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Paramount moves forward with cheap, straight-to-DVD sequels.

Aragorn

Aragorn

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With the success other studios have had in becoming franchise whores through cheap, straight-to-DVD titles that have nothing to do with the original movies and usually have no returning cast members, it looks like Paramount is finally moving full steam ahead with knockoffs of their own to make franchises out of movies that weren't supposed to be.

Last year, it was reported that they wanted to make cheap sequels, prequels and remakes, and the library of titles possibly included Beverly Hills Cop, Crocodile Dundee, Clueless, Collateral, Coming to America, Days of Thunder, Deep Impact, Event Horizon, Face/Off, Forrest Gump, Ghost, Grease, Indecent Proposal, Tomb Raider, Mean Girls, Mission: Impossible, School for Scoundrels, Star Trek, The Addams Family, The Brady Bunch Movie, The Italian Job, The Longest Yard and The School of Rock.

Well now they've announced the go-ahead with Road Trip, The Naked Gun, Bad News Bears, Mean Girls and Grease, and that they want to make 5-6 of these a year.

And out of their vast library, Paramount Famous exec Louis Feola only lists two movies as ones they won't touch -- The Godfather and Top Gun.

So if you've always wanted to see Forrest Gump 2 with Bruce Boxleitner and Dean Cain, now's your chance!
 
as if the original Bad News Bears sequels were not bad enough, and the new movie just wasn't different enough to make it worthwhile, but no better or worse than the original.

a new Grease movie, no way people didnt even like the one the got, and Road Trip, why not just make American Pie 7: Road Trip
 
wamdue said:
and Road Trip, why not just make American Pie 7: Road Trip
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I always thought Road Trip should have just been a spin-off from American Pie anyway. Seann William Scott's character in that pretty much is Stifler
 
Personally, I can't WAIT for The Untouchables 2 starring Jeff Fahey, Adrian Paul, Jean-Claude Van Damme with Steven Seagal as Al Capone.

On the other hand, Leslie Nielson is pretty much in straight to DVD movies nowadays, so he'll probably be back as Frank Dreben in the Naked Gun release.

Plus, on one site, it had Airplane III listed as one of the upcoming titles.
 
I think direct-to-DVD would be a great model for Star Trek. It seems to be working well for Stargate.

And these days, "direct-to-DVD" doesn't automatically mean "cheap." Is there a link to an article where the Paramount spokespeople specifically say these will be low-budget films, or is the original poster merely assuming they'll be cheap because that's the stereotype of DTDVD films?
 
Ethros said:
wamdue said:
and Road Trip, why not just make American Pie 7: Road Trip
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I always thought Road Trip should have just been a spin-off from American Pie anyway. Seann William Scott's character in that pretty much is Stifler
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ive not seen it, but maybe the character was meant to be Stifler, but legal things got in the way.

and yeah Trek could benefit from d2DVD, you just have to look at the fan film community to see that.
 
Christopher said:
I think direct-to-DVD would be a great model for Star Trek. It seems to be working well for Stargate.

And these days, "direct-to-DVD" doesn't automatically mean "cheap." Is there a link to an article where the Paramount spokespeople specifically say these will be low-budget films, or is the original poster merely assuming they'll be cheap because that's the stereotype of DTDVD films?
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I definitely agree re the trek movies. They could do big-budget sequels to JJ Abrams' movie (assuming it's a success) aimed at the general public, while knocking out lower budget direct-to-DVD efforts with Captain Sulu or Captain Riker, the DS9 crew or the ENT crew. The former would (hopefully) have more mainstream appeal, the latter for us fans.

I'm rather indifferent to the rest of Paramounts DTDVD output, but I gotta say, the idea of a Nielsen-less Naked Gun is truly baffling. He IS Frank Drebin. I can't see how anyone else could play that role. Why not just invent a new incompetent cop? It's not like Drebin was the only example of such a character. Clouseau, for one. I can't see why they can't just have someone else play a new character in an unrelated new series of movies, thus avoiding comparisons with Nielsen. Oh well ...
 
^^Except that the Frank Drebin of the Naked Gun movies isn't really the same character as the Frank Drebin of Police Squad! The PS! character was played totally deadpan -- he was a wacky character, but he existed in an equally wacky world where his bizarreness was taken totally in stride. The movies' character was revamped into a stumbling buffoon who was looked on with scorn by the people around him. Which is why the Naked Gun movies weren't remotely as funny as the show they were based on.

The ironic thing is that Leslie Nielsen was cast in Airplane! and Police Squad! because of his two-decade history as a straight, deadpan dramatic actor. That was the style of those productions: crazy comedy played with ultraseriousness by actors famous for their gravitas and dramatic intensity. It was comedy that erased the distinction between comedian and straight man. And yet the success of Airplane! created the perception of Nielsen as a comedian, and over the years, his film performances became ever more goofy and clownish. (A similar thing seems to have happened with Peter Graves's career, only to a less extreme degree. And then there's Shatner, though his comedic reputation is only partly due to his Airplane 2 performance.)


