M$, Hollywood and Hobbits

[Hoax]

From NYtimes, my apologies if I missed another post, but the Den is lonely without Bruce to feed it anyways.

The process began at about 11:30am Monday when several actors dressed as the Master Chief, a green-helmeted warrior from "Halo", walked into the lobbies of several Hollywood studios, scripts in hand...  Studio executives were asked to read it while the Master Chiefs waited in the lobbies. At Paramount, said one studio executive, the Master Chief held his helmet in his lap because he was hot.  When executives were finished reading, each of the studios was given a proposal with M$'s terms and 24hours to respond.
Aside from the $10million upfront fee, M$ was asking for 15% of the studio's first-dollar box office gross receipts.  The budget could be no less than $75 million, not including the fees for the actors and the director.  If the studio did not make the movie, it would forfeit the $10 million fee.
M$ also wanted creative control, with the script and characters unchanged.  The studio would have to pay to fly a M$ representative to watch all cuts of the movie, and the studio would forgo merchandising rights."

On Tuesday, Universal began looking for a financing partner.  Fox was interested but rigid about what creative rights it would cede to M$

Both studios declined to comment on Thursday. That is because the deal is contingent on M$ agreeing to relinquish some creative control.

[WayAbvPar]

I smell another Starship Troopers. Yikes.

[Evil Elvis]

I actually liked Starship Troopers :/ 

I haven't read the book, and I suspect the movie wasn't done entirely in the same vein, and was a letdown to its fans, but I thought it was actually pretty enjoyable.  It was corny in just the right places, I thought the special effects worked for the most part, Casper Van Dien was actually well suited for the roll, and it had Dennis Richards and Doogie fucking howser.  Good movie when you don't want to turn on your brain.

[WindupAtheist]

The sheer incompetence of the soldiers in Starship Troopers ruined it for me.  Those asshats would die like bitches on a WW1 battlefield, much less a modern one.  Now the soldiers in the BOOK were fucking hardcore, jumping around in mech suits and lobbing nukes everywhere.

[Viin]

.. Doogie fucking howser ..

Ah ha! haha! ha! Phew, I'm laughing just thinking about this movie.

[HaemishM]

.. Doogie fucking howser ..

Ah ha! haha! ha! Phew, I'm laughing just thinking about this movie.

All-time classic movie.

As for Halo, I cannot forsee it ever being a good movie and frankly, Microsoft doesn't give a fuck. It's a goddamn branding exercise, an attempt to spread the Halo brand beyond the gaming world, in the hopes of sending some new customers to the X-Box and the 360. The movie could be 90 minutes of circle jerks and Microsoft wouldn't care, so long as it got the Halo name out in the cultural consciousness. Which means, as a movie, it'll be shit on toast.

And why the fuck would you need a movie? The fucking game has enough cinematics to deal as much of a story as a Hollywood action fest would. It probably had more story than House of the Dead.

[WayAbvPar]

The sheer incompetence of the soldiers in Starship Troopers ruined it for me.

It was the sheer incompetence of the actors, director, screenwriter, and (apparently) anyone else involved that ruined it for me. It was so cheesy that even the wink wink cheesy parts came off like they were half serious. Ugh.

The good news is it is SO bad that it is fun to watch while drinkng with friends just to give it the proper MST3K treatment.

[Merusk]

.. Doogie fucking howser ..

Ah ha! haha! ha! Phew, I'm laughing just thinking about this movie.

Oh, and there's some extra in there for the backseat of your car.


I expected to be so dissapointed when I rented that movie and it was one of the best comedys I've seen in a while.

And this was some ballsy move on MS's part. What if all the studios had laughed and said 'go build your own stuido, asshat!"   Then again, they probably knew that the only people greedier and more paranoid than themselves is a Hollywood Exec. 

[sidereal]

Ah, what a letdown after the topic title.

When I read 'vs' I thought 'in conflict with' not 'crawling into bed with'.

One guesses as to how Microsoft's attitude towards intellectual property will evolve when they start raking in money from movies.

[Hoax]

Well I didn't have the time/effort to write up the full article, but I couldn't link it because I was reading one of those old school paper things and I'm 90% sure you need to sign up for an account to access the NYTimes website.

But here is the gist:

M$ said to the studios they had 24hrs to:
-give them $10million for the right to the license
-but they dont get any creative control and MUST use M$'s script and they will pay to fly a M$ guy out to every editing session
-they will spend $75million not counting director/actors
-they dont get the merchandising rights
-they will fly a shitton of M$ guys to the opening, first class
-M$ gets 15% of that dollar thing, which apparently is a big deal

So basically, Dreamworks, Disney and some others said "fuck you" in less then a day. Only Universal and Fox were willing to talk about it.

