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Okay. M. Night Shamuthekillerwhale is confirmed in the new ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY as signing on to do three AVATAR movies, back to back, probably covering the entire saga.
Which makes the whole prospect seem even odder.
On the one hand, this is roughly equivalent to Peter Jackson stepping into the big chair for the LORD OF THE RINGS movies; a horror/suspense genre director taking the helm of a huge fantasy franchise. But it's an even bigger gamble, I think; when Jackson took the LotR job, it was already obvious that he knew his way around an action sequence. AVATAR is, if anything, even more action-oriented than LotR, but there's little in M. Night Champagnecocktail's resumé to suggest he's up to the task.
Still, I'd like to see this work, for a couple of reasons; first, it would be great to have a really good, home-grown martial arts franchise. AVATAR is, at heart, a Zhang Yimou movie—a mix of wuxia action, sympathetic characters, and rich world-building. To make that formula accessible to kids (and, more generally, to audiences who don't bother with subtitles) could only be a good thing.
Secondly, and sorta related; it would be great to see an American movie franchise—an American children's movie franchise, at that—with multiple strong roles for Asian and Asian-American actors.
Thirdly—and this is a bit of Hollywood inside baseball, here—a financial breakthrough for these movies might be hammer that finally sells The Powers That Be on the proper way to make a science fiction or fantasy franchise; namely, to make the massive investment up front and shoot 'em all as near to simultaneously as you can. You'd think LotR and the two MATRIX sequels would have shown them, but no; they've been fucking it up ever since.
They shot THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE as a one-off, then rescheduled the sequel two years back; by the time PRINCE CASPIAN comes out—if it's ever actually made; they may decide to shitcan it when they see how much the kids have grown—the cultural moment for Narnia will be long past, and it'll tank, killing a potential seven-film series at Film Two.
They're doing the same thing with THE GOLDEN COMPASS; I'll tell you, if THE SUBTLE KNIFE ever gets made, I'll eat my hat. They did it with A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS.
(The PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN films have done it right. And the Harry Potter films are different, sort of; they were optioned all at once, and the lead players signed multi-film contracts, so the downtime between productions has been relatively brief even as the director's chair has been a revolving door. And because the book series is still going, it continues to generate interest in the property.)
It's simple economies of scale. If Peter Jackson had shot each RINGS movie separately, each would have cost (say) 120 million. By shooting the whole thing at once (more or less) and brought the entire trilogy in for about 250 mil. (My numbers may be off.)
The problem is short-sightedness. People would rather run a smaller risk for a smaller potential gain, and so it's easier to raise 120 million three times over than to raise 250 million just the once.
If M. Night Itsashameaboutray can carry this off, then maybe maybe maybe this time, the suits will get it. |
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