Looking over the rest of that list... hmm. Mission: Impossible without Cruise could quite possibly be an improvement. It might be nice to have something closer to the TV series than the movies, more mission-oriented and team-oriented rather than a lone hero exposing yet another conspiracy within the agency.

I don't see much else on the list that has real potential. I doubt any further Addams Family sequels would be worthwhile, and the direct-to-video sequel they already did, Addams Family Reunion, was abysmal (although there was one inspired thing about it, the choice of Tim Curry to play Gomez, which would've been fantastic if he'd had remotely worthwhile material to work with).
 
Deep Impact 2: the Clean-Up

Deeper Imact?

They should combine some of those:

Indecent Ghost Proposal

Forrest Grease

School for Clueless Scoundrals

The Brady Bunch Meets the Addams Family

Dundees of Thunder
 
Christopher said:
^^Except that the Frank Drebin of the Naked Gun movies isn't really the same character as the Frank Drebin of Police Squad! The PS! character was played totally deadpan -- he was a wacky character, but he existed in an equally wacky world where his bizarreness was taken totally in stride. The movies' character was revamped into a stumbling buffoon who was looked on with scorn by the people around him. Which is why the Naked Gun movies weren't remotely as funny as the show they were based on.
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I feel your pain.

Just look at William T. Riker as a good example.

The character that was introduced in "Encounter at Farpoint" and developed throughout seasons 1 and 2 of TNG, as well as the episodes "The Best of Both Worlds, parts I & II," all but disappeared starting from the 4th season episode "Family" and was replaced by some serious, terse, by-the-book miilitary type pencil pusher who remained there until Star Trek: Nemesis. It wasn't just the addition of a beard, but he became a completely different character in terms of portrayal and personality.

The character went from an easy going "Barack Obama-type" to a male douche bag version of "Sarah Palin!" :rolleyes:
 
^ Actually, I thought he got more jovial and more of a big kinda friendly teddy bear who was the surrogate dad to the ENT crew.

Reference his joke telling in "Data's Day" and him acting in ship plays and performing(whenever he could)his trombone(or whatever the hell it was!).

No - WTR became a big cuddly happy version of the straight laced and by the book young man we were introduced to in EaF, who was basically the same character as the straight laced and by the book Commander Willard Decker from ST:TMP.
 
Tulin said:
^ Actually, I thought he got more jovial and more of a big kinda friendly teddy bear who was the surrogate dad to the ENT crew.

Reference his joke telling in "Data's Day" and him acting in ship plays and performing(whenever he could)his trombone(or whatever the hell it was!).

No - WTR became a big cuddly happy version of the straight laced and by the book young man we were introduced to in EaF, who was basically the same character as the straight laced and by the book Commander Willard Decker from ST:TMP.
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I disagree, Riker during Seasons 1 & 2 smiled a lot and was the "big man on campus" aboard the Enterprise-D. Just look at the way he smiles and describes planet Aldea to Tasha in "When the Bow Breaks," or smiling at the holographic harp girls on his desktop in "Haven," or comforts Louisa Kim who just lost a colleague in "Home Soil," and the Riker who was all smiles and even joking with junior officers while his life was threatened by a virus in "Shades of Grey."

Season 3 Riker was neutral (He was just part of the ensemble by then...).

However, from "The Best of Both Worlds, parts I & II" onwards we got more of the asshole Riker who butted heads with Shelby, Barclay, Edward Jellico, Sam Lavelle, the ensign who was seduced by Troi in "Man of the People," and even talked down patronizingly to a Lt. J.G. Picard in "Tapestry," talking down angrily to Troi when she cried when she thought Picard died in "Gambit, part I," and making her feel like shit for not being able to pass the bridge officer's test in "Thine Own Self," and most importantly being a total douche bag to his transporter duplicate Thomas Riker (Who I found to be nicer in the vein of Seasons 1 & 2 Riker.).

I honestly don't know where the public gets this idea that Riker loosened up in the later seasons, when in most episodes during the later seasons I saw some first officer with a short-fuse and trying to front everybody by forcing them their respect to obey him as first officer (even Data who is only a position below him as second officer in a crew that number 1014! )...

In most of the later episodes, Riker was a certifiable asshole (or neutered as a character) who always had to have it his way. If you want to see more of the "good-natured Will Riker," I suggest you read any of the Star Trek novels that feature Will Riker written by Peter David.

Also, Riker being "good natured" during the later seasons was only exclusive to the senior officers. Outside of that upper-echelon click, he was the "GET TO WORK!" type of military drill seargeant type to all the junior officers, evidenced by the way he interacted with and treated Sam Lavelle. The only time he seemed charming and friendly outside of the "senior officers club" was when he was charming/seducing/flirting with women. He really became an asshole "bad cop" in the later seasons, man. If you want to see "nice," I would have to say Geordi, Data, and dare I say even Worf were way nicer to other characters than the later-incarnation of WTR.

