Hmmm... could it be possible that in some cases the studios (after realising they'd have less product to release because of the writer's strike) just wanted to space out the revenue to later quarters in the year? Hoping, of course, that they'd have hits on their hands.
I've heard it mentioned that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was pushed back from November 2008 to July 2009 because of finishing touches in post-production, but I wonder if it's because Warner Bros didn't necessarily need another box office hit in 2008 after The Dark Knight provided such a fantastic bottom line for their fiscal year. 2009 was shaping up to be bleak, thanks not only to the writer's strike but the recession as well, so why not push back a surefire box office hit like HP so that this year wouldn't like a total loss compared to 2008?
@FiorenzaDampt: Yeah, both Potter and Trek were pushed back from late 2008 to summer 2009. And I bet you're right that was a factor with some of these movies. Avatar was supposed to be a summer 2009 film too.
@FiorenzaDampt: The official statement was that they had an opening in the summer lineup, which would be a more profitable time for a big blockbuster movie to premiere than November.
Really, there's no excuse for any film being impacted by the strike. If they didn't have a real writer or a finished script, and they went ahead and made a movie anyway... well, they deserve to fail.
A contractor who goes ahead and builds the house before the foundation is poured is just an idiot.
@Anekanta: People would be complaining bitterly if there were a lot fewer movies this summer because they didn't get scripts together fast enough. I can just imagine the anguished discussions.
@Agent69:You know, this is not the first time I see people favourably comparing the new Trek film to films and shows they found to be "pretentious." So "no-brainer action-packed story full of holes" = "not pretentious" = "good." Huh. You know, I hope you won't accuse me of being pretentious if I say you're setting the bar a bit low there. Maybe works that at least try to be more than just a bunch of flashy noise, like the Dark Knight (which I thought was pretty good), are, erm, a *good* thing?
@Agent69: I'm sorry that any superhero not about a brilliant engineer who magically builds an iron suit and escapes from captivity is a pile of pretentious shit. Christopher Nolan was and is an excellent filmmaker. Bale can definitely come of as a pretentious cock, but I found all of Nolan's previous works excellent without being pretentious.
A movie that tries to tackle some challenging themes and tells a good story about the subjectivity of good and evil and the fight against crime is pretentious? No.
The Dark Knight: Ambitious? Yes Overhyped? Yes Pretentious? No
@Agent69: i'm trying to imagine how inferior and unimportant i'd have to feel to get the impression the dark knight was being pretentious but it's just not coming. if anything the dark knight was unapologeticly simplistic.
I didn't think that thing was ever going to end. After what felt like an hour I asked my wife if it was about over then looked at the clock and it had only been 30 minutes. Good grief! I kept saying "ok, something can happen now." The whole plot with the Chinese seemed totally unnecessary - what it set up could have been done much tighter some other way.
@zanyzapper: Ah, you're from the Michael Bay shool of moviegoing, where you boil off anything that even remotely resembles plot until you have a nearly pure 'splosion reduction ready to serve.
Evil J, Prince of Half Truths and Lord of Low-Light Environments was starred
Evil J, Prince of Half Truths and Lord of Low-Light Environments was unstarred
@Evil J: Also excited, but a bit more hopeful that the return to their rightful format will also signal a return to their previous level of quality. The movie-sodes barely rise to the level of the least funny regular eps when they're at their best.
@Evil J: They did explain the Joker's origin. Two of them, even, just in case you didn't like the first one.
I liked that ambiguity, but I did hear at least one person who was kind of like "So... why was his face like that?" walking out of the theater.
I hate questions about origins when the story Alfred told pretty much explained that his origin doesn't matter since he is what he is; that there was no motive, no event that would create a psychopath like the Joker.
Then again, that's for people who don't need it spelled out for them (not talking about you, just bitching about people who perceive the film as "dull"... they're usually the type of audience that kind of liked Batman & Robin).
Evil J, Prince of Half Truths and Lord of Low-Light Environments was starred
Evil J, Prince of Half Truths and Lord of Low-Light Environments was unstarred
I think some of those movies you listed (Transformers, Wolverine) are using the strike as an excuse for bad writing. The first transformers and the last 2 X-Men movies had pretty craptacular scripts while the writers were still working.
And did anybody expect GI Joe to be in line for a pulitzer?
@Dr Emilio Lizardo: "And did anybody expect GI Joe to be in line for a pulitzer?"
Did some newspaper reporter recently lose a drunk-bet where he had to have his name legally changed to G.I.Joe? No? Then "no" to your question as well.
