TENET
Added 2020-10-08 02:09:58 +0000 UTCI've been reading a lot about Tenet and how it may have been the final nail in the coffin that is the cinematic experience as we've grown to know it. I personally feel that the film industry put all their eggs in one basket with this one, and it was the wrong basket. I have many reasons as to why I feel this but, what do you guys think? What do you see for the future of cinema, in a post-pandemic world? And how do you think the mis-marketing of Tenet contributed to that? Or was it mis-marketed? I suppose it's all opinion.
Comments
I see what you're saying. And I agree with many of your points. But I cannot agree that Nolan's only issue was the film being not good enough or too esoteric to draw in audiences. Obviously I haven't seen it, so I will make my judgements when I do. But I find egotist directors who cling to the nostalgia of the movie industry tiresome. Especially when a serious pandemic is sweeping the world and you'd rather put people in potentially dangerous positions health-wise all because you want things to remain the way they were. I cannot get behind that morally. It's both his fault and the studio. I think you are right about the future of movies. And I think Marty was the smart one here. He knew what to do, and he made the compromise.
Deepfocuslens
2020-10-08 19:32:22 +0000 UTCFilm premieres such as Dune and No Time To Die has been moved to next year. Who knows if it will be the final date, all depends on the pandemic situation. They should go to VOD like they did with Mulan or at least give us a choice like Justin_Films wrote. Can't wait to see David Fincher's Mank on Netflix.
Oskitello
2020-10-08 10:52:14 +0000 UTCIn defense of Christopher Nolan, I think his intent was to be the mana from the Heavens that the theaters desperately needed. They couldn't continue to remain closed forever and still be in business. Someone had to be the first to bite the bullet and release their movie since all of the studios kept pushing back dates constantly. Sadly, Tenet was not the super blockbuster that brought people back in droves and its performance financially has sent the studios back to looking at their calendars for new release dates. I think the only fault of Nolan was that his movie was simply not good enough to draw in the crowds necessary to recoup the costs of the film. I saw the film twice and Tenet was alright - not his best but not his worst. Personally, I am saddened at the prospect of theaters closing. I enjoy the cinematic experience a lot. The shortcomings of Tenet is more foreshadowing to the types of films we will see in the future, similar to what Martin Scorsese complained about Marvel films being amusement park rides. The only types of movies that will be in the cinema are these big-budget comic book superhero movies (and things in a similar vein). If a studio cannot make money on a big-budget film, they will stop making them. Instead, we will see movies shift towards more grounded stories simply due to finances alone. Marty checked out early by launching The Irishman on Netflix. The next big movie that will have similar struggles will be Villeneuve's Dune. Hence, why Dune has been pushed back an entire year. Even with that pushback, despite how good the movie is, I think Dune will fail financially as well, just like Blade Runner 2049 did. Sadly, the age of the blockbuster is reserved for Disney and superhero movies and other types of schlocky action movies. Personally, I don't blame Nolan for trying. I think his intent was good but the fact that Tenet was not able to perform well enough just scared off the other studios which is leading to more theaters having to shut their doors and go out of business. Someone had to be first and Nolan chose to carry that burden. I think there will be a shift now towards VOD and towards smaller-scale film-making. I'm not sure how people will respond to new movies coming out on VOD and having to pay $30+ for a 2-day rental (or whatever it is). When it's included in your streaming service already, like The Irishman was with Netflix, then it works because a studio like Netflix chose to eat the cost of the film upfront. It's both a good thing and a bad thing. It is tragic to see the death of theaters and the cinematic experience. However, I understand a lot of people hate that experience and we will likely see an expansion of the VOD market thanks to the pandemic.
