As the battered residents of New York and New
Jersey clean up from Hurricane Sandy, the rest of us await the onslaught of the
more benign fury of the holiday season.
In this calm before the storm, Hollywood is fretting over whether any of
us will seek to entertain ourselves with their offerings in the movie
theaters.
Will we pay $10.50 and up plus the equivalent
of caviar prices for popcorn to see LINCOLN and LES MISERABLES, THE HOBBIT and the
last installment of TWILIGHT, or will we stay home and stream slightly older
movies on our computers and satellite feeds?
This is the time of year when the Oscar buzz begins in earnest and
studio profits and losses are counted up. Somehow the looming Mayan apocalypse (December
21, 2012, in case you forgot) pales in comparison to the thought that Ang Lee’s
LIFE OF PI could sink and take an entire industry with it.
Like publishing, the film industry is
suffering a crisis of identity right now the likes of which it hasn’t seen
since the 1950’s, when a television in every home meant bi-weekly trips to the
movie theaters became a thing of the past.
The question is whether digital and Imax and Dolby sound and 3D can keep
people coming into the theaters when they have so many—and much cheaper—viewing
options at home. The film industry execs
are fighting back—I love the theater ad that shrinks the big screen picture to
a tiny computer screen, then blows it up, with a title that says no story “deserves
to be reduced to this”—but even they suspect it’s a losing battle. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear Disney has
bought Netflix sometime in the not-so-distant future.
Science fiction/fantasy films demand big effects—monsters
and moonscapes, starships and space battles, aliens and alternate realities can’t
be made real without them. The big
screen and all the new sight and sound technologies are a huge plus for such
films. Audiences will always be drawn to theaters to see an AVATAR or a STAR TREK,
an AVENGERS or IRON MAN or MAN OF STEEL. This holiday season will be a bit
short of such blockbusters, though, Hollywood having apparently decided that
the summer is more appropriate for “that kind” of film.
We do have the final installment in the TWILIGHT
series, BREAKING DAWN, PART 2, in theaters now.
Don’t know about you, but I don’t consider this series science
fiction/fantasy or SFR. Paranormal
romance and in particular, YA romance, yes, but SFR, no. So for purposes of this discussion, let’s
leave the human-vampire-werewolf triangle aside, as hugely popular as it may
be.
Only one film slated for this holiday season,
Peter Jackson’s long-awaited prequel to the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, THE
HOBBIT, AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY, truly promises to bring in the SF/F audience. If Jackson and his co-writers (Fran Walsh,
Phillipa Boyens and Guillermo del Toro) can recreate the magic they wove with
the LOTR films, this first in three hobbit films is bound to be another instant
classic. (Of course, this one is missing the talents of Viggo Mortenson as
Aragorn, but you can’t have everything.)
Now, if you’ve been following the story of
the making of this film, you know that is a great big IF. The film has had more than one director. Guillermo del Toro, a genius with special
effects, but a notoriously difficult creative type, dropped out as director and
Jackson took over early enough in the production that he is now listed as director, when he swore he would not do the
film. There were delays and casting
issues early on. Some critics thought
the film would never be made.
But LOTR fans are a dedicated lot. (Some of us have been around for a LONG,
LONG time.) Pressure was applied and
Jackson submitted. Much of the original
cast signed on (Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, Ian McKellan, Elijah Wood,
Christopher Lee). The film is almost
here at last. THE HOBBIT opens December
14 around the country.
I’m not the only one who recognizes the bonds
between audience members out there. In a
“marketing by association” kind of moment, THE HOBBIT filmgoers will be treated
to a nine-minute preview of the new STAR TREK 2 movie, STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS,
due out May 17, 2013. And the new year
promises a whole new galaxy of intriguing science fiction, fantasy and, we
hope, SFR films coming to screens everywhere.
That is, if we all survive the Mayan
apocalypse.
Cheers, Donna
