For quite awhile Hollywood has been passing on sci-fi flicks instead favoring fantasies. In the last year or two that seems to have begun changing, something which I wrote more in depth about here. Moon is a sort of wary toe in the water for the film industry. Despite the big success of Star Trek it's still not quite clear whether audiences will flock to sci-fi as eagerly as they did the countless amounts of fantasies before they grew tired. So Moon, with a scant budget of around 5 million, is a test with little risk.
Unfortunately as I write this Yahoo lists the box office at 3.3 million, and with a June 12th release it is in its 7th week in theaters. I'm sure a lot of this is due to a very limited release, so much so that it took 6 weeks for me to find it available any closer then 2 hours away. Still, it could also be due to a fundamental difference in sci-fi movies.
While Star Trek was easily described as an action thrill ride, Moon is a very different type of sci-fi, the slow dramatic type. It doesn't weave an overly complex story, but it's definitely not the action packed one that some people might equate to anything sci-fi.
So the question is, will it do well enough to get more sci-fi movies green lit? I don't doubt that it will eventually make back its $5 million investment, even if it's not until the dvd release, but will the slow drizzle of income turn off other studios from films like it or will they realize that it could have simply been the poor advertising and release schedule that hurt it? Hopefully they do as I'd love to see more films like Moon. It's pretty amazing what Duncan Jones managed to do with such a small budget. If you haven't been able to catch it then be sure to get out there and correct that before it's too late.
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4 comments:
Yea I feel bad that I havn't seen this movie yet. It's playing in NYC but I can't go to NYC just to see a movie. Too much of a hassle. There are definitely a good amount of sci fi movies in the making and about to be released. Pandorum is one of those as well as district 9. Also ridley scott is directing an alien prequel and robert rodriguez is attached to the Predators movie. I think the time for sci fi is now. But movies like Moon that arn't action pact or have gratuitous sex invlved will be a lot harder to get out there and be made. We will never see another 2001 because audiences now don't want movie like that.
Yeah we probably won't, but if they are low enough budget like Moon was then indie studios may still pick them up. The thinking mans sci-fi is probably going to be stuck in the indie world. But hopefully the inevitable big budget ones will at least attempt deeper storylines in between the lasers and spaceships.
i freakin loved Star Trek but Moon is definitely my kinda sci-fi film! i appreciate any work that has many different levels to it and makes you really pay attention to what's going on. everything in this film is carefully thought out, from the shot & angle choices to the clothing, every part of the cinematography plays a part in the larger puzzle of the film. and yeah i think you're right. the fact that the film wasn't released in major theaters across the country is what really affects how may people get to see this film. as a movie nerd i always make sure i know where any and all indie theaters are, but not everyone is fortunate enough to have access to such theaters. It's sad that a lot of great movies go unnoticed due to this single overwhelming fact.
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Sci-Fi and fantasy are genres that are not mixed nearly enough. Films like 2001 are for a very specific crowd. I remember watching Planet of the Apes as a child and enjoying that. There have been countless movies in space that have I have stuck in my head replaying at random. Space is something I like to see in a movie. One of the last movies to really hit the spot was Sunshine. Stunning cinematography and intense acting made for a movie that was exactly what I was craving.
But as always I love the generic sci-fi as well. Both the Stargate movie and tv series are among my favourites. Star Wars fan fo lyfe. Titan AE. Even Armageddon had me glued to the screen. Something about floating in space in a tin can.
More human movies with the kind of the whole "we've mastered the atmosphere but now what the hell do we do" feeling is great. I love to see our wisdom and creativity challenged by the infinity of the universe. Contact was a create read/watch for that feeling.
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