Or maybe WB may have saved it. Blade Runner 2049 was a great movie but it didn't set any cinemas on fire. Way more people will watch Dune at home than would have in the theater. If it's popular enough it'll get it's sequel(s).
Dune 2018 (19,20,21...)
- Thread starter wayoung
- Start date
Or at least the second half of the first novel filmed.
Agree. Nobody is going to be rushing to jam into theatres anytime soon, if ever. Who does he think is going to see his film? Tenet-like numbers will kill a franchise, too.
Also, Blade Runner 2049 is a much bigger hit on ppv and streaming than it was in theaters.
If Dune is only as good as BR 2049, I'll worry.
The performance of BR 2049 was not in proportion to its accolades. Though not a bad film, I found it to be decidedly inferior to the 1982 original. It was very much in doubt even before the pandemic that BR 2049 will kick off a revival of that franchise in cinema.
The performance of BR 2049 was not in proportion to its accolades. Though not a bad film, I found it to be decidedly inferior to the 1982 original. It was very much in doubt even before the pandemic that BR 2049 will kick off a revival of that franchise in cinema.
Agreed. And I'll also add BR 2049 did not need to be three hours long.
Granted, I also had a bad theatre experience when I saw the movie that likely soured my opinion further.
Just a moment ago on SNL's goodnight segment Timothee chalamet appears to be siding with Legendary pictures
I've been a fan of Villeneuve since Polytechnique. I was living in Montreal when that happened and his movie was ... emotional. After Incendies I thought he would spend his career being a great Indy French-Canadian director and made a point of keeping up with his projects. Arrival was beautiful, and Blade Runner just proved how much he loved literary science fiction. He is THE guy to be making Dune, and I have a lot of confidence that his adaptation will be faithful story wise and thematically. Anyone who doesn't have faith in his ability (and that is not saying the movie is going to be what we hope it to be) just doesn't understand Dune conceptually.
I understand where he's coming from and he's right in stating that streaming, especially HBO Max, can't bring in numbers that movie theaters do (hell, after a decade or more of streaming i still can't subscribe to HBO directly here in Germany, even if i wanted to. I'd have to buy a package deal with another provider to be able to see HBO shows).
However this is a very unique situation for everybody and the Dune production just had the misfortune to be caught right in the middle of the chaos. What he's not talking about is that the studios need to survive somehow and are now trying everything to get through the crisis and when it's done they will still need new material to show audiences and Dune will have made the first step.
I'm pretty sure that the studios will take close notice how Dune performs and adjust for the Covid situation, it won't be a billion dollar box office breaker, which it could have been if the movie was great and there was no Covid but i hope the studios realize this and won't shoot down movies and possible new franchises because they didn't make pre-covid bank.
I also don't buy into the myth that movie piracy will doom Dune ( or any other movie). Especially Dune, which is something of a spectacle movie, needs to be seen on the big screen for the experience and many people will still go to the theater before they rewatch it via pirated copy or some shady streaming site.
Except that WB didn't fund this movie. Dune isn't a DC movie. WB only paid 25% of the budget, and is now self dealing the distribution, which is what caused the legal breakup of studio owned movie theater chains in the first place. Legendary paid 75% of the cost, with the cast and crew taking significant pay cuts in return for points off the gross.
So, by self dealing to HBO Max:
HBO Max, an AT&T owned company, gets its share of the $30 price.
WB, an AT&T owned company, gets its share of the price.
AT&T has now been paid twice out of that $30.
Legendary now only gets its negotiated digital rates and a limited theatrical return, which probably had higher rates negotiated.
Cast and crew who gave up up front funds get reduced return on their negotiated theatrical gross points and NOTHING beyond whatever the standard royalty is that they'd have gotten anyway without giving up upfront salaries.
Legendary, and the cast, and the crew are now pissed at WB self dealing to make more money at the expense of thier income.
How eager do you think they all are to make the next film now? Despite the first one being a passion project for them all? And WB did this without consulting Legendary or Villeneuve. Villeneuve found out from watching the news! Hence the line about "Broken Trust".
I really don't get all the people here saying that "This will save the franchise" when both the creative AND financial powers behind the franchise are saying it probably killed it. Good luck finding another creative team that would want to walk into this quagmire.
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Can also see a lot of people baulking at that sort of price.
Sure if it's a family movie that everyone will want to sit down then if it's fair but in my household it's just me and the wife and she's got no interest so there's no way in hell I'm gonna pay nearly 3x the price of a cinema ticket.
It's not the same audience as Trolls World Tour & Mulan, that's for sure.
Reposting from reddit. Photos of Baron and Piter from the movie:
Deadline is reporting that WB may cave in the face of Legendary's legal pressure and move Dune back to theatrical only, on condition that Legendary allows Godzilla, which Legendary also financed, to remain day 1 digital (and pays Legendary the same amount Netflix was going to pay Legendary to stream it there).
https://deadline.com/2020/12/the-li...ek-jared-leto-hbo-max-controversy-1234660476/
https://deadline.com/2020/12/the-li...ek-jared-leto-hbo-max-controversy-1234660476/
Yeah, I see that as good news, too, if true. I also hope this won't be the only case of WB trying to make amends to people they tried to take advantage of with their decision.
Seems less like making amends to me and more not wanting to be in court for the next decade with the production company behind every major movie they have that's not DC based.
I was really hoping they'd just make some kind of a deal with them that would get everyone enough money, but let them keep it on HBOMax.
Hopefully by October, if they keep that release date, things will be stable enough that people will actually go see.
I definitely want to see everybody get the money they deserve, I just wish they could find a way to do it, without canceling all of HBO Max releases and going back to theaters only.
