Why am I recommending a movie I haven’t seen? Because of this: It’s being held up as a big gamble on originality in a time when studios don’t want to bet on anything but mind-numbing sequels to proven money-makers:
The $160 million surreal thriller, based on an original screenplay about dreams and a group of thieves who steal them for profit, represents something of a rarity in an era when movie executives are choosing to base their biggest summer films on remakes, comic book characters, videogames and toys.If “Inception” succeeds—and a lot of people in Hollywood are rooting for a hit—it could mark a new turn for an industry that loves to think of itself as delivering fine art to the masses. The film embodies Hollywood’s aspirations of melding high-concept art and high-flying commerce, with all the risks and potential rewards such a combination can entail.“I think everybody is looking to this movie as proof of concept that new franchises can succeed and you don’t just have to re-tread old material,” says Stephen Prough, co-founder of Salem Partners, a boutique investment bank with a specialty in media and entertainment.
Never mind that the movie might not be any good, as this review indicates in the same edition of the WSJ in which I read the above. The thing is, if studios are thinking, “If this makes money, we’ll take a chance on original scripts more,” then I want them to make money. It’s a rather simplistic calculation, but hey, we’re trying to influence fairly simplistic people here (the backers of movies).
I figure, if they make money on this, maybe we’ll see some original flicks that are actually good. It’s worth the price of a ticket to try, anyway.
Normally, I don’t go to the theater to see anything — I wait for Netflix. But I figure, if we can encourage the studios in this, maybe the choices on Netflix will get better.
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Yessss–we are going to go, too, and we NEVER go see a first run film. Other reasons to see it: it’s not in nausea-inducing 3D, it won’t be a gross-out fest….
But if it’s a bad movie, and it makes money, what Hollywood will do is give us “Inception II.”
Yes, Karen, there’s always that possibility.
We should never underestimate the capacity for business people to draw precisely the wrong conclusion from a set of data.
But at least we can try, right?
If the Wall Street Journal hated it that’s good enough for me. I will definately go see it now.
Awesome film–works on so many levels, and you will want to talk about it afterwards–my favorite bit, aside from the ending, is that one of the characters looks like Keir Dullea and has several nods to that fact, including wearing a white snow suit that resembles an astronaut suit.
Non, je ne regrette rien!
The only thing is, I want to watch the director’s commentary now, and it isn’t a DVD.