Oppenheimer | 2024 Academy Award Winner for Best Picture and Best Director

[von Kenni]

3 hours ago, Porthos said:

 

Many people have tried tackling The Prisoner, both on-screen and in print and...

 

"Good Luck, Yer Gonna Need It."

 

====

 

The thing is, The Prisoner is such a period piece that I think it's very difficult to redo.  Sure, the themes of The Prisoner are more relevant than ever, especially in regards to elites playing each other off while changing "sides" constantly.  And the multinational critique of the mixture of politics, spying, and identify is as timely as ever though more in regards to corporations/rich assholes playing "the Game" than nations.  And social media itself is extremely Prisoner-esque in not being able to easily establish what is real and what isn't, all while being trapped in a land of funhouse mirrors.

 

At the same time it is very very *VERY* Sixties in its execution and it sets an almost impossible standard to compare to.

 

Arrival (the first story of the series) is relatively easy to adapt to modern times.  Set up is easy.  Well, easier. Middle is a little more difficult but the No 6 vs No 2 dynamic is also relatively easy to pull off.  It's going beyond that and trying to capture the spirt, the counterculture vibe, the anti-authoritarianism, the sheer quirkiness/off-kilter nature of the series which will be difficult to do in a 100 min to 150 min film.

 

Try squeezing down The Prisoner to thee or so episodes. While keeping up the sheer insanity of the finale of the series. I dare you.  No, I double dog dare you.  Can probably cut about 15 to 20 minutes out of Arrival, okay fine.  Can segue way relatively quickly into something covering similar to the next episode The Chimes of Big Ben (though I personally would prefer something more like Hammer Into Anvil as that, pardon the pun, hammers the philosophical/moral differences between Six and the System like few other episodes [while also noting, as Orwell did, that the hammer breaks before the anvil]) in that we have the classic No 6 vs No 2 standoff.  

 

Then we have the resolution where Six tries to escape The Village.  How much do you lean into the sheer WTFery of Fall Out?  Do you attempt something more standard or mainstream (for the record, I'm in the camp of... not appreciating/liking the ending of Fall Out  as I actually think it's a bit of a copout/letdown on more than a few levels) and go more for what Once Upon A Time was suggesting [which I dearly love, also for the record]).

 

How much do you lean into the psychedelic aspects of the series?  That is one of the things that LOST tapped into brilliantly when it drew inspiration from The Prisoner from S2 onward.  But, then again, LOST had the advantage of being a TV series so it could afford to take its time in establishing those sorts of things.  Time which a movie won't have.

 

I can't say Nolan doesn't have the chops to pull it off.  But... Well... "Good Luck...."

 

Kudos for what you just wrote. Pulling my Generational cycle hat from the drawer I doubt that the counterculture notes of The Prisoner can fly today when we are in the crisis era. It might take that 25-40 years until we're next in the suitable generational cycle. You could play the notes that are relevant even today but ...will it capture the spirit and essence of The Prisoner like you wondered? Or the depth of it?

 

Like you said, good luck... 

[Porthos]

51 minutes ago, von Kenni said:

 

Kudos for what you just wrote. Pulling my Generational cycle hat from the drawer I doubt that the counterculture notes of The Prisoner can fly today when we are in the crisis era. It might take that 25-40 years until we're next in the suitable generational cycle. You could play the notes that are relevant even today but ...will it capture the spirit and essence of The Prisoner like you wondered? Or the depth of it?

 

Like you said, good luck... 

 

Oh, I dunno.  Could see a counterculture movement brew in the near future as a large scale Reaction Against The System/Machine. But it would only share in broad strokes with the Sixties counterculture movement.  Much like the Sixties was similar in Broad Strokes to some of the counterculture aspects of the Roaring Twenties (thinking the Jazz scene/Harlem Renaissance, flappers and speakeasies, and even the first beginnings of the existentialism of Hemingway and co.) but very different in other respects.

 

Mind, we might not as you say.  Part of the problem is the.... Hmmm... Kinda doubt Gen Z is all that primed for a more hedonistic take on things that both the Twenties and Sixties shared.  On the other hand, could easily see neo-existentialism rise as a radically different take on counterculture as people lean into despair/question their purpose in the universe.  Just takes a couple of meme wars to really take off and, well, who knows.

 

Getting back to the subtopic, I think for a modern take on The Prisoner to work, it'd really need to lean into the dual aspects of modern society that produce a decent amount of absurdity and angst (modern social media in particular would be a target rich environment).  The Prisoner was both a critique on the Cold War as well as societal trends of the day.  For a modern version of The Prisoner to be AS relevant, it'd need to be aimed squarely at some of the societal issues of today and not just retread/ape the concerns of the Sixties, relevant as they might be.  The Prisoner was controversial back in the day, after all (one episode was refused to be aired by CBS when they were showing it back in 1968) and this should be as well.