@Dejanus: You know, I should write a post about this... I actually think McG is a fine director. The first Charlie's Angels was a pretty great movie. It was only because the sequel sucked so incredibly much that everybody has a bad taste in their mouths about him. And the name, which he's apologized for enough by now.
The terminator series was actually in the can for at least a year or two before it was released. It was the writer's strike that made it available to have a market, because while the major programs had no new episodes to air, studios could use what they had packaged like Terminator and sell it as "new". There was no "9 month gap" for this show... If I could only dig up the original article about this show I could prove it to you. The first series pretty much used all its budget on the first couple episodes, which is why the season finally was so lame of the 1st season was so tame...
@ClaytonCerberus: Actually, you're half right. The pilot of T:SCC was done nine months before it aired. I myself watched it the previous spring or summer. But after the show was green lit, they still had to produce the rest of the season. And the show ran out of time to film any more episodes after about episode nine. Josh Friedman has said this in many, many interviews. I don't think it was a budget issue, just a time constraint.
@Mister Adequate: Because both Abrams and Lindelof are WGA members.... they couldn't do any writing, even adding one line, during the strike. Maybe I should clarify that in the article... :)
06/15/09
06/15/09
I've heard it mentioned that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was pushed back from November 2008 to July 2009 because of finishing touches in post-production, but I wonder if it's because Warner Bros didn't necessarily need another box office hit in 2008 after The Dark Knight provided such a fantastic bottom line for their fiscal year. 2009 was shaping up to be bleak, thanks not only to the writer's strike but the recession as well, so why not push back a surefire box office hit like HP so that this year wouldn't like a total loss compared to 2008?
06/15/09
06/16/09
The official statement was that they had an opening in the summer lineup, which would be a more profitable time for a big blockbuster movie to premiere than November.
06/15/09
and Natali has been working on the film for about 10 years so a 'script' has been around for a while...
as for the long VFX work, we finished ahead of schedule :)
06/15/09
06/15/09
06/15/09
we can't wait for Splice to come out...
06/15/09
A contractor who goes ahead and builds the house before the foundation is poured is just an idiot.
06/15/09
06/15/09
06/15/09
06/15/09
A movie that tries to tackle some challenging themes and tells a good story about the subjectivity of good and evil and the fight against crime is pretentious? No.
The Dark Knight:
Ambitious? Yes
Overhyped? Yes
Pretentious? No
06/16/09
Even Hermes Conrad couldn't limbo under that bar.
06/16/09
06/16/09
Boring? Yes
I didn't think that thing was ever going to end. After what felt like an hour I asked my wife if it was about over then looked at the clock and it had only been 30 minutes. Good grief! I kept saying "ok, something can happen now." The whole plot with the Chinese seemed totally unnecessary - what it set up could have been done much tighter some other way.
06/16/09
Ah, you're from the Michael Bay shool of moviegoing, where you boil off anything that even remotely resembles plot until you have a nearly pure 'splosion reduction ready to serve.
06/16/09
Lower than a limbo stick during carnival time, and that's as low as limbo sticks go!
(excited about Futurama's return)
06/16/09
Also excited, but a bit more hopeful that the return to their rightful format will also signal a return to their previous level of quality. The movie-sodes barely rise to the level of the least funny regular eps when they're at their best.
@Evil J:
They did explain the Joker's origin. Two of them, even, just in case you didn't like the first one.
06/17/09
I liked that ambiguity, but I did hear at least one person who was kind of like "So... why was his face like that?" walking out of the theater.
I hate questions about origins when the story Alfred told pretty much explained that his origin doesn't matter since he is what he is; that there was no motive, no event that would create a psychopath like the Joker.
Then again, that's for people who don't need it spelled out for them (not talking about you, just bitching about people who perceive the film as "dull"... they're usually the type of audience that kind of liked Batman & Robin).
06/22/09
I think it's been pretty well established that noone liked Batman & Robin. Anyone who says they did is lying just to piss everyone off.
06/15/09
And did anybody expect GI Joe to be in line for a pulitzer?
06/16/09
"And did anybody expect GI Joe to be in line for a pulitzer?"
Did some newspaper reporter recently lose a drunk-bet where he had to have his name legally changed to G.I.Joe? No? Then "no" to your question as well.
06/15/09
So, they won't have that crutch to use if they fail.
01/06/09
01/06/09
01/06/09
Thanks
01/06/09
01/06/09
and now there making a movie all about him.
the xmen sequels were bad enough
this is going to suck BALLS
01/06/09
01/05/09
01/05/09
01/05/09
01/05/09
01/05/09
01/05/09
- Evan
01/05/09
01/05/09
01/05/09