if you ran a big Hollywood studio what movies would you make?

[joeydaninja]

how would you go about making your movies?

which directors would you get?

what kind of stories would you put out?

who would you hire?

which targets markets would you, uhhh, target?

[funkyryno]

I would make big-budget pr0n films and would audition all the actresses myself.

[ArchibaldTuttle]

I would basically give Terry Gilliam a blank check to do whatever he wanted

[fumanstan]

Michael Bay, the Wachowski Bros, Roland Emmerich, and John Woo

[Kicker_of_Elves]

how would you go about making your movies? Set a budget at $50 million for big summer movies and $25 million and less for anything else.

which directors would you get? John Carpenter, Ridley Scott, James Cameron. Also look for new talent.

what kind of stories would you put out? Horror Sci Fi Suspense

who would you hire? No one stupid.

which targets markets would you, uhhh, target? everyone? ;)

[Spooky]

I would make mindless teenage comedies with Adam Sandler, Jack Black, and every Saturday Night Live member I could find (past and present). Then I wouldn't bother hiring a screenwriter, I'd just find some music video director who was looking to do a film, throw a few million at him and the movie and then sit back and watch the profit roll in on opening weekend.

Granted, I HATE these kind of movies, but everyone else seems to run out and see them, and I am in the business of making money here.

[jwerner]

I'd make big budget religious movies. It seems, no matter how bad they are (Omega Code), this crowd flocks to them. On top of that, you've got controversy. Very few Christian themed movies are worth the film they are on, yet they make money.

Imagine high budget movies. Prince of Egypt did exceptional and The Passion will do very well . . . just watch, it'll be one of the top grossing movies of the year. And it's not even in English!!!!

There is good material out there. "This Present Darkness" written by Frank Peretti, comes to mind. Also, if the "Left Behind" series would have been done right, it would've been one of the biggest entertainment cash cows in history. The built up anticipation was amazing, until they screwed it up big time. The first one was a bad movie, but still would've made over 100 million if they hadn't released it onto video first!!!!!

Anyway, also watch how the Chronicles of Narnia does. It will be amazing. And yes, these are Christian books written by C.S. Lewis. I believe that coupled with the Lord of the Rings movies (many Christians claim these books as Christian themed) will create a new era of high budget religious themed movies.

Yes . . . . I would jump onto that band wagon now, before it really starts rolling. If . . . I had owned a hollywood studio.

[DeputyDave]

Horror. Good bloody zombie horror.

[devilshalo]

6 films per year... Annual budget of $300M.

1 tentpole film... $60 - $80M kid action oriented. Maybe something along the lines of a live action Yu-Gi-Oh.
Set an early summer release date. Try to break even with opening day numbers. Cast unknowns and hope for Spy Kids type of numbers. Maybe hire Rodriguez. Shoot all digital. Product tie-ins with McDonalds/Burger King, Pepsi, etc. to cover costs for film promotion.

5 smaller films that are story/character driven... $20 - $30M each.
Oscar worthy type films to get my studio some name recognition. First time directors/actors looking to do something personal.

Leftover cash ($70M) goes towards marketing.

[DRG]

Definitely horror. It's my favorite genre for one, but it's also the one genre that can be done relatively cheaply (without major stars) and still pull in bucks. And if a movie does flop you're still likely to recoup your investment on video.

Or maybe I'll just steal everyone's ideas and make x-rated mindlessly comic, Christian horror.

[Kal-El]

Dragonlance. :D

Hire WETA/WETA Digitaland ILM for SFX

Buy the rights from Wizards of the Coast, then hire Weis and Hickman(original authors) as consultants

Hire Larry Elmore and Matt Stawicki to do the production design sketches (they've done the cover art for most, if not all the books and modules anyway)

I dunno who'd direct it yet.

Cast:

Eric Stoltz as Tanis
Kurt Russel as Sturm
Rayment Twins(from Reloaded) as Caramon and Raistlin (one of 'em gonna have to lose a lot of weight though while the other one bulks up)
Nicole Kidman as Laurana
Elijah Wood would've worked as Tas, but I doubt he'd wanna play another "short" character
Cate Blanchett as the voice of the Forestmaster
Jennifer Connelly as Alhana
Erika Christensen as Tika

Hey, a guy can dream right?

That's all I can think of right now.

[Scot1458]

super hero flicks for the fanboys. The only thing they spend their money on is comics/action figures/dvds/movies, and most of them live in their parents's basement, so it's a win-win situation.

