“The Twilight Saga: New Moon” has been exploding all sorts of box office records — my colleague, Ben Fritz, says, for example, that it is the least expensive movie ever to open to more than $200 million worldwide. But the most important record that it’s on track to break is one that might give a serious new shot in the arm to everyone in the indie film world.
When you factor in the original film’s $383.8 million in worldwide grosses with the $700 million or more in worldwide grosses that “New Moon” could eventually roll up, Summit Entertainment will soon find itself having the biggest true independent film franchise in recent history.
Summit’s runaway success with “Twilight” is a very big deal, since — like ‘em or not — franchises provide the building blocks for the modern movie business. With them, a studio has the money in the bank (as well as the blockbuster in the can) to help survive a lean year or a couple of costly flops. You never see any of the top execs at Warners crawling out on a high ledge, preparing to jump when the studio is pulverized by a disaster like “Poseidon” or “Speed Racer” or “Body of Lies.” That’s because Warners always has another “Harry Potter” or “Batman” saga sitting on the pad, preparing to launch into the box-office stratosphere. Ditto for Sony with “Spider-Man,” Paramount with “Star Trek” or Disney with “Pirates of the Caribbean.”
click HERE for complete article.
No comments:
Post a Comment