By host Tom Ashbrook:
We know Hollywood loves sequels, but this summer is almost beyond belief. Thirteen rampaging retreads are lined up to storm into the multiplex.
Almost everything old is new again: Spiderman 3. Pirates of the Caribbean 3. Shrek 3. Ocean’s 13. Harry Potter is back. Fantatstic Four – ditto.
Daddy Day Care? It’s Daddy Day Camp. Bruce Almighty? It’s Evan Almighty this summer. Bourne Identity? Born again. Rush Hour and Die Hard – back and back.
Then, there are the indies.
This hour On Point: summer movies ‘07 — the revenge of the sequels and indies on the side.
Quotes from the Show:
“For the past decade, sequels have been the cash cow for Hollywood, and, to be honest, when they try to venture from them, when they try to do things that are original at least around summer time and in spring, like Grindhouse, they don’t do well. Audiences say they want something new, they want something fresh but if you look year after year, the highest grossing films are sequels.” Scott Bowles
“The economics of the business and the way that the business model’s changed with the advent of DVD and other ancillary markets is that increasingly [the studios] are going for these pre-sold properties with these automatic audiences. As long as we go, they’ll keep making them.” Ann Hornaday
“We’ll take a Spiderman every time. I got to admit, when you’re on our side of it, and you’re both trying to market it and get attention and get awareness and get interest and you also run the sale side so you’re the one sitting there Friday night waiting for the numbers to come in, their [sequels'] boding patterns are pretty clear to our side of things.” Jeff Blake
Guests:
Ann Hornaday, film critic, The Washington Post
Scott Bowles, film critic and reporter, USA Today
Jeff Blake, vice chairman, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and chairman of marketing and distribution for the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group.
