i would love to see a Smash Movie. they did a concert and people like me are still interested in Smash. they could pick up where the series left off and begin from there.
shareIt would have to go back to just being about Bombshell, that was what people loved about the show. That's one of the reasons the second season was a flop.
shareI think there's something very real in there - the simple truth is that for years, musical movies tended to be riffs on making musicals, with the satiric edge that Smash carries with it - on, at this point, many many levels. If someone could just figure out how, and manage to step back far enough, we could be looking at something incredible. Not to mention a timely self-examination of media consumption and popular culture.
Unfortunately we'd also very much not be looking at Smash, since the original cast could never be reassembled, and that wouldn't even matter because we'd be looking back through the shattered glass of 1000 POV.
In more grounded terms, however, the question is just this: what movie do you make? Smash had (and still has) several audiences, between which there is some overlap, but not enough.
1) The originally intended audience is statistically more affluent, older, and more highly educated, which is a reasonable goal for a network that wants to change its demographics but not a particularly useful move for a big-budget Hollywood movie.
2) The most vocal segment are the hate-watchers, many of whom are part of category 1 but didn't jump ship when the material was massively missing the boat. Hate-watching created it's own entertainment, how do you bottle that into a movie in any sort of productive way that isn't just derivative and years after everyone moved on? (Unless hate watching is a social phenomena just now trickling into pop culture as a whole, though I don't think that's the case.)
3) New Broadway fans. I don't even know if this is a real thing but as bootlegging becomes easier with video and there's more musical movies and Broadways stars are everywhere on TV and Hollywood and particularly after Glee, there does seem to be a lot of young people who legit watched because they think Broadway is cool. Not really a direction for a movie though, and I think they mostly splinter off into other categories.
4) Everyone else. I do not personally understand the bulk of "everyone else" because I think there's a lot of ignorance, illiteracy, bullheadedness, and generally the stuff that led me to physically rant in physical public places about this show. But like, that movie would probably look like season 3 of Smash, which suffers from two problems: firstly, you just can't do that with Smash's legacy, because there's too much baggage for anyone to touch the material with a straight face and secondly, I'm back to agreeing that a musical about making musicals is a reasonable idea, but again what's the storyline (as Smash was notoriously bad at plot) and why bother with Smash when you can start fresh with other young Broadway actresses who are already established and bring huge followings from multiple demographics, like Anna Kendrick?
FWIW, Megan Hilty has said both that people approach her all the time to say they only got into the show via post-cancellation marathons; and that they only started attending Broadway plays after and because of Smash. So the demographic is expanding.
Unfortunately, if/when I think about a mainstage plot, the obvious gimme is the evolution of one party and the simultaneous devolution of another; which of course they've tried, and we all know the results. It's been an enduring trope for a reason and thus I think clearly possible to do well; but not as a "Gotcha!" secret directed towards the audience. Maybe if both competing parties are at the exact same point in their career (a festival or fellowship?), and TPTB can really manage to keep the suspense going.
BTW, HAI!
So at this point I think they're only real bet is going to be to make a documentary throughout the process of bringing Bombshell to the stage, paced and released carefully. The enduring interest in Smash is an enduring interest is remnants of the show, and we never did get to see the people who weren't in front of the camera. Hilariously, they'd actually achieve what they originally set out to do, and bring the crazy world of Broadway in front of the right audience. Also it would help fund the production itself.
I also really really believe the financial model of Broadway has to change, and maybe Smash can be that bridge - not everyone has access to live theatre, and with the prevalence and intimacy of social media and streaming, they have to freaking stream at least one live show a week. If Spielberg's involved the have the brute force.
On the other hand wtf just let it die. Every time it comes back the theatre world focuses on Hilty and Broadway peeps, the slackjawed masses start their shrill propping of Karen, and I'm just sitting here going: I know it's tacky right now but could Broadway movers and shakers give me the straight dope on what I'm seeing because I like to make my mind up after being informed of the lay of the land and who the hell knows what I'm looking at anymore. I mean, I still think McPhee's "incredible dancing!" is mostly being carried around, held up high, and the general in sync movements that are good for a music video but not live theatre.
Also off topic but Hilty is doing an Encore of Annie Get Your Gun which is like the funniest thing ever and I want to see if a bootleg of McPhee's turns up because I still haven't seen her in a musical and the dopes saying "she's not trained!" are bumming me out.