 

Can still be set in the Sixties and that might even help disguise the message a bit.  But do think it can't just re-tell the same story in the same/similar way, as what's the point?

Edited March 27 by Porthos
reworded a bit

[JustLurking]

8 hours ago, Ziddletwix said:

Does anyone have a rough ballpark range for what we could expect Oppenheimer to gross in Japan? OW & overall? I know it's super uncertain, but what's a remotely plausible comparison (for e.g. ~300 screens). 

Wouldn't expect more than 500M yen OW based on a very quick scout of some key locations

[LonePirate]

7 hours ago, JustLurking said:

Wouldn't expect more than 500M yen OW based on a very quick scout of some key locations

This converts to a little over $3M US.

[titanic2187]

Meanwhile, the domestic run seem to finally over after 35 weeks, 140k shy from 330m

[Samwise the Brave]

Come on man, a billion needs to happen. Japan and the rest of the Oscar numbers still won't be enough

[Mad Max007]

Could've had a worldwide re-release!

[keysersoze123]

 

 

Bow to Sir Nolan.

[Avatree]

SIR CHRISTOPHER!!!!!

[dudalb]

On 3/26/2024 at 3:59 PM, Porthos said:

I should also add... I'm just generally skeptical in regards to turning TV series into movies in the first place.  They just have different strengths and what can make for a great TV series doesn't easily translate to making a great movie (and vice versa).

 

It can be done, yes.  But, again generally speaking, Skeptical Porthos Is Skeptical.

I am very sketpical of new versions of classics movies and tv shows in general. in general.

I actualy think you can update the Prisoner, but it would be a lot easier to do it as a TV show.

And you would have to find somebody as good as Patrick McGoohan was in the role ...wnat that will not be easy.

 

"Oh, the Bones, Oh, the Bones, Oh all the Bones"....

[dudalb]

38 minutes ago, Avatree said:

SIR CHRISTOPHER!!!!!

Pretty much expected.

[Issac Newton]

Some moviegoers offered praise. One man emerging from a Tokyo theater Friday said the movie was great, stressing that the topic was of great interest to Japanese, although emotionally volatile as well. Another said he got choked up over the film’s scenes depicting Oppenheimer’s inner turmoil. 

 

Kazuhiro Maeshima, professor at Sophia University, who specializes in U.S. politics, called the film an expression of “an American conscience.”

 

Those who expect an anti-war movie may be disappointed. But the telling of Oppenheimer’s story in a Hollywood blockbuster would have been unthinkable several decades ago, when justification of nuclear weapons dominated American sentiments, Maeshima said.

 

“The work shows an America that has changed dramatically,” he said

 

Takashi Yamazaki, director of Godzilla Minus One, which won the Oscar for visual effects and is a powerful statement on nuclear catastrophe in its own way, suggested he might be the man for that job.

 

“I feel there needs to an answer from Japan to Oppenheimer. Someday, I would like to make that movie,” he said in an online dialogue with Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan.

 

Nolan heartily agreed.

 

Hiroyuki Shinju, a lawyer, noted Japan and Germany also carried out wartime atrocities, even as the nuclear threat grows around the world. Historians say Japan was also working on nuclear weapons during World War II and would have almost certainly used them against other nations, Shinju said.

 

“This movie can serve as the starting point for addressing the legitimacy of the use of nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as humanity’s, and Japan’s, reflections on nuclear weapons and war,” 

[Issac Newton]

I won't post the negative reviews. But, if anyone is interested you can go and follow @shin_the3rd

[interiorgatordecorator]

get ready for yearly oppenheimer re-releases for the next 20 years 

[dudalb]

Nolan certainly deserves a Knigthood. He joins Sir David Lean and Sir Richard Attenborough as British directors who earned a knighthood.

[cannastop]

58 minutes ago, interiorgatordecorator said:

get ready for yearly oppenheimer re-releases for the next 20 years 

Uh why

[SchumacherFTW]

1 hour ago, interiorgatordecorator said:

get ready for yearly oppenheimer re-releases for the next 20 years 

Pretty sure that was going to happen at most 15/70 IMAX's whether or not there's an official rerelease or not. 

[interiorgatordecorator]

34 minutes ago, cannastop said:

Uh why

 

looking like japan wont be able to get it past the billion, so better prepare ourselves for #2030oppenbillion

Edited March 29 by interiorgatordecorator

[eeetooki]

Nolan's movies get random re-releases all the time in IMAX theatres anyways. Places in Asia like Hong Kong has like TDK trilogy marathon, Nolan marathon, LOTR marathon all the time. 

[Hatebox]

I feel pretty confident in predicting that at this point is his career Nolan’s not going to do a remake of a 60s tv show, no matter how iconic. 

 

Spoiler

I reserve the right to be totally wrong about that 

 

 

 

Edited March 30 by Hatebox