Forum Overview :: Peter Molyneux's The Movies :: Blame foreigners.

[quote name="skip"]<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/jul/26/what-next-for-global-blockbuster">Good article about why there are so many bland films these days.</a> It's a good article about the state of the movie industry right now. A lot of the blame can be put on trying to hit an international lowest common denominator instead of just an American one. [quote]Avoiding real-world, present-day specifics that might exclude, or bring in awkward politics, is good: hence the run on fantasy backdrops (The Lord of the Rings; Harry Potter), prehistory (Ice Age; 10,000BC), mythic and fairytale (Immortals; Clash of the Titans; Red Riding Hood; Snow White and Huntsman), history so denuded of reality it borders on fantasy (Pirates of the Caribbean; Prince of Persia) and sci-fi (too many to list). [/quote] [quote]Contemporary American settings of the kind that dominated the worldwide top 10 at the start of the 90s - think Dead Poet's Society, Ghost, A Few Good Men - are the exception, not the rule these days. "It's not that they're a turn-off, it's just that they're not a turn-on," says Orci. "(a) American settings been used too much. (b) The reality of the economics of it is that it's so expensive to film here." [/quote] [quote]It's not a cast-iron rule, but sequels tend to do better abroad than in the US; in fact, there are numerous instances of America being less keen on shopworn franchises (late 90s Bond, Hannibal, Ocean's 12 & 13) than international audiences.[/quote] [/quote]