tries by re-creating it brand new. When you get into a program, you get into everything about the program. You become attached to the cast, the chemistry, and the heart that the program displays. When they re-create it, the character traits are the same (as written on script form) but the love has to be established, or re-established between the viewer and the product. Some people are so in love with the original and think “why mess with perfection?” Why try and re-win your fan base by showcasing new, younger actors? Because in the minds of the movie companies, newer audiences will go for the new, and want to discover the old on their own.
Why Movies Don’t Sell as they Should:
Movie companies do not understand this one fact when pertaining to older TV shows. For one, the reruns of the TV programs that they make into feature films have been in re runs for so many years that people get sick and tired of them. Then, to make matters worse, they make a feature film to try and re-capture the original magic, when really, it is nothing more than a re-run on the big screen, only newer actors play the roles, and there is a new storyline, tailored to fit an hour and a half as opposed to only 25 minutes or 50 minutes. If someone is constantly shown reruns, then people are not going to want to necessarily watch a more modern take on an old re-run, unless they are a strong fan base of a classic TV show.