Ryan
2020-10-08 09:48:39 +0000 UTCWell, the main Problem with the movie theaters as a whole at this point, there are three or four major factors as to why we can pretty much do without them now. 1.) the audience: you know, with the coughing and sneezing, loud chewing, loud talkers, crying babies, etc.... it’s getting so annoying and because of Covid, why even bother going anymore? 2.) Hollywood spitting out the same exact experience with their big blockbusters, giving us the same formula over and over again, or shitty blockbusters like the recent Star Wars or Transformers, we get SOOOOO MANY of them that we’re feeling numb to them. The excitement and anticipation has been ruined by the non-stop saturation from all these $200 million budget films that all look and feel the same, regardless of the property or the story. 3.) streaming has now been super popular for roughly ten years now. YES, regardless of people cancelling Netflix due to the film Cuties, just in general, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, they’ve dominated the film going experience, making it so convenient for us, especially for those with the amazing theater-like quality at their homes with the speakers and 4k screens. It’s just far better than what we get in the theaters. 4.) the whole commitment to wanting to drive out to the theaters, whether you go alone or with other people, you know, just deciding on which film, then the drive out to the theater, finding parking, waiting in the lines, finding seats. Just the whole ordeal is just nauseating and a waste of time. Well. Let add a 5th reason now: Covid has exposed all these movie stars because of their hate for Trump, and all the pandering and lies they spit out to us, why support these pedophile elites anymore? Why go to any future film of theirs now?
Tony Moro
2020-10-08 08:00:09 +0000 UTCI don’t want movie theaters anymore. I’m over it.
Tony Moro
2020-10-08 07:36:12 +0000 UTCI wasn't really speaking about the film itself. I haven't seen it so, I can't comment on the specifics. I'm referring to the marketing. I think it was very poorly marketed. The movie industry and movie theaters are hanging by a thread, pandemic or no pandemic. They began marketing Tenet as the savior of the movie theater industry. The ads began to change noticeably for the film as the desperation began increasing beginning around June and then becoming increasingly more pointed as the months went on. But we don't live in a world where auteur filmmakers making original obscure blockbusters really makes sense. It's sad, but just reality that people need to face. This would've worked brilliantly if this were the 60s or 70s. When auteurs and film was the thing. But the movie age is over. I don't think any movie could have saved the industry during this time. But...if you are going to save it, I think you need to bank on something a little less esoteric. You gotta think money. How to gain large audiences back. You do that with something like Wonder Woman 1984, or Black Widow. I'd rather watch something like Tenet personally, but I'm not speaking about personal preference here. Logically it was a huge gamble and I knew it would fail. But I was curious as to what they were thinking, and why this was their choice. They were hoping for another Inception, but really when you look at box office data, films like Interstellar and Dunkirk did not do as well as earlier Nolan films. Nolan has this stubborn obsession with nostalgia and the old theatrical movie experience, and I feel like this just made things worse for him in the end. Refusing to budge and do VOD could've helped hugely. But no, his choice was to cling to the way things were, in an industry that can no longer afford that. And this is our result. Anyway, that's just my two cents.
Deepfocuslens
2020-10-08 04:55:00 +0000 UTCI personally dont see it as mismarketed at all. They marketed traditionally without expecting the pandemic. As far as the state of the industry, it's definitely changing. We are seeing a lot of play for the small screen with streaming services, which has affected me directly being I work in the industry. Our large format cameras are changing, and budgets will be massively affected from the change. Even the cinema camera lines are changing to more compact bodies, my new Red camera is about $30K less than its previous model partially due to small format cameras making a huge play now that the big screen will probably be the secondary outlet for viewing. And then we have Steven Soderbergh who's working on his third theatrical film shot on his personal Iphone. It's definitely changing. As for Tenet itself, Nolan is inching further and further away from giving everything to the audience on a plate and closer to making them dig for it in multiple viewings, while maintaining a blockbuster-style of directing. That being his choice style of filmmaking, I think this is his most subtle film in a few ways. I originally thought JDW's acting was terrible. But after a few viewings, and seeing on IMDB that his character name was actually The Protagonist, I realized that he, by design, was supposed to be a simple, straight forward, plot-driving device. So I appreciated his lack of character development much more. There was a lot of that type of thing in there. Loved the way they filmed most scenes in reverse to achieve a practical effect, and loved the soundtrack by Ludwig Göransson.
Gavin Wegener
2020-10-08 03:40:47 +0000 UTCI liked Tenet (even-though it was mostly exposition) but i think they should release movies in the theater and VOD. That gives us the option to see it in comfort and safety of our own home but if we wanna see it on the big screen we can do that. I think Bill and Ted : Face The Music did that and even though it wasnt a big movie it made its money back and then some from ticket sales and VOD rentals. But i dont wanna see movie theaters die out.
Justin _Films
2020-10-08 03:34:56 +0000 UTC
