With the success of Kill Bill and the looming two part Harry Potter, I was wondering if you would like to see more movies made this way. I was thinking about the recently proposed Dune movie. I'm a huge Dune fan and I prefer the Lynch movie over the SciFi mini series. I know there is a lot wrong with the movie story wise but for look and feel of Dune, its way better then the mini series. So I was thinking if given two movies to tell the story in, ala Kill Bill or Harry Potter it could work. Then I thought this could work for a host of movie, probably in the fantasy & science fiction area. Would you like to see more movies like this in general and if so, what movies would you like seen done like this?
I have mixed feelings about this technique. It worked with Kill Bill, but in some ways that's because at their heart the two parts were told in very different styles - the first was a more frenetic action/kung fu thriller and the second was a far slower paced brooding drama. The story fit better in two distinct parts. Then you had the Matrix Reloaded/Revolutions (which was basically one movie done in two parts) which, well, we all know how that turned out. Too often I think it could just be an excuse to milk double the revenue out of what really should just be one film by extending it with a lot of unnecessary filler and stretching it out over four hours.
Wasn't Kill Bill originally intended as one film? Although it was perfect for Kill Bill, I much prefer to just make one film that is very long. I said this in the other thread, but Dune Really needs to take it's notes from LOTR in terms of how it's handled. Make a very long film, releasing the extended deluxe version on home video later. If Dune was done with the same production value and talent behind Jackson's LOTR, it would be a formidable film.
True because Dune the book is actually broken up into three books. However I don't think Dune could work as LOTR does, I don't think people would stand for three movies. However two movies, say the first one put out in Oct/Nov then the follow up early the next summer would work great. I too think it would take someone of Jackson's talent to get people enthused to see two movies about Dune. Unfortunately Dune is far more heady then most Science Fiction and very tough to translate to screen (large or small)
It depends on the kind of movie, to be honest. For the 7th Harry Potter Book, it made sense to split it into two movies. I felt the last movie was too rushed and as a result felt too random, with no real cohesiveness between scenes. In other respects, if a story doesn't really need it, it would look like the studio is trying to milk it for as much as it's worth. With Lord of the Rings, it also made sense as there was already quite a large fanbase attached to it wanting to see a big screen adaptation, that they felt they could risk making 3 movies out of it.
Oh, I think Dune should just be one movie, but it would have to be long to pull it off well, a four hour epic at least (think Lawrence of Arabia length). The miniseries was about that length and it captured most of the story. Do something similar but with far greater talent and production value behind it, and you are on the way to the definitive Dune adaptation. Yeah, no way the public would go to more than one Dune movie. Can you imagine trying to sell the general public on a four hour God Emperor film? I can see the squirming in seats now
The DUNE miniseries was closer to 300 minutes, I think. Each episode was about 100 minutes. Still, a 4-hour epic might be able to do the novel justice.
As said upthread, it worked for Kill Bill because the movies have two different tones, but otherwise, no - it's just an excuse to rip the consumer for two tickets to the same project. One movie should be one movie.
I don't like it when they split things (that is: the same story) over several parts. TV movies do that all the time, and it shows badly in every one I've seen. Most of the time there are so many unimportant and uninteresting subplots it's not even funny. You could cut all of these out and get a good two-hour movie from that. But no, they need to make 2, 3, 4 parts for one story. Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth was a great read, but the TV films were extremely tiresome. Novels and movies are two entirely different media and should be treated as such.