[Star Wars Guy]

After seeing Dogma on TV last night, I'd have to say that I'd hire Kevin Smith to do another Jay & Silent Bob flick starring his usual cast - Jason Lee, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Jason Mewes, and Joey Lauren Adams. (I have a bad feeling that he'll need that type of work after Jersey Girl comes out, though I hope I'm wrong.)

I think it would be hilarious to see a parody of Star Wars starring Jay & Silent Bob. The ending of Jay & Silent Bob Strikes Back was just the warm up.

[BigPete]

Originally posted by ArchibaldTuttle
I would basically give Terry Gilliam a blank check to do whatever he wanted

You sir, have stolen my idea.

[d2cheer]

First on my list would be Strange Brew "2", then

Escape From Earth, with Kurt Russell and Carpenter(directing of course)

[BlackBeauty92]

or maybe "Return To New York"


or "Escape From Dallas" with Dolly Parton

:D

[DeadLamb]

Originally posted by Spooky
I would make mindless teenage comedies

yeah I hate to say it but odds are I would just go with the same model Spooky covered.

Cheaper midless films, aimed 100% at the comedy/date/teen film market. Only way one can gind up enough money to then branch out and risk making other films.

Then I would work a hook of having all the DVD put out by my studio being 3 DVD disks. Oh sure, it going be some crappy stuff by the time we hit DVD#3. Like maybe a 30min interview with the guy who parked the cars in the back lot. Heck maybe 3 hours of a camera pointed at a craft service table in timelap photography (that should work out to 30min of time killer) but it's going to be 3 disks worth of something! heh

Could almost be a trade mark of my studio, having really, really strange stuff on the DVD that only sort of have anything do with the film.

If profits were up I would then risk branching out into mid level horror films. Think along the lines of Dracula 2000 and so on. Maybe try to bring Carpenter back for Thing2 or whatever he wanted to make with in $$$ reason.

[Coral]

- no mindless films (action or comedy)
- no remakes
- no sequels
- no movies based on cartoons, comics, or tv shows
- no cliches
- no Julia Roberts in any films

- make mostly dramas

- no more than $20 million budgeted to any film

- Allow Paul Thomas Anderson to make films for my studio


I'd get fired from this job within 1 year since the studio would lose money quickly - as the general audience has bad taste in films and loves to pay to watch crap.

[chess]

sequels and spinoffs baby!

$$$$$!

[angryyoungman]

I would take Hong Kong action/sci-fi films and dub them with today's hottest hip-hop superstars and have today's hottest hitz as the soundtrack. Fo shizzle!

[NCMojo]

First film I'd make: Liege-Killer, based on the book by Christopher Hinz.

Second film I'd make: an erotic lesbian thriller starring Ashley Judd and Winona Ryder. (With nude scenes for both.)

Third film I'd make: Cerebus, based on the Dave Sim comic.

[necros]

Hmm... well I run an indie movie company with a few other folks.. so I'll take a crack at it......

how would you go about making your movies? This question is jut way too broad, as anyone that knows a little about movie making will know, there is a TON of work that goes into making even the smallest production. Most folks think all you need is a script and a camera to point & shoot with. If you're making a little student film then maybe you can get away with that but any kind of real production will spend a great deal of time on all of the preproduction things like casting, location scouting, etc. But, we will probably always shoot in DV instead of film because it's insanely cheaper and so much easier to work with, and I can barely tell the difference between the 2 in most cases (providing you use a really good DV camera, not a $500 sony you got at best buy)

which directors would you get? I would stay away from the famous ones and look for new directors, folks that have a true passion for movie making and not tying to make movies to get rich. And, I'd stay away from the overly artsy directors that just want to make short films about gay cowboys eating pudding.

what kind of stories would you put out? comedies, horror, suspense, sci fi

who would you hire? Same as the director, I'd look for less "name brand" actors and try and find unknown folks .. like Star Wars, when the first movie came out I doubt there were too many people who knew who Harrison Ford was, etc.... Maybe 1 or 2 known folks, but not "famous" types. We have a few projects in the horizon and our greatest wish right now is to get Bruce Campbell in our next film :p

which targets markets would you, uhhh, target? Mostly people just like me :)

[scroll2b]

Originally posted by ArchibaldTuttle
I would basically give Terry Gilliam a blank check to do whatever he wanted

:up::up: Actually, after seeing Lost in La Mancha, and all the extras, I wondered why there wasn't some mega millionaire or billionaire who was sypathetic to Gilliam's dreams, you know? If I had the deep pockets of Bill Gates, I'd bankroll two of his films no matter what the cost..... well, maybe a limit of $125 million each.... but still, the man needs to make that film!