Seasons 1 & 2 Riker was "the friend" you so happily describe. Season 3 Riker = neutral. Seasons 4-7 Riker was almost as bad as Edward Jellico in being a serious, uptight command officer who only wanted his junior officers to follow his orders to the letter. The changes to this once beloved character is simply jarring. :(
 
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I suspect this list of properties is one of ideas, not guaranteed plans. It does open up an extra avenue for Star Trek in the future, I guess.
 
Christopher said:
I think direct-to-DVD would be a great model for Star Trek. It seems to be working well for Stargate.

And these days, "direct-to-DVD" doesn't automatically mean "cheap." Is there a link to an article where the Paramount spokespeople specifically say these will be low-budget films, or is the original poster merely assuming they'll be cheap because that's the stereotype of DTDVD films?
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This is almost word for word what I would have posted. I think the direct-to-DVD model has fantastic potential, and that's why I was hoping great success for Stargate, Futurama and Babylon 5; of those three, Stargate and Futurama seem to be doing well with it.

Regarding Star Trek in particular, I would much rather see low-budget, direct-to-DVD Trek done right than a see a quarter of a billion dollars spent on turning it into a Summer blockbuster (not that I've given up on the new movie quite yet ;)).
 
Okay, Universal and Herr Whedon, time to get cracking on a direct-to-DVD Serenity sequel!

Yes? No? Maybe? :(
 
Christopher said:
The ironic thing is that Leslie Nielsen was cast in Airplane! and Police Squad! because of his two-decade history as a straight, deadpan dramatic actor. That was the style of those productions: crazy comedy played with ultraseriousness by actors famous for their gravitas and dramatic intensity. It was comedy that erased the distinction between comedian and straight man. And yet the success of Airplane! created the perception of Nielsen as a comedian, and over the years, his film performances became ever more goofy and clownish. (A similar thing seems to have happened with Peter Graves's career, only to a less extreme degree. And then there's Shatner, though his comedic reputation is only partly due to his Airplane 2 performance.)
Click to expand...

Well, Shatner was never much of a dramatic actor anyway. He used to take himself far more seriously than his talent really warranted (which, in an odd way, is what made Captain Kirk so iconic). It's only natural that his whole persona would shift to one of self parody in the last 10-20 years.

Aragorn said:
Last year, it was reported that they wanted to make cheap sequels, prequels and remakes, and the library of titles possibly included Beverly Hills Cop, Crocodile Dundee, Clueless, Collateral, Coming to America, Days of Thunder, Deep Impact, Event Horizon, Face/Off, Forrest Gump, Ghost, Grease, Indecent Proposal, Tomb Raider, Mean Girls, Mission: Impossible, School for Scoundrels, Star Trek, The Addams Family, The Brady Bunch Movie, The Italian Job, The Longest Yard and The School of Rock.

Well now they've announced the go-ahead with Road Trip, The Naked Gun, Bad News Bears, Mean Girls and Grease, and that they want to make 5-6 of these a year.

And out of their vast library, Paramount Famous exec Louis Feola only lists two movies as ones they won't touch -- The Godfather and Top Gun.
Click to expand...

OK, I understand why they consider exploiting The Godfather to be blashphemy but what exactly has Top Gun done to earn such untouchable status?

Please no more Grease movies. I still haven't had enough hypno-therapy to erase my memories of Grease 2.:eek::(

I thought they were planning on a new, big budget Beverly Hills Cop sequel to try to revive Eddie Murphy's crap career.

Clueless was, like, the quintessential 1990s stereotype. Like, how are they going to remake that? As if!

A sequel to Event Horizon might be interesting. Heck, they could probably still get Sam Neill back.

What more is there to say about The Brady Bunch?

I think more Mission Impossible & Tomb Raider movies could be really fun!

I'm all for direct to video Star Trek movies, especially if they bring back the DS9 cast.

School of Rock without Jack Black is impossible.
 
The Borgified Corpse said:
Well, Shatner was never much of a dramatic actor anyway. He used to take himself far more seriously than his talent really warranted (which, in an odd way, is what made Captain Kirk so iconic). It's only natural that his whole persona would shift to one of self parody in the last 10-20 years.
Click to expand...

Actually, early in his career, Shatner was considered a highly promising dramatic actor; some even called him the next Olivier. Getting a rising star as respected and prominent as Shatner to star in a sci-fi TV show was considered a major casting coup at the time. If you look at his pre-Trek work -- and a lot of his first- and second-season Trek work -- you see he's a very different, much more naturalistic actor than the stereotype would have it.

Personally, I suspect the tinnitus he suffered from being too close to an effects explosion during filming of "The Apple" affected his performance style. It's hard to be understated when you're trying to hear yourself over a loud ringing in your ears. And the stress of the constant noise took a major psychological toll on Shatner. It was around the second season of TOS that his more naturalistic style began to mutate into the exaggerated style that people imagine to be his trademark.

Part of the problem, though, is that acting styles have changed. Shatner was theatrically trained, in a school of acting that has to be larger than life at times to reach to the back rows. At the time, that was considered a perfectly valid style of acting. But since then, the intimacy of the TV camera has brought a more subdued, naturalistic style of acting into greater favor. So what some consider bad acting is really just an earlier generation's definition of good acting.
 
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