The event film is a dying breed within our modern blockbuster regime and it could be resurrected by the growing Chinese film industry with The Great Wall, but i am here to talk about the concept of an event film and what should qualify.
To me personally i believe an event film is a must see blockbuster that is not part of an established franchise or universe. Christopher Nolan has an event film releasing this year in Dunkirk, a massive scale war movie that looks incredible and breathtaking, even his previous film Interstellar could be classed as an event film if it was not for the overall negative response to the film. The Revenant could be classed but i feel it was a little under the radar for the average movie goer. Those are some examples of what could be an event film.
Gravity was an event film it was massive and people went to see it and were talking about it, this high concept space thriller with a decent budget and two a list actors, and there you have the major qualities to an event film. Cast + High Concept + Box office reception = Event. The only gripe i have with classing it as an event film would be the run time which is under 2 hours long running at approx 91 mins.
Over the years the number of event films has been declining and i feel that it could be a massive blow to the industry from an audience perspective and even from a business one. The audience will start to get tired of the same movies that have been keeping the studio's alive over these past few years. Sequels, remakes and cinematic universes will eventually become stale among the average viewer leading to this bubble to burst and then the studios will be left with only a few money making franchises. Star Wars is above this, because Star Wars is rooted in the public culture it will survive no matter what and as long as Disney is pumping money into it, i can't see it dying anytime soon although i can already see the quality drop.
China could be our new source of big budget event films due to its massive push in The Great Wall and with their economy booming there is no reason why they can't start challenging Hollywood, i would personally like Chinese studios to give talented film makers and actors a freedom to make movies and stick it to the Hollywood studios and a grand scale.
As much as i would love for the landscape to look like the 90's event film scene i can't see Hollywood giving us that anytime soon. Long gone are the days where in the span of a few years we got Speed, Titanic, Independence Day, True Lies, Saving Private Ryan, Mission Impossible and The Matrix. Now we have to look forward to the next Marvel movie, the next Star Wars and the next remake of a film that no one should remake (Scarface, because it itself is a remake).
Overall i wish we could go back to a time when going to the cinema meant you had a choice between the blockbusters and the quality would be high and people had to go and see these films. China could be our hope for the future but for Hollywood i do see dark times ahead.
Written By
Ashley Harvey
No comments:
Post a Comment