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The $11 Billion Year: From Sundance To The Oscars, An Inside Look At The Changing Hollywood System (2014)

by Anne Thompson(Favorite Author)

3.45 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0062218018 (ISBN13: 9780062218018)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Newmarket for It Books

review 1: Anne Thompson is one if the finest film journalists working today, and this book was a wonderfully nostalgic trip back through the exciting 2012 Oscar race. It misses that fifth star only because it feels a little stiff throughout. But I'm sure as she writes more books along her career that will easily work itself out. But that really is a minor complaint compared to the wonderful overall product.
review 2: The title doesn't mention the year covered is 2012. And that including international sales, the year was $35 billion. Don't know if it was precisely a watershed year, except when considering the following year's massive blockbuster fails. The book is organized by the calendar of film festivals. January is Sundance, and we end in March at the Oscars. In betwe... moreen we visit Cannes, Telluride, TFF. Thompson also covers SXSW and Comic-Con which are promotion and marketing venues. One interesting chapter follows John Carter of Mars from early efforts to create yet another franchise to the mess that finally landed in theaters. We don't learn anything we don't already know about the Hollywood System. The money boys are going to stick with what has worked before: sequels, franchises and guys in fast cars: all marketed to teen-aged boys who show up for opening weekend, but don't go to movies generally in the same numbers adults of both sexes do. Spielberg had to drum up funding to get Lincoln made, and he's...Spielberg. The author writes a daily blog and that's what this book reads like a compilation of. Chapter 7 is titled Women, Politics and Zero Dark Thirty. It's a weird chapter - Bigelow mishandled the ongoing PR of releasing that movie, but Thompson wants to call her not getting nominated for best director a last minute dive bomb. By whom and for what, we're not told. We all know that the Big Studios aren't doing so hot, but they also don't really care because there are only 7 majors, and those own HBO, MTV, VH1, CBS, ABC, ESPN. Sony produces shows (Breaking Bad) for AMC, as does Lionsgate. Comcast owns Universal and NBC. And a triad of the Bigs owns Hulu. As demand for digital right away grows, the Big 7 won't suffer too much from more franchise flops. Most of the big tent CGI stuff is debuted overseas first (Transformers 5 in China, Big Hero 6 in Japan). No dialogue, lots of car flipping, Bechdel who?. So, we're in for a fistful of years of franchises and sequels and guys in tights or flying tin cans. But creeping up at speed in the rear view mirror: Netflix, Amazon, Apple and Google. less

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