TV/Movies Megathread

[Maladict]

A list of upcoming 2021 movies.  Some seems pretty good in the lot
Might be a good year after all!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-qiMS8fnV4

A movie about the design choices behind Yamato? Oh boy 

[grumbler]

A list of upcoming 2021 movies.  Some seems pretty good in the lot
Might be a good year after all!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-qiMS8fnV4

Two thirds of those look like the same movie, with a different cast and one or two minor plot differences.

One of those disaster shoot-em-ups might be good, but the chances that even four of ten of them are good is nil.  Though F9 looks like a pretty good spoof of the fast and Furious movies.

[grumbler]

A list of upcoming 2021 movies.  Some seems pretty good in the lot
Might be a good year after all!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-qiMS8fnV4

A movie about the design choices behind Yamato? Oh boy 

It's apparently a story of brave Yamamoto (aided by boy genius mathematician) against hidebound brass.  Yamamoto was not against construction of the first two ships, but did oppose building any more once aircraft got good enough to doom battleships.

[Syt]

https://www.indiewire.com/2021/05/amazon-justifies-lord-of-the-rings-series-budget-1234636906/

Amazon Boss Justifies 'Lord of the Rings' $465 Million Budget: 'Huge World-Building' Required

Amazon is "pretty confident" the required audience will show up to make the streamer's $465 million investment worth it.

Amazon Studios is making history with its upcoming "Lord of the Rings" television series, the first season of which will be the most expensive season of television ever produced with its massive $465 million budget. Amazon Studios chief Jennifer Salke recently participated in an executive roundtable for The Hollywood Reporter, where she was asked to justify the "Rings" series' gargantuan price tag. Salke said the company is "pretty confident" the show will draw the required viewership to make the $465 million budget money worth spent.

"The market is crazy, as you saw with the Knives Out deal. [Netflix paid $469 million for two sequels.]," Salke said. "This is a full season of a huge world-building show. The number is a sexy headline or a crazy headline that's fun to click on, but [the budget] is really building the infrastructure of what will sustain the whole series."

Salke continued, "But it is a crazy world and various people on this Zoom, mostly Bela and me, have been in bidding situations where it starts to go incredibly high. There's a lot of wooing and we have to make decisions on where we want to stretch and where we want to draw the line. As for how many people need to watch 'Lord of the Rings?' A lot. (Laughs.) A giant, global audience needs to show up to it as appointment television, and we are pretty confident that that will happen."

Early reports in 2018 pegged at least two seasons of "Lord of the Rings" costing Amazon in the $500 million range, which is a bargain compared to the $465 million price tag for just one season. As expected, Amazon is viewing the debut season of its "Rings" series to be the start of an entire Middle Earth franchise on the streaming platform, thus Salke believes the massive investment is needed upfront to set up the franchise for future success.

To put the $465 million price tag into perspective, note that Peter Jackson spent around $280 million to make the original "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. The follow-up "Hobbit" trilogy cost a reported $623 million. The final season of HBO's "Game of Thrones" cost approximately $15 million an episode, bringing the total season's budget to an estimated $90 million for six episodes.

Amazon has not yet revealed the episode count for its "Rings" series' first season, although it's confirmed there will be at least six episodes. J.A. Boyona is helming the first two episodes of the series, while Wayne Che Yip is directing four episodes. The show is in production and does not have a confirmed release date.

[celedhring]

Yeah, the Knives Out deal is far more brow-raising to me. There's no reason why those two movies should cost that.

There's also the fact that while I enjoyed Knives Out, it didn't scream "trilogy!!!!" to me. 

[Josquius]

The knives out sequels are odd. I had heard it was planned for more films with Daniel Craig's character solving mysteries.... But... His character for all his quirks was a pretty Meh part of that film. A supporting role that didn't add too much that a more generic cop Could not also have done.

[celedhring]

His character was fine, he was just a parody of the "appears affable and clueless to make people lower their guard" classic whodunit detective.

The film was an enjoyable romp. I just don't know what can you do next. I suppose a "murder while travelling through a luxurious locale" trope.

[The Larch]

Apparently Rian Johnson already had an idea for a sequel before the film opened, so it might not be a blatant cash grab. I could see Craig's detective character becoming some sort of Poirot, travelling from town to town solving quirky mysteries with extravagant casts of suspects.

[celedhring]

Heh, I'm not begrudging him, $450 million for two movies that don't look particularly expensive is a hell of cash to grab.

[Sheilbh]

His character was fine, he was just a parody of the "appears affable and clueless to make people lower their guards" classic whodunit detective.

The film was an enjoyable romp. I just don't know what can you do next. I suppose a "murder while travelling through a luxurious locale" trope.

Yeah - exactly that. I can easily see a few films from that basically as a modern film-first version of Poirot or Miss Marple - and I think Peter Ustinov got through 5-6 Poirot adaptations.

Interesting/visually striking setting, good ensemble cast in a whodunnit feels like a format that is easily repeatable (if at risk of becoming derivative and less fun than the original). I think it's just Agatha Christie but the film comes first - still have no idea how it costs that much, mind.

My fear is they will decide that it's time to explore Craig's past/origin story - which I don't think anyone's interested in. As Tyr says the characters fun, but not that important.

[Josquius]

Yes. Some sort of murder on the orient express riff.


I watched the brand new testement. A Belgian film with big a amelie vibes. Such a French film. Its alright. Despite the depressing direction

[celedhring]

Google says the first film cost $40 million. 

As somebody that works in this industry, I'm worried that we're entering bubble status.

[The Larch]

Google says the first film cost $40 million. 

As somebody that works in this industry, I'm worried that we're entering bubble status.

Has Netflix ever had a profitable year? Where do they get their money from? Are they an "Uber" kind of company, that constantly loses tons of money but doesn't seem to play by traditional business rules?

[Sheilbh]

Has Netflix ever had a profitable year? Where do they get their money from? Are they an "Uber" kind of company, that constantly loses tons of money but doesn't seem to play by traditional business rules?

I thought Netflix was already profitable?

[celedhring]

Yeah, Netflix has been sustainable the past couple years. Before that they had to take on a lot of debt to sustain their production. The issue is whether the market is big enough for so many players, since Disney is also being very aggressive. HBO is already kinda pulling back.

I guess I'm a bit scarred by the Spanish TV bubble. That coupled with the recession nearly killed the industry over here.