Annihilation | Paramount | Feb 23 2018 | Alex Garland | Natalie Portman | Reviews Embargoed till day of release

[Porthos]

4 hours ago, EarlyDeadlinePredictions said:

Hmmm

Scott be trolling on the intrawebs? NEVER!

 

 

Quote

Alex Garland’s follow-up to Ex Machina arrives in a time when such movies are much less likely to break out in theatrical, thanks to adults flocking to the big tentpoles or staying home and getting their adult entertainment via their TV or laptop. It arrives in a world where the fact where mother! got an F from Cinemascore and several Razzie nominations completely obscures the fact that it got mostly rave reviews and is exactly the kind of thing we all claim to want from the studios. A major studio releasing a film like Annihilation qualifies as an act of courage.

 

[Fancyarcher]

Just now, Telehilation said:

 

Also Ben Salisbury, but yeah, I was surprised how much I enjoyed their Ex Machina's score. Both surprisingly electronically soothing, and rough at the same time. Good to use when you're writing articles. This sounds like it's more of the same, just even "darker", but nothing wrong with that. 

[MrGlass2]

15 minutes ago, Porthos said:

A major studio releasing a film like Annihilation qualifies as an act of courage.

And selling OS to Netflix qualifies as what?

[That One Girl]

Just now, MrGlass2 said:

And selling OS to Netflix qualifies as what?

 

Cowards!

[Porthos]

5 minutes ago, MrGlass2 said:

And selling OS to Netflix qualifies as what?

 

His review touches on that in passing:

 

Quote

Putting Annihilation in North American theaters is a weirdly optimistic sign that Paramount hasn’t yet given up. If this kind of “in theaters in North America, but on Netflix everywhere else” deal allows more movies like this to get made at the studio level (and with studio budgets), then Netflix may well be a positive for North American moviegoers. The rest of the world won’t benefit, but that’s a different problem. For American moviegoers, at least the ones who complain about the lack of good adult movies and bloggers complaining that studios don’t make challenging multiplex fare, here’s a put-up-or-shut-up moment.

 

[Barnack]

8 minutes ago, MrGlass2 said:

And selling OS to Netflix qualifies as what?

People point out to that quite a bit, but is selling OS to Netflix that different courage wise than not buying OS for Arrival or selling OS for others movies to distributor like other studios often do ? I mean independent movie need to have pre-sold 85% or more of the budget to achieve to get a loan, that the complete Liongates business model, God of Egypt was made like this.

 

The buyer/other distributor is not the same than for Blade Runners 2049, Silence, Robocop, Braveheart, Monument Men and giant list of example were studio sold or shared risk with someone else and from their point of view if that buyer release it on theater or not, pretty much the same outside some piracy concern no ?

 

Studio have been pre-selling market or international TV rights in advance for a long time to make risky movie less risky, media has the tendency to make a story that involve Netflix has a big deal / really different even if it is not.

Edited February 21, 2018 by Barnack

[AniNate]

20 minutes ago, Fancyarcher said:

Also Ben Salisbury, but yeah, I was surprised how much I enjoyed their Ex Machina's score. Both surprisingly electronically soothing, and rough at the same time. Good to use when you're writing articles. This sounds like it's more of the same, just even "darker", but nothing wrong with that. 

They're kind of the UK answer to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Geoff Barrow is a member of the trip hop group Portishead.

[MrGlass2]

3 minutes ago, Porthos said:

 

His review touches on that in passing:

There is no reason to believe that, especially if American moviegoers continue to choose big franchises almost exclusively. Instead such films will go to Netflix (or a similar service) everywhere.

[Barnack]

4 minutes ago, MrGlass2 said:

There is no reason to believe that, especially if American moviegoers continue to choose big franchises almost exclusively. Instead such films will go to Netflix (or a similar service) everywhere.

Would not even surprise me that this one didn't go Netflix domestic because Rudin had a minimal release engagement close that he didn't want to lift.

[Dementeleus]

@That One Guy

 

 

[That One Girl]

Just now, Telehilation said:

@That One Guy

 

 

 

So...positive?

[Porthos]

9 minutes ago, MrGlass2 said:

There is no reason to believe that, especially if American moviegoers continue to choose big franchises almost exclusively. Instead such films will go to Netflix (or a similar service) everywhere.

His argument is IF films like Annihilation can make ENOUGH money at the DOM market to convince studios to do a "Cover a lot of the costs with Netflix internationally, get the most of the profits domestically" deal then studio level budgets might still be thrown at these risky projects.

 

He's not arguing that Annihilation needs to rake in a ton of cash.  Just enough to convince studios to keep experimenting with this model.  Hence his 'put up or shut up' comment at the end of the paragraph.

 

Of course, 'enough money' is an awfully nebulous term.  He also acknowledges it's a risky situation at the beginning of his review, as it might be short term gain for long term loss.  

 

But experiments do tend to be risky.  We'll see if this one pays off or not.

Edited February 21, 2018 by Porthos

[Dementeleus]

It's more of a little trickle than a flood, but interesting that the embargo basically got broken and ignored and Paramount (obviously) doesn't care.

[That One Girl]

Just now, Telehilation said:

It's more of a little trickle than a flood, but interesting that the embargo basically got broken and ignored and Paramount (obviously) doesn't care.

 

Maybe they moved the embargo up?  It’s happened before

[Barnack]

Just now, That One Guy said:

 

Maybe they moved the embargo up?  It’s happened before

They did I think.

[Barnack]

6 minutes ago, Porthos said:

His argument is IF films like Annihilation can make ENOUGH money at the DOM market to convince studios to do a "Cover a lot of the costs with Netflix internationally, get the most of the profits domestically" deal then studio level budgets might still be thrown at these risky projects.

 

If Netflix throw a lot of money too risky project (more than dvd/tv/buyers do) that could obviously boost the amount made.... (not sure about or why the domestic/intl difference here exactly).

 

Is it sustainable... will they not want more to buy non risky stuff like they do on their homemade product (lot of sequels there).... how much different will it be than what world tv/ Directv / HBO/ etc... was for the studios before ? World television was a really big part of the revenues pie before Netflix, has big as domestic theatrical, world TV + world home ent + world home PPV was almost 1/3 of a studio revenus not so long ago, will Netflix change that size, make it smaller or bigger...

 

[MrGlass2]

Need to change the title of the thread, I suggest:

"Massive critical success - and 2018's best film so far."

[That One Girl]

Just now, MrGlass2 said:

Need to change the title of the thread, I suggest:

"Massive critical success - and 2018's best film so far."

 

Well, Paddington 2 still exists  

[MrGlass2]

1 minute ago, That One Guy said:

 

Well, Paddington 2 still exists  

It would be a very difficult choice between the two, but thankfully P2 is a 2017 movie.

[That One Girl]

Just now, MrGlass2 said:

It would be a very difficult choice between the two, but thankfully P2 is a 2017 movie.

 

On this American forum, we go by American rules.  Sorry!