I just attended a special premier showing on the much-publicized remake of Death on the Nile and can now understand why the number crunchers on wall street are predicting the demise of the neighborhood movie theatre. Accounting figures aside, here are a few thoughts of my own.
* Unrealistic budgets - The cost to make a movie with at least 1 A list actor and a professional crew normally costs between 50 and 250 million dollars, with 20% of that earmarked for marketing alone. With theatre attendance falling steadily every year, a profitable movie ventures are scarcer than ever.
* Unrealistic casting - Though I applaud the producer's efforts to expand acting opportunities for people of color, casting nonwhite actors in parts that were clearly intended for white actors i.e. African American actors in key movie rolls about medieval England, and the non-white actors in key roles in Death on the Nile not only turns off white audiences, but produces a finished product that is both inaccurate and unrealistic.
* Unrealistic effects - Decades ago, the aging filmmaker Woody Allen once said (Paraphrased) "You don't need big budgets and loads of special effects to make a good movie, all you need is a good story, and some good actors to play the roles" The special effects in Death on the Nile (a story penned nearly a century ago) while dazzling, were both unnecessary and costly.
Last night I sat in a theatre with a grand total of 4 other people watching a much-publicized movie premier that cost 90 million dollars to make. Though the 2022 version of Death on the Nile (IMHO) is just as good as it's 1978 counterpart (which I attended in my 20's) tells the story of neighborhood movie theatres in decline, and an entire industry struggling to remain relevant.
I support some points:
* too many special effects in modern movies, in many cases not adding anything t the story.
* If a story is set in a specific historic context, "diversifying" cast is a problem for people knowledgeable in that times. Question for me would be, can't people take the central story and make a new setting (with all consequences, I think with "Bridgerton" this went well. It is a copy of the British 19th century society, but it is quite clear that is is a Fantasy world.
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@mchill saidOr maybe studios should think twice about letting Kenneth Branagh make another movie. Thank goodness I didn't pay to see his "Orient Express" in the theater. I streamed it and only endured about 20 or 30 minutes.
I just attended a special premier showing on the much-publicized remake of Death on the Nile and can now understand why the number crunchers on wall street are predicting the demise of the neighborhood movie theatre. Accounting figures aside, here are a few thoughts of my own.
* Unrealistic budgets - The cost to make a movie with at least 1 A list actor and a professional c ...[text shortened]... ory of neighborhood movie theatres in decline, and an entire industry struggling to remain relevant.
On a side note, having never been a fan of a studio or distributor, I think A24 has something going on. Blum House too, sometimes.
