Ok folks, PREMIERE magazine's latest issue has an interview with James Cameron where... well the stuff in John McLame's report is reported (with additional info and comments). Currently, I have heard that James Cameron is in a state of... waffling about his next project. The projects are there, but nothing is really causing him to be a giddy kid. That's a big thing for Cameron, cause really... when ya get right down to it, he's a BIG OL KID. He likes the coolest toys, and well even pushes to invent new ones that he can then play with. Does this interview kill all hope for a SPIDER-MAN / James Cameron movie? NO, but for him to do it, he'll have to be 100% in charge and it would have to be able to get out of the legal hell that it has been mired in for years. I've heard that it could be 2 years before he's even ready to shoot his next project. Bummer... I know. He does have this Television thing he's doing and I've heard rumors that Glen may be getting the name of one of the directors of that series soon. But whatever is up for James... well he's waiting. You see, in two years we'll see what Lucas has done with STAR WARS and effects, and we can see what Peter Jackson has done with LORD OF THE RINGS. These are the two big deals with the type of films Cameron likes to make. As for the whole ticket price problem... Well, for average films I don't see it, but for gigantic projects I could see it getting the ol TEN COMMANDMENTS or GONE WITH THE WIND treatment where you had initial engagements at higher ticket prices, though I would yell and scream and bitch and moan... Hollywood does has a history of doing that though. Ultimately though, if Hollywood made better films and listened to their artists and get behind their directors movies like TITANIC well... they can show a profit.
Harry, goddammit.....McLame here. I'm about to jump off Nakatomi Plaza, this time without a firehouse wrapped around my waist. I just read a James Cameron interview in the latest Premiere magazine(SciFi Christina Ricci cover) , hot of the press, and it is a sad day for Cameron and Spidey fans. In it he basically says he won't do the Spiderman movie, and even more disturbing, that he thinks movie ticket prices should double so the studios can make a profit !! He goes on to say the average night at the movies is a $100 expense. Obviously he has lost touch with normal life, like mine, where I go to the movies every week, & rarely spend more than $20.
Here's some of the horror.
PREMIERE: If the rights to your Spiderman project [which remains in a legal quagmire] became available, would you still want to direct it?
CAMERON: Here's where I am philosophically. I'm 44, I make a movie every two or three years - it should be something that I create. I've always done that, with the exception of Aliens. The Terminator was my creation, so were Titanic & The Abyss. With the ammount of time and energy that I put into a film, it shouldn't be somebody else's superhero. I don't want to labor in somebody else's house.
(McLame's note: Gee, does this mean Stan Lee should direct the movie?!)
PREMIERE: What will the industry be like in ten or twenty years?
CAMERON: Well, it's harder and harder to make a profit. The $100 million domestic gross used to be the milestone for the megahit. Now it's $200 million to $300 million. >snip< (blah blah blah) But the bread-and-butter business right now is in dreadful shape in terms of profitability. I think they should just bite the bullet and double ticket prices, frankly.
(McLame's note: I've got a bullet for him to bite!)
PREMIERE: There are also frequent moviegoers, who go to opening weekends and see films two or three times.
CAMERON: If they love 'em that much, they'll spend the money, 'cause it's not that much. We're talking about a business that is not profitable.
(Oh brother..)
Harry, I can't wait to hear your take on this.