[joeydaninja]

I would let Darren Aronofsky do whatever movie he wants.

I would let Stephen Chow direct a big time Hollywood movie.

I would let John Woo direct more.

and Paul Verhoeven and Wes Anderson.

I'd give Michael Bay more money.

I'd give James Cameron more money.

Guy Ritchie, Danny Boyle, Ang Lee, David Fincher, Robert Rodriguez (though he has been too prolific recently)

[RyoHazuki]

Only bad movies that had no chance of making money.

[Tommy_Harn]

I would make a trilogy of Batman movies. I would star as the Caped Crusader and would do nothing but torture Joel Schumacher for four straight hours. At the end of the second film, Commisioner Gordon would give me the key to Gotham City, and I'd go home with Vicki Vale and Catwoman. What follows would be your third movie.

[Scot1458]

I'd also make "art house" flicks with zero budget and not worry about the plot, but just focus on camera angles, colors, filters, cinimetogrophy, maybe have some gay scenes, and then have it delcared as "art".

[Samuel]

I'd option all 7 of the Dark Tower books. I would then commision some animators for some test shorts. With the Dark Tower I'm pretty positive the right director would find me. I'd try like hell to get Clint Eastwood to play the role of Stephen Deschain and Hugh Jackman to play Roland.

[Kudama]

I'd throw some serious money at the Neuromancer trilogy.

[Saxofonix]

Firstly, I'd like to see some of Iain Bank's mainstream novels filmed.

Also, there has to be more scripts like Memento floating around - scripts that are stunning, but just needs a relatively small budget to get off the ground. I would like to see more unique movies like that made.

I could also go along with the idea that Terry Gilliam should be making more movies.

[cruzness]

Originally posted by Samuel
I'd option all 7 of the Dark Tower books. I would then commision some animators for some test shorts. With the Dark Tower I'm pretty positive the right director would find me. I'd try like hell to get Clint Eastwood to play the role of Stephen Deschain and Hugh Jackman to play Roland.
I bow down to you. I was thinking something along those lines except I would have an unknown as Roland.

[cruzness]

The Hobbit
Realistic superhero fanboy flicks. Without the over the top flashines of the Batman sequels. Lotsa possibilities (Iron Man, Cable, Grendel, FF)
The Vampire Lestat - (pretend Queen of the Damned never happened and be more faithful to Lestat's history)
Directed by Fincher, Bryan Singer, Darren Aronofsky, Luc Besson, not McG, not Schumacher

[lucasorion]

The Dark Tower was mentioned already, but I'd also try King's The Talisman and it's sequel, The Black House. From there I'd move to Robert McCammon, Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child, and Steven Hunter books. Then Phillip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" series - basically every book that I like that hasn't been made into a movie, and would translate well to the medium.

[slateef]

i'd make rendevous with rama, first and foremost...

now, that's a sci-fi flick that REALLY needs to make it to the big screen, but it would require gobs and gobs of dinero to pull it off correctly (and stay true to the novel).

my .02

[V-ism]

I'd buy the rights to Asian films before Miramax can get their grubby hands on them, and release them uncut, undubbed, and on time. I will also like some Asian filmmakers to have their hand at a hollywood film with a hollywood budget. I would also like to bring more foreign animation films over.

[jaeufraser]

I'd hire someone to run my movie company and have them bankroll my movies...hehe.

Ok, let's say I can't make the movies. I'd concentrate on having a profitable slate of smaller budget films (horror, teen oriented), essentially a low risk division. A few tentpole type flicks with an emphasis at making them GOOD while trying to stay within the realm of commercial capability. Then I'd make one glory picture a year...pick my fave director, give him final cut and free will to make their movie (I'd keep initial approval...no director is getting my money unless I approve of their initial pitch). But the glory project would be great! No mind to commercial potential, no mind to profitability. We're talking 100 million dollar terry Gilliam movies doomed to be financial failures (let's not fool ourselves, he ain't mainstream). Use the rest so we can blow it on awesome movies. There's my company...in the end I keep my job cause I break even.

[scroll2b]

Originally posted by Kudama
I'd throw some serious money at the Neuromancer trilogy.

It's a trilogy? First I've heard of it as that. Are they all godo? Are they all called Neuromancer?