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Are these just contractual obligation movies?

posted 12 years ago by Don_Flamenco
6 replies | jump to latest

It seems over the past few years, I've been coming across more and more of these limited release or straight to DVD movies with big stars in them at Target or Walmart, never having heard of them until that day. Besides this one, there was Killer Joe with matthew McCaughnehey and Gina Gershon and severl other I can't think of. Now straight to video movies are nothing new, they used to be low budget with a cast of nobodies. Sometimes they'd add a mid sized actor or actress with a minor role and advertise it giving them top billing, or sometimes it was a sequal to an existing move that was mildly successful,enough to sell a sequal as a straight to video, but not enough to make it a major release. But these have very good casts, but uninteresting stories and scripts.

What's the deal with these? Do the stars just not pay attention to what their agents are signing up for, or like in old time cinema, are they simply obliged to appear in a certain number of films for a given studio, and these releases are a part of that obligation, and the studio figures that if they bundle as many big names that already owe them as possible into their low budget film, they'll make a major profit?

[–] Trismike21 12 years ago

I know sometimes actors sign on for a movie thinking it's gonna be a major rekease, and then for soke reason it falls through. Like a distributor doesnt pick up the movie or they go over budget and theres no money to market it. So I guess it makes the most financial sense to release straight to dvd.

[–] Hermoine 12 years ago

There are also too many movies made these days and there simply isn't a big enough cinema market to accommodate them all.

If they aren't backed or picked up by a major studio it's a struggle to have a big cinema release.

It's the way the movie business has become and it will continue to change.

[–] bootblack987 12 years ago

Luckily people still make good movies like Deadfall. Unfortunately the public goes to see things like Transformers and The Avengers instead. I guess people who want to see movies like Deadfall are fine with waiting for a few months until it comes out on DVD. But people go see the other movies in the theatre because they like to SEE THINGS GET BLOWED UP GOOD!!!

[–] targa9 12 years ago

You seem not to have noticed that in Hollywood, actors are a dime a dozen. This is why the acting is so good in most movies, because there's cutthroat competition. If you turn down a script, good luck finding another decent one.
None of these actors in this movie are hot stars (like say Leo DiCaprio), so they can't just blow off offers. They could be out of work. Now look at the writers--they're not as common as actors, but their work is so watered down or producers pick the most staid scripts and stories and conclusions, it can make the movie boring.
In other words, industry-wide, the actors, cinematography, costumes, and even direction are usually top notch, but the writing, plot, and scripts are usually crummy. You haven't noticed that?

[–] clogan-1 11 years ago

It's not the actors, it's the current hollywood. Have you noticed the in the the last five years or so that the only things we seem to get are reboots, remakes, and sequels. Then when they get a story like this that rewrite, edit it to death.

[–] Prismark10 11 years ago

The film studio reckoned the film was going to tank, so gave it a limited release and then it went to DVD, Pay tv etc.

Its that man again!!