Phil Tippett concept art for an unmade MARS ATTACKS! movie that was developed in the '80s by Tippett and ROBOCOP producer Jon Davison. Alex Cox and Martin Amis wrote scripts for the movie.
We made our feature in 2007 on a $60k budget. We raised 30k and put the rest on credit cards. It did not make back its budget. The crew we were able to pay a pittance made more money on it than we did. Even after we put it on YouTube and it got 1.6 million views we couldn’t monetize it because all of the DMCA dings on music we had properly licensed at the time.
An indie feature is not your ticket to riches and fame, but I don’t regret making it one bit. It was a dream come true and my worst nightmare all wrapped up in one. I’m so glad I had that experience.
What exactly does Sally Choi want here?
The OBSESSION art director/set decorator says she made $300 a day and less than $7,000 total on the film, which is now heading toward a massive box office run.
I get why that stings.
But OBSESSION was a $750,000 indie movie. Nobody knew this thing was going to blow up. Nobody was working on a guaranteed studio hit.
That is how indie films work.
People wear multiple hats. People take lower rates. People gamble on the credit, the experience, the relationships, and the hope that the movie becomes something bigger.
This one did.
And yes, it sucks when a movie explodes and the below-the-line crew does not share in that upside.
But who is supposed to cut the check now?
Curry Barker? Focus Features? The producers? The distributor that bought the movie after it was already made?
If the ask is backend for indie crews after acquisition, say that.
If it is bonus pools, say that.
If it is better minimums, say that.
But vague “we need to turn this industry around” posting without a clear ask can backfire fast.
She did good work.
She should use OBSESSION to get better-paying jobs immediately, because that is usually how this business works.
But everyone on that movie was gambling.
The difference is the gamble actually paid off.
A very cool, under-the-radar story here. The excellent 2018 horror movie CAM has been available to watch precisely NOWHERE since Netflix got rid of it last year, so director Daniel Goldhaber put it up for FREE streaming on his website: https://t.co/4WVfotW9g7
New character details for Michael Mann’s ‘HEAT 2’ have reportedly been revealed:
• Leonardo DiCaprio in talks to play Chris Shiherlis
• Christian Bale in talks to play Vincent Hanna (role equivalent to Al Pacino)
• Stephen Graham in talks to play Neil McCauley (role equivalent to Robert De Niro)
• Adam Driver interested in playing the main antagonist, Otis Lloyd Wardell
(Source: @DanielRPK)
Keep seeing people post that IMAX 70mm is just 4:3 TV or that the extra top and bottom of the frame doesn't add anything. You just have a misunderstanding of IMAX photography.
To accomodate other formats, Chris Nolan and Hoyte Van Hoytema use ground glass (Pic 1) etched with guides to appropriately frame every shot. This ensures Nolan can mostly center punch for every deliverable.
That's also why IMAX tends to be center-framed (Pic 2). The filmmakers want you looking dead center at what's happening while the rest of the image melts away into your peripheral vision. The idea is that when you're watching IMAX 70mm on a massive 60-100' screen, all you see is the movie. No masking, no screen frame, nothing. It's meant to fully immerse the viewer.
The size of the film negative and use of wide open lenses supports this in intimate moments because of the shallow depth of field. The image is tack sharp exactly where your eyes should be.
For wider shots and action sequences, there will usually be an important object(s) close to center frame that helps guide your eyes to surrounding parts you need to focus on (Pic 3). This is also why Nolan's movies translate well to widescreen formats like 70mm, 35mm, and other 2.39:1 screens.
He's not thinking about the height or width of the image independently, but as one giant canvas.
There's negative space above peoples heads because if you pushed their heads to the top of the frame and the next shot had an important action in the lower third, you'd spend the majority of the movie pivoting your head up and down and across the massive screen (Pic 4). Exhausting.
This is also why Nolan and other filmmakers crop from 1.43 to 1.78 for Blu-ray. The idea with the IMAX sequences is that they expand and use every inch of screen real estate. Pillarboxing 1.43 footage when intercut with 2.39 scenes makes the IMAX images appear smaller since they don't take up the full width of your screen. Footage should expand vertically, just like in theaters.
I get that tons of people watch stuff on their phones and laptops these days, but you have to understand the original intention - the theatrical experience - and not you sitting at home watching the movie on your 15" Macbook, 6" phone screen, or TV that's probably 5 ft too far from your couch.
Apologies for the long rant. 🤘🎞️
“The Thing” director John Carpenter praises Keith David as an “astonishing actor” while honoring him at his Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony.
https://t.co/eDWMdmQbmo
Another BREAKING: #TheOdysseyMovie:
The 1.85:1 version will be taken from the 1.90 IMAX, not cropped from 2.39:1 scope.
Here's the order from most to least image:
> 1.43:1 #IMAX
> 1.90:1 IMAX
> 1.85:1 PLF
> 2.2:1 5/70 film format
> 2.39 Scope
The 1.85 PLF version is just a slight crop from the left and right of the 1.90:1 IMAX.
All the trailers are live in every ratio.
BOX OFFICE: May domestic box office crossed $1B for the first time since 2019. It is the 9th time in history we’ve seen $1B in May and the first time it has happened without a Marvel movie.
NEW TRAILER - The fear-of-heights franchise heads to Thailand in FALL 2: DEADPOINT.
In theaters September 2.
Two friends take on new heights in Thailand, where unpredictable terrain, extreme exposure, and nowhere to hide push survival further than ever before.
A good reminder that “70mm” can mean very different things.
With THE ODYSSEY, 5-perf 70mm and 15-perf IMAX 70mm are not necessarily interchangeable experiences. With PLF labels multiplying, movie theatres and studios need to make format differences clearer and not just more marketable.
Folks are talking about how this Supergirl promo image clearly uses a Star Wars alien/image. But there is a very similar alien in the upcoming movie. I can just about guarantee someone at the studio sent the artist reference for the characters and sent the wrong thing somehow.
@mjarbo I have a strange feeling that alien is in the movie, maybe cost cutting. Yes the artist traced the Star Wars appearance, but perhaps she got the okay because the puppet is in supergirl. Same things with the dune/rogue one comic trace for kynes. Same actress, different movie.
Fun fact. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was supposed to be PG (hence the lack of gore). It's one of the reasons Spielberg hired Hooper for Poltergeist. PG also.
Poltergeist originally got an R for the bathroom face peeling scene, which was trimmed. The extra gore later turned up in the TV version oddly enough.
Marjane Satrapi, the Iranian director best known for her Oscar-nominated 2007 biographical animated feature “Persepolis,” has died. She was 56.
https://t.co/BXe0JhJX8c