Low Budget Successes vs. Big Budget Flops

It’s been a rough summer for Hollywood in terms of big budget losses (the one exception is World War Z, which has made 266 million). Look at The Lone Ranger, After Earth,  R.I.P.D, White House Down and to a lesser degree Pacific Rim. All of these films cost between 100 and 200 million dollars to make. The Lone Ranger alone is estimated to lose 150 to 190 million dollars.

Then comes along The Conjuring, which cost 20 million to make and brought in 41.5  million its first weekend. Compared to R.I.P.D. which brought in only 12.8 million and cost around 130 million to make, The Conjuring is a great success. Why? A compelling story, not built on CGI.

Check out The Conjuring trailer here: http://www.imdb.com/trailers?ref_=nb_mv_6_tr

Heavy CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) isn’t a substitute for a good story. Take a look at John Carter, which from the first trailer had flop written all over it. Same with After Earth. As much as I like Del Toro, I get the same feeling with Pacific Rim.  All of these films are thin on story and thick on CGI. They lack the hooks to draw people to it, in my opinion. That’s where The Conjuring hits the mark. Story is everything.

Check out the trailers here:

The Lone Ranger: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1210819/?ref_=sr_1

After Earth: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1815862/?ref_=sr_1

R.I.P.D: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0790736/?ref_=sr_1

White House Down: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2334879/?ref_=sr_1

World War Z

The trailer for the Brad Pitt produced World War Z came out last week. I’ve watched it about four times, and I think it’s cool. The movie’s been plagued by production and script problems, even going so far to hire a new screenwriter halfway through production. This delayed the movie from being released in November 2012 to June 2013. That’s a big deal and a ton of money. I like the trailer, really like Mireille Enos and I think Brad Pitt is a cool guy. Here’s a link to the trailer, if you haven’t seen it:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816711/

So what’s the big problem? Common opinion says it’s not accurately reflecting the book. I did a little research why there were production issues and here’s what I found on some blogs:

1. The script is not close to the novel:

http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/features/world-war-z-trailer-illustrates-all-thats-wrong-in-hollywood-rfure.ph

2. The script is not close to the novel:

http://drezner.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/11/10/why_world_war_z_scares_me_and_not_in_the_good_way

3.  And finally, the script is not close to the novel:

http://screenrant.com/world-war-z-movie-book-differences-discussion-kofi-127543/

All that being said, the book is told in retrospect from different points of view, somewhat similar to Robopocolypse. How do you film something like that and deliver any sense of story continuity in two hours? It’s more suited to a good HBO mini-series. Steven Spielberg is directing Robopocolypse. It will be really interesting to see how both films are handled.