It was versus, but M$ just basically shit on the movie industry's face is the way I see it if they get their movie made.  The writer compared it to if Lucas had forced somebody else to pay to make his movie.

[Llava]

Disney

Master Chief, singing a song composed by Elton John.

Think about it for a few seconds.

Okay.

[schild]

I think what Microsoft is doing is brilliant.

Hollywood needs to be treated like the bitch it is every once in a while.

[AOFanboi]

The sheer incompetence of the soldiers in Starship Troopers ruined it for me.

That seems intentional: Remember, these were mostly glory-seekers who believed the propaganda about the superiority of the Master Human Race over the insects. Until the assumed "underdogs" threw an asteroid on Buenos Aires, shot energy charges that blew up many of their ships, and basically overran their position forcing them to flee. I love movies that don't end good for the "heroes".

Now the soldiers in the BOOK were fucking hardcore, jumping around in mech suits and lobbing nukes everywhere.

Verhoeven is anti-fascist and probably got a kick out of turning the book on its head.

[Arnold]

The sheer incompetence of the soldiers in Starship Troopers ruined it for me.  Those asshats would die like bitches on a WW1 battlefield, much less a modern one.  Now the soldiers in the BOOK were fucking hardcore, jumping around in mech suits and lobbing nukes everywhere.

No shit.  Starship Troopers pissed me off.  I knew there was no way it would be a socio-political commentary, like the book was, but I did expect to see tons of FX with guys in mech suits jump jetting all over the place and dropping tactical nukes.

The stupid Hollywood fuckers couldn't even get that part right.

[Evangolis]

The sheer incompetence of the soldiers in Starship Troopers ruined it for me.

That seems intentional: Remember, these were mostly glory-seekers who believed the propaganda about the superiority of the Master Human Race over the insects. Until the assumed "underdogs" threw an asteroid on Buenos Aires, shot energy charges that blew up many of their ships, and basically overran their position forcing them to flee. I love movies that don't end good for the "heroes".

Now the soldiers in the BOOK were fucking hardcore, jumping around in mech suits and lobbing nukes everywhere.

Verhoeven is anti-fascist and probably got a kick out of turning the book on its head.

Of course, he could have taken Joe Haldeman's Vietnam-era spin on Starship Troopers, Forever War, itself quite a kick-ass book that expertly did what Verhoeven failed to do, thus making the movie he wanted, and making a good movie at the same time.

At least we were spared the sequels a good movie would have caused.

Oh, and Microsloth looks close to a deal on this, just 5mil up front, and 10% of initial gate.  Creative differences being hammered out

[HaemishM]

Creative differences meaning who gets to be creative with how the money is divided.

[Joe]

Was it you or some other idiot who superimposed all the S's with $'s?

News flash: that wasn't funny in 1995, either.

[Hoax]

Well I liked it in '95 and I still like it now...

btw Newsflash wasn't even funny in the 80's 

[Joe]

I see what you did there. Kudos to you, sir!

[Teleku]

“Microsoft is not in the business of making movies, and that is why we want to partner with the studios. (But) we have an obligation to make sure the 'Halo’ franchise is protected and is something 'Halo’ fans can be proud of,” said de Leon.

Now, while I realize that this is Microsoft, and thus money grubbing bastards themselves, I do have to give them props for this stance.  Its nice to see a company that actually had something to do with the game demand they get to control of the story and creativity.  When left to their own devices, Hollywood grandly fucks up any original source material they are adapting 99% of the time it seems (be it books, comics, or video games).  Its just to bad that more developers don't have the clout Microsoft has, and can't get creative control of the movies themselves (thus why all video game movies suck).  Granted, it can still easyily blow as a movie, but I'll hand them the moral victory on this.  And as Schild said, any time somebody treats Hollywood like shit is a good thing.

And yes, PLEASE stop using the damn M$ thing ;).

[tar]

At least we were spared the sequels a good movie would have caused.

No we weren't. I've actually seen this, and yes it's as bad as you think. This is what happens when you let someone else go and rent the DVD for beer & pizza night. Be warned.

[Merusk]

At least we were spared the sequels a good movie would have caused.

No we weren't. I've actually seen this, and yes it's as bad as you think. This is what happens when you let someone else go and rent the DVD for beer & pizza night. Be warned.

I was going to mention this, but then thought it better to let Evangolis live in a world where he didn't know it exsisted.  It's not just bad, it's abysmal.  I rented it as a freebie *expecting* it to be bad, and I couldn't even get through without mocking it.

Its just to bad that more developers don't have the clout Microsoft has, and can't get creative control of the movies themselves (thus why all video game movies suck). 

They give up as much creative control as they desire.  It's their IP and if they wanted to keep the creative control it's as simple as not signing the movie rights over unless they got it.  Of course that probably means most video game movies would never have gotten made.  This wouldn't be a bad thing, IMO.

[Llava]

They give up as much creative control as they desire.  It's their IP and if they wanted to keep the creative control it's as simple as not signing the movie rights over unless they got it.

I think his point was that most companies feel like they have to hand over creative rights, and don't consider the option of just not selling the movie rights because that route means no money hats.

[HaemishM]

See, here's my problem. It's not with Microsoft essentially coming in to the office, dropping trou and dipping their balls directly in the studio's coffee cup. Because that's fucking funny. I love that. Someone needs to treat Hollywood like the slutty little bitch they've been for years.

My problem is that the movie doesn't need to be made. You are talking about a game that has an ASSLOAD of cinematics and developed story. The quality of the story may be debatable, but not the fact that it's there. I mean, how much more story do they think the movie will provide? In the days of no cinematics and 8-bit graphics, yeah, I could see going to a movie to expand on the narrative. But you have what is essentially an INTERACTIVE MOVIE. Creatively, you don't need a big-budget Hollywood movie to expand creatively, because they will not offer your creative pallette anything new.

Which leads me back to this being nothing more than a branding exercise to sell more X-Box 360's.

[schild]

Oh assuredly it's to sell 360s. That said, they Bungie MIGHT have written a good story. Meh, even if they did, the studio will somehow screw it up.

[WayAbvPar]

At least we were spared the sequels a good movie would have caused.

No we weren't. I've actually seen this, and yes it's as bad as you think. This is what happens when you let someone else go and rent the DVD for beer & pizza night. Be warned.

Wow, look at that cast list. I wonder which one of them will star in a snuff film as their next gig?

[Merusk]

Oh assuredly it's to sell 360s. That said, they Bungie MIGHT have written a good story. Meh, even if they did, the studio will somehow screw it up.

What, like getting to the climax. MC is in some harrowing position, enemies all around, and... Movie lights come up, "See Halo 2, November 2007"?

Or at leastt that's  how I understand the story for Halo2 worked, as I don't X-box.

[Pococurante]

Of course, he could have taken Joe Haldeman's Vietnam-era spin on Starship Troopers, Forever War, itself quite a kick-ass book (...)

That was a damn good book.  Need to see if I still have my old copy.  Mandala was my kind of guy.

I like ST - lots of bugs, lots of gore.  The "Rorke's Drift" scene with thousands of bugs streaming over the hill converging on the fort made me all goose-bumpy.

[Llava]

I haven't finished Halo 2, so I don't know the ending of the story.  Matter of fact, I'm not really a Halo fan so I don't know any of the story except for what you get in about the first 30-45 minutes of the game.

But it could be that this movie isn't a film version of the stories in Halo 1 or 2, but a third installement, possibly a segue into Halo 3.  (Directed at Haemish RE: the pointlessness of this potential film.)

[Teleku]

Yeah, I don't really know how a direct translation of game would turn out.  But I could actually see a story set in the Halo universe being a pretty good movie.  As long as it has lots of combat (both ground and massive fleet battles), good special effects, and decent acting, I could see it actually being pretty good.  Probably better than Star Wars at least.

[Azazel]

This bit makes me hopeful...

In this case, however, Microsoft hired writer Alex Garland, who penned 2003 horror hit “28 Days Later,” to dream up the story.

[Ironwood]

Why ?

For all of a good film it was, it's story was totally, blatantly unoriginal.

[lamaros]

Starship Troopers is a great film. Showgirls on the other hand...

And Halo's story was very dull and unmovie worthy. Thus the movie can get no worse and it will be good. I can't wait!

[Daydreamer]

Why ?

For all of a good film it was, it's story was totally, blatantly unoriginal.

But he took some of the best bits from Zombie horror flicks and wove them into something coherent and polished and entertaining.  If anything, given this movie aims to bring Halo the the Silver Screen, I'd rate that skill higher than any sort of original artistic genius in this circumstance.  Assuming they let the man work instead of shoveling their ideas through him that is.

[Yegolev]

...and wove them into something coherent...

I have to argue this point.  It seemed like at least two separate movies even without counting the shitty ending.  Started off good with the infected and survival and so on, then the script took a left turn at the military base.  "An analysis of human nature?  This was a zombie flick a few minutes ago...?"  I didn't care for the movie as a whole.

Halo movie will be lots of explosions and gunplay with little story.  Like the games.